Ryzom

Developer:	Gameforge
Genre:	Sci-Fi
Release Date:	September 19, 2004
Monthly Fee:	$14.95 USD

Links

Official Site

The Saga of Ryzom is a wholly original MMORPG fusing science fiction and fantasy. Ryzom Ring (Rï¿½), Ryzom's first and free expansion, evolves the Saga introducing the first ever MMO scenario editor!

Features

Planet Atys is a living world, with five rich and diverse ecosystems. A powerful AI technology makes flora and fauna interact dynamically with each other and the ever-changing environment.

Universe

A Lush, Living Ecosystem

Known as the Living Planet, Atys doesn't behave quite like any world you've experienced in an MMORPG. To start with, Atys is growing, slowly sending tendrils out which can unveil new lands and cover up existing ones. Due to this constant growth, the climates and weather on the surface can vary greatly, even in a short time span.

Creatures' behavior - On the surface, the creatures behave even more intelligently. Each creature has its own set of behaviours, and natural enemies. Wild gingos travel in small packs, willing to attack anything they think they can kill for food. The more docile bodoc will travel with its herd, but fiercely come to each others defence should they be attacked. Some creatures will migrate naturally; others will prefer to remain in the same general area.

Seasons - They change naturally, altering not only the landscape of Atys but also the resources available to harvesters and the behavior of the creatures that live there. The weather can also change these things, from raging snowstorms in the forest to thunderous storms in the jungle.

Battles with Hordes of Monsters

Imagine standing outside a city, watching a hill in the distance, and seeing the first members of a wave of Kitins appear. Now imagine hundreds more following them, moving as a single, swarming army. Battles of this scale will require dozens of players working together to fend off serious invasions.

Freedom

Choose and fully customize a character from any of the four races of Atys. The skill-based action tree allows to gain experience in fighting, magic, crafting and/or foraging, and you can also customize your own spells and special attacks (thousands of possible combinations!).

Flexible Skill-Based Advancement

Although you earn experience and gain levels, your advancement is measured on a skill tree. There are no classes in Ryzom, and you can advance in any tree as far as you'd like.

At the beginning, you only have access to the four most basic skills - Fight, Magic, Craft and Harvest. As you advance, these skills will begin to unlock new ones below them on the tree, each getting more specific than the one above. You finish and master a specific skill branch when you reach level 250.

For example, fighting with a mace will first gain skill in the basic Fight tree, then the more specialized Melee Fight branch, and all the way down to Master Mace.

Each of these skills allows you to train in different Actions. The more specific the skill gets, the more powerful the Actions learned are. It may take a long time to be able to completely learn an entire skill branch down to one of the most specific skill levels, but it's not necessary to do so to become capable. In some cases it might even be better to generalize and work on several branches. This skill tree also makes it possible to give the benefit of flexibility to veteran characters, while still allowing newer ones to be effective. Because you never forget a skill once it has been learned, and because there is no penalty for learning multiple skills, the more skills learned, the more options that are available.

Customized Actions and Stanzas

Modular Action System - The Saga of Ryzom combines every action you can do within the world into one unified game mechanic, called the Modular Action System. This system holds special combat manoeuvres, spells, material prospecting and harvesting, and even crafting.

Stanzas - Each individual Action is made up of a number of subcomponents, which are called Stanzas. These Stanzas each have different abilities and costs associated with them, and once you learn them, you can combine them into your own custom actions.

New Stanzas are learned by receiving training in different skills. For example, in the case of magic, you start with only one basic offensive magic spell, Acid Damage 1. After advancing a bit, you can learn Life Gift 1, which gives you additional Stanzas.

By using the Modular Action System, you can then create your own custom spell, naming it whatever you would like.

Although it may not be very powerful, and has a serious range penalty, it does have the advantage of being completely free to cast. This makes it great in situations when you are already in close and don't need that extra range.

Of course, this example used only two different spell abilities. The more actions you are trained in, the more Stanzas you have access to, and the more possibilities there are to create ones perfectly suited to your play style.

Item Creation

Although NPCs sell basic equipment for characters of all levels, high quality and enchanted items are only provided by player crafters. Even at very low skill levels, crafters can begin creating items with stat increases on them, and the bonuses (extra Life, Sap, Stamina, or Focus) they can place on equipment only get better as the crafters get more skilled.

In order to craft an object, materials need to be found to fill each of the roles in the equipment. Depending on the item, a dozen or more pieces of raw material may be necessary to create a finished product.

Quartering - One way to get raw materials is by hunting the creatures of Atys. Each creature can be quartered for materials appropriate to their type. For example, a carnivorous creature may provide sharp teeth that are appropriate for spearheads, while a herbivore may have a soft skin that makes excellent light armor padding.

Foraging - The other way to get materials is to harvest them from the land through the Harvesting skill tree. Two separate actions are necessary to do this. First, you must search for material locations using his Prospecting ability, which will make nearby resource points visible. Then you must harvest one of those resource points, to gather the material.

Your actions influence the story arc. Large-scale events are organized around players' wishes to provide more entertainment.

Roleplay

A Storyline That Matters

Who are the Karavan? Why does Atys grow? Is the Great Dragon real, or only a legend? Who are Jena and Elias? Why are we here? The planet of Atys is rich in mystery, and much is left to be discovered.

Because of the collapse of civilization in the past, vast amounts of knowledge and history have been lost - only time will reveal these pieces of the story.

Events

To ensure an entertaining life on Atys, the EMs (Event Managers) regularly run events for the three communities. These can be small events lasting a few hours as well as large-scale events extended over several days or even weeks and month; they can be story-telling evenings in the bar as well as invasions of nasty creatures or marauders in different regions or multiple continents.

There are mainstream events related to the Saga of Ryzom, including the Factions and the nations Leaders, how their relationships evolve and political stakes; and "side" events that are less or not related to the Saga, such as tournaments, murder affairs, rescues, fashion shows, etc. Both large and small events may differ from one server to the other, notably depending on how the players react to what happens.

To catch up on what's happening on Atys, you can have a look at the roadmap which gives a quick overview and the Chronicles which will inform you more deeply on what happened and will occur. Another way to keep in touch is to read the Saga section of the forums, where players and GMs both post to inform on the events and discuss in a roleplay way.

Factions

Two groups as powerful and mysterious as one another seek to control the destiny of Atys. Both the Karavan and the Kamis claim to be the true guardians of the planet, both come to the aid of homins as long as they obey their rules, both are secretive about their origins and perhaps even their true intentions. For centuries now, they have followed different paths, observing one another without confrontation.

You have no choice but to live with these powerful factions around. However, you are able to choose which side you'll join and follow: the Karavan, the Kamis... or neither.

Their presence and pressure becoming more and more strong on the world, a war finally began with the Episode 2 - The Homes of the Gods, where you were able to act for your faction and erect special buildings with the help of your allies.

Steles of Valors, where are engraved the name of the best homins and guilds who participated in the construction, will remain permanently on Atys, so that everyone can remember who were the most famous ones who acted during the factions war.

The Karavan and the Kamis are rewarding those who help them. When you accomplish tasks for one faction (through missions), you gain fame with it, what will allow you to have access to more teleports. During specific events, you can also gain Honor Points, which you will be able to exchange for special rewards.

You will truly have influence on the outcome of the factions conflict, nothing is written yet, and nobody can foresee who will win!

Ryzom Ring

The Ryzom Ring (or R2) is the innovative free expansion for The Saga of Ryzom. It provides tools that allow you to access Ryzom's creatures, buildings, maps and missions to create your own events and scenarios.

Ryzom is already providing freedom to develop any skills you want and refine actions to match your own play style. Here the Ryzom Ring leaps a step further, providing unprecedented power. With the Ryzom Ring you can design and run your own adventures and even add your own landscape zones to the game world.

With Ryzom, you really get to play the way *you* want to play.

Ease of use is one of the most important features in the Ring tools. The tools are embedded directly in-game to give you a "what you see is what you get" view of the scene as you create it. Content is dragged and dropped from the palette to the scene... The number of editor windows has been kept to a minimum, and so on. Creating and running a scenario should be child's play!

Being currently in development, stay tuned and get more information on the R2 website.

Player vs. Player

Different types of PvP combat coexist in The Saga of Ryzom, and - since not everyone likes PvP - you can choose whether or not to get involved. If you are looking to engage in players combats, the game offers various possibilities: Duels, GvG, FvF and full PvP.

Duel

By challenging another player directly to a duel, you can engage in individual combat even in areas where PvP is normally not allowed. To challenge another player, right-click on him and choose "Engage Duel" from the context menu - he will receive a challenge, and if accepted, the duel will begin.

The duel will end when one player is slain, or if either of the two players abandons the duel.

Arena

You can find one arena in the Matis land, completely open PvP within its borders. As you enter it, you will receive a warning that the place has open PvP enabled, and an opportunity to turn back without being vulnerable to attack.

Outposts wars

Outside of the cities, across the four countries of Atys, exist many Outposts that give new tools to the guilds and some exciting challenges for both PvPers and crafters. Outposts are controlled by guilds, who have to fight to take them over. This brings a new dimension to PvP, with fights between armies of players.

Unique materials - Historically, Outposts are old buildings located above nexuses, which are special nodes in the depths of Atys. Their locations, strategically chosen by the Karavan and the Kamis, allow to grant access to specific raw materials through the use of a drill. By controlling an Outpost, your guild will be the only one entitled to collect these raw materials, used in the composition of unique items.

Battles - The Outposts introduce a turn-based concept of attack and defense cycles. First, the attacking guild has to declare war - compulsory stage that takes 24 hours to allow the two opponent to organize themselves and be there when the true conflict occurs. Then, within the next 24 hours after this first stage, the attack period starts and lasts 2 hours. The result of this first battle determines if a second battle - the defense battle - will occur or not. If the attacking guild won the attack period, it will then have to fight again during a defense period.

When a war has been declared to an Outpost and you pass close by, a window pops up asking whether you want to participate or not, and propose to choose your camp. If you don't want to participate, you can simply click on the "neutral" button.

Faction PvP

Once you've completed the ritual task to show your allegiance to a faction, you may want to go further in showing your devotion. For example, you may decide with your fellow engaged homins to prevent the faction enemies from entering karavaneer cities or even countries.

PvP Tag - Faction PvP (FvF) is consensual, meaning you can choose whether to participate or not. You enter faction PvP by activating the PvP Tag. Once active, you are able to kill characters from the opposite faction who have also activated their Tag. Note that to be able to activate it, you must have an allegiance. Neutral players can't participate in FvF.

Full PvP

Although you can live happily and choose not to harm any fellow homins on Atys (nor being harmed), a few underground regions are full PvP - you can potentially be killed by anyone you meet there. These regions are the most dangerous and hardest ones to reach, called the "Prime Roots" and located beneath the ground of Atys. The best materials for items creation are available only in those regions. Fierce battles between guilds or individuals can occur to ensure their harvesters gather enough of these valuable materials.

Community

Available in English, French and German, The Saga of Ryzom enjoys a friendly and mature community. The communication between developers and players is an essential component of the unceasing improvement work on the game.

A convivial and mature community

Ryzom enjoys a community of nice players, who offer their help even without being asked, most often when you start and all along your progression. As you arrive on the mainland, take the time to talk with the people you will meet, they will certainly help you get started, they will answer various questions and perhaps they will also reveal a few tips.

Make yourself a contacts and friends list, it will be of great help on Atys to find assistance at any time, hunt, place an order with crafters... You will quickly be able to join groups with a family spirit, particularly well adapted to the game mechanisms of Ryzom. However, nothing prevents you from living like a lonely hermit and feel proud about it. :)

Guilds

Guilds are a prominent element of Ryzom. They lie at the heart of the game's social aspect, they will enable you to find help more easily, and can constitute a good support for you to enter and get more involved in the complex Atysian life.

You can find a list of the game's guilds in the forum. Maybe it will help you make a choice, notably according to your game style.

Community Liaison

CL & CM teams (Community Liaison & Community Managers) ensure that you get the information concerning the game production in progress and to come, in the Development section of the website and through news, they answer your questions directly on the forums, they ask for your opinion about different features and projects of the game (still on the forums), and they pass your remarks and suggestions on directly to the Ryzom devs, in the form of reports regularly updated and debates during which the comments expressed on the forums are discussed.

This work, which has been up and running for more than a year and done simultaneously for the three communities (francophone, anglophone and germanophone), enables us to know your expectations better, which sometimes leads to the modification of our priorities of production and also their adaptation. It also enables us to modify certain features already in-game from your critics and feedback.

System Requirements

Minimal

Windows 98SE/2000/XP
Pentium III 1Ghz or equivalent
512 MB RAM
Nvidia GeForce 2 or equivalent video card with 64 MB RAM
DirectX 8 compatible Sound Card
Internet connection with 56k Modem
4x CD-Rom drive or higher
7 Gb free Hard Disk Space