Review Submitted By: Khelek
Author Status: Player and staff member
Started on Project Bob: October 2004
Submission Date: Aug 2, 2007
TMC Listing: Project Bob
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Khelek]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
Project Bob, an odd name for an amazing MUD.
I've been playing MUDs for over 10 years now and I can honestly say
I've never seen one that can quite match up to Bob. With a few
exceptions, most other MUDs fail to keep me interested over a long
period of time. You get to the maximum level, remort (when possible)
and repeat. Bob on the other hand has so many things for you to do,
it's hard to get bored.
I played Bob for about 2 years before becoming an Imm there and
still play in addition to building, as do the other imms who are all
very friendly. We generally have about 15 to 30 players logged on
and at least 2 or 3 imms. All the players are very easy going and
more than willing to lend a helping hand to new players (and old
players who forget things). It is easy to be a little overwhelmed at
first by all the features Bob has, but the truth of the matter is
that you don't really need to know every aspect of the MUD in order
to have fun and make a great character.
I know it may seem like I'm rambling a bit, but there's so much to
say about Bob! Character creation is vast, we are classless but have
'prepackaged' classes that will help new players get a feel for the
game without having to go through the entire customization process
right away. After creation, there is a non-stock MUD school that will
introduce the basics of ROM MUDs and a few of the unique features Bob
has to offer.
The first 90 levels of play go fast and are more of an introduction
than anything. The real game starts at level 90 when you begin
gaining perklevels. Perks are used in place of training points to
improve stats, but are also for increasing skills and other things as
well.
The EQ system is a lot like Diablo. There is base EQ that has random
prefixes and suffixes attached to it which then can be further
customized. You won't find all of the high-level players wielding the
same weapons and wearing the same armor. I have a lot of fun
searching for just the right piece of EQ to fit my character and
trading with other players who might want what I've found.
As far as quests go, we have the same randomly generated 'go find
this' 'go kill him' quests as most other ROMs but we also have upward
of 500 different tasks that will have you exploring areas, helping
out NPCs and of course, killing. Along with that, there is a bounty
system in place that gives the player a random set of mobs that he or
she must kill. A dungeon generator provides a limitless amount of
small areas filled with mobs that players can go through. Other than
the tasks, the dungeons are my favorite. I love hacking through a
room of mobs to get a treasure chest and making it all the way to the
end to kill a big boss.
While some of the stock rooms are still in place, many have had
changes made to the mobs inhabiting them. We are always working on
expanding the world and players can explore the vast wilderness that
connects areas together, complete with random encounters. In my three
years, I haven't even found my way through every area and it's nice
not being frustrated by confusing mazes, dead-ends or worse, death
traps.
Players can always preform a remake on their characters if they find
that they dislike the magics or other skill sets that they've chosen.
With a remake, all of your progress is carried over, you don't lose
any skill points, any perk points, gold, qp or your eq. It simply
lets you completely reform the choices you've made for skills, spells
and perks. I've found myself remaking my main character probably 6
times or so by now and I'm pretty happy with him, I've gotten him to
fit my playing style well.
I think I've gone on long enough, though I could probably write quite
a bit more. I'll finish by saying that we have a comprehensive help
system and a data system that lets you see the details of skills,
spells, enchantments and more. In addition, we have a forum with
plenty of help as well and there is a Project Bob wiki page that is
coming along nicely. If you can't find help in any of those places,
just ask on our question/answer channels, someone will be able to
help you out.
There are many things on Bob that I haven't went into in this review,
but where would the fun be if I told you everything? :)
So, stop by Bob, say hi and take a look around. I promise you won't
regret it. I sure haven't.
