Beginners guide to Istaria, part 2: Here we go!

Once you've chosen the race, sex and look of you, and then chosen a name, and clicked that you're ready to go, a brief wait will see you arrive at your first location in Istaria - the basic training area.

You will see the blue window pictured to your right, which asks if you want to continue with the tutorial. If you've played any kind of 3D MMORPG before, you can probably skip this section, as it will largely be telling you how to suck eggs. That said, in truth it's pretty short and some of the controls in Istaria are a tiny bit different to most other games like it, so its probably worth doing just to get your bearings somewhere safe!

Istaria can be a harsh game, compared to most MMOs. On one hand, when you die you don't actually lose anything - equipment, experience points etc. However, you do get 'death points' (or DPs) once you get up a few levels. These can seriously slow down your hunting for the day, as they reduce your stats cumulatively, so it's worth trying to stay alive as much as possible!

If you've decided to stick around, and are completely new to this type of game, it's worth taking a look at a few of the graphics that have just appeared around the edge of your screen (see picture, right). These boxes make up the GUI, or 'graphical user interface' - they give you important information about your character, your surroundings and other players/non player characters (NPCs), as well as options as to what you can do in the game.

One of the great things about Istaria is that every part of the GUI can be moved around your screen to suit the way you want it to look. When you're playing in windowed mode (which means you can still see your Windows bar across the bottom of the screen), you can even make the viewable playing area shrink down to leave a border round the edge for your various menus and tool bars.

However, for now I suggest leaving things where they are, mainly because you'll probably change your mind about what you need to see, and how clearly, once you get a few game hours under your belt. It will also make this tutorial easier to follow!

First, look at the menu at the top left of your screen, pictured right. Note that this, and all the other boxes on the screen, can be 'right'clicked' to change a few attributes - namely window/border transparency, whether the particular window is locked in place on the screen, and options to show the 'title bar' and to 'auto hide' the box until you scroll over that area of the screen.

In addition, some - such as this one - have a 'simple mode' option. Generally, this reduces the size of the particular part of the GUI by removing the text and just leaving bars and icons. This is probably worth doing once you've become accustomed to how everything works, as it can greatly reduce clutter on screen.

This first part of GUI is the 'Actions' box. You'll notice four of the eight sections are currently greyed out: this is because something needs to be selected/highlighted by you (such as an NPC, resource, enemy etc) before you can do these actions. To select someone or something, simple hover the cursor over them/it and click the left button - you can try this now by clicking on one the guys in front of you (don't worry, their on your side!).

This menu is fairly straightforward, but is one that personally I only tend to use two buttons of - the top two. 'Recall' teleports you back to wherever you are 'bound'. There is one of these binding points just the other side of Ryson, the guy standing before you.

As your character moves through the world, you'll find it very useful to be able to instantly return to a certain town, or property - for example, to complete a quest or return with resources. This button takes you to that spot. 'Stop action' does what it says on the tin - it will stop you fighting or casting mid spell, or stop crafting etc.

'Attack', 'Greet', 'Trade' and 'Gather' should be self explanatory, starting the action as long as you have the correct type of person or resource selected - you'll find you can normally do these actions by right-clicking the selected object too, which I tend to find more convenient. 'Create' opens the create item menu - more on that later - while 'Sit/Stand' makes you do just that.

The top right corner, pictured here, contains some crucial information. The large box on the left ('Self Status') is particularly important, as it displays some details vital during every combat. The two square boxes on the left show the current action being performed and the next one that is queued up to happen. So, if casting spells in a battle, the top icon will be the spell being cast, and the second the one you have ready to go off immediately afterwards.

Next to this you have four horizontal bars. The full red one at the top shows your current health, as does the number next to it. You'll be keeping an eye on this in combat, if you know what'd good for you! The next two below will track your adventuring experience and crafting experience, showing how close you are to the next level in your currently chosen schools, while the bottom one represents how close to your full carrying capacity you are.

Right of the Self Status box is your compass. A right-click of this will give you the option to 'show position' - you'll find this handy to have on if people give you co-ordinates, or you want to let people know where you are. There is also a 'show map' option, although it's a lot easier to just press 'm' on the keyboard. You'll see the map also shows co-ordinates and allows you to post points of interest, which can be extremely handy! More on the map later though.

Below the compass are two boxes that are also crucial. The first shows any effects that are currently helping, or hindering, your character. Currently, there will probably be a 'Road Bonus' in effect, as you're standing on a road section - move onto the grass, and this will disappear. You need to keep a close eye hear, especially in combat, as effects cast on you by creatures often need to be dispelled before they do some serious damage.

You'll notice a square in the box too, in brown, like the ones in the self status box that show spells you're casting. Here it represents a 'Gift Slot' - these are two-hour bonuses that can be cast on you by players. As you advance in levels, the amount of gifts you can have cast on you at one time will increase.

The black 'Target' box below this contains details about whatever you've currently selected by left-clicking it. If it's a creature or person, it will show the direction they're in, their name, their health and their rating (rating is basically their level). If something doesn't have a rating close to yours, its probably best not to take it on!

Next we have the boxes in the bottom left. The large one is a chat window, the same as the one on the bottom right of the screen. These are very customisable - more on them later.

The vertical bar with the ten numbered squares is again important, as it contains 'Hotkeys'. This is where you can drag various functions such as spells and special attacks to be easily able to use them quickly. You can have lots of these open at once, and once you go up a few levels you'll find you'll probably have at least two or three open at once. If you right click on this Hotkey bar you'll see an option for 'New Hotkey bar'. Once you've clicked this, a second one will appear.

Notice the difference in colour - one has a blue line shading down the centre. This is the 'primary' bar, and can be changed by right-clicking another bar and selecting 'Set as primary'. While you're playing, you'll be able to cast any spell or use any effect in these bars by left-clicking them with the mouse when your cursor is over it. However, the primary is also connected to the numbers on your keyboard, which many people find much easier to use in dicey situations.

And finally for now, the blue button bottom left. This is a key area, as it takes you to a mass of menus that open up all kinds of goodies - including any of these boxes if you've closed them by accident! I'll leave you to mess around in here, while I go and get a well-deserved coffee...

For more information, check out the official website at www.istaria.com

Istarian storage buildings: A capacity list

One of the key parts of playing Istaria is having your own plot of land to work on - and one of the key advantages a good plot gives you is buildings that can hold more equipment and resources.

There used to be a really good resource over at Gamersinfo.net website that listed al the buildings you could create in Istaria, listing how many resources were required and what capacity it would give you once you'd built it. However, sadly that site has completely changed format and the info is no longer there.

Below I've put together a basic list of all the storage buildings you can make in game and what their capacity is. There is a much more detailed list at the Crimson Dawn guild's very useful website, but it is a little hard to navigate if you just want these basics. Hopefully this will be useful for someone other than me!

Structures are listed in the following way: Bulk capacity (number of items) name (item type restrictions, or tiers of resources required on old structures)

The ones that are 'Tier 1' etc will require up to that tier of resources to create, so if you need the storage space pronto don't over extend yourself! you can always upgrade later, although you'll need somewhere to put the items in the mean time when you do so.

I would highly recommend taking at least one Tier 1 Human House (small, easy to make and good capacity ratio, if a bit ugly!) and the T2 Human Guildhouse (probably the best size to capacity ratio).

1,200 (10) Cloth Tent (T1)

3,600 (30) Dwarven Small House (T1-2)

6,600 (55) Dwarven Large House (T1-3)

7,200 (60) Fiendish Large House (T1-2)

4,800 (40) Human Hut (T1)

7,200 (60) Human Large House (T1-3)

7,200 (60) ?? Human Medium House (T1-2)

6,000 (50) Saris Medium House (T1-2)

8,400 (70) Saris Manor House (T1-3)

3,000 (25) Saris Tiny Hut (T1)

6,000 (50) Sslik Medium House (T1-2)

2,400 (20) Tier 1 Human House

4,800 (40) Tier 2 Human House

7,200 (60) Tier 3 Human House

9,600 (80) Tier 4 Human House

12,000 (100) Tier 5 Human House

14,400 (120) Tier 6 Human House

18,000 (150) Human Guildhouse (T1-2)

7,200 (60) Tier 1 Human Guildhouse

14,400 (120) Tier 2 Human Guildhouse

21,600 (180) Tier 3 Human Guildhouse

28,800 (240) Tier 4 Human Guildhouse

36,000 (300) Tier 5 Human Guildhouse

43,200 (360) Tier 6 Human Guildhouse

100 (50) Tier 2 Human Library (forms only)

150 (75) Tier 4 Human Library (forms only)

200 (100) Tier 6 Human Library (forms only)

22,000 (4) Tier 3 Storehouse (food only)

34,000 (4) Tier 5 Storehouse (food only)

20,000 (1) Tier 1 Human Silo

32,000 (1) Tier 2 Human Silo

44,000 (1) Tier 3 Human Silo

56,000 (1) Tier 4 Human Silo

68,000 (1) Tier 5 Human Silo

80,000 (1) Tier 6 Human Silo

Check out Istara at www.istaria.com

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

Beginner's Guide To Istaria, Part 1: Race and Appearance

Whether you're new to MMORPGs, or a veteran, you should always be looking for information about races before you delve into a new game.

Race, more than anything else in an MMO, defines who you are. Sometimes its just a visual thing, and even then you can soon be so covered in equipment you'll hardly recognise yourself, but it's still you. It might be the way you walk, your height, your hair colour - a crazy blue beard or mottled green skin. Whatever it is, it's yours and it helps define you.

In many of the more recent games that restrict you within an inch of your life (such as world of Warcraft (WoW)), your choice of race has a huge outcome on how you play the game. The next area we will touch on is class (your job, essentially), and in restrictive games your class can be narrowed greatly by your choice of race.

So, for example, in WoW, if you wanted to be a shamen character, you will be restricted to four classes - or just one if you play on the side of the alliance. However, Istaria doesn't take this narrow view. With the exception of dragons (who follow a very specific path), every race can be every (and indeed all) classes, both adventuring and crafting.

Personally, I think the Istaria way is a good thing: especially if you want to role-play, your appearance is important. However, play style can often be more so. This means that a person who really likes being a healer may be forced into a race they don't rally have a feel for in another game, which can take a lot away from the RPG gaming experience.

The images you see in the post are the first thing you'll see after successfully loading up Istaria and choosing to create a new character. You're presented with a list of races (on the right hand side of this image), with the one you're looking highlighted. There will also be a short description of the race and its racial traits.

Racial differences in Istaria come in two forms: your starting stats (strength, dexterity, intelligence etc) and your racial abilities (bonuses unique to your race). Frankly, you can ignore the starting stat differences. They are quite small, and once you've levelled up a little you'll barely notice them - any shortfalls are soon pretty meaningless.

Racial abilities are a bit different. To be honest though, if you've got your heart set on a particular race, just go for it - it's not a big deal, as I said before. However, if you're a certain type of player and don't mind about which race you are, a few of the racial traits stand out. This is obviously open to debate, but here are some of the ones that generally catch the eye:

Sslik regeneration: I guess I'm biased here, but the Sslik ability to regenerate is a real peach. It scales as you level, meaning it's as useful at level 100 as it is as level 1, and I've lost count of the time it has saved my green skin. Essentially, it's a heal over time spell that is cast instantly, uses no energy, and works very well indeed.

Gnomian prowess: For 30 seconds, you're twice as fast as normal in either fighting or crafting, which can be a big help.

Saris sprint: Getting around can be a slow process and most races get one brief sprint on a slow recharge timer. Saris characters get an extra one.

Dryad dazzle/Dwarven toughness: Excellent defensive ability, both of which give a short period of super high evasion/toughness - perfect for getting out of tough scrapes or winning close battles at the death. Fiends get a powerful defence against spell damage, which can work in a similar way to the Dwarven toughness.

There are some other pretty good ones too, but nothing beats just being who you want to be - it's not a game that will punish an early decision as many other do.

A note on dragons

Choosing to be a dragon can be both limiting and liberating, depending on your point of view. For many the ability to play a dragon is simply too much to resist, and there are definite advantages. You start as a hatchling (small and cute) but can become a huge, fire breathing and flying monster with an underground lair as you progress through a series of dragon specific tasks and quests.

However, you're just a dragon - there's no multi-classing and your crafting tasks are severely limited. I found it quite monotonous, and haven't really levelled by dragon alternative character much. But that's the thing - with a paid account, you can have the best of both worlds and have bipeds as well as a dragon.

Once you've chosen your race and appearance you'll be spat out into a small area to practice the basics such as movement. I'll take a closer look at this next time, as part of an ongoing attempt at a beginners guide. However, if you can't wait that long, just go into the help channel once you log into the game - there will always be someone around to help out new players.

Don't forget, if you simply want to check out the game for free, you can get an account and play a human for absolutely zilch (of course, once you get hooked, you can upgrade and get all kinds of cool races and housing plots going on). Just head over to the Istaria website and sign up for a free account - www.istaria.com

Other Istaria related blogs

I've been looking around for other Istaria related blogs, but have only found these so far. If you know of any others, please let me know:

The Cheese Palace

http://velveeta3.livejournal.com/

This blog isn't all about Istaria, but a high percentage is. Velveeta brings a nice mixture of news and gameplay stories from her time on Blight, Istaria's test server.

Wayrift Blog

http://www.riftblog.com/

The blog of Aywren, comic artist, writer and gamer. A good mix of stuff here, including a fair amount of Istaria related postings.

MMO's & The Modern Man (err...Woman)

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Astrialla

A blog by Astrialla, who plays and blogs on lots of things game related, including Istaria. As she puts it, "an honest, irreverant look at various MMO's from a typical player's point of view. OK, maybe not a typical player. Maybe a hardcore emo PVE but PVP lovin' chataholic with alt tendencies. What's that? A new beta!? BRB..."

Check out Istara at www.istaria.com

My Istarian New Year Resolution

While I have nothing to complain about, my guild (and more particularly my main character Algenon) certainly do - we're more than a week into the new year and I've logged into Istaria just once.

The reasons are many. Firstly, TV. There's a lot of great tele out there right now and I've got a lot of catching up to do. The Wire, The Sopranos, The Shield, True Blood, Dexter - I can't believe how much good stuff I've missed.

Secondly, a resurging love of a good tabletop game (yup, I tick every nerd box in the book, hehe): from Blokus and Ingenious to Carcassonne, Arkham and Race for the Galaxy, I'm loving playing board and card games for the first time in years.

The reason I missed a lot of good TV? Istaria. The reason I'm suddenly catching up? New girlfriend who doesn't play MMOs, but that does enjoy board games and good TV.

There's also solo games I've missed out on too. I had a group of maybe 10 real life friends who played MMOs (some from before we started playing, some I've met since), but there are only two or three of us playing regularly at any one time now, with the others heading back mainly to PC RPGs and RTSs. And yes, I've tried to talk them into playing Istaria, but they all got burnt first time round and are really reluctant (although I think I've got a good shot at one of them once he finishes Dragon Age). But to add insult to injury, they invariable tell me about these great solo games. Shiny, sparkling, magical games. And so it goes, I have to take a look too.

As I said above, none of this is bad news for me: the girlfriend, TV, games etc are all good, but I know that whatever else I get bored of, or run out of, or finish, or get dumped by... Istaria will be the one I go back to (as long as it doesn't go belly up!). So I can't continue this neglect - the guilt is ramping up and after all, there are silos to be made!

So, my New Year's resolution is this: make sure I play AT LEAST once per week. Guildies - please hold me to that!

Istaria - www.istaria.com

Wurm vs Istaria: and the winner is... (part 4)

The world in which you play at MMO is a crucial part of the game for many reasons: immersion is an obvious one, as the look can be so important, but the way the worlds are set out and populated. For example, the look of World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online is very different, with the former being very cartoony and the latter a little gritty, but they follow the same pretty dull format - you stay in an area for 10 levels or so, before being spoon-fed into the next which has resources and monsters of a slightly higher quality and level. So what about Istaria and Wurm?

The world
The World of Wurm isn't much to look at, but makes up for this with some really interesting ideas. If you've read my previous entries, you won't be surprised to hear it's a much tougher ride than you'll find in most MMOs.

For starters, you don't get an in-game map or compass (although you can make the latter, but it's not easy). Also, you have the fear of PVP attacks and the fact that creatures range from harmless to lethal with no real regularity. Together, these elements make for a game that constantly feels edgy and challenging.

The style is realistic, with rolling green hills, grey mountain ranges, blue seas and blue skies. As you'd expect there are no cheaty teleporters, so getting around can be a laborious affair. However, this adds to the realism and is in keeping with the rest of the game. Overall, the world of Wurm fits perfectly with the theme and other styles of the game.

Istaria does things very differently, but is equally open-ended. Like Wurm, once out of the starting area you can go anywhere in the world from the offset (with the exception of a few places you'll need to be a dragon to get to) and could easily walk around a corner into a battle you can't handle. The danger makes exploring exciting, and you never feel like you're being led in the way you do in WoW.

The world is really well drawn, with the skies being particularly impressive. There won't be any points for accurate geography, but who cares, really? It's a fantasy game after all. Istaria is far from hardcore - compass and map are built into the GUI, as in most other MMOs - but the map is basic, meaning you have to add your own points of interest such as resource and danger areas. You get some great effects in the wintery and lava areas, while the music works really well too. Overall, it's a pleasure to wander around the world.

And the winner (finally) is...
Istaria, 4-3. In conclusion, both are great games in their own way and if you're looking for an MMO that blends quality crafting with good combat, but with far from cutting edge graphics, you should check out the free areas of both these games.

Really, two things made me stay with Istaria over Wurm. The first was a failing of the latter, in that Wurm is just too demanding to be fun at times. I love the fact you have to make everything from the ground up, but things deteriorate too quicky meaning a lot of annoying repetition just to stay at an even keel, unless you intend to sink a ridiculous amount of hours into the game. Another example is food - you can spend an age foraging for food, but nothing you can make at low level does anything to sustain you at all - for me, it just doesn't feel like you are being rewarded for your hard work enough of the time.

Secondly, I just can't ignore the graphical superiority of Istaria in terms of graphics, as well as combat. If a game could have be much like Istaria but with the extra crafting and building depth of Wurm, it would be awesome - but I will happily give up that extra complexity on this occasion for a game that feels much more finished.

Istaria - www.istaria.com

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

Wurm vs Istaria: and the winner is... (part 3)

Blogging regularly is harder than I thought it would be. It seems that whenever I get a break long enough to play a game, I have to write a blog instead! But which game would I play? Well, the answer will be on the blog after this. For today, I'll move on to...

Community

It's a huge part of the success of MMOs in general, and MMORPGs in particular, but can be a troublesome beast. Games that attract a lot of younger players can end up with a pretty annoying feel, while very popular games often have more than their fair share of griefers, cheats and gold sellers (people that try and sell in-game gold for RL money, which is normally banned by game publishers, but very hard to police).

Luckily, I don't really come across any of the standard community pitfalls with Istaria. The game has been around a long time now, and a lot of the players have been around since the start, despite the wealth of problems there have been along the way. Some people have noted that this makes it seem a bit cliquey to some new players, even impenetrable for others, but it sure beats constantly being spammed with messages either asking you for money or offering it to you from some dodgy website, as happens in some games.

The positive side of the old player base is they've seen it all, know how close the game has come to folding completely, so are always happy to see new faces. After all, the more new players that stay, the longer Istaria's stay of execution will continue! You should find that most players are happy to give advice, while others will help out with making equipment and other items.

One problem is that new players won't find an awful lot of people to group up with for combat, as there are precious few new players on at once. However, grouping certainly isn't necessary and there are plenty of hunting groups around when you get up a few levels. One of the great things about the levelling system is that you can group with people a lot higher or lower level than yourself, although this can have a big hit on experience gained. But it's not all about levelling up - fun is more important.

Wurm works a little differently. Dishonesty is almost encouraged, with the ability to steal and later kill other players being part and parcel of your existence (or death). However, this doesn't mean community is harmed - far from it. It's just different.

As I said about its crafting, Wurm looks to emulate reality in a lot of ways - its tough, things erode, nothing comes on a plate: this is hard middle ages living, fantasy game style. It can be a similar story with the community too. You'll find a lot less people ready give you something for nothing, but then again people will certainly talk and help you - for a price - but it's normally a fair one. For example, if you want a fishing line (quite tough to get your hands on when you start out, but very useful to get food) you can ask in the chat channels for it, but chances are someone will expect you to do some mining for them, or dig them some holes, before you get your precious line.

Wurm's area of local chat is restricted too, which adds a real feeling of foreboding when you exit your comfort zone. If you're in a well populated area, there will be a good list of people in your chat window and likely some banter. However, as you head further away, the number of players in the area dwindles and you can find yourself alone, of with just a few names you don't recognise. Those who play Eve will know this feeling all too well - it's a far cry from the friendly, laid back atmosphere in Istaria.

Overall, both games have very different communities but they're both great in their own way, so I'll again have to call this a score draw. Next up I'll look at the worlds themselves, and give one final score. So it's 3-2 to Istaria so far - can Wurm draw level? I'll let you know at the weekend.

Istaria - www.istaria.com

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

Wurm vs Istaria: and the winner is... (part 2)

OK, it isn't tomorrow... that's Christmas for you. Things went a bit nuts and suddenly it's January. Anyway, back to the review.

Crafting

This is a a trump suit for both games - it's a big part of what makes me return to Istaria every time and the thing that drew me to Wurm in the first place (along with the promise of a sandbox game).

These are two tricky games to compare as they take very different approaches to crafting. Wurm is about as hardcore as a game could get: crafting isn't an option, it's quite simply the only way to survive. You start out with a backpack full of tools and away you go: want a cart? Build it. Want a house? Build it. And when I say build, I mean from the ground up.

And it's really, really tough. Starving is a genuine problem, if it gets dark you simply can't see (unless you can build some sort of light source) and everything degrades - fast. Add this to pretty bad graphics and average sound, you might be thinking it's a write off. However, somehow, it's hugely compelling. You soon forget the mind-numbing dullness of the actual thing you're working on, because of the complexity and difficulty of the task. It's an odd feeling when you give out a "yes" and pump your fist at making a very poor quality weapon blade - only to then lose it when trying to fix it to the handle.

While I really enjoyed the challenge of the game (I could go into the fact that the game itself tells you next to nothing - you spend as much time asking advice and looking things up on the Wurmpedia as you do actually doing anything, which I loved) it does take it too far at times. For example, I built myself a lovely wooden shed to live in and have started surrounding it with a stone wall. This took a lot of time in itself, but the next day I had to repair everything - which again took ages. This becomes a bit annoying, to say the least, and if you're not going to invest a lot of hours in the game you're going to struggle. You can get around this to a point by grouping and joining up with a town, but as in any relationship, it's give and take - if you don't put in the work, others will lose faith in you.

Istaria is a much lighter crafting experience. Nothing degrades or breaks, and you can't fail to make an item - if you put the time in, you'll get what you wanted. The tough side can be getting hold of the materials: even at lower levels, some of the resources are in tricky areas so you may need some friends to hand or at least a few levels of adventurer training to get by.

The graphics are far better in Istaria, but that is paid for by a much less pliable world. The resources are always in the same place and you can only build in areas designated for the purpose - you buy a plot and build on it, or you work on a community project (or of course an item). In Wurm, you can go to bed with your house in a forest and wake up in a field with a road going by.

The processes are much simpler in Istaria too - instead, they are more repetitive. However, while much of the gathering process defines grinding, again it is strangely compelling. I think the reason for this is that you can often do it 'afk', which really appeals to me. Like Eve, where your character ticks over without you being there, it's the same kind of feeling: if you want crash bang wallop, you can put on your armour and fight stuff. If not, you can mine some ore while chatting.

Both games let you find a spot and build on it to your heart's content. One looks better, while the other is way more hardcore, but importantly both work really well. How games with vast budgets manage to screw crafting and house ownership up so badly compared to these much lower budget offerings amazes me.

In the end, I'm forced to call it a score draw on crafting. Both do a fantastic job of creating a crafting environment that feels worthwhile without forcing you into a crappy quest structure designed only to mask the pointlessness of what you're doing (hello World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings!). Few other games have achieved this level of quality (arguably only Eve Online and the original incarnation of Star Wars Galaxies), so bravo. For anyone keeping score, that's 2-1 to Istaria. I'll look at community and extras next - and that may actually be tomorrow!

Istaria - www.istaria.com

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

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

Wurm and Istaria: play them for free, forever (to a point)!

Keen readers (haha) of my blog will probably have spotted that of late I've been dabbling in two MMOs - Istaria and Wurm Online. However, seeing as I don't have enough free time to dedicate to one, let alone two, games, one had to go. So which was it and why? Well, before I tell you (in my next blog), did you know both games can be played for free, indefinitely, as long as you can take some pretty hefty restrictions? Scroll to the bottom for links to the official sites.

Istaria has a great policy which allows you to 'play for free, forever'. Yup, that's downloading the client and having access to the entire game world for free, as well as being able to level up all the way - as long as you're happy to be a human, with no plot of land to call your own, and have no other characters.

This means you get to really try out all aspects of the game except plot building and being a dragon. However, this isn't much of a loss as far as making your decision about the game - dragon play is very similar to biped play right up until the higher levels (where dragons get to fly). Plot building is great, but essentially uses crafting skills that you can do without actually building your own place.

Wurm is free in the initial 'n00b' area, but costs once you move out into the big wild world. This is a really nice idea, as the initial area is both massive and challenging, giving you a really good chance to get to know the game before deciding if you want to pay for the privilege.

Also, a lot of experienced players have a paid Wurm account as well as a free one, so they spend time in the free area to help and welcome new players to the game, with advice and opportunities to work for hard-to-get items and resources. It's another great example of how small game communities go the whole nine to help build the game's subscriber numbers.

It's pretty annoying that other games tend to give you a free time period to try out the game - this either assumes you have a week/month off to really get into the game, or that you're confident you will be able to make a good impression by then. In my experience it's not often the case - I often think I'm going to be able to play a good 10+ hours in a week (even a day!) but then real life comes along and scuppers you, meaning you get an hour at best (probably drunken and in the middle of the night).

Surely it would be better to give a set amount of free in-game hours, to level the playing field, or copy the great systems employed in both Wurm and Istaria. To get going in both games, check out the free play info here:

Istaria - www.istaria.com or http://community.istaria.com/pg.php/download

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