Tabula Rasa Review

By Rob Fahey Published 15 November, 2007

British Steel.

Version tested: PC

Aliens, a fairly sincere voice-over informs us, have invaded Earth and made a right bloody mess. But it's okay, because now we're bringing the fight to them, and kicking their scaly, leathery, vaguely insectoid backsides across exotic plants around the galaxy. Would you like to know more?

Right down to the hints of influence from propaganda film-making in its presentation, Richard Garriott's return to the massively multiplayer genre is a dead ringer for Starship Troopers. It's unapologetically militaristic, ultra-violent and filled with intense action scenes, yet below the surface there's a keen intelligence at work that's easy to miss at the first glance. No naked shower scenes, granted; but yes, we'd like to know more.

Join the Mobile Infantry and save the world

It's been ten years since Garriott released Ultima Online, and Tabula Rasa is proof positive that he hasn't been sitting on his hands in that time. A hell of a lot has changed in the last decade. 3D graphics have matured, the Internet has become faster, multiplayer games have exploded past the boundaries of the early-twenties geek demographic, and user interfaces have been reinvented and refined countless times. In the face of such change, it would be easy for Tabula Rasa to be a big fat anachronism.

'Tabula Rasa' Screenshot 1

Travel the Galaxy! Meet interesting alien races! Shoot them in the face!

It isn't - or rather, if Tabula Rasa is an anachronism, it's because it belongs in part to tomorrow, rather than to yesterday. Which isn't to put our foot down and say that this is, in any definitive way, "the future of massively multiplayer games", but rather that there are certainly moments when it feels quite unlike anything you've ever played before. In the massively multiplayer space, filled as it is with little, picky innovations that never actually scratch the surface of how the genre works, that makes it into a rare gem.

The most blatant, balls-out, dare to be different thing about Tabula Rasa is also the one which is going to raise the hackles of traditional MMO players the most. This is a game where, like an action game, you move around with the keyboard and aim with the mouse. You actually need to target things if you want to hit them (to some extent, at least); then you fire your weapon with the left mouse button, or trigger your selected ability with the right mouse button.

MMO aficionados may have spotted the dilemma already. If all this functionality is on your mouse, how do you move the cursor around? How do you select items, muck around in your inventory, or any of that sort of crucial MMORPG stuff? Simple answer: you don't. Calling up your inventory, your skills page or your quest log activates the mouse cursor (you can also do this with the Control key, which gives you a handy radial menu around the cursor), but deactivates your aiming, and your ability to shoot things, into the bargain. If you want to commit suicide on the battlefield, there's no easier way of doing it.

In itself, that's a hint. Tabula Rasa is fast-paced and furious. A bad situation in a battle - or a slow reaction to a new enemy or powerful attack - will leave you leaking squishy bits out through your tattered armour faster than almost any other MMORPG we've ever played. This isn't a game where you screw with your inventory mid-fight; you stick the stuff you're going to need into your quickslots, make sure all your weapons are reloaded, and then go in all guns blazing. It's a massively multiplayer game for twitchy FPS lead-heads who have developed a thousand yard stare from watching too many clanmates die horribly in Counter-Strike.

'Tabula Rasa' Screenshot 2

The benevolent Eloh race left these odd monuments around, which allow you to learn characters in their language - and unlock special abilities.

Those used to the slower and more considered pace of traditional fantasy MMORPGs should be recoiling in horror right about now, and rightly so. The genre hasn't always been plodding, by any means - anyone who has done high-level raid instances in a game like World of Warcraft can tell you how fast your reactions need to be at times. However, you've always been removed from the combat a little by an interface which was more akin to issuing commands than actually fighting. Tabula Rasa takes away that safety net, and not everyone is going to like it - but plenty of people, we think, are going to love it.

Service Guarantees Citizenship

It would be disingenuous, however, to suggest that Tabula Rasa is taking the RPG out of MMORPG. You may be aiming and firing guns in this game, but every shot you take is still the subject of a dice roll behind the scenes - working out whether you hit, what damage you caused, and so on. The aiming isn't particularly arduous, either, and the game keeps you locked on to targets even when they wander quite a long way out of your crosshairs.

However, there are new values being considered here in the dice roll equation - how far away your target is, whether it's behind cover, whether you're crouching or standing up, how long you've been locked onto it, whether you're facing an exposed or an armoured part. These enhance the strategy of movement, of positioning and of aiming in a way which MMORPGs have previously ignored, for the most part, even if they don't change the fact that underlying the whole thing is the same stat-based digital Top Trumps game which goes on behind the curtain of every MMO world.

'Tabula Rasa' Screenshot 3

Yes, it's got awesome stompy robots. No, we've not actually been given a chance to ride around in one. Boo!

Tabula Rasa's creator practically invented the rules of that stat game, and he's still a dab hand at implementing them. The game's character progression system is deceptive in its simplicity, and glorious in its flexibility. Taking its cues from Korean games (a nod, perhaps, to publisher NCsoft's heritage), it starts every player out as a Recruit - an undifferentiated character for whom you choose gender and appearance, but nothing else. As you move through the game, you'll hit branches at certain levels which allow you to choose how you wish to progress; characters divide into two branches at level 5 (Soldier, a general warrior class, and Specialist, a general support class), before subdividing into four and subsequently eight classes further on in the game.

It's a brilliant system, giving players plenty of time to experiment with different play styles before choosing their path - and it's made even better by Tabula Rasa's Cloning mechanism, which awards you credits with which to make clones of your existing character. You pick a new name and appearance, and a character is created at the same level as your existing character, but with no skill points allocated - allowing you to try new configurations, or to go off down a different class pathway without having to play through early content again. By making a clone before you make every major decision in the class tree, you effectively give yourself a chance to try each profession without grinding through the same levels all over again - a brave, innovative and wonderful piece of design.

Some other MMO features, however, die hard. The quest system includes some well-written and fairly interesting quests, with lots of instanced dungeons to fight through in each of the game's vast, extensive battlefield areas, but few of the quests are markedly different from those you'll already have seen in every RPG ever. Fetch-quests, kill-quests and messenger boy runs between bases are common - although a convenient teleport system at least means that travel around the world is utterly painless.

One type of quest which is a notable departure is the morality quest - a type of quest where you'll be asked to make a decision about what to do. An early example is an allied base where medical supplies have been going missing; later, you'll be asked by a soldier to do a drug delivery run for him. Agree, and he'll reward you with a stack of credits; report him to the base commander, and you get far less cash, and some people on the base start calling you a dirty snitch. The material impact of these choices is smaller than you might hope; for the most part, it just changes some NPC dialogue, but there are more pronounced effects in some missions, and the whole system definitely spices up Tabula Rasa's quests.

They're doing their part. Are you?

'Tabula Rasa' Screenshot 4

Spies are one of the high level classes - they not only look awesome, but they get to carry swords. All our Cyborg Ninja fantasies are re-emerging.

Tabula Rasa spent a long time in development, and some of the fruits of that labour are clear to see. The game sports two very visually distinct worlds to explore in its initial release, each with several incredibly vast battlefields which will take many hours to go through. Each battlefield is a living, breathing environment, where AI-controlled allies go at it hammer and tongs with nasty aliens and crucial bases change hands thanks to large-scale assaults. When the bad guys control them, that means no quest-givers, vendors, hospitals or teleport points until you take the base back.

Other parts of the game are less polished, though. The crafting system is incredibly hit and miss at this early stage - it's obvious that the team is aiming for something more complex than World of Warcraft's over-simplified crafting, but it falls short of the mark to a large degree, leaving players with dozens of crafting recipes that most of them will probably never use. One key reason for this is that the same skill points you use to boost your combat abilities need to be allocated to crafting abilities if you want to get good at it - a trade-off it seems ridiculous to ask for. We suspect that many players will end up creating a clone just for crafting purposes, which seems like odd behaviour to encourage.

The lack of an auction house - apparently a high priority for a patch at some point - is also confusing and annoying, since it basically means that there's no player economy in the game. Not only does that render crafting doubly useless, it also means that gear in the game is purely a commodity; if you can't use it, you chuck it, no matter how great it might be for another player. It's not exactly the kind of community gaming we look for in an MMORPG, and we're glad Destination Games is on the case to fix this.

'Tabula Rasa' Screenshot 5

In a vaguely Strogg-esque twist, your early instance missions will involve investigating these bio-mechanical horrors, crafted from the dead flesh of your Forean buddies.

Some aspects of the gameplay simply don't reach the level we'd expected, either. We were definitely disappointed with the fact that TR's enemies don't have the level of AI needed to take advantage of the game's strategic approach. For the most part, they exhibit Doom-level behaviour and just run straight for you (or worse, totally ignore you sniping them from afar), which isn't what you'd expect in a game so determined to rewrite the rulebook on MMO combat. We also felt a little let down by the density of quests in some areas. Perhaps we've been spoiled by WoW and its ilk, but having to go off and fight random monsters for a while just to level up enough to progress to the next zone felt backwards to us. Even if the process of killing random monsters has never been quite so much fun.

It would be remiss not to mention that we also experienced shocking technical problems with Tabula Rasa at first - horrible lag, random crashes and regular pauses in the gameplay, many of which ended up with us staring at our corpse when the game unfroze. A new patch released this week seems to have cleared up most of the problems, however, and we've not seen a crash since then - so for new players, at least, Tabula Rasa gets a relatively clean bill of health on the technical front. We'd strongly suggest a fairly powerful PC for the game, though; a system which runs World of Warcraft at high detail and full resolution may choke badly on Tabula Rasa. It's a memory hog, especially, and any system with less than 2GB will suffer from slow-down and stuttering.

'Tabula Rasa' Screenshot 6

She's heard that you're a massively insecure misogynistic idiot who posts juvenile tripe about women online, and she's got a big gun. She's looking at you, Assassin's Creed comments thread posters.

After dozens of hours with the game, though, it's hard not to forgive most of Tabula Rasa's flaws - technical or otherwise. The weak crafting and occasional moments of dullness in its quests are lifted by a great combat system, and the moment when things "click" for you and you start to understand the utility of the different weapon types is one of those great gaming moments when a vista of opportunity opens in front of you. (Actually, there's another minor criticism; the game really needs to educate players properly about the weapons they're using, rather than expecting you to visit the website in order to find out about their differences.)

Massively multiplayer games are all evolving things, and we're very, very keen to watch Tabula Rasa's evolution. The initial launch is incredibly promising, more than anything else. Right now, it's imperfect - but it's great fun to play, and we don't regret investing dozens of hours into the game - which is fairly high praise, given how many great games are sitting half-played on top of our various consoles. It's not necessarily the future of MMORPGs, no; but it's got polish to rival WoW in many key places, it's got great ideas, it eliminates much of the hated grind, and it's got a combat system that's fast, fun and unique. So as for those filthy bugs... We're going to do our part. Are you?

8 / 10

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About Rob Fahey

Read more articles from Rob by visiting the Rob Fahey archive page.

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Comments (93) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • NickyJD #1 4 years ago

    Fahey beans

  • Dizzy #2 4 years ago

    I played the beta and hated every second of the game. Not for me I guess.. an unexpected 8.

  • neuroniky #3 4 years ago

    "She's heard that you're a massively insecure misogynistic idiot who posts juvenile tripe about women online, and she's got a big gun. She's looking at you, Assassin's Creed comments thread posters."

    Best. Caption. Ev4r!

  • SeesThroughAll #4 4 years ago

    :D

    I 2nd that, neuroniky

  • RedPanda #5 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • gaselite #6 4 years ago

    Delightful caption on the last page.

  • MrWonderstuff #7 4 years ago

    Yea good caption at the end.

  • mkreku #8 4 years ago

    Yeah, I was in the beta too. Hated the graphics, hated the "atmosphere", hated the incredibly generic quest, hated the pseudo-FPS combat and was so appalled by seeing Richard Garriott's name on top of this (he made the fantastic Ultima series after all!).

    I have no idea how this could possibly earn a 8/10 score.

  • BurningR #9 4 years ago

    great caption, serves'em right the little/big morons

  • UncleLou #10 4 years ago

    Hehe, great caption, yes, shame that most of those who it concerns won't even see it.

    Sounds like a good game, there just is too much other stuff out at the moment.

  • Grogmonkey #11 4 years ago

    I cancelled my pre-order after playing the beta. Was not impressed at all, really. Still, Warhammer Online should be out sometime this century. That still could be good. Right?

  • riz23 #12 4 years ago

    I too played this game extensively in Beta and cannot link this review to the game that I played. This is not an 8/10 mmo imho. Not even close.

  • JediMasterMalik #13 4 years ago

    I played the beta when it was first out and didn't get on with it at all. Perhaps it's changed quite a bit from then.

  • [maven] #14 4 years ago

    http://xkcd.com/322/ :)

  • DoleScum #15 4 years ago

    Yeah I played the beta also and thought it was terrible, it must of changed quite a bit :p

  • Shinji #16 4 years ago

    I don't think the beta did them any favours, really. It was quite horrible, technically (I got a fair way through it due to bloody-mindedness more than anything else) and had huge gaps in the content on offer.

    That said, it's going to be a marmite game. I think loads of MMOG players are going to hate it, but loads of FPS players who turn up their noses at WoW are going to like it. I'm somewhere in the middle, so TR is right up my street really.

  • DuTraveller #17 4 years ago

    I played the beta too..and enjoyed for a couple of hours. THen became dull.. If i didnt had to pay for month, i would definitly buy it...to play sometimes.

  • Lemming81 #18 4 years ago

    You're all idiots. A beta is not a demo for the game, you know. I've not even played the damn game before anyone accuses me of being a bitter TR customer.

  • bushwod #19 4 years ago

    @neuroniky

    Seconded (or thirded, whatever)

  • PameBoy #20 4 years ago

    "...it also means that gear in the game is purely a commodity; if you can't use it, you chuck it"

    - but surely if you can't sell it, it's not a commodity?

    /end pedantic mode

    Sounds interesting and if I was in any way into MMOs I'd probably give it a go. I'm staunchly against the idea of still paying for a game after I've bought it though, so Guild Wars is the only MMO I've ever gotten into for any length of time. and even that didn't hold my interest for long.
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/07 @ 12:17

  • Wendelius #21 4 years ago

    Count me in the group of MMO players who do not get along with TR at all. Hated the pseudo FPS combat, the dull generic quests ans environments and really didn't feel any drive to keep playing. Interesting that it gets an 8. Must definitely be a marmite type of game.

  • Olemak #22 4 years ago

    I played the late beta (no way I am getting the full game), and I had one big question that the reviewer fails to adress completely:

    Why is this even an online game?

    There is no community. There is no teaming, to guilds, no player cities, no PVP except lame dueling, no player economy, none of the staples of good MMO games.

    Oh, except one: a montly siuubscription fee.

    There are probably some instances later on that require you to team up and so on, and maybe some community features materializes later in the game, but in my sting in tabula rasa, i found no evidence of it. Which begs the question: why is this game "Massive", or even "online"?

    Could this game have been made alomst entirely identical to what it is today, as an offline, single-player game?

    The answer is, sadly, from my experience - YES.

    One more thing: I don't think this games revinvents MMO combat even a bit. The same old classes - tank, DPS, debuffer, healer, ranged, stealth/rogue et cetera all lie thinly disguised in the classes. Combining FPS and MMO features is nothing new at all; Neocron did it years ago, and many others have followed suit since.

    I would absolutely not award this game more than a 6.
    While it is technically accomplished, it betrays it's own genre hideously - the only reason this game is a MMO at all, is the cash-cow subscription business model.

    Richard Garriot's status as insane genius hero of MMO creation is hereby anulled.
    In my book, this game has reduced him to a one-trick has-been cashing in on former glory - hence the name of the game: "Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa". The only other name I ever see plastered across game boxes and incorporated into the game's name and logo, is Tom Clancy (and I guess "Clive Barker's Jericho";).

  • Feet #23 4 years ago

    I'll wait for a trial week and then give it a crack. I'm always open to giving any MMO that promises to eliminate the grind a chance. That'll also give time for the devs to iron out all the annoying initial bugs.

  • Shinji #24 4 years ago

    There is no community. There is no teaming, to guilds, no player cities, no PVP except lame dueling, no player economy, none of the staples of good MMO games.

    I can only assume that you didn't play for very long. While it's possible to solo through a lot of the game, it would be bloody difficult; right from the outset it's full of instances which really need a few players working together, and retaking an AFS base that's been overrun by the Bane is a job requiring quite a few people to team up. Also, there are guilds - in fact, the first base you visit after the tutorial stage has a Guild formation NPC sitting right there next to the main quest-giver, so I'm not sure how you missed that.

    The lack of a player economy is a major black point, I agree - but I really, really don't see where you're coming from with the rest of your complaints.

    I don't think this games revinvents MMO combat even a bit.

    I disagree completely, and again, can only assume that you've not played very much. Certainly, the same logic is running beneath the surface - but stuff like the multiple different weapon types that you switch between depending on the tactical situation around you, and the use of cover and position, makes this feel very different to any MMO that people will have played before. You can sit there for hours working out parallels in other MMO titles, but it doesn't change the fact that it feels very different to play - which is what actually matters.

  • espy #25 4 years ago

    "She's heard that you're a massively insecure misogynistic idiot who posts juvenile tripe about women online, and she's got a big gun. She's looking at you, Assassin's Creed comments thread posters."

    ^ Why I love this site

  • MrChuckles #26 4 years ago

    Moi Aussi with the demo hating...

    Didn't like it at all i'm afraid.

    Dammit, i am actually in a situation playing no MMO at the moment after previously being into MUDs, Everquest, Anarchy Online, NWN Persistent world, COH, WOW, Guild Wars, COV, LOTRO.

    I must admit, the only one tempting me back is still COH/COV, I am really looking forwards to their new Marvel game, if the quests are more interesting, and the equipment changes, it'll be perfect.

  • Petrarch #27 4 years ago

    I was in the beta test for this, a pre-order costumer and now I'm in the live servers blasting away the bane with much glee. I think calling it a marmite game is fair, you'll either love it or hate it, there's not a lot of middle ground at the moment.

    For me personally, the game is a breath of fresh air in the MMO market that seems to be dominated by mages and dragons fantasy type affairs, it's just nice to have a new sci-fi themed one to tinker around with. The crafting system is quite weak yes, they're still working on a number of the end game contents such as PAU's and the Military Surplus, which is the auction house they're referring to - the buildings are there but not active yet. It's a solid base with a lot of potential and I do see a future for the game, but yes, it's quite fair to point out that as it stands now it's by no means perfect.

    As stated, there was lag issues for the first while - the instance maps in perticular where *very* laggy until later in the evening in the higher zones and last week lag was creeping into various world zones, but the first big patch that went live yesterday seems to have eradicated the vast majority of it overnight. Areas that were borderline unplayable 2 days ago at peak times are now running smoothly without issue. One zone known as the Mires isn't quite right yet though, but much improved from what it was.

    I believe they're starting up their "refer a rookie" program shortly, so if you've not tried the game out I'd encourage folks to have a look.

  • Gurgeh #28 4 years ago

    This game died in beta.

    "It would be remiss not to mention that we also experienced shocking technical problems with Tabula Rasa at first "

    Just like Hellgate you should make a much bigger deal about bugs than you do it doesn't matter how pretty the game is if it repeatedly crashes to the desktop - or in Hellgate's case if it bills you for your monthly subscription every day.

    TR's bigger problem is also the same as Hellgate - the later levels are exactly the same as the early levels.

  • linksdad #29 4 years ago

    Also briefly played the beta and didnt even bother logging on more than once. Perhaps the reserved 90% of the fun for launch. Or a fanboy review?

  • Hunam #30 4 years ago

    Shinji: Does it support game pads? When i played the beta it pretty much just screamed out that all the controls and interface would work great on a 360 pad.

  • BremXJones #31 4 years ago

    It really picked up from the Beta for me too. I wouldn't argue with the 8. It's probably my favourite MMO of the year.

    KG

  • Kami #32 4 years ago

    I believe they're working on the user economy Shinji. They're implementing trading posts soon - not sure why, since credits weren't exactly hard to come by in the beta. Still, there's a lot they could do to advance the idea... straight swaps and the like.

    I think Tabula Rasa has bags of potential - moreso than anything that's come before. This is a game, however, that has just been released. WoW has had years to develop, mature, evolve. The game you play in WoW today has had time to be refined and honed. Tabula Rasa, given the same time, could turn out to be something very special indeed. It's ridiculous to judge an MMORPG in it's first month of release - a year down the line, we'll see if it joins the graveyard of MMO's like Vanguard did...

  • Gaol #33 4 years ago

    Tabula Rasa has a worse identity crisis than post-NGE Star Wars Galaxies. These hybrid RPGs where you can aim a bit are a horrible clash of genres; the rpg fans would rather be looking at their stats, and the fps fans are hopelessly frustrated by the limitations. Something along the lines of Planetside might have had a market; a full on sci-fi mmorpg might have had a market, but this? I doubt it.

  • BremXJones #34 4 years ago

    (In fact, even putting aside the instances where you need to group or you will die messily, I've interacted more with strangers more than I ever did in either WoW or City of Heroes. The firefights are large enough, piling in and fight together happens constantly, even putting aside the base defence stuff.)

    Oh - and I'll say it's much better than Hellgate.

    KG

  • Azmat #35 4 years ago

    People who compare the beta to the released version have no clue. The game has become better since the release and a bit more spiced. It's amazing how most people consider a beta being a demo: it is not, it is a test. They softened up enemies in beta so people could attain a higher level on a shorter timespan: that's beta, not something you see in a final version.

    People who say this game doesn't deserve a #(insert score) because it's not their kind of game: that's just not right. There are others who may like it, and obviously, the game is targeted at them. I'll agree the game is targeted at it's own niche of players, but oh well, you can't please all. I'm glad it's not fantasy mmo #157, and if it was, it would have a lot of competition (WoW).

    I'm finding Tabula Rasa to be good fun. I log in, run off to do some quests, but admittedly i stop here and there to partake in a fight. A dropship putting down some AFS soldiers, engaging a mob of Bane. I stop and help them kill them. Why ? Just, it's fun hearing them shout and then have them progress further down the field.
    Scifi and guns are absolutely what i love, this is my kind of game. The pseudo-fps (though i'd call it a third person shooter more than a fps) style is well done, and i'm glad i'm not overloaded with a skillbar full of spells, 70% of which you never get to use anyway...
    The story is good and works for me, i like the environment and the ever ongoing fights. I'll be playing TR for a while longer i'm sure.

    The game has it's flaws too, though. I'm glad the patch came around and stabilized some things, but it still needs work. For instance, Europe has only one server to choose from, which is almost always at High or Very high population, creating lag at peak times which can get annoying. It's not unplayable but sometimes you get the Great Lag Bump, clodding up your tube to the interwebs, to have it all flushed in at moment shortly afterwards. But oh well, almost all MMO's have this issue at launch.
    Crafting needs a lot of work, as said in the review, it's next to pointless right now and expensive: skillpoint & moneywise. It has promises, but we need an Auction house soon to stimulate the player trade, and crafting will get a purpose as people try to pimp themselves out. Luckily they're on the ball here, and an AH will be there soon i'm sure.

  • Gurgeh #36 4 years ago

    "The game you play in WoW today has had time to be refined and honed. "

    WoW was refined and honed from day 1 of release. It was in a better state in beta than TR is now or is likely to be in a few months time. The bugs can be fixed (broken mission indicators, hi2u good old /stuck xploit, etc), balances sorted out (goodbye economy with people running round with a million+ credits in their back pocket) but fundamentally there is nothing to aim for in the game, if you pardon the pun. There is no high level content, period.

  • UncleLou #37 4 years ago

    Depends what kind of game you want, really - I don't have the time or energy to play a "proper" MMORPG at the moment, so Hellgate which is better suited to casual playing is just perfect - besides that I am ridiculously addicted to collecting loot, of course. ;)

    And surprisingly, I found that Hellgate delivers much more of what Tabula Rasa promised, namely FPS mechanics with underlying stats. I found the TR beta a bit disappointing in that respect, but I admittedly didn't play it very far. Anyway, I think they should maybe have published that at another date. November is not a good month to start a MMORPG. That it's winter and people have more time to play games is probably more than outweighed by the fact the release calendar is full of outstanding games that require less time and money.

  • Pike #38 4 years ago

    Damn you Shinji. I did not want to have to play two MMOs simultaneously.

  • BremXJones #39 4 years ago

    Them amping up the difficulty in combat between the Beta (even late Beta) and the release is the key for me. It's just a lot more interesting as there's more stuff happening.

    KG

  • vane101 #40 4 years ago

    This pseudo FPS combat isn't really new. Neocron had it years ago and still does. May be TR is more refined but I'd like to see a direct comparison.

    Not sure it's one for me as I like the other aspects apart from combat of MMOs.

  • gizmo #41 4 years ago

    "She's looking at you, Assassin's Creed comments thread posters."

    This is what I love about Eurogamer!

  • StarchildHypocrethes #42 4 years ago

    I like it.

    That is all.

  • Clive_Dunn #43 4 years ago

    "Oh - and I'll say it's much better than Hellgate."

    Not exactly a ringing endorsement as Hellgate is a bit of a shocker.

  • kangarootoo #44 4 years ago

    @neuroniky

    +1 hehe

  • BremXJones #45 4 years ago

    Clive: Yeah, but I didn't want to be mean.

    KG

  • gmmonkey #46 4 years ago

    Played the game in beta. I found it ok. The environments didn't really capture my imagination. Most of the instances I found a bit too similar. There was a couple of amazing instances though.

    One thing I hate is regional segregation. If sucks. I don't want to play on a server where a large proportion doesn't speak english. I want the option to play with ameericans. I moaned and moaned about this to ncsoft. Their reasons were, lag and giving a more focused european offering, whatever that fucking means. Eventually their reason was that ncsoft europe is a different company from the american based one. The european servers were getting patches later and werent allowed on the test server etc.. Apparently, they then eventually merged the servers, with the american ones. I had left about 6 months before that. By then there was ten people playing. Prepare to be shafted in the ass. /goesbacktoeve

  • Shinji #47 4 years ago

    Again, you're whinging about the beta, rather than the full game. I almost think it's a shame these games do beta runs at all in some instances, since they're clearly populated by people who can't understand that they're testing an unfinished product, rather than getting free entertainment.

  • Hunam #48 4 years ago

    You can't sit there and claim that a Beta is only for testing and there is no ounce of marketing in it at all.

  • J.C #49 4 years ago

    She looks like joanna dark no?

  • Turrican #50 4 years ago

    As a long standing Neocron community member I would also like to point to the fact that throughout TR's development they have claimed a lot of 'revolutionary' features which Neocron had 5 years ago.

    Admittedly Neocron has its flaws, and is nearly dead now, but I'm seeing the same blinkers on the game reviewers that I've seen from Garriot throught TR's development.

    And yes, I would admit that the two combat types are different in many ways, but a mention of Neocron's innovation in the MMO scene in your reviews would have been nice.

  • Shinji #51 4 years ago

    Of course not - but you have to start to question its value as a marketing tool when people fail to understand the whole "beta" concept. It's pretty bad when someone essentially says "in the beta for this, I had some problems with how things worked, but they responded to feedback and fixed them before launch" - but presents it as a BAD thing. Bizarre.

  • groovychainsaw #52 4 years ago

    I got bored in the beta after 2 hours of wandering about and getting lost - combat was fun, but there wasn't anything else? Surprised (also!) by the review...

  • benuaq #53 4 years ago

    Played the beta, was reminded how bad some games can be, and remembered that while WoW is a boring slug-a-thon for 15-year-olds, it's at least a well-made game.

  • ZuluHero #54 4 years ago

    "BremXJones
    It really picked up from the Beta for me too. I wouldn't argue with the 8. It's probably my favourite MMO of the year.

    KG "

    That's all i needed to hear :)

  • groovychainsaw #55 4 years ago

    Well - if its improved that much in 1 month, then well done guys, but I found the content to be lacking a bit as of 1 month ago. I do agree that the base attacking/defending (which you kinda did on the fly) and attacking drop ships was fun, but even that got a bit stale after a couple of hours... I couldn't find what the hook was really, that niggle that gets you back to play again....

  • Chauncy #56 4 years ago

    I played this in beta, and up until now had totally dimissed it. Now you've gone and piqued my interest in it again, so I hope you're chuffing happy.

    One question though, albeit a bit of a petty one: Has the character creation been expanded at all? It was kind of frustrating to only be able to change a few armour colours and appearances, which end up getting replaced anyway.

    Sadly it looks like I'll now be dabbling in three MMOs at the same time, forcing my bank account to gently weep.

  • riz23 #57 4 years ago

    Actually to just knock people who play the beta and find they didn't like what was offered and slate them as ignorant is pretty stupid. I know how games are made and I know that a beta is fairly representative of the final product. You just dont get turds at beta that end up as golden winners. Yes, MMO's are different, in the sense that the retail product is treated just like a beta, often for years. I wouldn't take that as any glowing endorsement of how to offer a game to the public though.

  • BremXJones #58 4 years ago

    I think the secret is literally just them turning the dial to the right on monster density. I mean, there's lots of other stuff, but that alone just made it feel like not much else. It kind of reminds me of the early days of City of Heroes, when you were capable of fighting large mobs yourself. In Tabula, facing off against four or so creatures is fine, if you play it smart, which is a buzz.

    It's been a pretty bad year for the MMO, in my opinion - while quite liking it, I don't share Shinji's love of LOTRO, thinking it somewhat cynical. I'll agree that TR is nowhere near as revolutionary as it thinks it is, but that doesn't mean it's not of interest.

    I suspect when they get around to doing a free trial, it'll pick up some more attention. The Beta really didn't serve its interest at all.

    EDIT: I mean, I'm as surprised as everyone else, having played the Beta. While I didn't think it as totally disastrous as others, it was all over the place.

    Re: Costumes. No, it's still a little weak. Lots of face stuff, but that's it. I ended up dying myself purple regularly.

    KG
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/07 @ 14:21

  • Azmat #59 4 years ago

    Char creation isn't meant to be extremely defining. You create an avatar, make it look like you want to (more or less) and enter the game. Defining choices come as you level up (going up in the tiers). For me it works, i personally don't expect to be able to build up a 'sim' or a load of options.

    There is a trial out by the way. Subscribers are able to pass out some buddy passes:
    [link url=h ttp://eu.rgtr.com/en/news_article/recruit_a_rookie
    ]http://eu .rgtr.com/en/news_article/recru...[/link]
    Its a 3 day trial but a trial nonetheless. If anyone wants a go and doesn't mind the short time, pm me with a valid (!) email and a name, and i'll see if i can hook you up. (Euro account btw).

  • Lov3 #60 4 years ago

    No MMO is actually ready to be played until a minimum of 6 months after it's release. I mean, I do understand the allure of getting revenue while you develop your game, but I'm not buying any game with crash to desktop problems until it is at least stable.

    "anyone who has done high-level raid instances in a game like World of Warcraft can tell you how fast your reactions need to be at times"

    High level raiding was the reason I quit WoW in the end - it requires next to nothing in terms of reaction times. It's a simple 3 button affair - click em, get gear, repeat until victorious. By the time my guild was moving into SSC I had lost interest completely.

    EDIT: that last bit is not strictly relevant, but I sincerely hope that instancing in Tabula Rasa resembles something at least marginally difficult, and less repetitive than other MMOs. They were mentioned in the article, but theres no context. Are they faster paced than WoW? Is there more to do? Are they difficult? How many players do you need?
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/07 @ 14:57

  • pinchofsalt #61 4 years ago

    "You may be aiming and firing guns in this game, but every shot you take is still the subject of a dice roll behind the scenes - working out whether you hit, what damage you caused, and so on. The aiming isn't particularly arduous, either, and the game keeps you locked on to targets even when they wander quite a long way out of your crosshairs."

    Fuck that then.

  • Katsumoto #62 4 years ago

    I would definately have picked this up for a laugh, except November is already crammed with so many other games. I may pick it up next year during a quiet patch.

    Trouble is, i've made such a good friendship group via WoW (who I still chat to every day despite the fact I havent played WoW for 6 months), that when I start a new mmo it just feels lonely. All my "RL" Friends who still play MMOs only play WoW, and refuse to consider trying a new one, and same goes for the old guildies. Gutted.

  • Chauncy #63 4 years ago

    Azmat:

    I did say it was a fairly petty question, but I do enjoy mucking about with character creation. It's a role playing game, and I'd say part of your character is defined in its looks. Maybe I'm just spoilt by CoH, the character creation there was a game in itself.

    But if there is some changes you can make to the 'ol facial regions, then that's good enough, since armour is going to come and go. Anyway, its hardly game breaking I suppose, and to prove it, I'll probably get this on the way home from work tonight.

  • Azmat #64 4 years ago

    options for char creation include : hair style, face style, facial hair style, upper face style (like glasses), and setting some colours. (prob some more options but not a lot). Can't tinker with height or weight though, i admit it's fairly limited, and probably not enough for some, but works enough for me :)

  • darc #65 4 years ago

    "the game really needs to educate players properly about the weapons they're using, rather than expecting you to visit the website..."

    A small but excellent point. The assumption that players are willing to sift through reams of web content in order to get the most out of a game is a terrible precedent in the MMORPG genre that was set way back with EQ1 - making that game and several others unplayable IMO.

    A commercial game should be self-documenting; the learning curve should present itself in-game. Homework and a required reading list are not what I look for from an entertainment purchase. (Not saying that's the case with TR, just riffing on your point in general.)
    Edited by 3 at 15/11/07 @ 16:01

  • Gulag #66 4 years ago

    Will we see another EG review after the first big content patch/6 months, whichever comes first?

  • BioSniper #67 4 years ago

    Anyone who is comparing this game to the beta is rather silly in all fairness.

    Beta is not Demo. The game as come a VERY long way since the early open beta accounts were offered (then subsequently closed). Most of the tweaks happened in the final 2 weeks of the beta test and judging the game by anything before that is just daft.

    This game sits nicely with those of us that loved Planetisde but also love the MMORPG element, sure we are a small market and it wont be everyone's taste but it's the one game that's dragged me back to the otherwise stale fantasy MMO market.

    It's not without its bugs or issues but it IS one of the smoother launches I've seen. Anyone remember WoW launch? Not being able to put keys in for 7 hours or so, numerous server and client crashes.
    Sure WoW has more content but it's been out 3 years or there abouts, you have to expect that.

    This game has great potential for future expansions etc and I would whole heartedly agree with the 8/10 that it was given.

    Those of you that want a trial, try finding someone that plays, they can send you a 3 day (yes only 3) buddy key to give it a shot with.

    If you are the type though that likes the almost entirely automated combat system in WoW (tab a target, press 1 button) rather than the faster paced combat of a third person shooters then steer well clear.
    If however you love third person or first person shooters and also enjoy RPG's then give it a go.

  • Kami #68 4 years ago

    As for WoW being done right from day one... one word. Silithus. Thank you, goodnight.

  • groovychainsaw #69 4 years ago

    whether the developers like it or not, people will use the beta as a reflection of the completed game, and should be aware of that. WoW left a great impression after I got hooked on the beta and I signed up straight away for the main game, which I played for about 18 months! TR just left me cold - I'm not sure if the things done in the last two weeks would change that feeling.

  • bobshirunkel #70 4 years ago

    I played the beta as much as my ageing PC could handle it. I agree with most of the criticisms put forth here, but I'm still interested - there's enough here that's different to persevere with. Only after I've upgraded my machine though - by which time the game will have moved on and improved too. I'll think of this as a summer '08 release. Fortunately there's tonnes of stuff to be playing in the meantime.

  • smelly #71 4 years ago

    Shite name = bad sales = no-one playing = pointless mmorpg = no reason for me to play it

  • UncleLou #72 4 years ago

    You couldn't make it up.

  • Freki #73 4 years ago

    Currently, I am loving it, even after playing in the beta. The Euro server is packed at the moment an they will be opening a new one soon I believe.

    It is much more of a casual MMO than WOW etc and does sem to be a love/ate thing.

  • yagisencho #74 4 years ago

    Hm...sounds like the combat may appeal to long-time players of Asheron's Call (namely, me).

  • Darkedge #75 4 years ago

    I find it immense fun and it seems they have got alot of new great features that will be coming to the game like the Mechs you will be able to stomp around in (the PAU's)
    The one EU server doesn't matter as it's region free so you can play with Americans if you should really want to - gmmonkey was talking rubbish about server separation.

    I'd say if you want something that is not orcs and bloody elves, isn't another cookie cutter MMO with just different models, and that delivers instant and constant action - give it a try with an open mind, you'll probably be like me and love it.

    The base invasions have to be played in to believe them as it goes off and goes mental :)

  • AOFanboi #76 4 years ago

    <em>Beta is not Demo.</em>

    For MMOs: Yes they bloody are, and have been at least since Anarchy Online. They just aren't called demos, but for all practical purposes a public beta of a MMO IS a demo.

    Plus people have gotten so jaded from earlier MMO producers' lies about how bug X will be fixed in retail that they simply assume the state of the game in beta is the real state it will be in at retail.

    People who compare the game to the beta aren't being silly, they are being EXPERIENCED. "Will it have the same bugs and exploits in retail as in the open beta?" is a question along the lines of "will the Sun arise tomorrow?"

  • chischis #77 4 years ago

    Sounds appealing. I find western fantasy games - in general - are usually completely generic and boring in the extreme, both visually and in the usual hack-n-slash gameplay. So being an FPS fan, and a sci-fi fan... I would give this a go. The only other MMORPG that sustained my interest was Anarchy Online.

    But paying a monthly subscription to play a game, being self employed, is not a tremendously wise financial decision. I'll try it if they ever do some sort of limited "free" account.

  • ASHBERY76 #78 4 years ago

    In this the worst named game in history?

  • UncleLou #79 4 years ago

    No, it's one of the better named ones.

  • Darkedge #80 4 years ago

    Fort MMO's Betas are not demo's except in the eyes of some people in marketing who do treat them like that which is moronic. Beta is testing the game, betas do involve finding bugs with a large group of people and fixing them and tweaking the game before release.
    Yes a beta is treated like a demo for many people - it never is for the developers and certainly isn't for the good testers. I've been in many betas and alot of them seem to aim for the marketing, lets get people interested ideal, these have worked for the real purpose (testing) but have done nothing good for the public perception of the product and have buried good ideas before completion. If you think a product is finished in beta you are a fool. Well MMO's are never finished anyway, but certainly a beta is NOT a demo. The TR beta I was lucky enough to be in and it could've gone better, lots of people saw what they thought was a finished game (erroneously) and now dismiss one of the most complete MMO's at release I have seen, and thats not perfect no - but a great place to build from.

    I look forward to TR breaking and changing peoples pre conceptions (and original views), and I have no doubt it will

  • smelly #81 4 years ago

    >In this the worst named game in history?

    Yip.

    It's instantly forgetable. I keep trying to remember the name of it, so i can slag the name off.. but i cant!

    not something you can ask your missus to get for you while she's out shopping for shoes is it?

  • NegativeZero #82 4 years ago

    @Olemak: "Richard Garriot's status as insane genius hero of MMO creation is hereby anulled"

    Richard Garriot does not deserve that status in the first place. All he did was take text-based MUDs and put graphics on top. Ultima Online wasn't even the first big MMO.

  • FunkyRenegade #83 4 years ago

    I took part in the Beta, like many others here, but contrary to most I really enjoyed it. It almost tempted me into buying it, if only it weren't for the two weeks of mad 360 releases this and next week which I needed to save the pennies for :)

  • Grogmonkey #84 4 years ago

    Just because an MMO isn't bug-free or even feature compelte in beta, doesn't mean it can't be used to judge whether or not you're going to enjoy the game.

    The first time I played WoW, I was gripped. Something about that game struck chords with me. It was a similar feeling to the first time I played Final Fantasy XI, but even more so. The first time I played Tabula Rasa was akin to that feeling of anticipation you get when you're watching the loading screen: anticipation of the excitement to come. After about 2 hours, I realised that I was waiting for nothing. There wasn't going to be a point where the game 'started' for me; this WAS the game. If I'm going to drop £30-40 (I had the special edition pre-ordered) on a game, and then £8-10 every month afterwards, a game has to grip from the start.

    And, because no game would be fundamentally changed between the one or two month period between when I beta tested TR and the release date, a beta IS a fair indication of whether or not someone's going to enjoy the base mechanics. I'm sure for those that liked the concept from the get-go, the improvements from beta to release are great. But if you don't like the foundations, then no amount of bug-fixing is going to change that.

  • gmjapan #85 4 years ago

    "The aiming isn't particularly arduous, either, and the game keeps you locked on to targets even when they wander quite a long way out of your crosshairs."

    This alone might put me off long term play.

    I am gonna try it out but my main gripe with WoW is the auto-aiming, auto-hitting "action". That you can hit moving targets without even pretending to face in their direction.

  • UncleLou #86 4 years ago

    >In this the worst named game in history?

    Yip.

    It's instantly forgetable. I keep trying to remember the name of it, so i can slag the name off.. but i cant!

    not something you can ask your missus to get for you while she's out shopping for shoes is it?

    Some basic Latin knowledge helps.

  • Petrarch #87 4 years ago

    Well, we're 2 weeks in now (and a bit for us pre-order types) and I think it's fair to say the launch has been relatively successful. Always plenty of people about, the recent patch has wiped out a lot of the technical and lag problems the game was having and from what's been said by the dev team, it's gathered that the take up of the game has been higher than they expected, perticularly in the EU.

    While I realise based on the track record of the comment threads it often seems to be considered the norm to slag a game off, I don't think TR is being given a fair shake by the community. If you don't like it, fine, but at least be objective and fair in your critical voicing of the game, don't just stick the knife in for the mere sake of it.

  • Pike #88 4 years ago

    If people find this name bad it's probably because they are functionally retarded.

    No surprise that Smelly is one of them.

  • ZuluHero #89 4 years ago

    Hi Pike.

    Hi Zuluhero - What's the story, Morning glory? What's the word, Humming Bird?

    Did you hear Smelly is slow?

    Can he still Drive a car? Can he Sit at a bar? will they let him have kids? Is his life on the Skids!

    Hello Mrs Smelly, it's your neighbour Zuluhero, now that Smelly is mental, you probably have some needs... OH!

    He's Retarded!

    He's Retarded!

    He's Retarded!

    Smelly is.....SLOW

    :p

    -------
    (sorry guys im only messing- its just when ever anybody calls someone "retarded" i always think of this song - Curse you family guy! ;)

  • BremXJones #90 4 years ago

    Ah, I remember the furore around Deus Ex's name from people who couldn't pronounce it.

    (In fact, didn't they stick the pronunciation on some boxes or something?)

    KG

  • Pike #91 4 years ago

    It's as if people have never even heard of John Locke or Thomas Aquinas.

  • ASHBERY76 #92 4 years ago

    Deus Ex sounded cool even if you did'nt understand what it ment.Tabula Rasa sounds terrible,even before you install it.

  • BremXJones #93 4 years ago

    So speaks the rose tinteds. No-one could even pronounce it, with lots of people wondering about whether it was a Day of Sex or something.

    KG

  • gmjapan #94 4 years ago

    I got this the other day and now a couple of days in, total noob, overall im loving it :)
    I like the combat; nice pace, lots of fun.
    I really like the way the weapon and ability slots work.
    I cant always shake that 'single player' feeling but then I havent gotten the hang of interaction yet which is annoying me :( Usually anybody I see is flying past before i can even get the first 3 letters of their name.
    If i could separate my combat log so i can see chat and it at the same time i'd be liking it a bit more.