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Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa Review (continued)
More User Submitted Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa Reviews
Date: 2007-12-27
Great new MMO!
I've been playing MMO's for about 8 years now. I started with SWG, moved on to EQ2 and have been looking for something new for the past few months. I played WoW for about 2 months and hate how easy and cartoonish the game is. Tabula Rasa is refreshing to say the least. The game reminds me of SWG when it first came out and was still a great game.
I have not encountered a single bug yet, although as with any MMO I'm sure there are plenty especially at launch. Many games today are released when they are not even near finished, I feel they did a great job doing as much as possible to make this a great game at the start.
This game is not for the typical WoW crew, as it is a bit more challenging and takes more then button mashing/running at the AI. Strategy is key at times and FPS style is something to get used to if you are a straight MMORPG player with no FPS experience.
If you're looking for something fresh and new, exciting and challenging, I say give it a try!
Date: 2007-12-14
Dull but functional
I had an excellent experience in connecting, updating and playing online. The game itself has good graphics, huge worlds, but repetitive and predictable activities and minor map glitches make areas that the player can enter then not leave without restarting are drawbacks. I had not realized it was online only, and the monthly subscription price is high if you look at it as an annual cost. Game maker promises free online month after you subscribe however that never was actually provided. Expensive monthly fee outweighed game fun so I dropped after 4 weeks. It's a WOW clone in sci-fi wrapping.
Date: 2007-11-30
Evolving the Genre
Tabula Rasa brings some new style to the MMORPG - a genre that has gotten a bit stale over the last few years. Rather than the usual TAB-target, hit buttons 1, 2, 3, 4 to excecute abilities, TR combines FPS gameplay with an RPG world, appealing to a wider variety of gamers.
Gameplay: Character movement and control are very good; the UI and controls are highly customizable to your own preferences. If you're an FPS player, the gameplay will be very familiar. If you're an MMORPG player, it is easy to adapt to. Monster AI is more intelligent than the typical "it runs at you and hits you until you kill it" type that many of us are used to, and the game has a good variety of different things to kill that all attack in different ways.
Graphics & Performance : If you put TR on the highest graphic settings, its beautiful. But even on 'normal' to low settings it looks as good as anything else out there. There is sometimes a bit of slowdown at 'control points' when there are hundreds of things assaulting a base, but you have a lot of control over your graphics settings so usually this can be dealt with. It also is worth mentioning that since release, the servers have had very little to no downtime, no serious crashes, no rollbacks, no crisis of any sort - basically to say, it had an incredibly smooth launch.
Functionality - There's still a bit that's broken, though its very quickly being ironed out in patches. GMs respond quickly to deal with any issues involving broken quests/etc. But the number of these issues is still 'low' for a game of this magnitude this soon after its release.
Uniqueness - The storyline and the world of TR is something that really hasn't been seen before in an MMORPG. You have the whole 'military' aspect, pushing back an invasion of hostile aliens, yet at the same time you have the mysterious technology of an ancient civilization card being played. Its an interesting Mix, and often times quests will make you choose one path or another, and it -does- make a difference. There's a combination of open world and instancing, but even the 'open' zones have a few (large-scale) instances which helps reduce lag / camping of quest mobs / etc. Some bases are control points that are periodically attacked/invaded and you can earn rewards assaulting / defending these control points.
So essentially, you have more to do than simply kill things and level up. There's a fairly involving progressive storyline in quests, optional quests that open up a bit more lore, there's good old fashioned "burn fight kill" with a combat system that gives bonuses for continual kills, and then there's assault/defense of bases in each zone.
Soloability & Skill: I would say 90% of the content can be done solo. Not necessarily efficiently, but it can be done. The different classes are unique enough that each brings something to a group, and the instance quests are going to be considerably easier in a group, but one thing that sets TR apart from most games is that the skill of the player, rather than a system of complex mathematics, determines what you can/can't do. You know the routine : Monster hits you for X points because its stats vs. your stats determined this. But with the FPS style of play (manual evasive action!) you have a lot more freedom to excel.
You also have stat points as well as skill points that you may freely distribute without restriction, which is also a happy, fresh memory of older-style MMORPGs, where you could actually have a 'build' instead of being exactly like everyone else.
Eye Candy : Weapons make satisfying glowy effects, there's a full array of armor paint to customize your look as well as styles, movies upon entering several instances, and the different zones/planets are breathtaking.
Overall / Value : TR has the typical MMORPG price structure. Buy the box & pay 15$/month. If you're the kind of person that plays subscription games, this one's better than most of those that are out there now simply because of its larger scope of activities, & customization. I say its easily worth the price.
PVP : PVP is by duel or clan war ONLY. A lot of people are upset about this, but casual gamers will rejoice to know that they are not going to have their questing and experiencing of the game spoiled by some bored kid who decides to kill them just because he can. Its a nice change. Though it is possible that at some point a PVP server will be opened if there is enough demand. If you play these games to kill other players, then you can skip this one, at least for now.
Date: 2007-11-10
Fun but lacks depth
I have been playing Tabula Rasa (TR) since its launch on the 2nd November. TR is a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO) with a science fiction setting. Earth has been destroyed and now you fight Earth's destroyers, collectively known as "The Bane", on faraway planets.
When you first enter TR you start in "The Wilderness", the starting zone. TR uses a tier system not a class system. Everyone starts in the same place as a recruit. At level five you reach your first tier and can choose to become either a Soldier or a Specialist. At level 15 you again get to choose a branch. Soldiers have the option of becoming either Commandos or Rangers. Specialists choose either a Sapper or a Bio-technician. When you hit level 30 you get to make your final choice. Each time you gain a level you get points which you can allocate to whichever skills you have, making them more powerful. You can also neglect skills altogether if you like, giving you more points to allocate in your favourite skills. You don't learn knew skills every time you level. The only time you learn new skills is when you reach a tier.
The world itself looks good, though it does seem rather depressing and desolate. Being in a perpetual state of war there are wreckages lying around and burnt out areas. Nothing particularly beautiful about the graphics but they are good. There are no big cities such as Ironforge in World of Warcraft or Qeynos in Everquest 2. Instead there are bases scattered throughout the land. You can travel to bases you have already visited using waypoints and dropships. You access other planets through wormholes.
You level your character by doing missions which you collect from NPCs. You can in fact solo all of the missions with the exception of the instanced dungeons, where you will need to enter as a squad. You can have six players in a squad.
The UI is easy to learn. You can have five weapons and five skills (think spells). The magic in this game is called Logos and that gives you attacks and buffs etc. Combat in TR is fast and furious, particularly in squads and the instances. As usual you are at the mercy of squads, some are good and others are bad.
Graphics: Graphics are nice but the world itself isn't beautiful so you won't be awestruck by sunsets or large cities. It looks like a warzone.
AI: The AI in the game is good with enemies trying to flank you and enemy dropships arriving randomly to drop off reinforcements.
Combat: Hectic and fun for the most part. A bit of strategy is required. Crouching improves the speed with which your target reticle locks on and also increases damage. Crouching behind sandbags, rocks, and other cover reduces the amount of damage you take.
Instances (dungeons): Are a mixed bag. Instances (meaning each squad has its own dungeon) have missions and are more difficult, requiring a squad. The only problem with an instance is that once you have completed the instance and the missions, there is no reason to ever go there again. Like any game, doing and instance with a terrible group can leave you frustrated and angry, and I think I've had more bad groups then good ones. At this stage I'll put that down to the newness of the game and it's players, with players not having tried other classes and knowing what's expected of them.
Classes: I personally like the tier system, though the gap between level 15 and level 30 is a long one. The classes are unique to each other and all classes can solo. The final tier classes fall into the classic Tank Healer DPS variety, but they are different enough from other games to feel new. All classes use weapons unique to them such as grenade launchers, laser rifles, leech guns and so on. There are different damage types and certain enemies are vulnerable to different types, so switching between weapons is a necessary part of the game.
Overall: Had I written this review in the first week of release I would have rated it highly. The game looks great and the early worlds were polished and refined. From my experience any faults are picked up quickly and the developers are working hard to release patches to fix issues. Currently there is a patch due out which makes the Specialist line, particularly Medic, more viable and fun to play.
The game does get repetitive quickly. As I mentioned earlier, the gap between tier three and four, levels 15 to 30, is a long one. Waiting 15 levels before you get to try new weapons and skills is a long time. Player controlled vehicles are set to be introduced in the first expansion but whether people can wait that long is another thing.
Tabula Rasa is a fun game to play, and it caters nicely to the casual gamer. It's easy to log in and do a mission, or fight for a control point. At the current shelf price and the standard 30 day included play it's good value and I recommend buying it.
Date: 2007-11-08
It's nice to see changes in the MMO world
An update to my previous review.
Well ive run the game up to lvl 32, gotten my final class( Sniper and i have a Spy clone ).
My previous review I was in the early stages of the game. I've spent quite a few more hours playing and my enthusiasm has waned quite a bit. I've accually canceled my subscription and will be moving on to something else( probly Age of Conan when it comes out ).
I'll explain - 1 BUGS - Once i got past the 1st few zones you start to see lots of bugs, zone bugs, chat bugs, quest bugs and interface bugs. The game at this stage feels like I'm in an early beta. They should have waited another year before releasing this game. 2 no mail or auction system, although an auction system should be out very soon in an update. 3 when i hit 30 and started playing as a sniper, the game lost all its fun and im not the type of person who will reroll even with a cloned 30spy and run the same quests over agian. Theres no alternate zones to bring up new caracters, you have to run the same zones. ( I realize this is a personal choice some ppl will have no problem at all with this. 4 There's no way to reset your skill points as you grow and learn more about your caracter, you can clone them if you have a clone credit but getting those is quite an ordeal. 5 The Tabula Rasa website has no official forum which makes me think these developers have no interest in there community.
All that being said, the game still has a fantastic combat system but i feel this game has been doomed because someone ( developers or corporation? ) Didn't want to take the time to get things working smoothly before the release.
end of update.
I've been playing since launch day( i didn't play the beta ). My impressions of the game are mixed but im overall enjoying the game.
In my opinion the best part of the game is its revolutionary targeting system, no more auto aim here. you acually have to aim yourself. each target has a circular reticulator that provides you with information on the damage youll be producing, the closer to the center the higher the damage output. It also provides you with info on how vulnerable you are and how much of a damage reduction you'll see if your hit. Being partially hidden reduces the damage you take under fire. So the feature is nothing short of brilliant and fresh in the MMO world. I only hope i see more of this in future games.
Another great aspect of the game is the pace, much faster pace than any other MMO i've experienced. My next favorite thing are the instances. I'm only lvl18 so we'll see what higher levels present, again very fast paced, but the best part is the intelligence and realism of the fight huge mobs come charging at you from great distances, they dodge and sidestep and flank like no other. The experience is not unlike a rollercoater at an amusment park you cant stop riding.
The graphics are good, especially you toon models.
Now, what i don't like!
1st i miss loot based instances like in WoW. These are all quest based, you do get your rewards but mostly from quests. The quest based instances actually work for this type of game. But i always liked that feeling after downing a hard boss and someone getting a good roll and a good reward. It's a fun part of the game.
2nd the chat system in TR annoys me it needs to be much more extensive and capable in providing info about other players and what the wearing and using etc...
that's it, overall i would reccomend this to anyone who enjoys MMO's and might be looking for something new.
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