After just 10 days, the Kickstarter campaign for the new sandbox MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria (CoE) has already reached its goal of $900,000. According to the developers from Soulbound Studios, every additional cent will now serve to achieve the stretch goals. The upcoming MMORPG promises to do things differently and sets itself apart not only from theme park but also from many sandbox MMOs of past years.
They will announce a small number of new features – including “Mounted Combat” – which had to be removed to meet the previous funding goal. However, they mainly want to use the additional money to reward the backers by increasing the bonuses of existing tiers. The goal is to avoid the “Feature Creep“ of other games in order to accelerate production and improve quality.
But what is the latest hope of many sandbox RPG players about?
A World Full of Features – The Most Important Things at a Glance
Chronicles of Elyria aims to be more than just the typical fantasy sandbox of the last 10 years, where it was all about bashing each other’s skulls. Elyria offers the first attempt at a “simulated” sandbox world.
This is how CoE is supposed to be the first MMORPG where your character can age and die. But don’t worry, because your character has an immortal soul, which can continue to exist as your own child or grandchild.
You don’t just play a single “hero”, but you play an entire bloodline / family of small and large “heroes”. This can be created at the beginning of the game and then expanded into your own dynasty by increasing their power and wealth. It goes so far that, according to the developers, you will be able to found your own kingdom if you don’t choose the simple life of a craftsman or adventurer. The choice is entirely up to the player.
The world into which your character is born consists at the start of just one continent. However, it is said to be so large that it will take 48 hours to travel from one end to the other. Additionally, the world is characterized by its unique dynamics, which includes, among other things, the changing of weather and seasons, as well as the ability for players to discover and map new areas themselves.
It was also relatively clear to the developers early on that they want to integrate the game’s housing into the open game world instead of banishing it to special instances, as known from games like Lotro. This way, the players’ buildings will become part of the game world and allow players to continue interacting with the world, rather than isolating them from it.
Moreover, the houses are not only supposed to look beautiful, but also have practical uses, as the game is also supposed to feature “survival aspects” such as hunger, thirst, cold, and fatigue, which can be particularly well satisfied in one’s own house.
Just as dynamic as the world should also be the active combat system according to the developers, where timing, speed, and strategy are key. One must dodge attacks, parry blows, and pay attention to the character’s stamina to avoid meeting an untimely end.
Overall, in all areas of the game, the focus should be less on equipment and more on the skill and knowledge of the player, which also applies to crafting, where recipes for items must first be discovered by players before they can then be created in a form of mini-game and sold by merchants.
This player-driven economic system, the limited availability of resources, and the fact that not only weapons and armor, but the entire world including its buildings is destructible, ensures constant changes in the game world. Local or regional conflicts can arise, in which every player has the chance to influence the course of history.
Story Without Quests?
The heart of the game is supposed to be the quest system, where players are supposed to assign tasks to other players. For the developers attempt to move away from the traditional quest system of classic MMOs in Chronicles of Elyria concerning “story and events”:
“Are you tired of killing 20 rabbits that are destroying a farmer’s harvest while seeing 50 other characters doing the same quest? We are ditching NPC quest hubs by enabling other players to issue tasks.”
An example could be an alchemist who is missing reagents and hires another player to bring him 10 elixirs from a faraway town. Another example could be a baron hiring mercenaries to capture the robbers from the nearby forest. Or an assassin being hired to murder the king. For all this, the game’s own contract system can be used to ensure the completion of the task.
Additionally, the developers are also relying on their in-house story engine called Proteus, whose AI is supposed to monitor events in the game and respond accordingly. For example, if players acquire a lot of wealth, kill another player, or discover a new continent, the AI should weave a story around that.
The PvP System – More Sandbox and Less Slaughterhouse!
In the game, two types of fighting and killing must be distinguished – on the one hand, legal killing with “Casus Belli”, such as wars, self-defense, and duels, and on the other hand, the senseless murder of innocents.
If you do commit a crime such as murder or theft, your face will quickly appear on a wanted poster. This makes visiting cities no longer straightforward and you could end up in prison, which basically means a loss of play and life time and therefore also money. A system that is supposed to prevent players from senselessly attacking each other even though they theoretically could – at least that’s what the developers hope.
If players nevertheless engage in baseless attacks, another mechanism comes into play that aims to significantly reduce griefing. It ensures that victims can only lose life energy once within a two-hour lifetime after their death. Additionally, player killers will ultimately lose more life energy upon their own death than their innocent victims. The more notorious the character, the higher the penalty.
To ensure all this works as planned, the developers want to keep a close eye on the live servers. If too few illegal activities are detected and hardly any players are punished, they plan to adjust. Because the team aims for the number of “criminals” to not exceed 10% to 20% of the total population.
A Mix of Personal Skills and Abilities
The days are over when you just watched your character perform skills and waited for bars to fill from left to right when crafting. Because in Chronicles of Elyria, your own reflexes and good hand-eye coordination as well as your dexterity will play a significant role in how good your character ultimately is and how quickly you can improve.
In fights, especially important is the knowledge of how to swing your sword correctly and timing it right to breach the opponent’s defense. And if you want to craft a more powerful item, you will also need a certain level of dexterity, which does not only depend on the character’s skills. It is rather a combination of the character’s stats and your own skill. A detailed representation can be found in our article about the skill system.
Who Dies More Often Dies Sooner – Facts & Rumors about the Payment System
When we presented the payment system of Chronicles of Elyria in January, where players must pay more after the “permadeath” of their character to continue playing with a new character, there was much discussion in our comments and many misunderstandings arose. We want to clarify those today.
Characters age and die after a maximum of 80 to 120 in-game years (Ø 100) due to old age. This corresponds to an average of one year in real-time. Additionally, characters can also succumb to their ‘wounds.’ Because every ‘real death’ in the game costs the character life energy, which reduces their life – and thus playtime.
However, this is not always final, as characters usually first become unconscious and only die if you deliver the death blow. This is especially important in PvP, as NPCs and mobs usually do not do this.
A new “Sparks of Life”, which allows you to continue playing with your character’s heir, is expected to cost around 30 USD. When broken down to a monthly rate, players pay between 2.50 USD and 10 USD per month, depending on the situation.
In addition to “Sparks of Life”, there should also be “Story Points”. These are awarded to players who play a decisive role in the area of “Story & Events” in the game, that is powerful kings, famous generals, and notorious brigands, who due to their role in the game also die more often. These should be exchangeable for “Sparks of Life” to unlock new playtime.
The plan is to start the closed alpha at the end of 2016, aiming to enter the early access phase in the first or second quarter of 2017. The official release is expected for the third quarter of 2017.
Interesting: 5 things that Chronicles of Elyria does differently than other MMORPGs
