RIFT’s questing sucks. I’ve heard this said over and over again. Every time it’s by someone who has played MMOs for the last 3+ years and has completed no less than 50,000 of them. Let’s please keep our objectivity here, because, I’ve got to tell you, RIFT is no worse than any other game out …
Tag Archive: questing
Disassembling Good Quest Design
As I’ve gotten more involved with LotRO again, I’ve started to think more about what makes a good or bad quest. As I mentioned in a previous post, when I first came back I was deep within the reaches of Angmar, what was at one time considered LotRO’s end game. I couldn’t stand the zone …
The Fun of Discovery (and Other Inchings in XIV)
The past two weeks in FFXIV have been fun. It’s definitely been about discovery for me. I’ve spent a lot of time exploring and seeing where it would take me. The game holds up so well to that kind of gameplay that I really feel like I’ve totally reorganized how I approach the game. But …
TOR Might Wind Up a “Clone”– Why Is That Bad, Again?
It’s been interesting to watch how the public interpretation of The Old Republic has changed since it was announced. It went from godsend, to F2P (oh noes!), to godsend, to the current point of “It’s a WoW clone” disappointment. On one hand, I empathize with people that want something new and are tired of the …
Is Rift’s Emergent Gameplay Just Reskinned PQs?
Forgive my ignorance here, because I haven’t been following Rift too closely. I just found this developer diary on YouTube where they talk about some of their neat plans for the game. One of the bigguns is the rift system. Actually, considering they’ve named the game after it, I’d say it’s probably how they’re trying …
Unbeatable Bosses and Other Things to Fear in FFXIV
Reading through the recent edition of the Mog Log over at Massively, the topic of FFXI’s infamous 18 hour boss fight was brought up. This is the kind of thing that frightens people away from Final Fantasy MMOs, and rightfully so. 18 hours is too long for any boss; a single hour turns the fight …
Guided Experience: How Much Handholding is Too Much Handholding?
Over the course of my last couple years MMO hopping, I’ve noticed a great divide in how some games approach progression. Effectively, your time in a game can be broken down into a series of micro activities and macro activities. Micro activities would be things such as questing, crafting, and exploring the zone you’re in. …
Full Voicing Might Be a Bust
As a rule, I’m pretty skeptical of full voicework in RPGs. When it’s done right, it can be great and add to the immersion and storytelling. When it’s done wrong, though, it’s the exact opposite and the entire product winds up feeling cheap and under-produced. So, I have my reservations about SW:TOR. The first, and …
The Multiverse – Episode #18: “You are my Cold Sore (featuring Syp)”
Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of The Multiverse. We were happy to be joined by a surprise guest this week, Syp from Bio Break and his new digs at Massively! We covered the week’s news (which lead to some extensive and great conversation), what Syp’s been up to for Massively, and entered into Blog-o-Whirl …
The Multiverse – Episode #12 “Guest Starring: Jon of Drunken Legacy (the Raidisode)
Happy Monday Folks, And you know what that means; another Monday means another Multiverse! We’re up to Episode 12 now and we brought a guest along to join the fun. This week Jon (Maxivik) of the Drunken Legacy guild joined us to talk about raiding. As a long time member and officer in a leading …