Review Submitted By: StarCrossed
Author Status: Player and staff member
Started on Redemption: 1995
Submission Date: Aug 25, 2003
TMC Listing: Redemption
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [StarCrossed]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
I've been playing on Redemption since it's first week of Alpha
phase about seven years ago. Since then I've filled numerous roles
on the mud, as a player, clan leader, builder and currently as the
head coder. Seems odd for ME to write a review, but useful.
Redemption is well known for having a well balanced set of characters,
with classes and races appearing in close numbers and having
reasonable odds of success winning a battle against most others.
The balance is tweaked occassionally as issues come up, and the
trend character for one half of the year may not be the same next
year. The game is balanced primarily for player vs player battles
one on one. The game also supports non-clanners who may not harm
other players. Due to the way the game is balanced, in large scale
battles, the larger side generally wins. Non-clanners may also
find some skills of lesser or no use to them.
The game accepts roleplayers, however it is currently mostly
focused on the clan wars and pkilling. It is not particularly newbie
friendly and doesn't have many added features to teach new players.
This will hopefully be improved in the future.
The character advancement is VERY long-term. After the first 51
levels, you may remort or reclass into more specialized versions
of your own race or class to gain 5-10 new abilities and a penalty.
You may effectively reach level 51 three times before your experience
gaining days are over, and even then, the level 51s can continue to
advance in power via a well designed crafted item system, and standard
questing system. The crafting system includes item types and item
modifiers not found any other way. 'Intelligent' Weapons which gain
experience and advance in power are another way for 51s to continue
to grow in strength. This does create a 'second class citizenry' of
new 51s which pale in comparison to the well established 51s who
have had the time and put in the effort to acquire more rare items.
There is a minimal staff of immortals that freely recruit new
immortals twice a year. The imms are not permitted to interfere with
the day to day lives of players in any way, and only intervene in
cases of cheating, harassment, and abuse. They otherwise build new
areas, run quests, or perform other administrative duties. In
general, the average players will rarely find the need to interact
with the immortals.
Unlike many muds, players DO have a forum for expressing their
feelings about the game and directly affecting its direction via a
democratic group called the Players Council (PC) who are allowed to
vote on immortal decisions and give suggestions for the immortals to
consider.
Overall, I feel the mud is well designed and well coded and fun to
play for the long-term. It requires a serious investment of time to
reach the highest ends of the game. The immortals are generally
friendly, helpful and considerate. The real problems with the game
come from some of the unfriendly, rude players who will easily chase
off any visitors. Until you get past them and meet some of the nicer
players, they can make for an unpleasant afternoon.
