Episode 1 Emulator Project

What's everyone's thoughts and interests on such a project existing.

It will be closed source and independently developed if I under go such a task.

I don't really think it's a good idea. The reason is because i think nearly no one wants to play EP1 anymore.. don't you think the same?

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Originally Posted by PhoEtia I don't really think it's a good idea. The reason is because i think nearly no one wants to play EP1 anymore.. don't you think the same?

Episode 1 was undoubtedly the best version of LastChaos. It had the largest fun factor due to forced grinding and balanced classes. From Episode 2 on up we have official files that are exploitable but far more complete than any Episode 1 files. This is one reason why there are next to no classic servers among the community. The idea is to restore Episode 1 back to stock like when it was ran by Aeria Games. Tho with far more optimized and stable server files. It would bring back the focus on the grind aspect that the game itself revolves around. LastChaos is a grind oriented game no matter how you dress it up. The PvP system and all the rest of that are just bonuses but doesn't really capitalize on being a core feature of the game. Instead of wandering off into zones by yourself pushing level cap and a maxed out characters in two days just to sit at the arena and complain about PvP isn't exactly the optimal player experience. Not to mention these servers have a laughable player base. 100-200 players online is a discrimination and such a server project would bring in thousands of players. Bringing forth a true stable economy and a fair gameplay experience. I have thought about publishing compiled files publicly as the project progresses so people could build their own servers based off the project. With further server integration of LUA scripting and others unique features there are things that can be done with such a project that's simply not possible with the official files. Scripted aspects such as non playing characters and monsters acting in a unique manner not possible by the limited AI of the official files. Long story short, the idea is to bring back the golden era of LastChaos. Something that no longer exists among the private server realm. We have Episode 2 and Episode 3 servers by the handful. The reason why we don't have any Episode 1 servers is because you would need to emulate the files in order for the server to be any good. While most people in this community lack the knowledge of even conceiving such a project. We cannot let Episode 1 die due to the lack of complete and stable files. I am also more than willing to open up my knowledge and tools during the project to help promote community driven projects.

Return to beginning of LastChaos........
EP1/2(WASD no NS) is and was the best LastChaos

I feel the same way, however it is a fact, that the community changed. The old grinding and just-here-to-have-fun community has nearly disappearedd. Do you see people running over the maps just for fun to find hidden places? Do you see people sitting at sphynxes and chatting, do you see ingame weddings? I don't.
Current players are looking for 2 things: Get everything maxed out (as fast as possible) and bash people in pvp. The faster the first step is done, the better, which results in *100 rate servers becoming popular.

I'm not saying EP2(/3) is in any way better than EP1, cause it's definitely not. I'm just saying that this time is over, people have moved on and joined other games. The current community is just not into these kind of things and I think we have to accept that.

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Originally Posted by Tarissuis I feel the same way, however it is a fact, that the community changed. The old grinding and just-here-to-have-fun community has nearly disappearedd. Do you see people running over the maps just for fun to find hidden places? Do you see people sitting at sphynxes and chatting, do you see ingame weddings? I don't. Current players are looking for 2 things: Get everything maxed out (as fast as possible) and bash people in pvp. The faster the first step is done, the better, which results in *100 rate servers becoming popular. I'm not saying EP2(/3) is in any way better than EP1, cause it's definitely not. I'm just saying that this time is over, people have moved on and joined other games. The current community is just not into these kind of things and I think we have to accept that.

The community hasn't changed at all. There are more old school players out there that quit LastChaos back in 2009 and haven't touched the game since (I was one of them) than there are active among the community. This was due to the dawn of the Episode 2 era where the game took a turn for the worse. People no longer want to grind and earn their rank (ranks are factored by max level) because these servers have a laughable amount of players on them with boosters and other game destroying content. They are ran be people who want the server to be instantaneous cap because 99% of server administrators know about as much as the dirt on the bottom of my feet. Tho if you put 2,000 players online at the same time on two different channels (1 PvP, 1 Non-PvP) you would see the old school Bocu Demon parties consisting of nothing but level 40's and the open world scrimming come back to the game. This is likely an era of the game that you and several others have never got a chance to truly experience as there is no server in existence like it since 2008. The time is never over for a classic. The community consists of nothing but high rate, trying to be official, private servers. The private community has been stagnant long before I even decided to leave development of the game or even coding hacks for it (3+ months ago). There's nothing new to each server that opens that hasn't been done before. An official rate Episode 1 server with everything working one hundred percent? That's something that has never been done before.

No1 will play on a boring EP1 Server.

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Originally Posted by -Refizul No1 will play on a boring EP1 Server.

Spoiled players are the least of my worries. There's thousands of legit players in the dark that are dying for an official Episode 1 server.

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Originally Posted by PizzaGuy Spoiled players are the least of my worries. There's thousands of legit players in the dark that are dying for an official Episode 1 server.

No there are not, but we will see.
No point in asking here for interest tho, when youre already that sure it will be a success.

Old Black Interface would be great

People who quit LC a few years ago aren't waiting for something like this, because they already found another, "better" game or just don't play anything.
The most of the community today doesn't want a server like this, they just want high rate servers with custom stuff. Maybe a few people would play on a classic server like this, but it won't be successful enough to make the players stay.

I think you could easily get a playerbase like 777 or destiny long time ago

Ep1 is the best ever guys keep this in your brain :)

As stated before no one is waiting for something like this.
EP1 wasn't as amazing as it seems, it was fun because it had a community and a large one at that. Private servers are what has killed LC's fun on top of the introduction of casting.

Even if you put up a perfect clone of EP1 days no one will play it in any large amounts. Some would try it and then be done with it. EP1 LC has nothing to offer players in terms of content of enjoyability. It will just be the same as every other server at the end of the day: Hit cap, sit at arena, do sieges weekly. LC has always followed this formula and never has changed it.

Anyone who played LC back in the day and truly enjoyed it and doesn't like the current LC situation has most assuredly moved on to actual MMOs. LC isn't an MMO, its a single player Korean cash shop with extra players thrown in to motivate you to play more/pay more. Unless the server magically gets over 500+ active players with a thriving community there is nothing you can do to capture the "episode 1 feel" at all. Simply nothing.

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Originally Posted by Celay No there are not, but we will see. No point in asking here for interest tho, when youre already that sure it will be a success.

With how many players that left official servers during the debut of Episode 2. There was so many players that left the game to the point where Aeria Games had to close the game after dramatic measures such as merging servers in attempt to keep the servers alive. There is quite a large pool of people that who if ever came across a server that replicated Aeria Games back in its Episode 1 infancy would pull the trigger on trying the game out. Especially with the ability of pushing the game to the public as a near official server. As it's extremely hard for official publishers to shut down a project based on your own intellectual property. The only viable threat from Gamigo would be use of protocol but they have no power in international waters so it doesn't really seam as an issue.

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Originally Posted by Morphtek People who quit LC a few years ago aren't waiting for something like this, because they already found another, "better" game or just don't play anything. The most of the community today doesn't want a server like this, they just want high rate servers with custom stuff. Maybe a few people would play on a classic server like this, but it won't be successful enough to make the players stay.

They don't play anything because they lost interest in MMORPG gaming after the game they were hooked on for many years essentially morphed into something else. As outlined above there is easily 1/10 old school players that would pull the trigger on what would be the single most popular private server that replicates the era of the game that they love.

To clarify further the project won't be for me to setup a server as I have no interest in doing so. The server files will be licensed out to people who wish to run one at a cost or they will be published to the open public free of charge. The project is more of a learning experience for me rather than looking to create the next best server which case it will undoubtedly.