Normally when I say I’m lost in a game I’m referring to the games atmosphere and gameplay, but this time I literally mean I’m lost. I’ve wandered out from one of the game’s cities into the wilderness and have been lost for about an hour or so. I have no idea where in the game I am or how to get back to where I came from. I haven’t seen a single player, NPC or Mob the entire time other then a few pigs or rabbits, which are scarce at that. For those of you who haven’t played Mortal Online yet, there is no in-game map, so you never really know where you are or where any city is. There are no sign posts on trails or at outposts pointing to a cities direction, or at least I haven’t found any. Considering Mortal Online is set to release this month, within 2 weeks, I’m shocked at the lack of content outside the cities.
A few weeks ago I wrote how the Mortal Online open beta was a dud due to the lack of content, however one reader replied back with “I’ve killed minotaurs, lizard men, terror birds, been in giant battles, wear full plate and have steel weapons. Plenty to do in the beta.” My question to this reader is, where? I’ve been walking around in all directions for over an hr and I haven’t seen one mob, not one. I did find two outposts, but they were completely empty.
I now have about 6-8 hrs worth of gameplay in the Mortal Online open beta and while the games mechanics such as fighting, stealing, crafting and other systems are all working very well, I don’t really have anything to do. I think the main issue I’m having is not having a map. I don’t know where I am in relation to other cities and I don’t know where any thing is. Just finding NPCs to buy and sell items takes forever because you have to search the entire city to find where they’re located. I’m not saying I need a map with NPC icons everywhere, but a map that shows where the market is or where the smiths are located would be helpful.
Mortal Online does have some big content issues, but the game mechanics and rules are a breath of fresh air. This is the first game where I’ve been able to steal items directly from a players loot bag, yes I’m playing as a thief and love it. But aside from stealing items from people, I can’t seem to find anything else to do.
Update: I was not offline or desynced, after around 2 hrs I finally ran into a group of people and they pointed me in the direction of a city. This is also not a review, we do not review games in beta.
So does Mortal Online actually offer anything to gamers?
Or is it squarely targeted at people who have no interest in gaming, but just want to fondle their e-peens while boasting about being superior human beings to people who play WoW?
Geez, are all of these responses paid fanboys or something?
This review is spot on with my experience of MO’s open beta.
One can make a game that’s not a hand-holding theme park, but still give players at least _some_ clue about what to do and what’s going on. Instead, MO just drops you in the middle of a town with no map, a very unhelpful help feature, no information about what’s out there, no tutorial, _nothing_. I’ve spent hours just trying to find anything at all to do other than look at random book vendors…
I love it how all the fanboys come running and screaming if theres any critizism. It is a niche game and its more hardcore than others for sure, but I love how fanboys feel that they are really hardcore and special by playing this game and all others are wussies for not liking it. It almost seems youre trying to convince _yourselves_ rather than the maker of the article, about how the game just requires imagination and attitude.
On another thought, I do play the game and enjoy it. I havent quite grasped it fully yet but I keep playing to find out more about it. So if you really think the game is good and you really enjoy it, stop posting these mindless fanboy comments and just play the game. Theres no need to convince anyone else if you enjoy the game yourself.
I always thought ‘Niche’ meant – crap, will only appeal to a small percentage of hard core fans and might make the Investors money back in about 5 years…maybe….
It isn’t about “fanboys” coming to blindly defend their game. They defend it because the preview/review or whatever does not reveal what Mortal Online is really about. These “fanboys” don’t come and post to feel hardcore, they do it because the game is not even in the same category as other MMOS yet the general public and uninformed reviewers will compare it to the normal run of the mill games. Mortal Does need more content, mortal does need bug fixes, mortal is in beta, sure, but most of all Mortal has the potential to be what so many have missed since the days of UO and to throw it away as a failure, disregard its potential and unfairly review/preview/blog about is a shame not only to mortal but to the people who may be turned away from a game with such high hopes. Yes I’m a fan, but I’m a fan of what Mortal will be, not what it is, eventhough what it is can still be a lot of fun for anyone with an imagination. ; )
Ok well most of what I wanted to say has been said but THERE IS A COMPASS
Its called the sun…
Rising -> East
Seting -> West
Rising on right side = north
Rising on left side = south
ect
I dont think anyone who played the original MMO classics like EQ without a map should be able to write any articles or reviews on new games. They are simply too jaded by all the infantile MMOs from the last 6 years that have lacked any kind of challenge or immersion.
This game is crap, as every hard game, like ArmaII or UO, only for fanboys.
Now, ¿Where are my epics??? Im too pr0 for white equipement… wait, no instances??
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU….
agreed with Dullahan.
MO is all about immersion. You basically live another life, at another time, or in another world. You can be just as bored with it as you would be in real life… sitting at home on your computer with nothing to do and no motivation.
+
Well there are hay stacks for sitting on, or rooftops in the world of Nave.. if you are really bored you can go streaking across the land or skinny dipping.
+
Just wait though.. wait for release, you will all see.
+
This is not your fairy land of rewards like WoW and it’s followers… MortalOnline and the world of Nave is a very cruel environment. You can strike a mountain of riches and then have it all stolen from you as simple as that.
I think there is a big misunderstood…
Did’nt you read the FAQ of the game ?
If you were thinking that an allknowing NPC with a glowing hat would give you all the tips, the gear and a map, with a integrated GPS… well… you tried the wrong game.
If you are not willing to find people to play with ( in game ) , seek players interactions and ennemies to fight : for sure you’ll have nothing to do. It s a sandbox game… not a theme park with big red circles on a GPS map telling you to bring back 50 wolf pets.
You seriously need to forget your wow world and start thinking a little more out of the box.
Wow finaly i dont feel alone anymore…i was so happy when i heard that there could be a game like oblivion (my favorite game sinvce release a few years ago) in ONLINE mode…seems like godlike to me i always wished and begged for that…
BUT THEN i finally got to the beta after 3hours of downloading and hoping and login problems i made my first steps in the game…
AND I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED! how could drawing your weapon even cost abvout 8seconds…i mean yes its logical but in pvp mode you are so unbelieveble slow when you wear your weapons so you even need to put them away and out again…
Also, people can just run away from you in a second because the char is so slow when equipped…
i had the same problem and i took equactly the same scrreenshot xD i died in the first city because a fag killed me then i rezzed on a priest somewhere in the mountains…i lost myself there and spended about 7hours !!! to find a way back to the city…i didnt find it, but after 7hours and after i got killed abuout 50times i logged out and deleted the game…its so sad
After playing MO for a day or two its easy to find your way around. You need to learn to look at your surroundings and create your own map in your mind. There are roads going from town to town and many other places in between which make it alot easier to navigate. When you start you should walk arounf town and become familiar withe it. Ask people where things are if you are unsure. Once you know your way around town start venturing out and follow roads. If you stick close to the roads you can always find your way back to town unless you had your eyes closed the whole time.
This beta is the most boring stuff i’ve ever played. I ‘played’ for two hours, wandered around talking to all nameless npcs, with no content at all. When i found a player, i attacked him and i was killed by a guard.
It was not even a game for me. I know it is a beta, but seems much more like an alpha version then anything.
Dialogs? no. Indications? no. Tutorials? no. This is not for hardcore players, this is for XXX-snuff-like-hardcore players that have time to find a game inside this 3d world.
The adventure must come to you and not the other way around;
I’ll go get my pen and paper…
Just to complement. I know it is not a ‘quest-based’ game, it is not that it was lacking. The NPCs talk about no lore, no rumors, no places where you can go, no history about the game, no battles to go for. And by the way, even a sandbox games should have tutorial tasks to teach people how to use the skills they start with.
I’m from a time when a great lore/story ended up in a great game.
If you want to talk hardcore RPG i have a theory:
In RPG games, if mechanics and gameplay are not completely messed up the most important thing is the storyline, background lore, character development and how important he is to the game plot.
Ultima Online, as the first sucessful sandbox game, had the great legacy of Ultima series, lore, gameplay (U VIII), great characters and amazing development, specially after many mods and expansions.
In non-online games like Oblivion, Baldur Gate and even Arkanum with its problems, we had amazing character development, awesome story (and mini stories) to dig for and let you 100 hours playing the same game. Just to name a few examples.
In MO we have none of those. Despite of the good combat and average gameplay (awesome for a beta), that is not enough to keep someone interested. It would be better to play an online version of Hexen or Heretic (do you remember those?). It is mostly like a FPS with cape and sword. Very boring for a good ‘vintage’ RPG player like myself.
I find it great that players can (would) build the world story and scenarium. But based on what? MMO skirmish lore? PK lore? What should my character fight for? 100gp and the best armor possible?
Free content RPG like that are nothing more like FPS with swords and arrows. Nothing deep.
Did the OP even think of following the streams and rivers? Or following the sun twoards the west to where he would of eventualy ran into the costal city; no he didn’t. Sounds like he just wondered around in circles in the corner of the world not even trying to think outside the box.
MO isn’t like any other MMO, either learn your way around the wilderness or find a person to ask for directions.
Installed the game, created a character, chose a city to start in.. found out the city was completely empty except for one naked guy standing on a tower, walked to him to ask some questions and all, he jumped off the tower, ran toward me and killed me in 2-3 hits with his giant sword.
rezz at some priest inside the city, the dude killed me again, and again, and again.. not like my wooden sword can do anything, or if i could run away.
really a fun game
Yeah this game is ass. Someone wrote something about relating this game to RL… if that is true you have one empty sad life.
I AM SELLING MY ACCOUNT FOR 35$ IT COMES WITH GAME AND A MONTH. Email me if interested.
I’ll buy it……
email is
bushray16@gmail.com
Hi, my names Princereaper.
I represent Ghost Division.
What is Ghost Division?
We are a causal international guild that does pretty much everything the game has to offer but that doesn’t mean we are not serious when we play, it just means we are not too serious that it affects the fun factor when playing the game and we usally work together to achieve a common goal.
We are looking for people who are are mages or slag haulers but anyone who is willing have a fun time is welcome to join us
Our age range is 16-45, most members are in 20’s but we prefer to only have members of a mature nature that is able to have a laugh with everyone.
If you would be intreasted in joining our guild then please feel free to apply by either.
Making a account on our guild site.
http://www.ghostdivisionguild.com
Also you can pop into our vent server and say hello :) you will find the details on the guild site.
Or either contacting [GD]princereaper on the mortal online IRC.
Thank you for taking your time reading this message.
We are accepting new players into the guild as we enjoy teaching new players how to enjoy the game without being too harsh on players.
People should know what’s Ultima online is about. I believe the main idea after all is based in UO’s form of mmo, wich i love.
Everybody loves to kill anything with no regards of SPECIAL KILLING ZONES or any of that over protective stuff.
But even so, at least in cities there should be some kind of npc guards to give a sense of tranquility. Even in real medieval times there were garrisons and a town watch available for people. Mostly oppressing, but nevertheless they did their job, as cops do now.
As far as the disgraceful reviews i have been reading for the past hours, im kinda terrified to start paying for it.
Maybe im going to wait for it to mature a little more.
The game, in my point of view, is very promising and i intend to play it, but right now it looks like as currently flawed.
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