Asheron's Call
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| Asheron's Call | |
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 Boxart |
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| Developer(s) | Turbine Entertainment Software |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft (1999–2004); Turbine (2004– ) |
| Designer(s) | Toby Ragaini, Eri Izawa, Chris Pierson, Chris Foster |
| Engine | Turbine Engine 1.0 |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release date(s) | November 2, 1999 |
| Genre(s) | MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Intel Pentium CPU, 32 MB RAM, DirectX 7, Internet access |
| Input methods | Keyboard, mouse |
Asheron's Call (AC) is a fantasy MMORPG for Microsoft Windows-based PCs, released on November 2, 1999. The land of Dereth and its surrounding islands, in which the game is based, is a large, seamless 3D world that is occupied by hundreds of players.
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[edit] General
Gameplay involves earning experience points through a variety of activities, including engaging monsters in combat and fulfilling quests. The earned experience can be invested to improve the character's abilities by spending it on attributes such as 'Strength', 'Coordination', and 'Quickness' or skills such as 'Unarmed Combat', 'War Magic' and 'Melee Defense', among many others. Skills start at a base level determined by a character's attributes. For instance, a character's base Melee Defense is calculated using a formula based on the sum of coordination and quickness divided by three (Melee D = (Coordination + Quickness)/3). This skill then could be raised by applying points directly to the Melee Defense skill. Each character has a limited number of skill points to start with, which allows one to 'purchase' skills, which then allow that skill to be raised. For instance, if one had not purchased the Melee Defense skill, it would always remain at the default starting level. Every few levels, more skill points are granted, and if a character has enough skill points, they can 'buy' a new skill. Besides experience points, questing and combat also yield equipment such as armor, weapons, health potions, and spell scrolls. Many types of loot can be improved or imbued with special spells and effects via Asheron's Call's crafting system, known as tinkering.
Unlike most other games of this type, Asheron's Call rarely uses typical fantasy fiction to draw ideas from and instead creates its own, unique creatures. Instead of elves and goblins, a large majority of the monsters in Asheron's Call are completely original. Examples include the insect-like Olthoi, the cat-like humanoid Drudges, the giant grey-skinned humanoid Lugians and the reptilian Sclavus. Many unique races and creatures from Asheron's Call can be seen in Wikipedia's list of species in fantasy fiction.
The Asheron's Call franchise is unique in providing complimentary monthly content updates and "Events" that added new quests, skills, landmasses, monsters, gameplay dynamics and bug fixes for all subscribers. Epic storylines link multiple episodes to form distinct "story arcs".
Many other elements of Asheron's Call are radically different from most other MMORPGs. For example, Asheron's Call does not divide its world into different level zones. While some areas are much more dangerous to players than others, there is nonetheless a mix of different creatures types that creates much more unpredictability than is present in other games. Another key difference is that Asheron's Call does not use character level as the major determinant in the outcome of a combat. Level simply determines what skills are available, and it is the skills and equipment of players and creatures that determine the outcome. Whereas in many games a player will be able to move a cursor over an opponent and instantly know from their level whether they will be successful in combat, in Asheron's Call a character might be able to defeat much higher level foes or lose to much lower level ones, again depending upon one's skill choices and equipment. As with the absence of specific level zones, this creates a higher degree of unpredicatability than in most games of this type.
The game also features an unusual allegiance system, whereby a Vassal can swear allegiance to a Patron and the Patron gains a small percentage bonus of experience points based upon what the vassal earns. The idea is that the higher level Patron gets experience point bonuses from his Vassals, and repays his followers with money or equipment. In the words of one reviewer: "At worst, the allegiance system is a multilevel marketing scheme, whereby greedy, uncaring Patrons enlist as many Vassals as possible in order to gain large amounts of bonus experience. But at best, the allegiance system can provide a tightly knit companionship for players genuinely interested in helping others and developing an organized assembly."[1]
The magic system as originally designed was far more complicated than in any other such game, with specific formulae for each spell that the caster had to discover through painful trial and error. While this had the original effect of making magic challenging and somewhat rare, this element disappeared with the introduction of third party programs that would compute one's spell formulae without most of the experimentation. The system of spell components was later phased out and replaced with a simpler system wherein magic casters would carry a "focus" stone for each of the magic schools they were trained in (creature, item, life and war) and a series of taper candles. Each spell is learned from a scroll, either purchased or found as treasure. The old system was left in the game as an alternative, but spell research was eliminated and most players quickly adapted to the new system.
The four magic schools allows players to alter nearly any stat in the game. War Magic offers projectile-based attacks that bypass a player or creature's base armor stats and come in the form of all three physical attacks (piercing, slashing and bludgeoning) and all four elemental attack types (acid, lightning, fire and frost). War also featurs multiple types of each attack, including arcing projectiles, wall spells and extremely quick blasts, which are more difficult to dodge. Creature Magic allows a player to alter skill stats and attributes, both on themselves and on others. Life Magic allows for heals and direct damage drains, as well as spells which made creatures or players more resistant or vulnerable to the seven attack types. Item Magic allows players to alter the physical properties of armor and weapons. It also includs portal magic, which allows the summoning of teleportation portals to a limited number of other locations. Due to the vast size of the Asheron's Call world, portal magic became viewed as nearly essential to gameplay by the vast majority of players.
Upon its launch, Asheron's Call also featured a Spell Economy system which, coupled with the game's complex spell-learning process, caused early players to jealously guard the formulas to the spells. The Spell Economy looked at the global use of each spell and made more commonly cast spells less effective, making it a wise move to protect lesser known spells. This system was removed from the game after the release of "Split Pea", a third party program which allowed players to instantly figure out the progression of spell components.
The game has several crafting systems from fletching arrows, to armor and weapon 'tinkering.' Tinkering involves adding materials like iron (which adds +1 max damage to a weapon), to steel (which adds +20 Armor Level to a piece of armor). The material used is called Salvage, and players use an Ust to recycle items into Salvage. The chance of successful tinkering depends on the player's tinkering skill level, as does the amount of salvage earned from each item. Failed tinkering attempts destroy the weapon, so getting to the maximum of 10 tinks requires good items, salvage, and a high skill. All enemy-dropped loot also has random attributes, which combined with tinkering, creates a dynamic in-game economy.
Asheron's Call is also known for its friendly stance toward third-party software, particularly Decal, which allows the creation of gameplay-altering plug-ins. At first, plug-ins were only used by the most computer-savvy players, and were well guarded between allegiances. Several public 'macros' eventually became an extremely popular and defining point of Asheron's Call, such as unattended combat macros and buff bots.
[edit] History
AC was developed by Turbine Entertainment Software and published by Microsoft. The first expansion, Dark Majesty, was released in 2001. A second expansion, Throne of Destiny, which includes a graphics upgrade, new player race and new landmass was released on July 18, 2005. In addition to the expansion packs, the in-game story is advanced by monthly updates, which introduce new quests and gameplay dynamics as part of the subscription package.[citation needed]
While neither Turbine nor Microsoft have been forthcoming in releasing exact subscription counts, it is believed that Asheron's Call peaked in popularity in early 2002 at about 120,000 accounts and has since dropped to below 10,000.[2]
In December 2003, Turbine purchased the rights to the Asheron's Call franchise from Microsoft and assumed full responsibility for content development, customer service, billing and marketing in 2004.[citation needed]
[edit] Story
[edit] Asheron Realaidain and the Empyrean
The story of Asheron's Call takes place on the planet Auberean which was ruled by the Empyrean. The Empyrean are tall humanoids with immense life spans and a powerful mastery of magic. Prior to Portal Year (PY) 0, their civilization dominated the surface of Auberean, a feudalistic, religious society that later split into several nations such as the Yalain, the Falatacot, and the Dericost. The main setting of the game is a small island in the Yalain dominion. The island was known in Yalaini as Ireth Lassel.
In PY0, a young Yalaini mage named Asheron Realaidain was experimenting with portal magic when he accidentally opened portals to an alien world. This planet was the homeworld of many monstrous insectlike species. One of the smaller species, the Olthoi, proceeded to invade Auberean via the portals, and legions of black, man-sized death machines spewed across the surface of the planet, skewering all other inhabitants on their massive pincers, their magic-resistant hides rendering them largely immune to the Empyreans' defenses. Their invasion went almost unchecked and the Olthoi all but annihilated the Empyrean civilization.
In a desperate attempt to save the survivors of his people, Asheron called forth all of his power and summoned many portals, none of their destinations known to him, hoping that one would lead his people to safety. He ushered the last of his race through one of the portals, remaining behind himself to attempt to repair the damage he had caused.
These portals opened to many different worlds, bringing various creatures into Auberean. Most of these creatures were as wild animals, some violent and destructive. One of the portals Asheron opened led to the planet Ispar, the homeworld of the human-like Isparians. The Isparians were sensitive to portal magic and were lured into the portals that appeared there. Upon arrival on Ireth Lassel, they were instantly enslaved by the Olthoi, who were constructing a hive civilization under the planet. As more and more Isparians arrived, some managed to escape slavery and live as nomads, hiding in the wilderness and defending themselves from the Olthoi with weapons of their own fashioning.
[edit] Elysa Strathelar and Thorsten Cragstone
Looking to destroy the Olthoi for good, two of the greatest free warriors among the Isparians, two lovers named Thorsten Cragstone and Elysa Strathelar, sought the advice of Asheron. Asheron helped them organize an assault on the lair of the Olthoi Queen. During the raid, Thorsten was struck down by the Queen herself. Enraged, Elysa pulled from her quiver an arrow that Asheron had enchanted for her with an elixir he designed to slay the Olthoi Queen. Elysa let the arrow fly and it struck the Queen in the eye, sending her into death throes that sent waves of primordial fear through the entire Olthoi horde. The head of their hive mind destroyed, the Olthoi domination fell into disarray, freeing the human race from slavery. The player begins as an Isparian freshly summoned from Ispar into post-Olthoi Ireth Lassel, renamed Dereth by the Isparians.
Asheron remains present to guide the human people from the shadows, hopeful that they can restore his world to its former glory.
[edit] The Viamontian Invasion
In Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny, players are thrown into a bitter civil war...
A race of humans called the Viamontians managed to find their way to Dereth from Ispar during a war back on the homeworld. The violent Viamontians, led by King Varicci II, were trapped on an island hub for eight years. With the help of a mage named Nuhmudira, the barrier around the islands was destroyed and the Viamontians were unleashed upon Dereth.
Players are able to choose from this new race of blue-skinned people and can interact with the world around them.
The Viamontians have always been at war with the Aluvians (High Queen Elysa's people) and upon seeing that they ruled over Dereth, declared war.
Players must now choose to support the self-declared Queen of New Aluvia, or the violent King Varicci II.
[edit] Game Terms
[edit] Pyreal
Pyreal is a metal found on the planet Auberean. It is generally an alloy of precious metals combined in some ratio with pure mana.
The Isparian unit of currency, the pyreal, is stamped from this metal. Pyreal is also the chief constituent of the powerful Atlan weapons, named for Asheron's father, their inventor.
[edit] Vitae
Vitae, the Latin word for "Life Force," is the vital statistic penalized temporarily upon death. A "vitae penalty," known colloquially as "VP", "vit" or simply "vitae" describes the effect of a temporary reduction in character strength upon death. This penalty results from the (intentionally) imperfect link between Isparians and the Lifestones which resurrect them. Said "imperfect link" refers to the magic Asheron has employed to siphon a portion of every Isparian's life to keep the trapped Empyrean alive, which happens with every death to the Lifestones. If a character is not bound to a Lifestone, they will still accrue vitae from death. As the character increases in levels, so too does the Vitae Penalty.
[edit] Player Killers
Player Killers (PKs) are those who choose to change their status to enable them to attack another PK in Player vs Player combat. On death they drop some of their items and the winner of the fight is allowed to take them. One server, Darktide, is dedicated exclusively to this style of gameplay.
The lore reasoning behind this mode of playstyle is attributed to Bael'Zharon, the Hopeslayer. In swearing allegiance to him, the character sheds Asheron's protection from attacking each other and devotes themselves to warfare serving (preferably) the Hopeslayer. In many instances, people have shed Asheron's protection solely to stand against those who attempt to do evil things. Examples of this include the destruction of the Shard of the Herald and the coming of the Burun Kukuur.
[edit] Islands of Dereth
[edit] Vesayen Isles
An archipelago of lush jungle islands, the Vesayen Isles are named after Vesayen Hylin, a refugee from the Olthoi who led a band of nomads to take shelter on the islands, which are located just off the coast south east of Ireth Lassel. The islands are home to many foul and dangerous creatures, such as Moarsmen, Niffis, Wasps, Zefirs, Idols, and powerful Undead, to name a few.
[edit] Aerlinthe Island
The volcano-island of Aerlinthe, located north of eastern Ireth Lassel (also known as Osteth), is the home of a powerful undead of the Dericost clan, Lady Aerfalle. Many dangerous creatures are found here, such as golems, tuskers, wisps and shadows.
[edit] Aphus Lassel
Aphus Lassel, another tropical island chain, is overrun with Tuskers. They have a village near the portal to the island called Oolutanga's Refuge. Aphus Lassel is known to be the home of the Tuskers, and is commonly called Tusker Island, Monkey Island or simply AL.
[edit] Singularity Caul
This mysterious, circular island, located off the south-west coast of the Direlands, is a place of legend. It was here that Bael'Zharon, the Hopeslayer, put to trial his aspiring champions and granted them the power of the Shadow Stones. It has since been overrun by the Virind'i, mysterious, antagonistic beings of pure energy and a hive-mind society, Tuskers, and deadly Hollow Minions.
Before this island was opened to the public, a member of Turbine's unpaid volunteer Sentinel team leaked several dozen screenshots and a large amount of information regarding the area. This eventually led to the dismantling of the Sentinel program, and its replacement with a paid Turbine-run Game Master program.
[edit] Marae Lassel
Marae Lassel was introduced in the expansion pack Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty, in September 2001. It is a fairly large island to the north of the Direlands, and west of northern Osteth. It is most famously the home of the new Olthoi Queen and her brood, replacing the queen slain by Elysa Strathelar. Also residing on this island are nomadic groups of humans who attack travelers, dangerous, feral Prairie Dog-like creatures known as Carenzi, and two warring clans of Tumerok: The Aun and the Hea.
[edit] Vissidal
Vissidal island is relatively new to the landbase of Dereth, it is set off the NE coast of the mainland just off the Olthoi North.
Getting to Vissidal island is restricted to higher level players 130+, and after completing a long and difficult quest called the The Deep [3].
[edit] Dark Isle
In July 2006, a new island opened up for characters of level 150 or higher. The island has several varieties of previous monsters, and some new monsters as well. New Shadows, Ruschks (higher level than those on Vissidal), Remorans, and Mukkirs are new variants of old monsters. Sleeches (a type of Niffis) are new to the game.[citation needed]
[edit] Software Architecture
Asheron's Call uses Microsoft SQL Server for persistent game data.[citation needed]
[edit] Critical reception
Asheron's Call received generally positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Game Rankings, the game received an average score of 81% based on 26 reviews.[4] On Metacritic, the game received an average score of 81 out of 100, based on 15 reviews.[5]
[edit] Pricing
In order to play Asheron's Call, one must first purchase the game or download the two week free trial. The first expansion pack, Dark Majesty, includes the full version of the game. The second expansion of the game, Throne of Destiny, also includes the full version. Asheron's Call is a subscription service with a monthly fee of $12.95. Discounts are available for multi-month subscriptions.[6][dead link]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Asheron's Call for PC Review - PC Asheron's Call Review
- ^ http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart3.html
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Asheron's Call Reviews". Game Rankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/188393.asp. Retrieved on 2008-04-04.
- ^ "Asheron's Call (pc: 1999): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/asheronscall. Retrieved on 2008-04-04.
- ^ "Asheron's Call multi-month subscription.". Turbine. http://turbine.fuzeqna.com/turbinesupport/consumer/kbdetail.asp?kbid=33&ao=t. Retrieved on 2007-09-08.
