Today I'd like to cover a game I didn't know existed only a few days back, a game out of a genre that is heavily under represented on our beloved platform, a(n old-school) sandbox MMORPG named Albion Online!
While the game will be free to play upon release it currently is in phase called "Summer Alpha", meaning that you can only play it if you buy an epic or legendary founder pack from https://albiononline.com/en/founderpacks
Normally the tag free to play alone would be enough to send me running, for multiple reasons I wont get into, but this game caught my attention and I did want to try it out so badly that I even supported them and now I'm really glad I did.
As I think the official website does a good job in providing all the necessary info I've only picked a few things I personally am very excited about the game-design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSZpze0TZHk
Terminology - Sandbox vs. Themepark
For people unaccustomed to the term, in a sandbox (like Albion Online or Eve Online) you don't apply the same formulas as in a themepark (famous themepark-MMORPGs being World of Warcraft, Everquest 2 or Age of Conan).
Instead of solely focusing on creating new dungeons, raids, battlegrounds and whatnot you give the player the tools to shape the world themselves.
Player driven
One central aspect of Albion Online is a player driven economy. About every item you can get in game was made by other players.
Apart from "safe-zones" most of the territory will be conquerable too, giving a nice touch and meaning to guild wars.
By This Axe, I Rule! (Robert E. Howard, Kull)
Quote"You can conquer the vast world of Albion for yourself! Territories mean shelter from the dangers of the wilderness, and room to build villages and gather precious resources. Claim yours, then expand your empire and protect it from invaders!"
But fear not, if are not really into PVP there is also meaningful PVE-content:
Quote"Monster hunting isn’t just a pastime in Albion Online. The creatures you fight provide you with the resources you’ll need to create weapons and items. Arm yourself wisely: Powerful beasts lurk in the world below, and only true heroes can best them!"
One world/realm, one ruleset
Another thing different to most themeparks is that every player of Albion Online plays on the same master server, in one huge game world.
That is one part that I really love from other games such as Eve or Mortal Online as well. Your actions do count a lot more too. Technically there could be a few downsides, but if the developers can distribute the nodes evenly around the (real planet ;)) earth I don't see lag being a major game-breaker.
Kleider machen Leute / Clothes make the (wo)man
There are no predefined classes in Albion Online, instead you decide what you want your character to be. From being a successful farmer, smith or tailor to being a well-known magician or an infamous war-lord, the decision is up to you.
Quote"Forget what you know from other MMOs. There are no classes in Albion Online, which means no restrictions on what you can equip. Experiment to design and create your own perfect build - in Albion Online, you are what you wear!"
Another very interesting feature is what the devs call "truly cross-platform". Apart from the game supporting Linux you may ask what's the big deal. Well, Albion Online is supposed to be playable on the major desktop platforms (Linux, Mac, Windows) as well as mobile platforms (Android and iOS) to its full extent!
They prepared a video to explain that feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPJstK0ykto
Personal thoughts
One big bonus for me so far: I've played quite a few MMORPGs, especially back in the days, and what struck me most is the community in Albion. I've never ever met a bigger bunch of open and friendly people than in that game. Whenever I felt the urge to ask a question I got dozens of nice answers although I'm sure some of them have been answered zillions of times.
You don't need a beefy rig to play this game. I did try it under Archlinux with Kernel 4.0 an AMD 6950HD (2GB) and the open source drivers (Mesa). I ran like a charm (one of the few unity games I can say that about) and so far I couldn't see any graphical glitches or other issues. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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*This game idea has an idea similar to the MMORPG F2P games:
- Wurm Online (Java 3D): Can actually terraform. However F2P mode is pretty limited and I didn't see many people at all last times I tried.
- Ensemble Online (Flash 2D): Very much the same as this idea, but 2D.
- Runescape (Java 3D): I actually never played this, but I heard at least some of the custom private servers with mods allowed construction. I think this would be the Classic Runescape, as they also made a newer Runescape with the same name.
*As for payment models:
- F2P + Premium: Very successful if skillfully made to NOT be pay-to-win. One of the best ways is speeding up levelling (exp bonuses). No premium items should EVER be offered that provide an unfair functional advantage.
- F2P + Item Shop: Very successful if skillfully made to NOT be pay-to-win. Same conditions as above, but also greater risk because you rely solely on random item purchases. Loss of interest in items = Loss of the game. You also have to constantly develop new great items, eventually becoming a ridiculous size that may greatly hamper performance and even population. Wanna download a 50-100 GB game? Even 10 is iffy.
- Buy Once, Play Forever: Very successful for a limited time. Forever is actually until the server hosting payments run out. Also, if advertisements and reviews are not absolute best, there will be a lack of players. In general, the game population will always be smaller than F2P Models, and the sad fact of the matter is that most play games if there are a lot of people online, even if there is extensive and great offline play. Any mention of low populations anywhere and the game will fall quickly.
- Subscription: Limited Success. There have been very great successes in the past, but again, for a very limited time. Really were only successful because the above alternatives weren't around, and this model has fallen greatly since. The only really successful ones are those that have the most amazing of gameplay, visuals, features, etc. So unless you're making a supreme game that wont be forgotten for decades (and maybe even played for that or more), don't expect this to work now-a-days.
Seriously? Pass…
oO
Seriously???, indeed.
Lootable corpses is probably one of the more silly ideas ever brought to MMOs. I guess if that's a feature of that game, I shall pass, too. I'd rather boot into Windows to play MMOs than letting some random PKer that stabbed me in the back have all the stuff I worked my behind off for weeks to get. Or leave it at home in the first place for the fear of losing it, defeating the point of having nice stuff in the first place.
I have seriously no idea who in their right mind would think a feature like this would attract a meaningful number of players to an online game. *shakes head*
Blatant marketing speak gives me gas.
Wow, freaking wussies. There should be some sort of reward for someone who managed to beat you in a fight. I know Ultima Online, way back when I played that, the PKers would be able to loot all of your items when they killed you. Then they changed it so that they got a certain percentage of your items. It really hurt when you spent so much time/gold on getting enough reagents to cast spells, and then have someone kill you off and steal them all. But at least there was a penalty for dying. Now when you die in most MMORPGs (and I'm not talking about just PK'd) you spawn a short distance away then run back to where you were to defeat whatever killed you. Remember when you'd lose skill points or XP at least?
This is why Dark Souls is so popular, it's a brutal game (though it's almost brutal to the point you want to hunt down the developers and give them a fair fisting, I know Bloodborne makes me think that). Really if there is no penalties, the games just turn into a grind. I think what would be a cool option, would be the same thing as when you die in some games and it leaves a marker on the map where you died last so you could go gather your stuff, and if a monster or PC picked it up, the marker would move with them, so you could hunt down the bastard that killed you before. Revenge!
> revenge
> after you lost everything
Cool story, bro.
Besides, don't most games even have a system where items are 'bound' to you? In which case those items wouldn't be stolen. In fact, another cool mechanic they should implement is being able to get an enchanter to bind items to you, in case you did get looted you wouldn't lose that. Make it costly enough that people would only do that on really prized items. But hey, I've only ran role playing games for more than a decade and actually prefer to give players a challenge rather than a grind. But then that's also why I had to move away from playing Dungeons and Dragons, 'cause it's just 'kill kill, more xp, level up, kill kill, loot loot, more xp.'
In effect, you are replacing grind with grind & fear. Hardly worth sinking that much time into. Fighting games work better for healthy adrenaline thing, IMO. Well, they'd have been if there were any released for Linux in the last millenia %)
I stopped reading there. People like you are the very reason features like that should never be implemented.
Last edited by Kimyrielle on 10 July 2015 at 3:22 am UTC