Review Submitted By: Aradel
Author Status: Player
Started on Forgotten Kingdoms: 2001
Submission Date: Feb 22, 2007
TMC Listing: Forgotten Kingdoms
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Aradel]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
Forgotten Kingdoms is a MUD that has gone through quite a few changes
since I began playing there, and I would say that without a doubt, it
is these changes the talented immortal staff has made that have made
it the one of best MUDs I have ever played. I think the fact that
I've played there since 2001 speaks for itself.
Between the immense size of the game, the wonderful area authoring,
great roleplay, and very well-made codebase, I simply can't play any
other MUDs now that I've been just plain spoiled by Forgotten Kingdoms.
The game just recently had an addition of a truckload of new spells,
and with them has adopted a D&D-fueled spell memorization system which
is excellently crafted, and easy to understand and manage--it makes
playing a spellcaster much more interesting than on any other MUD I've
played to date. The game is always being added to--right now there
are multiple large cities that are being made by the dedicated area
building team. And, in recent times, immortal-run roleplays have
picked up a great deal, and it has added even more to the fun factor of
the MUD. I don't have enough space to tell you everything else that I
love about this MUD in detail, so here's a list of what I think of as
the highlights: excellent character generation, many races to choose
from, wonderful combat system, VT100 interface (can't live without it
now), wilderness system, helpful staff, humongous and useful in-game
help system, GREAT ROLEPLAY, excellent areas, trades (mining,
armorsmithing, etc...), a seemingly never-ending number of quests to
play through, a top-class community on the game's forums, and (this
may be my favorite part) great dungeons.
One thing I haven't seen other places is the active out-of-game
community--the forums on the game's website provide a wealth of
information and help to the players. Also, many new ideas the
immortals come up for the game are batted around with the playerbase
on the forums before they really are put into the game. Players and
immortals alike are constantly coming up with great new suggestions
for how to improve the game, and it's rapidly evolving as a result.
As for the so-called political issues discussed in some of the other
reviews -- there have been a few (and I mean very few) minor, isolated
incidents that I have seen of out-of-character politics creeping into
in-character situations, but don't be discouraged, this is not the
norm on this game. I have seen nothing but class from the immortals
and the newbie council on this game the entire time I've played there.
By and large, from this player's perspective, things certainly seem to
be running very well behind the scenes on Forgotten Kingdoms.
This MUD has some more advanced aspects to it from the user's
standpoint than others I had previously played. Don't be discouraged
by this! By advanced I don't mean overcomplicated or inaccessible --
the learning curve is not steep. So yes, for most there is probably
going to be a lot to learn when you're first starting out on Forgotten
Kingdoms -- but trust me, take the time to learn, and you'll be having
a lot of fun before you know it. If you want quality gameplay and
roleplay, I can't tell you to go anywhere else but Forgotten Kingdoms.
