Comments on: Tabula Rasa: Hybrids

By: K-k

K-k — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:25:24 +0000

Does anyone else hate it when games release ”alien” / ”totally non human” races, and then they turn out they basically have just a little different head structure and abnormal skin color, with possibly some squiggles in it?

I want to see some damn lizardmen with lazer eyes.
And androids. And half scorpions.
What ever happened to creativity?

By: DigitalSignalX

DigitalSignalX — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:14:59 +0000

I can recall playing the 3-day trial and enjoying it, but not really enough to consider subscribing. Regardless, one of the first things that struck me about TR was that I would love to play as one of the native species already involved in the struggle rather then the options given, especially the druid-ish guys with the high-tech bows. If Blade 3 taught us anything, it’s that the modern battlefield needs high tech bows. Looks like this might come close, though no bow screens yet…

By: Xander

Xander — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:46:52 +0000

I don’t get all the hate.

I’ve been playing for about 2 weeks now (my purchase was based largely on Gillen’s review) and I’m loving it. It’s pretty much the ultimate casual MMO, for several reasons:

1. Combat is fun, fast-paced and requires actual player input.
2. It’s easy. Getting around and completing quests is a breeze. You can play for 10 minutes and find something to do.
3. It’s probably the best MMO for soloing, ever. If you hate other people, you’ll be right at home.

Then there’s all of the other great touches. The storyline is actually sort of interesting. Instances are cleverly-designed (and soloable). The classes feel balanced but unique. There are multiple different legitimate skill tree builds — you choose the right one for your playstyle, not the one that’s deemed to be mathematically ‘perfect’…

And now I’m raving. Short version is: It’s sufficiently different, casual and fun. For some people, it’s probably perfect.

By: ryan in exile

ryan in exile — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:44:39 +0000

where’s my italics?

By: johnny_cuts

johnny_cuts — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:38:45 +0000

I’ve just hit lvl 30, cloned a guardian and I’m having a whale of a time, questing and generally making a nuisance of myself.

Really is very different game from the beta, it deserves a better response than that which it has received.

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:54:40 +0000

Wondering whether Meat was onto anything, I actually go and check Metacritic, interested to see how it actually played out at review, and my review’s right in the middle of the pack.

(User review average is higher than the critics average too)

So, yeah, saying I’m alone on this one strikes me as somewhat unfair.

By: Oasx

Oasx — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:43:37 +0000

Gotta disagree with most people here.

The game has improved a lot during beta, thats why they call it a Beta not a demo.

“Questgiver 1: Bring me ten of X
Questgiver 2: Kill X of species Y” :

Just like every other MMO on the planet Tabula Rasa has these kind of quests, but overall i would say the game has more diverse quests than any other MMO i have tried.

“Too much Grinding” : This is simply not true, TR has less grinding than most other games, the difference is that the game mechanic makes it fun so that any mass killing isnt a chore, I honestly dont think i can ever go back to the Wow model where the game consists on standing still while you look at the bottom of the screen for all your abilities.

Tabula Rasa is in no way perfect but it is still in its early days and has plenty of time to get the last pieces right, others may disagree but this is the most fun i have ever had in an MMO

By: KingMob

KingMob — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:53:12 +0000

These seem like Star Trek aliens… maybe it’s just the hybrids, since I haven’t played the game all that much, but personally if an alien can be played by a guy wearing a mask, I don’t find them that compelling.
Bring on the extra limbs, tentacles, shell-or-metallic carapace, and mental powers, then I’ll want to play it…

ps. Anyone playing the Hellgate: London expansion that can give us a report on it?

By: Meat Circus

Meat Circus — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:27:54 +0000

Thanks, Scones. THONES.

This is the kind of thing that Mr Gillen forgot to mention. I call that dereliction of duty and demand that John Walker hold him down and spank him thoroughly.

It doesn’t sound like this bland and generic mumorpurger can lure me away from EVE just yet.

Next competitor please.

By: jamscones

jamscones — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:18:46 +0000

The things that Gillen raved about (dynamic battle spawning / base defense, FPS shooty, cloning to create alts etc) are actually all very welcome in an MMORPG like this. The problem is that TR doesn’t really have enough or enough varied content to carry most MMO veterans beyond a week or so before the feeling of having seen/done it kicks in.

I disliked the character progression trees a lot. It seems that there’s little real difference between the classes, such as they are, and you have very little to look forward to in improving your character past level 30 of 50. The loot and gear were also a bit uninspiring – a few gun archetypes and “elemental” variations of each. Bleh. Armour is similarly generic. You won’t wander round admiring other players’ stuff, as everybody looks blandly sci-fi.

I didn’t get far enough to verify this for myself, but many complain that the content really drops off at lvl 30-ish and you’re stuck grinding out large parts of the remaining levels.

I will give it another go in maybe a year, but I wouldn’t recommend spending money on it now. There are far, far better MMOs to obsess over while sitting in your underwear in a darkened room at 3pm, having called in “sick” to work. Again.

By: Meat Circus

Meat Circus — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:01:04 +0000

Questgiver 1: Bring me ten of X
Questgiver 2: Kill X of species Y

Ah, yes. Garriott pushing back the boundaries of the MMO genre. Epic fail.

I don’t think I’ll bother. It sounds to me like it embodies everything I hate about most MMOs.

By: Nny

Nny — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:53:37 +0000

I got into the beta of it, made a char, thought it was cool. After some quite interesting newbie quests it became a bit more open and I got to get quests from questgivers.

Questgiver 1: Bring me ten of X
Questgiver 2: Kill X of species Y

that’s when I uninstalled it.

Also, the story didn’t seem all that interesting to me.