Sanctuary

Object's back for another round of....obscure shit you've never heard of, this week we talk about this obscure as fuck title I probably would never have found if I didn't just happen to find a reddit post about it on /r/mmorpg

Sanctuary!

Ok so this one is unique as fuuuuuuck, but most of you probably wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole but just knowing it exists will open your mind to what exists out there.

Right now I'm attempting to patch the client so I can't give you a first hand review on the game but I can tell you what others are saying about it.

First off, let's get this out of the way because I'm sure most of you will probably say Nope as soon as this first piece of info is stated, the game is done using EQEmu, aka the Everquest 1 client, so the graphics are god awful, but the gameplay is incredibly unique so if you have the patience check it out.

http://www.playsanctuary.com/

Here is the description from the website.

We live in an age of cookie cutter games and virtual theme parks. The modern expectation for an MMO isn't a world to live in - it's a game to play in and some buttons to mash; easy and rapid bursts of dopamine. Actions aren't held accountable because everyone is self sufficient, there's never a need to socialize, never a reason to help another out. Gone are the days of forging relationships, friendships, partnerships - they have been replaced by offline auction houses and cross server dungeon queues. Immersion is a thing of the past, as you are constantly being reminded that you're playing a game: buy this, click here, follow the glowing trail to the next quest hub. Players rely on mercenaries, bots, and boxes: artificial group members, treated like robots and used solely to propel through the content as fast as possible, rushing through the journey to arrive at the destination sooner. Quest dialogue is skipped, barely skimmed through, and condensed into a single list of objectives: kill and collect, like a drone. Seek and destroy.

Sanctuary is none of those things.


We don't believe in instant gratification. For us, it's about the journey, not the destination. Our players aren't just warm bodies to fill group slots, they are people, each with their own personalities and distinctive play styles. We cater to the heart and the soul, not brute strength. To progress through the content of Sanctuary, a player will need to use strategy, cleverness, creativity. Trying to smash your way through our content will result in death and its harsh penalties. Using your mind will result in satisfying rewards with real purpose and meaning, not just a bigger number on your sword.

Things will be slow. You will start out with nothing - naked, cold, and alone. What you wear will be sewn yourself, from materials you gather yourself. There are no quest hubs... there are no tasks with clearly defined objectives for you to idly complete while you watch a movie. Your weapon, if you choose to use one, will be handcrafted from the resources of the earth. Your character will be whoever and whatever you define it to be through your chosen style of play and through your actions and decisions. You may start as an Adventurer and decide that combat isn't really for you, and you would rather spend your time crafting unique goods and selling them to the other players, happily living out your days as a Merchant. That same Adventurer may choose to be on the front lines of battle, training to be a fierce Warrior. Both of these are completely different play styles, and both are totally viable options for the same base class.

Our game is designed for a player to play one character, focusing on its growth and development, and teaming up with friends and allies when the going gets rough. We do not design our content for "boxing" multiple characters, dragging them along behind you like robot butlers, and this play style is unsupported. Players of Sanctuary will get a much more rich and fulfilling experience by choosing one main character to play and sticking with it, as there is a lot of "horizontal progression" that doesn't necessarily get reflected in numbers and stats, and trying to spread this type of progression across multiple characters at once can be underwhelming.

Player economy is vital to Sanctuary. Many tradeskill recipes are kept exclusive to certain classes, subclasses, and progression points in our world. Each player is not intended to master every tradeskill, in fact, that would be impossible. Success with tradeskills comes from choosing one or two to master, and the opportunity for fame and fortune is ripe with our complex and elaborate tradeskill system. Start simply, combining a stick and coal to make a torch, and with some time and effort, you'll be a master woodworker, crafting ornate bows from the rarest woods available.

Our world is full of exploration potential, and when encountering what seems to be a brick wall, find a way to chip away at it until you can progress. If your ideas don't work, ask a friend, as two heads are always better than one. When brute force isn't doing the job, look around for resources that may help you come up with another solution. There is never just one way to solve a problem, and solitude and isolation from the community will get you nowhere. Use what has been given to you and strategize a way to find more resources to work with.

As you're playing Sanctuary, always keep in mind that in our world, the journey is more important than the destination. Enjoy your journey, build your community, and have fun!

 

It's more then old school EQ but the UI is just so fucking clunky that it's hard for me to put any real time into it. I think Ryzom and Project Gorgon are the best old school new mmo's. Project Gorgon is very very interesting and the graphics and UI are pretty good, solid team behind it and it's been greenlit since 2014. Gorgon should be released on Steam sometime soon{tm}, devs stated a while ago that they were aiming for a december release.

 

Nostalgia glasses, some people can put them back on, some people actually see this crazy thing called progress and appreciate it (coughmecough). I like the ideas these people have but when you can build your own game using an opensource engine like Ryzom there's no good reason to use EQEmu. Hell even RPG Maker will make a half decent game, pixel graphics are better than just shitty 3d.

My honest recomendation to anyone reading this thread, go to the website http://www.playsanctuary.com/ and just read up on it. Playing it will just ruin the nice feeling you have that someone can make a unique experience. The graphics are bad but the worst part of Santuary is the UI...

I chatted with the main dev in discord and he told me the game had a horizontal progression system, so I was like "Oh ok then there's no levels right?" and he was like "Ya, we have 40 levels and then an additional AA system at max level." I'm not sure he knows what a horizontal progression system is...

My recommendations of unique and obscure mmo games to actually play are short and simple, you should try out Project Gorgon and wait for the release on steam since I will probably buy it and post a first impression here. Rokh or Rohk, w.e the name, is another title I have my eye on, and Ryzom is a title I don't really play much but when they push out big updates I hit them up again and give them my impressions directly since I'm familiar with the game director.

 

I know eh....CU isn't the same, DOAC was something special but I don't think it would have enough players to be the same as before.