Tabula Rasa - Initial Impressions

I was home with a sick Hallie today, so I went ahead and installed Tabula Rasa a week ahead of schedule.

Graphically, I put the game somewhere between World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online. LoTRO is the best looking MMO I've ever played, hands down. TR doesn't have the polished look of LoTRO, but it's engine and basic look are a notch above that of WoW. Stylistically, WoW is a better looking game than TR, though I put LoTRO above both once again. I do only have TR running on the "high" setting. There are three settings above that: "very high," ultra high," and "maximum." I tried "very high" and noticed a hit in fps, so I brought it back down to "high." LoTRO, on the other hand, not only runs in DX10, but does so with spectacular shadow and lighting effects. And my computer runs it on the "high" setting, third to the top. The skins look pretty cool, though I haven't gotten any real tiiiight armor or guns yet. I gave my guy green hair though. I'm not sure why. I had buyer's hair remorse almost immediately.

Gameplay, TR feels like a first-person shooter. You have to aim your gun (or blows, I haven't done any melee yet) and click your mouse each time you want to fire. Holding down the mouse button fires the gun repeatedly. Even though you do have to aim and mash your mouse button like you are playing Call of Duty 4 or Half-Life 2, the game still calculates crit damage and other behind-the-scenes stats, so in that way, it's very much in keeping with other MMOs. According to the game's storyline, the humans on this planet are refugees from Earth, forced to flee an alien invasion of their native planet. But these are humans that have evolved somehow, capable of harnessing "Logos," alien knowledge that grants special powers. During the training intro of the game, I learned the Lightning Logo. With my gun keyed to the left mouse button, Lightning to the right, I alternated between the two offensive capabilities with surprising success. TR often gives a squad-play field. At a certain intersection, not far from the starting base, a patrol of Bane often land and give battle to a guard station. Every time I go through this intersection, I lend a helping hand to the unnumbered defenders. It's like this throughout the countryside as well. You'll be jogging down the road and then suddenly a transport ship will beam two or three Bane in front of you and you'll have to either run or gun them down. It's a nice departure from the usual trash mob far roaming the countryside.

Toting guns is a refreshing change from the standard bows and swords of WoW and LoTRO. I quickly blew through ammo so I learned to use my lightning attack to soften up mobs before opening fire. You automatically pause to reload while in combat, but you can also hit "r." The weapon vendor has a variety of ammo types to sell, the more expensive causing more damage or enhanced effects. I'm still packing around a standard rifle, but I have picked up both a laser and EMP rifle that I'm too low level to use quite yet.

Everyone starts out as a lowly grunt, but when you hit level five, you have the option of choosing one of two branches: soldier or specialist. To be honest, I didn't even take the time to check out the specs for a specialist since the soldier skill tree offered machine gun training and some cool armor skills. Glancing at future tree branches, it seems that both soldier and specialist split into three sub-classes each, though I'm not sure what they're called yet. I don't even know what the level cap is, though I'm sure its 50 or 60.

The quest system is straight from WoW, EQ2, and LoTRO. Talk to a quest giver, kill boars and collect eight gene samples. There are some quests that force a moral decision. For instance, I was given the task of fetching a "coward," an alien who had left the fight as a conscientious objector. When I talked to his father, he asked me to spare the boy. So, I had the choice of letting the kid go or bringing him back. I chose the latter, being the rat bastard I am. But these quests are rare among the standard fare of killing a certain number and type of mobs or visiting a specific location on a map.

I do, however, love the setting. Sci-fi is underrepresented in the MMO market. I felt flashes of Star Wars: Galaxies while I was playing, especially when I past by the cloning facility. As I understand it, cloning lets you create a duplicate of your current character, only completely unspecced. In other words, you can redo everything about your character without changing your original. It's a great idea and fits well in a sci-fi world.

Overall, I like the game so far. It's not going to dethrone WoW or anything. But nor should it. It's a completely different setting even if the gameplay is of the same genre. I don't see myself renewing the game beyond the 30 days I get for the initial purchase, but I envision firing it back up in the summer when I have a bit more time to explore it. By then I'll likely be sporting a dual 8800 GT system, so the game might look good and play well under its highest setting. Actually playing the game confirmed many of the reviews I had read of Tabula Rasa: refreshing sci-fi setting, but nothing all that new for a MMO.

I'm sure as I play more I'll have additional thoughts and comments.