I am an volunteer (read: amatuer) writer for the Everquest 2 Vault, and a regular contributer on the forums, so you’d think I’d know when a new game is coming down the pipe, right? After all, the only MMO’s on the horizon that have been worth any press lately have been Vanguard and Dungeons and Dragons Online.
So how the heck did I miss Irth Online? (That name isn’t earning any points for creativity either) I logged into my Gmail account today to find a Beta 3 invite. I’ve never even heard of this development company, or this game. I guess my status on EQ2 Vault has a perk every now and again.
I thought it might be wise to do a little research on these guys. The front end of the website sure doesn’t seem up to the quality level of D&D or Vanguard. Their forums look nice though.
Then I ran across this review at GamerGod:
Traveling and exploring go hand in hand. The world is huge, so huge that often times you find yourself surrounded by nothing. Players are even harder to find, but that can be attributed to it being a beta. There is plenty of land to be explored and plenty of traveling to be done. There is no instant travel in the game, but there are horse routes and mounts. Horse routes require upwards of an hour to travel sometimes and offer little to do along the way, making them less desirable than some sort of portal system.
Did he say upwards of an hour to travel? Magic Hat Software, the makers of Irth Online, tout in their FAQ how big their world is. When are developers going to realize that more land mass does not equal fun unless you do something interesting with it? The review points out this glaring design error further:
The world is massive, but monsters and enemies to fight are few and far between. Starting areas barely support a single combat focused player because of the lack of targets. A good amount of travel is required to find a good hunting ground, and even then the combat is diluted because of some glaring imbalances.
And it seems that even in Beta the game has serious technical issues with the graphics engine:
Further hampering the enjoyment of the game is the slide show effect that you get while inside buildings or towns. The work around in beta has been to put your head down and run backwards through the worst areas. Even on higher end systems the game does not perform that much better.
I’m sure the folks at Magic Hat Software are trying really hard to build a game that they feel is fun to play. They sound like a much smaller development team, and the reviews of the Beta echo that fact. The website says they’re pushing for a September 2005 release – which seems too soon. I haven’t downloaded the Beta client yet (although I’m certain I will), but from the sounds of things this game doesn’t appear ready for primetime.
I really like seeing the small developers build MMO’s. A lot of players have become disgruntled with the way Everquest 2 and World of Warcraft turned out – much simpler MMO’s than the generation that came before them. The benefit to the company is a much wider audience, larger subscription numbers, and a bigger profit margin. But I think ultimately the players lose out on richer gaming experiences.
I just hope Magic Hat’s desire to reach a September release date doesn’t kill their game. The same thing happened to Horizons – it launched before it was ready, and the subsequent bugs and constant patching/fixes ticked off enough players that the company had to eventually file for bankruptcy.