What happens when a gaming god decides that it's time to get his hands dirty and help create a game from scratch? Besides several lengthy years of development and your name before the title of the game, you end up with an extremely polished product called Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa. With pre-orders on the game already out in the gaming sphere, Cody "Micajah" Bye took a crack at fighting the rising Bane menace and took enough time to write down a "First Impressions" review of the game for those of you that may be sitting on the fence.
Quote:
One alien after another falls to our onslaught, my bulkier friend is spinning his mini-gun in psychotic circles as he’s firing off rounds. I drop to my knees and plant a bullet square in one of their ugly domes. He falls to the ground, half his skull blown away.
Payback’s a bitch.
You can read the whole article here. Do you agree with his thoughts? Disagree? Want to rip up his article and throw it into a fire? Let us know!
You didn't like NWN2? Was it the graphic problems people were complaining about? Or did you just not like the game?
And (for everyone) what was your favorite part about TR?
The first downside for NWN2 was, I was not able to create a Char (Monk) with a potbelly, than the gamemechanic ...to be more exact, avatar handling and camera option in conjunction with gameobjects.
a other "killer" dislike was the toolset, with a bad menu menustructure and organisation...as someone who loved NWN1 and building modules, NWN2 was a big disappointment...and I looked forward it for a long time *sigh*
enough of whining
I installed my Col. Edition of TB today....after the first overwhelming impression (with all the new things and features, wich is normal anyway) and lucky as owner of a FANG device...I got the first hang of it in a short time, I must say (dont forget, I only played two hours till now)... Tabula Rasa is consistent in design and layout, seems well made and fun to play.
In short, after geting used to the gamecontrols and interaction with the world...it seems a more complex world and a challenge while having fun and enjoyment.
You called this game "extremely polished". From this I can determine that you indeed NEVER played this game. Its anything BUT polished. I've beta tested games before and this one should STILL be in Beta. I filed no less than EIGHT bug reports this evening. I had to file a petition because the game refused to give me a MAJOR reward, a clone token. It took the Game Manager over an hour to even find out what was wrong, let alone fix it. That happened the following day. Oh, and when he did contact me, he did so by running up to me. Now, Tabula Rasa doesn't display another player's name unless you dig through options and turn them on. If I hadn't done that, or didn't see him say my name, he'd still be chasing me through the hillside. Also, he died trying to talk to me. He NEVER sent me a private message! I had to do that. Polished?
Inventory is a total mess. Items won't stack. Some have the same ICON for components, forcing you to hunt through and stack them yourself. FUN? How is tediously stacking tau shunts (whatever they are) fun? Crafting? Its CRAPPED and of no use. Want that weapon to steal health? OK...but first...you have to find a weapon that...STEALS HEALTH! WHY???? If I find a weapon that steals health...why would I want to dismantle it to modify the other? Maybe that'll come into play later on in the game, but it sure as hell sounds stupid. You cannot manufacture the required item either it MUST be found.
Platforms that act like super glue. Only way to move around on them is by jumping over invisible objects. FUN? Tell me how fun it is when the ambush that comes from you touching the computer, bombs you into the stone age and you have to run 4 miles to catch up with everyone as they blast away getting any loot. Oh yeah....FUN! You HAVE to go onto that platform too, its a mission directive. Mission control is trying to kill you via bugs in the game.
Class breaking skills with bugs. SO FUN! Ranger and the Carpet Bomb. A high damage Area of effect ballistic bomb strike. You throw a light marker onto the enemy, but if there is ANY, and I mean ANY variation in the terrain between it and you....it will let you throw the (very expensive) marker only to do NOTHING. This happened tons of times because of...drum roll...a LOG! What was I trying to bomb? A 30ft tall robot and its being saved by a two foot tall piece of wood lying on its side. FUN? POLISHED?
The WORST chat component of any game I have seen. WoW comparison/flames every 2 minutes and you are FORCED to watch it if you are trying to find the answer to a question or find a team. VERY early waypoint marker bugs that cause the same question to be asked every 20 seconds because they've turned OFF the chat to not watch the WoW fights.
Would a meteor kill you or a punch to the gut? Suprisingly the answer to this question is: Punch to the gut. A meteor flies in from God knows where and hits you direct. You hop right back up and trot along, suffering only minor damage. Now, if one of the Bane happens to punch you, you lie there long enough to have a long endearing conversation with your mother-in-law and most likely will die as he shoots you gleefully.
Vendors crapping out for no reason. A MASSIVE memory leak, that if you don't log off and restart the game it will do it for you via a crash. Maps that show only elevation in a pathway heavy environment? You have to struggle constantly to find a way up a hillside, all the while being BOMBED brainless. This hugely taughted use of cover stuff hardly comes into play other than control points where you run out of the base, fire 3 shots and go back in to hide. Try that out on the open maps where you have enemy 360 degrees. It doesn't work. Well it works for the NPC enemy, they can fire over a big mound, you can't. Grenades and Grenade launchers are useless in instances like this. Offensive superiority from an elevated location happens only IF you can GET to the elevated position. To do that, you have to struggle with finding the proper path up the hill, cause it won't let you just walk up.
Extremely polished....give me a break.
That's four days playing time. FOUR. Very unlikely there will be a fifth. Try actually PLAYING the game when you do a review next time. Look at it objectively and honestly. This review was an obvious Richard Garriott ego stroke of epic porportions. Tell it like it is and don't glaze it over. Fun game with BIG frustrations to go alone with it. My prediction: Either they fix it fast....or it'll die.
Last edited by Shatterpoing; 11-07-2007 at 03:02 AM.
You called this game "extremely polished". From this I can determine that you indeed NEVER played this game. Its anything BUT polished. I've beta tested games before and this one should STILL be in Beta. I filed no less than EIGHT bug reports this evening. I had to file a petition because the game refused to give me a MAJOR reward, a clone token. It took the Game Manager over an hour to even find out what was wrong, let alone fix it. That happened the following day. Oh, and when he did contact me, he did so by running up to me. Now, Tabula Rasa doesn't display another player's name unless you dig through options and turn them on. If I hadn't done that, or didn't see him say my name, he'd still be chasing me through the hillside. Also, he died trying to talk to me. He NEVER sent me a private message! I had to do that. Polished?
Inventory is a total mess. Items won't stack. Some have the same ICON for components, forcing you to hunt through and stack them yourself. FUN? How is tediously stacking tau shunts (whatever they are) fun? Crafting? Its CRAPPED and of no use. Want that weapon to steal health? OK...but first...you have to find a weapon that...STEALS HEALTH! WHY???? If I find a weapon that steals health...why would I want to dismantle it to modify the other? Maybe that'll come into play later on in the game, but it sure as hell sounds stupid. You cannot manufacture the required item either it MUST be found.
Platforms that act like super glue. Only way to move around on them is by jumping over invisible objects. FUN? Tell me how fun it is when the ambush that comes from you touching the computer, bombs you into the stone age and you have to run 4 miles to catch up with everyone as they blast away getting any loot. Oh yeah....FUN! You HAVE to go onto that platform too, its a mission directive. Mission control is trying to kill you via bugs in the game.
Class breaking skills with bugs. SO FUN! Ranger and the Carpet Bomb. A high damage Area of effect ballistic bomb strike. You throw a light marker onto the enemy, but if there is ANY, and I mean ANY variation in the terrain between it and you....it will let you throw the (very expensive) marker only to do NOTHING. This happened tons of times because of...drum roll...a LOG! What was I trying to bomb? A 30ft tall robot and its being saved by a two foot tall piece of wood lying on its side. FUN? POLISHED?
The WORST chat component of any game I have seen. WoW comparison/flames every 2 minutes and you are FORCED to watch it if you are trying to find the answer to a question or find a team. VERY early waypoint marker bugs that cause the same question to be asked every 20 seconds because they've turned OFF the chat to not watch the WoW fights.
Would a meteor kill you or a punch to the gut? Suprisingly the answer to this question is: Punch to the gut. A meteor flies in from God knows where and hits you direct. You hop right back up and trot along, suffering only minor damage. Now, if one of the Bane happens to punch you, you lie there long enough to have a long endearing conversation with your mother-in-law and most likely will die as he shoots you gleefully.
Vendors crapping out for no reason. A MASSIVE memory leak, that if you don't log off and restart the game it will do it for you via a crash. Maps that show only elevation in a pathway heavy environment? You have to struggle constantly to find a way up a hillside, all the while being BOMBED brainless. This hugely taughted use of cover stuff hardly comes into play other than control points where you run out of the base, fire 3 shots and go back in to hide. Try that out on the open maps where you have enemy 360 degrees. It doesn't work. Well it works for the NPC enemy, they can fire over a big mound, you can't. Grenades and Grenade launchers are useless in instances like this. Offensive superiority from an elevated location happens only IF you can GET to the elevated position. To do that, you have to struggle with finding the proper path up the hill, cause it won't let you just walk up.
Extremely polished....give me a break.
That's four days playing time. FOUR. Very unlikely there will be a fifth. Try actually PLAYING the game when you do a review next time. Look at it objectively and honestly. This review was an obvious Richard Garriott ego stroke of epic porportions. Tell it like it is and don't glaze it over. Fun game with BIG frustrations to go alone with it. My prediction: Either they fix it fast....or it'll die.
I know you can probably smell my bias... but I've been playing beta since early July and I got a few questions.
Have you actually played other MMO games at launch? Seriously? With the exception of LOTRO this is hands down the smoothest launch I've ever seen. I could easily rip up 6-8 games right here but I'd be ignorant to base my entire perception on just a few days of play.
I've had no problems at all with Inventory. What exactly are you looking for that takes so long to find? The slotted backpack was a refreshing change I would love to see ALL games do. I can admit their is some work to be done with crafting, And I've found steal health mods before...
I play a Ranger and I've had no problems with Carpet Bomb. None. How many Stalkers are standing next to logs in the game? There can't be that many.
A meteor? It's called artillery. This is a war.
I've also had 0 problems with vendors. Other than lag occasionally making them slow to respond they've worked perfectly. And dear lord a well documented memory leak, because NO other game has EVER had one of those near launch or STILL in the game a year later. I can play 2-3 hour sessions before I have to restart TR and my machine is far from top end.
This wasn't a review, it was an impression. Impression. Nobody is doing a review of an MMO game a week after launch. I've personally filled 2 bug reports and 2 feedback in six days of playing, all of them regarding either a bugged non-essential mission or mild annoyance.
I'm honestly sorry you don't like the game but wow are your expectations high for an MMO game.
Tabula Rasa First Impression Review
Linear Mode
