Shroud of the Avatar

[Inseril]

I was a backer of this game since it launched on Kickstarter.  I have longed for another game such as Ultima Online which got me started in MMO's and held my attention for 10 years.  SotA is not a game for everyone, but if your interested in an old school feel you might want to keep this on your radar.  Despite over a year in development this game is still pre-alpha but I have not played since release 7 and now it is release 18 and I am having a lot of fun.

I thought I would hate the deck combat system but after they have made some changes it is a lot of fun and makes for some cool fights.  Some will prefer to play with a locked deck but once you get over the weird element of your skill bar changing it is not as hard as you first think.

The graphics for a game built in the Unity engine is not bad.  Nothing like the AAA titles but Lord British lived up to his reputation of building a game where 99% of the objects are moveable and functional.  Meaning every building you can go into, turn the candles on and off, eat thefood and drink beverages.

The overland map took me some time to get use too.  Again this might not be everyone's "cup of tea" but it does not ruin my gameplay as I feared it would.

On the plus side there are not quest markings. There will be a very indepth storyline much like the Ultima series, which will require you to make choices that will affect how you are perceived.  Now quest givers persay but you actually have to talk with NPC's.  There is a journal that willl record a few sentences about what to do but if you want details you will need a tablet to right those details down.

Crafting is pretty important.  I have never been huge into craftng in any game but it seems like aside from some basic recipes you actually have to learn new nes on your own through trial and error untless another crafter teaches you.

SotA is not going to be a blockbuster of a game.  Lord British And Starr Long have always pitched it as a niche game.  I will say that the community in SotA makes the game.  There is so much to just watch in the game, such as live theater perfrmances, roleplaying if that is your thing, cool PvP tournaments.  There are a ton of familiar guilds and players from my days of UO so it has made the pre-alpha state of the game not much of a hinderance..

[Voltari]

I remember being in 6th grade and playing Ultima 2, and Ultima 3 for the very first time on my Apple ][+. I played a ton of UO when it first came out. I've been casually following this. Haven't backed it. Maybe I will. I have the problem of too many games, not enough time.

 

That said, how is the multiplayer work? I had read it was instanced. How do you play with friends? Is there PVP?

[Inseril]

I will do my best to explain the concept.  The use a duel map system.  There is a overland map that you use to travel from one place to another.  You actually see other people on the  overland map.  One the overland map you can be sucked into random encounters with the greatest risk at night off the main roads.  From the overland map you can enter zones.  Pretty much ever area on the overland map is a zone. Originally the zones were relatively small.  Based on player feed back the zones have become significantly larger areas can hold a good 50 to 100 people.

 

As far as how .works, it is called selective multiplayer.  Now don;t be fooled that does not mean that you directly select people.  Basically, using your friends list, your guild, guilds your at war with, friends of friends in your guild.  Those are the people that populate the area you are in. If there are open slots then randoms are placed in.  All this happens in one world, so if I place a house and have a vendor on my property everyone can see and buy what is on my vendor regardless of the instance the person is in.  For example if 400 people are in a town there will be 4 instances of that town each with about 100 people.  All 400 people can see my house and buy my items.  If someone buys a sword off my vendor the sword comes out of the inventory on all instances in real time.  This system has allowed towns and cities to look full but not crazy crowded or lagfests.

 

As far as PvP, there will be a few different ways to PvP.

1)You can ask someone to duel. 

2) You can set yourself to open PvP  which means you can fight other people who are flagged open PvP anywhere.. The system will not allow a player to click open Pv, then gank someone, and click PvP off.  So it is a choice you need to live with for a while.

3) Guilds will be able to war other guilds.  If a guild is set to war someone everyone in the guild needs to know that they can be attacked by the other guild.  So if you have members not into PvP you might want to warn them before starting a war with someone.

4)  There are zones that randomly spawn on the map that are open PvP zones.  This ignores what your set at and flags everyone as open PvP.  These areas are rich in resources and has the highest spawn rates of the rarest resources.

 

I believe I mentioned this in an earlier post but this game is a through back to when MMO's were a social experience.  The developers are starting to add things into the game that will allow players to design their own player run quests. Some guilds have bought towns which are for sale and have set those town/cities to open PvP and they host PvP battles in those spaces.  I am amazed with the creativity that the player community had brought to this game.  When was the last time you sat in a pub in game with random people and just talked and were silly.  This happens on a regular basis in this game.  Obviously this currently happens when they do a new release because that is when the population is the highest during pre-alpha.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Inseril

[Spryone]

 Hello Inseril,

                       I have been playing around with shroud since about patch 13. Finally have the wife playing and a couple friends playing off and on now. They mostly are waiting for next patch at end of the month to play some more. We have been loving the Unity 5 graphics so far. We have traveled to a couple of the player run cities now and definitely enjoyed some of the activities at them. Looks like Britain is close to being unveiled which prove to be cool. Its nice to see someone else enjoying the game.

 

                                                Spryone DeRonin in game

 

[Trusin]

I agree, I was skeptical about the map and combat system but it actually makes sense... why have a bunch of "Open space" between land, this allows for more diverse and rich zones but still a huge world feel. I love it. 

 

While I am still getting used to the deck style combat system, it is becoming fun putting "builds" together. I actually made a full fledged archer the other day with some wind magic to kite mobs around and it was very effective and fun. I see a lot potential with the deck system and builds and making every fight different.

[Inseril]

It is so good to see more people playing this game.  Feel free to add me to your friends list My name is Inseril Moonbow.  Trusin I can give you some tips on the deck system if you want.  Combat has come a long way. The deck system once you understand it is so much fun.  I am glad they are changing the focus tree so things like deck speed and amount of cards does not take points.  I am interested to see how they implement the new action combat feature.

 

I also had a tough time at first with the two maps but Trusin is correct that the detail in the scenes are so nice.  Unity 5 has made a huge improvement to the game's graphics which was a big reason a lot of players have stayed away.

I never was much of a crafter, but I have messed around a little with it and it seems like a cool system.  Once the player vendors are it it will be an awesome site to hunt for the bet player run stores for items instead of going to a generic auction house.  It adds to the immersion.

I will probably be dropping another large sum of money to move up to knight level.  If some of us want to start a small CotP group it could be cool.  If enough people get hyped before release maybe we all can pitch in for a player town they have a lot of sizes so even the smallest one could be a hig for us allto live and have our shops.  Just some thoughts.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Inseril

[Inseril]

Release 21 is live and I am really enjoying the changes to the combat system.  It is now a Use Base System with a twist which seems to address the older Use Base System that was used in UO where you stabbed and healed a partner over and over again to raise skills.  The new system requires you to gain XP that goes into a pool that is then used to raise skills.  So if you don't do something like kill mobs or quest once your XP pool hits zero you can't raise your skills.

 

The graphics are really starting to look good.  I like many of the zones and some of the dungeons are really cool. 

 

Unlike other games that say they have a player driven economy SotP is truly a player driven economy.  Mob don;t drop much in the way of loot, pretty much generic rusty weapons, a couple pieces of gold if it is a humoid mob, and maybe a reagent.  All gear and weapons that are worth anything is made by crafters who need to discover/unlock recipes.  So if a crafter experiments and discovers a cool weapon that hass a bonus enhancement.  He/she will be the only person who knows it unless someone else randomly discovers it or they person decides to share it with others.  Anything created by crafters has its name tagged to it. For example, Great Sword of Greater Haste created by Trusin.  Eventually these weapons created by people might be found as loot on mobs.

 

So lets say I bought this Great Sword created by Trusin and I died to a Large Brown Spider.  The Great Sword I was carrying would be added to the loot table of that mob, so if Damis kills a Large Brown Spider there is a random chance that he might receive a Great Sword of Haste created by Trusin as part of the loot.

 

Player housing and Player towns are so cool.  The decorating system in this game is the best out there outside of games that allow you to actually build fortifications.  But every item in a house is individually placed.  The book are actual books that players can write and print mass copies on printing presses.

 

The game is still rough in some areas,but having been a backer since the start this game has come a long long way.  I started at a basic pledge and know I upgraded to a Knight and I will most likely cap at Lord because I believe they are creating a nice old school feel game. 

 

There are some people on different forums saying that the game is pay to win.  It is not, the pledge levels are to encourage people to invest in the game.  And as any one throwing in a lot of money, having some stuff like cool one of a kind house or a rent free property deed is not going to be game changing.  There are no uber weapons, no double xp, or anything that someone who can't afford a high pledge can't buy in game.  Even a lot of the items given to higher pledges can be sold by one player to another for in world gold.

 

If someone is new to the game and is struggling with the deck system or anything in the game I will try to park in mumble when I am playing if you want to ask me about the game.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Inseril

[Trusin]

looked for you on mumble, I would play but don't like playing games solo.. just hit me up.

[Spryone]

Hey guys,

                 I went exploring a bit last night. I started playing about 9pm then realized about 2:30am that it was getting late . Its been a while since a game drew me in like that. I visited a lot of the player run towns and some seem to be organizing with housing offers and vendors up and running but others are ghost towns still. Player run towns are huge is all I have to say.

                I do like the new skill system. My worry is if they put a cap on skills. I kinda got spoiled with the non-cap skills that the player run servers have had in UO. Oh well son is waiting for me in game so I best log in so I can join him for a while.

 

                                                                                            Spryone DeRonin

[Inseril]

Glad your having fun with it Spryone.  I am finding it really addictive as UO.  I am still hoping that PvP will get some loving but I am confident once they finish combat they will talk more about PvP.

Hey Trusin we must of just missed each other.  I will be playing a lot today.  I am in Casual Games in Mumbler.

[Lifedragn]

I've backed it, and poked my head in to check it out a few months back. I've been interested, but too busy to really dedicate much time. But I may watch here to jump in later.

[Inseril]

Awesome!!!  I plan on posting some information about the game.  It is a niche game for sure but to me it is a game that has a cool community and some interesting features