10-23-2007, 01:16 AM
Horizons : Empire of Istaria
JOHN KEELER played the beta-test of this new online game ...
THIS NEW MMORPG, Horizons, takes place in a vast realm based in the traditions of high fantasy. As envisioned by the team at Arizona-based developer Artifact Entertainment, it stretches out to encompass assorted types of terrain that range from dense jungle to frozen tundra, grassy plains, towering mountains and more. Many of the individual locations within these environments are uncharted and untamed, which means they hold forth plenty of prospects for those brave and curious souls who seek the kinds of danger, thrills and rewards associated with exploration and adventure. As well, cities, towns, villages, castles et al lie scattered about, providing suitable venues to practice more urbane pursuits such as crafting and trade. Those who wish to help bridge this divide by bringing civilization to the wilderness can build their own settlements and perhaps even their own empires.
Populating the land are familiar fantasy archetypes such as Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Fiends and Dragons along with the reptilian Sslik, the feline Saris and more - nine playable options at launch plus Subjugated Races that will be freed as the game unfolds. What we have seen and learned over the past months has certainly been impressive. In addition to the elements already noted, some of the project's other notable features are a character customization system with innumerable options, a school-based skill system that allows switching focus at any time, a dynamic world that will change as significant events take place, and next-generation graphics including some truly attention-grabbing spell effects. While Horizons reached the point of being launched in Europe and in North America, we've been exploring and adventuring extensively to provide as accurate a picture as possible of what to expect.
The history
A decade has passed since the momentous battle in which the nine Living Races of Istaria successfully defended the great city of Tazoon against a massive attack from the undead armies of the Withered Aegis, a powerful sect of necromancer liches. Its leader, a mighty sorcerer named Torrin Macalir, was destroyed, but that did not stop the nefarious cabal from continuing its efforts to conquer the world and enslave all its other inhabitants. Indeed, after over-running the principal Elven city of Feladan and its Gnomish counterpart, Rachival, the dark faction holds much of the frontier of Aradoth.
Within this setting, players will join the struggle to fend off and ultimately defeat the forces of corruption while enjoying features such as seamless travel, an open-ended character advancement system and a deep crafting system that even allows for the construction of player cities.
What's to be seen
During the just-concluded beta, Artifact's proprietary Evolution Engine had amply demonstrated its ability to generate a dynamic world and outstanding visuals. Diverse city architecture, landscapes and fauna are complemented by an impressive sky with a brilliant day and night cycle. Among the most remarkable locations are the Blight areas controlled by Undead. As a player enters any of them, the sky slowly changes into a dark, twisting maelstrom enhanced with highly realistic lightning. The spell visuals are also very striking, particularly some high-level ones that incorporate truly dazzling effects.
The video settings in Horizons offer a multitude of options that can be scaled individually to suit your system specs, so immense draw distances and highly detailed textures are possible if your computer is up to the task. You can traverse the entire world seamlessly without interruption; the only instances of loading times occur if you choose to teleport across the world. Interestingly, no dungeon areas are available as of yet. One possible reason for this may be collision detection. Creatures have sometimes been seen walking through objects like walls and trees, something that might be more prominent in enclosed locales.
Nonetheless, the graphics are excellent overall, and are supported by a highly intuitive interface that can be customized in almost every aspect.
What's to be done
Horizons currently has nine playable races. The more familiar selections consist of Humans, Half-Giants, Gnomes, Elves and Dwarves, while the more unusual offerings include the cat-like Saris, the reptilian Sslik and the demonic Fiends, who resemble blue-skinned humanoids with horns and a tail. These eight are not restricted from joining any of the available professions, but since they differ in their physical statistics, some will perform certain skills more efficiently than others.
Basic combat in Horizons is relatively straightforward. Once a target is chosen and battle initiated, your character automatically continues attacking unless you stop. However, after you unlock specialized melee skills or spells, combat becomes more interactive. These can be fired off at any time during a fight, although many are timed so they cannot be used in quick repetition. There is no player versus player. However, Artifact has said it intends to release a separate game based on the Horizons universe and dedicated to inter-player competition.
When it comes to characters dying, the game seems quite forgiving. Players do not lose any experience or items. Instead, they are dealt temporary death points that negatively affect a percentage of all their abilities. One such point lasts for up to four hours and if your character repeatedly dies, they can accumulate, with even more severe effects. Thankfully, you can lessen the duration of the penalties by eating various foods that can be created by certain other characters.
Horizons boasts an extremely deep trade-skill system that allows crafters to gather and refine their own resources to create an almost extraordinary assortment of items. Almost any article in the game can be crafted, everything from a simple mining pickaxe to a huge player-owned castle. Trade skills are known as Trade Schools, and the available profession choices include Carpentry, Masonry, Alchemy, Spellcrafting and Blacksmithing just to name a few. In order to facilitate a greater degree of co-dependency between warriors and tradespeople, most if not all of the loot acquired from monsters comes in the form of raw materials, item recipes and broken armor and weapons in need of repair. Dedicated crafters will rely heavily on adventurers to obtain more advanced crafting recipes, just as adventurers will rely on crafters for items such as their armors, weapons and spells. Similar to Adventure Schools, characters may switch Trade Schools as they see fit, and again you can belong to only one at a time. Taking up a craft won't negate your combat abilities either, since your character can belong to one Trade and one Adventure School simultaneously.
The housing system in Horizons is another facet that seems exceptionally robust. Players can obtain various sized portions of land, and may erect one or multiple buildings on these plots, provided they properly fit and adhere to local zoning laws. Structures range in size from small, personal dwellings to extremely large castles. It will also be possible for groups of players to construct their own cities by purchasing multiple plots in close proximity to one another. Since most construction requires an extensive amount of raw materials as well as the knowledge of multiple trade schools, the housing system incorporates a feature allowing landowners to reward other players for their help. Homeowners can leave money at their building sites and automatically compensate any player who contributes! This makes it possible for players to adventure or even be offline while their homes are under construction.
What's needed?
The minimum system requirement to run Horizons is fairly reasonable: an 850 MHz processor, GeForce 2-class video card or better, and 256MB of RAM. Playing on a 56k dial-up connection with a 2.4 GHz CPU, a gig of memory and a Radeon 9700 128MB graphics card produced good overall results even with all of the video options set to their maximums. Frame rates do tend to slow down in larger cities and when many characters are in your immediate vicinity, which is not a surprise for any experienced online world gamer. Perhaps the most significant glitch afflicting the current beta build has to do with player character and NPC load times, since there is often a delay for models to appear when you enter a new area. In the final weeks of beta however, substantial improvements in frame rate and texture load times have been experienced.
Going retail
It will be interesting to see just how much new content surfaces in the retail version of Horizons, as the developers have repeatedly stated they would like to keep some material under wraps during the beta test.
One of its potentially most innovative aspects resides in the ability for the development staff to add or subtract content on the fly world. For example, this technology could allow Artifact to change the geography of the world without having to release a new patch or bring down the server for an update. These changes can take place even while thousands of players are logged on. The possibilities for events and quest scenarios utilizing this feature seem quite exciting and it will be of interest to see how frequently this capability is employed.
With the improvements in overall stability which led up to its North American release date of December 9th, Horizons seems well on track to offering players a graphically impressive online fantasy experience that includes an interesting variety of player races, highly customizable character professions and a crafting system with remarkable depth.
JOHN KEELER played the beta-test of this new online game ...
THIS NEW MMORPG, Horizons, takes place in a vast realm based in the traditions of high fantasy. As envisioned by the team at Arizona-based developer Artifact Entertainment, it stretches out to encompass assorted types of terrain that range from dense jungle to frozen tundra, grassy plains, towering mountains and more. Many of the individual locations within these environments are uncharted and untamed, which means they hold forth plenty of prospects for those brave and curious souls who seek the kinds of danger, thrills and rewards associated with exploration and adventure. As well, cities, towns, villages, castles et al lie scattered about, providing suitable venues to practice more urbane pursuits such as crafting and trade. Those who wish to help bridge this divide by bringing civilization to the wilderness can build their own settlements and perhaps even their own empires.
Populating the land are familiar fantasy archetypes such as Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Fiends and Dragons along with the reptilian Sslik, the feline Saris and more - nine playable options at launch plus Subjugated Races that will be freed as the game unfolds. What we have seen and learned over the past months has certainly been impressive. In addition to the elements already noted, some of the project's other notable features are a character customization system with innumerable options, a school-based skill system that allows switching focus at any time, a dynamic world that will change as significant events take place, and next-generation graphics including some truly attention-grabbing spell effects. While Horizons reached the point of being launched in Europe and in North America, we've been exploring and adventuring extensively to provide as accurate a picture as possible of what to expect.
The history
A decade has passed since the momentous battle in which the nine Living Races of Istaria successfully defended the great city of Tazoon against a massive attack from the undead armies of the Withered Aegis, a powerful sect of necromancer liches. Its leader, a mighty sorcerer named Torrin Macalir, was destroyed, but that did not stop the nefarious cabal from continuing its efforts to conquer the world and enslave all its other inhabitants. Indeed, after over-running the principal Elven city of Feladan and its Gnomish counterpart, Rachival, the dark faction holds much of the frontier of Aradoth.
Within this setting, players will join the struggle to fend off and ultimately defeat the forces of corruption while enjoying features such as seamless travel, an open-ended character advancement system and a deep crafting system that even allows for the construction of player cities.
What's to be seen
During the just-concluded beta, Artifact's proprietary Evolution Engine had amply demonstrated its ability to generate a dynamic world and outstanding visuals. Diverse city architecture, landscapes and fauna are complemented by an impressive sky with a brilliant day and night cycle. Among the most remarkable locations are the Blight areas controlled by Undead. As a player enters any of them, the sky slowly changes into a dark, twisting maelstrom enhanced with highly realistic lightning. The spell visuals are also very striking, particularly some high-level ones that incorporate truly dazzling effects.
The video settings in Horizons offer a multitude of options that can be scaled individually to suit your system specs, so immense draw distances and highly detailed textures are possible if your computer is up to the task. You can traverse the entire world seamlessly without interruption; the only instances of loading times occur if you choose to teleport across the world. Interestingly, no dungeon areas are available as of yet. One possible reason for this may be collision detection. Creatures have sometimes been seen walking through objects like walls and trees, something that might be more prominent in enclosed locales.
Nonetheless, the graphics are excellent overall, and are supported by a highly intuitive interface that can be customized in almost every aspect.
What's to be done
Horizons currently has nine playable races. The more familiar selections consist of Humans, Half-Giants, Gnomes, Elves and Dwarves, while the more unusual offerings include the cat-like Saris, the reptilian Sslik and the demonic Fiends, who resemble blue-skinned humanoids with horns and a tail. These eight are not restricted from joining any of the available professions, but since they differ in their physical statistics, some will perform certain skills more efficiently than others.
Basic combat in Horizons is relatively straightforward. Once a target is chosen and battle initiated, your character automatically continues attacking unless you stop. However, after you unlock specialized melee skills or spells, combat becomes more interactive. These can be fired off at any time during a fight, although many are timed so they cannot be used in quick repetition. There is no player versus player. However, Artifact has said it intends to release a separate game based on the Horizons universe and dedicated to inter-player competition.
When it comes to characters dying, the game seems quite forgiving. Players do not lose any experience or items. Instead, they are dealt temporary death points that negatively affect a percentage of all their abilities. One such point lasts for up to four hours and if your character repeatedly dies, they can accumulate, with even more severe effects. Thankfully, you can lessen the duration of the penalties by eating various foods that can be created by certain other characters.
Horizons boasts an extremely deep trade-skill system that allows crafters to gather and refine their own resources to create an almost extraordinary assortment of items. Almost any article in the game can be crafted, everything from a simple mining pickaxe to a huge player-owned castle. Trade skills are known as Trade Schools, and the available profession choices include Carpentry, Masonry, Alchemy, Spellcrafting and Blacksmithing just to name a few. In order to facilitate a greater degree of co-dependency between warriors and tradespeople, most if not all of the loot acquired from monsters comes in the form of raw materials, item recipes and broken armor and weapons in need of repair. Dedicated crafters will rely heavily on adventurers to obtain more advanced crafting recipes, just as adventurers will rely on crafters for items such as their armors, weapons and spells. Similar to Adventure Schools, characters may switch Trade Schools as they see fit, and again you can belong to only one at a time. Taking up a craft won't negate your combat abilities either, since your character can belong to one Trade and one Adventure School simultaneously.
The housing system in Horizons is another facet that seems exceptionally robust. Players can obtain various sized portions of land, and may erect one or multiple buildings on these plots, provided they properly fit and adhere to local zoning laws. Structures range in size from small, personal dwellings to extremely large castles. It will also be possible for groups of players to construct their own cities by purchasing multiple plots in close proximity to one another. Since most construction requires an extensive amount of raw materials as well as the knowledge of multiple trade schools, the housing system incorporates a feature allowing landowners to reward other players for their help. Homeowners can leave money at their building sites and automatically compensate any player who contributes! This makes it possible for players to adventure or even be offline while their homes are under construction.
What's needed?
The minimum system requirement to run Horizons is fairly reasonable: an 850 MHz processor, GeForce 2-class video card or better, and 256MB of RAM. Playing on a 56k dial-up connection with a 2.4 GHz CPU, a gig of memory and a Radeon 9700 128MB graphics card produced good overall results even with all of the video options set to their maximums. Frame rates do tend to slow down in larger cities and when many characters are in your immediate vicinity, which is not a surprise for any experienced online world gamer. Perhaps the most significant glitch afflicting the current beta build has to do with player character and NPC load times, since there is often a delay for models to appear when you enter a new area. In the final weeks of beta however, substantial improvements in frame rate and texture load times have been experienced.
Going retail
It will be interesting to see just how much new content surfaces in the retail version of Horizons, as the developers have repeatedly stated they would like to keep some material under wraps during the beta test.
One of its potentially most innovative aspects resides in the ability for the development staff to add or subtract content on the fly world. For example, this technology could allow Artifact to change the geography of the world without having to release a new patch or bring down the server for an update. These changes can take place even while thousands of players are logged on. The possibilities for events and quest scenarios utilizing this feature seem quite exciting and it will be of interest to see how frequently this capability is employed.
With the improvements in overall stability which led up to its North American release date of December 9th, Horizons seems well on track to offering players a graphically impressive online fantasy experience that includes an interesting variety of player races, highly customizable character professions and a crafting system with remarkable depth.