Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Shroud of the Avatar

[Mustawd]

So Lord British is your new boyfriend? I get it now.

Jaesun I know you feel like he’s a flawed badboy and you can fix him...but you know he’s just gonna break your heart right?

 

[grimace]

First, Fargo never really left the business, even if he scaled back quite a bit before the kickstarter "renaissance", he was pretty much always into hardcore RPGs even though he couldn't afford to make some for a while. Garriott is a creature of another kind ; when you think about, none of the classic Ultimas had deep mechanics. The direction Origin took game after game was more and more into a more realistic world in which you could almost LARP.

LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAYING !

The lore of Ultima and Shroud of the Avatar allows for the meatspace mind and body to transport themselves to a fantasy world of strange steampunk technology. The Earthlings in (New) Britannia do have a tendency to carry on their OUTLANDER/ISH customs and trailer park decoration styles.

This tradition carries on from Ultima Online to SotA.

Jesus fuck, I'm now reading the stories from this https://www.reddit.com/r/shroudoftheavatar_raw/top/?t=all and it's so sad. If you didn't know it was about a game, you'd think it was a forum for abused husbands whose wife had cheated on them. The community is incredibly pathetic.

Separating the history of game development, the importance of communication via the official forums, the community fund raising for Portalarium, and the amount of money each account holder has spent on virtual items in support of developing the game must be addressed in any review.

Plain and simple:

SotA account holders (Kickstarters and anyone with game access) has some level of financial involvement (not calling it "investment" ... no dividends promised ... ) combine that with hopes of the ONE TRUE LOVE and the ULTIMATE RPG (BRIDE) and the comparison to a man talking about his ex wife are fitting.

Me: I've never been married to a person or a game.

I did play and enjoy Tabula Rasa.

The Larpers who are really into this community, however... are people who try to compensate for their failures in life by building another life.

This generalization (and the negative stereotype) of the MMO player can be proven to exist in the real world. Not everyone fits this stereotype. I myself am rather thin!

Spoiler

Pictured: the stereotype.

Why dance parties?

Every adventure starts in a tavern, right? (Every dance party has a bar. You can drink in game. You can now BREW your own BREW with the BREWing system!)

The reason and motivation for many SotA account holders to log in to the game are the social pressures.

The pressure to belong to a guild, join the guild website, the guild discord/teamspeak/mumble/etc, and then to organize events and guild meetings ... all familiar to anyone who played World of Warcraft, EVE, or Ultima Online ...



Why are single player RPG fans disappointed?


The quests (Episode 1 story) need more polish.

The in game journal improvements have been delayed.

The single player NPCs that join you on your quest ... are ... seemingly not the highest priority.

The promised immersion and single player story qualities of Ultima 7 are lacking.


Why are UO fans disappointed?

The wild west of PVP and griefing care bears while running for your life are not forced upon all players.

This experience may be best experienced in Player Unknown Battlegrounds and other survival games.

Felucca and Trammel arguments were part of SotA's development. May continue as future expansion arguments.

 

[taxalot]

Grimace is making some good points.

I've said it before and will say it again ; SOTA, technically, is a game that can be salvaged. If I had been given the current build and told "This is a pre-alpha", holy cow, I would have been very, very excited. But it's not pre-alpha. It's release. Release, in game dev terms, means usually "satisfying level of completion". Well, we all saw how completed the game was.

But even then, for a pre-alpha, I would also say "Good start. Let's hope the devs bring the game into the right direction". I could be willing to forgive a bit of stupid monetization in exchange.

But here's the thing: the game is hardly improving, the current direction is terrible, and the community is not helping. Ultimately, this is what dooms the game. Portalarium's financial status is the final nail in the coffin of this game.

If only they had tried to do something simpler, and then release yearly expansions !

 

[Murk]

Jaesun bringing some reason there though o7

Fun review, and somehow the game seems worse than I imagined. Yeesh.

 

[sser]

Damn that game is always charming.

Also, a hilarious review, if not most of all for the length at which the reviewer suffered.

 

[grimace]

There are different approaches to "playing" the Ultimate RPG known as Lord British's Shroud of the Avatar Forsaken Virtues:

• single player: complete the quest line, walk away from the game
• 
  
• multiplayer: create a character, move in to a property, dress your avatar, go the the dance party at the pub

One approach has a clearly defined goal and end point.

The other approach is open ended and never ending.

 

[Modron]

Jaesun I know you feel like he’s a flawed badboy and you can fix him...but you know he’s just gonna break your heart right?

Jaesun hasn't been here since this just under four months ago.

Currently Playing: Shadow of the Avatar

 

[Ninjerk]

Jaesun I know you feel like he’s a flawed badboy and you can fix him...but you know he’s just gonna break your heart right?

Jaesun hasn't been here since this just under four months ago.

Currently Playing: Shadow of the Avatar

Probably hasn't bathed, either.

 

[Modron]

Probably hasn't bathed, either.

He probably purchased a virtual house with real money now has to slave away in game to earn the monthly virtual currency necessary to retain his property.

 

[Infinitron]

According to Steam, Jaesun hasn't play SotA since May 29th. He did rack up over 1000 hours before that, though.

 

[Ninjerk]

Probably hasn't bathed, either.

He probably purchased a virtual house with real money now has to slave away in game to earn the monthly virtual currency necessary to retain his property.

Can't let Lord British take the virtual roof you try to keep over your virtual kids' heads.

 

[grimace]

• My lot is tax free. I play when I want.
• I use the native launcher for more efficient patching.
• First played in release 7.
  
• +/1 1500 hours across QA server, Live, different accounts.
  
• I do not have the Shroud for completing Episode 1 quest line.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Even Prosper made a game that looks better than Shrouds of the Avatar:

[

 

[Zep Zepo]

He did rack up over 1000 hours before that, though.

Sucking virtual dicks at dance parties, no doubt.



Zep--

 

[Ninjerk]

He did rack up over 1000 hours before that, though.

Sucking virtual dicks at dance parties, no doubt.



Zep--

 

[Vetrom]

Played some 1000 hours of this comedy, and taxalot basically nailed it. People will stand up to defend the game on its community events, dev direction (kinda-sorta-community guided I guess if you handwave hard enough?) and the like. None of that stops the game's fundamentals from being poo. Some of the mechanics would be more fun if they were less jank, but it's been twoish years that the devs have been stubborn about keeping those in and chase more monetization instead.

At this point im just along for the ride to see how it will end. Well, that and I pulled off a heist and now have a couple million gp worth of raw materials to deal with. My game plan is to coast until that runs out and then take stock. But yeah, I'm waiting to see them get sued or folded into more direct management by Travian.

 

[Kev Inkline]

I didn’t like Morrowind. Does that make me an asshole?

That doesn't make you an asshole.

 

[Mustawd]

I didn’t like Morrowind. Does that make me an asshole?

That doesn't make you an asshole.

Thanks Kev Inkline. I was worried there for a second.

 

[Sacred82]

The first decision you have to make in Shroud of the Avatar is whether to play in online or offline mode. While touted as a major selling point, the offline mode is just that - Shroud of the Avatar, but offline. You will not meet any other players obviously, and the player-owned town lots will also not be in your game. While I have not been able to check this out

Why not? Let me stop you right there, son.

No one here cares about the virtues of this game as a multiplayer game. I'll wait for a few more updates and then I'll romp around in the offline version a bit. I doubt that I won't get my $20 worth out of it.

 

[taxalot]

I doubt you will.

 

[Makabb]

Who will be reviewing Fallout 76?

 

[taxalot]

I won't.

Maybe I will submit something for Underworld Ascendant though.

 

[Sacred82]

I doubt you will.

$20? Really?

That can be the price of a movie ticket at a cinema. And lawd is there a lot of shit on movie screens.

I'll play around with some builds, make some conversation. NPC's seemed reasonably fleshed out early in development. Maybe Kodexers people just have unrealistic expectations towards games, even though there's no reason to play the disappointed idealist anymore. None whatsoever.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Why would I even bother to lie about some game mechanics considering how many other problems the game has ?

welcome to reviewing

there's always going to be that one guy saying you're lying because reasons

enjoy your stay

 

[taxalot]

I doubt you will.

$20? Really?

That can be the price of a movie ticket at a cinema. And lawd is there a lot of shit on movie screens.

I'll play around with some builds, make some conversation. NPC's seemed reasonably fleshed out early in development. Maybe Kodexers people just have unrealistic expectations towards games, even though there's no reason to play the disappointed idealist anymore. None whatsoever.

You can be bored and disappointed for free. Believe me.