Asheron's Call

The Good
At the time I started playing Asheron's Call was around 1999 during the public beta. I remember getting a game magazine at walmart and it had a article about a new game that was being developed and it came with a public beta version of Asheron's Call. I had never played a MMORPG before so popped it in and started playing. The game was interesting as the details were unlike most games, it made the world seem real and the characters and interface were very friendly, fast paced and the game made you feel like you had a lot of freedom and control in a 3rd person view.

I remember going into towns and there would be so many people chatting or trading, towns were very busy and lively. The quests were fun and dungeons were good as well. The monarch system was interesting as well as the fellowship system for sharing XP. Also I think Asherons Call had a very unique system of weapons and armor. Gameplay was a definite plus.

Perhaps my favorite feature while playing Asherons Call was the PK server Darktide. Asherons Call had a PVP system that should be aknowledged and incorporated into other games. First of all in Darktide you could kill or be killed at anywhere at anytime, you were never safe except for when you were respawning after being killed by another PK which you had 5 minutes to turn red again. You could lose your loot or loot others which made the game challenging and competitive. Perhaps the most unique about Darktide was that everything was based on a "trust" relationship and forming alliances and knowing people. I can recall many times when I was a newbie being killed by level 50's for no reason and it was a harsh existance. It's a shame very few games actually have the balls to do the same as AC did with the risk factor.

The Bad
There were a few minor annoyances, lag was always a huge issue, over the period AC has been out the population has dropped from thousands and thousands to sometimes a few hundred players. My biggest complaint was not necessarily the housing but rather mansions, when guilds were allowed to have mansions it wasn't so much a big deal until mansion recall was added. Most people left the towns in the game to sit at the mansions. Other problems were macroers and XP chains which caused people to level rather fast, also as a result many new players are discouraged which doesn't leave a bright future for AC.

The Bottom Line
It was an excellent game in it's prime, but now the magic has somewhat disappeared. It's still enjoyable to a degree especially darktide if you want a challenge, but don't expect those once populated towns or large groups of people to go on quests or hunting with you like the old days.