Free MMORPG Forums

Willbonney · 01-29-2011, 05:27 AM

The most common question I have received so far when asked about this game, has been "What the he** is Xsyon?" My answer is usally about the same, "The only game I've been interested in for about two years now."

Why have I been so interested in Xsyon? One of the most promising, in depth, rewarding, and altogether ingenious "Features List" of any game I have ever seen. The second most common question I get, is "what's it like?" This question is usually a harder one to answer. It's a lot like Wurm, it's a lot like Darkfall, it's a lot like SWG (pre-NGE), it's a lot like "REAL LIFE," and a whole lot more.

Currently this game is still in Beta. I say just Beta, and not Closed or Open, because the way to get into Beta is by pre-ordering the game. Not a bad deal really, ensures the people testing the game are ones who are actually interested in it, not just looking for a free "pre-game" to try out, and giving up 2 days later because of the constant wipes or bugs that happen in Beta. The game though is only 2.5 weeks from it's "Final Wipe" however, February 14, at which time Pre-orders get one more added bonus. Anyone who pre-ordered the game will get a two week headstart on the game before it opens up publicly. That's right, testers/pre-orders are given another reward, a two week headstart before the mindless mob enters the game and start bugging them with questions. The game is set to launch publicly March 1st.

But back to the actual review. The game is just purely awesome. I'm talking about every single aspect of the game being well thought out, purely "Sandbox" as the label is declaring it, and well, fun. I'll go through the "big selling" points, but there really is just so much to cover, I highly suggest you check out their features list. Now, not all of it is currently in or working yet, and the list is a little dated as they have had to change their views on some things, but I would say, this close to launch but still in Beta, about 75% of the listed features are working, with another 10-15% still being worked on. The other 10% is stuff that won't be added until after launch, or might be scrapped altogether in lieu of "different ideas." The features list can be found here:

http://www.xsyon.com/features

Gathering

The bread and butter to many games out there, how to collect resources. There are many different types of resources, with a multitude of ways to gather. First, there's "Scavenging," in which you scrounge around on the ground looking for junk. Another way is "Harvesting," in which you scrounge around on the ground looking for usefull plants. Other ways like chopping trees for wood, terraforming the ground to dig up dirt, picking up a piece of flint off the ground, and skinning, decapitating, de-boning, as well as "dissecting the head" of animals you kill in game for leather, bones, eyes, antlers, skulls, and brains (hmm, brains, Hannibal Lecter would love that). The most common way to gather, is well, just pick it up. From grass (yes, grass is used in a specific craft), to scrapmetal, all the way down to limestone out of rivers, you can just pick it up. Xsyon has some very cool concepts for the different types of resources, and the ways to get them. One thing I really like, is because it's supposed to be set in a Post-Apocolyptic time, in which mankind is try ing to re-build in a remote part of Utah, there are "Scrap Piles" everywhere. Basically piles of debris and junk left over, conceptually from old garbage heaps, fallen buildings, and the like. The kicker, these junk piles are "The Best" way to gather all the different resources for all the crafting. However, as you gather from a junk pile, you use it up. After four times gathering in one spot, the junk pile visual goes away, and you're left standing on a mound of dirt. Now that's realistic, when you take something away, it stays away. Once all the junk piles are used up, the game plans on removing them completely, which means players will have to find a new way to get these resources. These are plans for the future, after the "Prelude," which the launch and initial release of the game is titled. Future ways I have heard of to then get craft resources is raising sheep for wool, planting cotton for cotton fabric, having a mine and smelting ore to craft metal. There's a ton of potential here for growth in all of what the Notorious Games fellows are doing. It's quite impressive.

Crafting

Personally, I love crafting games. I have been let down big time of recent, I really haven't found a game with a really in depth crafting system that I truly liked since Horizons (loved the crafting in that one). This game's Crafting System dwarfs all others I've seen. First the obvious, Weaponcraft. Make weapons, duh, but also, make Axes, Shovels, and Picks, that are not only weapons, but are also used as tools for chopping down trees, digging holes, or destroying rocks. That's right, no "this is GreatAxe, but nope, no chopping wood with it." Use it like it's meant, or use it to kill, your choice. There's Toolcraft, the basis of any and all crafts, in which you make every tool that is required to make everything in every other craft. I mean, nice, can't do much in real life without the proper tools, well, you can't here either. Woodcraft, transfer the trees you cut, turn 'em into logs, then actually make something usefull out of them. There's no "gather this resource and magically is formed into shape to make a hammer" here. Nope, first you have to make it into something usefull, like a wooden handle, or wooden block. Masonry, make bricks. Bricks are then used of course to make walls or other fortifications. Architecture, build walls and buildings, like tents, tee-pees, fences, and more. Basketry, use grass you collect and weave it into storage containers. And not just that, but grass clothing/armor too, lol. Speaking of armor, along with Basketry you have three other crafts to make clothes and armor. Tailoring, Leathercraft, and Bonecraft. Each craft has various amounts of different patterns to learn, from around 120 tools, 50 buildings, 100 weapons, and each armorcrafting craft has around 150 each. That's a lot of patterns. Now, to start with, you can choose one "craft" to specialize in. That craft you will be able to learn every single recipe possible in it just by "practicing" your craft. As you gain skill, you'll get more recipes. You'll also get some of the recipes for the other crafts, and learn a few more, but really only the "basic" ones. That doesn't mean you can't learn them though, for the others you have to find "book" by scavenging or trading, and you read the book, learn a new recipe. Regardless of the craft class you chose. This means you can learn to craft every single recipe in the game, one way or another. Now, just because you can learn the recipe, doesn't mean being a Weaponcrafter will let you make the best tools. No, once you've "mastered your craft," Notorious plans on letting you further improve, repair, and modify what you do make. That's just pure awesome. There is so much more I could cover here, but for the sake of time I'm going to move on.

Terraforming

As with a few other games out there, this game allows you to physically change the shape of the world. You can dig into hill, widen rivers, create a waterfall, cause a flood, build a mountain, or even build a keep. There's so much an imaginative player can do, it's quite astounding. I'm currently in game and have been working on building a keep for the last three days. It's mostly been by myself, but today I actually recruited a few players into my "Tribe" and am now receiving help. You can view my progress so far in the following link. This is purely work done by players, and is a little rough because we're rushing to beat any "wipes" that might occur, so it's not nearly as polished as it will be in ilve:

http://www.xsyon.com/forum/showthread.php/2905-Building-My-Keep

I'm certain others have done a better job then this, but many in the Beta have lost a little heart in seeing a wipe happen, and then all their hard work get erased from the game. There are plenty of screenshots of different terraforming ideas though on the main Xsyon website.

The Tribal System

Tribes is the term used in Xsyon for "guilds." Though, they work a bit differently. A tribe consists of a leader and it's members as any other guild, but the number of members the tribe has also determines the amount of "land" they can claim. The tribal leader places down a "Totem Pole" which then claims that area in the game for his tribe. This land is the land they are allowed to terraform, and shape the way they want. But it also allows the Tribe to "lay claim" to resources in the area. The trees, the junk piles, the river, even the grass on the ground. Then, as the tribe grows, the "area of claim" for that tribe, increases. Giving them more land to control and develop. This is an awesome feature, that has totally sent me for a loop. Never before in a game have I seen where "Personally owned property" in a game be dependant upon the size of your tribe. Currently in Beta even a one man tribe can lay claim to land and start his building. I believe there will be some "adjustmant" to the size of their claim, as it's really big if you have looked at those screenshots, but all the same, they can build their hut by the river and live in peace.

The next part of the Tribal System I want to discuss is the "town." When a tribe gets so big, it becomes a town, at which time more options are opened up for the Tribe. They can then build a market area, vendors, craft shops, and much more. The Tribal Leader can set taxes, tariffs, and even post up Quests for others to take up and earn money. Those quests will mostly be gather and deliver resources, but there's plenty of room for expansion in the system.

Seasons

That's right, this section is labeled right, there are true "Seasons" in Xsyon. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, all with different looks and visuals within the game. And not just that, but weather that actually effects your character. This is just astounding, and I'm not sure if I totally understand the system yet, but the rain, snow, sleet, and hail affects how your character plays, as well as your equipment. Just astounding. Currenlty in Beta, the game is at what seems to be the end of Fall, and the beginning of Winter. It's not a sudden change at all, not "one moment dirt, next moment snow." It's raining a lot, and then every now and then you see splotches of "ice" over the ground. I'm really looking forward to seeing snows, and seeing what the snow looks like everywhere. I'm betting it's going to be remarkable though, this game impresses me a lot.

Minimum System Requirements

I've been playing this game in Beta using the "bare minimum system requirements" that are listed in the Game's manual. I'm not certain if I'm allowed to list them, but will tell you what I am running the game on. A Pentium 4 3.4 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, and a Nvidia Gforce 6800GT 512MB video card. For those in the know, realize that this is a "pretty weak" and "outdated" system. I do this though to ensure a game lives up to it's stated minimum. And Xsyon hasn't let me down, even though it's in Beta. Loading time is there when first launching, but the game itself is a "seemless" one, in which there are no "instances," just one big world. I have gotten some lag, but that has seemed like when my Ping has shot up a bit (it's beta). So far though, with mid to low range graphics settings, I run at a fairly constant 80FPS, even while travling around, running into other people (loading others), and fighting animals. I would definitely advise others to have a better system than this antique, just in case, but I am very satisfied with what my 10 year old machine can do.

There is oh so much more I could discuss about this game. I know I'm leaving so much out, this review barely gives it justice. For those wondering, no, I am not an employee of the company, but I am a true Fanatic (some spell that Fanboy), and have been following this game's progress for quite some time. Well, I'll quit tooting Xsyon's horn right now, and hope to see any and all in game at some point. I have high hopes for this one, because there is just loads of potential.

01-29-2011, 05:27 AM	#1 (permalink)
Willbonney Marios's Mustache Wax Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 1 Reputation: 10	My Xsyon Review The most common question I have received so far when asked about this game, has been "What the he** is Xsyon?" My answer is usally about the same, "The only game I've been interested in for about two years now." Why have I been so interested in Xsyon? One of the most promising, in depth, rewarding, and altogether ingenious "Features List" of any game I have ever seen. The second most common question I get, is "what's it like?" This question is usually a harder one to answer. It's a lot like Wurm, it's a lot like Darkfall, it's a lot like SWG (pre-NGE), it's a lot like "REAL LIFE," and a whole lot more. Currently this game is still in Beta. I say just Beta, and not Closed or Open, because the way to get into Beta is by pre-ordering the game. Not a bad deal really, ensures the people testing the game are ones who are actually interested in it, not just looking for a free "pre-game" to try out, and giving up 2 days later because of the constant wipes or bugs that happen in Beta. The game though is only 2.5 weeks from it's "Final Wipe" however, February 14, at which time Pre-orders get one more added bonus. Anyone who pre-ordered the game will get a two week headstart on the game before it opens up publicly. That's right, testers/pre-orders are given another reward, a two week headstart before the mindless mob enters the game and start bugging them with questions. The game is set to launch publicly March 1st. But back to the actual review. The game is just purely awesome. I'm talking about every single aspect of the game being well thought out, purely "Sandbox" as the label is declaring it, and well, fun. I'll go through the "big selling" points, but there really is just so much to cover, I highly suggest you check out their features list. Now, not all of it is currently in or working yet, and the list is a little dated as they have had to change their views on some things, but I would say, this close to launch but still in Beta, about 75% of the listed features are working, with another 10-15% still being worked on. The other 10% is stuff that won't be added until after launch, or might be scrapped altogether in lieu of "different ideas." The features list can be found here: http://www.xsyon.com/features Gathering The bread and butter to many games out there, how to collect resources. There are many different types of resources, with a multitude of ways to gather. First, there's "Scavenging," in which you scrounge around on the ground looking for junk. Another way is "Harvesting," in which you scrounge around on the ground looking for usefull plants. Other ways like chopping trees for wood, terraforming the ground to dig up dirt, picking up a piece of flint off the ground, and skinning, decapitating, de-boning, as well as "dissecting the head" of animals you kill in game for leather, bones, eyes, antlers, skulls, and brains (hmm, brains, Hannibal Lecter would love that). The most common way to gather, is well, just pick it up. From grass (yes, grass is used in a specific craft), to scrapmetal, all the way down to limestone out of rivers, you can just pick it up. Xsyon has some very cool concepts for the different types of resources, and the ways to get them. One thing I really like, is because it's supposed to be set in a Post-Apocolyptic time, in which mankind is try ing to re-build in a remote part of Utah, there are "Scrap Piles" everywhere. Basically piles of debris and junk left over, conceptually from old garbage heaps, fallen buildings, and the like. The kicker, these junk piles are "The Best" way to gather all the different resources for all the crafting. However, as you gather from a junk pile, you use it up. After four times gathering in one spot, the junk pile visual goes away, and you're left standing on a mound of dirt. Now that's realistic, when you take something away, it stays away. Once all the junk piles are used up, the game plans on removing them completely, which means players will have to find a new way to get these resources. These are plans for the future, after the "Prelude," which the launch and initial release of the game is titled. Future ways I have heard of to then get craft resources is raising sheep for wool, planting cotton for cotton fabric, having a mine and smelting ore to craft metal. There's a ton of potential here for growth in all of what the Notorious Games fellows are doing. It's quite impressive. Crafting Personally, I love crafting games. I have been let down big time of recent, I really haven't found a game with a really in depth crafting system that I truly liked since Horizons (loved the crafting in that one). This game's Crafting System dwarfs all others I've seen. First the obvious, Weaponcraft. Make weapons, duh, but also, make Axes, Shovels, and Picks, that are not only weapons, but are also used as tools for chopping down trees, digging holes, or destroying rocks. That's right, no "this is GreatAxe, but nope, no chopping wood with it." Use it like it's meant, or use it to kill, your choice. There's Toolcraft, the basis of any and all crafts, in which you make every tool that is required to make everything in every other craft. I mean, nice, can't do much in real life without the proper tools, well, you can't here either. Woodcraft, transfer the trees you cut, turn 'em into logs, then actually make something usefull out of them. There's no "gather this resource and magically is formed into shape to make a hammer" here. Nope, first you have to make it into something usefull, like a wooden handle, or wooden block. Masonry, make bricks. Bricks are then used of course to make walls or other fortifications. Architecture, build walls and buildings, like tents, tee-pees, fences, and more. Basketry, use grass you collect and weave it into storage containers. And not just that, but grass clothing/armor too, lol. Speaking of armor, along with Basketry you have three other crafts to make clothes and armor. Tailoring, Leathercraft, and Bonecraft. Each craft has various amounts of different patterns to learn, from around 120 tools, 50 buildings, 100 weapons, and each armorcrafting craft has around 150 each. That's a lot of patterns. Now, to start with, you can choose one "craft" to specialize in. That craft you will be able to learn every single recipe possible in it just by "practicing" your craft. As you gain skill, you'll get more recipes. You'll also get some of the recipes for the other crafts, and learn a few more, but really only the "basic" ones. That doesn't mean you can't learn them though, for the others you have to find "book" by scavenging or trading, and you read the book, learn a new recipe. Regardless of the craft class you chose. This means you can learn to craft every single recipe in the game, one way or another. Now, just because you can learn the recipe, doesn't mean being a Weaponcrafter will let you make the best tools. No, once you've "mastered your craft," Notorious plans on letting you further improve, repair, and modify what you do make. That's just pure awesome. There is so much more I could cover here, but for the sake of time I'm going to move on. Terraforming As with a few other games out there, this game allows you to physically change the shape of the world. You can dig into hill, widen rivers, create a waterfall, cause a flood, build a mountain, or even build a keep. There's so much an imaginative player can do, it's quite astounding. I'm currently in game and have been working on building a keep for the last three days. It's mostly been by myself, but today I actually recruited a few players into my "Tribe" and am now receiving help. You can view my progress so far in the following link. This is purely work done by players, and is a little rough because we're rushing to beat any "wipes" that might occur, so it's not nearly as polished as it will be in ilve: http://www.xsyon.com/forum/showthread.php/2905-Building-My-Keep I'm certain others have done a better job then this, but many in the Beta have lost a little heart in seeing a wipe happen, and then all their hard work get erased from the game. There are plenty of screenshots of different terraforming ideas though on the main Xsyon website. The Tribal System Tribes is the term used in Xsyon for "guilds." Though, they work a bit differently. A tribe consists of a leader and it's members as any other guild, but the number of members the tribe has also determines the amount of "land" they can claim. The tribal leader places down a "Totem Pole" which then claims that area in the game for his tribe. This land is the land they are allowed to terraform, and shape the way they want. But it also allows the Tribe to "lay claim" to resources in the area. The trees, the junk piles, the river, even the grass on the ground. Then, as the tribe grows, the "area of claim" for that tribe, increases. Giving them more land to control and develop. This is an awesome feature, that has totally sent me for a loop. Never before in a game have I seen where "Personally owned property" in a game be dependant upon the size of your tribe. Currently in Beta even a one man tribe can lay claim to land and start his building. I believe there will be some "adjustmant" to the size of their claim, as it's really big if you have looked at those screenshots, but all the same, they can build their hut by the river and live in peace. The next part of the Tribal System I want to discuss is the "town." When a tribe gets so big, it becomes a town, at which time more options are opened up for the Tribe. They can then build a market area, vendors, craft shops, and much more. The Tribal Leader can set taxes, tariffs, and even post up Quests for others to take up and earn money. Those quests will mostly be gather and deliver resources, but there's plenty of room for expansion in the system. Seasons That's right, this section is labeled right, there are true "Seasons" in Xsyon. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, all with different looks and visuals within the game. And not just that, but weather that actually effects your character. This is just astounding, and I'm not sure if I totally understand the system yet, but the rain, snow, sleet, and hail affects how your character plays, as well as your equipment. Just astounding. Currenlty in Beta, the game is at what seems to be the end of Fall, and the beginning of Winter. It's not a sudden change at all, not "one moment dirt, next moment snow." It's raining a lot, and then every now and then you see splotches of "ice" over the ground. I'm really looking forward to seeing snows, and seeing what the snow looks like everywhere. I'm betting it's going to be remarkable though, this game impresses me a lot. Minimum System Requirements I've been playing this game in Beta using the "bare minimum system requirements" that are listed in the Game's manual. I'm not certain if I'm allowed to list them, but will tell you what I am running the game on. A Pentium 4 3.4 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, and a Nvidia Gforce 6800GT 512MB video card. For those in the know, realize that this is a "pretty weak" and "outdated" system. I do this though to ensure a game lives up to it's stated minimum. And Xsyon hasn't let me down, even though it's in Beta. Loading time is there when first launching, but the game itself is a "seemless" one, in which there are no "instances," just one big world. I have gotten some lag, but that has seemed like when my Ping has shot up a bit (it's beta). So far though, with mid to low range graphics settings, I run at a fairly constant 80FPS, even while travling around, running into other people (loading others), and fighting animals. I would definitely advise others to have a better system than this antique, just in case, but I am very satisfied with what my 10 year old machine can do. There is oh so much more I could discuss about this game. I know I'm leaving so much out, this review barely gives it justice. For those wondering, no, I am not an employee of the company, but I am a true Fanatic (some spell that Fanboy), and have been following this game's progress for quite some time. Well, I'll quit tooting Xsyon's horn right now, and hope to see any and all in game at some point. I have high hopes for this one, because there is just loads of potential.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode