The Saga of Ryzom

So, after seeing that Ryzom had been revived from the dead, I decided to get back on and see if it was worth spending any time on.  I have to say that even as a free game, I wouldn't waste my selection on this. 

They give you a false impression in the "newbie" area, as there are some quests, some interesting introductory stories, and a unique visual style.  But after this little chunk of land, your quests come to an abrupt halt, with nearly none to be had in the rest of the game.  And the story immersion for your character slips into the background.

About the only thing left to do in the game is to grind out endless numbers of the same mobs over and over again.  This is the same mindless garbage people often hurl insults for occurring in Asian MMO's.  You get to run out into random countryside looking for some level-comparable creature to slay, and keep slaying, and slaying, and slaying... well, you get the point.  Want interesting stories or reasons to kill things?  Not here.

But don't point out the fact that the game is nothing but a big graphical chat-room to the "hardcore" Ryzom fans.  They'll tell you, "No, it's just a 'sandbox' game.  You make it whatever you want!"  And sure, you can, if what you want is to kill 50,000 desert rats while chatting with your guild-mates about randomness.  EVERY MMO has a chat interface.  They're all social games, so Ryzom has nothing special there.  And the social structure of Ryzom is certainly no different when it comes to the elitist attitude of the long-time players.  Sure, the community is better than WoW, but what game's isn't?

So, aside from grinding the hell out of creatures, or digging the hell out of resources, this game offers NOTHING.  The "ring" features are very limited and go mostly unused by the players.  The borderlands PvP is small-scale if existant at all.  The "factional PvP" doesn't occur, as I'm pretty sure the players are all too busy pretending they're cute Trykers to actually DO something in the game.  If I wanted to do nothing but sit and chat, I would just hang out on AIM all day.

I like the term "sandbox" being applied here, and I think it really IS appropriate; here's why:  While a sandbox means you can use the sand to make anything you want, you're not going to get far without water or tools.  And Ryzom is dry as hell and devoid of useful tools.  So, instead of a beautiful sand-castle, you're just stuck with dry-rot in the Sahara that is this game.

Unless the new developers who bought this game can breathe new content and purpose into the project, they're either going to generously keep the servers up out of the kindness of their hearts (and deep pockets), or it's destined to be the failure it has continually shown itself to be.

Originally posted by brihtwulf

So, after seeing that Ryzom had been revived from the dead, I decided to get back on and see if it was worth spending any time on.  I have to say that even as a free game, I wouldn't waste my selection on this. 

They give you a false impression in the "newbie" area, as there are some quests, some interesting introductory stories, and a unique visual style.  But after this little chunk of land, your quests come to an abrupt halt, with nearly none to be had in the rest of the game.  And the story immersion for your character slips into the background.

About the only thing left to do in the game is to grind out endless numbers of the same mobs over and over again.  This is the same mindless garbage people often hurl insults for occurring in Asian MMO's.  You get to run out into random countryside looking for some level-comparable creature to slay, and keep slaying, and slaying, and slaying... well, you get the point.  Want interesting stories or reasons to kill things?  Not here.

But don't point out the fact that the game is nothing but a big graphical chat-room to the "hardcore" Ryzom fans.  They'll tell you, "No, it's just a 'sandbox' game.  You make it whatever you want!"  And sure, you can, if what you want is to kill 50,000 desert rats while chatting with your guild-mates about randomness.  EVERY MMO has a chat interface.  They're all social games, so Ryzom has nothing special there.  And the social structure of Ryzom is certainly no different when it comes to the elitist attitude of the long-time players.  Sure, the community is better than WoW, but what game's isn't?

So, aside from grinding the hell out of creatures, or digging the hell out of resources, this game offers NOTHING.  The "ring" features are very limited and go mostly unused by the players.  The borderlands PvP is small-scale if existant at all.  The "factional PvP" doesn't occur, as I'm pretty sure the players are all too busy pretending they're cute Trykers to actually DO something in the game.  If I wanted to do nothing but sit and chat, I would just hang out on AIM all day.

I like the term "sandbox" being applied here, and I think it really IS appropriate; here's why:  While a sandbox means you can use the sand to make anything you want, you're not going to get far without water or tools.  And Ryzom is dry as hell and devoid of useful tools.  So, instead of a beautiful sand-castle, you're just stuck with dry-rot in the Sahara that is this game.

Unless the new developers who bought this game can breathe new content and purpose into the project, they're either going to generously keep the servers up out of the kindness of their hearts (and deep pockets), or it's destined to be the failure it has continually shown itself to be.

theres quest but its faster to gog rind lol plus the combat is fun : )

plus there going to be adding more things to the game since it kinda stop getting things because of the bankruptcy.

Plus the game has way better community
 

SWG didn't have any quests (not that I remember anyway, correct me if I'm wrong...been awhile) and it did perfectly fine (besides the bugs and stuff) until NGE. But it had a pretty good size playerbase and a lot of people liked it. At least I always hear how people would like how SWG was before NGE.

Eve online doesn't really have quests either, there are missions but they aren't a big focus on the game and are lame (at least I thought so). But its a good game if you like that type and has a pretty good size playerbase.

This is the classic response to a sandbox game: there is nothing to DO. No point to playing at all, nothing to gain.

I am looking at the RPG part of mmoRPG and Ryzom really fits the bill. It is a pleasure to just live in Atys, fun to see the seasons change, the mobs migrate, the progression of personal skills and new things to try. Would I rather play LoTRO and look for resources, or prospect and dig in Atys? Do I want to kill 20 spiders, or be free to kill what I want?

The grind is correct .... in all MMO's that I have seen, you have to kill lots of stuff, and "farm" if you can. Ryzom is no different. It comes back to where you want to be: killing Freaks in CoH? being a Captain in LoTRO, or play in the Atys world and take your chances. 

Originally posted by brihtwulf

So, after seeing that Ryzom had been revived from the dead, I decided to get back on and see if it was worth spending any time on.  I have to say that even as a free game, I wouldn't waste my selection on this. 

Hi brihtwulf. That is a rough introduction to a remarkably unique game.

They give you a false impression in the "newbie" area, as there are some quests, some interesting introductory stories, and a unique visual style.  But after this little chunk of land, your quests come to an abrupt halt, with nearly none to be had in the rest of the game.  And the story immersion for your character slips into the background.

The information you provided is not entirely true, as you do have faction missions on the mainland. Also, I for done hate quest grinding. I don't like it. You may like to have quests guide you from level to level, place to place, trainer to trainer, and that is perfectly okay! Awesome! However, other people don't. I prefer having no quests and doing things my way, when I want them done. Again, it is a play style and neither are right or wrong. Also, you mentioned that story slips into the background. Yeah, it seems it does, but every MMO has this problem. This isn't a '-1' to Ryzom. It is just the fate of a MMO.

About the only thing left to do in the game is to grind out endless numbers of the same mobs over and over again.  This is the same mindless garbage people often hurl insults for occurring in Asian MMO's.  You get to run out into random countryside looking for some level-comparable creature to slay, and keep slaying, and slaying, and slaying... well, you get the point.  Want interesting stories or reasons to kill things?  Not here.

Every single MMORPG on the planet has grinding in it. The question should not be, 'Ryzom has a grind." Instead, it should be, 'how well does it hide the grind?' In my opinion, if played right, Ryzom's leveling pace can be quite casual. I remember the reason I quit Ryzom in the first place was due to grinding; however, since I returned, I decided to take another look and see if I could see through the apparent 'grind', and I have been quite successful. Instead of grinding and grinding (which EVERY MMO has this option), I've decided to focus on goals and accomplish them. For instance, I want a pair of jewerly. I'll go out and own some creatures in the face with different combat abilites. I'll loot what I need and return to make myself some jewerly. In the process, I've leveled up some skills a few times. Instead in WoW where it might take 5 quests to level up, here you go do what you want and end up with several level ups in multiple skills. I find it fun if you do it right. Also, I'd rather kill 100 things without a reason than to take a quest that says, "We need to get rid of 100 rats." Again, personal preference. Neither is right or wrong.

But don't point out the fact that the game is nothing but a big graphical chat-room to the "hardcore" Ryzom fans.  They'll tell you, "No, it's just a 'sandbox' game.  You make it whatever you want!"  And sure, you can, if what you want is to kill 50,000 desert rats while chatting with your guild-mates about randomness.  EVERY MMO has a chat interface.  They're all social games, so Ryzom has nothing special there.  And the social structure of Ryzom is certainly no different when it comes to the elitist attitude of the long-time players.  Sure, the community is better than WoW, but what game's isn't?

That is a bad comment, in my opinion. Technically, ALL MMORPGS are 'sup'ed up' chat rooms. Also, I don't think desert rats are even in Ryzom. Thirdly, comparing WoW's community to Ryzom's is like comparing a house cat to a lion. Sure, the comparison is true, but it doesn't paint the picture well. Ryzom is the BEST MMO community I've ever came across, and I've been MMOing for years.. since EQ1. Before that, I was playing D2 for the record. No other community compares.

So, aside from grinding the hell out of creatures, or digging the hell out of resources, this game offers NOTHING.  The "ring" features are very limited and go mostly unused by the players.  The borderlands PvP is small-scale if existant at all.  The "factional PvP" doesn't occur, as I'm pretty sure the players are all too busy pretending they're cute Trykers to actually DO something in the game.  If I wanted to do nothing but sit and chat, I would just hang out on AIM all day.

What about the most inuative crafting system ever coded?

I like the term "sandbox" being applied here, and I think it really IS appropriate; here's why:  While a sandbox means you can use the sand to make anything you want, you're not going to get far without water or tools.  And Ryzom is dry as hell and devoid of useful tools.  So, instead of a beautiful sand-castle, you're just stuck with dry-rot in the Sahara that is this game.

Again, personal preference. I disagree, as Ryzom offers PvE, PvP, crafting, gathering and a classless skill system. Most MMOs might have 2/5, yet alone ALL five!

Blessings,

That was the problem with the only other 'skill based' MMO that I played, UO, was that you were grinding out skills rather than levels, and you were doing it with no real quests or story.

I don't see a difference in a 'sandbox' game like this and a WoW, or LOTRO... Grinding skills is still grinding. At least with WoW and LOTRO there's story to delve into, and to give you direction.

I would like a skill based game with quests and multiple storylines to keep me busy, after all I didn't get paid to create the game, so I shouldn't have to pay to play a game and also create my own quests and story.

Originally posted by Emeraq

That was the problem with the only other 'skill based' MMO that I played, UO, was that you were grinding out skills rather than levels, and you were doing it with no real quests or story.

I don't see a difference in a 'sandbox' game like this and a WoW, or LOTRO... Grinding skills is still grinding. At least with WoW and LOTRO there's story to delve into, and to give you direction.

I would like a skill based game with quests and multiple storylines to keep me busy, after all I didn't get paid to create the game, so I shouldn't have to pay to play a game and also create my own quests and story.

Some people don't need or want to be told what to do, where to go, etc. The point of sandbox games is you get from them what you put in, and that's what makes them rewarding. Sounds like you just enjoy a different style game; nothing wrong with that.