Tabula Rasa Launch Impressions

While I love Massively Multiplayer games, for a lot of people they've become very rote. When I say "MMOG" you almost certainly think of a fantasy game like World of WarCraft or EverQuest 2; even the most-anticipated in-development titles are fantasy games, like Warhammer Online or Age of Conan. The pre-launch death of Gods and Heroes , though, should be proof enough that the fantasy market is becoming a tough one to crack into. So what's the alternative? Sci-Fi, of course. Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa (TR) dodges these sword and sorcery pitfalls by offering a bleak view of the far future. TR is a departure from the genre standard in a number of ways, with fast-action FPS-like gameplay alongside its alien main course. Though this title isn't the second coming of the Massive genre, it's an enjoyable departure from the norm. Read on for my impressions of the return of Richard Garriott.

• Title:Tabula Rasa
• Developer/Publisher: Destination Games/NCsoft
• System: PC
• Genre: FPS-Like Massive Multiplayer Online Game
• Score:: N/A. Though rough in parts, the game at launch is well worth a look for the sci-fi trappings and action-oriented gameplay.

Humanity was unprepared for the Bane. The ravenous extra-terrestrial threat came from beyond the stars, and took away our favorite place to keep our stuff: Earth. The backstory to Tabula Rasa (TR) is a sort of throwaway alien menace, told initially through a very dire opening cutscene. It eventually begins to grow on you, if only because the game itself takes it so seriously. Your primary purpose, as a newly-recruited AFS soldier, is to combat these monsters on a trio of planets for control of various strategic points and resources. The NPCs do a decent job of convincing you how much they really hate these creatures, and after the third or fourth time you die trying to hold a control point you'll feel much the same way. Overall, though, the impression you get from TR is one of general action-adventure enthusiasm. Much less of the world comes through in the early levels via questing than in other games in the Massive genre. Instead of telling a particular story, early quests seem to be more concerned with setting the stage for stories to come. Most of the 'story' comes directly from gameplay, from interacting with the world.

Gameplay takes that action-adventure quality, and runs with it. Tabula Rasa has one of the most unique control schemes of any Massive game yet to hit the market. You may recall the 'click-to-swing' gameplay of Dungeons and Dragons Online , and this feels sort of like the FPS equivalent. Don't be fooled, though - this is not a twitch game. Statistics and die rolls still dictate how much damage you do with a given weapon, and even whether you hit or not. That said, there is the 'feel' of an FPS about the game, with mouselook controls and one-click-one-shot gameplay enabled by default. TR also has one of the most bare-bones user interfaces of any Massive title to date. Instead of the sea of hotkeys typical for the genre, the game maps all weapons and abilities to the left and right mouse buttons. You can switch between these weapons and abilities at the touch of a key. While this does take some getting used to, it eventually becomes almost second nature. Every element of the game is built to support this 'UI-light' approach: looting happens merely by running over a foe's body and damage numbers float above the enemy's head instead of in a chat box. The result is less dungeon crawl and more Schwarzenegger movie.

The game's 'magic' has a very cinematic quality to it as well. Called "Logos", these special powers revolve around collected mystical symbols from sacred altars scattered across the game's different planets. Each symbol represents a word or idea in the language of the resident aliens (the Eloh, a similarly-oppressed species, not the Bane). Aside from giving you a great collection to work for, combining these words results in different Logos powers. "Area" and "Heal Other" might combine into an Area of Effect heal, for example, or "Attack" and "Time" might result in a Damage Over Time power. Higher levels and new planets lead to more Logos powers, which interlock in increasingly complex ways. This is really the area where the world's backstory shows through most strongly, as players interact directly with these artifacts of the Eloh's glorious past. Combining storytelling and cool powers like throwing lightning feels like one of the game's clear successes.

Another clear success for the game, and not coincidentally another story-rooted world element, is the sense that you're in the middle of a war. Instead of silently popping into existence, Bane units spawn after a drop ship swoops down onto the battlefield. A glowing orange (and very noticeable) teleportation field appears, and the enemies attack. Some quests begin spontaneously after killing a creature in the wild, making some goals more like Xbox 360-style achievements (kill 50 bane) than traditional MMOG quests. The weapons are probably the biggest factor in this 'warzone' feeling, though; never before in a Massive game has it been so satisfying to rip into an enemy with a powerful submachine gun. There are snipers on the field, giant techno-organic striders, and strange particle effects emanating from some of the more esoteric weapons. All of these elements combine to set the scene better than any quest text or voiceover ever could.

This in-the-moment sense is only enhanced by the game's graphical presentation. While certainly not cutting edge (even by MMO standards), Tabula Rasa's look is one of alien beauty marred by conflict. The first planet has an idyllic forest element to it, ruined and scarred by bunkers, bases, and combat zones. Another planet sees you amidst a world of huge fungi, likewise put to rot and corruption by the Bane's machinations. Some of the effects are just 'neat', though. The Logos powers, when used, create attractive holographic images around your character. Using tools and special items project light fields in a wide area, and explosions are everywhere as you and your fellow players wreck up the landscape. Sound-wise, regrettably, the game is a bit more pedestrian. Generic gunfire noises give the weapons a suitable heft, but not much character. Some of the more esoteric weapons have strangely floaty sounds, and the game's music has a sort of forgettable emo-trance quality to it.

These may seem like minor quibbles, but they're noteworthy over the course of hours of play. In fact, everything wrong with Tabula Rasa has the air of the 'minor quibble' to it. For every two things they got right, there's something weird or out of place. For example: the game has one of the best simple inventory systems I've seen in an online game. There's no need to buy 'bags' to expand your large-ish inventory, and items are auto-sorted into the appropriate tab. Likewise, there's a lot of fun to be had customizing your character at the start of the game, tweaking facial features and armor. Unfortunately, both of these elements are muted through gameplay, as your inventory constantly fills with worthless vendor fodder and replacement equipment quickly ruins the 'look' you established at the character select screen. It's like this all throughout the game: your paperdoll is really annoying to use, but there are easily seen quest markers on the world map. The game's control point capture system inspires easy PC camaraderie, but the branching class structure seems like a bad idea. Outside of the basic tutorial there are almost no explanatory elements, but crafting is one of the least complicated systems added to an online game.

The overall impression of Tabula Rasa you're left with is exactly that: mixed. There are lots of new and interesting elements here, game concepts that haven't been well integrated into an MMOG before ... but there are lots of little quirks. The chatter from players seems to be that TR is a 'stop over' point on a lot of veteran's journeys. The WoW expansion is long since conquered, and new games are still a few months off. TR, then, is going to be something of a 'winter shelter' for the eternally wandering online gamer. In the meantime, the live team continues to work to iron out the rough spots and improve the experience. They also seem to be committed to live events in a way not terribly popular with most modern online games; they've already held several quizzes and conflicts, with more planned for the coming months.

If the question is whether Tabula Rasa is worth $15 a month, my answer is yes ... for about two months. At the moment TR feels like all flash and little burn, with enough niggling details left unpolished that you'll eventually get bored. It's well worth giving a try, and if you have a friend with the game they're currently running a 'referral program' that might get you some free playtime. Either way, taking the fight to the Bane is a fun and altogether different experience from your average Massive experience. The MMO field continues to fill with feisty contenders, and I have high hopes that the team at Destination Games will keep the sci-fi dream alive.

let me elighten some of you...

[mseidl (828824)]

For those of you living under a rock and haven't seen Zero Punctuation... here you go

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2326-Zero-Punctuation-Tabula-Rasa/ [escapistmagazine.com]

Re:let me elighten some of you...

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves (236787)]

Yahtzee is one of the best things to happen to the gaming industry in years.

"An utterly demented games designer who wears a crown and insists that everyone call him 'Lord British'. Was he born with the galloping crazies or did it stem from a lack of social interaction?"

"His previous games include... and by that I mean 'consist entirely of'... the Ultima series"

I love this guy. He's like Monty Python with a bad attitude.

Re:let me elighten some of you...

[Alari (181784)]

My favorite part about that link is how it doesn't work. Try this instead:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2326-Zero-Punctuation-Tabula-Rasa [escapistmagazine.com]

(In case slashdot edits the url, the key is: no trailing / )

Ok

[Adambomb (118938)]

So Garriot is back in a saddle again. Now he just needs an order shield and a viking sword and he can go smite EA for ruining his previous heir!

Video of him riding around Redwood City shouting "An Ex Por! CORP POR! CORP POR! CORP POR!" would definitely be smirkworthy.

Re:

[Lemental (719730)]

It would be In Por Yelm to take down their reflect, then an An Ex Por, Vas Ort Flam, Followed by a Cor Por so the Explode hits at the same time as the Energy Bolt. If they are still alive, Kal Vas Flam should help. Unless they were a Dex Newb.

Re:

[krotkruton (967718)]

Wow, that just brought back so many memories, I almost downloaded a client and started playing on one of the free shards. Ha, "shards".

Enjoyable

[milamber3 (173273)]

I'm really enjoying the game but honestly the storyline is not what has really made it fun for me. The two aspects I appreciate most are PvP clan wars and attacking/defending the command points during the bane invasions. They really made a big deal prelauch about the story development and moral choices. They are present, and sometimes interesting, but not as intriguing as I would have hoped.

Linux

[snoyberg (787126)]

System: PC

Am I correct in assuming that in this context, PC == Windows?

Re:

[Gigiya (1022729)]

Yes, as you would be with any other context regarding video game systems.

Re:

[snoyberg (787126)]

Well, it's a ridiculous nomenclature and we shouldn't tolerate it here on Slashdot. Why should "Personal Computer" mean "a computer running Microsoft(R) Windows(TM) XP(TM) SP 2 or higher"? Maybe that's fine for the rest of the world, but I'd think when you post a review on Slashdot you would consider clarifying that this software does not run on Linux, Mac, etc, even when running on "PC" hardware.

Re:

[ConanG (699649)]

I would hope most people on Slashdot are tech savvy enough to understand that PC means Microsoft Windows XP SP 2 or higher. Do you think some poor soul reading this review is going to rush out and buy the game for his FreeBSD machine thinking it'll install and run on his "PC"?

Re:

[Cornflake917 (515940)]

Would you also hope that Apple doesn't use this terminology? You have seen their commercials, right?

Also, that's pretty condescending attitude you have here: "The whole world uses a set of words in communicate, but I refuse to learn them because they don't conform to what I think they mean."

Well have fun using your own language, good luck communicating.

Re:

[Cornflake917 (515940)]

When a stupid term is used as a marketing ploy (or whatever reason they have for calling it PC) I'll say so.

If Microsoft's competitors are using the term themselves, then I don't think it's a marketing ploy. At least not any more.

Since when has it been a problem to condescend on Slashdot?

You're right, Slashdot wouldn't be Slashdot without the Apple/Nintendo fan boys.

Re:

[snoyberg (787126)]

If Microsoft's competitors are using the term themselves, then I don't think it's a marketing ploy. At least not any more.

Which competitors are you referring to? I was thinking the marketing ploy by the game makers, who can say "PC" and sound like it's a universal program that'll "just work" on anything you have sitting at home, instead of saying "Microsoft Windows XP SP 2" which would be accurate and confusing.

Re:

[CFTM (513264)]

How's it looking up there on that hill all by yourself? Fun I hope.
Personally, I have better hills to leave my body on and in most cases I let people die where they may but you sound like you've been indoctrinated by too much PC garbage and I'm not talking about the personal computer type either.

Get off your soapbox, you are appearing to be a complete and utter moron.

Re:

[bigstrat2003 (1058574)]

I would guess that there are very few who care. In the context of describing a game's platforms, PC is the accepted term for a game whether it runs on Linux or Windows, or both (Mac is always a separate platform). Deal with it, because you won't change it.

Re:

[rk (6314)]

Translation: "The language has evolved a meaning I personally disagree with. Boo-hoo." I say this as both a person who can be quite anal about language at times and who has used Linux for well over a decade: build a bridge and get over it.

"PC games" is shorthand for "games that run on Intel architecture-based systems running a reasonably recent version of a Microsoft operating system" and has been for quite some time. I am also a consumer of Slashdot (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean) and thin

Re:

[snoyberg (787126)]

I am also a consumer of Slashdot

It means that I read Slashdot, as opposed to being a consumer of computer games. The reason I stress this is because it is my grounds for complaining about the use of the term PC on Slashdot.

Nobody is forcing you to make any translations.

No, that's a false statement. If I decided that I wanted to try this game, went out, purchased it, took it home and tried running it on my PC, I would have a big problem since I'm not running Windows. Even if you want to say that it's "well accepted" that PC == Windows, five years ago (probably the last time I boug

Re:

[snoyberg (787126)]

I've made it very clear why I think it is detrimental to everyone to use such vague terminology as a "PC" on another part of this thread. Let me reiterate: even if you say that it is "well accepted" that a PC == Microsoft OS, how do you know which Microsoft OS they mean? If you recall, there happen to be quite a number of them.

Re:

[Rimbo (139781)]

Microsoft even already has a term for just that: Games For Windows(TM).

Re:

[Kjella (173770)]

Aw, why spoil the "Does it run on Linux?" posts. Seriously though, I'm afraid I still take that as default but it would be prudent to add a comment on whether it runs under WINE or not...

Re:Linux

[G Fab (1142219)]

PC doesn't refer to personal computer. PC refers to IBM's PC standards that became cloned heavily ith Microsoft operating systems and are the dominant architecture. Macs and PCs are different. Macs are not PCs. That may not make logical sense if you consider PC to mean Any Personal Computer, but language doesn't work logically. Semantically, this is how it worked out: PCs are the IBM clones with the current generation of Microsoft OS.

Linux is different and Mac is different, as a matter of language.

We may agree that this is a stupid way to categorize systems, it's the way the language popularly exists, and exactly zero people thought they meant Macs run this software.

If you say American, in most contexts people realize you aren't talking about a Canadian or a Mexican. The unfairness isn't blamable, and for Slashdot to use PC is just Slashdot speaking the same language as its readership.

Re:

[snoyberg (787126)]

Actually, I was hoping someone would bring up exactly this point. The "classical" meaning of PC was IBM compatible. Now, please tell me how my Linux system running an AMD processor isn't IBM compatible? How about a modern Intel Mac?

So yes, even if you say PC isn't just any old personal computer, it still does not imply Microsoft Windows.

Re:

[Retric (704075)]

IBM used MS DOS so IBM compatible software means it runs on a Microsoft OS.

Re:

[Telvin_3d (855514)]

Of course the implication of the "classical" meaning of PC meaning that it was IBM compatible was that you were running the OS designed for IBM computers AKA DOS/Windows. After all, what would be the point of specifically buying a computer capable of running software designed for an IBM if you weren't going to run the software?

At this point, the word/phrase "PC" referring to a computer has a specific meaning. Whether or not that meaning has anything to do with what the original acronym stood for is rather

Re:

[Hatta (162192)]

Yeah and if you ask Joe Shmoe to point to his computer, he'll point to his monitor. Are you willing to accept that language evolves and therefore "computer" is the proper term for the antiquated term "monitor"?

My problem is with the Dark SF future

[WillAffleckUW (858324)]

Quite frankly, when I play SF MMORPG, I prefer ones where most things are sweetness and light, and only pockets and outlying regions are dirty and dark and ugly.

It puts it into perspective.

You venture forth from a safe base to an adventure, fix a problem (capture pirates, repair a generator, etc) to save a society or colony, and then come back to adulation.

Darkness itself seems to be more associated with FPS style games. I don't want to fight hordes of zombies and have even more come no matter what I do - after I fix things then things should be slightly better where I fixed them.

A very smooth launch

[Phil the Canuck (208725)]

This has been hands down the smoothest MMO launch I've every been a part of. I think there has been one server reboot outside of the maintenance schedule. There's a broken quest here and there, a small targeting issue or two, but in general the game exceeds the relative level of polish you'd expect from a new MMO. Oh, and it's fun. I have a job, and it's nice to be able to log on for an hour and get something done.

Nitpicking

[Hydrogenoid (410979)]

Some points are wrong in the review :
- the Bane has actually been formed by a faction of the Eloh,
- only the Bane mobs are teleported, the beast just pop there as usual,
- the "achievements" that pop up do not come from nowhere, you must have the zone's "Targets of opportunity" mission which is a regular mission, except that you initially do not know what must be done to complete it,
- the customization of your character does not entirely disappear, you can craft dyes for your armour.

Even though the game is not revolutionary, it is mostly well done and there isn't much down time.

Richard Garriot going to space next year

[FleaPlus (6935)]

Speaking of Richard Garriot, he's apparently going up to the International Space Station next year, the sixth private citizen to do so:

http://www.richardinspace.com/ [richardinspace.com]

It turns out that his father Owen Garriot was a NASA astronaut, making Richard Garriot America's first "second-generation" astronaut ever (the first Russian second-generation cosmonaut will be flying a few months before Richard). Richard Garriot is planning to carry out some protein crystallization experiments when he's up there, as well as engage in educational outreach.

*yawn*

[Kepper (307719)]

Well, not only is TR a bit of 'old news', but I'm not really sure how long the OP actually spent in the game. Granted, the fps style of play incorporated into an MMOG is a nice stray from the overwhelming fantasy MMO style of combat, etc. ..but
This game gets old...fast.
you don't really get a sense of identity in the game.. monsters and areas are extremely easy and simple.. there really isnt a challenge that cant be overcome with a inordinate amount of mouse clicks with a shotgun.
the quests don't really pull you forward or grab your attention and after a while you just stop caring about what is happening in the grand scheme of things.

the novelty of running through an MMOG forest, jumping off a rock and blasting enemies clicking your gun like crazy and killing everything in your path with easy runs out pretty quickly.
although I love garriot for his past accomplishments, I would've really much rather seen Ultima Origins.. come to fruition.

Richard Garriott to visit Washington DC

[lone bear (67361)]

On December 10 Richard Garriott will be the guest of the Washington DC Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery.

More details, including time and place will be posted on our web page as they are finalized: http://www.dcacm.org/ [dcacm.org]

Dark Fantasy!

[morari (1080535)]

At least Age of Conan is dark fantasy. That isn't anywhere near as cliche as the typical high fantasy. It's generally less routine as well, since good and evil are not typically as obviously defined. In all fairness, from what I've read, Age of Conan is shaping up to delivery a lot of things that MMOs tend to be sorely lacking in (combat that requires more than a targeting click, for example). Still, you won't find me paying a monthly fee for a game until it involves happily spending my life within a holode

My Impressions

[sokoban (142301)]

Personally, I think they should have revamped the project a while back and started from a clean slate.

That's a joke for all you who don't know latin.

Re:

[Minwee (522556)]

If you're just going to bring _facts_ into this, then we might as well all stop calling it Slashdot.

The future really is bleak!

[sr8outtalotech (1167835)]

I was in the beta and I don't know if this carried over, all the workstation computers in the game were Dell Dimension XPS's.

Branching Class System

[james_orr (574634)]

Kind of surprised you didn't like the branching class system. I think it's a great idea other MMOs could learn from, especially when combined with the cloning system.

When you first jump into the game you don't need to research what class you want to be, you get right into the action and have some time to learn about the game before you make any decisions. My only complaint about it would be that the first branch point is so early at level 5.

Combine this with cloning at the branch points and you can play every class in the game with minimal repetition of content.

Re:

[stoicfaux (466273)]

Combine this with cloning at the branch points and you can play every class in the game with minimal repetition of content.

Completely Untrue. Firstly, there is only one line of content to play, unlike say, WoW, which has multiple starting areas and quest chains. Secondly, cloning doesn't really save you that much time. If your level 50 guardian wants to create a specialist clone, the specialist clone starts at level 5 (which leads to 6 other classes.) Or you can go back to level 15 and try out three

I think you mean MMO-like FPS

[sgilti (668665)]

I played the beta of this game as well, and I was tired of it fast. I think the definition of MMO needs to be tweaked a bit.. if thousands of people log in to the same server to play Pong, that doesn't make Pong an MMO.

The game was little more than shoot shoot shoot the infinite spawn of bane, and any 'depth' beyond that was minimal at best. The logos system sounded exciting until I realized that I can collect 100 logos, but my 'class' has 3 abilities, requiring a total of 6 logos to use, and the others we

My impressions...

[Psychor (603391)]

I played Tabula Rasa for roughly 2 weeks along with my brother before becoming bored with it. The first problem was NCSoft's ridiculous store prices; for some unknown reason my brother's retail copy of the game cost about £17.99, whereas when I tried to give it a shot I had to buy the downloadable online version for £29.99. Of course "had to" is not entirely accurate and I was mostly a victim of my own impatience, but I feel that charging higher prices for electronic copies with vastly lower production/distribution costs is ridiculous.

The game initially looked fairly promising with a reasonably diverse (for an MMO) range of quests and objectives, some instances thrown in, and a lot of shooting with laser guns. Sadly it quickly gets very old due mostly to the "face creature, click button 700 times" style of combat with a few token, but not very diverse, special abilities thrown in.

Another big problem for the game was its PVP experience, which clearly wasn't planned well and poorly implemented. Essentially by default the game features no PVP, and there are no PVP servers or zones. It's possible to enable clan-based PVP if you so choose by joining a relevant clan/guild, but this is an entirely pointless exercise with no real rewards, objectives, penalties or defined areas. PVP is one of the most important features in MMOs for me, and I found this aspect of the game severely lacking in TR.

The only truely innovative feature that set TR aside from other MMOs was the ability to make intelligent use of terrain as cover to lower the amount of damage taken during combat. Sadly this wasn't implemented very well, and whether or not you were in cover at any given time seemed to be as much a matter of luck as of positioning, and there weren't many (if any) situations where use of cover was really required, and enemies didn't really utilise it particularly intelligently.

Plenty of other bad design decisions also plagued the game, such as the main plot and PVE game revolving around "logos", magic alien words of power which you could collect from various locations around the landscape and in instances. Several hundred of these appear to exist, but the majority of them are of no actual use to players. Depending on your class touching around 20-30 different logos might be required to have access to all of your abilities, but it's unclear what the point is of collecting logos beyond this amount, or what their function is. This unique language of "logos" was highlighted as one of TR's main features, and myself and many other players had hoped it might be used to add something cool and unique to the game rather than just an aside. For example it was speculated that players might be able to research their own magic spell type abilities using different combinations of logos, so that a knowledge of more might be very desireable. Sadly this all came to nothing, and they are just collect and forget type quest objectives.

There were also severe balance issues, I assume the instances are supposed to be for group play, but I had no trouble at all soloing at least the first 3 in the game with one of my characters, and playing in a 2 man group made them very easy.

I've played a lot of MMOs at release, and despite my fairly negative comments above, TR is by no means terrible. Most of the quests, abilities etc. work fine, and the game was relatively fun for a quick blast for the couple of weeks I played it. Sadly it is very, very, average and has no real outstanding features or longevity. It's not bad, but it's by no means a WoW beater, and to be honest it's not even an Ultima Online beater. Unlike Garriott's previous MMO effort, TR is about as linear as you can get, it's by no means open ended, and this severely limits its appeal. Aside from the sci-fi setting and dubious terrain handling, there is nothing featured that WoW doesn't do in a better and more polished way, and this will ultimately be TR's downfall.

A Fresh Start

[Taleron (875810)]

I've got to disagree with a few of the points in this little review. For one, the tree-based classing and cloning system is insanely nice for the "alt-o-holic" and those of us who have gotten tired of starting at 1 every time we want to try something new. Some sort of skill respec option would have been nice, and it's not as flexible as it was touted, but the system is great for exploring the different character classes without doubling back on a lot of content you've been through before.

Character customization of one's armor isn't hard at all. All of that starting gear will be swapped out by about level 7 or 8, but the upshot is that by that time you'll have found a number of "Homebrew Armor Paint" schematics out in the field to recolor your new armor - you're even given 10 standard paints to start with to pick any color you want. One of the visual issues that I think Tabula Rasa addresses that wasn't brought up is that there aren't any clear "must have" armor pieces or weapons that are "epic". Every item has 5 augmentation slots to enhance it, using the crafting system. The rarity rating of an item is dictated solely by its used starting slots. Say we have two rifles, an uncommon "green" and a rare "blue". Both rifles do the same damage, but a player filled all five of the uncommon rifle's slots up, so it actually has greater overall stat bonuses compared to the rare rifle with only its starting three slots filled. Equipment works the same way, and equal pieces have the same amount of armor points regardless of rarity. This makes a PC's "look" extremely customizable, and easy to manage as well.

I do agree that the crafting system's hard to get into - there isn't even a mention of it in the manual, the "AFS Field Guide", so you're basically on your own to figure out crafting. It also sucks that one needs to spend skill points to level a character's crafting skill instead of their offensive abilities, so a trend right now is to clone a level 29 or 30 and max out all four to make a "crafting alt". Aside from that, though, the crafting system fits in with most of Tabula Rasa's bent - just try it and see what happens, there's very little in the way of consequences.

Something that wasn't mentioned was the damage types. Machines are vulnerable to EMP damage, native fauna are hurt very easily by Virulent weapons. Kael are immune to Physical damage because they're so big and brawny, but Sonic damages them fairly well (and the built-in knockback is great). While Tabula Rasa has its down points, it really handles a core feature of MMOs that players spend a predominant amount of time in, combat. Combine the damage types setup with using cover to decrease damage taken, and firefights have a great deal of randomness and flexibility that many MMOs lack; enemies attack in varied packs, so switching weapons and abilities throughout a fight, ducking behind and scurrying between cover is almost a must for your survival. It's kind of a shame that the review didn't really touch on this, even though it's 80-90% of what you're doing when you're logged in.

Re:

[Taleron (875810)]

If you're fighting one or two basic foot soldiers, it's not too difficult to stand there and blast away. Usually, though, you're fighting multiple enemies on your own (i.e., the dropships mentioned in the review typically drop four), and taking cover can cut damage taken by 50% easily. There's also the "bead" mechanic, a second targeting reticle that shrinks towards the main reticle as you stay still and stabilize your weapon, "lining up" a shot. This increases your damage output per shot, and if you crouch

Re:

[Adambomb (118938)]

or say Syndicate Wars Online. or Gabriel Knight.

I would have a delicigasm.

too bad creativity is high risk =(

Pointless

[Prysorra (1040518)]

All pretend universes are technically a form of fantasy.

The only thing making a distinction between the types of a naturally whimsical kind of game is the content.

The hell does it matter?

Collect shit, accumulate money, and beat the shit out of your neighbors.

Just like real life, without the sex. For now.

Re:

[Poltras (680608)]

Just like real life, without the sex. For now.

Man, slashdot never been so close to real life :)

Re:Why Sci-Fi?

[Joe U (443617)]

I think a MMO based on comedic SF&F would be a runaway hit.

Activision: Hint: You already own a game series like that, why are you too dense to develop it? (Yes, I'm talking about Infocom. Zork, Enchanter and Planetfall)

Re:

[nine-times (778537)]

Rockstar has talked about doing that already. Notice Vice City introduced the idea of gaining property, and San Andreas introduced some RPG elements? Right after the first GTA3 came out (the Liberty City one), I saw some interview where one of the developers was saying their long-term goal was to create a MMORPG where you started out as a thug and could work your way up to being a mob boss (with other players being your thugs). Or something like that. It was several years ago, so I don't remember.

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[niceone (992278)]

My million dollar MMOG idea for the Wii: Bowling. Yes, you get to go bowling with 10's of thousands of other people!

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[CrazyJim1 (809850)]

My hundred dollar idea is: MMOG pong. Basically it plays like a big game of warlords.

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[Lonewolf666 (259450)]

Neocron (sort of post-apocalyptic) was pretty good in concept and features.

Too bad they never got the bugs ironed out, or I might still be playing it (dropped it because of bugs and lag, now playing EVE Online)