PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Quath on August 14, 2006, 03:45:39 am
-
I have only played a week, so I wanted to give my impressions as a beginner. I will probably show some ignorance in this, but that may be helpful as well to see what people may assume about the game. Overall, I am highly impressed. Lots of good design decisions and future direction from what I can tell. I find it a good roleplaying environment and a good background story (although I only know part of it so far).
Character Creation - I like the details and how you can use character points to customize a background. I was thinking of a similar system a few months ago for other MMORPGs. I can see this expandable in so many ways (faction adjustments, starting items, and family lineage (create children from existing players). One suggestion would be to turn the excess CP into money.
Starting out - I was very confused about where to go, what to do and who was a PC and who was an NPC. I skimmed the manual as I played to try to figure some of it out. Over time I did, but it was a slow learning process. One way to help this out may be to start people off with a simple quest like to take a note to a merchant that sells swords. This merchant will ask a quest of the player to kill some rats in the sewers. Kind of typical, but a good way to help a new person get their bearings.
Quests - I never did find someone who would offer a quest. Maybe I asked the wrong npcs. However, I really like the system where you have to talk to get quests as opposed to having them just handed out like candy.
Combat - Took me awhile to find out where rats were. I didn't feel comfortable fighting them hand to hand. I figured I needed a weapon first, so I was very reluctant to fight. Once I did, I killed a lot of rats. It is too early for me to judge the risk versus reward. I did notice one monster (torpor?) that did not fight back. His friend did though.
Movement - Took me awhile for me to get comfortable. I finally switched to first person and mapped mouse look to right click and context menu to middle click. That has worked well for me.
Loot - I got a lot of rat hides that I could not sell. Took me a long time to find out where to sell the other rat parts. I finally threw 100 hides away because I couldn't carry anymore. I asked around, but didn't get much help until today.
Exploring - I probably spent 4 or 5 hours exploring the plains out of the north? gate. I fould many interesting ways to fall to my death. My suggestion would be to show major roads a little better (if there are any). I got lost and never did find a city I was looking for. I did head out the east? gate but when I got to the forst path, I was stopped. I thought it was an invisible wall until someone told me it wasn't. I then realized I had to just try really hard to get on the path.
Grouping - This worked pretty well except for the other group member's life and magic bard going from blank to full. It was hard to follow group members because they kept disappearing.
Death Realm - I spent a few hours here until I found the way out. It was frustrating, but good in hindsight. I can't wait to see how this is expanded.
Spawning - Monsters just appear before you ina very predictable way. I think random spawns would help out some. Also, do not allow for spawns to appear in view of a player. I think this preserves an air of realism and gets rid of some camps.
Communications - Good standard communications. I like the range limit on says and shouts. It was odd to see large groups of people standing in a circle saying nothing (guess they were talking in guild or group). I thought they were NPCs for awhile until I finally noticed different color of names.
Graphics - Very enjoyable. There are a couple of places where graphics seem to be undefined like when you come out of the sewers and when you look at the huge waterfall from far away.
I am very excited about this game and can't wait to see what happens in the future. Good work.
-
The gate you said was east is actually close to due north.
-
How do we know anyway? There's no sun. Do people have compasses?
-
How do we know anyway? There's no sun. Do people have compasses?
well to me, the plazza is like a compass, with the road leading to the windowless tower being due north.
-
No.
People currently use the coordinate system (available via the command "/pos") to determine the directions, they are triples of (N/S, height, W/E).
Standing on the plaza, the temple of Laanx is around north, the iron tower around west, Jayose's library around east, and the arena around south.
Looking from the iron tower, the path from the gate to the forest is leading northwards; and the gate after Jayose's library is leading eastwards.
-
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback Quath. This kind of summary is quite helpful to people like me who have no idea what it is like to be a newbie and be completely unfamiliar with PS settings, world or features. We will take your points under advisement.
- Vengeance
-
No.
People currently use the coordinate system (available via the command "/pos") to determine the directions, they are triples of (N/S, height, W/E).
Standing on the plaza, the temple of Laanx is around north, the iron tower around west, Jayose's library around east, and the arena around south.
Looking from the iron tower, the path from the gate to the forest is leading northwards; and the gate after Jayose's library is leading eastwards.
according to the mining book in the library, the magic shop is NORTH.
-
I was more referring to how people IC determined what direction things were. I mean, we know the magic shop is north, but WHY?
-
I was more referring to how people IC determined what direction things were. I mean, we know the magic shop is north, but WHY?
that doesn't make sence. you mean OOC. there's a IC book that tells you that it's north so it's north. end of story.
-
And if another book told you that the previous north is now west, what do you do? :>
-
No, I mean IC! In real life we know which way is north because of the direction of the sun or because of a compass. We don't just have a book tell us "okay, this way is north" and have no way to prove it. North is NOT a religion!
-
No, I mean IC! In real life we know which way is north because of the direction of the sun or because of a compass. We don't just have a book tell us "okay, this way is north" and have no way to prove it. North is NOT a religion!
Why would someone lie about giving directions?
-
Because they are naughty bad evil guys? :)
-
I'm not saying the book isn't trustworthy. I'm just saying that there has to be a source for finding north besides a book. Clearly, north would have existed before the book was written. How did the guy who wrote the book know which way was north?
Unless for some reason we are just basing all our directions off of the direction of the magic shop just to make things easy... kind of like how in real life we have the International Date Line in basically an arbitrary location just so dates are standardized.
-
The international date line is on the other side of the world from the prime meridian.
-
But the only reason that's where it is was because they voted on where the prime meridian would be. It could have been anywhere... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Meridian
-
But the only reason that's where it is was because they voted on where the prime meridian would be. It could have been anywhere... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Meridian
I know that. why are we talking about this? there needs to be 2 lines exactly oppsite each other somewhere in the world, and it just so happens it's there.
-
Sesmi, you have to know what way is north and you have to be able to test this for yourself. That is what makes a fact a fact. If someone tells you that A is north but someone else says B is north, you have to know which one is right - some tool, some method, something that will tell you where this mythic "north" really is.
-
very nice quath... it pleases me to see that some takes time to write their thoughts about the game... i believe we will see more posts from you in a positive direction :)
-
If someone tells you that A is north but someone else says B is north, you have to know which one is right - some tool, some method, something that will tell you where this mythic "north" really is.
Exactly! I think this is what Siteri was trying to say. If my understanding is correct, even though Yliakum is underground, it is still on a planet of some kind. I assume that this planet has an axis that it rotates on and a magnetic north pole like other planets that we know (including our own). So, the ancient explorers and mapmakers would have needed a compass of some sort to determine with direction the north pole was. But, would a compass work that far underground or would the magnetic fields be blocked/absorbed by the earth and rock? ??? I don't know that much about the properties of magnetic fields. Maybe someone else does.
-
Aye i think Siteri just wants an in game explaination of how a compass would work down here. Settings that define the physics of why we say north is north. One could say for instance that the power fluxuations of the azure sun move in accordance with true north and south and can therefore be tracked or measured either by looking at the crystal or with some device similar to a compass. That is a stab in the dark . . .
[220 BCE china]
(http://www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions/images/compass1.jpg)
-
Not every planet has a magnetic field. Mars, for example, has no planetwide magnetic field. We on the Earth have a magnetic field and it is one of the major protections against cosmic radiation.
It is highly possible that Laanx and Talad created the Yliakum world underground because the planet didn't have a magnetic field or it was very weak. On the ground it might be deadly for any living creatures.
But I agree that there might be some other magic powers either from the crystal or from the Azure sun that people in Yliakum can measure. Perhaps a device similar to the compass that always shows in the direction of one of the temples, either the Laanx Temple or the Talad Temple. Or maybe in the direction of the crystal.
-
How about obtaining a lodestone? Then "/lodestone" would cause the message, for instance, "Your loadstone swings and points straight ahead of you." Since a lodestone would point North (or whatever Talad wants), this could give a general indication of direction. However, there could be unexpected conditions that might cause the lodestone to read incorrectly.
-
Hi, folks.
I'm also a newbie here, and was looking through the message boards while the client is downloading. While I have no idea what to expect from the game, I do have a pretty solid idea of what to expect based on the screenshots, FAQ, manual, and the various comments on this forum.
Quath, thanks a bunch for your insight. I know how it gets when as a Game Master (or programmer, or person in charge) you become so familiar with the complexities of your project that you sometimes forget what it's like for the beginner. For any project in the alpha or beta stage, it's the beginners who matter most, since they're a crystal ball on what to expect in the near future. For me, it gives me some advice on what to look out for, and not end up feeling totally embarressed when I spawn for the first time, wondering what the heck this place is.
An additional suggestion, as I was thumbing through the manual, though. I loved roleplaying when I was a lot younger, and haven't had interent for a long time. Now that I have it, I'm looking for a chance to enjoy roleplaying online, in just the kind of environment that I believe the creators have in mind. I can completely appreciate the challenges the developers must be facing, between balancing gameplay, mechanics, story, art, patches, drastic age differences, how much blood is too much, and all the myriad complexities of such a project. Thanks for putting the effort into a project like this.
Oh yeah, the manual. A more dramatic introduction, or possibly a short story that compels us to get involved is desperately needed. I remember when I was 12, there was a Game Master who was... well, like God to us. He could create roleplaying scenarios and situations out of thin air, put us through hell, and leave us gasping for more - and never used a statistic or any-sided die. He taught me the mechanics were just a way to represent the reality he was weaving for us. Naturally, if he were to tell us which way north was, I would swear by it on my dying breath.
Ok, the download is finished, so off I go. Thanks a bunch!
Stephan
-
The manual itself needs a major face-lift (http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/4090/grinwq3.gif) It'll be taken care of as soon as we find the time for it.
Welcome to PlaneShift and the boards, Voltare! That is the kind of GM team that we hope to have as things progress here - game mechanics and stories both.
-
I have written several codes at work. It is always interesting to see what was assumed about new users and what new users really are doing. I get surprised a lot.
So now when I know someone new is going to try out some software I have been working on, I like to sit with them and watch what they do and what they assume. I then try to go back and code ways to odeal with their assumptions or update the documentation or error messages.
I like it that this game focuses on roleplaying. Too many games out there are focused on stat building and PvP. I think there is a healthy balance between l33t lewt, power gaming and roleplaying. I think PS is on a good path.
Quath
-
But I agree that there might be some other magic powers either from the crystal or from the Azure sun that people in Yliakum can measure. Perhaps a device similar to the compass that always shows in the direction of one of the temples, either the Laanx Temple or the Talad Temple. Or maybe in the direction of the crystal.
I tell you all again, coordinate system used in Pratchet's "Disc World" is better for Yliakum :) We only need to see actual Azure Sun on the ceiling, always in correct position...