By Adam Smith on November 30th, 2012 at 6:00 pm.
I’d somehow managed to avoid reading anything about Mortal Online until this morning. Upon hearing that the game’s free trial has been extended, now lasting forever, Jim directed me to this conversation about the player-driven sandbox MMORPG. He also said, “it’s a game where you spawn with just your pants” which caused my browser to instantly open a new tab and attempt to download the client. It took a couple of hours for me to get hold of it this morning due (presumably) to server errors, but now I’m all set and ready to run around in my pants. More info and a trailer below.
So, the free version is the same as the previously available trial except without the pesky 14 day time limit. That means skills max out at 60, as opposed to the magnificent and complete ’100′ of the premium version. You’ll have to reach into your bank account to loot and trade expensive objects as well, which hopefully doesn’t mean I’ll be stuck with the starting pants for the rest of my mortal life. It’s also impossible to use thievery skills without paying for premium, which is deeply upsetting as the dance of robbery is the most entertaining part of the video.
It’ll be interesting to see how players have chosen to live and interact during the years that the game has been active. The aim, as I understand it, was to offer a blank slate, with players responsible for building, setting up an economy, resource gathering and just about anything else that goes into making a society work.
Is Mortal Online’s world functional or dysfunctional? Only venturing into its vastness will answer that question but it’s worth remembering that when the free trial began, Quinns related this tale: “There’s this one naked player who stands on a bridge all day and night and when players try to cross it he beats the crap out of them with a stick”.
30/11/2012 at 18:07 Ootmians says:
Mortal Online? I was expecting to see players ripping each other’s spines out. GET OVER HERE!
01/12/2012 at 06:28 jessicasherwood3 says:
up to I looked at the bank draft saying $8267, I didn’t believe that…my… brother trully bringing home money part time online.. there aunt haz done this for under twenty months and by now paid for the mortgage on there villa and got a brand new Chevrolet. go to.. http://www.Google.mel7.com
30/11/2012 at 18:09 RakeShark says:
I guess I’ve been cooking wrong all this time.
30/11/2012 at 18:38 Rikard Peterson says:
I suppose he’s in the preparatory stage of cooking, preparing the ingredient known as rabbit.
01/12/2012 at 17:33 LuizPSC says:
Nhhaa, he is probably breaking a egg with the arrow.
But in the video i am like nhee, ultil i saw about the cooking, i really love cook in videogames, that survival stuff.
30/11/2012 at 18:10 Palindrome says:
I played it for a while when it was in late beta. It was interesting but not exactly enthralling. Griefing was also a major problem.
30/11/2012 at 18:34 disperse says:
I can only assume the player who is swinging an ax at a mountain is trying to gather a damaged ax head and extract a broken stick.
30/11/2012 at 23:00 sinister agent says:
Maybe the mountain has made him very angry.
30/11/2012 at 18:35 takfar says:
Whoah! The video makes it seem exactly like a game concept I was discussing with a buddy, except… it doesn’t seem like it’s implemented very well..? I dunno, the trailer has a very awkward feel.
Anyway, how much for premium? Is it monthly or flat fee? It’s not clearly stated in the site, and I don’t really want to create an account just to find that out. [Edit: found it in the FAQ. US$ 14.25 monthly; for me, that'll be a thanks but no thanks.]
30/11/2012 at 19:04 Kodeen says:
Looking at that first article, I’m confused as to what a “Phill” is. Such a thing must have existed before my time.
30/11/2012 at 19:12 carlthuringer says:
So, no mention of Wurm Online?
Seems like an important bit of context when introducing a game to one’s readership.
30/11/2012 at 19:27 HexagonalBolts says:
Why bother when a snooty commenter will do it for you?
30/11/2012 at 19:31 Unaco says:
And yet they fail to put their mention of Wurm Online in any sort of context, in regards to Mortal Online.
01/12/2012 at 21:54 strangeloup says:
I think the context is that it’s basically the same kind of thing, and has (I think) been around longer. It’s also much less of a download (yay!) but also some sort of streaming Java-based tomfoolery (boo).
S’also free, and always has been. Worth checking out if the stylings of Mortal Online intrigue.
01/12/2012 at 08:44 Nix Nada says:
No mention of 3D Monster Maze on the ZX81? That was also a game.
01/12/2012 at 09:35 Torn says:
The original pong was better
30/11/2012 at 19:39 ScubaMonster says:
So it still has a subscription if you want to get anywhere? Not paying for this game with all the other options for mmo’s out there.
01/12/2012 at 01:49 Raquel says:
Enjoy “all the other options” then. Shame there are only a couple of sandbox mmo’s out there and this is one of them.
30/11/2012 at 19:55 frightlever says:
Hmm. I remember registering for the Beta of this years ago. They still send me a birthday greeting. Obviously I didn’t give them my real DOB but it’s the thought that counts.
30/11/2012 at 20:15 Jockie says:
I remember being quite excited about this after the early press – player driven economy, true sandbox, skill based combat etc. I recall their forums excitedly chirping away, with bandit clans, mercenary companies and all that.
Then I played it, spent like 20 minutes chipping away at a piece of wood, quit, uninstalled, didn’t look back.
30/11/2012 at 21:39 tmargul says:
You should have stuck with it. I swear it only takes 21 minutes to break a piece of wood. YOU WERE ALMOST THERE!
01/12/2012 at 13:33 Kaffka says:
Thanks, you made me smile. :)
02/12/2012 at 00:52 Hyomoto says:
I was planning on giving it a shot, so before I do I’d rather not be terribly presumptuous. But I take it you’ve never played any of the old MUD’s, MOO’s, MUSHes, especially the DartMUD’s where the exact same was true. I somehow get the feeling this was made for people who were fans of games like Accursed Lands.
30/11/2012 at 20:41 Valvarexart says:
it’s an amazing game in many ways. Unfortunately it’s being limited by a tiny playerbase and insufficient development funds. There is a certain charm to the game that will only appear to those who have open eyes. If you think that getting lost in the deep, wild forests of an ancient jungle sounds bad, or if the concept of dying a thousand times and perhaps losing your most valuable items seems negative to you… then you might want to stay away. If, on the other hand, you are like me, and the things that I just mentioned are desirable features… then you want to at least give the trial a shot. Unfortunately the game grows dull on you after a while (months, perhaps)…
30/11/2012 at 21:25 Arglebargle says:
Thanks for the warning! ;)
30/11/2012 at 20:45 SuperNashwanPower says:
Will there be bunnies
Bunnies or no sale
30/11/2012 at 21:34 Ich Will says:
Or maybe midgets
30/11/2012 at 21:59 Randomer says:
Bunnies aren’t just cute like everybody supposes.
30/11/2012 at 22:06 SuperNashwanPower says:
They are also incredible at backgammon?
30/11/2012 at 23:22 Xardas Kane says:
They are sex addicts. I kid you not, I know 2 two people who were raped by bunnies.
On topic – great concept, absolutely jaw-droppingly bad execution. I sincerely hope the devs have managed to fix at least some of the issues, but they lost my goodwill when they charged full-price for that alpha. Try it at your own risk. But honestly, if you want a player-driven sandbox game, just go with EVE.
01/12/2012 at 09:41 SuperNashwanPower says:
That would have to be a massive rabbit, or a very small human. Or, maybe it was this furry guy (not the one in the hat)
http://cute-n-tiny.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/cute-giant-bunnies2.jpg
01/12/2012 at 13:37 Xardas Kane says:
No, it was a case of someone petting a rabbit, said rabbit getting excited and humping said person’s hand. Ain’t pretty.
And then there is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUU_oOBZKko
01/12/2012 at 16:30 SuperNashwanPower says:
Don’t mess with BUNNEH
02/12/2012 at 00:54 Hyomoto says:
I think the problem with that is someone might be interested in the setting as well. EVE is sci-fi space, and this is medieval fantasy. I mean, you certainly see how they are different?
01/12/2012 at 02:35 Ich Will says:
And what’s with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?
Once more, with feeling
01/12/2012 at 09:42 SuperNashwanPower says:
If above comments are to be believed, its to help them pick out their next ‘conquest’ :D
01/12/2012 at 00:13 Mrice says:
There are bunnies and they are just as hard to chase down and kill with a massive sword as you would exspect.
01/12/2012 at 09:47 SuperNashwanPower says:
As appalled as I am by your anti-bun sentiments, I may also have been guilty of finding it really funny in Skyrim when you snipe a bunneh and they quietly go **MEEP**, and their ears go flying comedically head over heels.
30/11/2012 at 20:50 Dana says:
Yeah, no. They were selling Alpha Test for 60$ when this shit came out.
01/12/2012 at 01:47 Raquel says:
Maybe thats because its an indie MMO with no budget and a couple of devs, dummy.
30/11/2012 at 21:27 Scouter says:
Any players here who would like to share their impressions of the game?
Also lots of memories from Runescape are being invoked when I saw the trailer.
30/11/2012 at 22:21 Valvarexart says:
It is a fairly different game, but similar in some unsettling ways. They are both games that were amazing to explore and learn how to play (took a while in both cases), they are both games that are amazing to talk about and share stories about with your friends… And they are both pretty grindy and they both fall short in several areas, sometimes unexpectedly.
30/11/2012 at 21:39 Berzee says:
This is, even more than most similar MMORPGS, a game I was very interested to try (for its very “free for all” kind of un-directed mechanics) until I found out that this is, even more than most similar MMORPGS, a game where people run around without enough clothes on.
30/11/2012 at 23:40 kimadactyl says:
Looks like a crap first person A Tale In The Desert.
01/12/2012 at 00:29 MistyMike says:
I thought it’s some kind of new mod for Skyrim which allows you to explore around Morthal, that shithole in the middle of the swamp. Even the image seemed to fit.
01/12/2012 at 01:24 akbarovich says:
Everyone knows the most hardcore crafting and role-playing experience is in CANTR II.
01/12/2012 at 07:19 Lethys says:
I used to be very interested in this game bu the developers are very, very inexperienced. I remember when every feature promised, meaning a fully formed town development, guild system, player generated quests, player run shops, guild cities and guild-run banks, crafting, PvP balance, etc. was supposed to be in-game and working as expected by 2010. Then I remember checking once in 2011 and there was a problem where animals would sort of teleport around while you fought them. No progress had really been made at that point, only the diehard fans kept playing it and referred to it often as being a chore.
I played it for about five minutes and the UI was just ridiculously confusing, the graphics were no where near the trailers were, the gameplay was slow, the connection to the server was really bad, the lag was awful, and I was completely naked. So I guess now it’s free to play and they start you with pants. It might be amazing now but my experience with it is that it was awful.
02/12/2012 at 01:00 OuterCrow says:
Hmmm, I actually think this trailer is badly paced. It looks awfully dull for the first minute, then starts to throw out all these great looking environments into the second half. To be honest, I almost closed it without seeing any of the good stuff!
Having said that, I don’t think I’ll try it.
02/12/2012 at 18:54 CutieKnucklePie says:
PVP everywhere and full loot? No thanks, would be spending all my life living in a griefer’s paradise.