Monsters & Memories - Old School Style MMO by Niche Worlds Cult

[GhostCow]

Class illustrations survey results: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GQxXJ2PaYQLfE3zMMFCrTEKJNSnK_R9i/view?usp=sharing

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Going to have to bot it next time.

 

[Late Bloomer]

I love stats and numbers but here are the winners plain and simple.

Archer Wood Elf female
Bard Human male
Beastmaster Troll male
Cleric Dwarf male
Druid Wood Elf female
Elementalist Gnome male
Enchanter High Elf female
Fighter Ogre non binary (I jest it was male)
Inquisitor Deep Elf female / High Elf male (tie)
Monk Human male
Necromancer Deep Elf male
Paladin Dwarf male
Ranger Wood Elf male
Rogue Halfling male
Shadow Knight Ogre male
Shaman Troll female
Spellblade High Elf female
Wizard High Elf male

 

[GhostCow]

I love stats and numbers but here are the winners plain and simple.

Archer Wood Elf female
Bard Human male
Beastmaster Troll male
Cleric Dwarf male
Druid Wood Elf female
Elementalist Gnome male
Enchanter High Elf female
Fighter Ogre non binary (I jest it was male)
Inquisitor Deep Elf female / High Elf male (tie)
Monk Human male
Necromancer Deep Elf male
Paladin Dwarf male
Ranger Wood Elf male
Rogue Halfling male
Shadow Knight Ogre male
Shaman Troll female
Spellblade High Elf female
Wizard High Elf male

I'm pretty disappointed in these results to be honest. Most people voted for the blandest shit. I now know how Larian felt when they started tracking what players were making in BG3 and got annoyed at everyone making Human males. At the very least I thought that Ogre monk would win because we've already seen the Human monk art. Not to mention that we've seen it a billion times in everything else.

I voted for Halfling female more than anything else because I like short girls. They didn't win for a single class. Shameful display.

 

[anvi]

I voted bland shit cuz I want them to hopefully sell a few copies.

 

[Nortar]

I love stats and numbers but here are the winners plain and simple.

Cleric Dwarf male

Paladin Dwarf male

 

[GhostCow]

We have no lizards... Yet

 

[Late Bloomer]

I love stats and numbers but here are the winners plain and simple.

Archer Wood Elf female
Bard Human male
Beastmaster Troll male
Cleric Dwarf male
Druid Wood Elf female
Elementalist Gnome male
Enchanter High Elf female
Fighter Ogre non binary (I jest it was male)
Inquisitor Deep Elf female / High Elf male (tie)
Monk Human male
Necromancer Deep Elf male
Paladin Dwarf male
Ranger Wood Elf male
Rogue Halfling male
Shadow Knight Ogre male
Shaman Troll female
Spellblade High Elf female
Wizard High Elf male

I'm pretty disappointed in these results to be honest. Most people voted for the blandest shit. I now know how Larian felt when they started tracking what players were making in BG3 and got annoyed at everyone making Human males. At the very least I thought that Ogre monk would win because we've already seen the Human monk art. Not to mention that we've seen it a billion times in everything else.

I voted for Halfling female more than anything else because I like short girls. They didn't win for a single class. Shameful display.

This guy is who you are talking about.

You left out one important detail as to why Larian was bothered by this fellow, that being he is white. If generic human male was a few shades or a lot of shades darker they would have in no way shape or form said they were disappointed. I think this guy looks pretty cool all things considered.

Yeah there were some yawn inducing choices to be certain. I was glad to see Dwarf and Troll grab a couple of spots. Would like to see more Gnome, Deep Elf.

We have no lizards... Yet

Looking forward to watching this.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You left out one important detail as to why Larian was bothered by this fellow, that being he is white. If generic human male was a few shades or a lot of shades darker they would have in no way shape or form said they were disappointed. I think this guy looks pretty cool all things considered.

Larian wanted people to play the races that are more likely to encounter bugs due to having non-standard appendages, tails, etc., Anything else was added afterwards by journalists.
They also used the same update to tell people to play the evil path because nobody was playing it.

 

[Late Bloomer]

New survey just dropped for people on the mailing list. I'm going to assume it's ok to post here
https://monstersandmemories.us17.li...67f1baf6dd962f9b08&id=1f9911b95a&e=9c059dc20c

why yes I did pick human male for everything

He had a response to that line of thinking. Timestamped.

You left out one important detail as to why Larian was bothered by this fellow, that being he is white. If generic human male was a few shades or a lot of shades darker they would have in no way shape or form said they were disappointed. I think this guy looks pretty cool all things considered.

Larian wanted people to play the races that are more likely to encounter bugs due to having non-standard appendages, tails, etc., Anything else was added afterwards by journalists.
They also used the same update to tell people to play the evil path because nobody was playing it.

Do you think they would have publicy stated they were disappointed with everyones collective character if that dude was black? That would be a public relations nightmare.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Do you think they would have publicy stated they were disappointed with everyones collective character if that dude was black? That would be a public relations nightmare.

this is what they stated:

Congratulations, you’ve basically made the default Vault Dweller. What the hell guys. We gave you demon eyes, horns, and even tails. We are sorely disappointed. Go crazy. We worked hard on this!

everything else was added by journalists

 

[Late Bloomer]

But what do you think?

 

[Late Bloomer]

And just like that he's gone! Poof like magic

 

[Late Bloomer]

Back on track. This is a neat idea. Timestamped but the video is worth a watch.

Reveal actual NPC names as you discover who they are

 

[LostHisMarbles]

Am not like you folks, as i'm sure most of you have gathered, but..
It's dead Jim. Stop fighting, come to terms with it. It's dead.
I didn't play these abominations (be it in systems, complexity, mechanics, multi-layer character growth) because mah skillz, i don't even think i ever had any skillz.

- I played because i met a Jenny from Ohio that used her uncle's landline and eventually of course got into trouble over it
Within minutes she'd given me her surname and yahoo. Not because she was dumb or naive, but because back then it wasn't this.. crazy online.
And yes, she was a normal fucking person, normal as in brain not fried by pixels; she's a vet by now, has her own clinic.

- I played because a very fat dude named John was lonely and sad and actually didn't mind saying so, rather than pretending like most juvies do over the net.
He had a major in philosophy, was well read and also a normal fucking person. No memes, no hive mentality or 'words' outsiders wouldn't recognise, no gaemerz shit; just another a normal fucking person giving the "online" thing a go. Because why not.

- I played because i was invited in a guild run by a Nato colonel who was actually Turkish (am Greek..) but told me "i'm not like that!" and turns out he most definitely wasn't what you'd expect. And the man had some fucking recipes to teach if one was so inclined.

- I played because there was a proper stock broker that was naive enough to give his pass in general and days later when it was all sorted, it turned out NOT A SINGLE person had tried to fuck him with it, though naturally they could have.

- I played because unlike most of you, 99% of you, i was born such a long time back, discussions were more important than finishing the group content and we'd literally kick folks out of the party for being 'impatient'

It's a different world today. What made these is no longer available.
And it really is dead. Much as i miss it, for its social aspect of course; i did say abominations and they all were.
Just.. let it rest.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Back on track. This is a neat idea. Timestamped but the video is worth a watch.

Reveal actual NPC names as you discover who they are

shroud of the avatar already does this

 

[Late Bloomer]

Back on track. This is a neat idea. Timestamped but the video is worth a watch.

Reveal actual NPC names as you discover who they are

shroud of the avatar already does this

Thats neat. I look forward to it in this game too if they decide to do it.

 

[GhostCow]

Honestly the NPC name thing sounds like shit to me. NPCs having a name is only of the things that tipped you off that the NPC was part of a quest in EQ. Taking away the names like this is making you play blind in an annoying way.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Honestly the NPC name thing sounds like shit to me. NPCs having a name is only of the things that tipped you off that the NPC was part of a quest in EQ. Taking away the names like this is making you play blind in an annoying way.

Whole point of NPCs in eq is that you were supposed to interact with them like another player.

 

[GhostCow]

Honestly the NPC name thing sounds like shit to me. NPCs having a name is only of the things that tipped you off that the NPC was part of a quest in EQ. Taking away the names like this is making you play blind in an annoying way.

Whole point of NPCs in eq is that you were supposed to interact with them like another player.

Sure, but I don't see how hiding their names helps with that? You can generally see player names. An NPC having a name in EQ is the equivalent of having a big quest marker over someone's head in a modern game, except not immersion breaking. It's a very helpful thing to have.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Honestly the NPC name thing sounds like shit to me. NPCs having a name is only of the things that tipped you off that the NPC was part of a quest in EQ. Taking away the names like this is making you play blind in an annoying way.

Whole point of NPCs in eq is that you were supposed to interact with them like another player.

Sure, but I don't see how hiding their names helps with that? You can generally see player names. An NPC having a name in EQ is the equivalent to having a big quest marker over someone's head in a modern game, except not immersion breaking. It's a very helpful thing to have.

I agree that you shouldn't know other player's names until they tell you.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Honestly the NPC name thing sounds like shit to me. NPCs having a name is only of the things that tipped you off that the NPC was part of a quest in EQ. Taking away the names like this is making you play blind in an annoying way.

Another issue was discussed, possibly mundane, or not. That is the color of the names above NPC heads and Players. Shawn says that he prefers everyones names be the same color for a more uniform appearance. Any feelings one way or the other on that subject?

 

[GhostCow]

Honestly the NPC name thing sounds like shit to me. NPCs having a name is only of the things that tipped you off that the NPC was part of a quest in EQ. Taking away the names like this is making you play blind in an annoying way.

Another issue was discussed, possibly mundane, or not. That is the color of the names above NPC heads and Players. Shawn says that he prefers everyones names be the same color for a more uniform appearance. Any feelings one way or the other on that subject?

I agree with this. It's also funny seeing low IQ noobs get confused about who is a player and who is an NPC.

 

[Late Bloomer]

No exclamation/question marks over NPC heads. Release date unknown but should have people playtesting / playing with devs before the end of the year (2022).

 

[anvi]

It's a different world today. What made these is no longer available.
And it really is dead.

I don't know if it could work or not, I think it depends on how good of a job they do. If someone did a really good job today I think it could be similar to EQ for a whole new generation of people. Similar in that it hooks people and is a big financial success from a small budget. There are lots of crappy little indie survival games today with basic combat, people enjoy them for a month or two. I always thought if the average gamer that tries all those kinds of games could somehow find their way to a game like this.. they would love it. But that's easier said than done.

Also something that you can't reproduce is how amazing EQ was relative to the time. It was super high tech and cutting edge, as well as being revolutionary in terms of gameplay and other things. Brad McQuaid and others had said that to make a "next big MMO" today would need an enormous budget because it would need to compete with WoW and all the years of content they had. But not every new MMO has to be a WoW beater, or the next big thing. It could just be a really good game that a smaller audience likes. And if they are a small/lean team then it could be a big success/profit for them.

As I said before though I personally think the huge amount of depth and content was one of EQs biggest secret weapons. Most games seem so empty in comparison. I think that deep content is what hooked a lot of people, and most of that content is just items in a database. So a good team could put some effort into that and end up with a big world packed with mystery that compels people. But if it ends up with 20 mob types, 5 zones, 2 dungeons, and a few item sets.... It's just not going to interest anyone. But there are a lot of other things that really matter too. The graphics, music, combat, etc. I definitely think the time is ripe for a highly skilled team to take all those lessons and try to make something new and it could be a big hit. But making a niche game in a dying genre is a hard job no matter what. They are brave.