High level hunting in Istaria: Murial vs the Aegis

For this week's blog, I thought it'd be nice to look at a few in-game high level battle images. Over the next month or so I'l be mainly concentrating on taking a new character through its paces, but this gives you a pictorial idea of what things look like when you're nearer level 100 than level 1!

I'd like to thank my guild mate Murial for the screenshots. That's her, standing over the freshly killed body of a Blight Hound, one of Istaria's nastier inhabitants. Murial's got multiple level 100 skills, which is one of the great features of Istaria. Many games only let you level one class, or perhaps two plus a couple of crafting skills. In Istaria, you can pretty much be everything all in one character, although they do make it tough.

Firstly, you will only get all the strengths of the one adventuring class you have currently selected: skills from other classes will either work at half strength, or not at all. Secondly, you have an overall rating that goes alongside your current adventuring level. This rating affects how much experience points you need to go up a level, and is adversely affected by the total amount of adventuring levels you have. So, the more you multi-class, the longer it will take to level up.

Some of these shots were taken on a high level hunt with two other members of our guild, Universal Soldiers - Neuvitas Silver and Vici Legends - with 'art' along for the ride. It's a lot more fun to hunt in groups and you get experience bonuses for fighting multiple enemies, so it works out well that way too. Groups can be big as well, where they are often restricted in other MMORPGs.

The first thing you'll probably notice from these images is the foreboding atmosphere in the backgrounds and the stark, broken lands on which they're walking. In Istaria, all players are essentially on the same side (although some dragons may dispute that) - all races have joined together to fight the threat that faces them all: the 'withered aegis'.

Areas blighted by the aegis are left dead and lifeless and are the most dangerous in Istaria. Yup, you guessed it - that's where the hardest adventurers head and where the best rewards are to be had. While Istaria does use a lot of the clichéd fantasy races and trappings, such as elves, dwarves etc, many of the races and creatures you fight are unique to the game.

Here's a good example - a winged Kwellen Berserker in classic 'before' and 'after' poses! The red beam you can see on the creature is showing this is the chosen target - this can really help on a crowded battlefield, where a creature may be stunned and you don't want to hit it and break the effect.

Something else you may get from the pics is that the graphics are hardly up there with the latest games. This is simply a fact - Istaria wasn't released yesterday and will never look like it was. However, the sky effects are top notch, the music atmospheric and the spell sounds and effects really add to combat. It's also a challenge - something many games nowadays shy away from in their desperate attempts to reach out to the lowest common denominator.

What's more, it's a challenge all the way through the levels. Istaria can be pretty unforgiving right down at low level, although you can still use the cheaty methods of power levelling found in all games, if you want to. But if you're looking for a challenge, you'll often find that fighting a single creature of your level will be a tough fight, and a single mistake could see you taking a dirt nap.

Fights can be incredibly frenetic and exciting, especially when you're grouped. All the normal MMO group combat rolls are available, with tanks, ranged damage dealers and healers on show - plus everything in between and combinations of them all. Here Neuvitas goes hand to hand with another Kwellen Berserker, while Murial casts from range. As a druid, she can both heal deal out some hefty damage, but her armour isn't the best, so letting someone else stand toe-to-toe makes sense - although I'm not sure Neuv here would agree!

And as I say, however bad ass you may be, there's always something wandering around Istaria that will bring you crashing back down to earth. Complacency can get you too - I've often been fighting a series of golems, only to suddenly to attack a named boss that looks the same and been dad before I knew it. I'm not sure Murial knew what she was getting into when she picked on Dalknor here, but the outcome is plain to see...

That said, there isn't much of a death penalty in Istaria: you get some stat reductions that, when they stack, can slow you down pretty hard. However, you don't lose items, or have to return to your corpse - you just need to take a bit of downtime. However, in a game that's as good on crafting as it is in adventuring, there's always something else to work on.

If you're interested in looking into the game Istaria, visit the official website at www.istaria.com

Wurm vs Istaria: and the winner is... (part 1)

Well, if you want to know, you'll have to wait - I don't have time to write it all up in one go! I've broken the games down into pretty typical key areas (combat, crafting, community etc) and looked at my experience of the games. In fairness, I've only being playing Wurm for about a month, and Istaria for years, so I'll happily admit that there will be many depths of the former that I'm not yet aware of. However, a game either grabs you or it doesn't, so I feel justified in making my decisions based on my time played to date. Just take any comments on Wurm as what they are - a beginner's perspective.

Combat

This is quite a way from perfect in both games (although my guild mates in Istaria would question what I know about it, seeing as I craft all the time!).

Battles in Istaria can be fantastic. Fighting single creatures near to your level is usually challenging and certain creatures will heal each other and generally join in the fun if you're not careful. Groups are easy to set up, team combat is fun and despite some lag issues its a rewarding and fun experience. There is a strong array of combat classes; any MMO player should find a style they like to play. There is also a strong multi-classing element to the game, so it's also possible to mix things up if you want to. Creatures too have a strong range of abilities, similar to those players can use, so you'll often find the spells you're casting being used back on you! It's certainly better than many MMOs in this respect.

On the down side, the weakness of Istaria's creaking engine means creatures don't appear in an area until you arrive there and hang around for a few seconds. This can certainly make life interesting, but doesn't do anything for immersion. Also, due to the trouble the game has had with funding and staffing over the years, there aren't a whole heap of interesting quests to do. However, the nature of the game's economy and crafting system means that you'll often have a reason to go hutnig that doesn't need some poor quality fantasy novel idea to string it along: need some cool new armour? You'll have to go hunt for the tech items which drop from creatures. Need to build your new crafting station? Well you'd better take your sword, because those woods are full of treants and spiders.

At lower levels at least, Wurm's combat is quite simply awful. There are no creature animations (at all - not even movement. Things just kind of float towards you), no interesting moves, no nothing. It is painfully slow and in no way enjoyable - you simply choose which combat 'style' you are going to use (defensive, normal or aggressive) and stand there, hoping for the best. Yes, it really is that bad. Magic, ranged combat etc do come into the game later, but why anyone would still be bothering with combat in Wurm by then is beyond me.

In fairness, Wurm's combat does stay true to the game. It's hard from the off, meaning you will struggle to kill anything, even a cow. If you die your skills take a pretty big hit and you'll also find your weapon will degenerate quickly (not that it's much good to start with). You can run away pretty easily though, which was a surprise. It also fits well into the realism element of the game, with animals being used for skins and meat (and not dropping +1 swords).

Overall, an easy win for Istaria when it comes to combat (although I'd be interested to hear if Wurm's combat gets better at higher levels). I'll look at crafting tomorrow.

Istaria - www.istaria.com

Wurm - http://www.wurmonline.com/getting-started