might be sacrilege to jsr folks but I've never really cared for hideki naganuma (or his music hehe). fortunately the tracks here are varied enough and not outright trying to crib his style, in part because a good chunk of them were not made for the game. can't say as much for its visuals, which, just from the menus alone I can get that you guys like designer's republic (me too!) but y2k is so worn out that I'd like to see something go beyond just replicating it. weirdly has a very late barebones pc port feel to it that I find kind of charming. game's fine too I guess

blows my mind that (v loose) trinity type combat at its most basic form, in an mmo that looks and plays like one from 20 years ago, is lighting up my brain in ways that most today can't even begin to. a deeply unserious game totally unconcerned with balance, retention schemes, railroading, etc. instead fully focused on discovery and getting you to engage with its absurd systems. every corner turned an opportunity to poke and prod at what the game is putting in front of you

(almost) every interaction tied to a skill for the folks who need to see numbers go up, and because it's extremely funny to see yourself wander into a place you shouldn't and gain cartography xp the same moment you level up in dying. impossible to give a decent slice of what's represented as there's so many skills to toy with, a few being: cheesemaking, art history, surveying, compassion, golf?? a favorite example is when I learned the basics of the myconic language after a mushroom began talking to me while harvesting it, an event that led to me discovering a mushroom themed dungeon pointed out by other mushrooms. some are entirely pointless, but some are incredibly, quite literally, transformative: perhaps you've been unwillingly changed into a cow, giving you the Cow skill, that has actual abilities tied to it, which might even be beneficial or complementary to what you're already using. maybe, you think, being a cow isn't so bad! maybe it's even part of the meta!!

game's comprised of fetch quests in the form of favors for NPCs whose relationships with you can be leveled for perks. 90% of these are rote get me y of x thing without much in the way of writing, but they tend towards pointing out landmarks, getting you to use specific skills, or hinting at sides of the game you might not be aware of. there is a narrative with a clear questline to follow but for the majority of the time you'll find yourself doing the former

like eq in that there are no instances whatsoever, so you'll find yourself in dungeons or fields rubbing shoulders with other folks that you'll figure you should just party up with, who you'll go on to see in town or even around other areas and continue to interact with. game's built to support at most like 500 people, so it's inevitable that, if you play long enough, you'll end up recognizing most of the names you come across. the devs even regularly host events which bring the community out, such as poetry jams(?) every saturday, as well as entire questlines for holidays

etc etc etc. not going to give this rambling much structure as I'm tired and just want to see something on this page

just uh, heads up: you can really tell at times that the game was written by nerds in their 40s/50s. not grating enough to be overtly offensive but it can certainly be eye-rolling

https://i.imgur.com/atDuPbM.png

>looking for a new arcade racer
>ask if it's swaggy or for dads
>they don't understand |pull out illustrated diagram explaing what is swaggy and what is for dads
>they laugh and say "it's a good game sir"
>download the game
>its for dads

imagine paying a monthly fee to work for the opportunity to pull a slot machine with the hope it lets you do the stuff you're actually paying for. would say this couldn't be me but alas, once again

i always thought i was an outlier here, in that i never enjoyed the gear grind that mmo players assume is there to "get your money's worth" (i could not believe my eyes when i saw people clamoring for the return of daily quests over weeklies,) but i'm realizing these people are broken and this design is prohibiting a different audience from forming, for reasons that anyone who's been turned off from playing one already understands

these games feature genuinely interesting blends of cooperative puzzle solving and choreography you can't get elsewhere, and it's all locked behind the most bloated tedium you could possibly imagine. it's so frustrating to not be able to share this kind of experience with others. once again asking for a saint to prove you can do it without the trappings of this garbage