simpilot@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Gumby) wrote in
news:acf1469a.0309090651.77b07125@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I am thinking of trying AO now that Shadowlands has come out. Is the
> interface easy to learn or is it a bear to learn? I have lots of
> experience with EQ, Camelot and Star Wars Galaxies. Is there a
> tutorial and such? Thanks a bunch for the tips...
You expected an unbiased response in a NG devoted to the game? I've
played
two of the games you mentioned and a couple of others. The AO interface
is
non-standard, obtuse and difficult to get used to. Do***entation is
poorly
organized and vague, and there is no tutorial. Steep learning curve?
Apparently these guys decided to reinvent the wheel. There's a reason
that
most MMOs have similar interfaces, and the AO designers completely ignored
it. Part of the interface involves multilevel menus, a hassle when you're
trying to get to something quickly. Much more of the interface is
graphical, yet there are some features that can only be accessed by typing
DOS-like commands at a command line. Labels and terminology tend not to
have any intrinsic meaning, making it just that much harder.
Although the game mechanics appear to belong to a skills-based RPG, it's
actually a class-based RPG (in other words, if your chosen profession
isn't
really meant to use a rifle, no matter how many points you put into rifle
skill you will never be any good at it, but don't expect the game to warn
you that you're wasting your points). Nothing is explained up front, you
choose a race and a profession (again, the profession names are hardly
descriptive of what the professions actually do) effectively blind, with
only about 25 not-terribly-descriptive words to "guide" your decision. A
couple of months ago, the game had an introductory area (a space station)
where you could query NPCs for information on races, politics, game areas
and expansions, and factions/clans, but for some reason AO has now done
away with this and new players enter the game that much more blindly. In-
game NPCs often give incredibly vague responses to how-to questions, and
your list of responses in a conversation sometimes seem to have nothing to
do with the conversation you're having (ex., while having a conversation
with a healer about finding the official who will give you your next
mission, your possible responses include the irrelevant statement, "I have
three animal parts for you," which, if chosen, cause the healer to say
something like, "No, I need three of them."). In most games, experience
rewards for beating a particular creature will decline over time to
reflect
your character's relative increase in skill, but in AO the rewards drop
off
suddenly; a particular creature will be worth 500 xp everytime you beat
one, and then suddenly the next one is worth nothing. Don't get me
started
about the strange level system, where your character can be seventh level
yet still be considered first level; apparently there are character levels
and class levels, which in addition to being needlessly confusing doesn't
make a whole lot of sense, since characters can't multiclass. It seems
that there are a set number of points to reach each of one type of level,
yet the other type requires tens of the other type on some sliding
geometric scale (ex., it takes fifty of the smaller levels to get you to
second level in the class system, yet the next level break requires 125
levels, or some such thing).
My pc exceeds the recommended system requirements, yet AO crashes
everytime
I patch or upgrade, after which it can't seem to find my DirectX
compatible
video card. I cannot participate in large scale combat because the frame
rates tank when there are more than a half dozen characters in my
immediate
vicinity. The interface could potentially contain dozens of floating
windows that are supposed to be resizable, yet most of the time they won't
resize. They can be closed but there is no obvious way to reopen them
again. Due to a flaw with the camera positioning system, your combat
target is always hidden by your character's body unless your target is
significantly larger than your character.
In all, I find it an exercise in frustration. About half of each session
is spent trying to figure out why something doesn't work in the way you'd
expect, trying to figure out how to access a feature that should be easier
to get to, or recovering from a freeze or crash. A game is supposed to be
fun. It shouldn't be work, it shouldn't require that you make it your
sole
hobby in order to figure out how to play. I suppose you get what you pay
for.
|
