Post by Morreion on Nov 9, 2009 9:44:27 GMT -5
I tried out Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted the past weekend, and thought I'd let you know how it went.
Istaria is the new name of the game formerly known as Horizons. It started back in 2003, and was an ambitious game for the times. Unfortunately, when the game released, there were technical problems and it did not live up to the hype surrounding it- there was quite a scandal between the creator of the game and a latecomer who took over the game before release. Many of the features that were discussed did not show up at release. Suffice it to say, Horizons didn't do very well, despite having a good crafting system for the time and other innovations such as a user-markable map. I played there for around 4 months at release, but returned to DAoC.
Istaria currently has different account options, including a totally free version. I signed up for this to give it a try- I never had to supply any payment information, which was quite nice.
You enter the game after character creation (a modest process, but in 2003 it was above average I remember) and have the option to play the Spirit Isle tutorial for the first 5 levels or so. You pick an adventuring class and you have the option to pick crafting classes as well. You can be as many classes as you want- Istaria has a multiclassing system that is a bit complicated but suffice it to say that you can play different classes and draw on some of your diverse abilities while you are currently a particular active class. You can be as many crafting occupations as you like. From my memories, crafting here was better than in some other games I've tried. You can build your own structures on plots; there are player towns filled with plots that you could buy and build upon (this may be restricted to paying customers).
I played to level 5 as a Scout, running around the tutorial, and then teleported to the main entry town of New Trisimus and gained an extra level there. The game ran very smoothly- no technical issues were evident. I ran the game windowed and was able to browse the internet and watch videos with no PC problems whatsoever. The graphics were good for 2003 but are of course dated now; however, there is a charm to them brought on by old memories of Horizons that appealed to me. You may not care for the looks of things- I've seen worse, but the game is no Aion in looks, be warned. The sky still looks nice- I remember being very impressed with that feature 6 years ago.
The soundtrack was surprisingly nice; I left it on. The UI is nice, and customizable. I remember enjoying the flexibility of moving every part of the UI wherever I wanted back in the day. I created multiple chat windows. You can have up to 10 hotbars, which is really handy. Targeting was done by clicking (no Tab key to target feature here, unfortunately). Loot by right-clicking. Your inventory is unique in the sense that big things looted take up more space while small things take up little room, as in real life. You gain abilities as you level and place them on your hotbars.
I like the map- zoom out some, it'll look better- you can place your own custom markers on it. Another nice feature is that running down roads gives you a movement speed bonus- veering off the roads, you noticeably slow down. I always liked that, it makes sense!
NPCs give you quests, train you, or provide vending and consignment (auction) features. This was one of the first games to use an auction system if I remember correctly. There is a sign next to a road leading out of New Trisimus that says 'Monsters' with an arrow pointing downroad. I remember seeing that in the original Horizons and laughing- quaint but practical.
The free game restricts you to 1 character per server of human class (you can play a dragon if you pay). You do not get a plot of land to build on like paying customers. But for free, hey, what do you expect?
There was no other players that I saw in the starting town. Doing a player search returned 50 players on the Chaos server (there are 3 servers to choose from). So if you like being around crowds of people, you probably won't like this game. Yet after having bots steal my mobs in Aion, I didn't mind not being crowded out!
The population may be small, but the community there is tight and there apparently is a decent amount of roleplaying. Check out the Istaria community site; looking at the forums reflected the community spirit in the game.
Overall, if you try the game not expecting much, you may find it an interesting experience. I'll keep it on my PC and see what happens. Is Istaria a first-class MMO title? Not at this point, but there are many first-class MMOs out there that have failed to keep me playing. I think that this is often related to a lack of community or community reinforcement. From all accounts, Istaria has that.
Istaria is the new name of the game formerly known as Horizons. It started back in 2003, and was an ambitious game for the times. Unfortunately, when the game released, there were technical problems and it did not live up to the hype surrounding it- there was quite a scandal between the creator of the game and a latecomer who took over the game before release. Many of the features that were discussed did not show up at release. Suffice it to say, Horizons didn't do very well, despite having a good crafting system for the time and other innovations such as a user-markable map. I played there for around 4 months at release, but returned to DAoC.
Istaria currently has different account options, including a totally free version. I signed up for this to give it a try- I never had to supply any payment information, which was quite nice.
You enter the game after character creation (a modest process, but in 2003 it was above average I remember) and have the option to play the Spirit Isle tutorial for the first 5 levels or so. You pick an adventuring class and you have the option to pick crafting classes as well. You can be as many classes as you want- Istaria has a multiclassing system that is a bit complicated but suffice it to say that you can play different classes and draw on some of your diverse abilities while you are currently a particular active class. You can be as many crafting occupations as you like. From my memories, crafting here was better than in some other games I've tried. You can build your own structures on plots; there are player towns filled with plots that you could buy and build upon (this may be restricted to paying customers).
I played to level 5 as a Scout, running around the tutorial, and then teleported to the main entry town of New Trisimus and gained an extra level there. The game ran very smoothly- no technical issues were evident. I ran the game windowed and was able to browse the internet and watch videos with no PC problems whatsoever. The graphics were good for 2003 but are of course dated now; however, there is a charm to them brought on by old memories of Horizons that appealed to me. You may not care for the looks of things- I've seen worse, but the game is no Aion in looks, be warned. The sky still looks nice- I remember being very impressed with that feature 6 years ago.
The soundtrack was surprisingly nice; I left it on. The UI is nice, and customizable. I remember enjoying the flexibility of moving every part of the UI wherever I wanted back in the day. I created multiple chat windows. You can have up to 10 hotbars, which is really handy. Targeting was done by clicking (no Tab key to target feature here, unfortunately). Loot by right-clicking. Your inventory is unique in the sense that big things looted take up more space while small things take up little room, as in real life. You gain abilities as you level and place them on your hotbars.
I like the map- zoom out some, it'll look better- you can place your own custom markers on it. Another nice feature is that running down roads gives you a movement speed bonus- veering off the roads, you noticeably slow down. I always liked that, it makes sense!
NPCs give you quests, train you, or provide vending and consignment (auction) features. This was one of the first games to use an auction system if I remember correctly. There is a sign next to a road leading out of New Trisimus that says 'Monsters' with an arrow pointing downroad. I remember seeing that in the original Horizons and laughing- quaint but practical.
The free game restricts you to 1 character per server of human class (you can play a dragon if you pay). You do not get a plot of land to build on like paying customers. But for free, hey, what do you expect?
There was no other players that I saw in the starting town. Doing a player search returned 50 players on the Chaos server (there are 3 servers to choose from). So if you like being around crowds of people, you probably won't like this game. Yet after having bots steal my mobs in Aion, I didn't mind not being crowded out!
The population may be small, but the community there is tight and there apparently is a decent amount of roleplaying. Check out the Istaria community site; looking at the forums reflected the community spirit in the game.
Overall, if you try the game not expecting much, you may find it an interesting experience. I'll keep it on my PC and see what happens. Is Istaria a first-class MMO title? Not at this point, but there are many first-class MMOs out there that have failed to keep me playing. I think that this is often related to a lack of community or community reinforcement. From all accounts, Istaria has that.
