Worst MMO Ever? - Astonia Remastered

[@CaptJABRONIE]

"So behold, combat" will always be my favorite part. It's a bit that sings every time

[@nakenmil]

Never gets old.

[@boobah5643]

It's almost as good as the recurring gag he didn't get to use this review because the graphics didn't support it.

[@JaneXemylixa]

Should be put on a shirt

[@CaptJABRONIE]

@@JaneXemylixa *underwear

[@Asaku17]

the best part

[@Nesque]

The devs are kind of goated for just... Making the source code avaliable to all. It's peak "What to do when we can't support the game anymore" behaviour.

[@goncalo33]

It's what all companies should do.

[@DeadBaron]

God I wish more would do that. Remember Worlds Adrift? Was super popular then the devs abandoned it. KSP2 too, shut down by Take Two. Gamers would love to finish these games.

[@LuluTheCorgi]

​@@goncalo33it's what all companies should be legally required to do

[@DarkFrozenDepths]

@@goncalo33 I wish they would do that cause others may take over where they left off. Also, give dataminers enough time and they'd get into the source code anyway

[@swaggsmr.2607]

Mu online, Metin 2 and other garbage asian MMOs usually do that

[@BovinaSancta79]

"Six guys at a time seems to be my limit" - Josh Strife Hayes 2024 LOL

[@arcan762]

Come on Visa, get to work

[@Junior6288]

What an amateur. 😂

[@astoniaresurgence9281]

Astonia Resurgence here. Thank you, Josh, for trying one of the many community versions. Thank you to all those in the comments with the kind words regarding Resurgence. We put a lot of work into Resurgence to make it what it is today, and have really enjoyed every minute of it. It's a very small and niche community, but we have a lot of heart. 🙂

[@JohnDBlue]

As a Finn who is gonna visit Estonia in a few days to see their beautiful scenery (the insides of a liquer store) it's good to know what to expect. I'll make sure to have a good 2 handed sword and a chick named Clarissa with me.

[@NobodyDrinksFromMyGal]

As someone who's been to Finland (Lapland recently) I'd be surprised if it was more beautiful than Finland. Rovaniemi, at least, is amazing. ^_^

[@afatneckbeard5272]

The true beauty is in the alcohol pricetags ​@@NobodyDrinksFromMyGal

[@alltat]

I didn't find a single quest when I was there, but apparently I should have searched more thoroughly for secret dungeons under the shops.

[@kallmannkallmann]

Was in Estonia last week. Old part of Tallinn was rly Nice.

[@falenone11]

Our liquor stores are quite meh, the npc selling goods have priced them high up

[@person0707]

16:15 Josh, there are literally 0 bots in game. Surely it must be the greatest anti-bot system ever.

[@sloesty]

Fun fact, the only reason he is still in there is because he has a 1 percent chance of giving you exp when he asks you. Its a third of z level lol. Later it takes hours to level up, so its welcome.

[@TheFlyingslug]

There are also zero players so the only logical conclusion is that Astonia players don't know basic maths.

[@Max.Volume]

I'm already looking forward to beholding the combat

[@LeicaFleury]

Beholding the potion chugging.

[@billmore6486]

Reminds me of yugioh abridged

[@nlm2nd]

I'm not feeling very whelmed by it. Think I'd rather take Astarion on a trip to Estonia. Who knows, maybe we'll find another mace of doom there.

[@philritter9042]

@Max.Volume this is literally always the moment the real deal starts

[@Ellebeeby]

@@nlm2nd”I was RIGHT THERE!”

[@Chihirolee3]

Josh's wife, which he forgot, is not going to appreciate the fact that he now also has a husband. Josh is officially a harem protagonist.

[@Feuerhamster]

I mean, he divorced his wife and killed his husband, so he's more black widow.

[@highmarshalhelbrecht4715]

Gay

[@snazzydrew]

alt+8 is legit a cursed keybind. but everything that followed was pure confusion.

[@JohnDBlue]

I don't think I can put to words my reaction to hearing about that keybind lmao

[@Narque]

well if u read the pop up at that part it tells you the spells on alt 1 - 20 can all be rebound with /set so for example " /set 8 X " now you dont need to press alt+8 u just press x... josh is just dumb and did not read

[@Scudboy17]

​@Narque you are a great example of why this is a dead game.

[@monstercarreno]

​@@Narque That's EXACTLY the kind of problem the game has, see how unintuitive this shit gets?

[@Narque]

@@monstercarreno its unintuitive to follow on screen instructions on how to rebind spells? every mmo lets you rebind spells this one just does it with a simple command.

[@Bluelightzero]

A really funny missing person quest would be one where the 2 NPCs constantly move around the map so you end up losing the person who gave you the quest in the first place. There would be multiple branches where you ultimately have to convince them both to go to the same place a the same time, and there are many stupid reasons why that does not go as planned. Maybe the only solution is to knock both of them out and drag their unconscious bodies to a shed into the woods, avoiding guards in the process.

[@GuckFoogle-pk6ns]

That has the same vibe as RuneScape's infamous One Small Favour quest. (Spoiler: it is neither one favor, nor are they small favors)

[@RAFMnBgaming]

Romeo, Juliet and Mr. Clubby.

[@Maria_Erias]

This has the feeling of how to solve quests in Ultima VII.

[@crabmansteve6844]

​@@GuckFoogle-pk6ns I did this one without a guide just to see what it was like to be a quest-guide maker, the dudes doing them and documenting them as soon as new ones are released, it was absolutely brutal. I love and respect those people.

[@professorSib]

calm down, satan

[@henryhunter9643]

I remember this being one of the first MMOs I played as a kid (free trials via different emails). Dying and losing ALL of your gear in the tutorial zone tells you all you need to know.

[@doodoosprankles]

lmao so fucking truuueee

[@Sephiroso.]

Remember dying in the Penta dungeons? lol that was the worst.

[@henryhunter9643]

@@Sephiroso. Never got that far

[@FreaKill666]

I wonder if an AI will scrape this video's transcript and then confuse people looking for facts about Estonia.

[@andreboden1437]

My god, please make it so. Would be hilarious!

[@Guimhj]

The future is awesome* *For tech company CEOs

[@danielgrezda3339]

Estonia is an open sourced country that is inhabited by sexy vampires. -chat gpt probably.

[@cowgummi]

I downloaded Astonia Resurgence (the other version of the game on Steam Josh mentioned at the beginning) because I was curious what the differences between the two were and turns out, that one actually fixes some of the complaints Josh had. It has a few more players, a better tutorial with hint boxes popping up as you need to perform each action for the first time in addition to daily "good to know" type tips and some guides for character builds as you level up, a minimap and a hotbar with all your skills so you needn't remember odd key combinations. I also didn't have the odd issue of cursor and actual clicked tile not lining up properly. So if anyone wants to give Astonia a try, seems Resurgence is the slightly more polished (and more active) version.

[@AceStrife]

Is the scaling (especially UI) any better? Tried to play remastered 2 weeks back and gave up because I couldn't get the game to not be extremely eye straining. Never ended up trying any of the other versions..

[@cowgummi]

@@AceStrife It's still at 4:3 resolution when you set it to 1080x1920p, so there's no stretching like in the video. I also didn't yet encounter any graphics that *looked* like they should be a clickable UI element but weren't, so those might be additions from the new textures Remastered promises? Neither did I see overflowing text anywhere, it all looked good to me. I mean, aged, obviously, but good. It also shows item descriptions in your inventory and shops when hovering over them, no need to right click them first (though that seems to be toggleable in the options).

[@LobbyPolice]

@@AceStrife try resurgence. its much better. the people that maintain remastered don't really know what theyre doing and ruin a lot of the game. and yes resurgence runs with much better performance and ui scaling. remastered feels like sub 30fps but resurgence is completely smooth.

[@holgermets]

As an Estonian, living in Estonia. I have to confirm, that we all immediately say everything we have to say, all at once, if we notice someone even initiating a conversation. Even if it isn't with us. Also, behold - combat!

[@alexv3357]

I always live for the moment when Josh says, "behold: combat."

[@kodexlyukas3191]

"In a few hours the sun will rise" that was super special awesome!

[@Akojiguy]

Screw the rules, Josh has YGOTAS references!

[@GeorgeL909]

I have been subscribed for a while now, and I am staying. Your content gives me power. It fuels me with dark ethereal energy. I am harvesting the enjoyment of seeing you delve into obscure mmos and nostalgic retro games, and 72 hour rpg stream recaps. Soon I will be strong enough to go full Akira and mutate... To evolve into my final form, and take over the world, starting with Tokyo, and working my way to LA in the avatar of a massive kaiju. Until then, just keep making videos at your own pace and put out what you enjoy, and I'll watch it, and probably comment something really stupid so that the algorithm is pleased.

[@warfaregodX]

loool, love how this is totally a reply to the pinned comment but just goes off teh rails

[@Ech_The_Sentiant]

I too am amassing immense eldritch power to turn into a kaiju. I’d recommend staying away from Hong Kong, however as I will be doing battle with a giant robot there and unless you desire a last minute team up, it may be awkward.

[@Ace-me7rq]

​@@Ech_The_Sentiant *Go Go Power Rangers begins to play*

[@the_disco_option]

This is the way

[@JohnDBlue]

George, I mean this from the depths of my soul and the bottom of my heart: Please don't ever stop cooking

[@marsovac]

This is savagely old school. You can use a two handed sword and see if you cast continual light spell since you can't use the torch, or you could have an item that grants you true sight, or you get the watch skill that grants you that, or infravision and detect original at higher level :D This is a MUD from the 90ties with a custom client. From the look of the area in the video with the monster name "Mama Bear", the zone is possibly an adaptation of "The Elven Forest" from the DALE mud base. If it were more advanced and polished it would be cool.

[@janbrittenson210]

I was just thinking it must have been an attempt at creating a simple MUD with a tile-based graphical client!

[@Ninjujitsu]

how can it be a mud if there's graphics?

[@ElysetheEevee]

"90ties?" That's saying "ninety-ties," lol. Very interesting way of writing that. 😅 I have a fascination with these types of old-school games (they were prevelant when I was younger and my grandpa played a few), but boy, are they complicated. It's not just difficult to learn to play, but to simply learn about them in many cases.

[@sloesty]

You can only cast lighting orb as a mage or a seyan du. And mages cant use two handed swords. Seyan du requires a full quest chain to around lvl 30 and if u finish it you restart as a hybrid at lvl 2. The lab quest to get there are. Cool tho. One has you kill an immortal vampire by transporting a wand through the dark because light destroys it. It makes use of the light mechanic josh hates. Another takes you underwater and has you find passwords and a pear to speak under water. While traveling you must eat berries rhat heal you. There is an hour long puzzle dungeon where you need to unlock thenmagic words to find three demons and an immortal overlord that can only be killed if you find a secret dagger which can only be obtained by dressing as an old master for whkch you need to find his burried family members and wear their clothes. Which also requires collecting holy water. Astonia is at its best with these insane puzzle dungeons. Some took hours.

[@marsovac]

@@sloesty is there a read magic ability and a scroll that casts lightning orb? :D Anyhow I wasn't trying to tell what this game does but what MUDs generally do.

[@rabpanz6145]

This might be my favorite Behold, combat yet.

[@BismuthKaiju]

It will be hard to find a combat this beheld after this. So much was happening it was hard to see what was going on.

[@areyouwelldoyouhavebrainda2023]

Josh saying "picture of this sexy vampire" made my focus switch to my second screen

[@a3vids]

Great video, really enjoyed the commentary and glad this game got some attention, actually super surprised it even got a review. Astonia is a really nice old niche game where the majority of the community (small community where most people hate each other) plays for the PvP aspect. We all just kind of put up with the garbage UI and mechanics throughout the years. You become sort of weirdly accustomed to it. Anyways, the PvP is pretty cool because you have level-capped arenas where you have to build a character out for a specific level. You entered one of these "spawn room" arenas (max 5) at 17:15. There is a whole lot of nuance in the game's PvP system, indeed much more than the creator ever anticipated, and it's worth checking out at least some spawn/pk videos. This "Remastered" server is one guy's crazy experimental version of the game; all the stuff like the follower NPCs, big pop up text boxes, semi transparent 2nd floors, giant trees, stances that seem to do nothing, typing in spells, random arena in town, dailies, etc. are unique to this server and turned a lot of old players away. The other server, Resurgence, is much closer to the original server (called "Old World" by the community), although it has a lot of pay2win components (xp boosts, quest skips, etc). This is what most people (again, small community) are playing at the moment.

[@Towelgravy]

This game reminds me a lot of Tibia. (which itself was based on ultima I think) The unique aspect of Tibia was that the servers didn't reset until an update. Usually a major one. You could (since it was 2.5d like this game) hide a bag under a tree which is impossible for anyone to notice unless they "look" at the square that the tree is hiding. A bag of course, being able to contain only 8 items... but those 8 items could also be bags. Filled with backpacks. Of halberds. So once I discovered this fact, my favorite part of playing tibia was hiking through the wilderness as a mage, while creating magic runes to sell while also mapping out the entire world; checking under each. and EVERY. tree. (The world would take I think 200 hours to explore? maybe 300? It was pretty big and you move slow) Needless to say, I was always a rich low level. I stumbled upon a bag once that weighed 50,000 oz. I got like 20 platinum coins from that it was amazing. One time I found a backpack of meat. 2000 meat. It was a full-loot pvp-nearly-anywhere game, so people would often hide bags before they died to a PK and then I guess forgot to come back to get their stuff until I show up months later. It was really tense though I just can't play it anymore. You'd die so often to someone 100 levels higher than you and lose 10% skills and exp and be demotivated to play again. The thrill of dragging a bag (you'd literally drag your mouse to throw a bag that was next to you further across the screen) through a town was intense. You'd have to have 3 empty bags in your inventory in case someone tried to run up and drag it away from you, you'd throw the empty one on top and they'd drag that one instead. It was a cat and mouse game to get it into the depot but then.. glory. Free money. God I loved that game.

[@RAFMnBgaming]

kinda sounds like geocaching.

[@Daniel-q9f8p]

I believe the "only resets during a major update" only applied very early in the game's history. It had daily server resets for more than 20 years but tbf I don't remember if items on the ground were reset or not.

[@Towelgravy]

@@Daniel-q9f8p The server reset and you had to log off for "server save" but unless they changed the map itself, all items remained for months and months.

[@Dreamo84]

It’s funny how half the challenge in old games was figuring out the UI. Games are sooo much more intuitive now. My 5yr old nephew is a beast on Minecraft without anyone showing him how. It’s funny how he plays on his tablet and just figured out all the touch controls intuitively. Even the menus since he can’t read lol. 😂

[@0Synergy]

5 years old and can't read? What the fuck.

[@Septimus_ii]

UI is usually the one thing that puts me off going back to older games, especially RTS games

[@danvzare6201]

The first time I played Minecraft (second time actually, because the first time I gave up with the exact same problem), I actually had to look up a tutorial on how to break blocks. Because no matter how many times I clicked, they never broke. I could only pick up flowers before night came and I was killed by zombies. It turns out I had to hold the button in. Considering that I also had to keep the wiki open at all times to check the recipes (once I got good at the game of course), I can safely say that Minecraft was not very intuitive. Although that's also part of the reason I enjoyed it.

[@Juel92]

Kids can figure out a lot. Me and all my friends as a kid played through pokemon red/blue while not knowing english.

[@Dakumun640]

@@danvzare6201 i mean, that's mostly on you for not figuring out sooner that ya needed to hold down a button. The crafting stuff tho? I mean, the recipe book exists now, so its very intuitive these days.

[@lorenzmanalastas4839]

The magical incantation for Summon Skeleton at 29:02 is the same incantion to pacify the Necronomicon in the Army of Darkness movie. Nice little easter egg. Also a Day the Earth Stood Still reference.

[@kaltaron1284]

"Come with me if you want to live." Guess it's safe to say that the dialog has it's fair share of movie references.

[@caiTRT]

​@@kaltaron1284mm my Mann mm mm mm mm mm ik nu kjnunmjujuujlmjhn mn 😅jpuyj😅n 35:37 nmmjmmhbhmmrnm mmmnkj 35:37 j😅 lm i😊😢 35:37 bmmmnmmkmulpoukn😅😊😮ujmm HK mnmoimkbmmjmnjlmkkkjku Jud kmnn 35:37 l n

[@IAmATree]

Astonia 3 was one of my favourite MMOs because of how they handled leveling up skills and crafting. It was a really unique blend of fun and engaging content and terrible design decisions. None of the successors of Astonia 3 came close to the original. The main reason would be because it actually had a really active community at the time. Even though the movement and combat were atrocious, pvp was still fun and exciting. There were areas that would spawn Clan Jewels, which you needed to keep your clan alive - the more clan-related bonuses you wanted, the more jewels you needed. But they would only spawn every few hours depending on the level of the area. The earliest you could compete was at level 5, which is the area we've seen at 17:15. The crystal teleports you back, while the doors you see in the room bring you into the pvp arena. People made alts at level 5.99 in order to squeeze the most exp into their builds, and then join in on an absolute brawl of a clan battle featuring a bunch of different clans bringing a bunch of different people. Despite how lame it looked there was in fact a skill ceiling and getting better at it felt rewarding. Ultimately the successors were made with the idea that everyone who'd even think of playing Astonia in this day and age would've already played it before, and then most of what you've described becomes much less of an issue. I think you would've appreciated what the game was like in those days and it's a shame you've witnessed it in the state it's in now compared to back then.

[@Vickyorlo]

That's the standard spiel for Worst MMO Ever videos by this point... People going "oh, this game used to be great, but now it's a shell of its former self". Even if the game was never actually that good, but it had an active community.

[@IAmATree]

​@@Vickyorlo Different times, of course. It's been over 20 years since Astonia 3 released, and at the time it had enough of a charm to draw an active community towards it. If people could genuinely and collectively enjoy the game, at least to them, it was a good game.

[@Aeity]

Don't like what these versions are trying to do, I went to 3.5 for many years since I personally found it more fun (for the most part, 3 was still great though) The new versions feel like they hacked in workarounds for everything, the additional UI elements all look terrible compared with the original... shame since all I wanted was a version that stayed true to either 3 or 3.5, but they always end up making them like a full on private server instead...

[@sloesty]

Also the dutch clan called oranje or some shit lmao. Every time the game came back that clan was there.

[@sloesty]

​@@Vickyorlonah, some games are genuinely shit. Astonia for its time was a proper game. Josh goes as far as to say that he enjoys it once he got into it. Its simple but poorly documented. Even tho every quest has its solution explained to the minute detail (some of these quests are absurdly hard to figure out).

[@wagghh]

Ah yes my first MMO. Found after seeing it as a banner ad on a browser game called Kings of Chaos while in high school IT class in 2002. Downloading the game on dial up took over an hour for a ~30mb installer. It ran really well on my packard bell PC with a 4mb graphics card. I didn't have any money and my parents thought that paying for things online was fake, but the game had a 30 day free trial. After playing through about 10 free trials I convinced a friend to use his debit card. I used to print off quest walkthroughs at school and then use them at home to run through the quests, it was great. I loved doing pents. Slaying demons by their thousands and reaping the rewards. Getting lost in the mines. Getting a group together to kill the mother bear. Such great nostalgia for this game.

[@cpttetris5645]

0:00 Estonia mentioned 🎉

[@UlshaRS]

Walk into a bar and say hello and everyone responds *Cheers theme starts playing*

[@jessaminehaak8253]

Astonia husband Reiner VS Alchemia Story wife Yome, FIGHT!

[@Tucher97]

Developers need to understand the difference between "holding your hand" and "holding punches", the greatest example I can say is Dark souls, simply put, there is holding one's hand through out the entire journey, then there is holding your hand temporarily. And once you gotten a taste, which is only a quarter of the punishment and pain in the journey. You do not experience the brutality until later in the journey. Another example is Terraria which starts simple in the beginning, slowly with progression, sooner or later, you will ascend and change your world. If you make a game where the whole standpoint is sink or swim with no room of improving for those who enter, if you demand masters to enter, congrats, you have entered teh retirement community, where its gate keeping to the extreme. The phrase "get good" slowly becomes invalid. Also, a game of "Choose a torch or have more power" essentially also tells the player that the equipment grinding has been doubled or 2 handeds get shafted entirely.

[@MeatMonsterMan]

Josh... I can't believe you hesitated to give Reiner the sword... No splitting it in half, he did put in significant effort to assist you as well. He even asked nicely... I'm devastated.

[@DycuswasHere]

So I noticed that the spell “Make Skeleton” is Clatu Verata Nicto. Still wondering how Army of Darkness got away with stealing that line from The Day the Earth Stood Still but happy it’s referenced here

[@Ashebrethafe]

It’s also what the Berserk in a certain level of Myth 2 is supposed to say to resurrect the Watcher, but the ritual works even if he gets it wrong - which he usually does, saying something like “claptrap verboso neckbone”.

[@TJ-vo3rv]

So glad someone else spotted this lol.

[@GrimmShadowsII]

I'm not sure you can really trademark a line plus it's use could be considered a parody given the nature of the film and that the scene was almostcompletely different than the one in The Day the Earth Stood Still so it would would fit under fair use if a line could be trademarked.

[@Gudnefusel]

RIP Reiner, husband extraordinaire

[@Georgeveen]

18:55 thank you for that reference Josh, it's a classic

[@aloofcomic183]

Worst MMO ever is currently my favorite series on KZbin. Can’t wait to watch this one!

[@VeryProfessionalGamer]

Also highly recommended by the Brazilian Aviation Industry

[@woawoahwoah]

whats the worst one so far?

[@aloofcomic183]

@@woawoahwoah Not sure for Josh, but for me it’s Forsaken World: Gods and Demons. It completely plays itself and is painfully ptw, you can be a level 50 and get obliterated by a level 11 cause they paid for more stuff. So, all that dull auto-grinding for nothing. Most games like it are ptw, but this one doesn’t even give you something fun to do to make up for it. Yes I played it, yes I’m still burned over it and yes I watched his video just to hear him tear it apart.

[@woawoahwoah]

@@aloofcomic183 sounds horrendous, thanks you

[@ChiefPadre]

Roman numerals 1.0.1 I = 1 V = 5 X = 10 L = 50 C = 100 D = 500 M = 1000 Starter rules: I. You add up the numbers. III = 3 times 1, so 3. II. You always place the larger number first and then the smaller number to count up. (XVI = 16) III. In order to count down you place the smaller number first. (IC = 99) III. You can't have 3 of the same characters in a row. So 3 = III but 4 is IV. IV. Always go with the shorter notation & add up if possible (XI = 11, yes VVI should also be 11 but thats just not done. Extra: 8 = VIII even though IIX is shorter. I don't know why.) V. Luckily we almost always have to read roman numerals instead of write. Which is a lot easier.

[@BismuthKaiju]

I was going to google this so I could know past X, I was pretty sure C was 100 but I didn't know the others. Thank you for saving me some time! Very informative!

[@CattSing]

on IV. That's not quite right. V, L and D are not allowed to be placed consecutively and are never allowed to be used to detract/count down. 89 for example would be written as LXXXIX and not LIXL So that's why your extra also doesn't add up (sorry for the pun)

[@ChiefPadre]

@@CattSing ah that makes sense, kinda... haha thanks for the correction!

[@CattSing]

Actually I think you're just limited to a single symbol to count down. Another candidate for 89 would've been IXC but that's never the case either.

[@trainee5471]

Roman numerals would work great together with the imperial system

[@Dracomandriuthus]

M=Millenia, C=Century. A Millenia is a thousand, a Century is a hundred.

[@Dracomandriuthus]

And L is 50, and I only know that because its the one that Ive seen more than D

[@ElysetheEevee]

Yeah, that's about how I remember them, as well. Most people aren't really taught Roman numerals these days or for a while now. At least, in the US. We don't use Roman numerals for more than watches/clocks and some random things like signs from older eras. I can definitely see how it's frustrating. I had to learn on my own, lol.

[@kennykiller]

we all know that its for the comedy stop acting clever.

[@alltat]

@@ElysetheEevee I, V, X, and the subtraction system are worth knowing. The rest are seen so rarely that you're probably going to forget them anyway. If you simply google the Roman number, you'll get the conversion instantly.

[@arcanealchemist3190]

i thought millenia was an elden ring boss

[@ProbedUranus]

9:21 That first combat was a sight to behold.

[@iwishihadgoodinternet7766]

"sight" can't see anything bro :D

[@VicZaneGaming]

You earned my Estonian like the moment you said we are in Northern Europe! The rest of the video was also adequately whelming.

[@_JPkun]

Josh: Behold! Combat. Me: I can't see sht captain. 9:20

[@the_disco_option]

I have been subscribed for a while now and I'll keep being subscribed in the foreseeable future. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

[@TheFrostedfirefly]

Going from divorce last episode, into remarrying with Reiner in the next. Truly amazing character development. EDIT: Nvm, Reiner's dead. I think this might be worst than the previous divorce.

[@RobVollat]

Antonia 3 was so much fun in the early 2000's ngl. It doesn't get good until after lvl 30 when you get to either be reborn or be an arch mage/warrior

[@annasofienordstrand3235]

I played the original Astonia 3 for years when I was a child (there was actually a lot of players back in the day). This is a heavily modified version. The original didn't have a spellbook and many of the NPCs weren't there either, like Elisa and Reiner. There was a forum and several wikis, but I learned how to play the game through word of mouth. Still one of the best RPGs I have ever played, it had so much depth. Pents, roads, sewers, labs and so on.

[@shygo1051]

Aaah perfect timing, i'm always fascinated by the unknown virtual spaces people actually got to live a part of their lives in Either being a good MMO or not, it doesn't really matter, it's fun having commentary from someone who has experience in the matter hehe

[@Aiko-xy7qf]

I actually remember this! I used to love trying out all the new MMORPGs back then.. such a different time, so many unique ideas. It was the best!

[@cytokindness]

I'm feeling a little flashbanged by seeing a "Yendor" reference here - you got Nethack in the MMO!

[@JacobSinger-g6b]

The Yugioh reference got me. Thank you Tristan Timothy Taylor for your words of wisdom.

[@dingo-ringo-bingo]

Good to know that Josh can take up to 6 guys.

[@penttikoivuniemi2146]

In combat, right?

[@dingo-ringo-bingo]

@@penttikoivuniemi2146

[@Joze1090]

Josh I'm just starting the video and I'd like to say, thank you for never getting into sponsorships and advertisements. I know you could be making a lot of money from them so I (we) appreciate your dedication to the craft and to us ♥️

[@GrenDrake]

Always a delight to see another video in this series!

[@pumpkinicing]

i have an estonian friend obsessed with astarion who i just ended a conversation with before turning on this video. you can imagine the insane whiplash i felt in the first five seconds

[@Gooner333333333]

10:34 That's not combat, that's a cheat code

[@jonathanhawken]

this was my game growing up. it died years ago, and only a handful of people still even play it, every few years I go back, to then quit again. It's a memory that will hold dear to me, busting out mudvayne at 11 years old, playing cameron for the 20th time because there used to be a subscription model to play back in the early 2000s and I couldnt afford it, so you would remake accounts and transfer over gear before the trial time died out.

[@valadez601]

I was so excited to see the game I spent so much time with growing up and into adulthood get critiqued by Josh but so many of the complaints were to do with changes in the "remaster" like that obnoxious scroll or journal sprites, the mouse not working correctly or how you interact with npcs. I really wish a version closer to the vanilla game was critiqued instead. Not that there weren't any criticisms that were related to the vanilla game. Like at 17:15, Josh entered a door to a clan spawner. This is a pvp area where a clan jewel spawns periodically that clans would fight over. While the remaster has the entrance in a different location it was still something that new players would enter by mistake all the time in the original game. It was basically a newbie trap. Death was that punishing in the original. Darkness is punishing if you no source of light. James was a waste of gold and time. A key ring to store your keys was one of the most requested features for the entirety of Astonia's life. Strikes worked as you'd expect in the original game, you couldn't kill the same respawning enemy to get a strike. You'd have to kill all the individual enemies in that area.

[@MalhaIIa]

*bless you*

[@andrewdestefanis8225]

No way, are you valadez, valadez from 3.5? It's Wendall! 😂

[@Starcell1983]

I used to play this in its prime including mercernaries of astonia (astonia 2). This game got me into mmos in my teens long before anything i knew of at the time. I have great memories with many people i played with. we were a small community but i imagine alot of us still have fond memories of our time together playing these games. Ishtar (the creator of the game) with a few close friends made all this and also played with us taking the role of gods playing the roles and creating events, making cameos at weddings or even sometimes sitting invisible in the town centre listening to us chat and joining in. I look back lovingly at the bonds i created during my younger years. Thank you ishtar wherever you are and whatever your doing now. your games were loved. Thank you Josh for reminding me of my happy times and for bringing this game up. I hope it is forever remembered. love and miss all you guys i played with. Signed Starcell/Celltwo.

[@nodakamakadon]

Ishtar responds to emails, at least he did a few years ago. I also believe someone on the Aranock Online Discord said he gets involved with the development of The Last Gate to some degree.

[@vongodric]

As an Estonian, I thank you for correctly stating that we part of Northern Europe!

[@Renblade]

Aranock-Online is V2 Astonia and is still fun. As well as ‘The Last Gate’ Very cool to see this game covered. Like 1 of 2 videos on KZbin lol “Mayest thou pass the last gate”

[@nodakamakadon]

Yeah, not sure of other reviews but that's what comes with pre-dating KZbin and being an old, obscure game. There are a fair few gameplay and tutorial videos though. I've put up some Aranock videos over the years which are mostly the same Mercenaries of Astonia (v2) experience kzbin.info/aero/PLfWIdx6mH8cvLdFRS4kw1OTgsWjvmFVhb (not so much the arguably worse art, hah) And if I ever get around to it, I plan on hosting a comprehensive archive of screenshots and videos of Mercenaries of Astonia and its offshoots, among other things.

[@TheCloudCreation]

Since you are okay with using fan remakes, I really want to see you play Pirates of the Caribbean Online. There's a few fan remakes of the original MMO, but to my knowledge TLOPO ( The Legend of Pirates Online) is the best remake.

[@WarriorDan]

33:31 "I walk around, and just don't feel like carrying on". Relatable af. :D

[@JunnyJai]

I've been subscribed for a little bit now. But I appreciate your content whilst I don't mind how long it takes for you to push out each video, as they are really interesting to me. Thank you for the entertainment.

[@andreworders7305]

Your style of describing game experience in a narrative format is always entertaining

[@skullfox2607]

His name is James, James Cameron The bravest pioneer No budget too steep, no sea too deep Who's that? It's him, James Cameron

[@Randy-uq7jq]

His name is James, James Cameron Explorer of the sea With a dying thirst to be the first Could it be? Yeah it's him, James Cameron

[@MeatySmirk]

If he doesn't raise the bar who will?

[@whiterabbit4945]

@@MeatySmirk His name is James, James Cameron nowhere to far he raise the bar legit? innit

[@brodika]

18:50 was not expecting a YGOTAS reference. It was so shocking I looked away from my main monitor for a second!

[@CrateringGod]

What in the world is happening in the comments? Is it like a new meme I'm not aware of? A new copypasta just dropped? Someone get me in the loop here.

[@RaxSulpa]

Fan from Estonia .Always nice to see Estonia mentioned somewhere . 😀 Have been watching for years ,love your content .

[@DukeOfJam7591]

9:46 Riveting

[@Senriam]

Your opening illustration made me think I was watching Zero Punctuation for a second

[@iDaRkkO]

THIS USED TO BE MY FAVORITE GAME!

[@loganbridges204]

The spell for summon skeleton is an Evil Dead reference I believe. Good stuff

[@DaWombatGaming]

Love the Roman numeral on the final rating

[@umit3937]

Hey Josh, ever going to do a Tier List with all the MMO’s played? Should do a yearly list since this series basically go on for years

[@Brian-qn7fn]

My day just got better.

[@billymayze710]

man i remember growing up playing this when it was new as one of my first PC games. so much fun back then

[@number1channel]

I have subscribed this channel for months, but am staying forever now. Couple of reasons. First is that over the last couple of months, the content quality has continued to rise. Second, it has been two days since any really relevant content has been posted (I watched the vod on streams, they are wonderful btw). Most of the stuff showing up now is related to the cream of the crop in weird games. So, I hate you now, JSH. Every other video game creator doesn't compete, and I cannot take the disappointment from them. Not my own personal opinion and a statement of global truth. I do thank you for the really good work that was done. :( Worst Wishes!

[@stewartmedcraf7755]

I still play this sometimes on a steam server it's a good throwback to the 90's haha

[@UnholyTerra]

"Hes MY husband now" was good

[@XDeadzX]

I played a few dozen hours of Aranok online a very long time ago. It's crazy seeing it again, but with different graphics and a bunch stuff I never got to. Thanks Josh, watching this has been a joy.

[@KarlFellOffTheCliff]

ESTONIA MENTIONED, YEEEESSS🎉🎉

[@Pizzaroll1991]

Astonia is a game i got into in 2001 when I was 10 years old and so it still has a very special place in my heart. The more time you give it, the better it gets (atleast up to level 100).

[@itakru]

I have subscribed this channel for a few months, and so far intend to stay. Couple of reasons. First is that over the last couple of months, I've really fallen in love with this particular series. Second, your voice is very soothing and I enjoy how you explain things in your other videos like your exploration of New World and its downfall. Most of the stuff showing up now is some of my favorite content that I look forward to when you post. So, I wish you luck, JSH. I'm looking forward to even more videos from you. Just my own personal opinion and not a statement of global truth. I do thank you for the really good work that's being done. :) Good Luck!

[@Kairos0x]

Damn, I used to play this game in like... the very early 2000's, and had completely forgotten about its existence. Suddenly brought it all back when I came across this video. Always thought it was charmingly weird, but not very good even at the time.

[@haydenap]

I wonder if you can say "Hello, (NPC name)" and that would make it so only your target npc responds to hello? This game is pretty close to being a decent game if you're into this sort of gameplay, shame it's practically abandoned

[@AlphaSquadZero]

It worked something like that.

[@LobbyPolice]

this is remastered specific issues, they broke a lot of things and ruined a lot of the game. resurgence improves upon the original without introducing all these awful issues. it actually has a playerbase too

[@Owoshima_]

Phenomenal content as you always do! Keep doing what makes you happy, and we'll keep being happy enjoying it ❤

[@Ankhtowe]

>"Thank God computer bots can't do math!" >me over here coding like ......

[@lu11aby]

Me, an estonian 🇪🇪, clicks the new video by JSH *gets jumpscared*

[@erykflapjak9036]

When worst comments ever? - ironkrieg3368

[@Wishy.]

xd

[@jennabee309]

This is the best collection of Astarion's sexy dialogue scenes I've found yet! Thanks for working so hard to compile these, Josh!

[@thecuza9716]

Congratulations to Larian Studios for making a character that the entire world is so horny for that his name got added to at least one word processor's autocorrect.

[@drizzmatec]

Even with how attractive Astarion is "supposed" to be, his voice and attitude make him a firm 0/10 and not a single person can change my mind. After my first playthrough I attack and kill him as soon as I meet him. Good playthrough, evil playthrough, Tav or Durge, Astarion is canonically killed on the beach as far as I am concerned.

[@ohmainzte]

Astonia 3 was my first MMO as a child. My friends and I had fun there, but looking at this I don't know how lol

[@oicrusader2143]

I have subscribed this channel for years, but am leaving now. single of reasons. First is that over the last couple of streams, the amount of vests being worn has fallen off a cliff. So, I wish you luck, JSH. But I cannot take the daily (or longer) disappointment every single time. Just my own personal opinion and not a statement of global truth. I do thank you for the really good work that was done. :) Good Luck! /s

[@oicrusader2143]

In all seriousness, I'm really looking forward to the neverwinter nights video, hope you are well.

[@PaperWill]

This was excellent. Great work, Josh.

[@LaggyMcLagster]

Thanks for finding this! Part of why Iove this series is how obscure these games are.

[@gerekgerek9042]

Josh, that example with a boxing gym is literally a thing that happens all the time in boxing and every martial art.

[@ludditzthrell2061]

You know what's weird? When I look at the footage I'm taken WAY back to some of the old graphical MUDs I used to play. (Yes, I'm old, I know.) But man.. it does show its age.. still, Astonia seems impressive for what it is, and very much a product of its time, for all the good and bad that entails. Cheers, Josh.

[@nodakamakadon]

I'm not sure about this ('v3') but 'v2' was written in C. And he was a computer science student at the time. So, impressive all round.

[@hrbi4664]

I love how you dont give up on the supporters screen and i love how i was there since it was like 10-12 people

[@DemiDeathwing]

Ah, MOA and Astonia3 was a very enjoyable game back in the day, but that was 25 years ago. Was a different era in MMO before the likes of WoW and FF11 and it required you to learn the game without much help from the game itself. It relied on other players to help teach newer players if they were willing and they did allow players to become "Staffers" for that purpose. I would not recommend trying these games now but back in the day they were good fun. I spent a lot of time in MOA and then Astonia3 when it was released. If you really wanted to try Astonia/MOA I would recommend Aranock Online more, that's based on the Mercenaries of Astonia and not as high quality graphics as Astonia3 but I find more fun and its different enough from Astonia3.

[@artform_]

I'm sorry to say that I instantly knew that CC was 200. And 6 guys at once Josh? Those are rookie numbers, you gotto pump those up.

[@RowenStipe]

0:53 Did that, man the nostalgia...

[@carlossombrero3136]

Stuck home with the Rona, good timing on this video Josh!