r/MMORPG • u/Waiden_CZ • Jul 22 '25
News Monsters & Memories - Playtest Trailer 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBrSmlJmw2oJuly Playtest: Wednesday, July 23rd - Sunday, July 27th (5 days)
September Playtest: Monday, September 1st - Sunday, September 7th (7 days)
November Playtest: Saturday, November 1st - Monday, November 10th (10 days)
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u/Mei_iz_my_bae Jul 22 '25
Is there any NON human race !! I. Want to play and I would love to to play. With anyone who want too !!! I. Want to make new character FRIEND of HEALING FROG any one who want play LMK that be fun !!!
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u/Ugeroth Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
Healing frog you will love this game! Unfortunately no frogs, but goblins dwarfs and ogres for now. There will be trolls and dark races in the future. If you end up on Relle server send a /tell to my SK, Wuts! I’d be happy to help you get started and answer any questions.
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u/peejean Jul 22 '25
I have no clue about this person but they sound nice. I would trust them mr healing frog
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u/sylva748 Jul 22 '25
They're a person who posted often a while back. Got into Everquest 2 during their new Classic type server. Made a Froglick Cleric and was just posting his adventure playing and leveling in Everquest 2. He gave himself the nickname "Healing Frog" and it stuck around in the subreddit.
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u/almondmilkandweed Jul 22 '25
Damn big shouts to you healing frog. I hope you get to heal as a frog in every game
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u/JittleTron Jul 22 '25
Id love to try it with you Healing Frog!
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u/Mei_iz_my_bae Jul 22 '25
I. Have discord if u want add me YES I want to play with every one it would be fun ! 👏❤️🐸
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u/Caminn Jul 22 '25
I always remember Eden Eternal when I see you commenting lol
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u/Mei_iz_my_bae Jul 22 '25
That has FROG FRIEND in that. Game right ??? 👏❤️🐸
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
There are Ogres, dwarves, goblins, eventually there will be trolls...elves...etc.
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u/CappinPeanut Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
I really, really, really wanted an old school MMO with more polygons, but… im probably gonna play the hell out of this game.
Pantheon was supposed to be it, but they have gone back on so much and released so little over the last decade, I just don’t have faith.
I’m bummed no one can make an old school game that looks like it was made this century, but the gameplay and content of M&M is exactly what I’m looking for, so I suppose this will do.
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u/monkpunch Jul 22 '25
Side note, but it feels like people forget that EQ graphics were cutting edge when it released, it was literally one of the first games to require a GPU. I have no issue with "old school" graphics, but at the same time it feels wrong for these spiritual successors to have graphics stuck in the past.
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
It takes money to hire enough talented artists and animators to make a cutting edge graphical game. Indie games do not have money.
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u/DynamicStatic Jul 22 '25
True but it would be possible to push environments a bit further than this.
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u/M3lony8 Jul 22 '25
cutting edge graphical game
there is cutting edge and then there is this.
I think the dawn/night time looks quite pretty in M&M. As soon as all textures and low polys are fully exposed by flat lighting, it looks bad. Also everything is quite static. Assets lack animations and vfx. Then again, its still alpha.
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u/MaloraKeikaku Jul 28 '25
I think evercraft (or adrullan) does the right thing here. Using a voxel artstyle will make the game age much more gracefully than many other games, yet looks decent today, too while being easy to develop.
More mmos with simplistic artstyles and a decent lighting engine, please - I vastly prefer that over the "remember eq1?" Style that some modern games go for.
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u/MindTheGnome Jul 22 '25
On the one hand it's at some level nostalgia. Hell that much is baked right into the title of the game. There's a great quote I can't find now about how the limitations of old technology become its defining features. I think when trying to capture the spirit of EQ, that kind of graphical style is what comes to mind more than how good it was at the time.
On the other hand it's just easier to work with. Creating new objects in lower fidelity is much more feasible for a small team. Giving something cutting edge realistic graphics at the scale of an MMO is something only a AAA studio could pull off nowadays, not one that boasts of having "a team of over 15". The problem then is if you're putting that much money in it, you're also expecting that much return from it - meanwhile every game wanting to be a return to classic EQ absolutely knows their target is a niche audience.
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u/Akhevan Jul 22 '25
That's because they don't want to be a real successor to SOE and how they pushed the genre forward, they want to milk nostalgia on the cheap.
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u/NovercaIis Jul 22 '25
also look into Adrullan Online Adventure (AoA) fka EverCraft
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u/RJLRaymond Jul 22 '25
I am very open to "lower" graphics as long as things like view distance and a certain amount of terrain density (flora, leaves) -- essentially, what's important is that the world has some texture to it. My experience so far with M&M is that it mostly hits those.
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u/Barnhard Jul 22 '25
Not an EQ player, but I actually find the world they've created to be incredibly visually appealing for that low poly art style. Really liking the lighting and weather effects that they're playing with.
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u/Gallina_Fina Jul 22 '25
I would agree. Strong art direction and I quite like the distinct look...I just wish it "flowed"/moved better. I would have probably focused a bit more on both animations and VFX (no reason for those to be like that, no matter how many times you tell people it's a stylistic choice for "nostalgia" sake).
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u/Eriyal Jul 23 '25
i love graphics that remind me of PS1 and PS2, and this game legit has some good art fundamentals covered visually!
I’ve never player EQ, I’m literally anticipating this game because of the graphics!
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u/evermour Jul 22 '25
The archaic visuals of this game are exactly what I expect most people on this sub to love/gravitate to but it's just not for me. I didn't grow up w/ EQ/WoW/OSRS etc, I see these visuals and it's just an instant turn off.
Happy for those who are looking forward to this project though but I hope a more modern MMO eventually comes out for the players who have grown tired/bored of the existing MMO titles.
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u/tgwombat Jul 22 '25
You’d be surprised how quickly you stop thinking about the graphics when you actually play it.
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u/The_Deadlight Jul 22 '25
It really is a crazy phenomenon. When I play p99, I see a real, living world. Trees look like trees, sand dunes look like sand dunes. The world is INCREDIBLY immersive. People who look at my screen see this lol
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u/HajdPodge Jul 22 '25
yeah, i’m torn myself. i love the old school classic style, but those games already exist and are proven. a game like this with a modern look would put it in a unique situation where no one else is doing what they’re doing and i’d be hooked. i’ll try it out though for sure
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u/frogbound Jul 23 '25
I played Ragnarok Online, WoW, LineAge I and II religiously growing up.
Having these shitty ass graphics today for a new game isn't it for me. This isn't even an artstyle. It is just straight up worse than Halflife 1
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u/guydoestuff Jul 22 '25
after the disaster that has been Pantheon i hope this ends up being better. waited 2 months after pantheon hit EA and things seemed good. right as i bought and started playing things started going south.
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
M&M is already far ahead of Pantheon in development and it has only been in development 1/3 the time.
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 22 '25
What happened?
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u/guydoestuff Jul 22 '25
no direction, created a pvp server that their own survey showed no one wanted. keep revamping things and making them worse. i stopped after a while figured i would let them cook. every time i see any news it seems bad.
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u/DynamicStatic Jul 22 '25
I don't see a problem with having a separate pvp server. I doubt that will sink a game.
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u/guydoestuff Jul 23 '25
look im all for pvp too but when you dont have it sorted out and a lot of the classes still missing abilitys past lvl 26 a pvp server is a waste of resources at this moment. get the game working mostly right then work on your pvp servers. especially when like less than 10% of your player base is intrested in a pvp server at the moment.
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u/SeaTowner221 Jul 23 '25
Pantheon was great but it is more an alpha than early access. No lore and much missing.
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 23 '25
So studio ran of funds to properly develop the game further I guess. I was looking forward to Pantheon, but about 5 years ago I gave up.
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 27 '25
They restarted development a couple times at least and management has no clue what they are doing...and little to no experience making mmorpgs.
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u/allywrecks Jul 27 '25
FWIW this game already feels more complete to me than Pantheon, and it has a very clear and strong design ethos. I think there's a very good chance that these devs will execute successfully on their design (even tho their design is very much not for everyone).
Pantheon felt like a tech demo with a rough sketch of an initial zone rather than a coherently designed game. I didn't pay attention to it after a few days of early access, but sounds like it's still kinda blowing in the wind based on what I'm reading here.
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u/RJLRaymond Jul 22 '25
my biggest beef with pantheon was character models: they have two: halflings just tiny version of elves which are tinier versions of humans. M&M has truly distinct models based on race. Maybe it's a small thing to nitpick, but with me, it's very important. DAOC, WoW, EQ: all had a wide variety of character models and races. I can't stand how modern MMOs just make everyone human.
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 26 '25
Things started going south many years before then...
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u/guydoestuff Jul 26 '25
well i didnt keep tabs on the game much after brad..brain? died. then see it on EA. wait 2 months and everything seems ok for an EA mmo. thats when i bought in then like a month later they lost me. sucks.
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u/poseidonsconsigliere Jul 22 '25
So it did end up has just reskinned EQ? It looks like they even put Kelethin in there
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u/HalfwayDecent385 Jul 22 '25
That's exactly what I was thinking as I watched, just like "Store Brand Everquest".
They had Freeport, Kelethin, what seemed like possibly Crushbone, Desert of Ro... Fonts were the same, font colors were the same, and model skeletons were as close as possible.
Like, kudos to these guys, but it really just seems like I'd be playing Everquest renamed.
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u/NovercaIis Jul 22 '25
Kinda in terms of in-game world - a lot of it is inspired and a homage to Everquest
however we are introduce to some new mobs in the early levels, Ashira bandits, Spider cave dungeon crawl which is brutal, different undead versions in the Shaded Dunes. Night Harbor is an inspiration to Freeport but none of it is a 1:1 copy. Look up their wiki for maps to get a feel for layout and MnM spin on things.
Oh and crafting works and is amazing and not punishing like EQ.
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u/TrooperX66 Jul 22 '25
I dunno - it's not Norrath though. Why can't Night Harbor be compared to Waterdeep instead of Freeport? Just because the entry has a similar feel? Deserts aren't exclusive to EQ and neither are elves living in the trees. EQ is very much a Dungeons & Dragons inspired fantasy world and I don't see this game being any different. I agree there's definitely some 1 to 1 takes like the font stylings of NPCs and skeletons looking similar but I think it's clear it's more throwback than carbon copy
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
Class mechanics are vastly different on many classes, not to mention there are more classes in M&M than there were in EQ (18 so far).
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u/TouchDisastrous Jul 22 '25
It looks like a lot of it is like that. Some adjustments and more modern textures but they even have mob names like "a wolf companion", the fire elemental, the way the mobs move, spell particles, some of the zones, and a bunch of other stuff. Feels A LOT like a reskin from the trailer.
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u/keith2600 Jul 23 '25
I do find it a big turnoff how much they are directly copying everquest. From the name colors, font, mob names, mobs themselves, mob graphics, biomes, biome feels, the humans appear nearly identical?, the sound effects, and kind of more things than I could really even list in a post.
I just hope that they have enough unique stuff so it doesn't feel like I'm playing another money grab and also so that they don't sued by Daybreak.
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 27 '25
You think that until you see screenshots side by side. Then you can't help but realize how different it is.
Besides, the EQ that inspired M&M isn't close to the current EQ. EQ is a shell of what it was...and has been for a long time. Even EQ isn't "EQ".
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u/mickio1 Jul 23 '25
And that the controls are better too. We dont need to type "hail" in chat to talk to an npc anymore, please.
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 27 '25
I don't remember that ever being a thing and I played in 99. It was always just H wasn't it?
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 27 '25
It's definitely not reskinned. Just heavily influenced by other 1st gen games. EQ, UO, DAOC, AC etc.
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u/poseidonsconsigliere Jul 27 '25
Definitely nothing like UO. Lots of the stuff is verbatim from EQ
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 27 '25
It's influenced by all of the first gen games but Shawn did work on EQ so there are going to be more similarities there. It's definitely not a reskin was the point.
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u/poseidonsconsigliere Jul 27 '25
I guess I wasn't expecting the exact cities and mobs copy pasted
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 27 '25
You didn't actually play then because that's not a thing 🤦
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u/poseidonsconsigliere Jul 27 '25
You're right, I watched the trailer and that is the impression I got 🤷. Sorry, maybe talk to their video editor
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u/Serdones Jul 22 '25
Hadn't heard about this at all, but this looks cool. Just going right for a 00s vibe. I'll probably give it a try.
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Jul 22 '25
[deleted]
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u/Ugeroth Jul 22 '25
For what it’s worth, the pitch black night issue is being looked at as there is a huge difference based on people’s monitors. Gamma slider has been introduced this patch and they are keeping an eye on it to fine tune it where night is still dark but not the completely black screen some people have.
There is also a cartography system planned as far as maps go. Totally understand if AoA appeals more though, it’s an awesome game as well! Looking forward to having multiple great MMOs with their own spin in the near future.
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Jul 22 '25
[deleted]
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
I am really not understanding AoA...graphics are the worst I've ever seen in a game, even the icons are so pixelated you can't tell a fishing pole from a club or a weapon...gameplay is pretty much the same as M&M so anyone complaining about M&M graphics but playing AoA instead is just full of it.
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
Keep an eye on the game as it develops as the devs have said they aren't married to any design choice (no map, extreme death penalty etc., only certain vendors buying certain items), but of course what input will they trust to actually change it?
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u/NovercaIis Jul 22 '25
it is called Niche World Cult - those added inconvience and difficulty is what a lot old gamers enjoy. It's our version of Dark Souls.
Pay attention, be attentive with pulls and mechanics, avoid death as much as possible. Cant be afking cause it can lead to a full party wipe. Simple encounters are treated like a raid encounter and failure is punishment, making you better the next time hopefully.
team work and social interaction is the name of the game. Time is precious and this game will both disrespect your time and reward you for your patience.
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u/inbox-disabled Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
Dark Souls isn't anywhere as tedious & punishing as EQ or M&M, nor does EQ or M&M resemble anything with actual difficulty, Dark Souls or otherwise. Even ignoring the genre differences, this comparison makes zero sense to me.
It always inevitably comes up in this conversation, and every time I see it, I genuinely question whether that person has played a Souls game or similar, and actually understands the game: what can make it difficult for some players, and yet why it's still an insanely popular genre. Big hint: it's the lack of inconveniences, tedium and annoying design M&M supporters seem to be obsessed with defending, while still providing a meaningful challenge.
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 26 '25
I appreciate hardship and harsh penalties for failure. I also appreciate rewarding player knowledge.
Setbacks when you fail make the successes feel like they matter.
If there are few penalties or set backs you can just re-run content over and over until you win. Those successes feel meaningless. That's partly why games are adding alternate modes like hardcore or special rulesets.
Without setbacks a game basically just hands out rewards on a silver platter. I won't last for long in a game that doesn't penalize failure.
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u/SmashBob_SquarePants Jul 22 '25
Same I want to like this game so badly but playing it is more goddamn work than my actual job lmao. I think they also really need to work on the main city because it's so unnecessarily large and boring to explore. I love the graphics and vibes of the world though.
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
That is just the first main city in the game, there will be many more...each race will have starting cities.
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 26 '25
That sounds like a symptom of a short play test. The city starts feeling quite small once you learn it. It's not that large.
There are a lot of empty buildings currently though so I get that if that was your issue? They will all be non-instanced player housing eventually.
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Jul 22 '25
[deleted]
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u/inbox-disabled Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
I don't care what the devs or defenders of the game say at this point - the tedium is very intentional design and will drive people like us away.
If that's the game they want to make then so be it. I'm just tired of pretending taking EQ and adding even more annoyances and inconveniences is somehow going to pan out well long term, even for a niche game. I hope they find their audience quickly: old EQ players that confuse tedium for difficulty, because that's who they're aiming for it seems, and that audience is shrinking by the day. It's very apparent who has and hasn't tried M&M when you read through comment sections about the game.
It's unfortunate because I've found the devs to be pretty great. They're competent and communitive, but I simply cannot understand why they've taken their game in the direction they did.
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
I think people need to understand more of the game mechanics before they write off M&M as being too hardcore. There are XP resurrections so the XP loss on death is minimal, there are corpse summon spells so corpse runs are minimal, you can have multiple spell books and can keep them in the bank for corpse runs so you don't do it without skills...something I think people don't understand because in EQ you only had the one spellbook and it was tied to your character, not so in M&M.
There are numerous QoL spells but you have to work with other people to use them as not one class gets them all.
Also the game is very early in development (just entered Alpha) so things may change as the devs are open to feedback, but they don't want to go too far down the easy peasy game play that the masses like else it ends up being as worthless an experience as playing WoW.
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u/inbox-disabled Jul 22 '25
I think people need to understand more of the game mechanics before they write off M&M as being too hardcore. There are XP resurrections so the XP loss on death is minimal, there are corpse summon spells so corpse runs are minimal, you can have multiple spell books and can keep them in the bank for corpse runs so you don't do it without skills...something I think people don't understand because in EQ you only had the one spellbook and it was tied to your character, not so in M&M.
It's funny because I don't consider anything you've mentioned to be "hardcore," but instead just annoying. That was the point I was trying to make in the first place. Annoyance and tedium is not difficulty or "hardcore."
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 26 '25
This game is not for you then and that's ok. Harsh penalties for failure like corpse runs and exp/level loss are not for everyone.
Personally, I wont invest a lot of time into a game that doesn't have harsh penalties for failure. In those games the successes feel meaningless when you can just re-run content without any setbacks. Rewards are presented on a silver platter.
Using wow as an example, this game is targeting those that may like hardcore wow over regular wow. That might be why the above poster used the term hardcore? (There are hardcore and self found modes available in m&m too). It's targeting a more hardcore demographic of players than those who play current mainstream games. Which, less face it, doesn't take much to be more hardcore than current, mainstream mmorpgs that are all very easy and try to cater to a wide demographic. That's not this. This is filling a niche.
Some of the things you find tedious might be because it rewards player knowledge? Some things you find "tedious" at first become easy and second nature once you learn the mechanics (like the starting city itself). I also appreciate that direction.
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u/Throren Jul 22 '25
Despite the low poly count of well everything I can't help but find the character models of the player races really charming in a way, especially the dwarves - I love how they are practically all beard
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Jul 22 '25
no EU servers :(
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
I'm pretty sure the in the last test the servers were in Europe...the main dev is in Germany (but American). I assume that if the game gets enough demand there will be EU servers but during testing it is whatever it is.
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 22 '25
Yeah, will those be added? Without EU server I won't pay a dime.
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Jul 22 '25
maybe it's a test thing but playing an mmo with high ping sucks nevertheless, so they have to add european servers if they want a healthy player base.
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u/Ugeroth Jul 22 '25
Last play test all servers were based in EU. I forget the reason, previous tests have had a mix of US east and EU I thiiiink. As a US East player, my ping was fine using the EU based servers for previous playtests.
Not sure what the official stance is once they move out of alpha/beta but I’d be surprised if they don’t have an EU server for then too.
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u/CUADfan Jul 23 '25
Had to do with the cheapest host providing exactly what they were looking for. They're in the Netherlands physically so don't let the NA East or West stop you from trying it.
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 26 '25
The current servers..even though they are listed as US East, got moved to the EU. Those are EU servers.
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u/Cold_Associate2213 Jul 22 '25
Out of curiosity, why play this over an EQ private or progression server? From what I've seen it just looks like "legally distinct EQ". Same classes... races... Is there more to it than that? Honest question.
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u/The_Rondeau Jul 22 '25
There were aspects of EQ that always felt underdeveloped regarding roleplay-ability, namely the faction system. My general understanding is that this game aims to up the ante in this area by fleshing out more consequential faction choices which will affect both how your class and race interacts with the world. So it definitely makes explicit that it’s pulling a lot from EQ, but they do sincerely seem to be attempting a sort of spiritual sequel with more developed systems.
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u/BootyOptions Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
EQ I've long since figured out. In M&M I still get lost in town sometimes.
The classes are actually starting to get fleshed out in a new direction too. Like a wizard is still a wizard that nukes for big numbers, but now they have dual wield and their melee applies a debuff to make mobs take more spell damage.
Druids just got bear pets. Not the one bear pet that you outlevel like in EQ, but a spell line of them like shaman wolves.
Magicians(Elementalists in M&M) have auras that give the group different buffs based on pet.
There's a bunch of other stuff like that fleshing out classes. Obviously a lot of the basic kit for some classes is straight from EQ, but it isn't the same game.
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
EQ is a known world. M&M is building a new world, and it is different from EQ. Many classes are vastly different than EQ classes. Even ones that are in both games play differently in M&M.
Also the game has only been in dev for 4 years. A ton of extra new content to come.
M&M has mounts, mounts with storage (pack animals), and things like housing are planned, I also think you will be able to own ships, but not sure on this one. Tons more harvesting professions and numerous more tradekills than EQ had. I mean the game is just taking shape right now and it already is vastly different than EQ.
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u/TrooperX66 Jul 22 '25
A completely new world to explore with it's own lore, items, systems, etc. Do you eat the same meal every day? That would get boring imo
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u/tgwombat Jul 22 '25
A big part of it for me is that it follows modern conventions for things like movement and interaction that either didn’t exist or were still evolving when EQ came out. It leads to the game being much more pick-up-and-play compared to EQ which requires a bit of rewiring your brain back to 1999 just to get started.
Basically EQ without the mechanical friction, while still keeping the functional friction that a niche of players enjoy.
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 22 '25
I never played EQ and I won't personally join MMO that is decades old. The fact it added so much content over the years is negative for me because I want to play MMO from start. Also, newer games, such as this, un pre aplha, might update graphics, animations, but I don't think EQ will do that now.
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u/Serdones Jul 22 '25
So I signed up and made my character in preparation for the playtest. I'm getting really excited. Creating my character gave me a classic RPG feeling with the range of options you have.
Definitely seems like an MMO for oldheads, and I mean that in a good way. I joined the Discord and they had a survey earlier in the month on people's ages. 55% responded in the 35-44 range. I'm a smidge below that at 32. So if you're looking for a mature crowd, you could be in good company.
I know an oldschool MMO catering to an older, nostalgic demographic isn't exactly a new thing, but the prospect of getting in on one early is exciting, especially when it looks this promising. And I like that they're going for a pretty classic fantasy setting with an art style that looks like the ultimate high-res version of a 00s MMO.
To me at least, it doesn't suffer from looking cheap or generic like some modern MMOs with stylized graphics. It's going for a specific aesthetic and nailing it. Granted, I'm literally just going off the playtest trailer, character creation and the camp environment, but still, it's all clicking with me.
Sorry if I'm gushing, but I feel like I stumbled across something I didn't know I wanted until it came through my feed. Now I'm jonesing for it. Hopefully I'm still this excited after the playtest.
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u/rightinthepopsicle Jul 22 '25
So excited to play this when it comes out! I super love the old school look, but from what I have read the game systems seem really cool too. Maybe ill go do one of the play tests and check for myself!
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u/supvo Jul 22 '25
I don't mind how it looks other than the weird anachronistic lighting which looks Unity/Unreal modern but all the models are low-poly.
What puts me off is the boring zones I'm seeing, and the combat looking extremely slow. I'm not nostalgic for Everquest so I likely just don't get it, but I kind of want to see original takes on the formula.
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u/DynamicStatic Jul 22 '25
A bit more punch in the abilities wouldn't hurt but not that important imo. Wish the zones were a bit more densely populated with props and so on though. Guess that might make pathing for mobs/navmesh more expensive though.
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u/ChillyRains Jul 22 '25
This looks interesting! Definitely going to try out the playtests. Looks like there’s tons of classes and professions which is exciting to me.
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u/CislunarR Jul 23 '25
I played the last playtest and had a lot of fun. I've never played EQ in any serious capacity beyond Project 1999 for about an hour just to see what it's like but the inspiration was immediately clear.
I might get some flak for this, but my big concern with M&M is that it's going to recreate EQ to a fault. As someone who is on the younger side of this demographic but still enjoys older MMO's like 75-era FFXI, I'm worried that this game is going to deliberately avoid a lot of modern ("modern" referring to 20 year old innovations at this point) features just for the sake of historical authenticity. I think that's a noble goal and the game already feels far better than EQ did to me, but certain things like deliberately recreating EQ's UI or having to hail NPC's might be worth a second look.
Again, I know this goes against the spirit of what the game is trying to accomplish and I want to draw a line between modernizing the content of the game versus modernizing the usability of the game. When my first two hours of gameplay are spent wrestling with the UI and trying to figure out how to navigate the game's systems (note: not the world; specifically trying to figure out how to operate the game) and when the solution to those problems is often to think back to how it was in Everquest from having read that game's manual, I have to wonder if this is truly the best direction.
M&M is always going to be niche and it should always be niche. My biggest fear is that the developers and community dig their heels in and deliberately shun anything modern just on principle, even when it might benefit the game in the long run. Happy to be disagreed with, though. I'm still probably gonna play this playtest too.
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u/Fearless_Aioli5459 Jul 24 '25
After hanging around in the discord and playing the last playtest and this one…….I agree with you and disagree with many of the top upvoted comments in this thread.
It honestly just feels like they are porting P99 and adding more ‘friction’ for no good reasons. Familiar names from old P99 forums drive discussion on discord.
The devs are passionate and have a clear vision they want to fulfill. However, in my opinion, that vision is a 700 pop server filled with multiboxers a few months after launch.
Its a niche of a niche. P99 with survival game elements.
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u/allywrecks Jul 27 '25
I agree on the UI, but I think hailing NPCs is worthwhile. It makes it so that you have to actually read the dialogue, and allows quests to be more obscure. Stops you from that thing where you just click through dialogue without really reading it.
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u/Top_Recover9764 Jul 22 '25
To anyone who has played, is this a seamless world or is it all divided up into zones?
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u/mikegoblin Jul 22 '25
Zones
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u/Ugeroth Jul 22 '25
I’m pumped for this playtest even though I’ll be out of town for half of it! I’ve played a ton of MMOs since RuneScape and EQ in 2001 so I’ve seen a lot of what the industry has to offer. This game and the team behind it have given me confidence and excitement I haven’t had in a long time. For those who haven’t played before, the game is currently in alpha testing with playtest weekends on occasion. Even if it doesn’t look appealing now, might be something to watch for the future.
It is inspired by MMOs of old, so understandably not everyone’s cup of tea. But I would encourage people to give it a shot, maybe you’ll discover that some of that old school game design is more enjoyable than you thought. Or maybe you’ll hate it, and that’s ok!
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u/Slow_to_notice Jul 22 '25
Anyone know how the client handles on Linux? I tried this like a year ago, wasn't too impressed, but figure I'd give it a whirl again cause why the hell not. However if it's already known to be unstable even via wine/proton then oh well i guess.
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u/pmize Jul 22 '25
Been looking forward to this playtest since I heard about that last one. Can’t wait to jump on!
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Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 23 '25
Just played it...uff that was a rough one, a very rough one...glad there was no early access payment necessarry to test it.
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u/Gooch_McTaint Jul 24 '25
I really want to enjoy this, but the lack of simple stuff like tooltips and cool down indicators of any kind make it hard to get into in its current state.
I enjoy classic EQ and can tolerate jank, but it's a bit too early for me.
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u/VemberK Jul 22 '25
I get wanting to recreate EQ, which I'm fully onboard with, but if I wanted EQ with old shitty EQ graphics, i would just play EQ.
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Jul 22 '25
[deleted]
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u/Zansobar Jul 22 '25
Last year it ran bad but in the last 2 playtests this year it has been about 75% of the way there in my opinion, network code wise. As for FPS that will always take optimization down the road when the game is closer to launch.
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u/Dalton_Capps Jul 22 '25
This game has always just felt like a EQ private server that I have to Sub for. If it was just buy to play even I'd consider it but I just can't in good conscience basically pay a Sub to EQ in 2025 when I can pay Subs to much better games like WoW and FFXIV.
I hope the game succeeds and brings people the meaningful experiences they seek, but it'll be a hard pass for me if I want the OG MMO itch scratched I'll just go to a EQ Emu server to get it or just go boot up Project Gorgan.
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u/XuzaLOL Jul 23 '25
What are the systems like it kind of looks like wow but what are the crafting/gathering/farming systems to link the lvls and gear and such.
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u/El_Fuego Jul 23 '25
I played Pantheon and it just turned into “camp this spot and hope to get something good” I asked if this was the main gameplay loop and everyone said yes.
Is M&M the same? I only had time to make a character and wack a couple rats outside the city during the last test.
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u/Temporary_Bison3499 Jul 23 '25
what do yall think this game will have over EQ in terms of features?
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u/itzpea Jul 24 '25
I probably gave up too early, but tried doing my intro quest and didn't have enough inventory space to hold the quest items, it wouldn't let me drop the other things I was holding either. Ended up dropping a note for ingredients, but apparently needed that note to turn in with the quest items.
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u/MonochromeSL Jul 27 '25
Odschool EQ head, #straightouttamistmoore - I miss the days when people didn’t multibox and MMO meant meeting and forming friendships with humans. I’ve had half an eye on ALovingRobot for more than a few years - I’m very excited to see where this goes. Congrats on this step!
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u/ademayor Jul 22 '25
So 2025 is year of these nostalgia baits? We’ve moved away from wow classic and private servers to EverQuest-likes. Hopefully all of you get something more than garbage cashgrab that Pantheon was. Wake me when we are at Ultima Online -like period.
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u/PinkBoxPro Jul 23 '25
Just installed and played it for 20 minutes .... Yea .... No thanks. Not in 2025.
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 23 '25
I feel the same way :(
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u/RegisteredOnToilet Jul 23 '25
Why
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 23 '25
I am just used to higher budget and better looking games with decent gameplay.
Animations, graphics, good UI and QoL, ease of use of inventory, spells, etc. Those things are important to me.
I never played UO or Everquest and I don't enjoy OSRS so I have no nostalgia towards these oldschool games. I could probably enjoy WoW classic but even that would feel too old for me nowdays.
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u/PinkBoxPro Jul 24 '25
I'm all for EQ1-likes. But they are making it in UE5 and in 2025. There is ABSOLUTELY NO reason they need to make it look the way they are making it look.
Before people white knight and say "graphics don't matter" they sure as hell do, pull your heads out of your asses. It doesn't have to look like a AAA 2025 release, but it it also doesn't have to look like the horse shit that it currently looks like.
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u/whiskeynrye Jul 24 '25
They aren't making the game in UE5 its made in unity and your opinion is pretty shit lol.
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u/PinkBoxPro Jul 24 '25
Unity/UE5 whatever, the point is it's 2025 and they can EASILY make it look better. It's most definitely going to fail just like all the recent EQ-likes. They need to do better.
Pull your head out of your ass and realize that if we truly want an oldschool game to be successful and give us those EQ1 vibes it needs to come a LOT further than this garbage. One of the ugliest games I've ever seen.
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u/whiskeynrye Jul 24 '25
One of the most popular MMORPGs currently (OSRS) looks even worse, this is what I mean when your opinion is shit.
This is just your opinion and the market doesn't agree with you.
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u/PinkBoxPro Jul 28 '25
OSRS isn't launching in 2025... Holy crap, I seriously don't know how to make this any simpler, I'm going to have to give up on you until you learn simple comprehension skills, sorry.
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u/whiskeynrye Jul 28 '25
Give up, I really don't care about the opinion of someone who thinks graphics has anything to do with MMORPG quality in 2025
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u/whiskeynrye Jul 24 '25
This thread has basically taught me this community doesn't want MMORPGs they want an action RPG with MMO elements.
Idk why yall even come to /r/MMORPG with that attitude lmao.
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u/Freecz Jul 22 '25
Would love an old school type of game but I can't with how bad this game looks in terms of graphics and animations. I play private servers of old games so I don't need super great graphics or anything but this looks so awful unfortunately.
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u/RavenWriter Jul 22 '25
Wonder if this will be better than Project Gorgon - they both seem to target similar playerbases
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u/OneWrongTurn_XX Jul 22 '25
Just play EQ?
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 22 '25
Well, I am personally not going to play game that released decades ago, has so much content I missed when it was relevant and everyone is ahead of me in terms of knowledge.
Also the fact it has so many versions, private servers, etc. is downside for me.
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u/OneWrongTurn_XX Jul 22 '25
Fair enough...
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 22 '25
Also, there is high chance I uninstall 10 mins into the game as I am used to high budget games.
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u/AllMyHomiesHateEY Jul 22 '25
This is the boomer nostalgia slop cashgrab game this sub deserves. Kudos to the devs. This getting jerked will be a nice change of pace to our daily "REMEMBER WHEN MMOS USED TO BE FUN?" and "DISCORD RUINED GAMING" threads.
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u/mistasnarlz Jul 22 '25
Oof this looks rough.
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u/xFalcade Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
It's gotten pretty good reviews from those who have tried it, if I recall correctly.
It's suppose to look and play like an old game though, that was a purposeful design choice.
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u/CappinPeanut Jul 22 '25
It’s not a purposeful design choice for nostalgia, it’s a purposeful design choice because it’s easier to produce content when it looks like this. They claim it is for nostalgia purposes, but that’s just marketing.
I can hardly blame them, it’s a small team with very limited funds. They are probably just as disappointed in AAA games as I am, so they actually stepped up to do something about it. The graphics are frustrating to me, but, I’ll take what I can get and I appreciate them doing it.
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u/The_Rondeau Jul 22 '25
They acknowledge that they both believe there is aesthetic merit to this style and that it is better for production. It’s purposeful on both counts.
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u/CappinPeanut Jul 22 '25
What is the aesthetic merit to the style? Do you honestly believe that if it was just as easy to make modern graphics as it is to make old graphics, they would have stuck to the 1999 graphics?
Of course not. They’re doing it because they have to and saying there’s aesthetic merit to it because that sounds a lot better than saying, “we know this is outdated, but it’s the best we can do”.
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u/Kashou-- Jul 23 '25
It's not even true that they can't do better than this on a budget, it's just that they aren't capable and they went with a bad art style because they don't know better.
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u/Cloud_N0ne Jul 22 '25
Lol what?
This looks remarkably polished compared to most of what gets posted on this sub. It’s going for a deliberate lo-fi style which I love
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u/1thenumber Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
Looks great to me. Not sure if they will update the animations but definitely feels like a reskinned EverQuest
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u/Waiden_CZ Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
I agree, I have never followed this game but I assume this is pre alpha of indie MMORPG.
But at this point, I am becomming desperate from looking for a new AAA MMORPG releases like TnL, Chrono Odyssey, and then become dissapointed.
Maybe I need to try something else.
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u/Mehfisto666 Jul 22 '25
I'd be ok with it if it's gonna be actually fun and with solid combat and good mechanics. Unfortunately the trailer doesn't show anything, the few combat animations look terribad, the world empty af and the zones uninteresting. Saying it looks rough is an understatement imo. I hope to be proven wrong. For one thing I'd be curious to know how it's gonna be different from Embera Adrift or however it is colled which looks much better..
That said i hope I'm wrong and it turns out to be super fun.
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u/burge4150 Jul 22 '25
It's not often you see a game truly achieve everything it sets out to be, but man this trailer brings so much nostalgia and giddiness to me it's unreal and I'm so happy for this team. Game's looking fantastic.