Asheron's Calling, tell him I'm not home!
Man, Asheron’s Call is something, isn’t it? I promised a breakdown of Japanese MMORPGs and MMORPG related media casting an unpopular opinion of Sword Art Online into the light but I got sidetracked by one of the first, if not the first, full 3D MMORPG with a seamless, zone free overworld.
It’s.... alright? I’m having trouble forming a solid opinion on it, honestly. A lot of what I wanted to talk about was that difficult, actually.
My overall opinion is fairly positive so far? It’s... strange playing a game that barely has any doccumentation because it was offline before the wikification of gaming. There’s a dungeon near the starting town I chose that’s... a lot bigger than I thought it would be! There genuinely seem to be things in there to find! The EXP is good, too, and I’m on an “Infinite Progression” server so I can’t fuck my character forever, too. There’s something chaming about running around looking like Ghost Rider’s emo cousin with no fashion sense.
I feel like if I turn my freaky skeleton man with a flaming skull I made on a lark into a real character in my brain I could really get into this... but there’s also not a lot of moment to moment... substance? I feel like there’s so much potential here. The “Holburg Dungeon” looks like something! This isn’t an ephemeral, liminal space. There’s clear living accomodations for more than just monsters in there. Tables, chairs, food sitting out on the tables. It looks like I should have gone through a door into some kind of fortress but instead it shoots me through “Portalspace” into some kind of dungeon outside of space?
It feels like Elden Ring without the lore. Like I’ve walked into an area with a story I’m not privy to. Except it’s an ancient MMORPG from before everyone was wiki-ing everything so I have no goddamn clue about any of it because it’s just an arrangement of crap for me to fight mooks around.
Or so I thought.
I ended up scouring the Holburg Dungeon for funsies and coming to the stark realization I already knew. You can’t make youtube content about multiple MMORPGs because these are huge games meant for you to spend a lot of time in. Of course there were living quarters scattered through the dungeon, of course it was tower shaped, and of course everything sapient was enslaved but loyal. The boss was a Lich.
And I found a fan wiki, NOT Fandom, full of lore.
Now it feels like walking through a setting that stopped just before the shit hit the fan an eighth time as I read more and more live events and lore.
I’m not getting a huge amount of the same kind of emergent “Moments” that I get in other games. But with the intentionality of the dungeon design and the respawning nature of enemies I can keep an internal narrative of my own journey, at least. On an Infinite Progression server with no level or EXP cap I can get stronger and stronger until being a solo player on a sparsely populated server isn’t a thing that holds me back anymore.
But the problem with holding my interest is that it’s both player driven in the goals department, and... I don’t know the game well enough to set my own goals. But this isn’t an objective flaw of the game. It came out in 1999 and I’m approaching it after its death date (2017) and playing it on a fan made server in 2026.
There’s so much lore here.
I walked through and relit a surreal “Lighthouse” tower that was a series of platforms floating above the ground for racist blueberry people who were only tolerating my character (A literal half god named Mr. Munchkins Man) because their king said to work with other races because of the Olthoi, who are like evil bug aliens who eat worlds, Tyranid style?
But there’s also these big ol blue fuckers (always blue? WHY HE BLUE?! We already had problems with guys who were ourple and we never found out whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!?!) who look like Halo’s Elites but from 1999. They apparently also invaded but there’s peace now.
Every sentient species in Dereth seems to be some kind of colonizer to a world without inhabitants, and that is fascinating.
But also...I think I’m done writing this now. I might have a followup eventually but I think I’m going to truncate most of the extended MMORPG writeup project here outside of random opinion pieces because I’ve already proved my point. This is not feasible for any kind of actual schedule.
I’m spinning my wheels, I’ve been playing this game for actual weeks. The reason Josh Dry Elbows is the least-worst MMORPG youtuber isn’t because he’s good, but because there’s sometimes startling honesty behind his pithy comments.
You cannot fully experience an MMORPG in any reasonable timeframe, let alone write a review of one. I have played Asheron’s Call for actual weeks now. I’ve still barely scratched the surface of the game and its lore. This is why MMORPGs tend to have youtubers dedicated to single games, not generalist coverage channels.
I try to keep these to a 1500 word minimum. I don’t think I can muster even a thousand words about a game I’ve been having a lot of fun with for over two weeks because... the gameplay loop is repetitive but satisfying. I’m probably going to keep playing, but there’s just not a lot to say.
There is joy here. But it’s hard to write about. Because I can tell I’m just barely scratching the surface, but I want to get something out other than a play by play of what I did that particular play session.
“Walked into a dungeon, killed monsters, took loot” isn’t really as compelling to read a hundred times as it is to... y’know. Do.
I could waffle on to meet my usual length standards, but I’ll end this one here. Hopefully the other articles I’m working on now will be more... interesting? Punchy? Cromulent fuckcrustables?
I don’t fuckin’ know dude I’m gonna go make a goddamn sandwich.
MR MUNCHKINS MAN STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT! IT'S SANDWICH TIME!