I really recommend you watch the video first and then read my diatribe but whatever works for you!
RIFT! It’s a MMO so I must play it, those are the rules. I played a little bit of RIFT at PAX Prime 2010 and really didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t bad but it was like every MMO ever. More recently a couple of my MMO buddies started talking about RIFT and how excited they were for the launch and how much fun it’s going to be. With all this talk and my hunger for a new MMO I felt like I had to give it a shot.
It turns out that my original assumption of this game is like every MMO ever was spot on. To elaborate RIFT is totally solid, it doesn’t have any glaring issues and it plays fine. The problem is me. I’m absolutely done with this style of MMO. I simply can’t hack it anymore. RIFT does nothing to try and do something different. The genre has become so stagnated that any minor changes made to the formula are seen as huge changes by players that regularly play MMOs. Once you take a step back and look at the bigger picture you’re really just playing the same game as the one that came before but with different art style. To talk about RIFT specifically the quests are as standard as they come. Kill 6 of these dudes, pick up 3 of these, go over there and right click on something. Voice acting and cut scenes are standard in any other genre but MMOs are stuck in the past and refuse to give in. RIFT does have more cut scenes and voice acting than most MMOs and can help do break up the grind but it’s not nearly enough. With the quests being so generic and combat being so familiar I simply don’t want to play “that game” again.
Let’s cut straight to the point here. The problem is World of Warcraft or to be more specific it’s WoWs success. To say WoW dropped a bomb on the MMO genre would be an understatement. WoW dropped several fucking nukes and shit on everything else would be more accurate. WoW was released in 2004 and since then there has been very little change in the way MMOs are made. Those that dared to be different have failed. This is depressing for me as someone who absolutely loves MMOs. When they are done right, they have the most potential of any game genre and in my opinion offer the greatest satisfaction. To be fair to RIFT this is a bigger problem that faces every MMO but since Trion seems happy to make another WoW they are part of the problem.
I can feel myself starting to rant so I’ll stop myself for now and maybe continue this subject in another post. This year is looking better for fans of MMOs. Star Wars: The Old Republic is doing something that no MMO has even attempted before and hearing the guys at Areananet talking about Guild Wars 2 is inspiring stuff (Yes I’m aware Guild Wars 2 is not a “real” MMO). I just hope people are willing to give them a shot.... Oh and RIFT is like WoW. If you like WoW and want something slightly different you will love it.
... fuck all this I’m gonna play pokemon!
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