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Which IRE game is right for me?

WeknWekn
in North of Thera
Greetings all,

I've been reading up on all the IRE games, however I'm not able to decide which to commit my time to. So I'm turning to you all for direction. What I do know is Atoliea & Midkemia are off the list. So that just leaves Achaea, Lusternia, and Imperian.

What I'm looking for most out of the game is: 

Challenging quest content (with rare quests to find)
Interesting dungeon's to explore w/ traps & puzzels
Optional PvP
Some group focused content
Community politics / RP

Thanks for taking the time to help.

Comments

  • TrillianaTrilliana
    All of the games have quests as far as I know

    There's not really dungeons, but more like hunting places where anyone can go (as long as you know the way) I don't know of many puzzles except for a maze and a quest on Achaea, I do know there's one hunting spot that you have to answer three riddles on Imperian (it's been a while, so it should still be there.)

    Achaea (as far as I know, I don't know much about Lusternia) seems to be the more "optional" PVP, but there are always cities in the games that are in conflict with other organizations. Creates drama and such.

    Group focused content = RP or "raid" bosses (what I call them anyway. IE for Achaea, the big red dragon Yudhi, or the vampire normally called Z - I can't remember his name at the moment)

    All of the games have some sort of politics, mainly every city has a ruling council and ministers - and I think that's on all of the games. The Houses/Guilds have a council of sorts as well, and Orders have hierarchy as well.


    Personal opinion, Achaea is the best place to start with IRE. My husband and I both started and met on Achaea, he moved on to Midkemia and now mainly plays Midkemia (one of the oldest players, at that) A lot of people have said this in the past, but if you're looking for RP, you need to sometimes initiate it, make RP on your own and you'll find it, people will gravitate to you for it. A lot of things in the IRE games are the same or similar (as far as I know, our theft system is from Midkemia, same for a few other things) Each game has its own flair, its own flavor. Give a look at the lore, at the Events news, if you gravitate to it, try it. It took me years to get the hang of Achaea as it was, once I did, I was addicted.

    Good luck and have fun :)
    meh


  • AsmodronAsmodron
    edited December 2013
    Well I've played each of the games, so I can give some input on this if you like.

    Each of the games has an outstanding quality that pretty much defines it. They are:


    Achaea - Optimal and balanced combat mechanics. Achaea is pretty much 'the' combat mud of IRE, and I daresay in my mudding years, I have yet to encounter a better and more tended to city. Achaea also is the largest community of the IRE games, and you can always expect to find people around. Its quest system is lacking though in comparison to the rest.

    Lusternia - Amazing and top class quest system. Lusternia pretty much writes the book on quests, storyline and lore and you can pretty much find any storyline that is to your fitting to take there. Many of the quests there are also game-affecting, so if you are looking to make a mark, you'll generally find it there. The lore here is also by far the best I have ever encountered (sorry Achaea >>) and is definitely a must-read.

    Imperian - Imperian is a pretty interesting place, with some fun content. It is -very- user friendly, and you pretty much feel as if you are being spoon-fed the information. It has had some major changes in recent years to its kits that have made it more unique. It's politics system is unique in that each city-state controls a certain number of villages, and people can be assigned as rulers of those villages.

    Edit: also good choice on skipping aetolia >>
  • KuyKuy
    Wekn said:
    Greetings all,

    I've been reading up on all the IRE games, however I'm not able to decide which to commit my time to. So I'm turning to you all for direction. What I do know is Atoliea & Midkemia are off the list. So that just leaves Achaea, Lusternia, and Imperian.

    What I'm looking for most out of the game is: 

    Challenging quest content (with rare quests to find)
    Interesting dungeon's to explore w/ traps & puzzels
    Optional PvP
    Some group focused content
    Community politics / RP

    Thanks for taking the time to help.

    Really, every IRE has all these things.

    What truly separates the IREs is the flavor of the game.  The varying lores, starting points, and plot lines lend themselves to completely different atmospheres.

    Another thing you might want to consider is your timezone.  For example, some timezones you just can't play Lusternia, because the population is pretty small.  Here, however, it seems like even in the most obscure timezones, there's someone about.
    [2:41:24 AM] Kenway: I bet you smell like evergreen trees and you could wrestle boreal mammals but they'd rather just cuddle you
  • WeknWekn
    Asmodron said:
    Well I've played each of the games, so I can give some input on this if you like.

    Each of the games has an outstanding quality that pretty much defines it. They are:


    Achaea - Optimal and balanced combat mechanics. Achaea is pretty much 'the' combat mud of IRE, and I daresay in my mudding years, I have yet to encounter a better and more tended to city. Achaea also is the largest community of the IRE games, and you can always expect to find people around. Its quest system is lacking though in comparison to the rest.

    Lusternia - Amazing and top class quest system. Lusternia pretty much writes the book on quests, storyline and lore and you can pretty much find any storyline that is to your fitting to take there. Many of the quests there are also game-affecting, so if you are looking to make a mark, you'll generally find it there. The lore here is also by far the best I have ever encountered (sorry Achaea >>) and is definitely a must-read.

    Imperian - Imperian is a pretty interesting place, with some fun content. It is -very- user friendly, and you pretty much feel as if you are being spoon-fed the information. It has had some major changes in recent years to its kits that have made it more unique. It's politics system is unique in that each city-state controls a certain number of villages, and people can be assigned as rulers of those villages.

    Edit: also good choice on skipping aetolia >>
    Asmodron, thanks for the synopsis, this is what I was looking for.

    I'll play a little of Achaea & a little of Lustenia and see what I like.

    I really wish the space IRE game would have turned out... I was really looking forward to that one.
  • TarkanianTarkanian
    Why ToP was scrapped.
  • TeshaTesha
    Not only is each game different, but each experience is different. That's why these types of things are so difficult to answer. A Cyrenian Paladin and a Targossian Paladin will be two completely different characters with almost nothing in common, even if they're played by the same person. A Mhaldorian Infernal and an Eleusian Sentinel will have even less in common. One city might encourage roleplay, while another might encourage brutal combat. 

    You will find combat everywhere, you will find differing degrees of roleplay everywhere, and that's just in one game. Different games have different meta-levels (can't think of a better term) of immersion; I know in one game characters are all so fluid and very well thought-out. However, if any of those characters were brought to Achaea, they might seem like special-snowflake hipsters to a few people.

    On the same token though, PvPers from Achaea tend to be much more advanced than in the other games, so it's a bit of a give-and-take. There are some communities in each game that emphasize this or that, but really, there's something for everyone in the IRE community; it's just a matter of finding what fits you best.

    (Join Targossas.)

     i'm a rebel

  • TharvisTharvis The Land of Beer and Chocolate!
    Trevize said:
    Tarkanian said:
    Why ToP was scrapped.

    The uploader has not made this video available in your country.


    Hmm. Interesting reason.
    The uploader has not made this video available in your country.  [-(
    Aurora says, "Tharvis, why are you always breaking things?!"
    Artemis says, "You are so high maintenance, Tharvis, gosh."
    Tecton says, "It's still your fault, Tharvis."

  • WeknWekn
    Jovie,

    Thanks for that insight. I can imagine how daunting trying to PVP with all the different class/build options.

    Does anyone, or yourself, have any similar insight into Imperian?

    Thanks for the knowledge dump.
  • MannimarMannimar
    edited December 2013
    My understanding, though I played Imperian for all of a week is that it's like a toddler version of Achaean combat. My brief experience with the game was almost completely independent, and I ran into a total of 3 players in whatever city I started out in the total 20 hours of peak gameplay that I was in. I find the differences between the games refreshing, but there isn't a strong enough community for me to stick with it.
    Honestly, I was quite fond of Lusty's community, but as @Jovie said, there is a lot lacking there on the admin side. A lot of missteps that were never corrected... and the combat is just bleh.

    I feel as though Lusternia's combat is more of a necessity than in Achaea. They have a village influence system where the denizen villages rebel against their ruling city and other cities can swoop in and capture it, gaining resources and benefits for their city. The ego system which is used for this is basically a complicated rock, paper, scissors game, and the village influence forces every city into some form of conflict. 

    At least in Achaea, you can find yourself in varying situations of conflict, never fully removed. By city, I'd say the ones that see the most PvP per player would be: Mhaldor> Targossas> Ashtan> Eleusis> Cyrene> Hashan. Which can be further increased by how willingly you defend, or PvP outside of raids..

    Ultimately I'd rank the games Achaea> Lusternia> Imperian.

    Achaea has strong roleplay if you actively participate, optional PvP based on org statuses, least convoluted group content in Mhaldor/Targ (the others have fun stuff too), politicking in Hashan is just asking to be naga ganked by the citizens. Quests aren't rare, but they get hard... I mean hard.

    Lusternia has a strong roleplay if you like their style (Science meets magic meets kittens), entirely based on groups (too much so). I didn't get to explore too much, but I do like their version of seafaring. Jovie said their CFS is pricy, but in my experience their gold just had a higher supply. At level 20 I was getting 10-20k in 10 minutes.

    Imperian... is well... Achaea - community - difficulty... Beyond that I can't say, I couldn't bear the lack of people.
  • WeknWekn
    Thanks again for another knowledge dump.

    From the sound of it, Achaea is the best place to start/play. I'm looking for a good RP community and game story to participate in. And combat/class mechanics that won't over burden me right off the bat (which sounds like that is the route Lusternia has taken).


  • AveriAveri
    Achaea is totally the best.  

    All the other games suck.

    I am not biased at all.
    Commission List: Aesi, Kenway, Shimi, Kythra, Trey, Sholen .... 5/5 CLOSED
    I will not draw them in the order that they are requested... rather in the order that I get inspiration/artist block.
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