Post by Farulosonoth on Apr 11, 2011 13:22:14 GMT -5
Genre :
Rift is a fantasy MMORPG set in the world of Telara. It has your typical MMO ingredients, Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orc-like creatures a leveling system, tradeskills, monsters to fight and dungeons to explore.
Story :
The story… well the story is probably pretty cool, but like with any MMO, your basically in a rat race to the endgame. Who has time to read fluff text when you are in competition with a million other players? When I click around on people in Sanctum (the home city) half the people I click on are already level 50 (current max) and my wife and I are level 37… and we don’t read the quest text, if we did you could probably cut our levels in half. That being said, the basic gist of the game is that the world in which it takes place is the focal point of various planes of reality (Life, Death, Fire, Water, Air, Earth). Occasionally these other dimensions leak out into the game world in what are known as Rifts and closing them and combating their invasions is what makes the game stand out amongst its peers. Without the rift mechanic, the game would be just another WoW clone.
Gameplay and Controls :
The Gameplay is entertaining, but mostly unchallenging. The only challenges are in the dungeons and they are impossible to solo (or even duo) at the appropriate level, you cannot do anything of any value in a dungeon (of which they are all instanced) as a solo player. I will give some credit to the designers though for coming up with different methods of making fights more difficult and interesting besides the creatures hitting you harder and harder and making interesting little things that you have to do during the combats. Unfortunately, leveling (which is done primarily outside of dungeons) takes little to no skill at all, and if by some quirk you happen to die, there is basically no penalty, nothing to keep you from doing absolutely ridiculous stuff like running face first into a camp full of enemies just to laugh at the sound you make when you die. You’ll only be out a few gold pieces to “rez” yourself. There is no risk vs. reward because there is no risk in this game. Even if you die in a dungeon you can just instantly respawn either right where you died (once an hour) or at the nearest temple and then resurrect yourself there for 4 gold, none the worse for wear. This is a trend in the current MMO generation, my cat could accidently step on the keyboard and probably get to level 15 within a few weeks. A monkey… that’s a no brainer, you could easily train a monkey to play this game as long as the monkey stays out of the dungeons. There is no downtime or slow paced combat, to chat with your buddies or employ much tactics. Example of a typical outdoors combat, my wife plays a Warrior and Mage, I play a Mage and Cleric. I pull a mob, have it at about ½ health in 3 seconds before it even reaches me, by the time my wife targets the creature, it has taken another ¼ of its health in damage. She then gets about 1 or 2 attacks in on it and the mob is dead. Rinse and repeat. Occasionally things get interesting when we have like 5 or 6 mobs on us and they are higher level than us. 10 seconds (usually less) and the combat is over. The controls are fine, you basically map your keys however you want. I will say that this game seems less pea soupy than most MMO’s I have tried lately. Crisp controls and things happen when you expect them to happen in real time. Is this game an EQ replacement for the hardcore among us? No… not even close, but it passes the time for the moment. Crafting can actually be a pleasant experience, and as such it you will have a lot of competition because there is really nothing stopping anyone from just doing it themselves.
Graphics and Sound :
The graphics are very good, unfortunately as I have said many times before, graphics do not make a game. They can compliment a good game, but that is not the trend, people worry about the graphics first, and the gameplay last these days. There are a few exceptions. This game the graphics seem to be on the same level.
The sound is a toss up, most of the sound is really good, but when you first start the game you will hear A LOT of repetitive sounds, especially when in a town that is getting attacked (this actually follows you through the entire game) you will hear all the npc’s make some kind of guttural “HUH! HUUHH!” sound as they exhale and run off to fight the invaders, it actually gets comical at some point it is so repetitive. Sometimes also there is this really loud humming in the background that seems to be somehow attached to the UI sound (clicks and stuff I guess), I don’t know for sure but I was un able to find a slider to get rid of that sound but keep the others. Other than those little quirks, the sound isn’t too bad.
Conclusion :
Rift is a fun MMORPG. It’s still a little too easy for my tastes, but when you’ve been out of the MMO game for so long due to not getting the game you want, it’s important to be reminded what exactly it is you want and why. The game is far too easy to be a permanent home, but it is fun to pass the time with for the moment while waiting for the next EQ. If you are a fan of WoW and it’s difficulty level and game mechanics and are eager to try something new, the rifts are a pretty neat idea and Rift really brings together a lot of successful pieces from various MMORPG’s and puts them together in an enjoyable and very casual package.
Final Score [glow=red,2,300]4 / 7 [/glow]pieces of the Destiny Wand
Rift is a fantasy MMORPG set in the world of Telara. It has your typical MMO ingredients, Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orc-like creatures a leveling system, tradeskills, monsters to fight and dungeons to explore.
Story :
The story… well the story is probably pretty cool, but like with any MMO, your basically in a rat race to the endgame. Who has time to read fluff text when you are in competition with a million other players? When I click around on people in Sanctum (the home city) half the people I click on are already level 50 (current max) and my wife and I are level 37… and we don’t read the quest text, if we did you could probably cut our levels in half. That being said, the basic gist of the game is that the world in which it takes place is the focal point of various planes of reality (Life, Death, Fire, Water, Air, Earth). Occasionally these other dimensions leak out into the game world in what are known as Rifts and closing them and combating their invasions is what makes the game stand out amongst its peers. Without the rift mechanic, the game would be just another WoW clone.
Gameplay and Controls :
The Gameplay is entertaining, but mostly unchallenging. The only challenges are in the dungeons and they are impossible to solo (or even duo) at the appropriate level, you cannot do anything of any value in a dungeon (of which they are all instanced) as a solo player. I will give some credit to the designers though for coming up with different methods of making fights more difficult and interesting besides the creatures hitting you harder and harder and making interesting little things that you have to do during the combats. Unfortunately, leveling (which is done primarily outside of dungeons) takes little to no skill at all, and if by some quirk you happen to die, there is basically no penalty, nothing to keep you from doing absolutely ridiculous stuff like running face first into a camp full of enemies just to laugh at the sound you make when you die. You’ll only be out a few gold pieces to “rez” yourself. There is no risk vs. reward because there is no risk in this game. Even if you die in a dungeon you can just instantly respawn either right where you died (once an hour) or at the nearest temple and then resurrect yourself there for 4 gold, none the worse for wear. This is a trend in the current MMO generation, my cat could accidently step on the keyboard and probably get to level 15 within a few weeks. A monkey… that’s a no brainer, you could easily train a monkey to play this game as long as the monkey stays out of the dungeons. There is no downtime or slow paced combat, to chat with your buddies or employ much tactics. Example of a typical outdoors combat, my wife plays a Warrior and Mage, I play a Mage and Cleric. I pull a mob, have it at about ½ health in 3 seconds before it even reaches me, by the time my wife targets the creature, it has taken another ¼ of its health in damage. She then gets about 1 or 2 attacks in on it and the mob is dead. Rinse and repeat. Occasionally things get interesting when we have like 5 or 6 mobs on us and they are higher level than us. 10 seconds (usually less) and the combat is over. The controls are fine, you basically map your keys however you want. I will say that this game seems less pea soupy than most MMO’s I have tried lately. Crisp controls and things happen when you expect them to happen in real time. Is this game an EQ replacement for the hardcore among us? No… not even close, but it passes the time for the moment. Crafting can actually be a pleasant experience, and as such it you will have a lot of competition because there is really nothing stopping anyone from just doing it themselves.
Graphics and Sound :
The graphics are very good, unfortunately as I have said many times before, graphics do not make a game. They can compliment a good game, but that is not the trend, people worry about the graphics first, and the gameplay last these days. There are a few exceptions. This game the graphics seem to be on the same level.
The sound is a toss up, most of the sound is really good, but when you first start the game you will hear A LOT of repetitive sounds, especially when in a town that is getting attacked (this actually follows you through the entire game) you will hear all the npc’s make some kind of guttural “HUH! HUUHH!” sound as they exhale and run off to fight the invaders, it actually gets comical at some point it is so repetitive. Sometimes also there is this really loud humming in the background that seems to be somehow attached to the UI sound (clicks and stuff I guess), I don’t know for sure but I was un able to find a slider to get rid of that sound but keep the others. Other than those little quirks, the sound isn’t too bad.
Conclusion :
Rift is a fun MMORPG. It’s still a little too easy for my tastes, but when you’ve been out of the MMO game for so long due to not getting the game you want, it’s important to be reminded what exactly it is you want and why. The game is far too easy to be a permanent home, but it is fun to pass the time with for the moment while waiting for the next EQ. If you are a fan of WoW and it’s difficulty level and game mechanics and are eager to try something new, the rifts are a pretty neat idea and Rift really brings together a lot of successful pieces from various MMORPG’s and puts them together in an enjoyable and very casual package.
Final Score [glow=red,2,300]4 / 7 [/glow]pieces of the Destiny Wand