I've been following this game for a few years now, and I really like its potential.
Why you should care if you're indifferent to anthropomorphic animals and/or MMORPGs: Antilia aims to be innovative, and I think the lead dev a good chance of pulling it off. Crafting swords currently involves moving sliders to change the blade's shape (and stats), then attaching the blade to a hilt or pole, also customized. You can make a golden scimitar or steel gladius with the same recipe. The game is not focused on combat and being the best warrior with the best gear, and has different character advancement paths. The dev team is dedicated to keeping the atmosphere family friendly.
WebsiteThe Taipii race consists of five bloodlines: The fox-like vulan, the wolf-like lupan, the cat-like felo, the kangaroo-like kisan, and the deer-like koro.
Lore-wise, they are the most artistic race. They seem like the 'generalist' race, with both magic and fairly standard fantasy-medieval technology.
Taipii character creation allows mixing two bloodlines, say, making a cat with hooves, antlers, and a deer fur pattern.
The Reisuii are the steampunk technophile race, and consist of smaller herbivore creatures. They're about half the height of a Taipii. Not much has been released about them. While a taipii smith may mix a blade and hilt to make a sword, a Reisuii might mix a dozen components to get an unstable gun, with a variety of modifiers.
The Sakii are dragons, roughly twice the size of a Taipii. They are the most in touch with magic, and can manipulate reality through dream. Lore-wise, they are in danger of going too far into the weaves of magic and going mad, before eventually fading from the physical world.
Anyone can learn any skill, and skills level through use. There hasn't been any recent discussions on whether anyone will be able to learn EVERY skill, or if there will be some skill point limit.
The planned costs are either $30 for 6 months, or $50 for 12 months. There are no plans for a cash shop or an extra first time fee beyond the regular payments. This is ~$4.17 or $5 per month.
There is a planned 'can I run this' demo, but no free trial.
If you buy it through the Kickstarter, bought time doesn't start decreasing until the betas are over.
At the end of Alpha 1, there was weapon-smithing and cooking. Cooking involved filling ingredients into certain 'slots' for the recipe, and, if the fish didn't quite match the flavor profile, trying to fix it with salt or spices.
The devs intend to re-work crafting so it's done in the main game, instead of a UI window. Among other things, this would allow players to work together in the same crafting station while someone else watches them hammering the blade.
They haven't released much information on armor-smithing, but they've said that they want to have armor be the same whether it's put on a male or a female.
They're tentatively looking into more 'creative' crafting options. 'Taipii Paint' has been mentioned, which would require moderators. Their custom game engine supposedly makes it easier for them to add such content.
The devs plan to try a system where the players can control their weapons with the mouse, and make macros for later use. Example: A cross-slash with two daggers, then roll to the side and start stabbing.
If it doesn't work, they'll try something else. The current system doesn't have targeting, instead hitting what is in front of the player.
Draw out what the magic will do. Control the path of your fireballs, make a wall of fire exactly where you want it, etc. If too many people abuse it to desecrate the area with inappropriate content, they'll do something else. This will also have macros.
They currently have this in, but it wasn't shown in the alpha.
Instead of writing hundreds of "Only YOU can save the citizen/village/town/city/world by killing 14 __" quests, the lead dev plans to write a Virtual Game Master system, which would dynamically generate the sort of tasks the player/group chooses to go on, and trying to keep them doing varied tasks in any given sitting.
Hopefully it will be better than Bethseda's Radiant AI, and it can't be much worse than everyone killing 14 blanks to save the everything. I'm interested in seeing where it goes, since the game isn't centered around combat, and it was implied that there would be quests for non-combat characters.
Different local economies will be semi-isolated. There is teleporting, but it will be limited if a player is carrying too much, requiring a ship or cart to transport large amounts of goods. Presumably different areas will have different raw materials.
Buy a plot or ship, then design and build your own house, inn, or store. Hire NPCs to farm or run the shop for you, and set their schedules. They'll get uppity if you try to make them work constantly without food.
Yes, there is a lot of "they plan to do __, DIFFERENTLY!" but the game is already playable, they have their engine, and they listen to their community. I think they have a good chance of succeeding at making a fun game. I'm pretty much burned out on MMOs, and rarely buy any game other than cheap Steam games, but I helped fund this.
Edit: The kickstarter wasn't funded. Development will continue, but the devs spend much of their time at paying jobs instead of working on this full time. Server uptime is limited to occasional tests and events, rather than being online 24/7.