Been playing it on and off since it came out... and I really can't tell if I love it or hate it?
I actually like how blatantly the world is tiled out, and the way the world is composing of small separate rooms is interesting, but only from a design perspective. As it's implemented now, the world feels very small. It's nice that the content is densely packed and I'm not spending a ton of time running between areas, but it's one of many things that makes the progression feel unmeaningful.
Again, the world. It's very small, but very dense. Functionally, this is useful, but there's nothing meaningful about your journey. You spend 20 minutes beating homeless people to death in an alley, level up, go one street down and start clubbing birds instead. Rinse and repeat. There's no journey
As you level up, resource nodes and enemies level up alongside you. Interesting design choice... prevents early areas from becoming meaningless, but again, it hurts the feeling of progression. There is no journey You get the green flounders, you get the grey eels, you get the silly pufferfish > You get the blue flounders, you get the rocky eels, you get the goofy pufferfish. Crafting recipes are the same thing, as you progress you'll get different recipes for every different tier of the same fish or potato, but there's no meaning beyond the numbers. This is only a problem because of the decision they made that, every 2 levels, you get access to a new resource. By the time you hit level 14 fishing, you can gather 7 different kinds of fish. I preferred Runescape's approach of longer, more meaningful gaps between new resources and venues. Keep in mind, as well, skills in BS go up to *500*. Imagine if you were making Rune Armor by level 14 Smithing, just to go on to Bronze+ at 16, then Iron+ at 18, and so on. Doesn't feel good long term, doesn't even feel good short term.
Other than that... the crafting skills so far don't really feel like *anything*? The only thing food is used for is to sell for money, and fishing has no purpose beyond gathering cooking ingredients, so that's two whole skills that don't add anything meaningful to your character.
Alchemy is fine, I guess? None of the potions are very interesting. Health potions take so long to drink, you'll often get hit for more damage than they heal before you finish chugging. There are experience boost potions, but they only last a couple minutes, and the grinds are so tedious, I personally can't be bothering to keep my brain switched on enough to remember they exist. There are potions that boost elemental damage types, but whether you even do an element or not is hard-locked behind *strictly* RNG loot drops. You can't just buy a fire sword when you need one... if you haven't had one drop, you are *screwed* (But not really, because elemental weaknesses barely seem to matter, as long as your enemy isn't immune to what you're doing.)
If you're not subbed, then woodcutting and carpentry serve literally no purpose, beyond what you need for quests, because weapon crafting isn't a thing until the third area, which is locked behind the sub.
TL;DR, world is small, progression doesn't feel like anything. Could have just been an idle game TBH. Good bones though, I'm very interested in what it becomes if they keep working on it. It desperately needs more content that can be actively played.
EDIT: Small addendum because I forgot something important. There's nothing multiplayer about this game at all. Each room basically functions as a chat room where you go about your business by yourself. No parties, you can't help or be helped with fights. There is no trading yet either, to my knowledge. This is stuff they have planned, allegedly... But we'll just have to wait and see.
Author
Topic: Brighter Shores (new MMO by Andrew Gower, Runescape creator) (Read 548 times)