An MMO with more than just ‘wow’ factor...
It’s almost impossible to talk about the MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role
Playing Games) without mentioning World of Warcraft. Indeed, if you google Tabula Rasa,
you’ll find hordes of interviews with its creator, Richard Garriot, talking about WoW and
its ilk. Having created the granddaddy of online RPG’s, Ultima Online, Garriot is
understandably a big fan of such games; yet he can’t help feel they haven’t evolved as
he’d hoped.
Tabula Rasa is promising evolution. In Latin, Tabula Rasa means ‘clean slate’, and
that’s what Garriot is hoping to achieve, with ambitions nothing short of rewriting the
genre.
In the same way today’s MMOs borrowed from Ultima and Everquest, Tabula Rasa takes
modern MMO conventions and twins them with action game principles, making Garriot’s game a
highly original MMO hybrid. With this, Tabula Rasa hopes to achieve a rarity in MMO’s;
approachability.
Balancing genres
WoW and co. may be addictive and absorbing, but it’s full of number-crunching
repetition, shrouded by a sense of genuine community. Though not without depth, success in
modern MMO combat is largely dictated by the player’s level and items; themselves products
of time invested. To Garriot, this makes most MMO’s more about the gameworld and the grind
than the gameplay.
Tabula Rasa’s third-person shooting adds real-time, reaction-based twitch skill to
typically menu-driven, attack-stacking MMO combat, helping players of different levels
adventure together. There’s a cover system, adaptable spell-casting called abilities, and
easy-to use controls with WSAD key movement, mouse aiming, and two-buttons for weapon and
special attacks. That said, hit success is determined by stats, so Tabula Rasa really
offers a fine balance between RPG and action combat.
Tabula Rasa’s setting is also about as far from WoW’s Azeroth as it gets. Tabula Rasa
is pure sci-fi; Earth has been overrun by aliens called the Bane, and together with the
technologically advanced Eloh, humanity’s few survivors form a resistance to battle the
Bane across Tabula Rasa’s galaxy, encompassing several different planets.
Tabula Rasa’s third-person shooting adds real-time,
reaction-based twitch skill to typically menu-driven, attack-stacking MMO
combat.
That means pretty dramatic changes to usual MMO gameplay. For starters, every player
character, at least initially, in Tabula Rasa, will be human; that’s essential for feeling
like a hero. Next, Tabula Rasa reinvigorates MMO instances. Where WoW creates a dungeon or
quest for your party with an end boss or big item reward, Tabula Rasa will present full-on
narrative-driven ministories, such as an early mission to blow up an enemy fusion plant,
which have an impact on Tabula Rasa’s overall intergalactic war.
This promises to offer far more story depth and compelling moral ambiguity than past
MMOs. Each instance in Tabula Rasa will feel like a fully-fledged action-adventure, full
of immersive real-time combat, detailed puzzles and team interaction, while your decisions
will affect your standing with non-player characters later in the game.
Save some prisoners, for instance, and they may return to help you later in the
mission; don’t, and you may be pretty unpopular with NPC’s when you get back into the
gameworld at large. Likewise, some quests will altogether conflict with others; meaning that whichever you choose to pursue, you'll fail its polar opposite quest, affecting NPC's positively and damaging others. Tabula Rasa’s choices are always emotive, but never
obvious; giving it a narrative power uncommon in the genre.
Clone alone
Real-time combat, innovative instances and interactive storytelling aside, Tabula
Rasa’s other big innovation is its cloning system. Garriot is often frustrated by
exploring only a fraction of what an MMO offers by being slung down one type of character
class. Thus, Tabula Rasa lets players clone their character at any time and go back to an
earlier revision, playing in a different way whilst not having to start from scratch.
That’s ironic because, quite clearly, Tabula Rasa is all about starting from scratch.
Garriot’s push for change has resulted in one of the most enticing MMO prospects since
Phantasy Star Online first melded sci-fi setting, real-time combat and basic instanced
narrative back in 2001, and promises a new approach the genre has needed for some time.
The message, then, is clear; WoW beware: Tabula Rasa is gunning for glory.
Preview by: Mark Scott
Preview Published: 18.10.07