It’s immediately apparent once you log into Legends of Aria and start playing that Ultima Online was a clear inspiration for the game. Of course, having backed (the now-renamed) Shards Online during their Kickstarter campaign, I knew that some of the studio’s claim to fame was due to Derek Brinkmann and Tim Cotton (both developers from Ultima Online).
To be honest, I’d really lost track of the game and hadn’t paid much attention to the project until I’d gotten one of the typical PR blasts about the game hitting Steam. I’ve been looking around for a new MMO to checkout with one of my nieces who’d recently expressed some interest, so I decided to take a look.
Some of the things I found in Legends of Aria were very nostalgic and pulled me right back to my old UO days, and as it was back in those days, it was a mixed bag. There are aspects of the game that I’ve really found missing in modern titles, but that door swings both ways and there were both design and technical challenges that I appreciated much less. LoA is going to be one of those titles that you love or hate, so let me dive into my own experience in an attempt to help you determine which it’ll be for you.
Starting with Problems
I have to start with problems, because that’s how the experience started for me. Some of this was sort of self-initiated, and it’s only fair to note that I created some of my own problems. I think that if I had just gotten the game from Steam and launched for the first time everything would have been fine. The problem was that I backed during the crowdfunding campaign and wanted to link my account.
I started off going to the Kickstarter site and looking for some FAQ information on how to link my account with Steam. I didn’t find anything, so I ended up just downloading and installing on Steam, where I was presented with an option to link to an existing account inside the game when I launched it. Of course, I’d forgotten my username and password, so I had to go through the process of resetting that, which brought a few problems. I found the website confusing and had a few weird issues during the password-reset process, but eventually was able to get logged in.
Character creation in absentia thanks for a graphics glitch that prevented me from seeing my character.
Through this, I discovered the option under my user account on the website to generate a Steam key, which I did. I used the key and tried logging back in, and again was faced with the option to link to an existing account. I tried the password I’d just set, and it failed. I eventually got the account linked using one of several common passwords I use for low-risk logins, like games.
I’m in! …and then the next problem. I went to create my character and the process borked up. I could pick all the options, but I couldn’t actually see my character. I eventually went through clicking some of the normal features I’d pick in this sort of game and picking randomly when I wasn’t sure what the choices were, and then I finally had a character and could spawn into the game.
Considering how limited my time was to checkout the game, I was a little frustrated with all the effort just to get logged in and it feels like the team could do a little better with updating the FAQs on the Kickstarter page. Trouble finding basic information will be a persistent issue moving forward and while I don’t think it tells the whole story of Legends of Aria, it does contribute in a significant manner.
Replicating Flaws
My biggest problem with Legends of Aria isn’t the minor bugs and problems getting the account linked, though. My major irritation is with design mistakes that have bled over from Ultima Online and which really were totally unnecessary. We’ve had 20 years of online video game development to help us better understand how to introduce information and systems to users and seeing that ignored is aggravating.
The first design problem, and a hold over from UO, is the inventory system. Now, the game does have a dropdown below the inventory that presents items in a list, but this system is just totally outdated. No one uses the old UO bag system anymore because it’s inefficient and irritating. I want it to be nostalgic, but it’s just not a system that really works on a 4k monitor. Items are hard to see in your bag, and I found it harder to mouse over the one thing I was trying to get. It’s just a pain in the rear, and modern list inventory systems function the same way and with none of the frustrations.
I’m also not sure why I only had the option of starting city, others I’ve seen play the game seemed to have several to choose from.
I know that position isn’t going to be shared by everyone, and that’s totally okay. I’m just noting how I feel about it, and I’ll take issue with one more thing that I know some will disagree with me about, as well. The housing in UO did not work very well. In concept, it was a great idea, but the result was medieval metroplex that resulted in alleyway forestry. LoA adopted the same system, and the game is already experiencing the same problems.
As I left my starting village, I accepted a quest that took me a modest distance towards the edge of the continent. I ran into player housing the whole way, which left me feeling like a knight questing in suburbia. Granted, the housing thinned out a bit as I moved a little farther away from town, but I never went far without bumping into yet another house.
Not only is this just generally immersion-breaking, because you start in this quaint village only to venture out and into dense urban sprawl, which just makes no logical sense unless the village is supposed to be some sort of digital Cosmeston or Williamsburg, but public player housing is also loaded with problems. You can’t trust all players to maintain immersive property and HOAs are obviously, so you end up with plots that fluctuate the delta from Tutor mansion to tent city. Several plots I passed were a hodgepodge collection of random art, workbenches, garden plots, and scattered tools.
I like the idea of player housing in the open world, but in practice, it’s pretty clear that it’s just not a good idea. It might be something that’d work in a cyberpunk-themed game, but in a fantasy setting where much of the land is expected to be untamed wilds, Picksytrick’s random assortment of over-size yard ornamentation and lone carpentry bench just doesn’t really fit.
The other problem I had, and which I think to a large degree is a holdover from UO, is the very rough new player experience and lack of information. During the tutorial, which is actually pretty decent, I received a quest to create a lute, a drum, and a flute. The lute I had a recipe for and was able to make, but I had no recipe for the other two instruments. I couldn’t find anything in the game that pointed me towards where I’d find those recipes, and that meant there was a tutorial quest that I couldn’t complete. Tutorials need to do a better job of introducing players to key game concepts. If I’m supposed to work at carpentry and each thing I create gives me a chance to discover a new recipe, then the game should say that. It can even be vague about it, but just saying nothing left me lost and completely unsure whether I’d missed something or not.
Hunting willful chickens between the houses. Actually, it’s a lot like being home in San Antonio, except I think this is supposed to be in the middle of the woods.
Red Being Red
But you know me. I don’t write negativity, so you’re probably starting to wonder if I’ve thrown in and just decided to start taking the easy road. A good hit piece would always bring in the clicks, after all. I suspect that most of you have read enough of my stuff to expect this section, and you won’t be disappointed. As frustrated as I was on so many levels, I’m kind of writing this and feeling like I really want to get back into the game.
Part of it is pure nostalgia, I’ll admit. I had so much fun back in those early days playing UO with my friends, but it’s not just fond memories of the old days calling me home. There are some things about Legends of Aria that I really like. Some of those are carried in from that UO experience by the devs, and are aspects of gameplay that we just don’t see as much anymore.
Spell reagents for one. I miss spell reagents so much in modern MMOs. Magic is just too easy and too common without the need for reagents and practice. Mages are supposed to be special and uncommon, and that’s just not the case in modern MMOs where every player has their necro alt on standby for when they get bored. Reagents add an element of difficulty to magic that makes the practice significant, not just something you click on the character creation screen.
I think the dialogue system might get old after a while, but my initial impression was an appreciation for a simple and yet functional system.
Sure, everyone can do magic, so in that sense it’s not special. Only players that invest significant time, energy, and digital capital are good at it, though. Just on the surface, the cost of reagents forces a level of dedication to the practice of magic that immediately creates a divide between the powerful magus and the random hedge wizard. Even once a player has amassed the practice and skill to cast high end magic, the limitation of reagents creates a sense of urgency around each spell. Each casting is precious because those reagents are now gone and only so many remain. Thus, magic gains a significance that’s missing in nearly all modern games, I think.
Beyond that, reagent-based spellwork acts as an economic sink, pulling resources from the market and removing them from the game. This consumption of player-acquired material is critical to a player-based economy, pulling goods from the game and creating demand. The demand is met by other players who are less interested in combat and more interested in practicing a trade skill. So few games really capture that cycle well, and it’s good to see something attempting it again.
Another thing I liked, and something I’ve just touched on, is the skill-based progression system. Even character attributes are effectively skills that can be increased through use, and this is without doubt my favorite system for MMOs. I like that each character can literally be anything with enough practice. This allows for true customization of characters and for players to experience at will with various builds. Yes, you can waste a lot of time crippling your character, but that’s part of the fun. Besides, nothing is permanent because enough effort and time will reverse any shortcomings you develop for yourself.
Despite my frustration with tutorials, they were mostly well done. Since you can level any skill, it’s an excellent system that allows a self-paced introduction to every profession in the game. It’s just some a general introduction to some of the mechanics that’s missing.
Lastly, I liked the lack of hand-holding. You’re probably confused because I just complained about the lack of guidance earlier, but the difference is general guidance on how the game works, versus giant yellow question marks over the heads of characters with stuff they want you to do. I want the game to tell me how I can find recipes, not tell me where the specific recipe I need is, and that’s the difference.
While I think the new player experience could use a little help, in general the game leaves much of the discovery up to the player, which is a great experience. I know there’ll be some players who rail against not being able to min/max their characters from the start, but that trial and error is an experience we’ve lost in most modern MMOs and I’m kind of glad to see it back in Legends of Aria.
Red’s Read
The question at the end of the day is whether you should buy the game or not. Well, easy answer because it’s free to play. I definitely think anyone who thinks they might be interested in the game should download it on Steam and give it a rip. The most you lose is a little time, but the chance to find a game you really love is worth that minimal risk in my mind.
Whether you’ll like the game or whether I’d recommend it is kind of a different question. If you played OU and have really missed that experience, I think it’s a no brainer. Even more, if you’re like me and miss all those awesome player-run shards we used to play on, Legends of Aria brings that back in the form of community servers and support for modding. More than any other reason, this is why I find myself wanting to get back into the game and give it more time. Small role-playing servers with low populations are probably going to totally be my jam. I’ve missed those days of UO so much and I really want to try a few community servers to see if they managed to recapture the magic of those early days in online gaming.
I installed the game in the hopes that I might find something my niece would enjoy. I ended up finding something that immediately takes me back 20 years to my own early experiences in online RPGs. Both the frustrations and the joys, each helping to define my own expectations of the MMOs to come. If Legends of Aria can do the same for a new generation, then I’m really cheering for them.
All that said, and for once I’ll end on a negative note. If you’re expecting triple-A quality game development with every feature developed by a committee of experts, this is not going to be the game for you. If you don’t like grindy games and you expect clear directions on how to optimally experience the game, then you should definitely look elsewhere. This is a return to form and a time when games were developed by small teams of passionate individuals. Passionate folks do crazy things that sometimes explode on contact and sometimes become inspiration for generations. If mistakes bother you more than you appreciate the successes, then save yourself some heartache and just pass. Otherwise, you might just be in for a treat.
