I am at a point in
Anarchy Online where I need to either A) Get to the Adonis zone and grind out five levels. or B) Continue logging in every day to complete daily quests, and grind out five levels myself. Both options are not fun. With Warcraft Classic opening next week, I would rather spend my game time doing something fun.
Long ago, I had tried a science fantasy MMO named
Saga of Ryzom. Checking back into it, the game is still running. After some troubles when the original creators went out of business, the game ended up releasing as open source (both client and server). It is very much a community run MMO, including art assets and content generated by players. A Windows, Mac, and Linux client are available.
I decided to at least made it out of the startup area this time. Here are some observations:
Graphics-wise, when compared to Anarchy Online it isn't bad. Some of the more recent textures used in AO are nicer, but overall the client seems to run better (even on a laptop in Linux with Intel 4000 graphics). The game world is interesting, and quite original. The planet itself seems to be one gigantic plant, with humongous branches arching over the skies. Lower levels in the planet take you to tree root systems, and "magic" in the game is powered by "sap" instead of mana. Nothing appears to be made of metal at all, even the guns! All armor, weapons, and buildings are created from plant, animal, and stone products.
The game is classless, and instead you gain points in different systems. For example, when you do more physical attacks, you gain points which can be used to upgrade those skills, and purchase new ones. Further down the line, this branches out a couple times so you can really customize things. Physical attacks, magic, crafting, and gathering can all be customized this way. The economy is largely driven by players. Players may open the trade dialog with a vendor NPC, and sell their wares to the resale tab. The vendor will then carry those items as if it was an auction house in other MMOs.
The storyline and dialogs in the startup area are reasonably well done. Long dialogs have an arrow to let you read page by page instead of scrolling past (forcing you to scroll back up afterward) like Anarchy Online uses. There are various factions to gain reputation with, and there are different dynamics between the player races. Vendors and trainers in various cities may treat you differently depending on your race. The npc mob mechanics seem to be well done, with herd mechanics, and pathing. I have died several times when gathering due to a random patrol, which called several of its friends.
For better or worse: Ryzom is a tough game, with a bigger learning curve than many modern MMOs. If you are used to old-school mechanics, much of it will be familiar. Until some of the mechanics are learned, you are going to die. A lot. In fact, I died so many times through the starter area that it too me four days to get out of it.
Things I didn't care for are 1) No jump. Anarchy Online was released three years earlier, and allows jumping. Not being allowed to jump in an MMO breaks immersion, because instead of being able to hop up hills, or over obstacles, you need to feel your way around the invisible walls on a rail. 2) No tab targeting. Combat and spell targets need to be selected with your mouse before engaging or casting. This sucks on a laptop, because I would rather stay away from the touchpad when at all possible.
So far, I think it will be worth checking out a bit more. There seems to be some depth to be uncovered, and the game world is interesting.
Check it out for yourself:
https://ryzom.com/#
mmo
