Why is Rift special to you?

I wrote this post on my blog this afternoon http://wp.me/p14wSe-3h lol I'm just kinda curious what other folks think make Rift special or what is it that stands out to them about it.

So, I think for me what makes Rift so special. It nails its core game play mechanics and then it takes a bunch of ideas and features from other games, that were great ideas and refines them and puts its own unique twist on them. Agreed. I think this blending of the familiar with a couple of unique things thrown in (souls, rifts), all combined in a polished package, has great potential.

The dynamic events, not knowing when or where something is going to happen. And the soul system, all of the variety of playstyles each class can have.

Two things set Rift apart in my oppinion (well, 2.5 really) Thing 1) The Trion team. They have been awesome with their involvement with the players/testers. Thing 2) Dynamic content. Rifts and Invasions are just the tip of the iceberg. I expect a LOT more of the game to switch from static to dynamic over time. Thing 2.5) The Community. It has been very refreshing to be part of a mostly mature, mostly polite community where we could have heated discussions without insults. In the past two weeks, it's degraded a LOT, hence my waffle. If Trion can get control during live, and I think they can, it can be great.

What makes it special for me is that it seems more like an actual world than a series of gated areas strung together for the purpose of leveling. At first it didn't feel that way, but when I reached Gloamwood, my jaw dropped. My background isn't in computers and I never played computer games when I was younger (before 1995). I have always been a huge fan of theater, though I have no acting talent of my own. I started with The Realm because I was working at Juilliard and the American Ballet Theatre at the time (in costuming) and my mind was blown at the idea of another world that one could step into and essentially become someone else. Then came UO, which was even more of the same. From there I moved onto DAoC, which took a lot of getting used to because suddenly I had to deal with levels and being excluded from things because I wasn't level 50. Unfortunately Then I realized that level-based games were here to stay. *glares at Brad McQuaid* And WoW made it so nothing else would succeed. *shakes fist at Blizzard* So yes, while it is imperfect, I feel that Telara is showing me another world simply because it is so interactive. And I also love the storylines, let me not forget that! In a way I feel like I'm coming home. Though it's very much like coming home to your parent's house after a few decades away and finding the ceilings far lower and the rooms much smaller than you always thought they were. And the Trion team inspires me to have so much faith in them. That certainly cannot be ignored.

» Edited on: 2011-02-04 09:17:52

A lot of people are complaining that Rift reminds them too much of other games - I'm actually revelling in that, because it has elements of other games which I am happy to see brought together. The general layout, look and palette remind me of my best times in LOTRO. The class trees remind me of what I liked about character building in Age of Conan, but with a massive increase in flexibility. So, if some say Rift "reminds" them of other games in the genre, I say, well, yeah, it does. But it has everything I LIKED about all those other games, in a single title, and with promises of more to come. What's wrong with looking over the fantasy MMO menu, seeing all the stuff that works, and making one that actually puts all the good parts in one game? Not a thing wrong, I say!