Introduction:
This entry is a continuation of my previous post in this series where I attempted to install and play Mortal Online. Today (4/12/10) met with a bit more success. This post covers a decent amount of ground so, without further delay....
The Experience:
I started today off knowing that I still had a patch waiting so I ran the launcher and let it download. The patch was about 7 MB and only took a moment to install. As it turns out, this was the final patch (number four for those patching at home) and I was finally able to run the game...well...not really.
Now that the patches had all been installed, I got to start the troubleshooting process. Before I start on that, I'd like to note that the previous error I had received, when clicking the "options" button on the launcher, no longer appears now that all the patches are installed.
First up, the error message "The program can't start because d3dx10_41.dll is missing from your computer." After searching around a bit, I found this thread on the MO forums which lead me to the Direct X end user runtime web installer. Once I installed this and launched the game, I received no error. Then again, I didn't receive much of anything else either.
At this point, the game was not launching and I was not getting any errors so it was back to searching. While troubleshooting the issue, I noticed the nowgame.exe process was starting and then ending a few seconds later. Based on this, I found another helpful thread on the MO forums. In my case, the issue was resolved by installing the Nvidia PhysX driver.
Now that the technical issues had been resolved, I was able to launch the game and try to login. I was immediately greeted with a failed login attempt. After checking the caps lock key and usual suspects, I decided to try logging in on the MO site. While doing so, I vaguely recalled something about two activation emails from Mortal Online and, sure enough, there was one sitting in my inbox that I had not clicked on. After following the activation link, I attempted to log in to the game and was met with success.
I have to admit to some small sense of satisfaction having resolved the technical (and user) errors and finally getting into the game. I proceeded immediately to character creation only to realize I didn't know much about the different races or why I would want one over the other. There wasn't much info available on the character creation screens and just some place holder text in various areas. I decided to go to the Races section of the MO site which didn't help to explain a whole lot for me. It appears that less then have of the races are explained with the remaining having the equivalent of "coming soon" text.
Now, a bit in the dark as to my reasoning, I created a Veela male named "Synaes Thesia". Additionally, I selected Ruffian as my job/profession/forget-what-it-was-called. I was dropped into the game world at night and couldn't really see much so I tried to stay close to the camp/village I was in and try to get a basic understanding of the controls and interface. This worked out as day came fairly quickly and, by that time, I could at least move around and understood how to attack.
This new found understanding quickly lead to my first demoralizing assault on a domesticated pig. After getting thoroughly beat down by the pig, I was placed in a "Mercy Mode". This is sort of like dying, but not. Essentially, you are immobalized for a moment and then, when you regain control of your character, you are left with pretty low health. In order to regain your health, you need to rest. This is a very slow process initially, but it gets the job done. There might be a better way, but as a penniless new character, I didn't see one.
A side note on Mercy Mode; when I first entered this state, I thought my character had died. When I realized he hadn't, I noticed that (in beta) you can commit suicide. I wanted to see what happened when you actually died so I went ahead and did this. Now, when you die, you basically become a ghost and need to find a priest. Your visual changes a bit and makes me think of being underwater. Priests are not hard to locate as there are giant pillars of light shinning down on them that are visible from a pretty good distance. That said, it still took me a good 15 minutes to get to one and sort out the whole being dead thing. Coming back to life is just a matter of interacting with the priest and the process actually takes just a couple seconds.
Mercy mode and death now sorted out, I ran off yo my second and third demoralizing assaults on the domestic pigs. I was looking pretty good on that third one and was sure I had him until he launched up into the air and started attacking me from above. While a bit irritating, and a bit funny, I kept up my attempts. Finally, on my fourth pig, I managed to fell the mighty beast! This was followed by a mixed bag of wins/losses, but I noticed a lot of rocket pigs moving at near impossible speed.
One loss in particular was very frustrating. At one point, another flying pig took me down. I figured it was like the rest and I would just rest up and go on with my day. This pig was different though. He had a mean streak a mile wide and the bastard camped me. Every time I would get up it was on my like glue. Finally I decided to stop trying to defend myself and just run as fast as my virtual legs would carry me. But this pig was something different. He was like a noob seeking missle and managed to drop me into mercy mode five or six times before i got clear of him.
During my tactful retreat, I noticed another type of creature I could attack; a weasel. These turned out to be quite easy to kill and, while they provided minimal loot, was a nice ego boost...Until the pigs showed up...Apparently, the domestic pig is the self-appointed guardian of all things Weasel. So, while I was looting one of these dead Weasels, I started getting attacked only to find another domestic pig chopping away at my health...
Bruised and battered, I returned to town with my small collection of animal parts to sell. I found a vendor and loaded up everything to sell. I was looking at clearing a little over 300c on the deal. I clicked trade, there was some message about "yadayadayada This is a negative trade, are you sure? yada yada". I clicked yes to get rid of the annoying message and watched as everything moved out of the sell window. Now, I still had a balance of 0...hmm...After looking into the matter, apparently, I was supposed to drag the icon for Coppernium down into the vendors trade window and specify the proper amount. Lesson learned..no more clicking "ok" to get rid of windows.
At this point, I killed a couple more creatures so I could afford a torch. I am still a bit of a ways off from getting any skill books, but I was at least able to get my feet wet in regards to the game mechanics. I saw plenty of other players, but no one attacked me. I did not stray too far from my starting point, but hope to start exploring more soon.
My Opinions:
The whole install process could be a bit more straight forward. If a dll is missing, I should be made aware of that before I get to the point of launching the game. If I do not have the PhysX driver installed, I should be made aware of that before getting to the point of launching the game. These all seem like reasonable "pre-flight" checks that should occur. That said, it is a beta game and all the issues took about 15 minutes to resolve so not really a big deal for me.
Now, the game itself; I was a bit annoyed at the character creation process and trying to determine why I would be a human versus a half-breed versus whatever else. On the other hand, the character creation was more robust in its customization then many other games out there so that was a plus. "Flavor text" is easy enough to fill in, so I imagine that will come in time.
The game's help interface is pretty useful if you bother to give it a read. I was able to figure out a lot of things for myself just by looking there. The basic movement controls are pretty standard, but otherwise, I don't think the controls, overall, are very intuitive. Also, I keep finding myself hitting my mouse scroll wheel to zoom my view out. This first-person view, while I knew about it, is just going to be a bit of an adjustment.
The creatures, while initially difficult (for me at least) certainly give you a sense that you are just starting in the world. I did see a lot of creatures zipping around at impossible speeds. Some that were near trees seem to disappear only to find that they seem to be moving vertically once they get to a tree instead of going around it. Also, the random flying pig was a bit problamatic as they would seem to disappear when I was attacking only to find I was being attacked from above (same issue as them going up a tree perhaps?).
Graphically, the game is fine. Not mind blowing, but certainly not bad by any stretch.
Overall, I had some fun on my first day playing. I installed and played for a little under two hours and felt I had figured a number of things out in that time. There are certainly some issues that make the game less fun, but I'm not put off by them at this point. I'm still in the "oh boy, it's working!" honeymoon stage though, so we'll see how things progress.
I am probably going to take the night off from MO and get some EvE time in tonight. As a result, there won't likely be an update tomorrow, or if there is, I'll just post my system specs just to help put a frame around what my MO experience is based on.
