Cormanthor
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:21 pm
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all you amazingly creatively people in ALFA!
For those of you who don't remember me, I was trying to get Cormanthor built a couple years ago but was continually frustrated with the limits of the game so I let go of it all and discovered the beautiful world of Lord of the Rings Online.
Keryn wrote me an email asking permission to build Cormanthor and I thought it might be interesting to post my response to the community.
Hi Keryn,
Wow it is super nice of you to ask me to work on Cormanthor - especially since I haven't even played in years. Please feel free to take the reins of Cormanthor and run with it however you wish.
I can't tell you the number of times I have thought about coming back to play in ALFA over the last couple years. But I always stop myself when I remember how frustrated I was with the graphics, animations and game engine. There is this festering wound in me because the gamedesigners never bothered to develop or improve the game.
Has the ugly walking animation been improved? Do we have horses yet? Character customization..have they created half-decent faces yet - you know how ugly the majority of them are? Did they ever fix the problem where you could only put a few different trees or diff seeds of the same tree? Even worse is the fact that you can only walk on one plane - no walking across a bridge and then jumping in the river to swim under it. Swimming animation maybe? I feel that the original creators of the NWN2 game engine took no real love in what they did. ALL of these things I mention are just standard basics in the MMO world. The NWN community of course poured all their love into their varios projects but the ones who sell the game who are the ones we depend on for any real game improvements, did not.
I have been a dedicated player in Lord of the Rings Online over the last few years. The gaming world is so beautiful that it can actually leave you speechless. It has terrific weather effects, animations, horses, amazing outfits, and very importantly great character customization. Turn on the game and you are instantly immersed in the beauty of the environment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVJJK3KFico
Of course the reality is that there are hundreds of free to play MMOs that have all these things and more.
It's true though that none of these games gives you the DM/player experience that exists in ALFA. Can you imagine the beauty we could have created if we had an engine like Lord of the Rings Online but combined with the best D&D features of NWN2? Have you seen screenshots of Lothlorien in LOTROnline? Elven platforms up on huge Mallorn trees connected by delicate walkways , ladders and spiraling stairs around the trunks. A night there are strings of elven lights that come alive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmLKsd-Vfw8
When I adventured there ingame I kept thinking of Tangled Trees in Cormanthor and how I wish there was a way to bring that to life and for it to look amazing like Lothlorien in LOTRO.
I know in ALFA the imagination fills in the rest and that can really go a long way, but seeing someone ingame run past me and throw out an emote saying *gallops past on his white steed* just isn't gonna cut it for me especially when there are AMAZING skins and animations for mounts out there. Just look at this horse thread for Lord of the Rings...
http://www.lotrosteeds.com/
Anyway Keryn you have all my best wishes for bringing your concept of Cormanthor alive...(with or without ugly elf faces and invisible horses).
What I AM sure of is that the RP will always be more than specatacular, because no one out there does RP like ALFA!
Sincerely,
Aelred
I am always so proud that I formed a part of the ALFA community even for a short time. Keep up that great RP and best wishes to all of you in the new year!
For those of you who don't remember me, I was trying to get Cormanthor built a couple years ago but was continually frustrated with the limits of the game so I let go of it all and discovered the beautiful world of Lord of the Rings Online.
Keryn wrote me an email asking permission to build Cormanthor and I thought it might be interesting to post my response to the community.
Hi Keryn,
Wow it is super nice of you to ask me to work on Cormanthor - especially since I haven't even played in years. Please feel free to take the reins of Cormanthor and run with it however you wish.
I can't tell you the number of times I have thought about coming back to play in ALFA over the last couple years. But I always stop myself when I remember how frustrated I was with the graphics, animations and game engine. There is this festering wound in me because the gamedesigners never bothered to develop or improve the game.
Has the ugly walking animation been improved? Do we have horses yet? Character customization..have they created half-decent faces yet - you know how ugly the majority of them are? Did they ever fix the problem where you could only put a few different trees or diff seeds of the same tree? Even worse is the fact that you can only walk on one plane - no walking across a bridge and then jumping in the river to swim under it. Swimming animation maybe? I feel that the original creators of the NWN2 game engine took no real love in what they did. ALL of these things I mention are just standard basics in the MMO world. The NWN community of course poured all their love into their varios projects but the ones who sell the game who are the ones we depend on for any real game improvements, did not.
I have been a dedicated player in Lord of the Rings Online over the last few years. The gaming world is so beautiful that it can actually leave you speechless. It has terrific weather effects, animations, horses, amazing outfits, and very importantly great character customization. Turn on the game and you are instantly immersed in the beauty of the environment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVJJK3KFico
Of course the reality is that there are hundreds of free to play MMOs that have all these things and more.
It's true though that none of these games gives you the DM/player experience that exists in ALFA. Can you imagine the beauty we could have created if we had an engine like Lord of the Rings Online but combined with the best D&D features of NWN2? Have you seen screenshots of Lothlorien in LOTROnline? Elven platforms up on huge Mallorn trees connected by delicate walkways , ladders and spiraling stairs around the trunks. A night there are strings of elven lights that come alive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmLKsd-Vfw8
When I adventured there ingame I kept thinking of Tangled Trees in Cormanthor and how I wish there was a way to bring that to life and for it to look amazing like Lothlorien in LOTRO.
I know in ALFA the imagination fills in the rest and that can really go a long way, but seeing someone ingame run past me and throw out an emote saying *gallops past on his white steed* just isn't gonna cut it for me especially when there are AMAZING skins and animations for mounts out there. Just look at this horse thread for Lord of the Rings...
http://www.lotrosteeds.com/
Anyway Keryn you have all my best wishes for bringing your concept of Cormanthor alive...(with or without ugly elf faces and invisible horses).
What I AM sure of is that the RP will always be more than specatacular, because no one out there does RP like ALFA!
Sincerely,
Aelred
I am always so proud that I formed a part of the ALFA community even for a short time. Keep up that great RP and best wishes to all of you in the new year!
