Roma Victor: Difference between revisions
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{{Primary sources|date=February 2010}} |
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{{Unreferenced|date=June 2007}} |
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{{Infobox |
{{Infobox video game |
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|title = Roma Victor |
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|image = |
| image = |
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|developer = [[RedBedlam]] |
| developer = [[RedBedlam]] www.redbedlam.com |
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|publisher = [[RedBedlam]] |
| publisher = [[RedBedlam]] |
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|designer = [[Kerry Fraser-Robinson]] |
| designer = [[Kerry Fraser-Robinson]] |
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|engine = |
| engine = |
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|released = |
| released = July 2006 |
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|genre = [[Historical]] [[MMORPG]] |
| genre = [[History|Historical]] [[Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|MMORPG]] |
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|modes = [[ |
| modes = [[Multiplayer]] |
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| platforms = [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] |
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|ratings = |
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|platforms = [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] |
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|media = |
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|requirements = '''Windows''' |
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* [[Windows XP]] with Service Pack 2 |
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* CPU faster than 2GHz |
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* 512 MB or more of RAM |
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* 128 MB 3D video card with [[Shader Model 2.0]] or better |
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* 56kbps or faster Internet connection |
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|input = [[Computer keyboard|Keyboard]], [[Computer mouse|mouse]] |
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}} |
}} |
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'''''Roma Victor''''' is |
'''''Roma Victor''''' is an [[Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|MMORPG]] based on the [[Roman Empire]] in [[Great Britain]] in the latter half of the 2nd century. ''Roma Victor'' was developed by RedBedlam Ltd. of [[Brighton and Hove]], [[England]]. The [[fictional universe|in-game world]] was a 30x30km representation of a section along [[Hadrian's Wall]], including several small villages and Roman forts. |
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Roma Victor was released by RedBedlam on July 14 2006, with pre-order customers being let in 2 weeks earlier |
''Roma Victor'' was released by RedBedlam on July 14, 2006, with pre-order customers being let in 2 weeks earlier. In January 2010, it was announced that the purchase of new accounts would be blocked as of May 5, and that the game would remain online for another year after that, at RedBedlam's expense. However, the game was shut down almost 6 months early without warning. |
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== Setting == |
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The in-game world is a 30 x 30 km representation of a section along [[Hadrian's Wall]], including several small villages and Roman forts. |
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[[File:Screenshot B.jpg|thumbnail|right|180px|Exploring the wilderness in Caledonia.]] |
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''Roma Victor'' was set in the province of [[Britannia]] just before the decline of the Roman Empire, beginning in the year 180AD. Commodus, having succeeded his father Marcus Aurelius as Emperor, was exerting a tyrannical influence across the empire. |
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From November 2006, the playable area encompassed the southeastern portion of [[Caledonia]] which was termed in-game as a ''playfield''. As discussed by RedBedlam, there were further plans to expand this playable area and to create other playfields in different regions of the ancient world, if the server population had increased enough to warrant such extensions. These may have included playfields such as [[Germania]], [[Hispania]], [[Italy]] and [[Gaul]], or other areas of Britannia. The additional playfields were never added, nor were some parts of southeastern Caledonia advertised as being in Roma Victor at commercial launch, such as the Roman town of Luguvalium. |
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In the final state of the game, the Romans began life as a [[slavery|slave]] in the ancient regional town of [[Coria (Corbridge)|Corstopitum]] over which modern [[Corbridge]] lies. Barbarians began in the village of Erring, directly north of [[Coria (Corbridge)|Corstopitum]]. |
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== Subscription Details == |
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== Gameplay == |
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In contrast to most [[MMORPG]]s (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) there is no monthly subscription required to play Roma Victor. |
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=== Playable area and factions === |
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The developers instead have decided to use variant of the [[Micropayment]] economic model, which consists of buying in-game currency (known as [[sesterces]]) with real money. |
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[[File:Rvroman.jpg|thumbnail|right|180px|A town meeting in Corstopitum.]] |
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Unlike [[Entropia Universe]] and [[Second Life]] which both have similar revenue models, it is not possible to exchange virtual currency earned in-game into real world money. |
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There were two [[Political faction|faction]]s in ''Roma Victor'', the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] and the [[barbarian]]s. Each faction had its own unique advantages and disadvantages. |
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== Guilds == |
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[[Image:rv3.jpg|thumbnail|left|180px| The 18th Legion musters for inspection.]] |
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The playfield was divided in ''boards'', areas with the size of one square kilometer in a 1:1 scale to the real world. Some of these boards were pre-built, but most were composed of uninhabitable wilderness. The pre-built boards represented the historical locations of Roman colonies and forts, although [[creative Commons licenses|creative license]] was also used to create fictitious places. Wilderness boards could be made buildable if a guild hall was built on that board. |
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Guilds are player associations, or "clans" and form the basis of much of the [[social structure]] in Roma Victor. |
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When a [[player character]] first began the game, they were in ''attending'' status which meant they could not attack or be attacked by other players. They could be deattended instantly by a player who was the local [[magistrate]], or by completing a [[tutorial]]. The deattending command used by the local lord or magistrate was intended to be a tool to prevent griefers from abusing the protections of attending status. However, due to the extremely repetitive, redundant, and monotonous tutorial, player lords and magistrates were burdened with the duty of deattending thousands of players who preferred not to complete the tutorial. |
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Guilds in Roma Victor are (for now) exclusively made up of players - later, the numbers can be augmented by NPC members, which can be hired and assigned to various roles and tasks by the higher ranking guild members, perhaps protecting the guild's property, carrying out assignments or simply acting as a merchant on behalf of the guild; but not yet. |
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=== Guilds === |
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Every player also has their own Household. |
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Household is the collective term applied to all the buildings and NPC's owned, employed and/or run by an individual player. |
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Guilds were player associations, or "[[clan]]s" and formed the basis of much of the [[social structure]] in ''Roma Victor''. Guilds in ''Roma Victor'' were exclusively made up of players—the numbers could be augmented by [[Non-player character|NPC]] members, which could be hired and assigned to various roles and tasks, such as protecting the guild's members, carrying out assignments, or simply acting as a merchant on behalf of the guild. |
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There can be many buildings and NPC's within a household and using the planned built-in household management interface a player can set entry fees on their property, assign NPC's to act as merchants or guards, summon NPC's as an escort, hire and dismiss staff etc. |
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Roman guild types included [[Auxiliaries (Roman military)|Auxiliary]], [[Roman legion|Legion]], [[Patron (Rome)|Patron House]] and [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|Patrician House]]. [[Barbarian]] guilds included [[Tribe]] and [[Warrior society|Warband]], and there were also religious [[cult]] guilds which could contain both Roman and barbarian characters. |
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== Playable Area and Factions == |
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[[Image:rv4.jpg|thumbnail|right|200px| The character creation screen.]] |
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Every player also had their own household. Household was the collective term applied to all the [[building]]s and NPCs owned, employed, and/or run by an individual player. There could be many buildings and NPCs within a household and using the built-in household management interface a player could set entry fees or rent fees on their property, assign NPCs to act as merchants or guards, summon NPCs as an escort, hire and dismiss staff, etc. NPCs were known to cause lag throughout the entire history of Roma Victor, to include significant adverse effects on game performance in the starter towns. |
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There are two factions in Roma Victor, the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] and the [[Barbarian|barbarians]]. |
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=== Skills and abilities === |
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As of July 2007, the playable area encompasses the southeastern portion of [[Caledonia]] which is termed in-game as a ''playfield''. As discussed by RedBedlam, there are further plans to expand this playable area and to create other playfields in different regions of the ancient world, if the server population should ever increase enough to warrant such extensions. |
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[[Image:Rvbarb.jpg|thumbnail|right|180px|A player event in Erring, the barbarian starter town.]] |
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The playfield is divided in ''boards'', areas with the size of one square kilometer in a 1:1 scale to the real world. Some of these boards can be built upon by players, but most are composed of uninhabitable wilderness. A few of these boards represent the historical locations of Roman colonies and forts, although creative license was used to create fictitious places. The transition of travel between these boards is seamless, since all boards are currently located on the same server. |
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There were no character levels in ''Roma Victor''. However, there was a 'skill' tree which replaced this function. Character development in ''Roma Victor'' was designed to simulate real life. That is, if a player wished to improve a character's [[Logging|woodcutting]] skill, this could only be accomplished by cutting trees down. From those trees, the player could then extract sticks and turn them into handles to train the character's preparing skill. Those handles could then be used by a smith to make simple tools. |
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In the current state of the game, the Romans live mostly in the ancient major regional town of [[Corstopitum]] over which modern [[Corbridge]] lies. There are also scattered player-made settlements close to the [[Hadrian's Wall]] including a settlement in the fictitious area named Villa Longinus. |
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Most craftable items could be made and used by anyone, butthere were certain items, like the ''[[lorica segmentata]]'' armour, that could only be made and worn by legionaries. Several items, like the hideshirt, could only be made and worn by barbarians. There were no level or skill restrictions, but the resulting item quality suffered greatly when a character was not a master in the required skills to produce the item. A player wishing to make high-quality items had to train by practicing menial tasks requiring the involved skill. A large number of items were never made craftable, including several weapon types and a majority of armor types. |
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The Barbarians live mainly in areas north the Wall, spread out in various small settlements, inculding the realistic [[Cilurnum]] which is based on [[Chesters]]. |
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Skill areas in ''Roma Victor'' included carpentry, [[smithing]], construction, combat, farming, animal handling and more. In the Roman faction, a slave character earned [[citizenship]] after gaining a certain number of skill masteries and reputations. |
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== Combat and PvP == |
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[[Image:rv1a.jpg|thumbnail|right|180px| Janus is attacked by a wolf and left incapacitated.]] |
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Many branches of the skill tree were never implemented. |
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Roma Victor features real-time combat, which is largely decided by character skills similar to the character 'levels' found in most MMOs. However, unlike some other games, there are several tricks that are harder to pull off than just pushing a button. |
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=== Crafting === |
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Roma Victor has hitboxes for each bodypart on a player, so that clicking the attack button while aiming the mouse on a particular part of an opponent's body will attempt to hit exactly that part of the body. After the character's automatic chance to evade the attack based on skill numbers, the attack damage will be applied to the hit points in that bodypart if the calculations failed. In this way, a player can repeatedly click at the weak or unarmoured parts on an opponent. |
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''Roma Victor'' featured a [[crafting]] system, in which it was possible to find resources and components that could be put together using the related skills. |
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The opponent's shield is another hitbox of this type, but it must be avoided while clicking, since an accidental click upon the opponent's shield wastes an attack on an automatic block of the strike. Likewise, hitting the weapon of an opponent causes a chance to disarm the opponent if defensive character skills are defeated in a randomized calculation. Disarming can be useful, but one should always avoid striking a shield. |
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Every item in the Roma Victor universe had a current quality level and a maximum quality level. The current quality level decreased as the item was ''used''; the maximum quality level decreased as the item was ''repaired'' (bringing the current quality back up to the maximum quality level). If one forgot to repair the item it would eventually break and be lost. A warning of breakage was issued randomly when quality reached a low level. |
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== Death and the afterlife == |
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When the hitpoints of a particular bodypart reach zero, the player will become incapacitated. When incapacitated (ie. knocked out) in combat, the player's character does not necessarily die straight away. He will be unconscious on the ground for a minute or more, unless someone administers basic aid or a killing blow. If someone administers first aid, the player will be back on his feet and ready to fight in a few seconds. If a deathblow is administered, then the player is taken away from the combat to [[Elysium]], a small area for dead players. In Elysium, the player must walk toward a NPC that will return him to a designated spawn-in spot on the main gameworld. |
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=== Construction === |
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Certain areas are well-policed by NPC representatives of Roman law, such as legionaries, who will attempt to uphold the law and prevent violence. In some places it is impossible to break the laws, while in others a player can attempt it at his own risk, since the NPC guards will telepathically know of the act and respond later. |
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[[Image:Rvconstruction.jpg|thumbnail|right|180px|Some player-built structures in Roma Victor.]] |
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Barbarians north of Hadrian's Wall are beyond the reach of the law altogether, so the barbarian lands are effectively a full PvP environment. However, a player running through the barbarian villages killing everyone that he sees will likely end his run very quickly by being killed by a different, more experienced, player or group of players. He may then be further punished by being killed near the spawn as he returns to the living world several times, until the group feels he is sufficiently contrite. |
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[[Construction]] was largely the same as crafting, only with the greater need of materials and skills. When building anything from simple devices through to complex buildings like workshops, it was important to have a ready supply of skilled labour and a good supply chain to finish the job. [[Non-player character|NPC]] labourers could be hired to speed up the entire process, however it was possible for individual players to also provide a helping hand. Labourers could also "bulk-add" handcart-loads full of easy-to-add items, such as firewood, or even bricks to lengthy projects. |
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== Crafting == |
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[[Image:rv13.jpg|thumbnail|left|180px| Player Allenius shows off his inventory for the camera]] |
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''Roma Victor'' featured an [[open world|open-ended 'sandbox'-style environment]] in which players could rent structures to live in, build their own, or let them out to other players. Any structure could be set as public or private. |
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[[Image:rv12.jpg|thumbnail|right|180px| The Altar to Jupiter recreated at the Roman barracks.]] |
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The construction was basically divided between ''devices'' and ''structures''. Devices were necessary in order to craft items, such as [[tool]]s and [[weapon]]s. [[Metallurgical furnace|Furnace]]s, [[workbench]]es, and [[kiln]]s were examples of devices implemented during the last stages of the game. Structures were basically buildings that could serve as housing, storage areas, and advanced crafting workshops. Buildable player-made structures aside from guild halls included [[Roundhouse (dwelling)|roundhouse]]s, [[animal pen]]s, [[arena]]s, [[workshop]]s, and [[horrea]]s. However, most advanced structures were never craftable by players. [[Tent]]s could also be made as portable structures that could be transported in a character's [[inventory]] before deployment. |
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Roma Victor features a complex crafting system, in which it is possible to find a huge amount of resources and components that can be put together using the hundreds of related skills. Currently many, although not all, of the skills are implemented and ready for use. |
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=== Combat === |
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Every item in the Roma Victor universe has a current quality level (1-99) and a maximum quality level (2-99). The higher the maximum quality, the longer it will last. If one forgets to repair the item and it reaches 0/99, it will break and be lost. A warning of breakage is issued randomly when quality reaches a low level. |
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[[Combat]] skills were structured in a similar manner to crafting skills, in that an untrained character was very unlikely to win in a fair fight against a highly trained character, regardless of player skill and reflexes. A character automatically dodged and parried incoming strikes based on randomized calculations on the server, although blocking with a shield had both an automatic calculation and would happen if the opponent accidentally clicked on the player's shield. It was also possible to disarm an opponent's weapon during a fight. |
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== Construction == |
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''Roma Victor'' featured real-time combat, which was largely decided by character skills similar to the character 'levels' found in most MMOs. However, unlike some other games, there were several tricks that were harder to pull off than just pushing a button. Timing and tactics also played a big role in your character's survival. |
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Construction is largely the same as crafting, only with the greater need of materials and skills. |
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''Roma Victor'' had hitboxes for each bodypart on a player, so that clicking the attack button while aiming the mouse on a particular part of an opponent's body would attempt to hit exactly that part of the body. After the character's automatic chance to evade the attack based on skill numbers, the attack damage would be applied to the hit points in that bodypart if the calculations failed. In this way, a player could repeatedly click at the weak or unarmoured parts on an opponent. |
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When building anything from simple devices through to complex buildings like roundhouses, it is important to have a ready supply of skilled labour and a good supply chain to finish the job. [[ Non-player_character | NPC]] labourers can be hired to speed up the entire process, however it is possible for individual players to also provide a helping hand. |
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=== Death and the afterlife === |
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Roma Victor features an open-ended 'sandbox'-style environment in which players can rent structures to live in, build their own, or let them out to other players. Any structure can be set as public or private. |
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[[Image:RVelysium.jpg|thumbnail|right|180px|Elysium in ''Roma Victor''.]] |
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The construction is basically divided between ''devices'' and ''structures''. |
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When the [[hitpoint]]s of a particular bodypart reach zero, the player would become incapacitated. When incapacitated (i.e. knocked out) in combat, the player's character would not necessarily die straight away. He would be unconscious on the ground for a variable time, unless someone administered basic aid or a killing blow. If someone administered first aid, the character would be back on his feet and ready to fight in a few seconds, albeit severely wounded. If a deathblow was administered, then the player was taken away from the combat to [[Elysium]], a small area for dead players. In Elysium, the player had to walk toward an NPC that would return the character to a designated spawn-in spot on the main gameworld. If a player was deathblown and had high skills, they may suffer decay. Player kills dealt more skill loss than other forms of death. |
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Devices are necessary in order to craft items, such as tools and weapons. Furnaces, forges, and [[Kiln|kilns]] are examples of currently implemented devices. |
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The ''Roma Victor'' website claimed that after death the player character would have to navigate their way through "fantastic landscapes, puzzles, physical challenges, demons and duels," varying in difficulty depending on the character's badges and reputations (life decisions), but this was never implemented. |
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Structures are basically buildings that may serve as housing, storage areas and advanced crafting workshops. Presently the only buildable player-made structures are [[Roundhouse|roundhouses]], extremely labour-intensive albeit lasting huts built mostly out of large quantities of dung, clay and mud. |
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Being deathblown was not the only way to die in ''Roma Victor''. Other means of dying included drowning in a river if the character ran out of vigour whilst still swimming, bleeding to death after receiving a fatal wound without proper medical treatment, and suicide. If a player wished to commit suicide in the game, they could do so at any time. One attribute (muscle, vision, agility, dexterity, intuition, or stamina) would be completely zeroed. |
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In the upcoming updates, RedBedlam has stated it will be possible to build stone buildings and specific purpose structures, such as guildhalls. |
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=== Roman provincial law === |
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Certain areas were well-policed by NPC representatives of Roman law, such as legionaries, who would attempt to uphold the law and prevent violence. In Roman settlements, it was impossible to break the laws, while in others a player could break the law but the NPC guards would, regardless of location, know of the act and respond later. Offending players would receive a "badge" upon their characters marking them as a criminal. The badge would be removed upon death or after a set amount of time. |
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[[Image:rv2.jpg|thumbnail|left|180px| A soldier out in the wilderness.]] |
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Barbarians north of Hadrian's Wall were beyond the reach of the law altogether, so the barbarian lands were effectively a full PvP environment. There were no negative consequences for attacking other barbarians; aside from a reputation amongst fellow players. |
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There are no character levels in Roma Victor. |
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However there is a 'skill' tree[http://www.roma-victor.com/community/live/wiki/index.php/SkillOverview] which replaces this function. |
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== Subscription == |
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Character development in Roma Victor is designed to simulate real life. That is, if a player wishes to improve his woodcutting skill, he has to go out in the woods and cut some trees down. From those trees, he can then extract sticks and turn them into handles to train his preparing skill. Those handles can then be used by a smith to make simple tools. |
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There were no monthly subscription fees in ''Roma Victor''. The game used a variant of the [[micropayment]] economic model, which consisted of buying in-game currency (known as [[sesterces]]) with real money through the ''VERM'' system. It was not possible to exchange virtual currency earned in-game into real world money. |
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All skills are measured on a rating of 0 to 99 points. A player needs at least one point in the skill in order to improve it further. To get this first point he can buy as many as six points from an NPC, or ask another player to teach him up to 17 points. |
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== Development == |
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Unlike many other games, a player can make and equip almost whatever he wants. There are no level or skill restrictions, but the item resulting item quality suffers greatly when a person is not a master in every step. A player wishing to make high quality items must [[Grind_%28gaming%29 | grind]] his skills, often over a dozen before producing good quality. Roma Victor has its own wiki with more details on how best to engage in this grinding for the least headache. |
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''Roma Victor'' was sporadically 'in development' since its release in 2006. While there had been many patches and some new content added, features such as player-built roads and fortifications, territorial conquest, and mounts were not implemented. Even at the time that the game was shut down, more than 4 years after release, a large number of features advertised as being available at commercial launch were still not in the game, and along with other features later advertised as part of future updates, were never developed and implemented. There were also a number of known critical [[bug (computing)|bugs]] in game that were not fixed. |
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Combat skills are similar, in that an untrained character is highly unlikely to win in a fair fight against a highly-trained character, regardless of player skill and reflexes. A character automatically dodges and parries incoming strikes based on randomized calculations on the server, although blocking with a shield has both an automatic calculation and will happen if the opponent accidently clicks on the player's shield. RV is not an [[ First-person_shooter | FPS]] game heavily reliant on player skill, although some calm and dexterity at the mouse does help in combat, since players must calmly target their opponents as they move about. |
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The speed of development and regular lack of customer support or communication was attributed by the creators to a relatively low budget and small development team. However, RedBedlam staff often worked on Roma Victor on a voluntary or part-time basis, a fact that was hidden from the community until several years after commercial launch. |
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== Historical Authenticity == |
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[[Image:rv11.jpg|thumbnail|right|180px| Auxiliaries guard a section along [[Hadrian's Wall]].]] |
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=== RV2 === |
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In several areas the game world is based on real world [[Archaeology|archaeological data]]. |
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''RV2'', an overhaul of the ''Roma Victor'' [[client (software)|client]] featuring improved graphics and gameplay, was announced in August 2009 to be implemented sometime in 2010. The developers stated that existing customers would be transferred over to the new version without a fee, as would existing buildings, characters and their belongings. |
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The RedBedlam team and the Roma Victor community have invested several years of research into bringing historical authenticity of this world. Some buildings follow the correct floor-plans; equipment and clothing is appropriate for the period and region; crafting activities are similar to the steps taken in ancient production - much of the world is based upon what is known and commonly believed about life in second century Europe. |
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In January 2010, it was announced that the current ''Roma Victor'' would be shutting down in May 2011. It was stated that ''RV2'' is still in development and may be released as soon as 2011. However, RedBedlam shut down the game in January 2011, almost 6 months early, without any prior announcement. |
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A recent visit by the whole development team to the ruins of the Chesters fort[http://www.roma-victor.com/devs/diary/] has shown that the ingame fort very much resembles to the one that stood there in [[183]]AD. |
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As of April 2021, RedBedlam had not released ''RV2'' nor mentioned any development of such a project on its website. |
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Not everything is so authentic though. For gameplay purposes several adjustments have been made, like adding an iron mine to the area. Additionally some of the structures in the fort of [[Brocolitia]], such as the ''Mithraeum'' and the ''Nymphaeum'', do not represent the actual finds in those locations for the covered time period of the game. |
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== See also == |
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* ''[[Wurm Online]]'', a similar game |
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== References == |
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[[Image:rv14.jpg|thumbnail|left|180px| Out in the wilderness.]] |
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{{Reflist}} |
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== External links == |
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Roma Victor features [[SpeedTree]]RT™. SpeedTree generates species of tree and other plant life that existed in 2nd Century AD Caledonia. RedBedlam has stated that they are hoping to add some new features such as using authentic terrain topology in which the hills, rivers, flora and valleys of the 2nd Century British landscape are brought back to life. |
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Wind and rain effects are not fully implemented which has resulted in a long drought in-game. |
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[[Dynamic lighting]] has slowly been implemented over time as torches and fires help the player to see when travelling at night. |
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== Criticisms == |
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'''Unfinished and Missing Features''' |
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Many customers and reviewers of Roma Victor have noted that the game was released to the public before many of its promised pre-launch features could be added in. These included unfinished promises in all areas from combat, to crafting, to social activities like playing musical instruments and being able to sit down on a chair. Below is a partial list of the promised pre-launch features that continue to be missing as of July 2007. |
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* 30x60 km<sup>2</sup> playing field with large city of Luguvalium |
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* Missile weapons and mounted combat |
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* Craftable legionary gear and barbarian armour. |
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* Land conquest features |
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* Full looting of enemies' inventories |
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* Economy that functions correctly |
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* Production process that requires interaction of specialised trades |
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* Diverse animals and functioning skills for handling them. |
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* Social activities and services like hairstyling, musicians, jewelry, tattoos |
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* Less emphasis on [[ Grind_%28gaming%29 | grinding]] than other games. |
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* Unique and detailed afterlife called Elysium |
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* Well-executed storyline driven by developer interaction |
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* NPCs with advanced AI that 'lead their own lives.' |
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All these features were promised pre-launch in a Jan. 2005 status report and in other posts on the RV public forums. |
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'''Performance Issues''' |
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Some players play the game on systems far above requirements and have experienced single-digit frame rates. RV demands a great deal of memory, upwards of 2GB, and may not deallocate it properly after use, leading to a memory leak that progressively eats up system resources until a reboot of the computer is necessary. Heavy [[lag]] between a player action and the server response also tends to disrupt gameplay on a regular basis, often delaying the server response by five minutes or more after a player has tried to perform an action. This effect is particularly noticeable whenever ten or more people engage in a battle within a populated area. |
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'''Customer Service and Relations''' |
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Red Bedlam has been accused of ignoring their customer base sometimes. For example, Kerry Frasier-Robinson, their lead developer, stated in September of 2006 that he would inform the community of the progress in game development every month, and then did not update his 'State of the World' blog for six months. Sometimes dissapearing from public view altogether due to circumstances such as the honeymoon of one of it's lead developers, having the flu or having a broken modem. Also, large feature implementations, such as 'The Escalation' [http://www.roma-victor.com/news/press/showpr.php?pr=070329a] [http://www.roma-victor.com/community/bb/viewtopic.php?t=20574] have been delayed for a considerable amount of time. On the other hand, the lead developer is sometimes seen on the forum discussing ideas and there have also been several notable occasions where the developers have gone out of their way to help community members and implement community-suggested features almost immediately.[http://www.roma-victor.com/community/bb/viewtopic.php?t=21205&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60] [http://www.roma-victor.com/community/bb/viewtopic.php?t=21228]. |
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Occasionally, the developers have also appeared to knowingly misrepresent their product and its development status, often claiming a feature is almost ready to be put in, despite a year later the absence of that feature. Notably, the playerbase was informed a sudden 'data corruption' on the eve of release. This corruption allegedly destroyed the completely finished 30x60 km<sup>2</sup> playing field that had been created for the full release version. The playerbase was presented with a poll whether they wanted to play the old 10x10 km<sup>2</sup> test playfield by the original deadline for release, or to wait two more weeks for the larger area to be remade and for the addition of a dozen types of animals. The playfield a year later remains under 30x60 km<sup>2</sup> and with fewer than three animal types that function as intended. |
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Since release, their forums are often host to complaints that they are slow in issuing refunds, and their system for buying accounts has quite often double-billed the customer. |
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'''Gameplay Issues''' |
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Combat has been described as being overly-reliant on the 'skill level' of the character, so that a low-level character finds it almost impossible to hit a character with a high 'Dodge' skill, for example. These skills are very tedious to train up, requiring repetitive actions for dozens of hours each before mastered. This repetitive training of skills or levels is known as grinding in MMOs. |
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Because of this preparatory grinding, criticism of the lack of 'twitch'-based combat has surfaced among PvPers. The crafting system suffers from the same grind- and level-based approach as the fighting system, but with less resistance since perhaps it does not draw any players used to fast-action games, such as [[ FPS ]] games. |
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'''Critical Reception''' |
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The above and other criticisms led to an infamously low rating in the August 2006 issue of PCZone. RV scored only 8 out of a possible 100 points, securing the dubious distinction of the lowest rating that PCZone had ever given a game. |
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==External links== |
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* [http://www.roma-victor.com/ Official site of ''Roma Victor''] |
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* [http://www.roma-victor.com/community/bb/ Official Forums] |
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* [http://www.roma-victor.com/community/live/wiki/ Official Roma Victor Wiki] |
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* [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/40/3 RedBedlam's Lead Developer, KFR, interviewed by the Escapist] |
* [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/40/3 RedBedlam's Lead Developer, KFR, interviewed by the Escapist] |
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* [http://www.redbedlam.com/ Official site of ''RedBedlam Ltd.''] |
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[[Category:2006 video games]] |
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[[Category:Massively multiplayer online role-playing games]] |
[[Category:Massively multiplayer online role-playing games]] |
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[[Category:Video games developed in the United Kingdom]] |
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[[ |
[[Category:Windows games]] |
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[[Category:Windows-only games]] |
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[[Category:Inactive massively multiplayer online games]] |
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[[Category:Products and services discontinued in 2011]] |
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Latest revision as of 01:56, 23 December 2021
 |
| Roma Victor | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | RedBedlam www.redbedlam.com |
| Publisher(s) | RedBedlam |
| Designer(s) | Kerry Fraser-Robinson |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release | July 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Historical MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Roma Victor is an MMORPG based on the Roman Empire in Great Britain in the latter half of the 2nd century. Roma Victor was developed by RedBedlam Ltd. of Brighton and Hove, England. The in-game world was a 30x30km representation of a section along Hadrian's Wall, including several small villages and Roman forts.
Roma Victor was released by RedBedlam on July 14, 2006, with pre-order customers being let in 2 weeks earlier. In January 2010, it was announced that the purchase of new accounts would be blocked as of May 5, and that the game would remain online for another year after that, at RedBedlam's expense. However, the game was shut down almost 6 months early without warning.
Setting
[edit]
Roma Victor was set in the province of Britannia just before the decline of the Roman Empire, beginning in the year 180AD. Commodus, having succeeded his father Marcus Aurelius as Emperor, was exerting a tyrannical influence across the empire.
From November 2006, the playable area encompassed the southeastern portion of Caledonia which was termed in-game as a playfield. As discussed by RedBedlam, there were further plans to expand this playable area and to create other playfields in different regions of the ancient world, if the server population had increased enough to warrant such extensions. These may have included playfields such as Germania, Hispania, Italy and Gaul, or other areas of Britannia. The additional playfields were never added, nor were some parts of southeastern Caledonia advertised as being in Roma Victor at commercial launch, such as the Roman town of Luguvalium.
In the final state of the game, the Romans began life as a slave in the ancient regional town of Corstopitum over which modern Corbridge lies. Barbarians began in the village of Erring, directly north of Corstopitum.
Gameplay
[edit]Playable area and factions
[edit]
There were two factions in Roma Victor, the Romans and the barbarians. Each faction had its own unique advantages and disadvantages.
The playfield was divided in boards, areas with the size of one square kilometer in a 1:1 scale to the real world. Some of these boards were pre-built, but most were composed of uninhabitable wilderness. The pre-built boards represented the historical locations of Roman colonies and forts, although creative license was also used to create fictitious places. Wilderness boards could be made buildable if a guild hall was built on that board.
When a player character first began the game, they were in attending status which meant they could not attack or be attacked by other players. They could be deattended instantly by a player who was the local magistrate, or by completing a tutorial. The deattending command used by the local lord or magistrate was intended to be a tool to prevent griefers from abusing the protections of attending status. However, due to the extremely repetitive, redundant, and monotonous tutorial, player lords and magistrates were burdened with the duty of deattending thousands of players who preferred not to complete the tutorial.
Guilds
[edit]Guilds were player associations, or "clans" and formed the basis of much of the social structure in Roma Victor. Guilds in Roma Victor were exclusively made up of players—the numbers could be augmented by NPC members, which could be hired and assigned to various roles and tasks, such as protecting the guild's members, carrying out assignments, or simply acting as a merchant on behalf of the guild.
Roman guild types included Auxiliary, Legion, Patron House and Patrician House. Barbarian guilds included Tribe and Warband, and there were also religious cult guilds which could contain both Roman and barbarian characters.
Every player also had their own household. Household was the collective term applied to all the buildings and NPCs owned, employed, and/or run by an individual player. There could be many buildings and NPCs within a household and using the built-in household management interface a player could set entry fees or rent fees on their property, assign NPCs to act as merchants or guards, summon NPCs as an escort, hire and dismiss staff, etc. NPCs were known to cause lag throughout the entire history of Roma Victor, to include significant adverse effects on game performance in the starter towns.
Skills and abilities
[edit]
There were no character levels in Roma Victor. However, there was a 'skill' tree which replaced this function. Character development in Roma Victor was designed to simulate real life. That is, if a player wished to improve a character's woodcutting skill, this could only be accomplished by cutting trees down. From those trees, the player could then extract sticks and turn them into handles to train the character's preparing skill. Those handles could then be used by a smith to make simple tools.
Most craftable items could be made and used by anyone, butthere were certain items, like the lorica segmentata armour, that could only be made and worn by legionaries. Several items, like the hideshirt, could only be made and worn by barbarians. There were no level or skill restrictions, but the resulting item quality suffered greatly when a character was not a master in the required skills to produce the item. A player wishing to make high-quality items had to train by practicing menial tasks requiring the involved skill. A large number of items were never made craftable, including several weapon types and a majority of armor types.
Skill areas in Roma Victor included carpentry, smithing, construction, combat, farming, animal handling and more. In the Roman faction, a slave character earned citizenship after gaining a certain number of skill masteries and reputations.
Many branches of the skill tree were never implemented.
Crafting
[edit]Roma Victor featured a crafting system, in which it was possible to find resources and components that could be put together using the related skills.
Every item in the Roma Victor universe had a current quality level and a maximum quality level. The current quality level decreased as the item was used; the maximum quality level decreased as the item was repaired (bringing the current quality back up to the maximum quality level). If one forgot to repair the item it would eventually break and be lost. A warning of breakage was issued randomly when quality reached a low level.
Construction
[edit]
Construction was largely the same as crafting, only with the greater need of materials and skills. When building anything from simple devices through to complex buildings like workshops, it was important to have a ready supply of skilled labour and a good supply chain to finish the job. NPC labourers could be hired to speed up the entire process, however it was possible for individual players to also provide a helping hand. Labourers could also "bulk-add" handcart-loads full of easy-to-add items, such as firewood, or even bricks to lengthy projects.
Roma Victor featured an open-ended 'sandbox'-style environment in which players could rent structures to live in, build their own, or let them out to other players. Any structure could be set as public or private.
The construction was basically divided between devices and structures. Devices were necessary in order to craft items, such as tools and weapons. Furnaces, workbenches, and kilns were examples of devices implemented during the last stages of the game. Structures were basically buildings that could serve as housing, storage areas, and advanced crafting workshops. Buildable player-made structures aside from guild halls included roundhouses, animal pens, arenas, workshops, and horreas. However, most advanced structures were never craftable by players. Tents could also be made as portable structures that could be transported in a character's inventory before deployment.
Combat
[edit]Combat skills were structured in a similar manner to crafting skills, in that an untrained character was very unlikely to win in a fair fight against a highly trained character, regardless of player skill and reflexes. A character automatically dodged and parried incoming strikes based on randomized calculations on the server, although blocking with a shield had both an automatic calculation and would happen if the opponent accidentally clicked on the player's shield. It was also possible to disarm an opponent's weapon during a fight.
Roma Victor featured real-time combat, which was largely decided by character skills similar to the character 'levels' found in most MMOs. However, unlike some other games, there were several tricks that were harder to pull off than just pushing a button. Timing and tactics also played a big role in your character's survival.
Roma Victor had hitboxes for each bodypart on a player, so that clicking the attack button while aiming the mouse on a particular part of an opponent's body would attempt to hit exactly that part of the body. After the character's automatic chance to evade the attack based on skill numbers, the attack damage would be applied to the hit points in that bodypart if the calculations failed. In this way, a player could repeatedly click at the weak or unarmoured parts on an opponent.
Death and the afterlife
[edit]
When the hitpoints of a particular bodypart reach zero, the player would become incapacitated. When incapacitated (i.e. knocked out) in combat, the player's character would not necessarily die straight away. He would be unconscious on the ground for a variable time, unless someone administered basic aid or a killing blow. If someone administered first aid, the character would be back on his feet and ready to fight in a few seconds, albeit severely wounded. If a deathblow was administered, then the player was taken away from the combat to Elysium, a small area for dead players. In Elysium, the player had to walk toward an NPC that would return the character to a designated spawn-in spot on the main gameworld. If a player was deathblown and had high skills, they may suffer decay. Player kills dealt more skill loss than other forms of death.
The Roma Victor website claimed that after death the player character would have to navigate their way through "fantastic landscapes, puzzles, physical challenges, demons and duels," varying in difficulty depending on the character's badges and reputations (life decisions), but this was never implemented.
Being deathblown was not the only way to die in Roma Victor. Other means of dying included drowning in a river if the character ran out of vigour whilst still swimming, bleeding to death after receiving a fatal wound without proper medical treatment, and suicide. If a player wished to commit suicide in the game, they could do so at any time. One attribute (muscle, vision, agility, dexterity, intuition, or stamina) would be completely zeroed.
Roman provincial law
[edit]Certain areas were well-policed by NPC representatives of Roman law, such as legionaries, who would attempt to uphold the law and prevent violence. In Roman settlements, it was impossible to break the laws, while in others a player could break the law but the NPC guards would, regardless of location, know of the act and respond later. Offending players would receive a "badge" upon their characters marking them as a criminal. The badge would be removed upon death or after a set amount of time.
Barbarians north of Hadrian's Wall were beyond the reach of the law altogether, so the barbarian lands were effectively a full PvP environment. There were no negative consequences for attacking other barbarians; aside from a reputation amongst fellow players.
Subscription
[edit]There were no monthly subscription fees in Roma Victor. The game used a variant of the micropayment economic model, which consisted of buying in-game currency (known as sesterces) with real money through the VERM system. It was not possible to exchange virtual currency earned in-game into real world money.
Development
[edit]Roma Victor was sporadically 'in development' since its release in 2006. While there had been many patches and some new content added, features such as player-built roads and fortifications, territorial conquest, and mounts were not implemented. Even at the time that the game was shut down, more than 4 years after release, a large number of features advertised as being available at commercial launch were still not in the game, and along with other features later advertised as part of future updates, were never developed and implemented. There were also a number of known critical bugs in game that were not fixed.
The speed of development and regular lack of customer support or communication was attributed by the creators to a relatively low budget and small development team. However, RedBedlam staff often worked on Roma Victor on a voluntary or part-time basis, a fact that was hidden from the community until several years after commercial launch.
RV2
[edit]RV2, an overhaul of the Roma Victor client featuring improved graphics and gameplay, was announced in August 2009 to be implemented sometime in 2010. The developers stated that existing customers would be transferred over to the new version without a fee, as would existing buildings, characters and their belongings.
In January 2010, it was announced that the current Roma Victor would be shutting down in May 2011. It was stated that RV2 is still in development and may be released as soon as 2011. However, RedBedlam shut down the game in January 2011, almost 6 months early, without any prior announcement.
As of April 2021, RedBedlam had not released RV2 nor mentioned any development of such a project on its website.
See also
[edit]- Wurm Online, a similar game