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[Desiderya]

What DOES it want to do?

Classless and levelless system with immense freedom of progression in a modern day game setting in a world of magic, conspiracies, mysteries and dark horrors. Gameplay that focuses more on exploring than farming questhubs, more on finding and trying out new and fitting ( different encounters require/benefit from different skillsets ) ability combinations than simply 'gearing up'.

TSW Combat is fun for me, since it allows and requires a lot of movement. You need one or two hours into the game to get a set of abilities to really get going, but once that's achieved it goes only uphill. The game offers 525 abilities and you can train, combine and use all of them in your decks ( Selection of 7 active and 7 passive abilities ).

The main flair comes from the game world, which is well crafted, both from the looks (It's still no Crysis, mind you) and more importantly the feel. The lore is very well written, and can be 'obtained' piece by piece by playing the game. You'll find fragments of lore scattered over the game world.
And then there's the non-standard quest types. You get 'Sabotage' missions, which usually are centered around avoiding traps, patrols, disabling defensive mechanics and so, and 'Investigation' missions which require either spoilers or serious brain usage. They're optional, but if you like solving riddles, puzzles and use lateral thinking there's a lot of fun to be had.

What I also like is the 'One-Server' approach. They have different dimensions ( The mass PvP playfield can only played on your 'home dimension' ), but you can meet up with anyone on any dimension. By meeting up I don't mean 'Play an instance with someone from another dimension', but meet up right there, on the landscape. Since my old Anarchy Online group has settled on the only german dimension this allows me to play with them there, and on the RP dimension as my 'home'.

Re: Character generation: It is limited. While I consider it better than SW:TORs it's certainly not leading by a big amount. The main difference are the clothes, which are fun. Oh, clothes, did I say that your 'stat bearing armor' are mere invisible talismans? So you can run around in a sleek suit, bashing zombies with your fire-axe, no problem
Gladly the expansion of the CC seems to be the first thing that's on their list, including the ability to recustomize your character (for ingame-money).

[Lyn Farel]

I was a little afraid of the lore and the universe that sure seem to be a huge melting pot of everything they could find and then tried to mash in one clunky random piece of lore, especially since even if I see Lovecraft as a great piece of work, I am definitly not a fan of it. You can find lovecraftian horror influences, Deux Ex influences, zombie influences, satanic/antechrist influences, and a ton of completely different atmospheres. But I got told that actually it works and it is well done, with a very developped lore. Apparently, you find a lot of clues and pieces of lore here and there, for example on notepads (ala Deux Ex...), or just in quests. It slowly makes the puzzles clearer for the player as he continues playing.

I am glad however that they are really planning to rework on the CC because I, for one, do not even consider it better than SW:TOR, which is quite telling in itself. Basically, it is a character creator where you can not model the body or anything, but have to choose between different types of eyes, noses, faces, etc. You have a very large scale of what you can get in that kind of CCs, going from very limited options like here to a very wide panel of choices like in guild wars 2. Well here, you have at least twice or thrice less choices than in SW:TOR, and can not even change anything on the body (scale, constitution, size, etc), but just the head and the face. And even for the head, there are not many options. Where you maybe had 30 different hairstyles in SW:TOR, here you maybe have 10 ? No, it is indeed not much at all, but the thing that makes it look better than SW:TOR is that their anatomy comprehension is at least correct and the look of their characters is far, far better. Quality over quantity, even if the "quantity" side of SW:TOR was still debatable.

[Desiderya]

My personal experience with the SW:TOR creator was: 90% of all the guys and gals I created would've looked retarded. In TSW it's only 80%. So I consider this a success. The base models are simply looking better. So yeah, I can't choose between anorexic, fatass, normal, beefcake, wuss and cookie victim regarding body types. Not a big loss, tbh.
In earlier beta they had a 'height slider', dunno why they took it out.

Personal tastes and so on. But I do agree that it's fairly basic and in desperate need of an overhaul.

Regarding the lore: You won't find it as nicely hidden in datapads and so on. Most of the lore items are hidden 'icons' you can use to get the snippets. Of course you're going to find references to the lore or simply story material in the computers, dialogues, images* and so on.

*The game has plenty of images that help you along the quests. Classic 'look at that note pinned to the door there' situation where you 'use' the quest item? Image pops up with the hand-written note on it. And so on. It makes puzzles nicer and helps with the immersion.

[Myyona]

I am intrigued by this game and consider paying into it. I like exploring lore and puzzles and am bored of being a spaceship. I am a bit hesitant on my possibilities to “invest” in TSW; how are my possibilities to influence others through my direct actions? Not combat related, I mean. Can I trade, get stuff other players are interested in acquiring and can I set my mark on the world besides the way I dress?

[Lyn Farel]

My personal experience with the SW:TOR creator was: 90% of all the guys and gals I created would've looked retarded. In TSW it's only 80%. So I consider this a success. The base models are simply looking better. So yeah, I can't choose between anorexic, fatass, normal, beefcake, wuss and cookie victim regarding body types. Not a big loss, tbh.
In earlier beta they had a 'height slider', dunno why they took it out.

Personal tastes and so on. But I do agree that it's fairly basic and in desperate need of an overhaul.

That was more or less my point. The CC in TSW may be even less furnished than in SW:TOR, but the quality of whats offered is higher.

[Desiderya]

I am intrigued by this game and consider paying into it. I like exploring lore and puzzles and am bored of being a spaceship. I am a bit hesitant on my possibilities to “invest” in TSW; how are my possibilities to influence others through my direct actions? Not combat related, I mean. Can I trade, get stuff other players are interested in acquiring and can I set my mark on the world besides the way I dress?

You can obviously trade and craft, but I would answer with a No. The game is class/levelless and focuses heavily on horizontal progression, but this doesn't make it a sandbox. Crafting is simple 'minecraftian', but it doesn't offer enough variability to build a ingame-career on it. You find your stuff in the loot or by deconstructing looted talismans and weapons.
If you are into exploring a well-crafted gameworld, solving puzzles and having fun whacking zombies ( and other assorted horrors ) it's the game for you. If you want to be that guy who specializes into aquiring the rarest ingredient only found by the most skilled explorers you won't find salvation here. This is an aspect done much better by humongous sandboxes like EVE.

I don't think you can build a reputation for game related aspects as you can in EVE.

[Lyn Farel]

The RP server is Arcadia/Faery or something like that right ? They seem to have changed its name many times.

[Casiella]

It was Faerie, but a lot of people were upset because of various, um, idiomatic connotations. So now it's Arcadia.

[Lyn Farel]

What idiomatic connotations ? 

[Jade Constantine]

that's adorable 

[Mizhara]

Yes, a 'dislike' got the server name changed. My current roommate was laughing his ass off reading the cries of the RPers in question, reading the most tearful of them out loud while I was working. I went easy on them. The game does seem to be decent, though. Whether it's any good for RP will remain to be seen but it's got potential.

So far he's only had one rather ominous complaint: He has no desire to try multiple characters as it's pretty much the same shit anyway. The base mechanics are apparently the same across skillsets and they don't differ enough from each other to truly differentiate characters all that much. He also claims "Once is enough for Kingsmouth. The replay value is nil."

I can't verify any of these things yet as I've got no time for MMOs at the moment.

[lallara zhuul]

I have to disagree with the launch trailer being beautiful.

The animations were clunky, monsters unimaginative in movement and appearance and there was nothing there that struck me as a selling point for the game.

Even the name would fit better for a Hello Kitty kind of childrens game than a horrorisque MMORPG.

[Lyn Farel]

That was my exact feeling at first too. Actually, it has been since January when I heard of it for the first time. Now, considering the feedback I get from people that usually think in the same vein as myself, I am not so sure anymore. So I will have to see and play it a little to confirm. Maybe best not to judge a book on its cover here. It worked in the case of SW:TOR but here, I am really not so sure.

[Makkal]

Even the name would fit better for a Hello Kitty kind of childrens game than a horrorisque MMORPG.

I always though 'Lovecraft' would be a great name for the author of a children's series.

[lallara zhuul]

More like a Harlequin series