Things from Planet Cyrene that were not on Cyrene thus far

Yes Jamira, I remember well the social aspect of the game, and was very much a part of it for many years, but I also appreciate the quality of game-play and graphics that just seem to embellish and intensify the social environment.

The good-quality graphics and game-play are what inspired the intensity of my involvement, albeit secondary to the social aspect, but gave me substance to work with when it came to my writing, my event planning, and various other activities with intention of connecting the community more.

I think WoF is a spectacular annual event, and happy to see it revived, because Hurrikane does a magnificent job of being its facilitator. I covered it myself, and my writings about it can be found at this very forum under MindStar Media.

We became accustomed to the ever-increasing quality of graphics that complemented our experiences, to the degree that it was expected, but then, as continued development occurred, the new bugs, old bugs, and bugs and glitches that have never been fixed (along with other feedback and complaints that came from many in the community) depreciated the value of the experience ... not to mention a consistent rise in cost to play.

I have an excellent computer setup, and recently switched to fiber optics with a higher internet speed, so my expectation of what I experience in a 3D environment like EU with the settings on High or Very High are reasonable, and certainly not what is delivered.

I'm off to have some dinner, and then see if I can get the video together. I'll either post it later tonight (for me), or tomorrow sometime, but it will be posted.

 

I'm being so hard on Cyrene right now since they are acting as if nothing has changed and all is well on their planet. That is what got me going on this issue. If they were open and stated there was an issue as Neverdie did when he downsized I would be more supportive. On that subject I really like the new planet Rocktropia his team did a GREAT job recreating the planet and in many ways I think it's better this way.

But what really got me going was a post from Kris referring to MS9's post here (yes Kris is reading this) with Kris saying that all wasn't as bad as MS9 made it out to be guessing that I hadn't seen the planet.

If they made a post stating that the planet was to be restarted with a new theme then ok maybe I would have been more supportive but to go out of there way to say this was their plan all along and all is good sorry I don't buy it or support it. I do know they had put in a lot of work and I can't behind to know how they feel as a team. It was their dream that was crushed and for that my heart, what little I have of one, goes out to all of the team on Cyrene.

 

At this point Oz, I really don't know what I think "for sure" ... just what my experiences were in the past based on being a member of the C-Team and a participant during and after, and what they were last Saturday night after the big move to a single server.

With regard to what Cyrene's intentions are currently, I couldn't say, and anything posted would just be speculation, (again) based on personal experiences, so I would rather just let things be and see what transpires over time.

I'm sure Kris is aware of feedback about Cyrene in more than just the Cyrene forum, either from his own discovery, or someone giving him a heads up, but that's fine, and he should be aware of what the community is saying, because it gives him and the team a basis to work from going forward.

Cyrene was more forthcoming in the beginning, even before launch, but there were some hard (unexpected) lessons learned, so I'm not surprised that they aren't as open about intentions as they were before. I don't chastise them for that, because I understand it, but I would have to agree that it would have been far more tolerable to at least have some knowledge of what was going to happen.

I'll play Devil's Advocate here and say that I know that PP's can do everything right on their servers with regard to content, graphics optimization, missions and varied other things, but once that is turned over to MindArk, the end result can be something totally different. The actual launch, or going live of Cyrene was a perfect example of what was expected to be delivered and wasn't. It was incredibly disappointing for Ed and the team, but they wouldn't say that publicly, and employ only diplomacy (that's all I'll say about that).

So, I'm going to reserve any other criticism of Cyrene based on the fact that there are unknown variables here, but feel very strongly that something is not right according to what previous practices have been.

I'll post the videos when I get them finished, and then you'll see what Obie and I saw on High and Very High Graphics, but Kris already said there was an issue with the frame rates. Obie explained Kris's comment in the VU Patch Notes as meaning ... the planet frame rates are too high, and therefore, the quality isn't what it's supposed to be.

I'm supposed to be getting a life here, so after I post the videos (probably tomorrow now), I'm going to get back to my RL writing and building a whole different network.

Till tomorrow ...

 

Gl with the writing, and we will miss your presence! Remember you have Alien fans out in the wide galaxy!

 

Videos were removed because I don't want EU content at my new YouTube channel.

 

Videos were removed because I don't want EU content at my new YouTube channel.

 

Here's a small example of Cyrene a few years back

 

Videos were removed because I don't want EU content at my new YouTube channel.

 

Wow, new Cyrene looks like old Calypso. Very similar spartan landscape and flora. Some of those blocky style buildings even remind me of Zychion or old Chuggs

 

Interesting you should say that, because that's what I was thinking as well. I just can't get past the extreme change. I have no issue with a temporary downsizing to one server, and think it's probably a good thing if they're working on the actual "hard launch" ... but

I also think that it would have been in their best interest to at least provide quality and a semblance of cohesiveness while players are waiting. I don't know if it's been mentioned anywhere exactly when the hard launch is expected to happen, but the current state of affairs of the planet just don't seem amenable enough to retain participants when other planets offer a far more inviting environment.

This seems like an apocalypse far greater than the one Calypso had that left a hole where Hades was, and the appeal of Cyrene at this point is lost. I just don't get it.

I'm off to pull together more video footage. I have to laugh at Obie's comment about the videos, because it was about the music sounding so "funerally" ... my choices are intentional.

Be back soon.

 

Videos were removed because I don't want EU content at my new YouTube channel.

 

Videos were removed because I don't want EU content at my new YouTube channel.

 

Videos were removed because I don't want EU content at my new YouTube channel.

 

Holy shit that looks awful!

Did they hire the guy who made this to make it or something?

Seems a far cry from these two...



What confuses me is "aren't those other pics screen shots?" . Yet what we have now is clearly different surroundings AND model as far as I can tell.

What the Badgers is going on?

Wistrel

PS what is the low poly bright yellow ball thingy meant to be?
PPS is anyone else thinking "bye bye Cyrene" ie that the project has been abandoned by CKI as non profitable and this is the legacy?

 

Well I don't have an issue about the over all graphics of a game. I like Toulan with it's basic graphics but great detail to the limited area they have to work with. Plus yes, other game graphics isn't an issue at all. The only problem I had with the update to Cyrene is knowing the detail the last version had compared to this version which looked as if it was created over night. MS9 was being very nice to the Cyrene team with her videos. She could have shown the other areas that just do not meet the standards of any game developer. Most of the work they did could have been done by anyone and was simply just a drag and drop fast job. The most activity on the Cyrene forum these days is just posts about new bugs found. But yes, Ok that could be kind of fun come to think about it. But the idea stands and I wish them all the luck in the world.

 

It think it was abandoned or close to being abandoned by CKI right from the start. It's probable the owners sons hobby project we are seeing or something like that. I had high hopes for Cyrene and thought it would be my future homeplanet, but when the planet launched half ready on with no economy in place my hopes died.

 

I've been long suspicious it was a side project of a large company with its fingers in many pies. Some years ago when MMO's were the IT thing they thought it would be a good move to repurpose existing resources to a bit of game dev on a punt. But MA probably failed to deliver the required infrastructure they felt was necessary to launch the game for too long.

In the mean time MMO's became "old hat" even the biggest well funded ones now are "just another game" and probably retain users no more than any other MMO.

I'm sorry (really sorry) to say it but it feels like Cyrene will die now before it starts. I can't help but notice that even Lykke doesn't post about it any more and she's on the pay roll...

I feel it is a shame I didn't visit the old Cyrene before it was removed. Ah well... guess I should get my ass to Toulan for a look around before that goes... and maybe a last look at Next Island too.

 

Sorry to hear about the bad graphics over there... However, honestly it doesn't surprise me very much. Look at how horrible Calypso itself was right after vu 10... and how blasted long it took them to straighten out that mess (some of it still hasn't been resolved yet, even today)... Building a planet is a big job that requires a lot of detail and play testing that none of the PPs or Mindark itself are taking the time to do unfortunately.