At the end of July, the online game known as Selective Multiplayer RPG Shroud of the Avatar will go live. However, it is far from finished.
Today, May 26, Release 30 kicks off, which brings several new features. Among them is another revision of the combat system. While Release 29 already reworked the fights and introduced active targeting, they are now backtracking due to some criticism from the community.
Target Locking is being reintroduced – but only optionally. So if you don’t want to aim actively, you select your target and keep it in sight permanently, just as is known from other MMOs – and this development seems to be indicative of the whole game.
How a game can change
Let’s look back at the Kickstarter campaign from 2013. During this campaign, Shroud of the Avatar was announced. The description promised an epic story that could also be experienced offline. Quests were supposed to have an impact on the hero and the game world. Those who wished could experience the story together with friends or even play in an open online mode where Shroud of the Avatar would be played similar to a sandbox MMORPG. The 3D overworld map was supposed to offer many encounters with wandering NPCs and monsters. The user interface was minimal in the first videos and seemed innovative.
Fast forward to 2016, just before the game goes live. Shroud of the Avatar plays like a social hub. Players build their houses and decorate them. They own their own towns that they can manage. They can hold Gustball tournaments, dance, and grind – all online. The offline mode mentioned so prominently in 2013 offers the same as the online mode, only that you are alone in the world. Quests are standard and revolve around bringing things from A to B or finding NPCs and talking to them. The missions are not particularly complex, which is partly due to the fact that many players complained when, in one of the early quests, they had to search for a key to the city gate, and found it too complicated.
Tasks also have no impact on the game world. Everything plays out as one knows it from other theme park MMORPGs. Everyone completes the same quests. Everyone saves the missing girl. The 3D overworld map offers no encounters with wandering NPCs or monsters. The user interface, with its many windows, floating texts, numbers, and bars, resembles that of many other MMOs.
Shroud of the Avatar has changed. The original innovative concept is increasingly transforming into that of a standard MMORPG. But do we still need an MMO that plays like every other one?
It is still being developed
The online game is not “finished” yet, and according to the developers, it won’t be for a long time. However, the live operation is for many the beginning of the game, as there will be no more wipes. The release of Episode 1 is planned for the end of the year. Can so much still be improved and changed in the remaining months, when even now the combat system is being continually revised?
Perhaps the changes that the game has undergone since the Kickstarter campaign are exactly what the players want. Because Shroud of the Avatar is being developed together with the community. There seems to be a strong interest in making the game a standard MMORPG. Perhaps the original concept was too ambitious. Because many game mechanics of an MMORPG are not compatible with those of a single player RPG, and vice versa. How can the feeling of a single player RPG arise if the game plays and feels like an MMORPG? The question can be turned around as well.
Success with the MMO aspect
Shroud of the Avatar has never had an easy stand, solely because of its innovative and ambitious concept. It seems to be becoming clear that this idea is anything but easy to implement and the developers are faced with a problem.Other magazines see it this way now too, as skepticism is slowly growing whether the game can truly be successful. And perhaps it can only be if they focus on a specific aspect and do not try to cater to everyone. And that could be the MMO aspect, as Shroud of the Avatar currently plays exactly like that, and it apparently resonates well with the fans.
