September 26th, 2007
Prologue Vs Live
I have been digging through some old Uru stuff on my computer recently, and it got me thinking about the comparisons between Uru “Prologue” Live and Uru Live. I’m not going to address the fact that Prologue never made it out of beta because that doesn’t seem fair.
Story Progression
Uru Prologue: The story built up many years before the game was released. The DRC progressed the story through the DRC’s posts, Zandi’s surface games, In Cavern (Character) beta testing. In the game the Characters progressed the story (there we quiet days) and interacted with the explorer community much more. Stories seemed better tied to the Ages/Locations.
Uru Live: We had some story build up that started in Until Uru, a few forum posts and then in game the story progressed with characters that do not interact on the level seen in Uru “Prologue”. Again we see quiet days, but there is no story on the DRC site/Forums or In Cavern beta testing. Ages/Locations seemed to be just dropped on the public with little to tie them to events etc.
Winner: Uru Prologue
Content
Given that 4 months of Uru “Prologue” Live cannot compete with almost a years worth of Uru Live content, we are going to look at the first 4 months of both.
Uru Prologue: In 4 months of Prologue we saw the Uru Ages Beyond Myst content (The Cleft, Gahreesen, Teledahn, Kadish Tolesa, Eder Gira, Eder Kemo, Hood balcony, 2 Palace balconys, Tokotah II Rooftop, Bahro cave). We also saw the Nexus, Neighbourhood Proper, Ferry Terminal, Great Stairs, Gahreesen Wall, Tokotah Courtyard, Hall of Kings, Strip Mall area, Library and the Great Zero.
Uru Live: In the first 4 months of Live we saw the Uru Ages Beyond Myst content (The Cleft, Gahreesen, Teledahn, Kadish Tolesa, Eder Gira, Eder Kemo, Hood balcony, 2 Palace balconys, Tokotah II Rooftop, Bahro cave). We also saw the Nexus, Neighbourhood Proper, Ferry Terminal, Great Stairs, Tokotah Courtyard, Hall of Kings, Strip Mall area, Library and the Great Zero. We also saw the Museum, Eder Delin, Eder Tsogahl, Dereno and Negilahn
Winner: Uru Live
Puzzles
Uru Prologue: Puzzles were implimented into the Ages/locations giving them more natural feel.
Uru Live: Puzzles which crop up in the new content seem not to be so naturally implimented. However puzzle concepts (getting people to work together as a community, and observing environments and time to discover when a specific thing happens) in the newer Ages aren’t bad.
Winner: I’m not sure, what Live lacks in natural implementation, it makes up in with concept. I shall have to say it is a tie.
History
Uru Prologue: Prologue saw the the Tokotah II Rooftop, Hall of Kings and Books and not only that new ages received a book to accompany it (Great Zero, Gahreesen Wall). We also saw history being released to the DRC’s site and got tid bits mentioned by the DRC in cavern.
Uru Live: All the content (sans the Gahreesen Wall book) re-released, a new book in the Watchers Sanctuary, a book containing some Jalak Dador game suggestions, 4 pages with a brief section about 5 guilds. Add to that the few tid bits here and there mentioned by the DRC.
Winner: Uru Prologue.
Community
Uru Prologue: Community seemed to be more close knit, not so hostile (there were still issues I’m sure) conversations with explorers and game characters remarkably civil and decent.
Uru Live: Little more fractured, seems more hostility in the cavern, conversations with explorers and game characters are unpleasant (people yelling over others, calls for people to shut up and sit down etc). Community does however seem to be working moderately well towards the Guilds.
Winner: Uru Prologue.
Conclusion
I was hoping Uru Live would come out on top to be honest, though I knew it probably wouldn’t. The winner is Uru Prologue.
If we see a season 2 hopefully some of these issues can be addressed.
September 27th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
I’ll be blogging before the end of the year about my Uru Live impressions, but I’m mostly suspending my Live opinions until I see what Season 2 is like.
I think Uru Prologue wins out because of something Eleri talked about: Live doesn’t have the mystique that Prologue did. D’ni was a place we’ve long to visit and there was a lot more roleplaying and immersion. I think when “You are you” turned out to be a game when it was brought offline (and later a sandbox via Until Uru) we lost something.
Will Season 2 be better since Season 1 proved the concept and Cyan now has a hang of releasing content/story? Or will it be worse since they’ve drained their vault of Ages Beyond Myst content to re-release?
September 27th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
[...] Or, late 2003 to early 2004 vs. late 2006 to early 2007: for fairness’s sake, Tweek chooses a roughly similar span of time in his comparison. [...]