Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues

Oct 2016 Edit: I'm seeing some negative responses and "did you actually play the game" type of comments. Folks should note that I posted this review in Jan 2015. It's now Oct 2016, and the game has changed. A lot. The crafting system, for example, has been revamped like twice from scratch, and even the spell system was revamped completely once. Both of those systems have improved from their original form. I will say this: as much as this team asks for money or pushes the telethons or the selling of stuff on their store, you can see where your money is going. Updates and improvements are happening all the time... these devs are not sitting on their ass with your money. The game still looks beautiful, and keeps looking better and better with every update. It's also expanding, in terms of the world's size.
I still think it's a good successor to Ultima, but I couldn't tell you much about pvp, since I don't really participate in it these days. It's still grindy, it still doesn't hold your hand. I stand by my original assessment in that if you don't want an "easy" game, this one is that and still enjoyable.
By this point in the game's life and with an advanced community that's been with it since the kickstarter, it is a fact that if you don't come into the game now with some money in hand, and purchase house lots and deeds, then you will be pretty far behind. But starting any game two years later means you're going to be pretty far behind. If what you're looking for is player housing, know that you will be very hard pressed to get any without dropping real money into it.
Original Review, Jan 2015:
I love this freaking game so hard.
HOWEVER... I recommend it with a caveat. The reason I love this game is because my first video game AND RPG ever was Ultima 7. I played every Ultima after that, inculding Ultima Online, and went back and played older Ultima as well. Shroud of the Avatar is the spiritual successor to Ultima. It's Ultima in everything but name, and almost in that too.
It's an old school RPG with a bit more of a hardcore, almost grindy, feel to it. This game won't appeal to folks who want a World of Warcraft style RPG. I don't mean that negatively, it's just that I grew up on totally different RPGs then the folks who started their gaming careers with WoW. WoW holds you by the hand and gives you pretty explicit direction on where to go, who to talk to, etc.
Shroud won't do that. You gotta talk to everyone in town to find quests, there's no markings on a map to tell you where to go (figure it out from your journal and talking to folks), your weapons and armor deteriorate fast and also weigh you down depending on your strength stat... and if you are active in PVP, you can and will lose your gear to people who kill you.
There's non-instanced player housing, the crafting system is wonderfully complex, and combat isn't static... it shifts and changes and you have to be an active participant in it.
I love Shroud, but it's a very different type of RPG from the modern stuff out there right now. You've been warned.

Edits at 150 (1/7/2020) hours played are marked with *
I don't post many (if any) reviews but I really felt it was necessary in this case because this is probably the most underrated game I have played in 13 years. I have had this on my wishlist for a long time but avoided it due to all the negative reviews. A couple days ago, I actually read through those reviews and found that very few of them actually had anything bad to say about THE GAME. Most of them complained about how they didn't like the developers, how they felt they were treated unfairly on the forums, how the game wasn't what was initially promised, or one guy who had forgotten he had played before (and his character died) and was upset because it took him an hour to figure out that he was dead. Really?
I completely understand if people who backed early didn't get the game they were promised and feel betrayed. I have totally been there. Chris Roberts said that, if I gave him 60 bucks, he'd give me a game in 2014. He still has my money...
But reviews should serve to reflect the quality of a game for what it is. And Shroud of the Avatar is a truly great game and exactly what I was looking for. I have tried out about a dozen below-the-radar MMORPGs in recent months and this blows them all away.
That said, it is important to note that I have likely only scratched the surface of what SotA has to offer with only about 8 hours played. And perhaps everything goes to hell as you get farther along. But, for the reasonable entry price of $0.00, I recommend you give SotA a shot.
Just a few things that made this game stand out for me:
- Active Players - This game actually has people playing it and I see other players everywhere I go. This may not seem like a big deal, but most of the MMORPGs I have played recently are devoid of other players. So it stood out.
- Optional PVP - You can go to an "Oracle" and turn pvp on or off. Nice for those of us that don't enjoy being "ganked" or griefed.
- Engaging quests - No ! or ? telling you who to talk to. You actually have to read where to go and what to do.
- NPC "conversations" - You start a dialogue with "citizen" (or whatever default name the NPC has) and you can actually type what you want to talk about. For example, you can type "name" and the NPC will tell you his/her name. He will, from now on show up as "Bob" instead of "citizen". It's not much, but it's more immersive than clicking NPC and then "accept".
- No bugs - I'm sure there are some, but I've played 8 hours and everything seems to be working as intended. That's a rarity these days.
- 4k compatible - Most of the other MMOs I've tried recently start up a tiny little launcher with words I have to put my face to my monitor to be able to read. Then I'd have to make my character on a tiny screen. Only after that could I even get into the settings to change the resolution only to find that setting them to 4k left my icons and game text tiny and unreadable. When I loaded SotA, it just worked!
- Decent combat - Nothing groundbreaking here but feels similar to other tab target games like World of Warcraft. I expect it to get much deeper as my character learns more skills. Sometimes it seems as though mobs don't aggro from as far away as they should. But maybe that's just because I have only been in Tier 1 areas.
- Great skill system - Lots of meaningful skills. Learn them at a trainer and level them by doing them.
- Deep crafting system - This is more of an assumption based on the very little crafting I have done so far. But it seems better than most. *
- Player housing - I just got my first house (using in-game gold) and played around with decorating. You buy a lot and then there are many houses to choose from. You can add things to them (like a basement or 2 level basement). Decorating seems to allow free placement and is intuitive.
- F2P model - Best F2P model I have seen since Path of Exile. I have researched this a bit and haven't found a single thing that I will need to pay real money for. Most (if not all - idk) of the items you can pay real money for are just reskins of items you can make yourself or buy with gold. Granted, a F2P player probably can't get the best lot location - I have to walk a block to get from the gate to my little 2 story house. And I don't think a F2P can ever have a Player Owned Town (POT) - I don't even know if you can still buy them with real money. But I'm ok with that. I'm renting a lot in a POT and I have enough gold already to pay for about 3 months rent.
- Graphics - Not breathtaking but not blocky, boring or "retro" either. 8/10ish. The trailer and pictures on the store page are accurate.
The only cons I can think of are:
1. There's a bit of a learning curve and not much of an in game tutorial. I'm using the youtube tutorial here which has been a great help. It can also be a good source for learning what SotA is about and whether or not it is a game for you.
2. It's not truly open world. Zones are big enough that I though it was open world for the first 4-5 hours of playing but, once you leave the zone, you are taken to a 3D world map that your character walks around on with relative safety (you can find encounters here). You then walk to whatever zone or town you're going to and hit "e" to enter. It's not ideal but it's well done for what it is.
3. Difficulty - Too easy in early game. I don't think I have dropped below 3/4 health so far. I have not had any fear of death yet. But, again, I have only played in Tier 1 areas. I have died once but that was from jumping off of a cliff which, in WoW, might have only taken 1/4 health. Lesson learned.
*
Summary:
Reviews of this game are skewed negatively by people who feel they have been wronged by the developer (perhaps rightfully so). If you are looking for a new MMO that actually feels like a complete, finished game, you have nothing to lose by trying Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. It's free to play and free to win.
April 15, 2020 update: I stopped playing this a few months ago as the developer seemed to be changing things to accommodate the very few pvp players and making solo pve less fun and rewarding. Development now seems focused on overpriced cosmetics rather than content. I'm leaving the positive review because I do still recommend it. 450 hours and $0. I may go back some day...

Edit 2015/08/22 - As of August 22, this review is no longer up to date. I will update it as soon as possible.
I have been following this game for ten months now and I have played it since Pre-Alpha Release 10. I have already recommended this game to all my friends and I would recommend it to anyone who likes the RPG, MMO or SandBox genre. Dedicated to make this game right we have Richard Garriott (Yes, Lord British himself!) along with other committed professionals.
The core elements of this game, for me, lies around Community interactions, an impressive housing system, a deep storyline, immersive environments like dungeons, cities and swamps, Crafting and PvP. It's classless system is a real bonus to its combat and crafting mechanics.
In my opinion the only problem of this game right now is it's learning curve. I would say that it will take you 10 to 20 hours of play to understand enough of the combat & crafting mechanics to play the game properly (It's not that much. But you shouldn't expect to master the game in the first few minutes of play like you probably did in some new RPGs and MMOs.). The good news is that you won't need to know it all. For example, if you plan to play as a Blacksmith you won't need to learn the complexity behind the Cooking System. Yes, Cooking is complex here! All this complexity keeps the game interesting for everyone (even cookers!) at the expense of an increased learning curve.
About crafting, I would call any fan of Ultima Online out there to try this game. It will be perfectly possible to play as a Crafter (Blacksmith, Carpenter, Miner, Farmer, etc) with minimal combat interactions.
For PvPers, there will be areas of the game where you are automatically flagged for PvP, you may also duel almost anywhere, you will be able to do a quest that flags you for PvP (almost) anywhere (until you do another quest that takes the PvP flag away) and we will have Guild Wars!
The scenes (Zones/Instances) are awesome. Dungeons are really dark with lots of secret passages that really rewards exploration. Swamp and Snowy scenes are also really immersive.
The housing here is the most awesome idea that I have ever seen. Player housing lies inside the cities of the game. Let's take the NPC town of Owl's Head for a quick example. Owl's Head have about 12 NPC buildings and something around 70 player houses (from simple cabanas to mighty castles!). The city really feels alive. Not to mention Player Owned Towns!
Community Interaction and Role-playing is the best this game have to offer. Player run events like town meetings, guild meetings, PvP Tournaments and much, much more.
Disclaimer: This game is months away from its final release, so you may expect BUGs (and are also welcome to report them), WIPEs and unfinished or unpolished areas/mechanics. With that in mind, I would like to say that this will probably be the game that I will be playing for the next years. (Again) I would recommend it anyone who likes RPG games, Pen & Paper RPGs, RP interactions or MMORPGs.
I hope to see you in-game.
Peace,
Leos.

Its hard to find a role-playing game that matches the experience of sitting down with your friends to play a session of AD&D.
A lot of times, single-player RPGs have rich lore, a great amount of depth to the world, and a large amount of tools to expand your character and create your own content - you might be able to customize your appearance, forge your own weapons and armor, form relationships, and build your own house. But they become depressing when you realize you can't share the world with your friends; that you're essentially doing all of that only for yourself and by yourself.
Multi-player RPGs allow you to play with friends, but often have very shallow game world that doesn't feel alive. They might be restricted so much to feel like a theme park, where you as a player have no influence on the world, are just put on a track through the story quests, and are given boring raids to do with parties. Or, on the other hand, they might be so empty of a feeling of a shared lore and shared community, that it never gets past the sense of being just an empty sandbox for people to repetitively grind monsters, farm gold, and do PvP. Groups and guilds might form in the game, but theyre essentially about those things: grinding monsters, farming gold, and doing PvP.
Shroud of the Avatar tries to bring the best aspects of single-player and multi-player RPGs together to bring the play experience much closer to that of a pen-and-paper game session.
The way it does this is through instancing; which although used by a handful of reviewers here as a perjorative, is found in almost all games, and solves a lot of problems. Instancing is why when you go down into a dungeon to defeat some dragon, you won't find the dragon missing, with a group of other players camping the area and waiting for it to respawn. Instancing is why when you go to talk to a king about an important quest, you won't find dozens of other players around him, recieving the exact same quest. Instancing is why, when you go out into the wilderness, you'll be more likely to run into your friends than strangers, or more likely to run into people the game thinks will create an interesting adventure for you, than a boring one.
What it simply means is that the game can control, for each place in the game, which players you see and which you don't. In some places - like cities - this might be a huge number people, which is appropriate to make them feel bustling and alive. In other places - like in the wilderness - you might only run into a small number people, likely to include your friends. In other places, specific to plot-sensitive quests you're going on, it might be restricted to you and your party. And in a few, only you alone might be allowed.
Housing is not instanced. When you go into a city, you see everybody's houses, and you'll see everybody's vendors, when the vendor system comes online. You can also see into the windows of the houses, and look outside the window of your own house. There's a system in the game that allows new towns to be easy placed on the game map, and to also expand with time, and many will be entirely player owned and administrated. A home might be a simple building, or a wizard's tower, or a castle with a large courtyard, and might have no basement, or one that goes down many stories and hosts secret meetings.
The world itself will not be level-gated: you'll be free to travel anywhere you want and at any time, and not specifically only into zones fitted for your character level, and monsters in the wild will also not scale to your level. As should be expected, the further you go away from safe areas, like towns, and the deeper you go into dark forests, mountain passes, and oceans, the more challenges you'll find. The world will also be a lot more dangerous at night, with creatures coming out that wouldn't come out in daylight. You'll have to learn the environment, and among the things you'll have to learn is how to stay safe, if you're not planning on a danger-filled adventure.
Combat is moving away from the common gameplay of mindless button-mashing. There are a lot of different types of armor, weapons, and spells, all of which have strengths and weaknesses; what use will need to be carefully chosen. Wearing light armor might give you vulnerabilities that plate doesn't and make combat harder at first blush, but it also allows a lot of flexibility to actively dodge, escape, riposte, handle multiple attacks. A mage specialized in Fire Magic spells might have to watch out for a mage specialized in Water Magic. And all of these skills will have synergies with eachother, and also with the environment. A rogue might use Air Magic to enhance his agility and Moon Magic to become invisible, and a mage might have his Air and Water magic enhanced during a lightning storm.
Weather, moon cycles, and other events will play a great role in the game, not just for combat. Certain herbs that can be used for magic might be more plentiful or more potent during certain weather or under a certain moon - some might be even more plentiful in areas where there's a lot of death, their magic grown from the blood of slain adventurers. Lunar rifts will open at different times and a player will have to watch the stars to figure out to use them.
Banking is local, which means that if you leave an item in a town, you'll have to go back there to pick it up. This makes the economy regional, requiring travel to certain areas to find a better chance of buying something at a good price. It'll also open up chances for player trade routes and caravans. Besides vendors, there'll also be other opportunities to sell like market squares, and consignment. Players will also be able to create coins, and the devs are discussing bringing in multiple currencies to the game, including ones controlled by guilds.
Players, in fact, are contributing in large part to the lore and the feel of the world. A player guild called the College of Arms is helping people get set up with coats of arms, which will display in game, on player shields and tabards, and banners outside their houses. One called the Council of Scribes is helping people write books, collect them, and will be essential to disseminating them into in-game libraries. One called the Bards of Poets' Circle is helping create music and put it in the game, and will be essential to helping build a system by which players will be able to use instruments and sheet music. The developers are also hashing out ways for players to create all sorts of other content, like their own dungeons and quests.
There's a core story in the game written by the developers, though it'll open up into a large number of separate player experiences, which is what will allow players to bring in their own stories to enrich the game lore. It centers around a classic Ultima theme: choices and ethical dilemmas. There'll be different paths that your player will be able to take - and often there will be moral consequences to either choice you make. So you, as a player, need to think wisely what path you want to go down.
Right now, the game is in a very early stage of development. It's in pre-alpha, which will then become alpha, and then beta, before the game is finally published. So, if you start up the game now, you'll see it in an unfinished state. The developers will ever few weeks put out a new release for players, and with every release you can see the game coming together. Some things right now aren't as good as they could be, like loading times and graphics, though its better in every release.
It's a lot of fun even in pre-alpha, though, because of all of the player created content and events. People set up shops, create hedge mazes, hold arena duels, and play out human chess matches. There have been birthday celebrations, complete with cakes and dancing. The developers also participate in the community forums and play alongside everyone else.
Join us!

There is very little I can say about this game without sounding like a fanboy. In reality, I am not... It is just truly the greatest community in a game that I have ever witnessed. The developers are kind and attentive to community needs and live right there beside the players in the world. Last night, Lord British (AKA Richard Gariott) came down with the community and did a tour of the work we had done over the past few days. He stopped by a cafe owned by my wife in game, and even had a beer and watched some PVP duels on the streets of kingsport.
This event was preceeded by him having a player roundtable to everyone present in game and letting people ask him questions directly and address player concerns. This just doesnt happen at this level in games, and this is why I have invested in this game heavily. I want to make sure this game survives and succeeds for years to come.

Review of SotA - May, 2019
After reading most of the reviews, both positive and negative, I decided to jump in. I'm glad I did. For anyone a fan of the Ultima series, I think you will enjoy this game. It's fun and addictive. I've only gotten around 30 hours thus far into the game, but I'm really enjoying my time spent playing.
The ability to play either offline or online is really nice. I play both, but enjoy seeing others as I travel, so online is where my main character is.
Contrary to another reviewer, you do NOT have to search far for a vendor to buy and sell "junk" to. As a matter of fact, there are multiple vendors in the bivouac area right past the opening area. I'm guessing the reason that said reviewer had such a difficult time finding the vendor(s) was due to the fact that the huge flashing NEON "VENDOR" sign above their head(s) was missing. Unfortunately, for those in a rush like most other MMO's out there, you sadly must read and/or explore periodically to discover new things in the game. Such things include which NPC's give quests, which NPCs are vendors, etc...
For those of us that enjoy this old-school type of game/MMO, it's a joy to see a game that has these types of elements within. The game isn't there to "beat" or "win", but instead is there for you to "live" and "exist" in. The destination isn't the goal, as is the case with many MMOs today, whether it be the toughest dungeon or raid, but instead the journey itself is the goal. The journey is to be enjoyed and experienced.
When the game first launched, I gave it a try and truly disliked the combat system. However, I have really grown to like it. The mix-matching of skills to create truly unique characters is really great, and allows one to tailor-make a character that they envision. I wanted to play a paladin-type character that could set undead on fire with the flames of my weapon, while at the same time able to heal the wounds that are encountered along the way. In SotA, I can do that. I also wanted to play a woodsmen-type character, liken unto a Ranger, that uses a hand ax and a bow. In SotA, I can do that.
No levels. No classes. Just tailor-make your character to be what you want to be. This is what I truly enjoy about this leveling and combat system.
I truly am glad that I decided to download and install this game. It has been great fun, and I'm looking forward to heading to the next town and possibly finding one of those "Free Land Plots" where I can place my free house (given to all players that log on during the month of May, 2019 and claim the rewards) so I can have a home. The house plots within existing communities was really genius, adding more life to an already-existing village, town, or city. After having a home there, it's not just A town, but it's YOUR town. It's amazing how immersive that one aspect of the game can be.
Finally, I want to mention the player music system. For anyone that has played Lord of the Rings Online, you know how rich and robust the player music system is/was. Well, in SotA, it's done in the same manner, albeit with even more instruments. The other night I played the piano at the local tavern for over an hour, while a nearby barmaid NPC danced to my ditty. It's features like this that I look for in a RPG, where you can immerse yourself into the world and the stories.
It's free. Give it a try, especially now (May 2019). You'll get a free house and some free land. Can't ask for much more than that. Oh, and you get a free pet as well. Good luck and have fun.

Disclaimer# Early Impressions!
I play several MMO's(Darkfall, Secret World, Elder Scrolls and Archeage) as well as having played tons more over the 15 years Ive been interested in this type of game.
I picked up SotA last night and after 5 or so hrs figuring out the basics and getting some grouping in here are my thoughts.
Graphics are good IMO, they are not ground breaking but the enviroments, weapons and textures all give a pleasing medievil aesthetic. The animations could use improvement and since this is prealpha im sure they will get love.
The combat at first wasnt exciting, dying to small spiders and wolves.. or getting over run by skeletons. The TAB target combat with auto attack feels like a updated Everquest. The combat in a group was considerably more fun, 4 of us where fighting 4+ skeletons at a time.. good healing and timely dodges!
The combat system is unique and I found it refreshing. You have decks that you equip.. You have 7 hotbar slots and while in combat your abilities will be drawn from your deck. They fade away if unused in a certin amount of time. You can also make fixed decks where you know what abilities will come up. This comes with a penalty that increases focus cost ( focus = Mana).
Character creation was better then say Darkfall.. hardly any options.. but way short of Elder Scrolls or Archeage. You have some hair and can adjust basic features.
The world Map is something people may or may not like, It reminds me of old JRPG/CRPG which is a great thing. You leave an area and you switch to a map with a isometric angle to travel to the next hub.
The skill based deck system is where the variety will come in. The short time I played I was able to build a deck, with summon skeleton and two drain lifes. Im hoping im otw to Shadowknight/Deathknight!
The sounds effects range from average to good, the music is great and really sets the mood.
Performance issues have been mostly choppy animations and occasinal warping. So far I havent experinced any client crashed while playing. Some standard mmo bugs have happened.. Unkillable monster.. sometime when things die near walls they can be hard to skin.
Is it an MMO?
Technically IDK, I play online and have grouped with people etc, I see people houses they have placed on plots and I can hear people in chat. Its close enough for me.
Plus you will be able to play the game offline singleplayer or with friends in a private game. Choose to make the server PVP or not..
Is it worth it? Yes , its fun, nostalgic and full of potential awesome.