How descriptive is Achaea?

Sarres

Hi peeps,

I'm trying to pick a MUD to sink some time (that I have very little to start with) into.

I am a fan of a rich descriptions when it comes to items in general.
What I'm looking for is something like creations from Dwarf Fortress.

I'm not expecting to see every single item to be pimped but...are there any at all?

In other words, will I find an iron sword or will I find a Bastard sword, two handed iron sword with hilt made out of gold; housing 3 gems and what it looks like a claw. Even though it's visibly aged, it could still cut a man in half in one swing.

Or something like that.

My picks at the moment :

Achaea
Aardwolf
Gemstone

Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to play all three of them long enough to see the late game; and to find this out by myself.

Sarapis

I think you're going to find that Achaea has (I'm biased of course) a lot of excellent descriptions. Aside from the builders, we have player crafting systems that let them create custom designs, and some of the better crafters create some pretty incredibly well-described items. 

Lorath

Well...It isn't very fair to compare Achaea with Gemstone. The cost of an account there is quite high. While Achaea is free to play. I last played Gemstone back in 2007 and the only thing I disliked was the lack of pvp, but the classes, items and just plain depth of the game was great. But Achaea has by far better pvp which I enjoy. Aardwolf is kind of a waste of time, it was fun back in the late 90s but they have turn it more into a game for teens with no rp. So it boils down to basically between Gemstone and Achaea.

Deucalion

A bit late here, but one minor caveat I just wanted to throw out based on one of your earlier comments, @Sarres‌ : There are a LOT of custom items in the game. Nearly every room is custom. However, the way our weapons and armor system works, every sword of the same type has the same description. It's a good description, but every time a player forges a steel longsword, it "looks" the same unless they get it altered some way (we have some NPCs that will give you custom items for your orgs, for example). We don't have randomly generated weapons and armor that drop from creatures; nearly every piece is forged by smiths in the game as a part of the economy.

That said, we DO have chefs, jewelcrafters, and tailors, all of whom create their own custom items, the cooking ones complete with special messages for when you eat them. 

Kuy

Achaea is going to be, by far, one of the most descriptive, immerse, and "real" games out there.  You might also try to look into Lusternia - its playerbase focuses more on RP than combat, from my personal experience!

Bukariin

You don't really need to play Achaea into the late game to see the sheer descriptive depth - try it!

Sarres

Oh, just to clarify...

I mean items found in the game, not the rooms itself. By items I mean all items, not just weapons or armors.

I just love examining things   and whenever I kill a pain in the bum mob all I have is a sword. Just sword +5 if I'm lucky

At the moment, I'm finishing my 5h "trial" in Aardwolf and I'm not that impressed to be honest.
 

Sarres

OK, I think I got the answer

http://forums.achaea.com/discussion/2606/favorite-achaean-possession#latest

Well impressed!

Jacen

Here's a few descriptions of common items for you to judge:

Ebony Vial: 
The wood of this vial is a polished black ebony. It is carved in the form of a panther crouched  with taut muscles straining and ready to pounce. Two small golden topaz placed in the cat's head reveal a menacing demeanour, while the tail is held high and curled off to the side, giving an impression of the tail swishing side to side.

Generic Backpack:

This pack is large enough to hold a considerable amount of goods. Grey and mottled brown, it has been skilfully woven to keep out the majority of water in the rain. Pockets of all shapes and sizes hang off of it, ready to store any number of things.

Generic Bag of Stasis:

This simple looking drawstring bag glimmers with the runes that are stitched carefully into the fabric. It is, for all the shimmery fabric, a rather simple looking object and yet, for all that, you have the feeling that this object will be important indeed to you.

Sena

Nearly every item in the game has a good description, but they don't tend to be very flowery (room and denizen (NPC) descriptions on the other hand tend to be much more rich and detailed). When it comes to weapons and armour, there's not much variation; for example, 99% of bastard swords are the same "Delosian bastard sword" with the same description, and rapiers are mostly "an ornate steel rapier". Though forging is being reworked in the near future, and that will probably come with a lot more customisation and variety.

Players can also customise their items (though it's not something you're likely to afford as a newbie), so you can have pretty much whatever you'd like at that point.

Clothing and jewellery will certainly be what you're looking for though. Those are mostly player-designed, and with hundreds of different designers there will be something to suit every taste.

Cooper

Achaea is a very, very "descriptive" game. It's probably the best out there.

They have both paid admin and a large amount of volunteers that write the descriptions of everything.

Here's a random "ordinary" vial from my inventory -

Polished to a glossy smoothness, the surface of this vial shines with an oily sheen. Painted against 

the black backdrop, a towering crimson-skinned daemon glares with undisguised malice, his wiry 

muscles tensed for action. Bat-like wings unfurled and wicked talons gleaming, the image perfectly 

captures the creature's hatred for mortalkind, barely contained anger evident in every stroke of the 

brush. A silvery pentagram graces the rounded stopper, a symbol of domination over the minions of 

the inferno.

It has 9 months of usefulness left.

It weighs 6 ounce(s).

It bears the distinctive mark of Drogo, a travelling merchant (a denizen).

Jovolo

Achaea is very, very descriptive. 

Own a shield, or a weapon that you want to see suited more to your style? For fifty credits you can have its appearance completely overhauled. For example, I know a guy that used to fight with a "shadowed bloodsteel rapier crackling with crimson bolts" and a "fractured rapier crackling with amethyst bolts", totally of his own design. You can do that if you want to! This applies to clothes too, except the credits aren't even necessary there. Just find a tailor (player characters who have invested into being tailors - there are also jewellers, cooks and heralds) in-game and strike up a conversation. The two of you can design an entire outfit to your specifications, if some gold passes hands here and there.

You can even eventually build up to designing your own loyal invincible creature/pet that you can mount and fly with (these are all optional additions you can add or choose not to). It can have its own custom reactions towards certain individuals, you can control its actions be it emoting or speaking, etc. For some examples of pet designs I've seen:

A talking Ram,
A skeletal black Dragon, 
A zombie elephant,
An ominous shadow  (The infamous shadow of Tuerney. It wanders around roads near Thera),

And many more.

If there's one thing Achaea lacks, it isn't descriptiveness or a player's ability to influence that.

Stuneree

Descriptiveness and immersion:
Gemstone > Achaea >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> x infinity > Aardwolf (it's not a roleplay game, more like a chatroom sort of, but a lot of people like it)

Worth playing and content:
Achaea >>>>>> Gemstone
Idk about Aardwolf

Despite Gemstone being more descriptive for everything and having way more items and all, Achaea is more worth playing imo.

Kresslack

I think one of the things that makes Achaea great is the depth of description they go through to make the environment all that more immersive. When it comes to items specifically, you're going to have generic (but still interesting) descriptions for things that are commonplace, such as basic weapons and armours. However, a lot of Houses tend to have exclusive varieties and things of that nature which you won't find anywhere else. There's also the benefit of being able to customise your stuff altogether, to ensure it's completely unique. Items, housing, pets/mounts, clothing, etc. There are a lot of possibilities.

Blujixapug

Sarres said:

I'm trying to pick a MUD to sink some time (that I have very little to start with) into.

Shibumi

Aardwolf is really not that immersive for me, and the lack of RP is displeasing. It has a great client for windows, though, and nice PvE mechanics. I never tried Gemstome, but I checked the client (I play on a mac). I have the feeling that Gemstone is not supported as it should, especially for what it cost. Achaea is EXTREMELY well supported in my opinion.

Synbios

@Sarres: 
>Dwarf Fortress

Still looking for someone to describe clothing that menaces with spikes of obsidian. Or better yet, is engraved with an image of itself.



Also of note, there are crafting skills that can allow you to design your own food, clothing and jewellery. Though they cost credits to access, you could instead pay an existing crafter to design you your own unique fashion...within reasonable limits set by Admin, of course. While 'ethereal gloves of Chaos' would not be accepted, something more 'doable by mere mortals' like 'obsidian-studded leather gloves' would likely get a pass.

Tarkor

Jovolo said:

A talking Ram,

Hey, I know that guy!

And I have to agree, what I personally like best about Achaea is that there are so many options to create and design your own stuff in the game, both with little cost (craftskills) and with cost as high as you like.

Pets are more or less at the top of that price range, though.

Masaryk

Sena said:

Nearly every item in the game has a good description, but they don't tend to be very flowery (room and denizen (NPC) descriptions on the other hand tend to be much more rich and detailed). When it comes to weapons and armour, there's not much variation; for example, 99% of bastard swords are the same "Delosian bastard sword" with the same description, and rapiers are mostly "an ornate steel rapier". Though forging is being reworked in the near future, and that will probably come with a lot more customisation and variety.

Players can also customise their items (though it's not something you're likely to afford as a newbie), so you can have pretty much whatever you'd like at that point.

Clothing and jewellery will certainly be what you're looking for though. Those are mostly player-designed, and with hundreds of different designers there will be something to suit every taste.

Though there is some truth to this, I think the customization process in the game is very affordable. Though I do wish mushroom sigils didn't work on customized items