Shroud of the Avatar: Starring You

Shroud of the Avatar: Starring You

Shroud of the Avatar : Forsaken Virtues – Previewed

By Julie Morley

In Shroud of the Avatar, players can explore the world and participate in any way they wish. Decide to go on adventures? Want to stay around your house and just relax? You can.

Richard “Lord British” Garriott has gone back to where it all started for him, fantasy RPG’s. Garriott is the mastermind behind the Ultima games and wants to bring back fantasy role playing games to their former glory but with a new, innovative twist, in Shroud Of The Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. It’s time for a new fantasy role playing game to make its way on the market.

Oh man, that makes me giddy.

One of the things that usually veered me away from online RPGs is the people. Now, now, don’t give me that look. Participating with people isn’t completely the point! Sometimes you just want to do your own thing and not deal with someone trying to kill you so they can loot your stuff. Well, I honestly doubt I am the only person with this issue, which is a bit of an advantage of Shroud of the Avatar. There are several online modes to play, depending on your preference. Feel like fighting to the death? Conveniently, there is PVP. Much rather roam around the world offline? Hallelujah, there’s an offline option too!

There are different online modes to choose from. If you’re not feeling the online socialization, there is an offline option.

Just about everyone I talk to about RPGs tend to complain about the grinding system. In the end, sure, it can be worth it, but all that time you are putting in to level up your skills – what is it really going towards? Bragging rights? Shroud of the Avatar doesn’t require any sort of grinding unless you want to put it in for the heck of it.

The grinding system is out of the window and is the choice of the player. Weapon crafting is completely up to the player.

That’s a part of what is beautiful about this game: it’s all about what the player wants to do. There isn’t a set path for the player, it’s completely up to you. Which sounds more appealing, being an adventurer (protect thine knee from arrows), or being a bit of a homebody, doing their own thing? Either way, you have the option to do as you please.

One of the features I am most fond of in the design is the ability to purchase a home. Something about the process just makes the world feel more realistic and players can invest themselves a bit more. Players can customize and furnish their homes to their liking. Villages are typically the cheapest locations for homes plus there are more than plenty to choose from. In villages, there are plenty of services available for players. If a player’s taste is a bit more expensive, there are other locations such as towns. These are significantly pricier but the amenities are plentiful and the area’s more secure.

Players can own and design their own home, furnishing and decorating it to their heart’s content.

Shroud of the Avatar is intended to be a player’s home away from home.

Back in April of 2013, Portalarium, Inc. raised $1,919,275 through a Kickstarter campaign where the original funding goals was merely $1 Million. After the campaign’s conclusion, they continued funding on their website and have raised $4,074,456 to date. Right now, Shroud of the Avatar is still in production and will be released on PC, MAC, and Linux, though the release date is unknown. If you can’t wait to jump in and learn more you can get on the Early Access train through the Shroud of the Avatar homepage for $45.00. Look for more Shroud of the Avatar info from us in the coming months, there’s just too much happening to try and cover it in ~500 words.

The main storyline is roughly 40 hours long and with the addition of the side quests, there is plenty of story material to keep the players interested.

[facebook][tweet][Google][pinterest][follow id=”Cliqist” size=”large” count=”true” ] [author image=”http://cliqist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/julie.jpg” ]Julie Morley is a freelance writer and comic artist from Spring, Texas. She attended the Academy of Art University for two years, studying Animation and Illustration. Whilst here, she learned about writing comic scripts, storyboards, and general storytelling.  Since leaving college, she has been working on personal comic projects, stories, and illustrations. She aspires to release a self published comic within two years. For the majority of her life, she has been playing console games, typically being third-person shooters and sandboxes. Her favorite game of existence is Dark Cloud II (Dark Chronicle) and her favorite Indie game is Gone Home.[/author]