| Endless Ages | Avaria / Summitsoft Entertainment | 2003 | |
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Endless Ages billed itself as a "Massive Multi-Player Online Real Time First Person Shooter Role Playing Game", the first MMOFPS when its first playable beta came out in 2001. Players in this online game enter the realm of IIa, an afterlife where science and magic coexist and beasts of all sorts roam the land waiting to be hunted. There are four races to choose from: The powerful but slow Blobic, the fragile but crafty Amphibians, and the more balanced Human Males and Human Females (Yes, women are a completely different race, something I have always expected). There are no set classes and players are free to develop over a dozen skills (Ranging from alchemy and magic to smithing and engineering) as they please. IIa itself has over 100 square miles of terrain to explore on foot or in vehicles with designated housing regions for the construction of player owned homes and shops. The interface crosses the combat system of a first person shooter with the item inventory system found in role playing games. Each race has access to dozens of ranged and melee weapons and a variety of armor tailored for specific purposes. It also allows players to choose between a server that permits the killing and looting of other players (although with severe consequences) and a server that is Player vs. Monster only. Initially, the game was entirely subscription based. After a trial period where players could view all areas of the game, they could then purchase time in monthly installments. Boomtown, a central map for all new players to start was made and new character models were introduced. Avaria then changed names to X-Src, which created MMO Lands, a gaming portal of multiple MMO games in which Endless Ages was included. Rapid Reality then bought the Aura engine that Endless Ages ran on from X-Src on 22nd November 2005 and took over Endless Ages as well. Eventually the game servers were closed on March, 2007 and a similar sequel named Phylon was released on 20th July 2007 on an updated version of the Aura engine but closed again within a month of opening. Some developers from the original game then formed a new company named Digital Motion Entertainment and bought the license. Running the original game on the updated Aura engine, the game was reopened on 1st May 2008 as a completely free-to-play advertising sponsored game. Rare items can be bought through an online trading post for real currency. The game is currently shut down though there have been fan attempts to keep it running. | ||
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