OPEN BYTES – cave quid dicis, quando, et cui.

“North“, “East“,”East“,”Kill Skeleton” – The online RPG has come along way since the days of MUD and whilst MUD’s are still popular (and are certainly a pastime I enjoy on occasion for protracted period), things have moved on somewhat.  For the better? Thats for you to decide.

Probably the MMORG that has brought the concept into the main (and our vocabulary) would be World of Warcraft, its add on’s, its community and more importantly, the people that turn up to events dressed as their online character.

Readers of this blog will remember my bout with WOW early in 2009 where through the wonders of WINE I enjoyed the online game which is allegedly more addictive than heroin.  I can report that its not and I easily resisted the urge to dress as a Murloch and jump out of the water at passer’s by or turn up as Daroou the Paladin at my local pub.

But this article is not about spending money on a subscription and here are four of my favorite Linux RPG’s which I think perfectly highlight that theres some great games to play on the Linux platform.

I also need to stress that all these games have native Linux versions.  There is no using WINE or compiling src here!

No, not a scene from Glastenbury Festival, its Eternal Lands and its native for Linux! Arguably the most complete RPG!

Eternal Lands

This was one of the first titles I mentioned during the early days of Openbytes, a MMORG that offers complete freedom in your characters development.  The system works similar to many traditional RPG’s, experience is earned to level and points can be used to improve your characters base skills be that to take them in the direction of fighter, magician, a combination of the two or something totally different.  Eternal Lands is one of the most complete RPG’s Ive played and the same was true over a year ago when I first tried it.  The game is popular and there is always a large presence of other users online to trade/fight/argue with.

Graphically the game is sharp and appealing to look at, additions to the GFX a while ago included skydomes and you don’t need a PC with the specs of Skynet to get a decent game out of it.  The download is a binary that should have no problems with your distro, the online help is very good and the tutorials lead you by the hand whilst you find your feet within Eternal Lands.

The game is free, although special armor and weapons (and a horse) are accessable only as paid for content.  When you look at the work that has gone into this product, the active community and the scope for developing a unique experience I have always considered Eternal Lands to be the most de-facto Linux RPG on the scene at the moment.

You can visit Eternal Lands here: http://www.eternal-lands.com/

Another decent RPG which visually puts me in mind of Morrowind. Spec wise you are not going to need a T1000 to play it. Great stuff!

Regnum

I remember commenting a while ago that this sounded more like a BASH command rather than an RPG, that being said its another example of a polished title which gives the impression of being an off-shelf title.  Regnum is an on-going development that allows the user to choose one of three realms to defend with a selection of Warrior, Archer or Mage which can be further diversified when you reach level 10.  Graphically it puts me in mind of Morrowind – The Elder Scrolls somewhat.

Specs wise its requirements are quite low, I managed to get an AMD 1.8ghz machine running Regnum at a very decent frame rate with no trouble whatsoever.

Regnum is free however “extra’s” are available by way of paid content such as mounts and special items.

You can visit the homepage (and download the client) from here:

http://www.regnumonlinegame.com/

Graphically Savage 2 is second to none although "traditional" RPG'rs may wish to look elsewhere. (Screenshot from 1up.com)

Savage 2

Somewhere in between a hack/slash and an RPG, Savage 2 is graphically impressive, especially when considering that its a free title.  Its takes on a RTS flavor as well as allowing the user to control character in the third person view.

Graphically its probably the most advanced free rpg themed title, however that will discount any user of old hardware who is running Linux on older hardware.  Theres nine classes on offer here and for the team leader (or commander) it is up to them to play the game in more of an RTS mode, whilst everyone else fills in the “boots on the ground” roles (which is arguably more fun)

Savage 2 is not the easiest of games to get into as its quite complex with its plethora of options, but users looking for a happy medium of Fable/Golden Axe/C&C could do worse than check out this title.

The fact that Savage 2 offers a native Linux version gives it more kudos and if you want to showcase Linux gaming then go no further than Savage 2!

You can visit the Savage 2 site here:

http://www.savage2.com/en/main.php

The tech-demo that is rather more than just that. Planeshift, a great FOSS RPG!

Planeshift

The site appears to have been touting Planeshift as a “tech demo” for quite some time.   That doesn’t mean there is not fun to be had and at times Ive found a rather keen (and friendly community) around.   It has 12 playable races and what is interesting about Planeshift is that it allows quite a complex background/history system that you can create for your character, of course you don’t need to get involved in this if you don’t want to and how these choices affect the game is something who has been playing Planeshift for longer than me will have to answer.

On the specs front, they are rather low and you can play the game with 1gb ram with rather attractive GFX options (even on my AMD 1.8 ghz test machine)

The main advantage of Planeshift is that it is open source, there are no costs or purchases and the future for the product looks promising – if only they could get of their “tech-demo” stage.

Planeshift would probably rank as number 2 in my choice of MMORG (after Eternal Lands)

You can visit the Planeshift homepage here:

http://www.planeshift.it/

A browser based RPG that plays very happily on your Linux platform!

Honourable Mentions

Whilst not a Linux specific title, Runescape is a popular online RPG that is played through your brower.  Runescape succeeds at many things, firstly it has a large and active community, secondly it has a character development system that will have you finding your feet within minutes.  Where Runescape excels is allowing an RPG newcomer to get into the world of online without the numerous rules complexities of other MMORG’s.  Don’t for one minute though think that you are in for an easy or simple game, but its obvious that the developers have spent much time making the game as accessable for everyone as possible.  Paid for content provides extra features but the game can be enjoyed for free without the need to part with any cash.

Finally I have to mention MUD.  The platform that started it all?  Whatever the truth, it still has a following and a rather large, dedicated one at that.  There are literally hundreds of MUD games out their and whilst its usually played in a terminal with text descriptions being your “GFX” its still fantastic fun if you are of the days of the tradition AD&D gaming.  I mentioned earlier that I am partial to the odd game and that still holds true today, memories of playing a MUD whilst allegedly doing college work bring back happy memories.  One of the things many MUD’s cater for which some of these GFX laden offering don’t is real complexity and customization of your character, for those who engaged in the AD&D will remember how important (and treasured) your stats were.  For those interested in having a look at just how many MUD’s are out their (and reviews of the best ones) you could do worse than visit: http://www.mudconnect.com/

If you are interested in MUD, then I heartily recommend Aardwolf, Ive a character there myself.  It has hundreds of users online and a friendly community…great stuff!

The MUD Aardwolf has its own dedicated client (if you wish to use it), although its only available as a Windows binary so WINE is in order! Having said that, there are a plethora of decent MUD clients out there which aim to make your adventures easier!

Final thoughts

Next time you hear someone say that Linux is “no good for games” remind them of this small snapshot of what is available.  There are many other great RPG’s available natively for Linux and whilst this article only covers RPG titles you will find that sims, fps’s et al have a range of titles equally as impressive.  When you add the emulation scene in too, you can start to see how silly the “no good for games” is.  True the latest GTA is not yet written with Linux in mind, but with the maturing of Wine, modern games are making it onto the Linux platform.

Who knows where this will lead in the future?  Although “smug” Windows gamers might want to remain silent since the console market is looking far more desirable by the day for software houses hit with piracy and worries about their software being compatible with the multitude of PC hardware configurations out there.  Add into that there are users who do not want to keep on top of the latest hardware just to play games and I think the more desirable market will increasingly be the console.

What ever happens in the future though, I don’t think it can be argued that Linux has a wealth of great RPG’s.  The above are just a small selection and whilst being mindful of space I had to consider which ones I had the most exposure to.   If you have any recommendations, please list them here, I’d be very interested.

Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com

On the left we have ScummVM 1.0.0 and on the right of the screen Dosbox 0.73

Since the Puppy Arcade review gave me a little inspiration for a few emulation related articles, here is the “battle” which I mentioned on Twitter that has ScummVM and Dosbox going head to head with each other with the game Kings Quest III by Sierra.

The idea that Linux users would want to play old MS-DOS games might seem strange to some, whats even stranger for me is the fact that this task needs similar software to do exactly the same thing under the latest Windows versions.

So when Microsoft can’t get backwards compatibility sorted itself and when Linux users want to play those old games too, what is a computer user to do?

The answer can come in the form of Dosbox or ScummVM.  Why two products to do the same tasks?  I’ll explain.

Dosbox is aimed at emulation of the entire MS-DOS environment and any runtime you throw at it, whereas ScummVM concentrates on a set list of titles that use the same/similar game engine.

The Dosbox statement at their website says:

DOSBox is a DOS-emulator that uses the SDL-library which makes DOSBox very easy to port to different platforms. DOSBox has already been ported to many different platforms, such as Windows, BeOS, Linux, MacOS X…

DOSBox also emulates CPU:286/386 realmode/protected mode, Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS, Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA graphics, a SoundBlaster/Gravis Ultra Sound card for excellent sound compatibility with older games…

You can “re-live” the good old days with the help of DOSBox, it can run plenty of the old classics that don’t run on your new computer!

DOSBox is totally free of charge and OpenSource.

and ScummVM says:

ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!

I decided to put the two packages to the test with a game that is reported to run under Dosbox and is also catered for in ScummVM.  That title is a favorite classic of mine, Kings Quest III.  It should be noted that without packages such as these, as a Linux user Kings Quest III would be nothing more than cardboard and plastic.

Dosbox 0.73 running Kings Quest III in full screen mode.

Dosbox 0.73

One could argue that out of these two projects, Dosbox is the more ambitious.  Upon loading you will presented with a Window containing the environment that as a Linux user you never thought you would see again!

The first order of the day is to mount a directory as a virtual hard disk, this really is simple as  for example mount c ~/dosb (or whatever directory you are using) you would then change to your “C:” whereby you could access everything there as you would in a native ms-dos environment.  Whilst for the purposes of this review I am looking at it from an angle of Kings Quest III, it should be noted that everything I have thrown at it so far has worked.  That ranges from some very old Pacman clones which I never thought I’d ever play again, to Wolfenstien 3d (arguably the game that started the FPS)

Due to the nature of Dosbox being an emulator, the mammoth task of catering for a multitude of software, there are always going to be optimizations/modifications/bugfixes to the code.  In order to get around any performance issues, a handy frame skip option is included which will also allow users with older hardware to make the most out of Dosbox.

Now Kings Quest III with ScummVM using SuperEagle. Notice the smoothed graphics. Of course you can simply run it "normally" but the extra gfx options of ScummVM can make older games look slightly more appealing.

ScummVM

ScummVM works slightly differently from Dosbox, its not an emulator, it merely looks at the data files for you chosen game and runs then with its own engine, which means its certainly not going to eat up CPU cycles with trying to emulate code and rather its going to work more like a native Linux program.  ScummVM also has a variety of graphic modes which will enhance the original experience (or you can if you wish stay with the intended original and be “hardcore retro”!?!) One of which was SuperEagle and if you have a look at the screenshots here you will be able to see the difference.

ScummVM is designed only to run a set list of titles however the list is quite large and if you are a fan of point of click adventures (and have the relevant games) then its great.

Sound in ScummVM is also very good with little or no distortion making for a more pleasant experience.

Installing your chosen games in ScummVM is no more complicated then using the simple, clear GUI to select the directory the files are in.  ScummVM will automatically detect and identify the files it needs and the game they refer to.  Great stuff.

Conclusion

Whilst it must be stressed that only one game (that which I own the original of) was put to the test on both products, the results I think show clearly the differences between the two packages.  Dosbox performance wise could out perform ScummVM, although it went past the realms of being at the intended speed of KQIII.  Slow operation of Dosbox can be sorted with the frameskip option, however I don’t think many machines will be too challenged by Dosbox.  Sound on Dosbox can be described at best as internal speaker music and rather a hit an miss affair with KQIII title theme slipping into what sounded like a rendition by Les Dawson [1]

ScummVM on the other hand ran the package fine and sound was a far more pleasant experience than in Dosbox.  So now comes the part where I have to recommend one over the other.

I would say, if the software you wish to play is listed with ScummVM then definitely go with that. The different graphics modes which can be used (SuperEagle for example) can remove the rough edge from the GFX (if you wish) and make it more visually appealing.  In addition ScummVM is far simpler to set up and rather easy to select the game of your choice.  Dosbox on the other hand wants you to mount directories as virtual hard disks, which whilst a simple task for most of us is going to be daunting for others.

Dosbox obviously has far more scope and unlike ScummVM not limited to a set software list, thats its strength and also its weakness since you are going to encounter issues with some software just down to the sheer massive job the Dosbox coders have of making an authentic, compliant ms-dos environment.

Taking all that into consideration, I have both on my system (and why not) ScummVM for my KQIII et al and Dosbox for those titles which ScummVM does not cater for.  Both are great packages, both deserve your support!

Links

ScummVM homepage: http://www.scummvm.org/

Dosbox homepage: http://www.dosbox.com

Notes

[1] Les Dawson was a comedian known for having an act where he played a well known tune on the piano intentionally out of tune, but just enough so you could still tell which song he was playing.  For those interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWDphFwocAM

Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com

We first covered this fast paced FPS some time ago HERE. It was with great pleasure then that I took a look at the latest update to this work.

I can confirm, what was already an extremely polished product is now even more so.  On the last version there was a minor issue with the software not returning me to my default screen resolution.  I can now report that this is no longer the case, I also have no issues connecting to a server.  Get yourself over to the Official Site and download your copy now.

So whats changed?

7.20 - 7.21 changelog

1.  Fixed water fragment shaders.
2.  Fixed bug with water caustics.
3.  Added normalmaps for many textures.
4.  Added alphamask support to non-shadered meshes.
5.  Fixed bug with draw order of alpha surfaces and shadered surfaces.
6.  Rebuilt maps - dm-dynamo2k8, dm-omega2k8, dm-crucible2k8.
7.  New Cattle Prod map - cp-ribeye.
8.  All level shots now colored.
9.  Fixed bug with antilag.
10. Allowed standard vs full compensation with antilag.
11. Skybox cloud shader support added.
12. Added color options to steam effects(spawnflag controlled).
13. Removed unused legacy code in particle system, improved explosions blending.
14. Added vertical scrollbars to menu GUI, used with in-game server browser.
15. Added colored names support in server browser, and allowed servers to output them to query.
16. Greatly improved splash and spark effects.
17. Fixed bug with dynamic particle lighting and GLSL.
18. Added options for clients to change color of disruptor beams.
19. Added vegetation shader system.
20. Bots now get autoassigned teams, helps when rejoining team games when players leave to balance.
21. Added ejecting brass for chaingun.
22. Added sloshing water effect.
23. Added clock option.
24. Menu options for fov, showing fps, and showing clock.
25. Error checking in particle loading, to prevent crashes in cases of missing or damaged particle images.
26. Help section added to Galaxy menu, with useful links.
27. Mouse wheel support in in-game server browser.
28. Improved per-pixel lighting on meshes.
29. Added GLSL water shaders.
30. Stripped out old true reflective water code, impractical for a deathmatch game.

Wrath of the Lich King, is the game to be playing if you are a fan of RPG's! you can with Linux! No excuses!

Do you like the title?  World of Winecraft?!

There are many reports on Wine, with compatibility charts and performance comparisons, I intend to take a look at it slightly differently.

I have an adiction, a guilty pleasure if you will for World Of Warcraft (Wrath of the Lich King).  A Windows online RPG that really I cannot say enough good things about it.  With this in mind, I decided that the best test/report would be to compare WOW running under a Linux flag with its native Windows Environment.  I will also list what problems exist on running it through Wine (and how to avoid them)

Ok, first up I need to say for the purposes of this feature, I am using Ubuntu 8.10 (Gnome) and Wine (stable) 1.0.1  The installation I am using of WOW is NOT installed via Wine, but installed some time ago on a XP partition.  XP SP3 is being used for the “experiment”

Loading times:

For both systems, the load time of the WOW client, and the accessing of the server were (as best I could tell) identical.  Running WOW in Linux did encounter (on my rig anyway) an issue immediately, so if you check to the bottom of this feature, you may discover you have the same issue and you can find out how to get around it.  Check out the section Problems/Issues.

GFX:

As far as I can tell, Wine handled WOW in exactly the same way as XP.  There are a few “gliches” I noticed, which again if you check the Problems /Issues section, you can see what they were for me. (edit, these have now been fixed, see below!)

Sound:

Flawless, Wine ran WOW in this area exactly the same as XP did.  I have not encountered any sound/music errors/glitches whatsoever.

Framerate/Performance:

Being able to fairly compare the two platforms would be difficult.  WOW is full of online users doing their own thing, so the conditions of a completely fair test would be difficult.  Having said that framerate wise I would say there is no difference between the two, HOWEVER.  Wine/Ubuntu appears to handle the memory allocation of the game alot better.  On XP it appears the swap file is facilitated alot, occassionally causing short (or sometimes quite long) pauses in the game whilst data is shifted about.  Ubuntu/Wine did not have this issue for me.  This to me is a major advantage of running WOW in Linux, and make (even with the minor glitches listed below) in my opinion the better platform to run WOW on.

Problems/Issues – And how to get around them!

This is not a list of “global” issues and their fixes.  These are the issues that I have come across on my rig, and how Ive got around them.  You may have a perfect experience, or you may have a worse one.  Without testing every distro on a variety of rigs I cannot say what you will/will not come across when playing this game on your system.  That being said WOW on Wine has generally had a great response on the Net, so I think its a safe bet that you will be in for a treat!

*EDIT* I have now removed all the issues as they have been fixed.

1. Simply go into the WTF folder contained within the Lich King directory, edit the file “config.wtf” by putting the following command into the script.  That solved all my issues, however you can visit this excellent link here for more fixes.

SET gxApi "opengl"

So as you can see, there is very little grief in getting a popular Windows game working in Ubuntu.  I hope wouldbe Linux users take note that dispite what Windows “experts” may say, you do not need to drop into the commandline all the time, and Linux is not some complex system used only by techno wizards!

Why not try out WOW for free?  At the moment they are offering 10 days free trial (no obligation)

World of Warcraft

and to visit the home of Wine for the latest stable release, click here!

Its been a while since we took a look at a review.    We’ve all been very busy laughing and exposing Microsoft, its shown in the hits aswel, because in oct/nov I was averaging 28 hits a day and for December we are looking at 80+

Its clear to me (especially after the kind emails Ive recieved) that Lord of the Shills (LOTS) is popular.  An internet stalker tried to imply we take it very seriously, we dont, its a tongue in cheek way of exposing the pro MS liars.  A little comedy with a serious message.

Oh, where was I? Yep on to the review.

Childsplay is a educational set of games that is not only available on the Linux platform, but Windows and Mac aswell.    So what type of games does it have?  Games like Packid where it encourages spelling, maze solving and Pacman all in one.  The tradition memory games are also included (which I may add are fun even for adults!!!) timestable testing, slide puzzles, sound memory games, and much more.

My favorite game in the package has to be Pacman, and I did actually have a few goes at this!  The memory games also provide entertainment and get more challenging as the levels progress.

The software is written with Python, and does not require high specs as the games are 2d affairs, and use the keyboard/mouse for input.

The quality of the games is good, however they are (IMO) needing a little polish here and there, for the true “pro” look.  The content though, which is the most important thing here is great, children will have fun and its a great way to entertain the kids, safe in the knowledge that they are actually learning something at the same time.

The current release of this software is 0.90, so I expect there is much more to come!  It appears that Childsplay will be superseded by Schoolsplay. which I believe is based off some of the Childsplay code.  See the link below for the Schoolsplay site.

75% – Good content, educational and entertaining, all its needs is a little work on some of the presentation and you have a cracking package!

To visit the official site and download, click here!

It is understood that development in the future will continue under the Schoolsplay banner.  Click here to go the the Schoolsplay site!

Review by Goblin[RFD]

There has been quite alot of seriousness on my blog over the recent weeks, so I find myself reviewing another Linux platform game, this time by Tweeler.  I saw it originally mentioned on the Linux Game Tome, and decided to give it the Openbytes treatment, as I have always been a fan of 2d platformers since the days of the SNES.

Go Ollie! Doesnt disappoint, its gfx are rendered nicely.  The game moves very smoothly and presentation wise it is easy to see that alot of work has gone into it.

Control of your character is slightly different to your normal 2d platformer, you use the mouse to click where you want Ollie to move to (providing that he can actually move there in one click) sounds simple?  Well no, because there are all manner of nasty creatures about that will get in your way in your quest to collect the coins!

Its another game which is great for all ages, it is also extremely polished.  Id personally recommend it.

In related matters, it appears over on the Tome it was undecided if it was open source or not.  This issue has been resolved and it is infact Open Source.  The game was apparently written in Python, so thats a good advert for a language which really is gaining in popularity as one for both hobbyists and professionals alike.

Visit the official site to download!

80% – A great platformer that has a different way of presenting a popular genre!

Hi!  Ive been asked to include a mention (and take a look at) at piece of software not only aimed at the average gamesplayer, but also for the younger Linux user.

The important thing about bringing Linux into your home is that everyone can use it, and whilst these days people are playing games on their consoles, its nice to simple games for younger budding Linux users!

Thats where Secret Maryo Chronicles comes in.  For the older audience, the name and certainly the graphics will look similar to Super Mario on the Snes, and to all intents and purposes it is.

An addictive little platformer that has your hero moving through a series of levels, jumping on baddies, collecting powerups and doing it all in a pleasant cartoon environment.

With so many games these days involving blasting your way through hordes of Zombies, its nice to have a simple, safe and fun platformer that you can happily leave the kids playing (and I certainly enjoy this type of platform game as it takes me back to the days of the SNES)

Sound wise its just as “fluffy” and SNES Mario fans will recognise a few things here and there!  The graphics are smooth, and the option to run it full screen or windowed is nice if you want to be doing other things whilst having a little jump around on bad guys heads!

85% – A fun, friendly game that everyone will enjoy!

Click here to visit the official site and download!

Review by GOBLIN[RFD]

I am not a fan of gambling, although I do love the card game Texas Hold’em. Its a poker variant that is very easy to learn, combining skill, the ability to bluff and blind luck to win.

I wont explain the rules here, but you can easily learn on the many tutorial sites out there.

If you already know, then you may be playing it already online albiet on a webpage plug in of some description.

PokerTH is open source (as always) and I believe it uses the IRC network to connect players.  You can set up your own table, with starting money etc.  The game plays as youd expect and the program is so small its hardly going to take long to download.

Probably the best feature of the game is that you are not playing for real money, which whilst doesnt always give the gamer the experience of playing on a “big bucks” table, it will certainly stop you from having to remortage the house when you hit a loosing streak!

You can also chat whilst having a game, and theres a public lobby for people to chat in aswell.  Everyone here is friendly, and Im sure wont mind helping inexperienced users.  For those that want to play the game without being online, you can play the computer! and its nice for you to get used to the game before challenging “real players”

Downside?  None really, the engine is fast, the gfx whilst wont win any awards are functional and uncluttered.  The game is quick to load and quick to get into.

The game can be downloaded from most repositories or from the official site.  There are versions also for Windows and Mac users, so you can always guarantee there will be people to play with.

Visit the official site and download!

95% – Fun, easy to use and free.  Texas Hold’em for everyone!

Article by Goblin[RFD]

Firstly, I promise that all these game reviews will stop!  As you may have realised I took away the email feature here, this was mainly due to the overwhelming response of recommended titles and the time it takes me to try out each one!

This is the last of the game recommendations that have been sent to me via email (appart from my own) so we will be focusing on a more balanced representation of Utils/Games/Misc from now on.

Ever played Geometry Wars on the Xbox360?  A great little game, a top down shooter set in an arena with colourful sprites and explosions.  It has that simple gameplay that will keep you hooked just to beat your last score and deserves pride of place on anyones distro and Im pleased to say Gridwars 2 is an excellent Linux replacement, for those of you who dont have a 360 or just want a quick shooter!

Visit the site here.

85% – Great fun, addictive and a very quick download.  Get it!

Article by Goblin[RFD]

Sounding more like a system command rather than a game, Regnum is the latest discovery ive made in the world of free online RPG’s and more importantly, native Linux ones.

After downloading 290mb of game installation, I was ready to go adventuring!  First Ill mention the GFX, nice, and on my GFX card the environment had a “misty and dreamy” look, similar to that of Fable.  Your character selection, starts with race, which is dependent on your selection of region. You get to modify face, hair, gender, etc and choose your class.  Three are available: Warrior, Archer, Mage and the ability to specialise in a particular area when you reach level 10.

At first I thought this sounded limited, but then you realise that this game is one that is very easy to get into and offers fun gameplay for those not willing to play for hours just to be able to cast a simple spell or have a simple skill.

The game world is large, and the whole experience is similar to that of Planeshift, however this is far more advanced in the production process and is a “complete” game.  The sound is also a great feature and the tracks are professional and polished.

You’ll have fun with this one, and it scores extra points for its feature of allowing you to enter the RPG world very quickly (the extended beginner tutorial of Planeshift, let it down somewhat as it was far too drawn out).  Within a few minutes I was battling beatles on a beginner quest, casting spells and watching another user in battle with spiders.

Now onto the issues.  For experienced RPGrs who are World of Warcraft addicted, this is not as deep, and for those who like a complex experience, may wish to look elsewhere.  The limited character classes will make for not much variety between players (however the customisation of your characters race will balance that somewhat).

Next issue was vertical lines during the character creation screen, basically my whole screen was filled with them.  I have searched this problem, and it appears to be common to many users.  I will stress though, you can see the text well enough to create your character and when the game starts properly, they disappear (once the burn to your retina wears off!!!) I wont be too harsh with this issue though, as the developers need full credit for making a Linux flavour of this game.

The final issue I had was excessive loading time in some areas, although this is probably down to me running it on less than a gig of ram, and not a problem you will come across.

This game is free, however similar to Eternal Lands, you can purchase “extras” that enhance your experience.

Overall this is a great game for people who want to RP and want to do it now.  The features given to the new user will help keep interest, and whilst limited, the character class system is very good.  This is to online RPG’s what Fable was to the single player RPG.

So where does it rank?  Personally I still think Eternal Lands is the best Linux online RPG, although Id say Regnum comes in 2nd or 3rd.  I will be looking at Runescape next, the web based RPG which again is free (or for a fee with perks) and we’ll see if it manages to unseat Eternal Lands as the no1 Open Bytes rpg!

TIP: For those Ubuntu users who download this, may find that clicking on the install program does not do anything.  The solution is easy (and great if you dont want to get your fingers dirty with terminal).  Right click the icon, select properties and find the box that says “Allow executing file as program” close the window and double click again, Bingo!

Visit the official Regnum site here!

82% – Pollished, easy to get into and has a Linux flavour!