The miltimillion dollar mmo's that have tanked so hard should be ashamed of themselves when a game like this with probably only about 500 players MAX is nearly a DECADE old and still pulling in a profit.

The crafting in this game is the best there ever has been in an MMO the ability to build houses from the first brick right down to the door you have on it.

Oh and Dragons beginning the game as a small dragon and eventually growing into something HUGE and powerful is a feeling that cannot be matched.

Biped multiclassing, you could with time master every class the game has to offer and be a god.

Devs of other games take note of what an MMO truely means, freedom to do almost anything you want.

One of the best mmo's yup

& for sure my favourite Housing system

Got to resub one of these days

I did by at launch but all i remember about it is that it was pretty buggy and empty..

For me the graphics are now a bit outdated for me to want to go back..

Your opinion - I thought the game was awlful. Full of bugs and other issues made the game unplayable.

I wish people would remember the games like they ACTUALLY were not with the romanticized eye we keep ssing. 'This game was the best because....' People forget how bad some actually were.

WoW - I played the first closed and open beta test. When the game went live there was no way anyone could get in for 2 weeks. the game had glaring tearing issues and generally was unplayable. This is an example.

Buggy & Laggy at launch, just like most other mmo's, nothing special there.

Gimme Istaria II or Ryzom II anyday, instead of any WoW clone N° XX

Originally posted by botrytis

Your opinion - I thought the game was awlful. Full of bugs and other issues made the game unplayable.

 

I wish people would remember the games like they ACTUALLY were not with the romanticized eye we keep ssing. 'This game was the best because....' People forget how bad some actually were.

 

WoW - I played the first closed and open beta test. When the game went live there was no way anyone could get in for 2 weeks. the game had glaring tearing issues and generally was unplayable. This is an example.

I remember how buggy the game was and i remember the lies and mess the devs left the game in but 2 take overs and still people playing it says something.

The game has a magic feeling though it's an old school mmo where everything you achieve is throughly earned by you.

10 years old nearly.

I'm actually very tired of the constant theme park MMO's that are being put out and fail within 6 months and i'm tired of the constant hand holding throughout these theme park mmo's.

That's why i returned here, sure the game is old and looks very old but graphics isn't everything.

along with UO, the game i most want to go back in time to play.

a lot of very passionate people talking highly of it but for whatever reason i never played it.  my loss.

i hope that, if not a nominal successor, the game at least gets a spiritual successor one day.

Hmm looked at the mmohut video for this game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUzxgsQb1wI

This game makes Everquest look like Next-Gen?  Omer was funny, "Oh and Power Strike!  Look at those awesome animations .. Power Strike, ooh!"

I recognized their original name though, Horizons.  I guess changing the name helped give the game a 2nd chance?

Originally posted by botrytis

Your opinion - I thought the game was awlful. Full of bugs and other issues made the game unplayable.

 

I wish people would remember the games like they ACTUALLY were not with the romanticized eye we keep ssing. 'This game was the best because....' People forget how bad some actually were.

 

WoW - I played the first closed and open beta test. When the game went live there was no way anyone could get in for 2 weeks. the game had glaring tearing issues and generally was unplayable. This is an example.

So when exactly did you play the game? And what are the bugs you are referring to that make the game "unplayable"? I play the game on and off quite frequently, and aside from some slow performance here and there (and occasional issues when running in fullscreen mode), I've rarely experienced anything all that noteworthy, let alone gamebreaking.

I understand that there are people that "romanticize" about games they played/liked long ago and potentially paint a prettier picture than it might have actually been, but conversely, do you really think it's any more productive to only focus on the negatives of past gaming experiences?  Both are equally pointless.

Besides, this game has plenty of positives, even by today standards, so it hardly relies on "romanticized" testimony to speak for it; just check my review/turtorial thread a few threads down to see some of what it offers. That "you only like it because of nostalgia" argument isn't applicable in my case, considering I didn't even play this game for the first time until probably around 2008 or so - long after I started my online gaming career. The game simply dominates certain areas within the mmo standard (in my honest opinion), and I don't need rose-colored glasses to help me see it.

As for WoW, I was there at launch so I'm well aware of the difficulties it endured. Yes, it was rough for a while, but who really cares now? Did it cause the game to fail? Hardly. I'm failing to see the point of basing your opinion of a game on its rocky launch or any other temporary rough period in its life. The "here and now" is all that really matters.

I seriously love Istaria, but there are glaring problems with the engine. I had to stop playing and tell myself to stop recommending it to people because of the continuous crashing to desktop issues I had while playing. If they could iron out the basic performance issues, this game would be one of my main games. As it is I still keep coming back to it, as it does seem to offer so much coolness at a very lofi threshold. 

Still, New Tirismus and the crashes... gawd, how I want that fixed.

I played this when it released, it was called Horizons, the game that promised everything, and delivered nothing. One of the worst MMORPGs I tried period. It's in my top five 5 worst games of all time.

no surprise that it has no population, I am surprised its still alive.

i hope that lots of things got fixed, but at release this game was absolutely horrible. Worst than even AO launch (which was still amazingly bad).

Originally posted by DMKano

I played this when it released, it was called Horizons, the game that promised everything, and delivered nothing. One of the worst MMORPGs I tried period. It's in my top five 5 worst games of all time.

no surprise that it has no population, I am surprised its still alive.

i hope that lots of things got fixed, but at release this game was absolutely horrible. Worst than even AO launch (which was still amazingly bad).

 

Yup, I played a total of 1 hour before I uninstalled it never to touch it again. Can't speak for what happened to it since launch but it was the worst game I ever played

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While I do agree that the crafting in Horizons/Istaria is one of the best out there, I liked the crafting on Star Wars Galaxies better. Mainly because you had different versions of the same resource, each with its own set of stats, and thus one particular version might be better for this, while another is better for that. Plus the experimentation could improve the power of an item, or the storage, or whatever. 

But aside from SWG, I haven't found a game with better crafting than Istaria. The crafting is definately what keeps me wanting to return.

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This was another point that was a HUGE plus for this game. I played a dragon for a short time, and while it was very cool, it wasn't exactly my style. I love the concept though...questing to move on to the next phase of dragonhood, with eventual flight. Especially when the other races didn't have the same type of setup. That's a big deal right there. So many people want the races to be cookie cutter on abilities/ease of play/coolness, just with different pictures and different words used. I don't. I like having each race be a completely different play experience. That's where customization comes into play. Otherwise you pick the race with the best intellect to be the mage character. The best mage is the right race + the right gear + the right spell choice...etc. People come on and ask what they should choose for this item or ability...they get the textbook answer because there is no difference of playstyle. Having one race, the dragon, that advanced not only in level, but also maturity...is perfect!

<<Yup, I played a total of 1 hour before I uninstalled it never to touch it again. Can't speak for what happened to it since launch but it was the worst game I ever played>>

1 hour is hardly enough of a chance to give it the title of "worst game I've ever played". That's like putting in a backup QB for 1 play, him missing the pass, and then saying he's the worst QB ever - he (or the game) never was given a chance. I'm not telling you to go play it...but it's not really a fair assessment.