Review Submitted By: Papa Bob
Author Status: Player
Started on Shadow Siege: Around early July.
Submission Date: Aug 3, 2004
TMC Listing: Shadow Siege
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Papa Bob]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
Shadow Siege is an intense roleplay mud that sets the players in
a bad situation: the world is on the brink of destruction! Telantha
is the last remaining city, and hope, for all civilization, the rest
of the world covered in the Darkness. Now the players must decide
what to do, whether they will help in the fight against the demons
that dwell within the Darkness, or try to complete some personal goal
and leave the heroics to some other hapless fool.
The Pros: roleplaying is an important, if not essential, part of
this mud. The code automatically rewards players for their roleplay
(based on the number of people that are in the same room and the
emotes that are produced), so there is no need to wait for rewards, a
wait that is common with a nomination or 'roleplay spy' system. The
staff also work with the players to move plots forward: working with
the staff extensively regarding an idea or scene that you have often
has great results. Characters are also customizable, as there are no
classes or levels. Hooked on the idea of a warrior and mage
combined? It can be done. Interested in making that shady merchant,
who deals in a variety of goods and sells potions on the side? That
can be done as well. No two characters are the same, and one can
never assume to know just what another person is capable of.
The Cons: if killing is your thing and leaving behind mountains
of corpses as you chug healing juice turns you on, then Shadow Siege
is not for you. There are few things that one can kill without
(many) In Character consequences, and if one happens to die while
fighting a foe...expect to really feel the pain. A downside to the
character development on here is at worst a minor issue: it takes
time. If you're looking to have the strongest wizard or the best
warrior, expect to spend a long, long time working at your skills.
Raising your attributes also take time, but at the very least you
don't need to bring up a stat, say, five times in order to get any
benefit out of it. Bringing up your strength one point does have an
affect, just not an overly large one.
Overall, this is a mud that puts heavy emphasis on character
development. There is little, if any, benefit to 'borging' (or the
repetitive killing of mobiles for treasure and experience). If
you're into heavy staff and player plots, then this is a good place
for you to look.
