The Saga of Ryzom

First I apologize for repeating lines I posted elswhere.

I am one of those that tried Ryzom when it became avilable again after following the game forums for some time.

Ryzom was and is promoted as a sandbox game with supposed freedom of action. The underlying assumption is that Ryzom offers more then stadard quest/level oriented "linear" MMO.

To be honest I fail to see where is freedom in Ryzom. My experience runned something along the following lines and I happen to know few people who had similar issues.

After logging in and familiarizing myself with the game I wanted to try a caster. I intended to avoid the other three branches (combat, harvesting, crafting) until I get more familiar with the game, I didn't get far before I was pointed out that I should level melee fighting first because it was the easiest way to garner hit points.

Very well, I thought that I could form some sort of a hybrid fgihter/magic user. That was the second wall because to be effective in combat you need heavy armour that severly impares use of magic. If you stick with ligh armour you remain very squishy. Basically multiple classes are impossible, at any given time you can be a fighter or a magic user but not both.

That brought me to third step, I needed combat branch and ranged combat became available (skill branches inside of the category every so often). Now, since my magic user and hybrid ideas couldn't really work I went for ranged combat. I also didn't went far becaue to be proficinet in ranged combat you need to train harvesting materials. On top of that ranged weapons are bugged, underpowered compared with other weapons of the same level and use huge amounts of ammunition that is expensive. If you decide to torture yourself with ranged combat you should be ready to harvest and craft your own ammunition.

In short (copy/pasted from another thread):

"For character to be effective a player is pressured by game mechanics to pursue all four categories (combat, magic, harvest, crafting) to some extent. It creates a world filled with characters who happen to be jack of all trades. You want to focus on magic? Well too bad, but best way to build hit points is by melee combat. You want to purusue ranged combat? Great but for that you need focus and that is increased fastest with harvesting. And so on and so forth.

Ryzom gives freedom to grind component A, B, C & D in any order one likes but it does not offer the real freedom just to focus on components, say A and B. Of course, nobody forces you to do all four categories but freedom not to do that is equal to the freedom of WoW player not to grind for gear. In short it is there but it is not practical.

The game also has issues, ranged combat is bugged and ranged weapons (save launchers) do insignificant damage and eat up huge amounts of amunition. Ammunition you are best of by crafting it yourself due to high cost of projectiles. Again, and so on and so forth.

The smug attitude of veterans also does not help. I witnessed more then once that any and all critical comments are dimissed, usually by pointing out how superior Ryzom player is to everyone else. Naturally everyone else is a sheep and fit only to play asian grinders or liner games like WoW. This hardly helps the game starved for new players.

In short Ryzom shows its age (2004 release if I am not mistaken) and its sandbox freedom is very limited.

My observation is that the game will not get far above and beyond Ryzom vets, not because people are averse to sandbox but because Ryzom's concept has shortcommings."
 

To conclude on a more positive note I would like to say that background story, races and graphics are really well done and defnitelly refreshing. Crafting is very well done and quite deep although harvesting that is closely attached to it might not be fun, depending on personal taste. Combat and magic suffer from a number of bugs but otherwise serve their pourpose.

Thoughts? Opinions? Comments?

from what i read it does not seem you have left noob island (silan)

and you are uhm - complaining - that the noob island part of the game is trying to force you to experience several aspects of the game - seems like it is doing its job very well - if you want to specialize do it after the island

though i haven't left myself from what i understand it is a completely different game but since i'm having such a great time - playing three characters right now for various reasons - none of which has anything to do with specializing as you can be whatever you want to be

i have not witnessed either melee combat or magic combat bugs that you mention - what are they?

nor have i seen or read in chat this smug attitude from vets you write of - probably a case of interpretation from chat - maybe a bit clichish as it does seem sometimes that the vets all know each other and us noobs might feel a bit left out

ranged weapons are most likely as you say as i haven't done them

on top of that it is a beautiful game with settings on high (spring is here and it is VERY nice) - crafting and digging is very well done and very deep(heheh) - spell effects are top notch - lots of variation in the look of the various armors (though more limited on the island of course) - it has been interesting to watch older videos of the game and see the variety of looks that are available in the game - hardly any two characters look alike

i hope you give it another chance by moving to the mainland and giving it a go and tell us what you find - i'll get there eventually myself but until then.............

Well, all I can say really is no.

If you want to continue a self-sufficient life in Ryzom then yes.... your freedom may be somewhat limited in the way you've expressed it.  Ultimately though, thats the joy of having a supportive and active community that is quite diverse in the various skill branches you spoke of.  Also this is the purpose of playing a MMORPG, to become part of and build the community around you.

What I can say is that I have never personally crafted my own equipment, from armor to weaponry.  Granted I have dabbled a bit here and there, but everything I use currently as been provided by others or paid for personally.  Also.... there are vendors that offer up stock/basic equipment in which you can purchase also allowing once again a means for you to bypass those skill branches.

While initially the skill system and game itself may appear to be a revolving cycle, there are alternate paths that you can take.  Not every path is as rewarding as the other, but if you truly want freedom from all things including the community.... it is and can be attainable.

On the topic of bugs, yes there are bugs but overall the core concepts are in place and have been functional for quite some time.  Range Weaponry does need an overhaul and it was planned before Ryzom fell into receivership.  But even for its age, Ryzom truly has a unique beauty which I still prefer over most.  Its a dynamic world with unique races and lore.  It goes beyond the traditional linear ride, and allows you to make your own path.  

Overall, I think you need to look a little deeper into Ryzom as you may have missed a few things along the way.

I left Silan, ranged weapons are not avilable in the starting zone.

I also got all four categories to at least skill level 50 and I was informed that interdependence only gets worse as one makes level progress.

The experience with vets in universal chat is not something I can claim as a constant occurance, the attitude however can be seen on these forums also.

The bugs I mentioned are, for example, ranged combat always reverting to auto attack after special attack. That auto attack cannot be stopped unless the desired special attack is double clicked after which it repeats itself. The ammo loss is enormous and damage is insignificant.

I think that if I feel like it, I should be able to completely ignore one to three categories without my character suffering for it. As the things stand now that is impossible in Ryzom, quite simply you cannot be whatever you want to be - instead you have to be everything or your character will simply not be competitive.

Therefore I am under the impression that its freedom is limited, maybe limited in a different way then say LOTRO but at the same order of magnitude.

Guys disregard this post I actually talked to this person in game and she/he said the same thing about ryzom then, Lack of freedom due to mob difficulty and lack of freedom due to needing to spec into all four trees to be effective.

This person created another account and has already posted "ryzoms lack of freedom" three times.

Here is her/his original post that i responded to basically showing everyone that she didn't know one god damn thing about ryzom.

Her/his post in red and my response in yellow:

Originally posted by crunchyblack

well the first few weeks of ryzom was pretty nice community wise, but recently the hordes of wow players looking for the next wow have come in. Conversations are now arguments over which mmo is best ect.

The game really isnt that sandbox...at all...you have no set level which is nice but you really have to skill fighter/magic/crafting/and foraging to really build a good character. I found myself having trouble fighting mobs that i should have been able to kill easily at my level as a fighter...my problem...i had neglected using magic to kill mobs and crafting and foraging for crafting materials. This means there really is only one way to go when making your character...everything. Finding this out really ruined the sandbox feel of being able to do anything i wanted.

See when you "ding" a skill type by using it you get 10 points that can purchase what amounts to your active and passive skills (passive being more hp and other skill based pools). SO by neglecting a certain skill type your missing out on rasing stats, as well as skills related to that skill type. If you are a mage and neglect fighting mobs with weapons to skill fighter, you will have abysmal hp and hp regen, as well as weak self heals and buffs, vise versa your fighter will be missing out on the same hp/regen skills as well as weapon enhancment buffs and other stats.

Gameplay reminded me of Anarchy Online. Magic skills are all basically one animation reskinned, Fighting animations are based on weapon and sometimes dont even show (i hit mob but am still staning still)

The enviroment is really something though, it did feel like a living planet with migrating herds of animals, predators and prey. Very beautiful scenery.

Im really not trying to knock the game, it just seems that everything written about the game seems to skip past what i mentioned and focuses on "its a sandbox" and "it has a beautiful setting/living planet"

All in all its a good game if thats your thing, its not a game on easy mode. Not sure about later levels but the game really reminds me of Anarchy Online in that it has a lot of decent content and character building but lacked on animations and gameplay.

I was kinda just turned off on the having to be a fighter/mage/crafter/forager or be gimped thing. Also the community is on a downward spiral.

Try the game though, it needs people to survive and definatly is in a niche of game types that is rather untouched by mainstream games, definatly worth a try, just dont expect a reskinned wow experience.

Somehow I had a feeling this post would show up :)

Ok, first of all the having to skill up on all four trees isn't true at all.

Check those skill trees again you will notice the passive skills are in every tree.

Lets say you want level 1 cons which increases Health if ur a fighter you train it in the fighting tree.

Now if you look in the magic tree Cons level 1 is no longer in the magic tree it is replaced by level 2.

Basically you have the freedom to level attributes in any tree you can, not grab the same level of every attribute skill in each tree that would be stupid.

This game doesn't force you to skill up in everything.

You say you had trouble fighting mobs at your fighting level because of attributes? maybe it was due to lack of quality armor or a weapon your fight level? Were you fighting 4 and 5 star blue mobs cause those are above level 50 skill.

I'm sorry but you can not just simply walk into a creature much higher skill level than you and expect to win.

In no sandbox MMO can you expect to walk in every area at a very low skill level and not feel restricted due to mob difficulty.

Mainland in ryzom is challenging It's a nice change of pace from the mentally challenged focused linear mmo's of today.

Now the community is getting larger and with it brings the normal riff raff any mmo would have. This is what the /ignore function is for.

I find the community helpful and my guild has helped me tremendously.

My friends list is about 30 players long since i realized right away this game would be more enjoyable in a group.

You say the spell animations look reskined? did you have problems putting this game on high settings?

Last time i checked fear and acid bolt looked nothing alike, Cold and rot looked totally different.

I will agree Ryzoms game world is wonderful to look at and the mob AI is spectacular atleast that part of your review is correct.

I'm sorry but this post seems like you spent a couple hours playing and decided you didn't like that the game was hard so you totally wrote it off.

If you would of said the game felt too grindy for you then I would of agreed but to say that this isn't a real sandbox due to Mod difficulty restriction thats just telling me you want the game dumbed down and I'm sure the rest of the community will disagree with you.

Ok now to this post, You do not need to spec in both fighting and magic, players simply suggested to go into melee since you can spend non-important skill points to raise health its nice but not needed.

Ranged combat if leveling from level 21 with no cash to buy ammo suck but in no way is it gimped.

Did you level up the balance attribute to use better guns?

Sure crafting ammo is helpful but in no way is it needed i had a crap ton of ammo just by selling animal parts while killing with my gun.

Being underpowered in ranged due to low skill level does not mean combat is bugged.

This game gives you the freedom to play and build a character how you want.

You say you can't be a hybrid cause you need to use Light armor? thats BS if you want to be a melee/caster hybrid you grab Medium armor it works out perfectly.

This whole post is bullshit and it bothers me that you would create a new account just to post the same damn thing over again in two more posts!

Have a good day and hope you enjoy WAR!

I hate people that go out of thier way to post nonsense about another game so they can sway new players away.

Originally posted by Kaiserjager

First I apologize for repeating lines I posted elswhere.

I am one of those that tried Ryzom when it became avilable again after following the game forums for some time.

Ryzom was and is promoted as a sandbox game with supposed freedom of action. The underlying assumption is that Ryzom offers more then stadard quest/level oriented "linear" MMO.

To be honest I fail to see where is freedom in Ryzom. My experience runned something along the following lines and I happen to know few people who had similar issues.

After logging in and familiarizing myself with the game I wanted to try a caster. I intended to avoid the other three branches (combat, harvesting, crafting) until I get more familiar with the game, I didn't get far before I was pointed out that I should level melee fighting first because it was the easiest way to garner hit points.

 

In most games, casters have low hitpoints, so what's the trouble there? If you want to be a pure caster, be one. Just be prepared to party alot. Which, since Ryzom is built on socialization, is pretty much encouraged, not to mention encouraged by most other mmorpgs.

Very well, I thought that I could form some sort of a hybrid fgihter/magic user. That was the second wall because to be effective in combat you need heavy armour that severly impares use of magic. If you stick with ligh armour you remain very squishy. Basically multiple classes are impossible, at any given time you can be a fighter or a magic user but not both.

Were you incapable of carrying two sets of armor, one heavy and one light/caster? Most of us do.

That brought me to third step, I needed combat branch and ranged combat became available (skill branches inside of the category every so often). Now, since my magic user and hybrid ideas couldn't really work I went for ranged combat. I also didn't went far becaue to be proficinet in ranged combat you need to train harvesting materials. On top of that ranged weapons are bugged, underpowered compared with other weapons of the same level and use huge amounts of ammunition that is expensive. If you decide to torture yourself with ranged combat you should be ready to harvest and craft your own ammunition.

Every player has a choice in every game of what type of weapon to use, and every weapo