Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion Expansion Pack

Rating:
Summary: If you loved Meridian 59...or Axis and Allies....
Review: Many current players of Shadowbane will be disappointed in this expansion, as most of the current crop of players player Shadowbane are more of the "Quake" (individual PvP crowd) and have little time for politics, nation building, and economics.

For those who played Shadowbane or followed it from years in Alpha-testing and beta-testing and who quit playing shortly after its release, you may want to give it a HARD second look and read on!

With Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion the game has gone from achieving about 20% of its original vision to 90% of its original vision. The 'promise' of Shadowbane in the long years of 1999 to 2003 where it was the most eagerly awaited MMORPG was of empire building. On a scale of 1 to 100 Shadowbane rated about a 20 in my book in this regard. Which sounds pathetic, except when compared to anything else (EverQuest, Dark Ages, Asheron's Call , Worlds of Warcraft, etc.) which rate about a
TWO on the 100-point scale. Now I would rate Shadowbane a 90. When it comes to conflicts, politics, economics, and MEANINGFULL PvP/Guild v Guild/Nation v Nation conflict (with serious rewards, and devastating costs), Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion is literally 10x better than anything else out there, or anything else on the horizon (Darkf and Light, Wish, etc.).

Even for the lone wolf PvPer it is true that once you've played Shadowbane everything else seems tame. The entire world is a PvP zone. No "consensual" duels or "designated" PvP zones here. Despite what its detractors love to whine about, it is **NOT** a griefer-dominated game. In reality it is more like the Wild West: everyone has a gun, so everyone is on their best behavior. Whether you are the shopkeeper of the General Store, the honest Sheriff, the wondering outlaw, or the barkeep you can have a role in this Bleeding-edge MMORPG 'frontier town' of Shadowbane.

But now the world has been divided into realms (or provinces), which was the original vision of Shadowbane from the Alpha-test days. There is a fully operational resource system with mines in geogrphical areas who's resources unlock the keys of producing more advanced weapons, armor, and jewelry. Other games have the tedium of personal crafting, but Shadowbane isn't about the person, its about the guild, the city, the nation, or the empire. If you rule your realm: power, prestige (and not to mention taxes on your neighbor!) are yours.

Graphic-wise Shadowbane is quite dated, and there are no 'quests' if that is what you are looking for. The truth is that Shadowbane is NOT everyman's game. Kudos have to be given to publisher Ubi for funding an expansion pack for a very niche market game. Shadowbane at its heart and soul is designed for the amibtious guild leader who wants to have a meaningful impact on the game they spend so much time on. Any serious guild leader should not be playing anything else, as the accomplishments in a non-PvP "Carebear" game are completely worthless, and disappear and are forgotten into history as soon as the guild falls apart. Guilds, and individual battles, within Shadowbane are capable of becomming elevated to legendary, if not mythical, status. Shadowbane is a game with a disproportionate share of Napoleons, Stalins, and Ceasars. You won't
find too many sensive-liberal-guys playing Shadowbane.

Shadowbane's biggest problem is that it is such a high-stakes game. If you start off as a small punk guild with a few of your real life friends, having to tip-toe around some agressive large guild and enduring their harrassment for weeks or months, and you eventually recruit, become powerful, form a coalition, and eventually take down your enemies in an epic 12-hour long seige, eventually taking their place as the regional power of the world you play on, in turn harrassing other guilds, and are eventually taken down by enemies on the outside or inside, and the city you built lays burning in ruins....well...its usually an easy time to quit at that point. Hence most people only play SB for 3-6 months. Not year, after year, after year, after year, like the tedium of other gamed. It makes an iffy revenue model, but it makes an utterly fantastic game that will teach you a lot about politics and conflict (I am a global politics major, by the way).

Shadowbane is one part Quake, one part Risk, one part Axis & Allies, and one part Monopoly. It is zero-parts "being stuck on the questing & levelling treadmill of eternity in the pit of hades" however. You can choose your role. Some people are simply attracted to the PvP. Thats FINE, SB has the best PvP out there. Some people are attracted to the city-building aspect of the game. Shadowbane is the ONLY MMORPG out, planned, or rumored, where you go out into the forest, and build your city from scratch right down to the walls.

I've spent 4 years waiting desperately for SB, then spent the last 2 years critical of SB, and now I finally have the game I was promised 6 years ago: a game of high stakes, and high rewards, where the ambitious, organized, and brilliant actually have the advantage over everyone else.

I am not a PvPer (as I said....I am into the global politics). If any of the following rank as part of your favorite games of all time you need to try Shadowbane, or return to Shadowbane for Throne of Oblivion:

* Risk
* Axis & Allies
* Chris Crawford's Balance of Power
* Civilization
* Meridian 59

If you only play these games at the base level....the soldier in the trenches, thats great, BUT IF YOUR IDEA OF 'PLAYING ARMY' IS SETTING UP A MAP IN YOUR POP-TENT WITH PLASTIC SOLIDERS ON IT AND MOVING THEM AROUND, then seriously you need to give Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion a chance.