Customer Reviews

Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa Collectors Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

From the official website:

To the Tabula Rasa Community,

Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we've achieved that goal. Tabula Rasa has some unique features that make it fun and very different from every other MMO out there. Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn't performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for.

So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009.

Before we end the service, we'll make Tabula Rasa servers free to play starting on January 10, 2009.

We can assure you that through the next couple of months we'll be doing some really fun things in Tabula Rasa, and we plan to make staying on a little longer worth your while. For more details about what we are doing for Tabula Rasa players, please click here.

Stay tuned for more information. We thank you for your loyal support of the game and encourage you to take us up on the benefits we're offering Tabula Rasa players.

The Tabula Rasa Team

I have to say after leaving WoW(Two year subscriber)to play the Alpha through to launch of Tabula Rasa, and I'm damn happy I did. This MMO is how Sci-Fi is done, and the boredom of the traditional grind in an MMO is just not there. The adrenaline of running across an ACTIVE battlefield is amazing, and get this they have ACTIVE EVENTS also. Not just static and stagnant NPCs, monsters, and missions. I am very pleased that General British has finally brought some fresh and cool to the MMO arena.

Do yourself a favor and give it a taste and make sure you get the Collectors Set for teh goodies. It was worth every damn penny. Remember to run fast, stay low, wear armor, and if it isn't shoulder-mounted it's not big enough. ;)

See you on the battlefield soldier!!!

Be careful, look at what other players are saying about the game before you buy.

You may be interested in the fan board at vnboards.[...]. Here you will find a mix of player comments but even the rosiest assessments include statements about the game not yet being finished.

On the positive side there is a lot to like and there is fun to be had right out of the gate. Some of the quests are clever, the classes are interesting, and the environment is exciting. They introduce some evolutionary steps such as being able to clone your character so you don't have to repeat as much content in order to try another class. They also don't force you to make any character breaking decisions before you know better. There are more things to like than I have mentioned you should try the game and see for yourself.

On the down side as some players are remarking the game is shallow, there isn't much content. Some say there is only enough to keep a person interested for one or two months. My personal experience was the same, it was fun for 1 month but not enough there to keep the game interesting after that.

There are plenty of bugs though none that will stop you from playing there are some that will interrupt your progress towards goals. One quest may lead to others so when you can't complete one you don't get to the others, nor the rewards. It can be frustrating to work on a quest for some time searching for an answer or something you may have overlooked but only later find this is not one you can complete because it is bugged. The bugs unfortunately put enough doubt in your mind you might give up on clever quests that aren't bugged just because you eventually come to suspect it.

Worse the support for the game is lacking. If you petition your problem and it is a "known bug" they may not respond to you at all. The way you can find if it is a known bug is to read pages of patch notes.

Crafting is very weak, three is no housing or any way for you to make a lasting mark on the world. This is not a PvP centric game, people seeking PvP will likely not find what they want here.

Bottom line, if you have some tolerance and patience, you will have a lot of fun for a month or two. After that you can let your subscription lapse and wait for fixes and additional content. This game can potentially be great someday.

Where to start, well this game is by far one of the most unique MMO's ever... Being a veteran gamer (Everquest, World of Warcraft, and City of Heroes to name a few) this game takes a very fresh and innovative approach to massively multiplayer online games...

The collector's edition is a must if you're a player who feels you want to have everything with extra mustard... Comes with a letter from General British, nice little touch, packaging is fantastic, and gives you a sense of military sci-fi attitude of this game. Also included a coin, dogtags, nice full color field manual, and some cardboard maps. In game you get a neat little robot pet, and a fancy emote that you can show off with.

Now on to the actual game itself, first and foremost this isn't a lowest denominator game such as World of Warcraft where it's designed for the most casual gamer to play. Not trying to sound smarmy to all you WoW players but this game isn't as user friendly... but I feel this is a huge positive... let me explain, the controls is a cross between Halo and WoW... you running around fighting first person shooter style while being in a real time Massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

People who feel challenged by the controls of WoW will feel at sea in this game, but if you are a person who enjoys first person shooters and also RPGs (or either or) you will love this game. On the surface you have an action sci-fi universe with some serious layers of story. Your are on a mission to save humanity by fighting this evil alien race called the Bane. Meanwhile your learning about an ancient alien race called the Eloh who are an answer to threat, the Bane.

On to the negative. There is some serious learning curves if you are not a serious a gamer, but that can be ok, if this genre is your thing, you will enjoy the tutorial, and will come out knowing the basics. The game went live with a few minor set backs, such as no "auction house"... Developers have made it clear that this is in the works in the near future, also crafting in this game is very counter intuitive. There is nothing in the game as, a tutorial to show or introduce how this works... It's actually not very complicated butt, with not actually explanation I know personally I had to go to a third party website to find how to craft things.

Hence my rating of 4 stars, minus these few things which I feel confident they address in later updates, this game would have gotten 5 stars from me.

First of all, this is a collectors edition done right. This baby is packed with goodies. A poster, glossy index card maps of zones, a giant sized full color instruction book, dog tags, giant coin, making of DVD, trials of other NC games and more. Best of all, you get a special floating robo dog pet, two special emotes ( thumbs up and wierd blue energy thing) and custom dyes for armor.

TR is an excellent game, but its not for everyone. It's a bit more straightfoward and not quite as "meaty". This is partially due to a release that was a few months to early. Rumor has it the publisher forced them to release it abit early. But Garriot and his crew have done a great deal of work to release all the content people were expecting at launch like crafting, and auction houses. This is NOT another vanguard. The game is great as it stand right now. But I predict even more amazing things in the months to come.
Judging it competely as it stands now, its an excellent FPS MMO. Think of it almost like a MMO version of Battlefield 2142. You run around in an over the shoulder view aka Gears of War and blast the evil insect alien races that have pushed humanity off of Earth. There are NPC allies everywhere you fight alongside you (even if they dont do much) giving you the feeling of being involved in a large war effort.
Theres a great deal of unique features in TR, like not choosing a class in the beginning but instead choosing a specialization as you level, being able to clone yourself so you dont have to start over to play a different class and other cool stuff.
This is not a PVP focused game but it IS there. You can challenge someone to a duel ( like in WOW). But more interesting is the clan warefare. Where your clan (guild) can challenge another clan to battle. If they accept all clan members can KOS all other members of the other clan for 7 days. At the end kills are automatically tallied up and a victor is declared. In the future the developers have said clans will each have a passive buff, and when they war with each other; the winning clan takes the losers buff and you can have many types which stack. In essence giving a reason to have clan warefare in a PVP type similar to base raids in City of Villains/Heroes.

To put it as simply as possible, if you want to play a sci/fi shooter based MMO that is more focused on combat. Play TR. If you like slower gameplay, with lots of social stuff, playing the market, just want to craft, etc. then this game probably isnt for you.

As recent as the last 3 months this game has been floating around in my head I could not remeber the title, so I ask my son. From the description he knew immediately which game I was referring to,
Tabula Rasa. I watch the trailers on YouTube and it all came back to me why I was impress with this game plus I was looking for something to fill gap of CoH/CoV/Going Rogue build out. After I recieved the package (Tabula Rasa the Limited Collection Edition), I proceeded learn the history of the game and watch the special DVD to tell of the design team, backdrop of the game and a few comments from Richard Garriott himself. By now the tension was building to a feverish pitch, I loaded the game to my computer and notice the bandwidth dropped immediately so I uninstalled the game. Nearly an hour later I delivered the devastating blow to me the main server for the game was no longer supported (ergo the low cost of ownership. I found a group on Facebook dedicated to creating a private server for Tabula Rasa (Let's Create A Private Server For Tabula Rasa!). I hope this comes about, I would real love to play this MMORPG.

After a couple of years of WOW, a few months of LOTRO and a year of Hellgate:London, I wanted to take the time to tell people what an immersive experience Tabula Rasa is. You have the illusion of being in an massive intersteller war. The combat is first rate. The scenery is breath-taking and the plotlines are deep and many. And don't get me going on the weapons. MUCH fun. Only HGL has as many fun guns and toys with which to blow things up. Love the way you can lose installations from being overrun by the Bane. Sometimes this prevents you from completing your mission as your NPC is on the base. Its fun assaulting it and trying to take it back, but bring some friends.

I'm not a crafter, but for crafting I hear there is even a risk of destroying your gear if you do not put enough points into crafting and try something complex. Sounds like RL to me.

Lord British did one HELL of a job with this game. My son and I play all the prev mentioned online games together and we've had a blast running around the shattered battlefield striking terror into the hearts of our enemies. Interface is flexible and first rate.

We both run a nVidia 8800GT card (non SLI'd) and a low-end Dual Core intel CPU on our gaming rigs with no problems. All the bells and whistles are full up and play smooth as glass.

Had an issue with a quest completing and the GM got back with me inside of 15 min and resolved it. The only disappointment I've had is I hear the Strat Guide is not very up to date so I use the fan sites to help me in the places I can't figure out on my own.

We got the collectors edition and love all the extras. Well worth the money - ESPECIALLY at the uber low price Amazon sells it for. To stay in our monthly gaming budget we only subscribe to two games at a time. After almost 3 years, we're finally dropping WOW!

I'm SO grateful to finally have a great online game to play that is NOT fantasy. Love sword and sorcery - just burned out on it. Time for Science Fiction fun. And the name of ours for a while is going to be Tabula Rasa.

This was a great game when it existed. Sadly, service for this game shut down in Feb 2009

This game is a blast. (Litterally.) The graphics are great the pace is fast, the learning curve isn't bad.

Battles are truly epic. (Especially around contested control points.) Very well done and fun.

The Collectors Edition is the way to go. The Guide and the Maps are first rate, but the real kicker in the game is the Boo-Bot. You can think of it as just something to look at or let people know you spent more for the Collector's edition, but you are missing the real use of it. In a Squad situation if the guy on point has one then it is easier to follow your point man. In a serious battle everyone can rally to the Bot, so you can get back together. It is a quick indicator as to where to go in the usual clutter of a battlefield.

Overall Tabula Rasa is a fun game.

Graphically it's nice

Story wise it's great

Game play innovative and fun

Sound is nice

Only problem is there is a lot that needs work, a tremendous amount. As of 1.3 one area (mires) has been completely unplayable at peak times and nearly unplayable at off hours. This is being addressed in the next patch as well many other issues. Unfortunately even when 1.4 comes out (for a frame of reference when reading this review) there is still a great deal of things that the development team needs to work on.

Levels 1-30 makes for a few weeks more or less of great fun! You get your guns, run First Person Shooter Style, sniping, shot gunning and using logos abilities to complete a variety of missions and instances.

I felt this was worth my money.

End game still has nothing at this point. Hit 50 and then move on until they add things for you to do.