Ah, more DAoC…nostalgia? And my award for MMO Sound!
You know, here I sit typing on this 3 year old machine. I love this old tower, but I will be honest and say that if I get a new one I will NOT be firing this one up anymore. Still, there’s something nostalgic about it, and playing games on it.
Lately, it’s been giving me fits so I decided to take out one of the gigs of ram that seems faulty (it only holds 2 gigs.) That seems to have worked, at least for now. Being down to 1 gig (until this weekend) made me have to switch to playing a game for the next few nights that doesn’t hog every PC resource I have. I went straight to DAoC.
I can’t explain it, and a lot of people seemed to take it the wrong way last time I talked about it, but the bad design in some parts of the game and the out-dated game-play mechanics are really, really refreshing right now. It’s not as though I haven’t played those “older” games. Anyone that knows me knows that I started out in Ultima and have played everything in between. And I mean everything. They do all blur together at times, though.
But I left those days of camping for 30 seconds before log out. I left ‘em years ago and moved onto games like Spellborn, Fallen Earth, EQ2, WoW, Mabinogi and a slew of F2P games. I play everything, but not too many games that fall into the “old games I used to play” category anymore.
Still, something about having to salvage this old machine one more time, and having to find a game that can run on it, reminds me of those old days of discovery and of doing things…differently. Not that I enjoy some of the old bloated ways anymore, because I don’t when given the choice. But I like the fact that this 7 year old game (7 right?) has developed years of character. I’m barely into it, still on the newbie island area, and I am really enjoying how slow everything is going.
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Now, to continue with my “If I could Build an MMO, What Parts of What Games Would I Use?” segments. Last time I talked about graphics. This time I want to give a shout-out to sound. Sound is so important in these games that without good sound your game-play can actually suffer. If the sounds are off by a bit, or if they don’t feel accurate, the game feels clunkier than it should. In the world of MMO’s, lag and ping are the enemies. If your sound fires weird, it can definitely feel as though you are lagging. Or, at least, that you are barely doing anything to the enemy.
Since I returned to EQ2 for a month, I am really taking my time. This entire time I have been working on a single quest, the new world event one that takes you around the world looking for a special artifact. (I forget names, but the guy in front of the ruined tower in Freeport gives the quest to you.)
I have done a small part of it each night, and in between I am taking my time to look around, role-play and to discover neat little things. EQ2 is a master of details, and gives you a million distractions.
I remember the first time I walked down into a cellar to craft something. This is going to sound strange, but the sound was so good and immersive that I thought I could smell the place! It immediately pulled me into the area, with the strange music that sounded like a crafting song should sound and the incredible sounds of the actual crafting. Watch the video below to see what I mean, and keep in mind this is the standard music and cooking sounds:
I love that stuff. It really does add so much to the experience. I’ll be honest and say that I have never really enjoyed crafting that much, but I loved crafting in EQ2 because of just the feeling of being in the crafting halls.
So, that would be the game I would pull from for sound in my MMO if I were to build it.
Amazing stuff, EQ2.
Beau
EQ2 has my vote for best crafting of any MMORPG everah!!
Vanguard is the best crafting MMO (that I’ve played). EQ2 crafting is falls horriblty between two stools. It’s far too simplistic and repetetive to be interesting as a “game” in itself, but it has those irritating effects that have to be countered so it isn’t simple click-and-craft. Worst of both worlds.
Vanguard crafting, on the other hand, is pretty much a full game in itself, and a good one. It has issues, mostly the same underfunding/underdevelopment issues that the rest of Vanguard has, but the fundamental design is excellent.
The “camping for 30 seconds before logging out” comment threw me a bit. I love that part. It really annoys me when games kick you straight out to character select or desktop on a single command. Sure, they should have that as an option for when you really need to get out quickly, but equally there should always be the option to watch your character settling down as you log out. One of the best bits of the whole process, that final fade-out at the end of a session.
If everyone keeps going on and on about DAOC I might end up logging a free trial just for nostalgia. I played at launch for 6 months, of which I enjoyed maybe the first two. Have barely thought about it again since.
Geez, typos. I still can’t find an edit function on these comments, by the way.
Yeh man it really is worth a look. I need to get organized, though, so I can try out only a game at a time or something. haha
Crafting in EQ2 has always been years ahead of the competition, in my opinion. I think that’s what I liked most about that game. Too bad the rest of it really seemed too slow for me.