Graalians - View Single Post - Make GraalOnline Classic more like Graal Classic.

Rufus · 09-16-2011

While carrying out one of my yearly explore-old-level-pack rituals I realized that Graal Classic still has a lot of charm. Even in the current "under construction" version Graal Classic there's something cheering about the attention to detail, the effort that has gone into telling stories there. Yeah, I did just say that. You see though, what we play on is GraalOnline Classic. Our "charm-factor" is limited to exploring random guild pictures in the middle of Graal City, but I've got a Facebook for that!

I may upset some people by saying this, they may even never view the forums for its administrator having such extreme views, but GraalOnline Classic needs to go back to its roots. People respond well to the Classic of old because it insisted upon itself, its characters, its adventure. What do we have here? A bolstering of staff egos, a disregard for the past, a world that is vastly becoming a mess, and absolutely no adventure. So what's my improvement for the future? Well I've got a few!

Use Graal Classic as a starting point for the world you're trying to create, but please don't try to change its style. Graal Classic has unique mannerisms that should be applied throughout all of the content. What we have is a mix of styles from 2004 onwards, and just so you know, they don't actually look good. This is not just about stylistic choice however. When I walk around the current server the development seems lazy and rushed. Treetops that aren't using setimgpart and therefore are blatent images, random trees on cliffs that doesn't look right at all, fences bundled up in positions that no humans would ever put them, random land areas completely blocking you from walking into them, it goes on. C'mon guys, it really isn't that hard.
Expand and reward exploration. There were like 324891 secret areas in Graal Classic. Some of them rewarded you with small gifts, while others were just there because they were cool. We have three areas that do this now, and it didn't take an entire town release to sneak them in for people to enjoy. This is just the very beginning of implementing a sense of adventure into the server, but it really does.
Introduce characters with personality and give them dialogues that make sense. You've got 5 characters around the MoD area (lol north Graal City on iPhone) that discuss Zorbis, but it wasn't until yesterday that a Zorbi was in the area. People noticed this too, just like how they gravitate around Bernart in Onett, how they all started asking where Avalon is when a girl started talking about it, and everyone seems to find the RPS locations asap. Adding characters make the world feel like the world, and if these characters are suggesting things that are to come or are part of a quest then all the better. This does not mean adding an NPC of your character however. There are so many characters from old Classic that were removed for no reason. Some guys returned as RPS vendors, and was there really any harm in that as opposed to using the outfits of staff or players? NOPE.

So yeah, that. I'm not going to say things like "quests!" because they're all pretty obvious. However, I feel what I've outlined are just completely disregarded when things are developed on this server and I'd like to see it change.

09-16-2011	1
Rufus Registered rufp4 Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 3,378	Make GraalOnline Classic more like Graal Classic. While carrying out one of my yearly explore-old-level-pack rituals I realized that Graal Classic still has a lot of charm. Even in the current "under construction" version Graal Classic there's something cheering about the attention to detail, the effort that has gone into telling stories there. Yeah, I did just say that. You see though, what we play on is GraalOnline Classic. Our "charm-factor" is limited to exploring random guild pictures in the middle of Graal City, but I've got a Facebook for that! I may upset some people by saying this, they may even never view the forums for its administrator having such extreme views, but GraalOnline Classic needs to go back to its roots. People respond well to the Classic of old because it insisted upon itself, its characters, its adventure. What do we have here? A bolstering of staff egos, a disregard for the past, a world that is vastly becoming a mess, and absolutely no adventure. So what's my improvement for the future? Well I've got a few! Use Graal Classic as a starting point for the world you're trying to create, but please don't try to change its style. Graal Classic has unique mannerisms that should be applied throughout all of the content. What we have is a mix of styles from 2004 onwards, and just so you know, they don't actually look good. This is not just about stylistic choice however. When I walk around the current server the development seems lazy and rushed. Treetops that aren't using setimgpart and therefore are blatent images, random trees on cliffs that doesn't look right at all, fences bundled up in positions that no humans would ever put them, random land areas completely blocking you from walking into them, it goes on. C'mon guys, it really isn't that hard. Expand and reward exploration. There were like 324891 secret areas in Graal Classic. Some of them rewarded you with small gifts, while others were just there because they were cool. We have three areas that do this now, and it didn't take an entire town release to sneak them in for people to enjoy. This is just the very beginning of implementing a sense of adventure into the server, but it really does. Introduce characters with personality and give them dialogues that make sense. You've got 5 characters around the MoD area (lol north Graal City on iPhone) that discuss Zorbis, but it wasn't until yesterday that a Zorbi was in the area. People noticed this too, just like how they gravitate around Bernart in Onett, how they all started asking where Avalon is when a girl started talking about it, and everyone seems to find the RPS locations asap. Adding characters make the world feel like the world, and if these characters are suggesting things that are to come or are part of a quest then all the better. This does not mean adding an NPC of your character however. There are so many characters from old Classic that were removed for no reason. Some guys returned as RPS vendors, and was there really any harm in that as opposed to using the outfits of staff or players? NOPE. So yeah, that. I'm not going to say things like "quests!" because they're all pretty obvious. However, I feel what I've outlined are just completely disregarded when things are developed on this server and I'd like to see it change.