URULive
Well, the URULive site finally works for me. The site's already been up for a few days, and sure people have criticized the design and others have criticized those who criticized the design. Yet that's not what's really caught my eye, what's caught my eye are the pages for future development and naturally Screenshots and Concept Art.
Let's just take a look at what's in store here.
Coming Soon
Repeatable game play
No thanks, I've already played through The Cleft about a thousand times, like... every time I joined a new server in Until Uru.
Multi-User ages
Now this is intriguing. I never did much like the "instanced" ages, but I suppose that's really the only way you can do an adventure game played by multiple people. I think it would be neat to see multi-user ages outside of D'ni. Like rest ages, maybe?
Far Future
Transportation vehicles
A good concept, yes, but not really useful currently, considering what the sizes of most ages are. This could be a lot of fun though if they add some good physics models to the vehicles
Player mounts
Same as Transportation Vehicles, but slower... and usually much cuter...
Pets
Now this is something that I know a few people have dreamed about, heck if Cyanworlds would want to really bolster their sales, throw in a free pet squee for anyone who pre-orders URULive. Special prizes are given to those who pre-order other MMOs, those who pre-ordered SWG got nifty keen sunglasses, those who preordered the expansion pack got special mounts and vehicles. Do you realize how many people would shell out the money to get a pet squee in the game?
Guild System
Now this would be great, and extremely in-character as well. Though I'm not sure what the guilds would actually do together.
Apparently the game has a new slogan. As seen on the bottom of the website
Destruction is coming. Find a Way. Make a Home
Let's take a deeper look at this...
Destruction is coming
... from where? I appreciate this sense of urgency, especially since this is a great marketing ploy that could get quite a few people interested, it just seems a little bit tacky when set in the frame of a MYST-related game. Though seriously, where is this "Destruction" coming from? The Bahro get a little bit drunk over Cinco De Mayo and accidentally got into the gun cabinet? Is the cavern going to collapse? If destruction is really coming to D'ni then... leave... or something. Though we all know D'ni is standing in Myst V.
Find a Way
I like this, especially since it suggests player interaction with their environment. Like we're actually going to have some say in the overall story arc. Actually, this is one of the things that intrigued me about URULive in the beginning.
Make a Home
I remember reading an article from a long time ago, all about what Rand and Robyn would do after Riven. This was way back in 1998. It talked about URU, though it never mentioned it by name. I remember that this whole "making a home" aspect was quite emphasized in this article. I really do hope that this isn't just reffering to our Reltos. This also speaks a bit of the game environment. Like URU is a safe community, like a home for anyone... Then again I could just be thinking metaphysically but it seems to suggest this.
As for the screenshots; Most of them are things that we've already seen before, but the two new concept art images, now those are a subject of interest.
Concept Image 1 looks a bit like Eder Kemo or the exterior of Garrison, no real evidence that this is a new age at all. Though we haven't seen moss like that anywhere. The stone to the left in the foreground and the stone in the background off to the right look a bit too regular to be created naturally. I think we might be looking at some bona fide ruins here.
Concept Image 2 seems to be in the same place as concept image one, note the moss on the left side and the bright sky.
I mentioned Until Uru earlier, let's talk about Until Uru for a bit.
As I see it, Cyanworlds has two options involving Until Uru.
2. is obviously the most economical option, the cost of hosting the Authorization server (which will probably be turned into the authorization for URULive anyway) will be a bit out of their wallet. The cost of running D'mala (which will probably be turned into a server for URULive anyway) will be a bit more out of their wallet.
It's undoubtable though that the fine people at Clockwork Orange are going to find a way to work around the authorization server and connect directly to someone hosting an Until URU server. Which is probably fine, at least from a fiscal standpoint. There are dozens of people running their own Everquest and World of Warcraft servers and it doesn't take a bite out of SOE or Blizzard's funds.
1. is an intriguing option. Many MMOs offer a "trial version" of their games, which set a time limit (and a few limits on characters) on accounts. Something similar, allowing someone to only taste the non-expanded version of URU to see if they would like URULive is definately an interesting thought. But much much less economical.
After all, isn't it better to for someone to decide they don't like a game after they've shelled out the money for the product and the $15 for one month? Sure! Though it's not very nice.
Something tells me that Cyanworlds is going to come up with a third option, one I won't even see coming, because they're getting very good at doing stuff I don't expect.
And now that he's gotten that off of his chest, it's time for the llama to sleep.
Let's just take a look at what's in store here.
Coming Soon
Repeatable game play
No thanks, I've already played through The Cleft about a thousand times, like... every time I joined a new server in Until Uru.
Multi-User ages
Now this is intriguing. I never did much like the "instanced" ages, but I suppose that's really the only way you can do an adventure game played by multiple people. I think it would be neat to see multi-user ages outside of D'ni. Like rest ages, maybe?
Far Future
Transportation vehicles
A good concept, yes, but not really useful currently, considering what the sizes of most ages are. This could be a lot of fun though if they add some good physics models to the vehicles
Player mounts
Same as Transportation Vehicles, but slower... and usually much cuter...
Pets
Now this is something that I know a few people have dreamed about, heck if Cyanworlds would want to really bolster their sales, throw in a free pet squee for anyone who pre-orders URULive. Special prizes are given to those who pre-order other MMOs, those who pre-ordered SWG got nifty keen sunglasses, those who preordered the expansion pack got special mounts and vehicles. Do you realize how many people would shell out the money to get a pet squee in the game?
Guild System
Now this would be great, and extremely in-character as well. Though I'm not sure what the guilds would actually do together.
Apparently the game has a new slogan. As seen on the bottom of the website
Destruction is coming. Find a Way. Make a Home
Let's take a deeper look at this...
Destruction is coming
... from where? I appreciate this sense of urgency, especially since this is a great marketing ploy that could get quite a few people interested, it just seems a little bit tacky when set in the frame of a MYST-related game. Though seriously, where is this "Destruction" coming from? The Bahro get a little bit drunk over Cinco De Mayo and accidentally got into the gun cabinet? Is the cavern going to collapse? If destruction is really coming to D'ni then... leave... or something. Though we all know D'ni is standing in Myst V.
Find a Way
I like this, especially since it suggests player interaction with their environment. Like we're actually going to have some say in the overall story arc. Actually, this is one of the things that intrigued me about URULive in the beginning.
Make a Home
I remember reading an article from a long time ago, all about what Rand and Robyn would do after Riven. This was way back in 1998. It talked about URU, though it never mentioned it by name. I remember that this whole "making a home" aspect was quite emphasized in this article. I really do hope that this isn't just reffering to our Reltos. This also speaks a bit of the game environment. Like URU is a safe community, like a home for anyone... Then again I could just be thinking metaphysically but it seems to suggest this.
As for the screenshots; Most of them are things that we've already seen before, but the two new concept art images, now those are a subject of interest.
Concept Image 1 looks a bit like Eder Kemo or the exterior of Garrison, no real evidence that this is a new age at all. Though we haven't seen moss like that anywhere. The stone to the left in the foreground and the stone in the background off to the right look a bit too regular to be created naturally. I think we might be looking at some bona fide ruins here.
Concept Image 2 seems to be in the same place as concept image one, note the moss on the left side and the bright sky.
I mentioned Until Uru earlier, let's talk about Until Uru for a bit.
As I see it, Cyanworlds has two options involving Until Uru.
- Keep Until URU running as a free taste for those who aren't sure about whether or not they want to buy Uru
- Shut down the authorization server that allows clients to connect to the server list
2. is obviously the most economical option, the cost of hosting the Authorization server (which will probably be turned into the authorization for URULive anyway) will be a bit out of their wallet. The cost of running D'mala (which will probably be turned into a server for URULive anyway) will be a bit more out of their wallet.
It's undoubtable though that the fine people at Clockwork Orange are going to find a way to work around the authorization server and connect directly to someone hosting an Until URU server. Which is probably fine, at least from a fiscal standpoint. There are dozens of people running their own Everquest and World of Warcraft servers and it doesn't take a bite out of SOE or Blizzard's funds.
1. is an intriguing option. Many MMOs offer a "trial version" of their games, which set a time limit (and a few limits on characters) on accounts. Something similar, allowing someone to only taste the non-expanded version of URU to see if they would like URULive is definately an interesting thought. But much much less economical.
After all, isn't it better to for someone to decide they don't like a game after they've shelled out the money for the product and the $15 for one month? Sure! Though it's not very nice.
Something tells me that Cyanworlds is going to come up with a third option, one I won't even see coming, because they're getting very good at doing stuff I don't expect.
And now that he's gotten that off of his chest, it's time for the llama to sleep.