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We've noted Tabula Rasa's fastpaced tactical combat style in earlier previews, but Garriott emphasizes that the traditional trading of blows while keeping a sharp eye on your health, shortcut bars, and not much else is just not great gaming. Tabula's new combat system, he hopes, will set new standards for the future, and really immerse players in the world rather than in their UI.

His thoughts on instancing begin from the idea that in an MMO there is no way to feel like you've really won the game. In singleplayer RPGs you are the one true hero and you thwart evil when you beat the game. To bring that sense of accomplishment into the MMO space, Tabula Rasa provides instances, but rather than have them be just private slogs over the more traditional communal slogs, each one will be handcrafted and not just another generic cave.

For...instance, a big part of our handson session involved running through a highlevel power station. The mission was to shut down a huge generator that powered many Bane facilities. Destroying security cams (which cause extra spawns if they find you) and avoiding contact alarms along the way, we ventured in to find the original team sent on this job. They failed and were being held captive, but once released they were able to set up teleporters and hold down the area we had already cleared, assisting us as we plowed our way to victory.
Garriott's interest in putting ethical parables into games started way back in Ultima IV. From the way he talks about his approach to designing games, by creating a rich world backdrop (with research put into it about everything from evolution to ancient Chinese) and then using that to tell relevant contemporary stories, it's obvious he wants players to identify with their characters. Players can expect to use the cloning system not only to experience all of the different classes and builds of the game, but also to experiment with different mission options.

We already knew that players could make copies of their characters, but we've learned that they will all be siblings  a character with a new look and new first name (since last names are kept static on the account for player reputation purposes), but keeping the missions completed and reputation up to that point. Obviously your inventory won't clone, but accounts are equipped with a footlocker to shuttle items between sibs.

Although the crafting and PvP systems have been under wraps until now, their uncovering wasn't really any kind of big reveal. It all seems to be fairly standard fare. There are machines in the bases where players can bring salvage to craft. Some items make themselves available immediately, while others need some time to percolate. Both crafting items and recipes you find as drops, although you can buy certain common things from NPCs.
The game, at its core, is PvE  no evil Bane players at the moment but there will be a system incorporated to fight with friends. Duels, party feuds, and clan wars are all possible and factioncontrolled planet bases are under consideration for future expansions.

Our handson session started with the creation of Mikhail Hamski, our very own noob. The first thing we noticed (aside from the constant mouselook) is that the game really is an open battlefield. Garriott says that even though the newbie base sites won't fall according to the program, he still wants a feeling of danger, regardless and we could definitely feel it. One of the first missions was taking back a base, and the fighting was hectic. With guns firing every which way, it was all we could do to toss out few shots while running for some sort of cover. Our reticule indicated with a color and direction whether we were taking full or partial damage and two bars in the lower left represented our shields and health. Having conquered the base, NPCs flooded in to take up residence and new missions became available.

One of these was to find a cave housing a logos symbol. Not only are the logos an actual readable language (the excel sheet on Garriott's computer has 23,000 symbols) created to be an integral part of the game (here's hoping for a chat font for the truly elite), they are also the key to your special powers. Finding the first unlocks a handy lightning attack, which you can level up along with your other skills and attributes as you progress. Thus equipped, we continued onto our first real town, with Foreans sending us off to hunt scary pigs, blast our way through waves of enemy soldiers, and eventually locate more logos.
As exciting as it is, this new system takes some getting used to. Not looking at your UI is all well and good until you realize you're dead for ignoring your health bar. Once you quit forgetting that you're mortal, it can still be tricky to survive the hordes that just keep coming down the roads, and while the sticky targeting system works, it's sometimes hard to tell where your target is in the fray. It's the summer of tweaking, though; with the beta in gear the kinks should get ironed out.

Richard Garriott's attempt to rethink the genre fundamentally is finally almost ready. A clean slate for MMO design? We'll keep you posted. 
 
 

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