Today, we’re going to devote the full column to some of these impressions, starting with Ayren Sojourner, who identifies several problems with the launch of the game as a returning fan.
“I get that they want to walk new players through all the possible side-quest types. But man… I get thrown into a cutscene, then into a graveyard, then into some fragmented raid-something-something that I was familiar with, but would have been extremely confused by if I were a totally new player. Then more cutscenes. Then London. And now that Tokyo scenario that TSW used to start with. I’m still not out of cutscenes,” she wrote.
“I am cautiously optimistic for the game and I really hope that they’re going to do well,” Nerdy Bookahs wrote, “because what I have seen so far is really awesome and I really really hope that I can get into the game properly now. It’s such a fantastic setting and as I already said the atmosphere is amazing and I really want to explore that world!”
Mel Brankin appreciated some of the changes: “I did notice a lot of the quests were improved, a few steps removed or some of the challenge dropped down a notch, which for me was welcome. A bit of the zombie trash in the first zone seemed to removed which again made fora  better flow and the mobs themselves had their damage reduced somewhat from what I could tell (or players buffed a lot, I’m not sure which).”
“Not much has changed in the revamp,” Stargrace notes. “Weapons and combat work differently. Classes do basically the same thing. Things don’t hit as hard. There are people everywhere.”
Gryph is over the moon: “When you’ve been playing TSW for years it can be easy to forget how absolutely gorgeous it is. How *every damn character* with extra dialogue options is worth listening to. How the writing is both supremely clever, and succeeds in pulling you ever deeper into the story, into the world.”
Many bloggers agreed that the revamped game is more newbie friendly. “I think this’ll be a good step in helping new players become comfortable with the game. Old timers might think this is holding someone’s hand, but in a game that can be complex and intricate like SWL/TSW, a little help up at the start of your character can help retain more players,” Rambling Redshirt said.
“Fun was a long time coming. The new interface is both ugly and unintuitive. I spent longer than I would have liked just clicking on stuff to see how it worked and when I had that sorted I was underwhelmed with the options on hand,” Bhagpuss said. “I found the ‘action’ UI to be irritating. Really quite irritating. I don’t like ARPG controls but I’m very familiar with them and I can tell good from bad. These are bad.”
“It’s a great game, with a variety of quest types and combat options,” Atheren blogged. “It couldn’t have a more distinctive atmosphere. For people like myself who have been reading horror tales and ghost stories for ages, it doesn’t get much better than this.”
Every day there are tons of terrific, insightful, and unusual articles posted across the MMO gaming blogosphere — and every day, Justin reads as many as he can. Global Chat is a sampling of noteworthy essays, rants, and guides from the past few weeks of MMO discourse.
