Firstly, i just want to say that never ever even consider playing this game, it is horrible. Read on to find out why.

I Just went through the list of the games a few days ago and saw a game that i have missed out, Astonia III. The rating 6.3 looked reasonable and I became excited as maybe this was a game that would not disappoint me. But when i clicked the link, i was already disgusted when i saw the banner on top. I was like ok lets go to their homepage. I went in and created an account. Browsing through the screenshots made me even more put-off than i already am. After downloading it, i tried the game out. The words were way to small for me, the graphics were terrible and overall, i felt like i was playing a 1970s game. The navigation was pathetic and the first quest i did was already boring. The idea of torches is seriously a useless idea. The idea of typing to initiate a trade is also just a waste of time. I just can't seem to find any pros about this game. Opinions of people who used to play this game would be appreciated.

Originally posted by xoblivionxx

I Just went through the list of the games a few days ago and saw a game that i have missed out, Astonia III. The rating 6.3 looked reasonable and I became excited as maybe this was a game that would not disappoint me. But when i clicked the link, i was already disgusted when i saw the banner on top.

So, you were already "disgusted". That's a pretty strong reaction that would turn most away immediately.

However, regardless, you proceeded to...

I was like ok lets go to their homepage. I went in and created an account. Browsing through the screenshots made me even more put-off than i already am.

So... You were "disgusted" by the banner... but proceeded to go to the website where you were even more "put off"...

So, being disgusted wasn't enough, nor was being "put off"...  You proceeded to...

After downloading it, i tried the game out.

Despite being disgusted and put off by it... you played it anyway.

Why?

The words were way to small for me,

Did you use the "large text" and/or Full Screen options on the launcher window? Between those two options, the text is as large as, if not larger than, just about any MMO out there.

the graphics were terrible and overall, i felt like i was playing a 1970s game.

Either you have a penchant for exaggeration, or you haven't seen what video games actually looked like in the 70s.

If anything, Astonia's graphics are closer to early 90s games.

The navigation was pathetic and the first quest i did was already boring.

Click to move navigation is a very standard system for that type of game. It's been used in everything from Diablo, to Baldur's Gate to Lineage and Lineage 2... and countless other games.... even right up to new games coming out.

Quest was boring... well that's your opinion. The quests are pretty standard RPG fare.

The idea of torches is seriously a useless idea.

Wow... Again, I'm wondering what your actual gaming experience has been. Torches have been a staple in RPGs for years.

In more sci-fi games, they're replaced by flashlights or infrared vision. Same concept - the ability to see an otherwise pitch-black area.

The idea of typing to initiate a trade is also just a waste of time.

It's a kick-back to the old MUD style games. I'll give you that, you're either going to love it or hate it. The command element is actually pretty light in Astonia compared to others, especially its predecessors.

In fact, if you read the game's history, it's evolved over the years from a table-top D&D game designed by its creator, through several iterations as a PC game, to the form you see it in now. It's a r ather "grass roots" type of project... which I personally think is pretty cool.

That said, it's kinda ironic that you wrote an entire sentence, in a long paragraph, about how much it bothered you to have to type two words in the game.

I just can't seem to find any pros about this game. Opinions of people who used to play this game would be appreciated.

Fair enough.

For starters, I'm not sure it belongs on MMORPG.com. It's a multi-player online RPG, yes... but I wouldn't call it "massive"; though I don't know how many simultaneous players it can suppport. So maybe it is fitting.

I am currently playing and rather enjoying it. Even paying a sub for it. Why? Well, I have a "soft spot" for sorta "grass roots" games like that and like to support them.

I'll tell you why I like it... For one, I'm becoming bored to tears and overall disenchanted with the new MMOs coming out. They're all basically taking the WoW formula and trying to cash in on Blizzard's slice of the pie. Originality has gone mostly out the window as now that MMOs are "big business", the developers/publishers don't want to "take risks" by trying "something different". It's the same crap that happens in any other game genre when it becomes popular.

The concept of "community" in MMOs is mostly dead now. In MMO after MMO I play now - especially those where you can solo almost 100% of the time - populations are overrun by cliques, elitist you-know-whats, and people who are perfectly happy to never have to talk or interact with another player. It should be self-evident, but those are not the things that build community.

What Astonia does is brings back that real sense of community I used to really enjoy back when I played Neverwinter Night online... where everyone seemed to know everyone and everyone talked. Overblown egos were quickly stomped out and idiocy wasn't tolerated.

Some of that carried over into my first MMO's... Asheron's Call 2, Anarchy Online... again.. all pre-WoW. Back then, more times than not, the people I met enjoyed meeting, helping and hanging out with other players. It was about community, even on a larger scale.

Since WoW blew MMOs into the mainstream, though, the players are becoming less social, more about "looking out for #1" and less about helping anyone... unless of course there's something in it for them.

In Astonia, I can ask a question and several people will answer with helpful responses. The first MMOs I played *used* to be like that. Now you ask a question and you're immediately mocked, berated and called a n00b by people more interested in being "e-tough" and stroking their e-peen than in actually being helpful.

And really.. the community aspect is only one part of it. I enjoy the 2D/Isometric graphics style... I enjoy the fact that progress in that game actually requires some kind of effort and risk; it's not a "success dispenser" like so many MMOs have become, where there's a reward for almost every little thing you do.

Basically.. to me, Astonia III harkens back to the kind of games I used to love playing online and have missed in the flood of MMOs that have all but completely lost what made multiplayer online RPGs fun to me in the first place.

See it seem's to me you were in 3.5 and not astonia 3 even though they are very close in graphic's 3.5 has a little bit more of a better graphic engine then 3.0. Even so it seem's you've only played for what maybe 15-20 minute's of the game? This game here is i think one a the best i've ever played i've played this for year's and just recently quit due to the lack of the community cause intnet just dont advertise to well. Play the game for a couple week's finish out the free trial get into a clan and go to the clan spawner's this is one of the high points in the game other then the whole pvp idea is just wonderfull. Dont burn a game down just cause you found it simple compaired to most mmo out that's what make's this game better.

i played this game when i was 14? till i was 18-19ish?

so thats 5ish somewhere years, this was a very decent fun game, lots of stuff to do and of course the grind. I spent the years building gear, and leveling characters for strict PVP battles, and got real far, along with many others who were just as competetive, and this is what kept the game going until, intent pulled the plug on it and decided to release 3.5, leaving behind many players who had been playing for years, no choice but to quit the game. 3.5 was not an update, it was a remake of the game, which is where this went wrong,  as the community had built around V.3, for year, all to see it go to waste and have the plug pulled on it.

quite honestly, i spent alot of time playing this game, their were many great players/PVPers, and the PVP aspect of the game was superior, where you spawn for jewels to keep your clan alive, the batles were intense and crazy, this was the aspect of the game that kept people interested, not the graphics, some battles lasted well over hours, fighting non stop, intense fights between clans, and strategy. Although there was only 3 classes in this game, it made up by having the full ability to become a spec character. people made all sorts of builds and certain types of characters/toons/alts, what ever you want to call it, the battles for the jewel were based upon a team to hold the room, each clan would try to recruit players who had the most potiental in what they did. Some of the characters were made to survive the damage of casters, Some were made to survive fighters(tanks), some were even made to simply just stand at the ped till the jewel spawned, some were made to stop the fighters, this goes on and on, and you can see how diversed this game was.

i remember making the first War Cry Immunity Seyan, for 36 spawn, complete new build just because i wanted to see how it would work out, soon people were starting to build the same.

the clan system was complete trash though, you were sent into a dark room, and just wondered around for countless hours. No PVP, nothing just walking around, finding some keys, killing a few guards, it was complete failed. No one ever raided another clan because it was so dreadful to even try to raid, due to boredom.

this game was real fun, i put 5 years into it untill intent decided they wanted to split up the game, and release a different version, from there on the game has completely died out, and it survives on 5-10 players at any given time.

scale: 1-10

graphics>  4

gameplay> 7

Clan system> 2

spawn wars> 10

and thats it, review from me, too bad intent made a bad descion to let V.3 die.