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Rendelius
Critical Error
Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 16
Location: Austria |
| Rubies of Eventide now in open beta |
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As promised, <a href="http://www.rubiesofeventide.com/" target="_blank">Rubies of Eventide</a>, a MMORPG by Cyberwarrior, has entered open beta now. Rubies Of Eventide uses a 3-D world, so you can see what your character sees as you walk around the lands of Vormis. You can form parties with friends and fellow adventurers from anywhere in the world, and adventure together to gain fame and riches. Rubies Of Eventide is set in the medieval fantasy land of Vormis. You begin the game in New Jollis, the capital of South Vormis, as a novice adventurer. |
Mon Mar 03, 2003 1:39 pm |
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Redlight
Guest
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I have to chuckle at this open beta... this game has been in development since umm 1996. In 1997 '98 they claimed to have an open beta but very few got in.
I can't imagine how awful the graphics are by now LOL |
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Mon Mar 03, 2003 1:40 pm |
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Guest
Guest
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As a closed beta tester, I can and will say that it is a great game and will surpass EQ. It is an awesome game.
Former EQ Addict |
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Mon Mar 10, 2003 7:51 pm |
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KAS
Village Dweller
Joined: 05 Mar 2003
Posts: 22
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| Rubies of Eventide will not compete with Everquest |
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I can't see Rubies of Eventide ever coming close to being as successful as Everquest for a few reasons.
First of all, having just recently cancelled my Everquest account (the result of going into the game a few times over the last few months and dumping four or five hours to get absolutely nothing done while enjoying the game at a rate of negative 5 out of 10), I'm also waiting for the next mmog in line to take top honors. Unfortunately, I'm not expecting any big splashes until World of Warcraft and Everquest 2 come out, and I'm also hoping that Horizons can do well when they finally release. Realms of Torment had been looking decent until very recently and unless they do a 180 with a few of their bad design decisions, I likely won't even ever see how the final game turns out. Generally, I'm waiting until the day a game finally puts Everquest where it should have been a year and a half ago, on the retirement stretch.
The first major reason Rubies of Eventide won't even come close, even if they do attract 50k+ users is the fundamental (unfortunately) factor that determines where I mmog stands on the ladder scale overall, the development budget.
The original (classic) version of Everquest was designed with a <15 million> dollar budget, and Everquest is still at the top of the heap in North America today.
Dark Age of Camelot tried to go with a four million dollar budget and it showed to no end in the final release (which is when the game should have gone to beta while the developers finished the game by doing things such as adding more monster models to pump the total to eight or ten, or had a system which involved the desire to get realm points since the rewards for these were still undetermined when some players had a few hundred).
Money isn't everything when it comes to mmogs, but the market is just now starting to get hit with grade B and C mmogs that offer 'solutions' to their lack of funding problems. Mmogs cost a ton to develop and much more to launch and maintain and with every garage company beginning to attempt to duplicate Everquest in hopes of duplicating their profits, you're going to see a lot of Rubies of Eventide grade B games coming out.
As the market will begin to see more and more junk releases, the second factor will come into play...advertising. Advertising costs quite a bit of money also, especially if you want a first rate push for the game. Most of the developers creating mmogs right now won't be able to afford the launch of their games, nevermind advertising.
The third and final factor I'll state in this already lengthy post is the hype factor, which doesn't need to be generated through an advertising campaign. Generally, when it comes to mmogs, adertising draws interest in the games while hype is created by the actual fanbase. The fanbase uses whatever the developer throws them and turns around and starts declaring how great the game is/will be.
Hype can take a game concept and turn it into the hottest idea in the mmog genre (Shadowbane three years ago, Dark Age of Camalot two years ago, Star Wars Galaxies last year), and yet the two at the head of the list will never be even close to the games that the designs and hype said they could be, and SWG will likely disappoint many fans.
In conclusion, I remember going through the Rubies of Eventide site and thinking they had a decent half original design, but a terrible graphics engine. I have seen the new site and feel this game just may have some staying power as a second rate mmog, but they will really have to find a better way to push and hype the game.
As far as money is concerned, Rubies is a no name and until I see a developer quote saying they had 5+ million to throw away on the development, this area is a foregone conclusion that the game will be branded grade B forever. If you don't have the money to compete with even Dark Age of Camelot, then I don't believe you can put together and run anything even close to as good as Everquest, even with the worlds best developers trying to help out.
Advertising wise, Rubies hasn't done very much of anything, and if they have been they've been using the wrong outlets. If you can't afford to push your game with advertising, the money bug shows up again and is likely an indictator of what you'll get inside the game.
The RoE hype factor is presently rating a big 1/10 on the Mmog Hype Splash-o-Meter, since I've seen very little in the way of aggressive support for this game. The post from the Former EQ Addict above is about the best push I've heard from a fan outside the RoE forum areas.
In the end, Rubies of Eventide will never be in the same league as Everquest. It doesn't have the development budget, it has inferior graphics for this age of mmogs, there hasn't been any decent advertising push yet and this while they're going into an <open> beta phase, and there just isn't any hype surrounding this game.
Rubies of Eventide is a grade B class game. While it may be better than Everquest for whatever reasons to players looking for another (albeit inferior) game world to play in, the game as a whole will never even come close to contending with Evrequest as a mmog.
Comparing Rubies of Eventide to Everquest is like comparing that Victoria's Secret model you've become so personal with to that toothless lady wearing the rags who asks you for a nickle every time you pass her bench. They're just not in the same league.
KAS |
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Tue Mar 11, 2003 2:13 am |
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Guest
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I just have to say, I appreciate your comments KAS. You have some very valid points.
Former EQ Addict |
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Fri Mar 21, 2003 7:04 am |
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