Recently the No Prisoners No Mercy team was offered a chance to take a look around a new game from independent developer Quest Online called Alganon. Now it is easy to tell from our reactions to Fallen Earth that we consider ourselves champions of the cause of independent developers (And the fact that Fallen Earth is a game set in Julie’s favorite genre and has a crafting system second to none has nothing to do with it – honest). That said, let us state at the outset that this is not a review. All we have done so far is take the game out for a virtual spin and kick the tires a time or two. Still, let us set the tone of the first entry of the day by quoting our good friend R.W. Harper in an article about Alganon over at Lorewriter.com:
I have sensed a ripple in the force amongst you all and know that this usually is a prelude to the mass of trolls that are about to start screaming their unintelligible and uninformed spewage about the following
Oh great, another WoW (Everquest, Everquest2, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, Runes of Magic, Hello Kitty, Warhammer Online) clone.
You know what? I see this argument being about as pertinent as a dissertation on the variable textures and viscosity of horse dung. - R.W. Harper, Lorewriter.com (available here)
We will let you all, dear readers and listeners, go over to Lorewriter.com and read his article on the subject. What we would like to comment on is one of the first “reviews” of Alganon we came upon (and we use the word in the facetious sense for we can only surmise that was the original intent of the author). Here is an excerpt from “Eldergoth Alganon Review” by Tobold (available here)
“Alganon is a badly done clone of WoW, with very few unique selling points, and lots of bugs. There are other games, notably Runes of Magic, who do a better job of copying World of Warcraft, and which are Free2Play. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to pay a monthly fee for Alganon if even just playing the completely free part of RoM is much better. I advised the guys from Quest Online to make some radical changes, for example making the combat system much different from WoW’s, to have some distinguishing feature. Apparently they didn’t listen.” – Tobold
Even now, as we think back on Tobold’s words we can only surmise that one of several events must have taken since his original entry:
1. The game has changed so much since closed beta that it isn’t even the same game.
2. That Tobold wrote the article as an attempt at being facetious, or
3. That Tobold was delirious at the time.
Now as we have said before, we have a good deal of respect for Tobold so we will assume that the game has changed so much since closed beta that it isn’t even the same game that he originally saw. After all, if the game even vaguely resembles the game that Tobold saw we would be forced to assume that he was delirious when he wrote about Alganon. Why? Consider the following taken from the excerpt above:
“Alganon is a badly done clone of WoW” – Tobold
The main reason that we assume the game has changed so much since Tobold saw it is because if it hadn’t we would be forced to take out one of Julie’s favorite phrases for unenlightened individuals who insist and dragging out the same tired “wow clone” phrase…she calls them “Writer Clones.”
So we will assume that the game has changed remarkably since Tobold originally wrote his review. After all, if it hasn’t we would have to point out that by comparing Alganon to WoW (World of Warcraft) he wasn’t comparing apples to apples. No, if that is the case we would have to point out that it was more like he was comparing apples to thermonuclear reactors.
If it were the case that Alganon is the same game that Tobold first saw (and again we assume it is not) We would have to say something like the following:
Yes…Alganon doesn’t make a very good World of Warcraft. Then again, Julie doesn’t make a very good Janet Jackson either. But she DOES make one fantastic nun. In fact the thought of Julie doing a Janet Jackson dance singing “oh you nasty boys” brings a smile to our face. No, Alganon doesn’t make a very good WoW…
Alganon also doesn’t make a very good Aircraft Carrier Nimitz.
Alganon doesn’t make a very good particle accelerator.
Alganon doesn’t make a very good four course Turkey dinner.
Alganon doesn’t make a very good ’57 Chevy.
Alganon doesn’t make a very good tractor.
We could go on but we won’t. We think you get the point. So in the end we assume that the game that Tobold saw isn’t the same game we saw. Otherwise we might have to surmise that Tobold was delirious at the time (which is not beyond the realm of possibilities – accidents do happen).
Yes Alganon doesn’t make a very good WoW. It does, however, seem to make a very, very good game for those who enjoy Wizard 101…and that is comparing apples and apples.
More on the subject of Alganon to come later.
See you online,
The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team
There is a forthcoming, in-depth review of Fallen Earth and Alganon – as well as few others coming for LoreWriter.com. The article I placed on the site previously for Alganon was more of a preview than anything. At that time, I had just entered the game for the first time and had kicked the tires a little.
I am still playing and enjoying the game but it does have it’s share of rough edges. Still, it’s a product worthy of my support and even though it has its fair share of haters, I think it will do fine and become another solid independent title.
We couldn’t agree more.
My first impressions of Alganon are closer to what Tobold said…that is until I got passed the character creation and the first couple rooms. Honestly, upon looking at the game, it LOOKS a lot like WoW. But after you play it a bit, it is its own animal. And not a bad one at that. The only pet peeve I have is that there’s no hotkey to send my pet in to fight. I have to click the button. Unless of course I’m missing something.
Too many people refuse to consider a game or movie on it’s own merits without feeling the need to hold it up to some other product. Too few people who regale us all with reviews ever give the game a fair chance before they decide to level both barrels at it.
To me, even if some game is not my personal favorite genre that doesn’t mean that someone else won’t just love that particular type of game.
In the end, if we (the NPNM team we) write about a game or a movie our intent is to get someone else to try it…with very rare exceptions. One particular game made in Japan comes to mind and all we can say is that the developers have some serious karmic debt to pay.
Plus…if someone blasts what amounts to another person’s livelyhood, that same “reviewer” should not expect to do so with impunity. Someone (*ahem*) is likely to blast right back. And THAT is why it’s called “No Prisoners, No Mercy.”
Julie
It takes a strong belief that what you have made is good enough and strong enough to be able to stand on its own.
I’ve had that belief since the first day I started at QOL. I was amazed by the caliber of the product and the talent behind it. That type of belief in the pure quality of one’s product is what gets you through days where is seems everyone is in the mood to give you a black eye for even daring to try.
We’ve had our share of “black eye’s” since the launch of Alganon but if people looked a bit closer they’d see that we have a smile fixed on our faces. We aren’t discouraged because we know we have a great product and a great community.
Our feeling of worth comes from knowledge that we’ve built (and are continuing to build) a game that our players enjoy.
@Tork
I feel you have a great game on your hands. Keep pressing on! I’m thoroughly enjoying the time I’ve spent in the beta. =)
Also, it’s AWESOME to see someone involved with the game actually going out and commenting about it. It shows that you really do care about the community and the views that customers and potential customers have about your product. That, sir, speaks highly of you and the company. It seems like nowadays not enough development companies care about their fans/future fans. I can see Alganon following in the footsteps of Fallen Earth in that department. Major props!
I have got to tell you that I thought Tobold was right when I first started the game. Once I got past the starting area and really took a look at the rest of the game I realized he must not have played the game very long. You know I am glad that I decided to give this game a fair chance. Now I am a subscriber having alot of fun.
Sister Julie great post as usual.
Nice to see you employing a bit of journalistic impartiality which Tobold seemed to have left at home on the day of his review.
Keep up the good work, I’m a long time listener to you and Sister Fran.. I think it’s actually all of the NPNM podcasts, and a long time reader of your posts over at VW.
Glad to see you found Alganon, dropped my WoW account for a bit of fun there and enjoying it despite the “rough edges”
@ soupdragon: As R.W. Harper’s article says there may be a few rough edges but show me a newly launched game that doesn’t have one and I will show you someone who is lieing about a newly launched game without rough edges.
The artwork is great, and I enjoy the game play. I am also very interested to see where they go with their new dawning.
Julie