Something special
It all began with Mercenaries of Astonia by a German Computer Science student, Daniel Brockhaus. This fantasy-set forerunner first saw visitors during early development in 1998. Online gaming was still gathering its initial momentum, slowly pushing through the depreciating dial-up barrier and gaming's undesirable image. Within the previous year surfaced the soon infamous EverQuest along with Ultima Online. MoA, Merc, or V2 (to be explained momentarily) as it became known, could be speculated to have taken influence from the latter classic. Work on the game rolled into 2000 and Brockhaus deemed it having reached a milestone in maturity, consequently welcoming a public audience to play. Later, this release being dubbed the ultimately synonymous alias, "V2", by its community.
Mercenaries of Astonia accumulated a small but significant, diverse, loyal, and friendly playerbase. It was a very social, pocket game society. Players were generally young adults but a sizable share of the group occupied the remaining age ranges and enjoyed the game just as much. These people came from all over the world which in turn made for an engaging, interesting community to play alongside and get to know. The appeal of the game was a combination of its excellent design and its close-knit community. The world of Astonia thrived up until 2003 in large part because of the people who played it. In the following years, it gave rise to a number of successful, progressively unique, former-player-run servers because of these people and their fondness for the game. Now fifteen years after the original closed its doors, one of these servers, Aranock Online, continues to host an expanded game for a smaller but lively community composed of players from all eras of the undying classic, Mercenaries of Astonia.
At its peak, the original game supported a server-limited player cap of 70. This was a bustling figure. Central areas of the social hub of the game, the town of Aston, saw players of all ranks, abilities, and classes passing back and forth with scattered groups talking the day away. The game's point of entry gathered the largest crowd and casual conversation was only put on hold to provide a welcoming atmosphere for new arrivals spawning before them. New players were adopted promptly by staff and others alike. Team work was often essential to progress but also readily sought for the fun experience it brought, regardless. While a number of areas, activities, and early quests were scripted in nature, most encounters played out with highly replayable, less predictable presentation. The consistently multiplayer element allowing for most of this effect. At the heart of the game and proportionally reliant on mass player cooperation lay the unique "Pentagram Quest". In between the variety of other means by which players sought loot, advancement, and adventure, the ever-coveted experience points were largely found within this mechanic. It wasn't so much a 'quest' but rather an ever-changing routine of sorts across a series of rank-scaled areas in which players fought enemies in order to reach and activate scenery-engraved pentagram symbols. The activity was defined by one's desire to gamble with risk for reward, patience and persistence, use of simple but consuming strategy, alertness, and ability to make friends literally on the run if their 'penting' buddy didn't happen to be online. It was a clever mechanic, and kept players striving for more. It also furthered socialising among strangers, for better or worse!
Opt-in player versus player gave those who dared the opportunity to mame others with real consequence. Victims losing a relatively small, but soon missed, portion of experience and their inventory to their assassin(s), should they not be successful in recovering it. For those less drawn to this game changing, thrill-seeking lifestyle, there was the means to take on anyone and everyone in an arena. The economy featured prominently, too, some aspects of the game world were greatly influenced by it which was fueled by notably owner-transient rare or hard-to-come-by equipment and items. Particular items changing hands so infrequently and for such extreme sums that they became things of myth and legend. As became of many people, their stories, and mechanics since retired. It had a rich history propagated and entertained by an enthusiastic community.
Personally, I really enjoyed Mercenaries of Astonia and later Aranock, as it's informally referred to, for many, many years. I made many great friends and lured a couple of strays from reality away from Counterstrike and their Magic cards. I learned a lot from the diverse bunch of people I played alongside and had a lot of fun. In a time before it became recognised, I revelled in a kind of MMO addiction and have come to cherish the years I spent playing this game in its iterating incarnations. It all but consumed my gaming as its contemporaries struggled to steal my attention and it defined an era in my gaming life. Possibly more.. but I digress! At its core, Aranock Online is the same special experience that was Mercenaries of Astonia. It's extended the world and game mechanics to the delight of its patrons but in the same spirit and style as its predecessor. This game comes highly recommended! And, I don't say that lightly as frustrated friends of mine can attest.
Links
- Daniel Brockhaus currently hosts the original game's source for both client and server.
- Mercenaries of Astonia closed its (free) doors when Brockhaus moved on to his new project in the series called Astonia, dubbed "V3". He cited the on-going burden of hosting the game out of his own wallet and his desire to encourage the "V2" community to try Astonia. This new project had significant differences and was pay to play. The community was divided in its opinion of the new game. More about Astonia and what has come of it since can be found here.
- I host an admittedly neglected website which has been intended to serve as a source of relevant resources and bridge between now scattered community members.
(this was taken from my relevant write-up at https://www.reddit.com/r/SmallAwesomeGames/comments/1lldvv/a_remnant_of_the_premmo_era_is_survived_by/cc0gvgx/)