Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

[TCrouch]

Did anybody manage to pick it up? I'm "Kain" on Orion and "Kraven" on the Cassieopeia server if there happens to be anybody else. Incredibly active, exciting game. You just have to be prepared for more of an action game than an MMO, but once you get past the first few levels and start running instances, it's insane.

[mgoblue]

Re: Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

Did anybody manage to pick it up? I'm "Kraven" on the Cassieopeia server if there happens to be anybody else. Incredibly active, exciting game. You just have to be prepared for more of an action game than an MMO, but once you get past the first few levels and start running instances, it's insane.

This is Richard Garriott's new game, right?

I was interested but there's just too many new games coming out, I don't have time for a MMO....Mass Effect is gonna hurt me bad enough as it is.

[TCrouch]

Re: Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

Yeah, it's Garriott's new thing.

[Seahawk76]

Re: Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

Yeah, it's Garriott's new thing.

I was thinking about trying it out. So it's basically a cross between a FPS and a MMORPG, right?

[Shauk25]

Re: Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

I probably pick it up soon near thanksgiving break i heard only good things, and that the action is non stop not like your normal mmorpg. Lookin at very nice storyline, so tell me what ya think last mmorpg i played lotro but it got kinda stale with me.

[TCrouch]

Re: Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

I was thinking about trying it out. So it's basically a cross between a FPS and a MMORPG, right?

That's exactly what it's like. You have to think more "FPS", and less "MMO", though.

I probably pick it up soon near thanksgiving break i heard only good things, and that the action is non stop not like your normal mmorpg. Lookin at very nice storyline, so tell me what ya think last mmorpg i played lotro but it got kinda stale with me.

The story is actually pretty basic as far as shooters go. An evil alien race invades Earth and you're left fighting back against "the Bane". You're like a Jedi of sorts, able to use special powers, called Logos, which set you apart from the tons of NPC fodder soldiers.

What makes it cool is the battlefield feeling "alive". You may take part in what feels like a large Counterstrike mission. The Bane control some Control Points and you have to assault it, take out cannons, take down the forcefield and take over the control point. Once you do, doctors and vendors fly in via shuttle and the defenses re-establish for the AFS side. The Bane can attack at any moment, though, so you can either run around questing or do a lot of CP assault/defense like a game of Battlefield.

The cool thing for the toon-ADD people are the clones. At level 1, everybody is a recruit. At level 5 you can choose soldier or specialist. At 15 you can choose Commando or Ranger if you went soldier, etc. Well, Tabula Rasa gives you "clones" where you can create a duplicate of your character. So if you played 14 levels of soldier and aren't sure whether you want to go commando or ranger, clone and make both without replaying 14 levels of a class you already know. There are no "respec" options in the game, so cloning is it. You can earn more clones through quests, though.

The instances kick ***, too. You will infiltrate a zone, take out cannons and flying predators, download data from select terminals, find bombs to blow up a generator to take down a force field to assault the main base, kill the commander and loot his pass key, rescue a prisoner and escort him to safety...all in the very first instance, probably before level 10.

It really uses a lot of tactics in the combat, too. You won't have "one weapon for everything". Machines are weak to EMP, some enemies are invulnerable to anything but sonic or laser, etc. You will mitigate damage if you crouch behind a rock, and sometimes you'll need to flank your enemy to maximize damage and stay at optimal range. It really becomes more "active" in the fact that you're constantly looking for cover like a shooter, waiting for your targeting crosshair to "bead" onto the target (firing before it beads results in a severe loss of damage), crouching down to be more accurate, etc. There is a lot that is closer to a shooter than an MMO, so if the typical MMO bores you, you may find quite a bit to like in Tabula Rasa.

[mgoblue]

Re: Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

Sounds like something I'll try out during the gaming lull early next year...just wouldn't do it justice right now.

On my longer term radar is the new Star Trek MMORPG...I'm not sure how close that is to release, might be a long time, but I could see myself enjoying that universe.

[Shauk25]

Re: Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

lookin for somethin to hold me over till warhammer online, that is the game im really lookin forward too.

Thanks for info, sounds like damn fine game, no time sinks jus nonstop action which is a good thing

[TCrouch]

Re: Tabula Rasa? Anyone? Bueller?

I haven't reached more than level 20 yet (cap is 50), but I haven't had a "grind" yet. Usually you're leveling up quicker than you have time to really check. The quest log is capped at 20, so the biggest problem I've had is ditching quests that I can't do right now or something because it fills up so fast. Most of the exploration for teleportation waypoints and whatnot leads you to more and more quests, which allow you to level rather quickly. Just as you think you're stuck and out of quests, a little exploration nets you 10 more.