MMORPG News - Shards Online

PCGamer takes a long look at Shards Online and finds it a relic, in a good way.

Shards Online immediately feels like a relic from a different era—and I don't mean that to be an insult. I discovered this when first trying to purchase a potion from a merchant and realized that there's no shopkeeper interface to work with. Instead, his stock is spread out on a table before him. By picking up an item, he'll tell me how much it costs. At first, it felt frustrating to add these extra steps to the process, like stepping into a McDonalds and having to order my 2 am shame nuggets from a human instead of zipping through the drive-through. But that old timey traditionalism is everywhere.

Once I adjusted to the pace at which Shards moves, I started to enjoy playing in a world where not everything is convenient. My backpack physically displays items in it so I'm reminded that even in videogames my life is a cluttered mess. Quests aren't marked with glowing exclamation marks above people's heads. And even figuring out how a skill or system works can require trial and error. If it wasn't for Derek Brinkmann, CEO of Shards' developer Citadel Studios, guiding me around for a bit, I'd probably be ghoul food by now.

For someone who has spent the last few months slaying demons in World of Warcraft, those differences almost feel alienating. Modern MMOs try to be such a smooth ride it's like slathering myself in butter before diving headfirst into a water slide. Shards, however, is content to let me feel every bump and knock on my way to figuring out what the hell I'm doing. Even a simple quest to check in on a gravekeeper became an hour-long affair because I was so used to having arrows mark every step of the way.

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I had thought about bringing this mechanic to NWN one time.

The idea was to create a dynamic shopkeeper who only sold items locked in his chests or on his shelves, then replace them as needed. The big problem came with the items in the store weren't exactly the ones you sold back to the shopkeeper. I believe there was some sort of LIFO issue plus items always "erased" variables and such when sold.

Other than the realism, I think it made a good idea for thieves. As it was you could only pick a shopkeepers pocket and not their goods.

While I do enjoy challenging games, basic things like merchants and finding quests should not be an exercise in frustration. I will stay far far away from this one.