Our staff writer Laura Genender had the opportunity to spend the last few weeks inside the beta test for Irth Online - the fantasy MMORPG being developed by Magic Hat Software.  She has completed her preview of the game so far.  A snippet from the article is below:

Combat procedure is pretty standard for an MMO, with a few good original tweaks — and a few bad ones. For instance, whenever the player is hit their screen flashes red. This effect is pretty cool as long as you are not hit very often, but if you have two or three monsters attacking you it becomes a real eyesore. One solution to this (and to the loss of hit points in general) is to use spells such as Nuke or Divine Touch to kite monsters. Cast a spell on your target, turn around and run a bit, then turn and cast another spell. Most of the monsters in the game are your speed or a tiny bit slower. Another good reason to use spells is combat distance with melee weapons. Getting close enough to a monster to melee it feels like parallel parking a car while blindfolded, and if you or the target moves you have to start all over again. The next hurdle to overcome is actually hitting the monster. As mentioned above, even when fighting easy creatures like puppies, goats, and cows new players will find themselves racking up more misses than hits.

To read her full preview, click here.

Very good and honest preview.

well considering itrh still in development, (not in retouching like wow eq2 betas) i must say as an active tester that, irthOnline has a great potential i had only seen in games like The Old Uo , and the dissapeared Wish,  a great addition to all role players that dont kile childish or grinding leveling games  

pd: combat, spell, economy ,crafting,pvp, routes are far from finished now the devs are working togheter whit players as they can see in live the progress and evolution of the game , in form of periodical patches that adds new content and improvements to the entire world

I'm glad this isn't yet another suckup fangirl written preview. I'm tired of 100% happy happy joy joy previews/reviews.

All I can think to say is the word "tweak" sure can be stretched in meaning these days.

This was a very fair and balanced review, and as the writer said, the game is still in Beta in need of some tweaking.

Cheers for a good honest review!

This article left me with a few questions.

1) Are the races intermingled with the civilizations? There are 3 races and 4 civilizations according to this article.

2) Do you gain combat xp by going on quests/missions from npc's? Is there anything special or is this another game that uses the common methods?

3) What's with the non-pvp civilization? Are they the crafters of the game or do they just not combat with other players?

4) Is there any reason to look forward to this game over other games? Why would someone buy this game over the many games that are already out there or are coming out soon?

Good article anyway, seemed to be a very balanced review siting both positives and negatives of the game.

I'll try answer using what has already been given out through public channels.

1) Are the races intermingled with the civilizations? There are 3 races and 4 civilizations according to this article.

There will be different ethnicies(sp) but also more races coming.

2) Do you gain combat xp by going on quests/missions from npc's? Is there anything special or is this another game that uses the common methods?

No XP, you gain skill points from f.ex. the amount of successful strikes on opponent...the more you use skill, the better you become with it...I can't go on details of quest system yet but it rewards you by other means.

3) What's with the non-pvp civilization? Are they the crafters of the game or do they just not combat with other players?

they're exactly that, non-pvp...they cant attack other players, neither can they be attacked by other players.

4) Is there any reason to look forward to this game over other games? Why would someone buy this game over the many games that are already out there or are coming out soon?

seamless world of 39 000square KM, villages inhabited and governed by players, travel by sea, air and land, unique advancing system giving more freedom over your character than any other, pvp against other pvp-civilisations anywhere, loot your foes...thats just the main points not covered by NDA.

*claps*

Good reveiw... Now, if only i could somehow get the beta to work ^^ stupid freezeframe's..

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Originally posted by Laura Genender

Aesthetically speaking, some of Irth’s graphics are only adequate when lined up against modern MMOs —and some certain instances are rather breathtaking. Animations look a bit jerky and, while some of the monsters and characters are pretty cool, others look awkward and bulky. On the other hand, water reflections and shadows generated in real time make the game seem more realistic and breathtaking sunrises and sunsets will cause players to pause and spend a peaceful moment watching the sky. The background music is quite delightful if a bit limited; I found myself pleased at first though soon muting my computer to halt the repetitive score.

Now for the bad news — the bugs. While it’s still in beta, Irth has a surprisingly large amount of bugs, ranging from funky textures to game play issues. The good news is that the devs are still tweaking the game, and new fixes and new content is being added daily.

On the whole,Irth certainly has the potential to be a good game. It just isn’t quite there yet. An abundance of bugs and an unbalanced combat system lead to frustrating play, though hopefully a few balance tweaks will make it more playable by the time it goes live.

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Yes these are the issues I bring up when a thread is opened about Irth Online. They've been pointed out with a richer vocabulary by Staff Writer this time. I absolutely agree with her about all the points above. But the underlined sentence in the quotation keeps me interested in this game. I took a break from it now, my graphic card gets really old and it's torment to play the game with a blurry and cloudy environment when everyone speaks about fasnicating sunsets and exceptional landscapes

I will wait the client gets more stable, I will try to play it again. Lastly I made an elf and chose dodging archery for combat skills. Except healing I was told those were all bugged. I know the game needs time and I will have the time to track the news.

Enjoy the game

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Originally posted by Dregard44

*claps*

 

Good reveiw... Now, if only i could somehow get the beta to work ^^ stupid freezeframe's..

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Dregard, Send me a PM on the Irth forums and I'll see what I can do to help you out. :)

Game looks great!

Im in beta, and though it needs work, the potential is all there.... Open PvP Yeah hoooooooo

Try it!

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Originally posted by apocalance

This article left me with a few questions.

4) Is there any reason to look forward to this game over other games? Why would someone buy this game over the many games that are already out there or are coming out soon?

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Irth Online has no single gimmick to attract attention to itself but I can tell you the combination of features which will attract many to this game.

1) Character development is purely skill based.  There are no levels, no xp, no classes.  You just do the things you enjoy and your character will get better at doing those things.  Because of the NDA I can't get specific but there are MANY non-combat skills for those who like to do other things.

2) PvP is based on war between three of the civilizations.  To steal terminology from another game it is Realm vs Realm warfare rather than random killing of whoever walks by.  Those who dont like PvP can join the Avarian civilization which is never at war.

3) Three server types are promised: Regular, RP, and hard core RP.

4)  A HUGE world which will allow dedicated explorers to spend hours doing what they love and rewarding them with rare, undisturbed resource discoveries.

It may be that none of these features is unique to Irth Online.  But no other game offers all four (or even three) together.  The devs may never say so but to me it seems clear that they are targetting the old UO crowd (except for the people who like random PK, but they will be playing D&L which will actually allow that sort of thing).  This game is not for everyone.  But for those who seek real depth and not just faster flashier combat, Irth Online will be something worth waiting for.

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Originally posted by Brawlking
Ivan, I dont recall off the top of my head which Video card you have, Mail me here or PM me on the Irth forums and I will see what we can come up with in regards to your problem playing Irth Online. Thanks! :)

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NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128 MB. I saw a thread about video cards and my card was listed in there. According to list, my video is card second lowest video card that is able to run IRth Online. Yes really lowest. Let the other people test skills and such, cause with the settings I shoud tune, I can't even see one step forward lol and also FPS doesn't fullfil my satisfaction. So I don't turn its beta event into a torment, you have enough nice people that are capable of giving nice feedbacks. However, it's not only me having this issue. I'm really sure it's about my video card only and there's nothing to do except changing it.

IMHO this game is gonna SWEET.. roughly one year after release.

Still no info on their view about "High End" and raiding or no needs to raid.

I will keep looking until they settle this point.

The PvE civilisation (Avarians?) is the civ I am looking forward personnaly.

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Originally posted by Anofalye
Still no info on their view about "High End" and raiding or no needs to raid.
I will keep looking until they settle this point.

The PvE civilisation (Avarians?) is the civ I am looking forward personnaly.

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This is from last dev chat:

[18:11] Incoherent: <Sabbath|SMC> Is there a skill cap? (ie) 100 skill in say swordmanship is top? and does your character have a skill cap like 1000 skill points or something?
[18:12] Jared: Well we have no real cap actually.
[18:12] Jared: But eventually it becomes statisticly impossible to continue increasing your skills.
[18:12] Jared: Every time your skills increase, it becomes more difficult to increase them farther.
[18:13] Jared: Also at high levels there are diminishing returns. The difference between a 5 and a 6 skill is much larger than 1005 and 1006.
[18:13] Jared: But as for a specific number, no.

About "raiding"

[17:08] Incoherent: <Traxer> Will there be alot of large creatures ( larger then Elder wyvern) ?
[17:08] Tony: welcome everybody to the irth online dev chat
[17:08] Tony: yes, there will be alot of large creatures..there will be creatures even larger than the elder wyvern
[17:09] Tony: infact over the next couple of weeks you will see no less than 26 new monsters appear ingame
[17:09] Tony: new reagents will be created for monster spawns
[17:09] Tony: and you'll see larger and tougher monsters as you would venture beyond the town limits
[17:10] Tony: mob bosses have been added will special loot, the monsters that we will implement soon
[17:10] Tony: will be quite extrodinary

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This has been discussed on Irth forums and elsewhere quite alot...Uber rare items will give you advantage but not make you singlehandedly dominate (This games name is Irth Online not "Trials of Irth")

Also Beauty of skill based system is that the game will not punish you for grouping with your friends no matter the differences between your characters.

Really intelligent, objective preview, Kudos Laura! I really couldn't have said it better myself.

Constant tweaking is going on and the game is shaping up. While it's by no means there yet, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Lineage 2 could have been so great, now I have Irth Online to look forward to and I am really enjoying helping with the beta .

Screenshots definitely have been looking better in the last few weeks... Is this thing really going to launch on the 13th anyone know?

I like the concept of being able to change your profession/skills basically anytime you feel like it.. Should cut down on the # of people making more characters.

Soooo.....

What's the purpose of pvp in Irth? Is there one? Do we develop a character and then go running around killing each other for no reason? Is there control of resources or territories at stake?

One last question...

Why do developers even bother making new games if they don't offer anything new beyond what was made 4-5 years ago?

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Originally posted by Thethrax
Screenshots definitely have been looking better in the last few weeks... Is this thing really going to launch on the 13th anyone know?

I like the concept of being able to change your profession/skills basically anytime you feel like it.. Should cut down on the # of people making more characters.

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Well..according to press release, this *beta phase* ends on 13th...

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Originally posted by Arawnite
Soooo.....
What's the purpose of pvp in Irth? Is there one? Do we develop a character and then go running around killing each other for no reason? Is there control of resources or territories at stake?
One last question...
Why do developers even bother making new games if they don't offer anything new beyond what was made 4-5 years ago?

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actually theres control of resources AND territories according to devs

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Originally posted by Fadeus

All I can think to say is the word "tweak" sure can be stretched in meaning these days.

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