Tabula Rasa

For those who love FPS and MMO's this could be the game for you. So far it's been interesting. Fun would mean that I found it enjoyable and while it is a wonderful concept the actually "playing" of the game is a bit of an odd animal.

Mouse view is permanently on. While this is normal for a FPS, it's exceedingly annoying for an MMO. Not being able to use your mouse to click on items or NPCs is difficult to over come for the die hard MMO player. Being forced to use key commands and hot keys is not very friendly to the new gamer.

The graphics are beautiful. The world of Tabula Rasa is amazing. There should be a way to zoom in the camera view with the mouse wheel. The lighting could be tweaked and the contrast between mobs and the camouflage of the out doors could be varied a bit more. It is a bit memory intensive during game play and the loading time is sluggish. Other than that it's an awful lot like the graphics of Guild Wars. It's very pretty.

There has been no PvP with the beta so I'm hesitant to assume how it will play out though I'm thinking it's going to interact the same as any PvP server of an MMO. No safe grounds. Leveling and minding your own buisness? Watch out for those griefers. I could be wrong about this assumption and I wish they'd give us the chance to try it out before the game goes live.

The questing system is great if lacking in the amount of quests offered. What is offered is very detailed and often quite amusing. Some of the quests are based on moral decisions which I find refreshing in today's gaming world. It really gives the player another level of immersion with the game.

The crafting system is not fully in place but what I can see, it's very promising. Being able to upgrade weapons and armor early on with useful crafting recipe drops. Being able to craft ammo and job items is going to be very neat.

All in all, Tabula Rasa is showing much promise to being the game that brings together the world of gamers. No longer will there be the Counter Strike punks and the Geeky Dragon Slaying MMO players. In this new world they will be able to join as one and usher in a new era of gaming.