Tales of Athelor RPG

[The Big S]

http://talesofathelor.freeforums.org
​

Tales of Athelor is a Warcraft III RPG experience like none other. Why is this? The game is largely quest based - In fact, as of this writing, there are 52 fully dialogued, scripted quests, unique to each player, and of all different types, in the game world. But don't get sidetracked on that fact; there are many other features that this game has to offer:

• 10+ classes to choose from, each with a variety of different group roles.
• 11 fully custom/triggered abilities per class
• An attribute specialization system, allowing you to "spec" for effectiveness just how you want to.
• 52+ custom quests of all different types, some never seen before in any Warcraft ORPG.
• An epic main quest line whose progress saves with your character, so you may continue where you left off in the last session.
• 104+ custom items
• An in-depth item check system, which checks the item's level, if you are able to use it, if it is soulbound, and if you already have that type of item equipped.
• Attention to detail in all aspects of the game. You aren't going to find bad English, storylines that don't make sense, or anything of the sort.
• A backpack system, able to hold 6 additional items that will save with your character.
• 4+ unique and challenging instances with scripted (yes, you read that correctly) bosses that will test you and ensure your group pays attention.
• A toolbelt system, which holds all of your potions and consumables for quick use, without taking up precious inventory space on your character.
• 3 camera modes to enjoy the game from.
• A slew of in game commands to improve your playing experience.
• Detailed lore on all aspects of the game, as well as an in-game Manual.

Background​

The game takes place in the world of Athelor, a land plagued by a dark force at work. While this alone is big enough of a problem, factions that were once "subdued" by the Empire have begun to take advantage of this, and war is raging in all parts of the kingdom. You start as a humble adventurer in the town of Albradir, but are almost immediately caught up in a violent and mysterious chain of events which will take you throughout the lands. There is much glory to be had, but the question remains: How will *you* leave your mark in the history of Athelor?

Project Info​

Tales of Athelor has been around for a couple of years now. It began as a game called "Unnamed RPG", and has since...well, been named! It is meant to be complex enough that people will not become bored or think it unoriginal, but also not overly complex, where, for instance, you have to click on four separate buttons to access your inventory. The game itself is still in development, but it *is* playable. I add content regularly, and save codes are only changed in the event of major exploits or glitches, which means that, for the most part, you can continue right where you left off from one version to another, as the game is being made. Plans are in motion to add professions and other nifty features to the game, but for now, expect numerous hours of gameplay, and alot of replayability. The game is meant to be played as a team - You can solo, but it will be more challenging. Also, as the game is quest based, you'll want to do quests to gain the bulk of your experience. Again, you can grind, but it will take you much longer and you will miss out on quest rewards.

Community​

The original Tales of Athelor forums were booming full of discussion, suggestions, etc. Unfortunately, a while ago I stopped hosting the forums from my own host, and since then I have created a brand new forum for game discussion. This forum can be found at:

http://talesofathelor.freeforums.org

Everyone who plays and enjoys the game is welcome and encouraged to join the forums. The old forums were a great place to find groups for sessions, and I'm sure the new ones will be just the same once they get up to speed. They just went up, so give it some time to get the community, both old and new alike, to come back.

Download​

The latest version of Tales of Athelor can be found here:

http://epicwar.com/maps/122444

Media

[youtube]9pPsGj3D3A4[/youtube]

[youtube]4nn_q-U6qxE[/youtube]
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Feedback is appreciated, and I hope that you all try the map and find it to your liking. You'll be among the first players to return to the land of Athelor since v1.24c came out! Enjoy and I'll see you in game!

~ The_Big_S @ US West

 

[Razalgrim]

Looks promising. I'm trying it out right now, watch for feedback some time soon.

Screenies never hurt, though. Might want to add some to pique the reader's interest in case they're too lazy to go to the forums just to see how the map looks like.

First Impressions:

I understand wanting to make the starting cinematic quick for impatient players, but the terrain flashed too quickly, IMHO. It's up to you if you want to do something about it, but it's a trivial matter so you shouldn't worry about it.

Anyway, the cinematic ended, and I was wondering what to do next. Oh, the statues. Never seen them used as taverns before. Okay, I saw the heroes were pretty unique. I used Shadowknight first time around. (Note: I noticed that the spellbook said that his first skill was named "Shadow Strike," but the skill is really "Shadow Slash." Just a heads up.)

The gameplay is pretty simple, but simple is good enough. I liked the backpack system and how your armor can break, plus, there's a lot of quests even at the starting area. That's good. (The text stacks up, though. It's pretty annoying if you're just grabbing quests and not reading since you've done them before.)

As for the terrain... it was a little lacking. It's well designed for RPG-type gameplay, but it seems too WC3. Some imported shrubs/trees ought to help with that. I cheated to see the whole map, by the way. I'm a dirty cheater. Back to the point, the terrain seems rushed when you get farther in the game. The kobold dungeon basically consisted of different cliff levels and sparse doodads that stuck out. Impressive layout, though. Oh, and during my terrain surveillance, I also came upon the area for (presumably) Capture The Flag PVP. An ingenious addition to an ORPG, it actually made me want to play this with enough time to get there.

It's not up there with the best ORPGs I've ever played... yet. But this looks very promising. With a little more polishing, this will be a great, straightforward ORPG map to burn time with.

Random Notes:

-You should probably add a healer NPC at every town.
-Camera 3's angle of attack is too low. Make it a bit higher or make a Camera 4 with a little more AoA and distance.
-It seems all classes start off with an attack skill that's basically the same. Maybe you should add more starting skills or give the ones they have now some variety.

 

[The Big S]

Looks promising. I'm trying it out right now, watch for feedback some time soon.

Screenies never hurt, though. Might want to add some to pique the reader's interest in case they're too lazy to go to the forums just to see how the map looks like.

First Impressions:

I understand wanting to make the starting cinematic quick for impatient players, but the terrain flashed too quickly, IMHO. It's up to you if you want to do something about it, but it's a trivial matter so you shouldn't worry about it.

Anyway, the cinematic ended, and I was wondering what to do next. Oh, the statues. Never seen them used as taverns before. Okay, I saw the heroes were pretty unique. I used Shadowknight first time around. (Note: I noticed that the spellbook said that his first skill was named "Shadow Strike," but the skill is really "Shadow Slash." Just a heads up.)

The gameplay is pretty simple, but simple is good enough. I liked the backpack system and how your armor can break, plus, there's a lot of quests even at the starting area. That's good. (The text stacks up, though. It's pretty annoying if you're just grabbing quests and not reading since you've done them before.)

As for the terrain... it was a little lacking. It's well designed for RPG-type gameplay, but it seems too WC3. Some imported shrubs/trees ought to help with that. I cheated to see the whole map, by the way. I'm a dirty cheater. Back to the point, the terrain seems rushed when you get farther in the game. The kobold dungeon basically consisted of different cliff levels and sparse doodads that stuck out. Impressive layout, though. Oh, and during my terrain surveillance, I also came upon the area for (presumably) Capture The Flag PVP. An ingenious addition to an ORPG, it actually made me want to play this with enough time to get there.

It's not up there with the best ORPGs I've ever played... yet. But this looks very promising. With a little more polishing, this will be a great, straightforward ORPG map to burn time with.

Random Notes:

-You should probably add a healer NPC at every town.
-Camera 3's angle of attack is too low. Make it a bit higher or make a Camera 4 with a little more AoA and distance.
-It seems all classes start off with an attack skill that's basically the same. Maybe you should add more starting skills or give the ones they have now some variety.

Hey there,

Thank you very much for your first impressions on the game, you dirty cheater you!

Just a couple of comments to your notes:

- There are healer NPC's at every town; they are marked with runestones over their head, and they are in charge of binding your soul as well. They all have different models though, so that could account for missing them.

- The level 1 skills are pretty straightforward slight damage boosters, except for the Minstrel, who starts off with a heal. This is because the game starts out pretty simple, without a huge need for specialized skills yet. Once your character ascends to level 5 and up, you'll start seeing the class roles and skills really branch out and diversify more.

- I agree that the terrain isn't really *amazing* yet - This is mostly due to the fact that the map was last "terrained" before 1.24c, in other words, before the 8mb limit was allowed. So, I have kind of been hanging back on alot of doodads and custom things until I can finish the actual content of the map - Then I'll be going in and making everything pretty.

- The Capture the Flag battlefield is working by the way, so if you ever get bored enough or curious enough to try the map again, it's pretty fun to PvP against your friends. It doesn't give any rewards, as that could really be exploited, but that will be looked into more closely at a later date. Still, one time we had a 5v5 PvP test and it was truly a blast. Class strengths and weaknesses are definitely...exagerated...during PvP.

Once again, I appreciate you testing the map out. Hopefully you can play again with some more players, as that is really where the fun lies (doing the scripted dungeons, etc).

 

[The Big S]

Updated 1/19/2009.

- Screenshots and videos now in the top thread, for those who don't wish to blindy "leap" into the game world without a little peak.

 

[ElChupanebre]

Some of the skills could use some work. Also, the terrain would look a lot better if you added some custom models. You could also do the same for the heroes, because people are pretty turned off as soon as they see normal Warcraft 3 heroes.

I haven't played to much yet but some of the quests seem kind of samey at the start (kill X amount of Y.) Apart from that, this shows a lot of promise and is very polished already.

 

[AGrimDeath]

Yea, the terrain is still pretty basic, nothing exquisite there. The variety of heroes aren't bad, can't seem to find any unbalances yet, ( only played a few, so who knows) Other than that, the map shows some promise. Lots of areas to work on, that could easily be improved.

 

[muddy19]

Shadow knight
Shadow knight
Shadow knight
(Btw this is kira-dusk_Edge)
Shadow knights need some work. They rock at tanking and deal excelent damage...Well compared to the other tanks. I would say guardian might be better at tanking but overall shadow knight is the better hero do to the extra damage. I would work on the balance of this class a bit. Oh and life drain is rigged as you can still attack well its in effect making it way too strong.

 

[Rep7a]

Yea, the terrain is still pretty basic, nothing exquisite there.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing, there have been many successful maps with basic terraining, though i agree that it could be improved, i enjoy the idea of a simpler terrain. The map shows a lot of promise, i will try it when i get the chance.