Tabula Rasa: beta impressions
This is my second time writing this, due to a computer loss (see previous post). It was long and thoughtful, but the second time around, I’ll just cut to the chase.
This game rocks. Here’s why you’ll want to try it, if you’re looking for a new MMO.
Immersive, personal, purposeful.
Now, I owe my love for the MMORPG genre to World of Warcraft. City of Heroes came first, but I never got into it with the gusto that I did with WoW. It’s a great game, even after aging a few years. Looking at a game like TR, the thought of not being able to choose a fancy race for your character in an MMO, seemed like a negative to me. However, it’s the same aspect of the WoW world, that keeps you a bit detatched.
There’s only a certain amount that you can relate to a knome that shoots fireballs.
In TR, you’re just a human refugee that’s dropped off in the middle of a war, fighting for survival. They toss you a pistol, give you a few pointers, and shove you off towards the front lines. You’re here to help a squad fend off the Bane (they annihilated Earth) as they’re invading the small camp where you’ve landed. You’re not magically a warlock or druid capable of amazing talents…. you’re relatively helpless it seems, and people around you are yelling and shooting. It’s chaotic, and in an ammusing way, not a frustrating one. But unlike that knome, you’re armed with a purpose - survival.
Muscle of an FPS
Right away, the battle mechanics are a nice change from the whack-a-mole, turn-based casting of pretty much all MMO games out there. In most games like WoW (I’m using it as an example as it’s the game most will relative to), attacks are basically simple die rolls, where the player capable of inflicting the most damage over time, wins the confrontation. In Tabula Rasa, there’s no “casting bar”… you attack as quickly as you can pull the trigger, stopping only to duck behind a sand bag and reload.
Why duck behind a sand bag? Because it actually matters where you’re fighting.
For all it matters in battle, games like WoW might as well be a lifeless flat plane. In Tabula Rasa, your tactical position (pressed agaist a tree, behind a sandbag, moving around) actually effects the damage you take. Similarly, your accuracy when you crouch and aim is much better than when you run and jump around while shooting. The enemy is aware of this, as well, and doesn’t just sit there and take your fire… they’ll work to find tactically sound footing, or try to storm you out of yours. It’s amazing how you’ll approach a battleground when you’re scanning for defensible positions. The attacks are still technically die rolls… just ones with more interesting game play variables.
Finally, an MMO that uses the skills I’ve aquired from Unreal Tournament. :)
Heart of an MMO
Tabula Rasa, despite the action-focused encounter mechanics, it definitely an MMO at it’s core. TR introduces a new concept called ethical parables to the mix - immersive storylines introducing problems that don’t appear to have any clear right or wrong answer… and have significant, long-reaching consequences for your character.
The first time I realized this would be different, was a little mission I was given as a level 4 recruit. I was asked to capture a fellow soldier that had gone AWOL from my base. When I confronted him as he was about to board a ship off the planet, he told me he was escaping to try to find a peaceful means to end the war. So I had to decided… do I hold true to my mission, and capture him, and bring him back to my captain? Or do I disobey orders, appear a traitor to the struggling survivors of the human race, support his peaceful attempt and let him flee?
The decision you make in situations like this, play into who will trust you, help you, or confront you later in the game. And like in the real world, not everybody is in agreement of what is “the right thing to do.” The “good guys” have a varying range of how they feel the war should be fought. I thought highlighting these sort of conflicts was an amazing move for TR.
A living world - with our without you.
Not only do I love the art design of this game.. the unique part about TR, is that the world exists when you’re not playing. The NPCs (non-player characters) don’t all stand waiting for you to (possibly) talk to them. You’re on the front lines of a war, and the boundaries of safe zones and total chaos, are fluid. I was helping to defend a base from attack, and ran deep inside (protected by our force field gates) such that I could take a break and make some peanut butter toast. Coming back to my machine, I had seen The Bane had taken over, and the only option was retreat. Toast hanging from my mouth, I scurried out of there, as this place was no longer a town where I could call safe. That is, until we managed to get a force together to reclaim it.
NPCs - good and bad - all have AI with established objectives far beyond the normal “attack enemies within x distance of me.” In fact, if nobody was logged in to the game, and the population was all NPCs… the world would still be alive with war on the front lines, bases being attacked, squads dispatched, and so on. You’re just a part of the big picture. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell who is a real player, and who is an NPC.
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So, maybe the rewrite of this post wasn’t so brief after all. The point is, if you’re looking for a new MMO, you really should give Tabula Rasa a try… if not for the unique gameplay elements I spoke of above, for the simple fact that you get to shoot aliens with a *pew! pew! pew!* sound. My buddy Zane has also posted this thoughts regarding his time with the game, and you should give his post a read - we’ve written about TR from different angles.
And, we’re both rallying for starting “the” Gay Clan. So if you’re in the beta, or plan on playing once the game goes retail (Oct. 16 for preorders, Oct. 19 otherwise), definitely leave a comment or drop me an email.
*pew! pew!*
