Post by Morreion on Jan 6, 2011 10:19:38 GMT -5
Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted official site
Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted (Wikipedia)
Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Virtrium and originally released by Artifact Entertainment as Horizons: Empire of Istaria) in Europe on December 5, 2003 and in North America on December 9, 2003. Tulga Games, LLC acquired the game and all related assets on January 25, 2005 and sold them to EI Interactive July 2006. On July 18, 2007 the latest company to own Istaria, Virtrium LLC (Vi) acquired the rights to the game.
Set in a fairly traditional sword and sorcery world, the game allows players to be adventurers, crafters, or both, and features a struggle between the "living races" (including the players), and "the Withered Aegis", an army of the undead seeking to destroy all life.
Rise and Shiny recap: Istaria (Massively)
There's something reassuring about seeing an "older" game that is not only hanging in there, but doing quite well. Sure, it might not have state-of-the-art graphics and might not be the easiest to figure out in the beginning, but there is something to be said for older games that do essentially force a player to slow down. With newer games, I have had to place self-imposed blocks in my path to stop me from leveling too fast. It's fun to work on one quest or quest chain all night; it makes the payoff that much greater. However, your character in Istaria develops semi-automatically, gaining pre-assigned powers as he levels up. You do acquire points, however, to place into many different skill sets that will help you fine-tune your abilities. It's a pretty in-depth system, but definitely feels a little "older."
Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted: When Community Really Counts
MMORPG.com Istaria Correspondent Erin McManaway writes this look at the tight knit community that exists in Istaria, the MMORPG formerly known as Horizons.
It is the nature of Istaria’s game design draws people together. On the adventuring side of the game, the basis of the lore centers around the ongoing battle between the Gifted (players) and the Withered Aegis – the game is completely PVE driven, encouraging players to band together against a common and powerful enemy. On the crafting side of the game, massive community-driven projects have brought the server together to build structures that have meaning and can change the actual game world. On a more personal level, the intricate system for building in-game player housing and guild cities encourages the helping hands of friends and guild mates to develop settlements together, also changing the existing face of the world.
Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted: Development Team Interview
Earlier this summer, the developers at Virtrium (VI) released a new content update that included a number of improvements and updates on existing game features. Most notably, the dragon’s Adult Right of Passage received a large overhaul, as did the Scholar crafting school. MMORPG.com writer, Erin McManaway, had the chance to sit down with the development team to talk about the changes.
Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted: Dragons 101
MMORPG.com Istaria reporter Erin McManaway writes this look at what might arguable be the game's most defining feature: the race of Dragons.
Your dragon starts out as a small hatchling in a big world... by small, I mean comparable to the size of a horse. Hatchlings have their own dragon-specific quests and are schooled by special dragon adventure and crafting trainers. Every ten levels, new dragon quests will open up, allowing the developing dragon to further hone their skills of primal magic or tooth and claw.
Free for All: An insight into Istaria's indie development (Massively)
As a smaller MMO, it's in our interest to develop what some of the larger games would consider niche features. For example, Istaria has a solid crafting system in place that can be built upon and expanded in ways that the team has only just begun to explore. We've begun to revamp some of the crafting schools so that each one provides something unique and special to the game world as a whole. In our most recent patch, we've started to expand on under-utilized systems that also make the crafting side of the game more important. For the spring update, we'll be focusing on adding new content to biped-constructed plots and how to improve upon that particular system within the game.
