Normally when a MMO game reaches the open beta phase of its development cycle, it is pretty close to the version that will be released, minus a few changes and bug fixes. However it seems that Star Vault, the developers behind Moral Online, have decided to go into open beta while the game is no where near a complete product. Mortal Online entered the open beta phase a month ago today on Feb 1st 2010.
To me an open beta is that final extra push to get gamers excited about their game, to create buzz and to start lining up pre-order sales. But when it comes to Mortal Online, not only am I not excited about the game, it completely crushed all my expectations. Mortal Online was one of the top three games I was looking forward to in 2010, but after about an hr or so in open beta, I don’t think there is a chance in hell this game will even be released this year.
Almost nothing in the game is complete and in the 60-90 mins I spent in game, I couldn’t find one NPC that had any quests. [edit: there are no quests in Mortal Online, which I actually love, so don't flame me for this comment] The game looks great, but to be in open beta just seems silly to me at this stage of the games development. I can list all the incomplete features I found just in the short time I played, but even that would be a monster list.
Currently the games release date is stated as the first quarter of 2010 and with only a month left, I seriously hope they push that date way way back to maybe Q1 2011.
“Almost nothing in the game is complete and in the 60-90 mins I spent in game, I couldn’t find one NPC that had any quests.”
I think there aren’t supposed to be quests in MO but apart from that you are right its shockingly unfinishied.
February 28th, 2010 at 3:44 pmTo present a game to the public in a state like this is just… funny.
Quote
Ya they said no quests, there will never be quests devs said.
February 28th, 2010 at 8:05 pmQuote
ah, I see. Well I actually like that there will be no quests. But even so, there are just way to many things that aren’t incomplete at this stage of development.
March 1st, 2010 at 10:16 amQuote
I don’t think a lack of content or features is even the main problem for MO at this time, lag and crashing seem worse so far.
March 1st, 2010 at 5:21 pmQuote
What exactly do you believe is incomplete? Seeing that you wasn’t aware that there are not quest, I’m not use you know what you was looking at. MO is a sandbox game (ie Ultima Online). I will agree that they are not ready for release but most of the features are in the game and working. The gui does need a major facelift, mostly in the crafting system, but fighting is real time, taming, gathering, crafting, housing, thievery, etc are all working very well.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:40 pmQuote
Are you a fool? No quests? Do you not know what this game is about?
Nothing to do in the game? I’ve killed minotaurs, lizard men, terror birds, been in giant battles, wear full plate and have steel weapons. Plenty to do in the beta. Gotta have some sort of reasonable expectations for a small independant gaming company making an mmo for a niche market (hard core gamers).
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:31 pmQuote
Oh dear, I just had a laugh of ur preview post of Mortal Online mike…then I find this too.
Mike, just stop playing games that are too hard for u…u need a game where npc can handheld u thru all the lvls, tell u what to do etc…
And stop posting these rediculus post about Mortal Online when u dont anything about the game. Back at the forum we get posts like these once in a while and everybody know its some kid that wandered in to us from WoW (or some other crappy themepark game).
March 17th, 2010 at 7:56 pmI recomend Aion for u if ur tired of WoW.
Quote
Ok, clearly, this game is not for you, go back to wow or one of it’s clone and leave this game to the big boys :p
March 18th, 2010 at 10:03 pmQuote
Sorry, I have to agree completely with Mike. I’ve been playing this off and on since open beta first started. I want very hard to like this game, but it kinda blows. There really isn;t much to do, the combat is the most laughable thing I’ve seen in a long time, it’s not realistic at all. The gathering professions make me sick to my stomach they are far to stop and go, doing half hammer swings and then stopping abruptly in the middle of it. Npc’s have very little to them and the general atmosphere of the game is severely lifeless. I know what this game is aiming for, and I know what old games like Ultima were like, but this is a sad excuse for a game at this point.
I give it a 9/10 for graphics but a 2/10 for everything else in it’s current state. I don’t want my hand held though a game, I hate games like Wow and Aion, but a game that is as boring as this isn;t even worth the time of day. I understand that this is all being done by a small gaming company and I hope they get more funding so they can continue adding to the game, but in it;s current form it is a failure.
btw, bolle, I find it hard to take someone opinion seriously when they never use the full word “you” and instead say “u” every couple words. It does not make me believe that you infact have the patience to play a game and find out what is wrong and right with it.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:23 amQuote
Lol. “I couldn’t find one quest!”
From both the writing style and naive, unobjective perspective, its obvious this article must be from some junior writer that was still in elementary school when all the real MMOs came out.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:27 pmQuote
how can you comment on a game after 90 minutes of play???
April 8th, 2010 at 10:42 pmQuote
Those of you disagreeing with the author… what game are you playing? It certainly cannot be Mortal Online because everything he wrote is accurate!
The game isn’t anywhere close to product suitable for release; in fact, playing the Open Beta (as much as possible between crashes) I have gone from highly anticipating the game to almost dismissing it as another mmo failure due to premature release.
The game looks nice, but when you are able to get some playtime (between the glitches, bugs, and crashes), it is a mind-numbingly boring game!
Mortal Online was my most anticipated game of 2010; I am profoundly disappointed at the state of the game. If Mortal Online is released in 2010 it will be a disaster.
This game should not be in Open Beta; it is not even in a state for closed beta. Mortal Online is clearly still in the alpha stages of development. They have the graphics and art, but the content and mechanics are either non-existent or completely broken.
April 12th, 2010 at 11:39 amQuote