I'd like to point out a couple of the key-elements of this mmP to help those who stumbled here clueless of what this game is all about.
Tr should nullify any reason to farm and grind, zero attention regarding wealth and gear"überness". This was utterly given since Lord British Garriott constantly hammered against the concurrent mmp's system defined by himself time-sink levelling threadmill still much appreciated by those players who have no high-scope of being engaged in a too much brains type of game, and hanging out with their parthE rotfling the day away talking about how to be more überPWNtzerFTW is all They may ever wish for.
Anyhoo the element of strength in the gameplay seems to be the sense of involvement deriving from the realism of the dynamic battlefields, more or less vast areas with real-time progression, loaded with micro events scattered in the map, á la Call of Duty/Deus Ex, to give well-known pointers.

Now that the main concept is somewhat more clear I'd like to bring upon attention and discuss a peculiar element emerging from an interview to one of the makers, and here's the excerpt :

Tabula rasa refers to the thought that "human beings are born with no innate or built-in mental content, in a word, "blank", and that their entire resource of knowledge is built up gradually from their experiences and sensory perceptions of the outside world." How does the meaning of tabula rasa apply to the game?

In the game players actually have a Tabula Rasa, a "blank slate" that they use to record found logos knowledge. This allows them to create powerful logos abilities based on this found knowledge.

The idea is further explored in the game via ethical parables and choices players make that determine who the players turn out to be since every player begins basically the same. Other games have you make choices about skills or races before you know anything about how those choices will affect your game. Tabula Rasa gives you a chance to make informed choices about your character.


I think it's a brilliant idea, extremely fit for Mmorpgs and especially a true Columbus' egg the past productions kept ignoring just to follow old clichés of D&D char creation, not giving any importance to true roleplaying, basically the very reason why some actions are taken.

But in-game character development isn't nearly enuff or We would have to say Oblivion is a great game, which is blasphemy to good sense.. No, the genius lies in the fact that it's the very situations you face that shape, thru your choices, the personality of your character, thus skills and class.

This I believe is the difference between pure strategical choices and moral participation of one's own character, what ultimately decreedes the difference between wargame and rpg and should once and for all expurge that label (rpg) off games that actually aren't.
What do You guys think?

This message was edited by phinnryz on Feb 06 2007.