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This is a review posted in my Flashpoint/Wolfenstein/MOHAA mob’s forum.
It’s for a game called “Dark Age of Camelot” and is an online only RPG game.
I hate RPGs but this sounds pretty cool.
First thing to note is that everything I tell you about the game is going to make it sound pretty dull. I ought to hate the game. But it's strangely compelling. Like Diablo & Diablo2 - fans of those games should run out and buy Camelot TODAY!
Basic premise - 2 UK-based servers, between 1000 and 1500 players on each. Each server hosts 3 realms or countries. When you start playing you choose a realm, basic character class (choice of 4; each country is a bit different, and you get to specialise your character a lot more later) and race. Think of a choice between warrior, wizard, healer and thief in a basic RPG.
The whole game is run by the servers - you can't play unless you're online, so an un-metered net-access is required. It's also a subscription service, but as the game is £20 and includes 1 month, additional months at £6, you'll have 3 months of solid gameplay until you've spent as much as any other game.
In a nutshell, players run around and hit server-generated monsters. Those monsters give you loot which can be sold, and experience points. Collect enough experience points and your character increases in level, with better fighting and defence abilities. Save enough loot and you can buy better weapons and armour (but money's very very tight). There's a huge variety of monsters out there, too - some puny, some rock hard, but you can always find a monster that is appropriate to your current character level. Fight anything too weak and you get no experience or loot, fight the stronger stuff for better loot and experience (but a risk of dying), stay away from the really nasty stuff. Until you reach 6th level, you can die as often as you like, re-spawning in a nearby town. After 6th level, you suffer a penalty each time you die, but it's not too awful. You lose some experience, but you can get 1/2 of it back by returning to the site of your death (if you can remember where you left it!
Characters progress at a reasonable rate - 3-5 hours to get to 6th level (when you start specialising more, and the characters start to become a bit more individual). Then it's about 3 hours per level. Bonus experience and stuff can be earned through carrying out quests for some of the inhabitants of your realm (kill something, or deliver something, or find something kind of thing).
Best part is the grouping aspect. Characters can choose to combine together so that they share loot and experience (there's a bonus to both if you're in a group), and can tackle much stronger monsters. The monsters can do the same though, and even weak creatures can kill you if you get mobbed. Pretty flexible typed chat, the game hasn't got built in voice support - I'm using our RW server with the /cam channel, and it makes the game even better when played with friends. No alt-tabbing support, though :-(
Combat *seems* pretty dull - you select your target and he gets whacked automatically. But it does look pretty dynamic. Player input is limited to timing of spells and special moves, but there are lots of tactics there - particularly with groups. Think "Diablo" and you're not far off.
Graphics comparable with OFP. Each realm is about the size of an OFP map, so big enough to walk across but it'll take an hour or two!
Sounds dull, doesn't it? I ought to hate the game, but the challenge to level up, or buy a new sword, or finish the current quest keeps you plugging away at it. And running around in a group - particularly a group of friends - makes it better.
Game is rock-solid stable - a friend has a regular crash (graphics drivers- he's using a very new card) but each time the game puts him back exactly where he should be. I've seen some net-farts, but that's down to the lousy BT Openworld servers. 56K users report that it's lag free - although the servers have to calculate a lot of stuff, your machine is only sent messages relating to the "bubble" of space you're in at the time (about 200m radius). And as combat is automatic, ping doesn't matter a ####.
In your realm, no other citizen can deliberately harm you, and they can't steal your loot or experience either - if you killed the monster, you get the goodies. Items are all level-based too - there's no point my 9th level troll dropping your first-level character a really good axe as you won't be able to use it properly. Although I could give you my *old* axe, that I used at 3rd level, for free. It's very newbie friendly (particularly on the two UK servers - Excalibur and Prydwen, which have only been live for three weeks). No manic jumping, or other silliness.
You might all hate it. I'm disappointed with some aspects (for example, my current quest includes a raid on an enemy camp. We haven't found it yet, but last night we were raiding the wrong camp. I *wanted* to crawl up to within 200m, hide under a fir tree, whip out my binoculars and recon the enemy position, before ordering the sniper to take down their captain and LAWing the BMP. But I had to settle for running into the middle and tw#tting everything. That last bit's a lie, BTW. The *wrong* camp was full of hard ####### who wiped us out).
At it's height, I used to play OFP every night til approaching midnight. Right now, I'm playing Camelot every night til 2am (4am this weekend). And that included days last week when I had to get up at 5am to do some work!
It’s for a game called “Dark Age of Camelot” and is an online only RPG game.
I hate RPGs but this sounds pretty cool.
First thing to note is that everything I tell you about the game is going to make it sound pretty dull. I ought to hate the game. But it's strangely compelling. Like Diablo & Diablo2 - fans of those games should run out and buy Camelot TODAY!
Basic premise - 2 UK-based servers, between 1000 and 1500 players on each. Each server hosts 3 realms or countries. When you start playing you choose a realm, basic character class (choice of 4; each country is a bit different, and you get to specialise your character a lot more later) and race. Think of a choice between warrior, wizard, healer and thief in a basic RPG.
The whole game is run by the servers - you can't play unless you're online, so an un-metered net-access is required. It's also a subscription service, but as the game is £20 and includes 1 month, additional months at £6, you'll have 3 months of solid gameplay until you've spent as much as any other game.
In a nutshell, players run around and hit server-generated monsters. Those monsters give you loot which can be sold, and experience points. Collect enough experience points and your character increases in level, with better fighting and defence abilities. Save enough loot and you can buy better weapons and armour (but money's very very tight). There's a huge variety of monsters out there, too - some puny, some rock hard, but you can always find a monster that is appropriate to your current character level. Fight anything too weak and you get no experience or loot, fight the stronger stuff for better loot and experience (but a risk of dying), stay away from the really nasty stuff. Until you reach 6th level, you can die as often as you like, re-spawning in a nearby town. After 6th level, you suffer a penalty each time you die, but it's not too awful. You lose some experience, but you can get 1/2 of it back by returning to the site of your death (if you can remember where you left it!
Characters progress at a reasonable rate - 3-5 hours to get to 6th level (when you start specialising more, and the characters start to become a bit more individual). Then it's about 3 hours per level. Bonus experience and stuff can be earned through carrying out quests for some of the inhabitants of your realm (kill something, or deliver something, or find something kind of thing).
Best part is the grouping aspect. Characters can choose to combine together so that they share loot and experience (there's a bonus to both if you're in a group), and can tackle much stronger monsters. The monsters can do the same though, and even weak creatures can kill you if you get mobbed. Pretty flexible typed chat, the game hasn't got built in voice support - I'm using our RW server with the /cam channel, and it makes the game even better when played with friends. No alt-tabbing support, though :-(
Combat *seems* pretty dull - you select your target and he gets whacked automatically. But it does look pretty dynamic. Player input is limited to timing of spells and special moves, but there are lots of tactics there - particularly with groups. Think "Diablo" and you're not far off.
Graphics comparable with OFP. Each realm is about the size of an OFP map, so big enough to walk across but it'll take an hour or two!
Sounds dull, doesn't it? I ought to hate the game, but the challenge to level up, or buy a new sword, or finish the current quest keeps you plugging away at it. And running around in a group - particularly a group of friends - makes it better.
Game is rock-solid stable - a friend has a regular crash (graphics drivers- he's using a very new card) but each time the game puts him back exactly where he should be. I've seen some net-farts, but that's down to the lousy BT Openworld servers. 56K users report that it's lag free - although the servers have to calculate a lot of stuff, your machine is only sent messages relating to the "bubble" of space you're in at the time (about 200m radius). And as combat is automatic, ping doesn't matter a ####.
In your realm, no other citizen can deliberately harm you, and they can't steal your loot or experience either - if you killed the monster, you get the goodies. Items are all level-based too - there's no point my 9th level troll dropping your first-level character a really good axe as you won't be able to use it properly. Although I could give you my *old* axe, that I used at 3rd level, for free. It's very newbie friendly (particularly on the two UK servers - Excalibur and Prydwen, which have only been live for three weeks). No manic jumping, or other silliness.
You might all hate it. I'm disappointed with some aspects (for example, my current quest includes a raid on an enemy camp. We haven't found it yet, but last night we were raiding the wrong camp. I *wanted* to crawl up to within 200m, hide under a fir tree, whip out my binoculars and recon the enemy position, before ordering the sniper to take down their captain and LAWing the BMP. But I had to settle for running into the middle and tw#tting everything. That last bit's a lie, BTW. The *wrong* camp was full of hard ####### who wiped us out).
At it's height, I used to play OFP every night til approaching midnight. Right now, I'm playing Camelot every night til 2am (4am this weekend). And that included days last week when I had to get up at 5am to do some work!
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Stryke wrote:
> I haven't actually played an online game for a while.
You used to get decent
> guys would help stat a lonely newbie...
> Never me, of course :-)
You could always give Dark Ages of Camelot a try... I'm sure GoatBoy would be happy to show you the ropes? ...
> I haven't actually played an online game for a while.
You used to get decent
> guys would help stat a lonely newbie...
> Never me, of course :-)
You could always give Dark Ages of Camelot a try... I'm sure GoatBoy would be happy to show you the ropes? ...
Rakuga wrote:
> (Expects large posts
> defending the fact that not only geeks play RPG games..)
Naa.. you'll be ok...
Although your post does seem a little Irrelevant... If its not your thing, why post?
> (Expects large posts
> defending the fact that not only geeks play RPG games..)
Naa.. you'll be ok...
Although your post does seem a little Irrelevant... If its not your thing, why post?
Nope. We are all either:
a)Nerds
b)Freaks
c)Me, totally exempt and perfect in every way. :-)
a)Nerds
b)Freaks
c)Me, totally exempt and perfect in every way. :-)
My mates play that game. I have no wish to have anything to do with it.
I have bad memories of geeks in text based games telling me off for not acting in role.
And I'm fed up of the mention of this 10,000 damage thingy and "I'm a level 13 now!" when I'm in conversation with them. I'm paranoid some people will hear and associate me being a geek.
(Expects large posts defending the fact that not only geeks play RPG games..)
I have bad memories of geeks in text based games telling me off for not acting in role.
And I'm fed up of the mention of this 10,000 damage thingy and "I'm a level 13 now!" when I'm in conversation with them. I'm paranoid some people will hear and associate me being a geek.
(Expects large posts defending the fact that not only geeks play RPG games..)
I haven't actually played an online game for a while.
You used to get decent guys would help stat a lonely newbie...
Never me, of course :-)
You used to get decent guys would help stat a lonely newbie...
Never me, of course :-)
Stryke wrote:
> MUDs rule. I can see where you're coming from though.
I reckon MUDs are cool...
Its the same problem I have with the current MMOLRPG's... after I get bored of stat building, there doesnt seem to be that much to hold my interest... I like to do RPG questing proper... I mean, I know the current crop of RPG's do have individual qests starting to crop up, they still feel to much like randomly computer generated events... (not that I'm asking for much :) ) ... Just gotta give it some time to develop I suppose?
> MUDs rule. I can see where you're coming from though.
I reckon MUDs are cool...
Its the same problem I have with the current MMOLRPG's... after I get bored of stat building, there doesnt seem to be that much to hold my interest... I like to do RPG questing proper... I mean, I know the current crop of RPG's do have individual qests starting to crop up, they still feel to much like randomly computer generated events... (not that I'm asking for much :) ) ... Just gotta give it some time to develop I suppose?
MUDs rule. I can see where you're coming from though.
Stryke wrote:
I used to play something a bit like
> this called wotmud. That was free though. Sadly, I don't have enough time to
> play to justify spending money on a subscription game.
I could never get into MUDs... dunno why... always felt to much like chat rooms to me...
Although if Goaty is still about somewhere, I understand Dark Ages of Camelot is giving away 15 free days to all of its subscribers using the English version of the game because of the troubles from last month.
I used to play something a bit like
> this called wotmud. That was free though. Sadly, I don't have enough time to
> play to justify spending money on a subscription game.
I could never get into MUDs... dunno why... always felt to much like chat rooms to me...
Although if Goaty is still about somewhere, I understand Dark Ages of Camelot is giving away 15 free days to all of its subscribers using the English version of the game because of the troubles from last month.
Actually, sounds like my sort of thing.
I used to play something a bit like this called wotmud. That was free though. Sadly, I don't have enough time to play to justify spending money on a subscription game.
Cheers for the tip-off though. This is why you should stay.
I used to play something a bit like this called wotmud. That was free though. Sadly, I don't have enough time to play to justify spending money on a subscription game.
Cheers for the tip-off though. This is why you should stay.
Just as a note of curiosity...
I've just noteced a PC mag (I think its PCZone) is giving away a full version (no time limit) of Anarchy OnLine with 14 days free on-line gaming???
I've just noteced a PC mag (I think its PCZone) is giving away a full version (no time limit) of Anarchy OnLine with 14 days free on-line gaming???
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