Today I did something that a lot of my
friends have spent long hours advising me against – likely because
they were hoping at some point in the future to see me again – I
signed up for a twenty-one day trial of EVE Online. (The usual is
fourteen, but if someone refers you, you receive an additional seven
days.) I'm going on holiday in a couple of weeks, so my plan is
essentially to play for the days until I go away, then see how much
I'm enjoying it – and if I am, then I'll subscribe when I return.
I'll reassure everyone now that this isn't going to affect my
writing...
Anyway, given all that, and given my
totally woeful record with this blog, I figured that I might
chronicle these ten days of the trial, and discuss my impressions.
What attracted me to this game was quite simple – from everything
I've heard, it sounds like an MMO version of Elite...and I played
that game to death when it
came out. Well, technically I played Frontier: Elite II to death, but
I loved that game, and I still occasionally get lost in it even
today. The 'real stars close to Earth' of that game was a definite
inspiration for the Triplanetary setting.
About
the only thing that was missing was, of course, other players! The
idea that you might play a game such as that against other people was
totally alien in those days – the internet was still so new, so
undeveloped, that the capability didn't really exist. Yes, there were
MUDs, but graphical on-line multiplay was still nascent at best.
This...EVE looks to solve, and I'm eager to see if it is going to
live up to that promise.
Obviously,
I'm going to do this one my the book. The plan is to complete all the
tutorial mission chains first, learn the ropes, and see what appeals
to me in a longer-term context, though I admit that the idea of
exploration has a certain appeal. I managed to stumble through the
'here are the controls' missions, and primarily I sat back and
admired the view – and it was beautiful.
That's one of the reasons exploration sounds promising – there
looks to be an awful lot to see.
I
knew, however, from my reading of blogs associated with the game,
that whatever path I ended up choosing, combat was going to be
something I needed to learn, so I opted to start with the military
missions first, and over the course of about three hours, I completed
the first ten missions in the event chain. If I was to make a
criticism, it would be that they had a real feel of 'tutorial' about
them, and didn't really draw me into the setting and the world at
all. It was very much 'this tells you how the guns work', and I think
they could do better. At one point, it looked as if I was going to be
offered a choice to join a pirate faction, and I thought that might
be interesting...but at no point was I permitted to deviate. If I was
to make a suggestion...you belong to an NPC Corporation at the start
of the game anyway. Don't start as a government agent, start working
for a smaller corporation, fighting against another...and yes, give
the chance to betray.
I'm
going to try the mining missions next, hopefully earn a little more
money, then the exploration ones – I've queued some of those skills
for tomorrow. That's another thing, actually...a lot of the equipment
I was given as 'rewards' in the combat missions – and on one
occasion, something I supposedly had to use in a mission – my
character didn't know how to use. I had to buy the relevant skills.
My view would be that giving skills instead of equipment – skill
books, anyway – would seem more logical storywise.
Let me
not say that I didn't have fun, though, I did. Though I begin to see
some hints of where the sharp learning curve is going to come in.
Hopefully the other tutorial runs will give me a stronger idea of
where I want to go with my 'character'. And no, I'm not going to tell
you who it is, though if the 'Triplanetary Fleet' turns up as a
Corporation....
