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[Sam]

Remember Love, that funky graphicked MMO-like made by one guy with a heavy emphasis on player and A.I. generated environments?  It's having a free weekend from Friday 3^rd September to Monday 6^th!  Sounds like some time on Friday there'll be an updated client to download which will let anyone play for that weekend without needing an account.

I played it a little when it was freshly released.  It was really quite beautiful to leap around the landscape and explore.  Sadly my main reaction was to wish it was a single-player experience.  The other players were plenty friendly, but it just felt like the settlement I found myself in didn't belong to me and that I didn't have much to do.  I could move things around and maybe improve it, but I'm new so how do I know I'm not ruining stuff someone's worked hard on.  Oh, the crippling anxiety!

It seems like it would be incredibly fun to play on a server with a group of people you know, but you're limited to joining official servers.  However the server populations are kept deliberately small (think an oversized TF2 server, rather than a WoW realm) to help people get to know one-another.

There's also been new stuff added to the game since it was first launched.  I've not really followed what that involves.  But new stuff, hurray!

The official website rather suffers from a lack of updates.  Instead there's Twitter and two fansites:
Wiki
Forum and news site (confusingly also has a wiki)
The developer's Twitter, where client updates get posted first

[Melly]

Oooh, Ive been wanting to try it, but never managed to get the chance.

How do I meet me some TIGglets there?

[JackieJay]

I think it's the kind of game that would stand out and generate more profit if it was free with micro transactions.

[deathtotheweird]

Have you played it? I don't see how micro-transactions would fit in this game.

I don't think it should be free, but I think he should consider alternative payment plans. Paying 10 euros for 30 days is not attractive to me. Paying 10 euro for something like 20 hours that I can use whenever would be much more appealing to me. I'd like to play it when I want to, and not be restricted to just a single month.

I also kinda agree with Salt, it would be a cool game as a single player experience.

[SirNiko]

I played this back when it was just leaving Beta. If this were single player, it'd lose all its charm, I think.

The game has a rough learning curve to it. The in-game communication system is really touchy, and a lot of the items are unintuitive. Learning how to program teleporters and wire up power conduits, for example, requires a great deal of experimentation before you get used to it.

If you play, having a mic and using a voice chat function is mandatory. The real joy of the game comes from meeting your allies, divvying up tasks, and bragging about the things you've constructed or salvaged. There's nothing quite like leaving the base to look for tokens, then hearing one of your allies express excitement over building a new bridge or roof and eagerly calling you to come back and see it, or triumphantly marking the location of a handy new teleporter.

My only regret was the system used to randomly generate terrain results in a world that's typically not memorable. You get lost easily because landmarks are few and far between, and it quickly feels randomly generated and meaningless. Since the huge, detailed worlds are one of the MMO features that appeal to me the most, this can be a let down.

The community is extremely open and accepting, and if you're not you can expect to be exiled the moment the teleporter gun is salvaged. Eskil himself sometimes jumps on to chat with the players or see what they've built or ask for suggestions, and in turn we ask him what candyland hookers he's purchased with his most recent round of subscription fees. It's certainly worth playing!

[fraxcell]

Aw, that weekend is the same one I'm be away. It looks like an interesting game, but I guess I'm not the type to invest money in an mmo.

[MisterX]

Thanks for telling. I've been looking forward to playing this, but I just won't pay monthly fees for a game anymore.

I also wonder why there isn't at least a trial version, maybe one which only lets you explore the world without interacting with it, to at least see what can be done. On the other hand, maybe he is fine with the community as it is and doesn't see a need for opening it up.

[MisterX]

Alright, everyone can get their share of love now:

The party has begun. Download http://www.quelsolaar.com/love.zip, run love.exe and click "play for free". Blog post coming.

[deathtotheweird]

Playing it once again reminded me how beautiful the game really is. 

[Melly]

Should the game have no sound whatsoever? It's a bit disconcerting.

It's still really pretty.

EDIT: Ah, found the volume option. Why was it starting at 8%?

[Zaphos]

It feels like he put prettiness above readability ... all the funky shading seems to kind of get in the way of having a sense of place & understanding what's going on.

Also, he should try using a spellchecker.

[MisterX]

I "played" it a bit yesterday, and as can be expected, I was lost. I had no idea what a newbie can do, and trying to play together with a friend was nearly impossible, as users of the free weekend all have the exact same name and look. And besides that, I didn't even know what we should have done, as navigating the world is very disorienting due to the graphical filter, as pretty as it may be.

I suppose that's typical for an unprepared first experience with an unusual game, but unfortunately what I actually know about the gameplay doesn't interest me enough to make me want to dig into it much.
Minecraft is probably much rather my preferred kind of game, I guess?

[Melly]

I think what I enjoy more is just walking around exploring the world. I guess that's a good way to spend the free weekend. Unless I get killed by enemies. I haven't found one yet though.

[Pineapple]

Why does Google Chrome think this thread is malicious? Very strange.

[Landshark RAWR]

FREE PROSTITUTE FOR THE WEEKEND? IM IN!! 

[Pineapple]

Really needs a no-seizure graphics option. The screens look great, but it's ugly to no end in motion when it changes up the effect every single frame.