Comments on: A Third Tale

By: Chichis

Chichis — Fri, 05 May 2006 21:46:33 +0000

After playing a year of Tale 1, a year of Tale 2, discovering and researching many things, figuring out many mysteries of the game, and being elected Demi-Pharaoh during the second tale, I find myself not the least bit tempted by Tale 3. I suppose the slow pace of the first two tales has burnt me out for good and I wish it hadn’t. It’s a great game with a greater community and fantastically enjoyable drama, after being around the block a few dozen times it just doesn’t hold the magic it once did.

I WANT to like it, I want to play it. I want to be at the very edge of technology, I want to be one of the people figuring out the mechanics of the game, I want to be one of the leaders of society. But I don’t think I can trudge through it all again, with as many boring aspects as there are.

I still miss my Wall of Color (http://www.neologic.net/atitd/greatwallofvok.jpg)

By: samut

samut — Fri, 05 May 2006 16:12:38 +0000

Fox, part of ATITD’s draw (and I realize most people who try it don’t care for it) is the permanence of your actions. There are no shards, no zones, no instances. You put a building somewhere, everyone sees it. You log off and back on, it’s still there.

The issues permanence brings (’someone just put a building in my camp!’), in turn, leads to some interesting struggles, since players can submit new laws (actually rule changes), and if they win a majority vote, change the game. Griefers and 1337doodz, while not unknown, are incredibly rare.

ATITD also lends itself to things I’ve never seen in any other game. There’s no game-mandated currency, for example, so trade is in the form of barter. However, you can build a printing press and print money. In Tale 1 this led to numerous different approaches to backed currencies, with players choosing different items to base it on. The most successful one was put together by a group of players using real-world economic tools. You’ll either think that’s cool or you won’t.

Finally, it lends itself to more casual play than many MMORPGs. You can play it all the time if you want, but you can also log on for half an hour a few times a week, and still be able to play with your hardcore friends - people who have ‘levelled’ past others aren’t precluded from interacting with them like in many online games.

By: Lachek

Lachek — Fri, 05 May 2006 14:19:44 +0000

FOXTROTNIN3R:
The draw I see in ATITD is that the game is essentially a world building simulator rather than a traditional hack&slash fest. In the beginning it is exciting just to experiment and learn new skills. As the game progresses and you start using each others’ resources, you tend to become equally excited when your friend learns a new skill as you would if you had learned it yourself, because it benefits your virtual community as a whole.
I also like to just sit back and watch as settlements gets built, laws are passed and relationships are formed, only occasionally participating in the game as an active player.
I’m sure ATITD is not for everyone. Someone who loves WoW or Lineage will probably not be too thrilled (but should check out the demo anyway, it’s free). I’m personally looking forward to the day someone (hopefully eGenesis) decides to take ATITD’s idea of a crafting and world building system and integrate it into a more mainstream MMO, giving me the ability to truly affect the world with my actions.

By: FOXTROTNIN3R

FOXTROTNIN3R — Fri, 05 May 2006 13:45:09 +0000

That game seems kinda …well un interesting to me. Can anyone explain the draw besides ataining “Mummy Death Kill of the Beyondness Lvl 10+”?

By: Samut

Samut — Fri, 05 May 2006 13:35:40 +0000

Tale 1 of of ATitD was amazing and a lot of fun. Skipped Tale 2 just to take a break. What with Issue 7 of CoX and, you know, life, I should probably skip Tale 3 as well. That beta, though, sounds awfully tempting.