My zOMG! review

[Red Kutai]

Silk Kanishk

The game is fairly generic which is why I said it has no true innovations. The ring system is of course very innovative but not to the extent that it makes the game innovative as a whole. You and I may disagree with that, but from people's comments about the game, the first most obvious detail is that people just plain and simply find the game boring. rolleyes

What does 'boring' have to do with innovation? Innovation is about novelty, and something can easily be novel and boring at the same time. zOMG!'s ring system is certainly novel - it's essentially a translation of Gaia's avatar system, into the language of an MMO - but it's implemented in such a way that the use of it isn't particularly exciting (lack of synergy means the individual pieces don't really 'match' well). Similarly, something can be very fun without being innovative - it's good design more than novelty that drives enjoyment. If zOMG! is boring, it's because the gameplay is poor, not because it lacks innovation.

Quote:

Lolol. I do agree the polish score was perhaps too generous but I like to think that zOMG!s crippling flaws though they exist are minimal and only occur in rare cases. So I had to consider how zOMG! for the majority in this case. razz

What majority? I haven't seen any numbers to indicate how regularly players run into glitches like silent NPCs, but I certainly wouldn't call it "rare" by any stretch. Indeed, I'd be more willing to use the term "rare" to describe players who get through the game without any such glitches, simply based on my observations in the Forums. What leads you to believe a glitchless experience is the majority case? confused

Quote:

Okay, I'll agree that zOMG! does little to promote socializing by itself but I've also noticed that it's the case with almost all mmos. I haven't played a lot of mmos but I've yet to see one that actually promotes cooperative play in some meaningful manner apart from simply there being strength in numbers. So I had to consider how zOMG! is different from other mmos and it is unique that is has heavy ties with a virtual world like Gaia which most most mmos don't have.

Some form of Clans or Guilds exist in most MMOs, and in most they actually do something beyond giving another chat channel - be it exclusive content (like clan wars) or mutual support systems (guild armories) or something else. In most games there's a reason to find groups of players you get along with, connect with them, and then support and interact with each other on a regular basis. zOMG! is a lone example in which the only real value of Clans is strength in numbers, and Clans don't even directly support that - it may want to be a social game, but its only genuinely social elements are Crews (which are all-upside, which isn't necessarily common in MMOs), which have some pretty strict limitations.

The connection with Gaia ensures a fairly active Forum community, which I'll admit is quite refreshing among MMOs; many have Forums added as after-thoughts, which often wind up stringent and unwieldy. My point wasn't really that zOMG! has no effective social aspects - obviously, or we wouldn't be here wink - but that giving it such high marks in that regard seems to ignore the many areas in which it fails, while emphasising the few in which it succeeds...

[A Random Act of Terror]

Gotta agree with Red, here.


Currently, (Anecdotal evidence inbound) 9/13 of my mules have at least one glitch going on at the moment with them. Santa has the silent Leon glitch (I'll never get points for upgrading a ring to CL1.1). Mister Him's orb counter is always at 0 upon logging on and will only be fixed by salvaging a ring (and this doesn't always work every time). Terror, Santa, and Mister Him all have the whisper glitch. Mister Him's EB reward is glitched (only got 2/4, and it's saying I got 4/4), Terror has the silent NPC glitch with Jacques, Terror has found almost 150 pieces of metal with the metal detector, ARAoWonder is silent NPC glitched with Leon, and that's not including the glitches everyone is affected by (Gnome General, Kamila, Papa Saw is still unbalanced).

zOMG!'s Gameplay is hardly original (Mechquest uses the same format, only better). zOMG!'s storyline would make Michael Bay's movies on par with George Lucas.

The only truly unique thing zOMG! has to offer is our forum avatars can be used in the MMO.

If it weren't for the community, zOMG! would probably only see a 5/10 at best---arguments could be made for a 6.

It's over-hyped (and under-appreciated), and it's in the lower half of MMO's like it.

That being said, I still enjoy the game, it's just no where near as great as deserving a +8.5/10

[beckygrendel]

I think you did an excellent job, Silk! Thanks for trying to promote the game outside of Gaia. emotion_yatta I'm a little biased - as it's my favorite game- but if I didn't know about zOMG! and read your review, I would definitely want to check it out. More people playing is a good thing!

[Silk Kanishk]

Red Kutai

Okay. I'll admit you have something there. 3nodding The point remains zOMG! is a generic game with or without its ring system. And those assumptions were pulled out of my a**. xd since it's not often that we hear complaints on the forums about in-game glitches, I assumed they were minimal. And yes. I'm aware of the many perks that being a part of a guild is in other games. But I've felt like it only encourages people to join clans for the benefits involved; Not play with each other. I think that's something that really needs to be addressed. But whether the community is not the game, it still is a huge reason for the game's successful social experience.

[Silk Kanishk]

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

[A Random Act of Terror]

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

[Silk Kanishk]

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

Well, I'm working on the assumption that there'll be someone to address those glitch complaints. razz

I don't even play zOMG! for the gold anymore. I only play it once in a while to help people out or have a good time with friends or meet new ones and other times, just because it's a simple, beautiful game to just pass away the time in farming and stuff. 3nodding

[A Random Act of Terror]

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

Well, I'm working on the assumption that there'll be someone to address those glitch complaints. razz

I don't even play zOMG! for the gold anymore. I only play it once in a while to help people out or have a good time with friends or meet new ones and other times, just because it's a simple, beautiful game to just pass away the time in farming and stuff. 3nodding

I wish I could still say I mustered up the energy to play zOMG! even for just the gold.

I'd DMS more, but most people seem to be doing GR's, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify spending gold or GC on amps for a run maybe every 2 weeks. And Amp'd smeb runs are just a complete waste of gold.

I'm still trying to attend dev meats and the occasional raid, but as you saw at your birthday, IRL is trying to keep me from having nice things emo

[Binary Mess]

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

Well, I'm working on the assumption that there'll be someone to address those glitch complaints. razz

I don't even play zOMG! for the gold anymore. I only play it once in a while to help people out or have a good time with friends or meet new ones and other times, just because it's a simple, beautiful game to just pass away the time in farming and stuff. 3nodding

I wish I could still say I mustered up the energy to play zOMG! even for just the gold.

I'd DMS more, but most people seem to be doing GR's, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify spending gold or GC on amps for a run maybe every 2 weeks. And Amp'd smeb runs are just a complete waste of gold.

I'm still trying to attend dev meats and the occasional raid, but as you saw at your birthday, IRL is trying to keep me from having nice things emo

I can't even stand how people can do DMS so much.
It's a tedious and redundant maze, more so than any other instances as I feel it as such.
I never passed Yellow Maze because of that sole fact.

[Silk Kanishk]

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

Well, I'm working on the assumption that there'll be someone to address those glitch complaints. razz

I don't even play zOMG! for the gold anymore. I only play it once in a while to help people out or have a good time with friends or meet new ones and other times, just because it's a simple, beautiful game to just pass away the time in farming and stuff. 3nodding

I wish I could still say I mustered up the energy to play zOMG! even for just the gold.

I'd DMS more, but most people seem to be doing GR's, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify spending gold or GC on amps for a run maybe every 2 weeks. And Amp'd smeb runs are just a complete waste of gold.

I'm still trying to attend dev meats and the occasional raid, but as you saw at your birthday, IRL is trying to keep me from having nice things emo

That's why I help out with newbies asking for help in dms as that's the easiest way to do regular ym while also doing a good deed of helping someone out. 3nodding I actually like amped smebs and dont think they're a waste of gold as you make back more money than you spend while also saving plenty of time.

It's alright, man. Everyone has a life to deal with. Oh wait! I don't. blaugh What's important is that you care enough to keep trying. 3nodding

[A Random Act of Terror]

Binary Mess

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

Well, I'm working on the assumption that there'll be someone to address those glitch complaints. razz

I don't even play zOMG! for the gold anymore. I only play it once in a while to help people out or have a good time with friends or meet new ones and other times, just because it's a simple, beautiful game to just pass away the time in farming and stuff. 3nodding

I wish I could still say I mustered up the energy to play zOMG! even for just the gold.

I'd DMS more, but most people seem to be doing GR's, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify spending gold or GC on amps for a run maybe every 2 weeks. And Amp'd smeb runs are just a complete waste of gold.

I'm still trying to attend dev meats and the occasional raid, but as you saw at your birthday, IRL is trying to keep me from having nice things emo

I can't even stand how people can do DMS so much.
It's a tedious and redundant maze, more so than any other instances as I feel it as such.
I never passed Yellow Maze because of that sole fact.

Eh, usually I have minecraft open on my xbox while doing DMS.

I usually just do it for the interesting conversations, more so than the act of actually killing s**t

[Binary Mess]

A Random Act of Terror

Binary Mess

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

Well, I'm working on the assumption that there'll be someone to address those glitch complaints. razz

I don't even play zOMG! for the gold anymore. I only play it once in a while to help people out or have a good time with friends or meet new ones and other times, just because it's a simple, beautiful game to just pass away the time in farming and stuff. 3nodding

I wish I could still say I mustered up the energy to play zOMG! even for just the gold.

I'd DMS more, but most people seem to be doing GR's, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify spending gold or GC on amps for a run maybe every 2 weeks. And Amp'd smeb runs are just a complete waste of gold.

I'm still trying to attend dev meats and the occasional raid, but as you saw at your birthday, IRL is trying to keep me from having nice things emo

I can't even stand how people can do DMS so much.
It's a tedious and redundant maze, more so than any other instances as I feel it as such.
I never passed Yellow Maze because of that sole fact.

Eh, usually I have minecraft open on my xbox while doing DMS.

I usually just do it for the interesting conversations, more so than the act of actually killing s**t

Eh I can't stand the conversations in crews. They're just so childish and I'm obviously too high of morale to complain about it, so I just try not to see it, but it makes me cringe.

[A Random Act of Terror]

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

Well, I'm working on the assumption that there'll be someone to address those glitch complaints. razz

I don't even play zOMG! for the gold anymore. I only play it once in a while to help people out or have a good time with friends or meet new ones and other times, just because it's a simple, beautiful game to just pass away the time in farming and stuff. 3nodding

I wish I could still say I mustered up the energy to play zOMG! even for just the gold.

I'd DMS more, but most people seem to be doing GR's, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify spending gold or GC on amps for a run maybe every 2 weeks. And Amp'd smeb runs are just a complete waste of gold.

I'm still trying to attend dev meats and the occasional raid, but as you saw at your birthday, IRL is trying to keep me from having nice things emo

That's why I help out with newbies asking for help in dms as that's the easiest way to do regular ym while also doing a good deed of helping someone out. 3nodding I actually like amped smebs and dont think they're a waste of gold as you make back more money than you spend while also saving plenty of time.

It's alright, man. Everyone has a life to deal with. Oh wait! I don't. blaugh What's important is that you care enough to keep trying. 3nodding

Amps are great, if your donor'd. But I'm not, or don't have enough time to nerf on donor status. And at a 5k return (assuming 2 amps are used per run, with the others going toward DMS), they don't really pay themselves back.

Hopefully this summer when my free-time opens up I'll be able to start doing amped runs and all that other glorious stuff.

If all else fails, I still leave a post saying hi a day late in the dev meat thread emotion_dowant

[Silk Kanishk]

Binary Mess

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Silk Kanishk

A Random Act of Terror

Oh wow. That sounds pretty serious, man. I've only had a stuck quest in old aqueduct on silky but that only happened for a repeatable quest. I also had the silent rin/lin glitch but when i went of-screen and came back and again, they started talking again. I had no glitches at all on felis hircus or my secret mule, so I assumed glitches were pretty rare. sweatdrop

I think zOMG! would do well to have a button for reporting glitches much like HOC currently has.

And those are just the glitches I can remember off the top of my head emotion_0A0

It would be awesome, but both HoC and zOMG! have limited staff that can handle these glitches, so while the button is there, it'd basically be just another stack of files to be ignored by HQ emo

Don't get me wrong, for a 6/10, zOMG! is a great game, the fact that it allows me to acquire gold to fuel my shiny addiction while having great friends is definitely worth putting up with the glitches 3nodding

Well, I'm working on the assumption that there'll be someone to address those glitch complaints. razz

I don't even play zOMG! for the gold anymore. I only play it once in a while to help people out or have a good time with friends or meet new ones and other times, just because it's a simple, beautiful game to just pass away the time in farming and stuff. 3nodding

I wish I could still say I mustered up the energy to play zOMG! even for just the gold.

I'd DMS more, but most people seem to be doing GR's, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify spending gold or GC on amps for a run maybe every 2 weeks. And Amp'd smeb runs are just a complete waste of gold.

I'm still trying to attend dev meats and the occasional raid, but as you saw at your birthday, IRL is trying to keep me from having nice things emo

I can't even stand how people can do DMS so much.
It's a tedious and redundant maze, more so than any other instances as I feel it as such.
I never passed Yellow Maze because of that sole fact.

That's actually the brilliance of ym runs. They're so repetitive that they're great excuses for simply hanging out with friends and having a fun chat while you play. razz