Tabula Rasa- Slaughtered

Jen McPherson

Resident Artist Nerd
<rant>
I had been rather excited about the fantasy scifi title Tablua Rasa for months, as Deathspawner very well knows. I'd prod him all the time for info on how it was going. I had even won a poster signed by the TR crew and a concept art cover by the artist.

When they said they were reworking things I thought some graphical changes, maybe some new story plots or a redesigned website. Was I in for a shock.

They turned it from a beautiful scifi-fantasy epic to a dark man vs aliens gun shooter mmo. In other words they slaughtered it, burned it to ash, stomped on its remaines and then urinated on it. None of the original game is present what so ever other than the title. After I picked my jaw up from the floor I felt heart broken, truly disapointed and can guarantee I won't eve purchase it. WTH were they thinking?

Some people seem rather happy with the change, yet I just don't find it interesting anymore, especially after watching the game play videos. It is now just another boring shootem up game. Perhaps it is just me, but I am severely disapointed. My faith in anything tied with NC is dwindling, especially with this unexpected turn of events. Good thing they did something good with Guild Wars, othewise I'd have given up on them a long time ago.
</rant>
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
I agree 100%.

It wasn't a small transformation, they changed a LOT. Personally, I like the way it is now as well, but I wish they hadn't changed anything. Before, it was unique.. not many MMO's like it.. but now as you said.. it's like many.

Really don't know what Garriot was thinking.. but apparently there is more hype for an MMO like this :mad:
 

GameMasterNick

Coastermaker
So... are we talking about a change in concept?
Or a change in gameplay to the extent that NGE ripped apart the uniqueness of SWG and transformed it into a Warclone?
 

Rat

Obliviot
MMOFPS

How many have there been?
I'm interested to see how such a system will pan out, and how successful it is.

Still, with Hellgate London coming out less than a month afterward... similar playstyle (hunters) and free to play... what lies in store for RGTR?
 

zocoul

Obliviot
Unique game play is hard to pull off, especially with an MMO. Remember, they want the most monthly subscriptions they can get.
 

Ratneck

Obliviot
Agreed, it's got to be hard to come up with a new concept that will draw subscribers. People tend to flock the the familiar....WoW has a familiar name (Warcraft) plus a familiar setting....Swords, Armor, Magic, fantasy. Sci-Fi tends to draw from a smaller crowd, imo, and therefore I bet they were trying to supplement the crowd by getting some FPS people in there. I would love a game that was a bit less shoot-em-up (or so I've read, still haven't played yet) but they do have to pay the bills....and $20 a month would push too many people out the door to other games...so they're kinda stuck on options IMO.
 

Frostbyt

Obliviot
Havn't seen it yet but I swear I plan to check it out soon - I have a friend whom I'm a widow to in wow now cuz he only plays this.
 

GameMasterNick

Coastermaker
Installing the beta now (thanks Techgage!).

The NDA has been lifted and I wanna know how it was changed!
I fear a gutting of the key elements circa NGE...
 

jwied

Obliviot
Anything by Richard Garriot is worth at least a good, through look. He is one of the greats of all time.
 

GameMasterNick

Coastermaker
Although I can draw my own conclusions when I log in the first time tonight (Thank you Techgage!), this review from gamespot leaves me a bit frightened.

starbead
Well, the NDA has been lifted, so now I am free to say the following.

1. The game is buggy, unstable and not ready for prime time. It is being rushed out the door unfinished, which is a shame given its potential.

2. The game is an MMO-lite. The action elements are fun, but the game has no depth. The crafting system is a joke. There is no end game. They still haven't released any content for players level 40-50, much less planned for endgame. It simply isn't worth $15/month even if they manage to iron the bugs out and get the servers to stay up for more than an hour at a time (at which point there is usually a 90 minute rollback).

3. They still haven't added the abilities you get at level 30 to the game.

4. The CMs have spent the last month trying to convince people that the launch was NOT coming soon. That level of dishonest communication does not bode well for the community of the game, which is important for a MMO.

5. The game doesn't look good considering the system requirements. And the zones are fairly generic looking. More specifically, ripped off from Halo.

Basically it feels like they decided that if they couldn't get it working in 6 1/2 years, it was time to throw in the towel and let Richard Garriott's name sell as many copies as possible before people see how shallow it is and jump to game that is worth $15/month.

I would go back to World of Warcraft before I payed $15/month for this bugfest.

If you loved Auto Assault and Vanguard at launch, Tabula Rasa is the game for you.
 

Promethious

Obliviot
Im in the same boat with rat. ive been looking forward to see how this game works out for quite some time... especially sice ive now built a comp that kicks ass.
 

Xel

Obliviot
I've heard that this game is really amazing and can't wait to get an in-game glimpse. I haven't been impressed with the latest go-around of MMORPG's and am hoping that this one will be different.

--Xel
 

ComradeWolf

Obliviot
They may have taken out a huge epic story or something like that, personally I am waiting to see if I get a beta key, but in the into it does look like it's supposed to be a dark war between humanity and aliens.

True though, I have to agree, I am a person that cares to have a story to the MMORPG.
 
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santb

Obliviot
I agree wolf, it doesn't look to me just a completely dark and sinister game, it looks pretty darn good in the ingame play videos.
 
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