Ever wonder what I was up to for the last two years?
Written: Jan 09 '04 (Updated Jan 09 '04)
Product Rating:
Pros: Highly customizable character skills, best MMORPG combat, random loot generation code
Cons: Zone.com interaction, monthly fees, leveling woes, MMORPGs are addictive, no controller option
The Bottom Line: Why no recommendation for a five-star game? This game had me so addicted that I ignored the things that I loved in my life. Stay away.
rader6795's Full Review: Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty (Add on) for Windows
Prologue
I'm a gamer. There's few things in the world I enjoy as much as games. I'm not going to be insane and call what I do a sport like that sorry Soul Calibur II champion, Jason, on the recent MTV and EGM video game show collaboration, "Ultimate Videogame Countdown," did. At least the Dance Dance Revolution chick did something important, like lose ninety pounds and get all sorts of hot, with her gaming life.
Really, man, that was sad. I laughed aloud when I heard him say "Do the Yankees not take the World Series seriously?" and continue, "I absolutely consider this a sport. I take it seriously." It made me want to go over to his house and give him a Guinness Book noteworthy atomic wedgie. If being proficient at a videogame is all the more validity you have in your life, do me a favor and frag yourself, would you?
With that said, I decided that it was time for me to dabble into the world of the Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (from here forth referred to as MMORPG) to pass time while I was in Korea. My supervisor at the time suggested, with much passion, a game called Asheron's Call. I asked the textbook question every gamer with little MMORPG knowledge will ask: "So, is it like Everquest?
I had, in the past, spent a short amount of time with Everquest while I was in the states. I didn't much care for the game, though. If you had no one to travel at your side, then the game got fairly boring very quickly. Also, while I had no problem with the fact that characters in Final Fantasy never had their swords strike the enemies, I couldn't see why any three dimensional game wouldn't at least make a strike look like it was hitting the enemy, even if it was all stat and text based.
Luckily, my former supervisor peaked my interest. I ponied up the twenty bucks to try it out. This was a new expansion that, unlike Everquest, included the full original game. Also, to reduce the risk factor, the first month of the game subscription was free. So, since the monthly subscription rate was a meager ten bucks, I only paid ten bucks for the CD when all was said and done. I figured I spent more than that on some non-nude picture sites in the past, I might as well spend that much on a game.
Break it down!
First thing's first... the game is completely unplayable out of the box. Prior to actually entering a game world, you're going to have to download a patch to the game. That initial patch, the last time I check, is somewhere in the area of eighty megabytes.
Of course, after playing for two years, I understand this is an unavoidable side effect. You see, unlike most MMORPGs, Asheron's Call sees a dynamic update patch every month. These patches address bugs in the game while at the same time adding new content and game mechanics throughout.
Once it finally finished installing, I started the game up and was amazed by the high level of customization that was possible. Sure, the facial textures are ugly (though I made my main character look as much like Wade Boggs as possible) and there's really no point to selecting what type of clothing your character will wear since you'll quickly replace it with armor. But the actual skills and stats are very well done.
Each skill, be it weapon, magic, defense, tinker or trade, is based off of your statistics. Statistics are broken down into six categories: Strength, Endurance, Quickness, Coordination, Focus and Self. There are different formulas for each skill.
Skills each cost a different amount of skill credits. From the outset, you're given 50 skill credits. The more useful the skill, the more credits you'll use. Also, skills are broken down into four categories: Specialized, Trained, Untrain and Useless. A useless skill is just as it says... useless. You can't use it at all. An untrained skill is a skill that you can use without paying for, but you can't invest any experience to augment the skill. A trained skill means that you can use it and invest experience to further your skill. A skill that is specialized is given an automatic ten point bonus, costs less experience to raise and, of course, can be used.
Since I was an archer, I decided that I must have two skills: Bow and Melee Defense. Since Bow was my main offense, I knew it had to be specialized. Back when I started the game, there was no ten point bonus. However, that was a retroactive bonus and has since been applied to my character. Also, since I could not use a shield at the same time, melee defense was just as important. The higher my character's melee defense skill was, the more attacks I'd evade when an enemy is going hand to hand... or claw... or flame... or whatever. All I knew is that I wanted to avoid getting hit. Specializing bow took up a whopping 16 skill credits. Melee defense took up 20 more. That left me with just 14 more credits to work with at the start.
Out of spite, I decided I would avoid the crutches that most archers had in two categories. My goal was to go throughout the game with Life Magic and Healing. Considering that archers take so much damage, it's kinda rough to survive without these. Early on I suffered because of this. However, I was better for the wear.
So, with the last 14 points, I trained item enchantment. Item enchantment is the jack of all trades magic. In addition to temporarily enchanting a weapon or magic, it's also used for casting portals and recall spells. At the time of the character's creation, it was also used so you could identify an item even if your appraisal skills weren't up to snuff. However, all items can be identified, now, regardless of statistics or level. That took up 8 skill credits.
The last six skill credits, I decided to specialize arcane lore. Arcane lore is used when trying to use the magic innately imbued on items. Most items will have a requirement skill based on the power level of the spells found on that item. The higher an arcane lore, the higher the magic spells are found on the item. Since I didn't have life magic (the basis of life gain and protection spells), I'd need to find items that would help protect me from the nasty little buggers out in the world that all wanted a piece of me.
With my character complete, I entered the game. Once again, I was amazed... at how the game had survived so long on that game engine. Computer gamers are known for being even more fickle about graphics than console gamers are. However, this game is simply not impressive.
If I had to make any comparison to an existing console game's graphic engine, I'd say Tomb Raider 3 on Playstation. Sure, the textures are FAR cleaner (well, depending on your graphic card, I suppose) and there's far more being rendered with less pop-up. But, there's no mistaking that the perspective is very reminiscent of Lara's adventures.
However, the plus side to the engine is that it's slowly being updated through said patches instead of forty dollar expansion sets. Also, the developers at Turbine have been trying to refine the engine to be less intensive on both the gamer's computer and the game's servers.
The highlight of the graphic engine, really, is the lighting effects. Torches throw flickering light against the wall, a passing fireball will light a darkened hallway as it travels and anything with a glowing aura, like the fabled Focusing Stone, also cast light. But ugly is ugly and most of this game is ugly.
The sound is highly unremarkable, also. Generic booms and splash sounds compose a majority of the spells you cast. Swiping sounds accompany slashing weapons like swords and daggers. And the "thud" of an arrow as it's released from a bow and stretching sound of my string as I nock another arrow were suffice. There's tons of different soundbytes, it's just that they pale in comparison to the console titles that I'm accustomed to listening. However, I usually just made a few hours worth of music on a playlist before entering the game. Also, sound is about the least important aspect of any game that isn't based around rhythm.
Now, control is the only thing which I have a problem. You see, I'm a console gamer through and through. So, I'm not accustomed to keyboard movement. I tried, desperately, to get used to the "wasd" movement, but always returned to the arrow keys on the right side of the keyboard. Strafing, a major component of survival to mages and archers, is done with "z" and "c," respectively, and I never found another configuration for these that worked better. Of course, this also meant that I was reaching my right hand over to the left side of the computer. My friends were amazed at how I could do this, but if you spend hundreds of hours doing one thing, you'd get used to doing it, too.
Combat consists of selecting an enemy on screen and simply attacking. Mages take more interaction and can swap, on the fly, damage types. However, they're most often going to take massive hits due to little or no melee defense. Other weapon types often have restrictions, such as no staff being capable of slashing damage or swords not having bludgeoning damage, but they play virtually the same. Of course, each weapon has their own damage limitations and the most expensive weapons (bow and sword) are capable of the most damage with the least drawbacks.
I couldn't find any way to get a controller to work, either, which is a shame. This game could easily be simplified, when not chatting with others or going through your inventory, to a Microsoft Sidewinder. However, this is a minor quibble and one for which I stand alone.
So far, so bland
As for the game, it's appears your standard roleplaying fare. You go on quests, kill and loot monsters and constantly try to get stronger. Damage is broken down into seven basic categories. There's three physical damage types and four elemental damage types.
However, there's more that sets this apart from the rest of the games.
First and foremost, you can improve a skill at any given time with the spare experience points that you've earned. In other words, you don't have to wait until you gain a level to increase your stats or attributes. The experience needed to raise a point eventually gets ungodly, but experienced players have found "get leveled quick" schemes.
When you gain a level, you can also earn skill credits. Early on, it's one skill credit per level, but it quickly spaces out until it's one per five levels. Most people map out a character, based on when they get their credits, to see what they can train or, after completing a short quest, specialize.
Since I mentioned that quest, I should elaborate. Originally, characters were set in stone. Accidentally buy a skill that you find, later, that you didn't need and you were stuck. Start a character and learn that your template wasn't very effective, like an archer with bow only trained, and you had to start all over or just put up with it.
Changes have allowed characters to now take away 10 points from one attribute and add it to another, specialize a skill after creation or completely untrain a skill. When you decide you want to manipulate your attributes, you are given a gem. The gem doesn't expire, however it's good only one time. There's a two week timer to each piece of the gem. Most people will save them up rather than use them as soon as they get them, especially when there's a drastic change, such as going from Swordsman to Mage. The two week timer also applies to specialize and untrain gems.
This addition made characters as pliable as Plastic Man. There's no other MMORPG that allows so much flexibility with character classes.
Another element to Asheron's Call that sets it apart from the rest is the random loot generation code. Each monster has a "loot profile" that defines what they're capable of making. Some monsters will drop nothing but maybe a shard or a body part that can be turned into weapons, armor, items or just plain experience points. Other monsters, however, are capable of dropping items far more powerful than any quest items in the game. These items, generally referred to as "Majors," are dubbed so due to the magic found on the item. Majors, most often, add 15 points to a specified skill when activated.
Remember, just because an item is being worn, it doesn't mean that the spells are activated. Each item will have requirements, be they weapon skill checks, melee or missile defense activators, rank or arcane lore. Often, items will have more than one requirement.
Another dynamic feature, which is more made by the people than the developers, is that the game's currency is nearly worthless. Outside of purchasing whatever items a person sells off in town, most of your pyreals (the game's monetary unit) will be spent on buying tapers and scarabs for your magic or stock items for your trade skills. Most often, I found myself saving up for the gambling den, which is good for treasure, items worth experience and cute little stuffed animals.
The currency most people recognize is "Singularity Keys." Singularity keys are virtually worhtless in their natural form, but when carved by a skilled lockpicker are able of opening some of the best treasure troves in the game.
Tinkering and trade skills are also in the game and you'll often see people looking for the services. However, be wary that, like in real life, some people will try to rip you off. As such, this is one of the main reasons people will join a guild.
A guild is a group of people who trust each other, basically, based off of their shared leader. The leader, referred to as a monarch, will always be known to anyone who can identify you. Characters can swear allegiance to each other and each leader will receive a small amount of their vassal's experience, based on the vassal's loyalty skill and the leadership skill of said patron. Leadership skill is based off of both the numeric value of the skill and the amount of vassals directly sworn to that character. You can have up to twelve vassals at any given time.
Rank is an indicator of how many followers you have. You need not have any vassals, but it's very difficult in later levels to advance without followers.
Another feature not found in many MMORPGs is a housing system. One character (out of the five available per server) is able to own housing on each account. All characters on an account are able to recall to the house and can be granted access to the house's storage chest.
There's four types of houses in the game, each with their own level requirements, purchasing items, rank requirement and maintenance fees. Each of the quarters require at least one writ of refuge and some even require writs as part of the maintenance fee. However, the benefits of a better house is more storage, not to mention bragging rights.
The game's greatest feature, however, is that Turbine has strived to make it something everyone can love. There's so many useless features in the game that can work to kill time. You can play chess against others in game, go fishing for unique items, decorate your house
The only flaw the game has, really, is that it doesn't do some simple things that it should. Of course, you can always download a third-party program called Decal that is supported by the players. The only programs I ever used were Robochef (a tradeskill macro that allowed you to avoid the tedious double-clicking that comes with crafting), Combater (a program that let you see any time there's a change in your character's experience and, more importantly, how much experience a downed monster is worth), CypherAmp (a tool to control WinAmp without having to leave the game) and TradeBot (an application that allowed you to, basically, sell your items).
However, there's other programs that allowed you to cheat. The most famous, El Tank, was created by a character in Wintersebb and allowed your character to fight anything near it. Most of these characters, referred to as UCM (Unattended Combat Macroers), are not allowed by the Code of Conduct and can be punishable by the banning of your character.
Personally, I've never much cared for the UCMs, but I figure they're used by the Strategy Guide crowd out there. Wussies.
Also, for the most out of the game, you'll be using reference sites devoted to the game. The most famous of which, Maggie the Jackcat, works as a database of information for this incredibly huge game. You can find almost anything about the game here. Also, it's a fan-supported site, so you can also submit information and pictures of your character with items.
The game itself is excellent but it's the friendly community that really brings most people back. Now that I'm away from the game, I miss some of my better friends in the game. I was friends with one of the most hated player-killers out there. My friend, Illumini, was often talked about and despised for actually roleplaying. He wanted his character to be a liar, cheat and manipulative thief and often had a group of people out to hunt him. It was fun, sometimes, to listen to the people of the marketplace try to get support to fight him.
Of course, this leads to the thing that distracts and irks me at the same time. Most people, regardless of how many people they used against you, will claim that they "owned" (or, by the teenagers, "pwned") you. Furthermore, they'll publicly pat themselves on the back by posting on other sites, such as IGN's VNBoards.
While I was never a victim of this, I often found this about other characters. Even with the advent of PKLite, where characters could fight without fear of dropping items upon death, this continued and bugged me to no avail.
But, still, the majority of people in the game are more than willing to help others. Some people will look for something in return (only fair), while others will do it for free. Most often, I'd offer my services for dye jobs, key carving, arrow fletching and cooking just to help everyone else enjoy their time.
Also, another problem is that it's really difficult to raise characters devoted only to learning trades like cooking and alchemy, without owning a second account. Most people will "chain" their characters together so that the character that is played can earn experience for the other specialized, niche characters. Often, these spare characters become "mules," characters who exist for nothing more than to carry the items too good to simply throw away.
I know people who invest more than fifty dollars a month into the game, merely to hold items or own more storage space.
Also, fashion has become a large part of the game. People will often pay more just to have a black or red belt on an armor type that they want. While you can dye armor, not all parts of armor are dyed. Thus, the parts that cannot be dyed are what makes a piece of armor valuable. Black shoulders or belt on amuli, the most commonly used armor type, often sell twice as high as a comparable piece of armor with blue shoulders would.
Furthermore, there's many types of armor people avoid like the plague. Personally, I like the kilt-looking Kouija Leggings, especially when paired with Steel Toed Boots. Most people, however, prefer amuli and sollerets instead. It takes different strokes to move the world.
Again, mentioning the developers, they spend a majority of their time adding what the fans ask for to the game. Whether it was a way to improve armor defense, new types of damage, spells changes, and removal or improval of quest items that have become obsolete.
I know "improval" is not a word but it sure sounds cool.
So, with all that said...
I spent more time devoted to raising an archer known as "Mojo Mofo" in Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty's Wintersebb server while I was in Korea. For about a year and a half, I spent more attention on the life of Mojo Mofo than I did on my own life... or the life of the woman I loved.
I love the game. At the same time, MMORPGs require an excessive amount of your life should you want a successful character. If I were a multi-millionaire who didn't have a significant other, I'd probably still be playing this.
As it is, though, my life is now too hectic for a game like this. I mean, it's bad enough that I play both Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, but Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty ate up even more of my life than those games combined.
Because of this game, I have two years of console gaming to make up. I bought so many games but barely played most of them because of this.
Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty is an excellent MMORPG and, outside of Phantasy Star Online, the first that I really enjoyed. At the same time, it almost ruined my life and I couldn't stop playing for fear I'd fall behind.
Epilogue
Have I learned a lot from this game? Yes. I know now not to take those around me for granted and spent the last six months of my time in Korea making it up to my girlfriend. Had I spent more time with my girlfriend than with this game, I'd probably already be married. Now, with a heart heavy with remorse, I sit here saddened and alone.
It's an addiction... one I look back fondly upon, but an addiction nonetheless. I went without food and sleep, often, and was known to go days without going outside. Had it not been for work, I probably would've been one of those people you read about in game news sidebars who died of exhaustion. When I didn't play the game, I thought and dreamt about it.
Not to take away from anyone, but I compare it all to the withdrawal of tobacco, if not heroin. My dreams are still of the elusive Double Major and my brain tries to trick me into resubscribing to the game, so I could max my Bow Skill and see the glorious firework display that accompanies maxing anything, be it level, attributes or skills. It sounds sad but, like trying to quit smoking, those who've never been addicted don't truly understand.
Please don't make the mistake I did. Avoid Asheron's Call and all MMORPGs like it so you don't miss out on life.
This month, I part with my treasured Asheron's Call account as I eBay two years of my life away. I want to get my life back together and achieve my zen. It's best I leave that part of my life behind me so I don't make the same mistake twice.
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