MMORPG.com Spellborn Correspondent Sait Gotekin recently dropped back in on Acclaim's free to play version of The Chronicles of Spellborn and gives us an overview of the game.

The Chronicles of Spellborn is an MMORPG made by a Dutch game developer. It contains many unique features and oozes atmosphere.

It was highly anticipated before its release, but after the beta release, it was soon clear that it was not all that successful in the pay to play model. This forced them to go into redevelopment. The Chronicles of Spellborn will now become free to play with a cash shop. They currently have the servers running and are allowing everyone to play completely for free in its original state while the game is being redeveloped.

So I decided to give it another try.

Read Popping Back in on Spellborn.

This is really great game, if you are bored with mmo rpg give this game a try !!!

(if you use ATI/ AMD there can be some issues but I hope this will be fixed in new year)

This game has the best tutorial I have ever seen imo but will get repetitive after the 3rd time or so.

Yup its still a great game, knowing they'll add all kinds of f2p crap shop stuff in there makes me sad tho.

And it wasn't really the p2p model that failed, more the mistakes made by the company (marketing? whuts that?) which made them go bankrupt in the end.

Cool that you popped back in. I personally think that the game has much potential and I can't wait to see how things turn out with it after re-development.

When I tried this game I enjoyed it too -- but the sad truth is, once a game fails it fails... not mater how much money is put into re-development.

I think it's more wise for a company to spend resources on construction a whole new MMO then working on one that failed.

This is a great game and i urge anyone to give it a try. 

However the timing of this article couldn't have been any worse.... Acclaim have just physically moved the servers to a new location and since the game has come back up there are lots of issues.  Some places are in-accessable - when zoning to these places the game client Disconnects.

Historian - can you get us some help on this issue?  Theres lots of posts in the official forums but not a single 'official' response from Acclaim - game is currently unplayable.

Originally posted by paulrgod

This is a great game and i urge anyone to give it a try. 

However the timing of this article couldn't have been any worse.... Acclaim have just physically moved the servers to a new location and since the game has come back up there are lots of issues.  Some places are in-accessable - when zoning to these places the game client Disconnects.

Historian - can you get us some help on this issue?  Theres lots of posts in the official forums but not a single 'official' response from Acclaim - game is currently unplayable.

O hai!

I too enjoyed spellborn at launch and beta. Ill probably see what its like when i get some time off school.
I noticed the artbook that came with the retail version a couple of days ago, and it made me realize how good the game actually looks :)

Originally posted by bloodaxes

This game has the best tutorial I have ever seen imo but will get repetitive after the 3rd time or so.

Unless they have changed the tutorial from launch I felt it was the worst tutorial. It was completely tedious. Having me move my character left into the light and right into the light, etc, was just horrible.

and after I endured the tutorial I get into the real world and what was the first quest I get? To run around to some towers collecting reports.

That's when I uninstalled. Granted, this isn't fair to the game as it is very possible it offers far more. However, I just deflated and said enough is enough.

I've asked internally. They should say something in the forum soon

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by bloodaxes

This game has the best tutorial I have ever seen imo but will get repetitive after the 3rd time or so.

Unless they have changed the tutorial from launch I felt it was the worst tutorial. It was completely tedious. Having me move my character left into the light and right into the light, etc, was just horrible.

and after I endured the tutorial I get into the real world and what was the first quest I get? To run around to some towers collecting reports.

That's when I uninstalled. Granted, this isn't fair to the game as it is very possible it offers far more. However, I just deflated and said enough is enough.

Still the same there is still those moving sideways,ecc but that can be done pretty fast.

But what I meant as best is that it's a tutorial you shouldn't level to 10 to go out of tutorial (ehem CO ehem) it should be just some basic information how the game works and in my opinion they did it good and simple.

Originally posted by paulrgod

This is a great game and i urge anyone to give it a try. 

However the timing of this article couldn't have been any worse.... Acclaim have just physically moved the servers to a new location and since the game has come back up there are lots of issues.  Some places are in-accessable - when zoning to these places the game client Disconnects.

Historian - can you get us some help on this issue?  Theres lots of posts in the official forums but not a single 'official' response from Acclaim - game is currently unplayable.

You are right.

I've asked for it not to be submitted twice, but I'm not being listened to, therefore this is probably my first and last article for mmorpg.com, my contact ignored me a few too many times... I couldn't believe it. Perhaps I'd be able to get into better contact with someone else? I'll wait it out.

I haven't seen any event announcement in the forums since it went f2p.

Also, a guildmate of mine contacted them for help organizing an event, and never got any response.
Don't get me wrong, I love this game, but it is quite neglected right now, imo.

Originally posted by bloodaxes

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by bloodaxes

This game has the best tutorial I have ever seen imo but will get repetitive after the 3rd time or so.

Unless they have changed the tutorial from launch I felt it was the worst tutorial. It was completely tedious. Having me move my character left into the light and right into the light, etc, was just horrible.

and after I endured the tutorial I get into the real world and what was the first quest I get? To run around to some towers collecting reports.

That's when I uninstalled. Granted, this isn't fair to the game as it is very possible it offers far more. However, I just deflated and said enough is enough.

Still the same there is still those moving sideways,ecc but that can be done pretty fast.

But what I meant as best is that it's a tutorial you shouldn't level to 10 to go out of tutorial (ehem CO ehem) it should be just some basic information how the game works and in my opinion they did it good and simple.

CO has been given an option to 'skip' tutorial and go right into the crisis in desert or the canada map with an automatic level 5 character (and besides the tutorial itself probably left you out in the world at level 6 at most - unless you really love grinding low level mobs)

The tutorial in this game was OK, granted you will be able to explore all the core movements in the game.

But as Sovrath said, what comes afterwards is a complete mess... You get thrown into a world with random quests that make you run all over the map, you pick up random quests in the way that make you go all around again... and some puzzle quests that infuriate you rather than remain interesting.

Worse release ever, having the server block for different countries was an absolute disaster.

Good luck with the F2P...........I don't like RMT so I won't be playing it.
Mind you they should releae it in Korea, it might be a success over there.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by bloodaxes

This game has the best tutorial I have ever seen imo but will get repetitive after the 3rd time or so.

 

Unless they have changed the tutorial from launch I felt it was the worst tutorial. It was completely tedious. Having me move my character left into the light and right into the light, etc, was just horrible.

and after I endured the tutorial I get into the real world and what was the first quest I get? To run around to some towers collecting reports.

That's when I uninstalled. Granted, this isn't fair to the game as it is very possible it offers far more. However, I just deflated and said enough is enough.

 

The tutorial and the whole starting area has changed since launch. Matter of fact, the last patch this game received before it went f2p was remodel of the starter zone.

Problem I experienced with the game was godawful lag, control commands could take 5-10 seconds to occur IF they were even registered, what I saw looked nice but it was badly spoiled by shoddy performance, I had solid connection speeds (110ms from the UK I consider pretty damn solid) & sold FPS (35-60) so it did on paper seem to be being run on bad servers, considering I wasn't even playing at peak US times & there was barely anyone around in the lowbie areas.

Since they moved the servers the game became really bad though, & I quit altogether, free or not I can't stand the frustration of shoddy performance like that.

dont get your hopes up,im still shattered about the disconnection crap after the first little tutorial part..

they tell you to open up a support ticket..and 3 weeks later still bugger all

The game does suffer from a lack of optimisation of the client side. I am lucky to have a booty gaming machine so a don't notice the imput lag that some posts mentioned, but it is definately a CPU churn (I have most graphic options up on High thou).

The game itself is a gem, you need to get past 20 at least to of explored a few areas and gone thru a few very cool quest. As an example their is a quest on Pitt Lane where I was trying to kill a robber and rightly so he kept on disappearing after a couple of hits and I would have to go and track him down... absolutely fun. 

I have a lot  of gaming experience and have gone through the addiction of WoW and wish to never play such a non-soloable game that requires a non-skill based grind to improve your character. Compared to Guild Wars this game is so much more, the PvP component of GW is tactful but lacks pure skill... Spellborn is about spactial positioning, reactions and knowledge of your spells. You have access to way more active abilities than any MMO I have played, think WoW with mulitple turning trays. I have just started PvP and it is intense and requires tactics. For example as a deathhand my main burst damage is melee and requires raising my concerntration but I need to hit them, so I have to try to debuff their movement ( paralyse(backstap melee), Pindown (finisher ranged)) and debuff their damge output if a mage by lowering their morale. While trying to heal, keep Posion DoT up and chase them down. Once I catch them I can heal on hits, position myself behind for serious melee damage, get my concerntration up and deal serious damage.

Compared to other PvP games it is as skillful or more than WoW, tactics are plenty. It feels balanced way more than WoW and most importantly gear doesn't turn you into an instance win.

It is pretty obvious that I like this game and I recommend people just step in and try it, whisper me if you need a hand, pretty cool the helpfulness of most people .

Word up!

Twitter: EivilSar

I also enjoyed the games art design and the world that was created. Very colorful, angled buildings that seemed life-like yet surreal at the same time.

The combat rotating tray was also interesting. I can see how PvP would be a challenge with the tray if you were not smart enough to place your skills right.

When I played I didn't experience any lag and the game ran perfect on my machine with max graphics. I don't even have a beefy machine.

What I did not like is the lack of instanced dungeons. There were none. One of my favorite things to do is get into a group and run an instance or two. That's fun to me.

I did not like the quests either. Mostly like stated already there are a lot of "run here talk to so in so and run all the way back to me" quests.

The game WOULD be a hit in Korea. No offense Koreans.

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Originally posted by momodig
When I tried this game I enjoyed it too -- but the sad truth is, once a game fails it fails... not mater how much money is put into re-development.

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Dungeons and Dragons Online would like to have a word with you.

Originally posted by xenorace

What I did not like is the lack of instanced dungeons. There were none.

There are six of them, but one of the high level ones was still closed to the public when Spellborn went bankrupt. The first one, Exarchyon, is for level 25 and above and this is the best one in the game. You need to do a quest chain that starts in Ringfel Hearth to gain access to it though.

I regret never to have figured out the right tactic to kill the spider boss in the Forge (a small high level instance with its entrance in the Green District). Good fun though.

About Frogster turning this game into a f2p game. Nothing has been said about what will be changed. So, some of us old fans are wondering whether Frogsster will turn the game around without destroying it. The core of the game was considered to be totally unsuited for micro-transactions. We fear the worst.

BTW, this:

It was highly anticipated before its release, but after the beta release, it was soon clear that it was not all that successful in the pay to play model. This forced them to go into redevelopment.

Is not entirely correct. It was not that the game would not be successful in the pay to play model. The way that the publishers of Spellborn themselves sabotaged the gamelaunch  would have caused any business model to fail. In hind sight it was probably done deliberate because the publishers did not like the p2p business model.

The Chronicles of Spellborn suffered from developer hubris in my view.

The game was developed and released with an attitude of : "Play it How We Tell You To".

There were numerous posts highlighting the lack of proper Quest Objectives and markings on the overhead map as in more recent MMORPGs, the Quest Tracking System and other issues.

Chat was filled 90% with people asking where Mobs, NPCS and quest targets were.

Now there were players who said WHEEE! This is FUN, its utterly fantastic that no one knows where to go, or what to do. That's the type of game they had been waiting for all their lives, mentioning ten and twelve year old franchises such as the original EQ and Ultima Online.

Anyway, long story short is that this 'HARDCORE' approach failed.

And I guess the 'core' group of players that they have now, which is not enough to support the game's further development and continuation, represents these players that loved all this about the title.

The combat scheme was refreshing, and I found the graphics and art direction to be very good. Those were the things that drew me into the game.

Here's hoping that the redevelopment makes the game much more userfriendly and modern in its approach to player interaction and Gamers in general.

Originally posted by Gel214th

Chat was filled 90% with people asking where Mobs, NPCS and quest targets were.

Which in the case of most quest was a bit surprising, because the directions in the quest text were very clear to me. In all cases it turned out that people did not read the quest texts. It is true that developers did not take that into account, but should they have? Should game developers take into account all bad habits that gamers did pick up elsewhere. You claim they should have. That is your right; to have an opinion. But I think you are exaggerating in your post. The game was nowhere near hardcore. It just expected players to enjoy the lore by actually reading the quest texts.

Originally posted by Delanor

Which in the case of most quest was a bit surprising, because the directions in the quest text were very clear to me. In all cases it turned out that people did not read the quest texts. It is true that developers did not take that into account, but should they have? Should game developers take into account all bad habits that gamers did pick up elsewhere. You claim they should have. That is your right; to have an opinion. But I think you are exaggerating in your post. The game was nowhere near hardcore. It just expected players to enjoy the lore by actually reading the quest texts.

Yes, Developers need to take their Players into account. Developers that do NOT take their players into account...well you see what happens.

The quest text was fine at that specific point in time, but if you put the game down and came back to it two weeks later you were lost. The Synopsis text did NOT contain those specific directions and instructions, so unless you had a little notepad next to your keyboard and took notes, you'd be lost.

There were no co-ordinate systems in the game either..so people's directions were "Follow the road from the docks...by the big tree turn right...then head toward the mountains...cross the stream...go around the bush and they should be somewhere around there". Great fun for some....but it seems this became tedious for the majority of players.

You cannot, and should not attempt to Force players to do anything, in my view. If they want to read the quest text, great. Provide some additional benefit for them doing so. But don't limit the game to where they cannot proceed otherwise. Because they STILL won't read all the quest text, and they'll end up frustrated and leave. If you have to Force players to do something they don't want to do....then you have certainly misunderstood your customer base.

Look, if you assume that their intended demographic were the people that do NOT want Quest tracking, Quest Targets on maps,detailed information on powers,skippable tutorials etc. then you have to accept that these are the people that remain in the game now. Since the game cannot continue effectively with just these people, it means their business plan was not viable. So they either need to change it, or pack it up.

Which I think is what happened.The type of player they were thinking was out there, simply was not in sufficient numbers to support what they wanted to do. This happens a lot of time when you simply fail to properly understand the market.

So you can say that the Developers should not take players habits into account, but you should know that the Facts are that this goes completely against Customer Service, User Interaction and User Interface design teaching. And you do it at your own risk. And again...I have to say we've seen the results of that.

I hope they can turn things around, and if Frogster implements systems which are currently in games like Runes of Magic then I think that vast improvement in usability and player friendliness will certainly benefit the title. Sadly I believe if such systems were in the game at launch , TCOS would be surviving now as a Subscription based game...but that's just my opinion.