General Discussion

Until a couple years ago, I was an active player of Star Stable. I ended up somewhat retiring from the game after resolving to partake in a starcoin strike. Also, the most recent main story quest that released at that time was extremely hard The last horse I bought was a Gen3 icelandic, the most recent horse at the time.

However, lately I've been hearing tidings that the game has improved in gameplay and bugs, but also apparently there's still issues? The youtube side of the community has been sending me mixed messages, but nether the less the good stuff is making me contemplate coming back.

How is Star Stable? Has it gotten better since the gen 3 Icelandic released? Should I return to it?

I'm a player since 2013 here. The game has most certainly improved from how it was. As an older player I do have some nostalgia for the older game and there are a few features/details that I think they should have kept in, but none of these are very major besides huge changes to story characters and the story.

There has been a renewed focus on story quests and they are releasing updates to the story more frequently. That said, it's only once every few months (mostly), but there's also other kinds of updates peppered in (that aren't just new horses). For example: the new druidism update (which is really just another grind, but one where you aren't forced to go at the pace of a snail at, like with the daily quest reputation grinds).

The game has changed a lot graphically, many areas have been changed and are not laid out the same as they once were. The artstyle has completely changed; they went all-in with the cartoony and fantasy aesthetic, especially with the new Hollow Woods/Valedale update. I've seen the graphical style compared to Fortnite, which isn't that far off, but I think it's less "clean" than Fortnite and more detailed when it comes to textures.

Chances are, they've changed whatever quest you're stuck on, and I wouldn't be shocked if it's easier now.

Don't expect the characters, story, or locations in the game to be the same. Many things about them have changed. I think the essence of the characters, locations, and the story (except for Lisa, unfortunately) have more or less stayed the same. IMO the direction they're going for the writing is much better than before; there's more focus on the characters and their relationships, but it also feels that there's lots of fluff to the story, especially in newer story quests.

Some races have been removed, many new ones have been added in their place.

The UI is very different. They have removed the horseshoe and gone for a very minimalist look with the UI.

Horse leveling is different; leveling now gives you the ability to do certain things with your horse (unfortunately you now have to unlock the full gallop, but that's at level 2) and doesn't just level up their stats. Caring for your horse now gives it XP. You can have random interactions with your horse ("shared moments") while riding around that give it XP.

Player character models have been completely overhauled.

Basically, much of the past 3 years have been spent overhauling the game graphics, writing, and mechanics wise. It's not perfect yet, but it's better, and feels more like a real game now. So I'd say it's worth coming back to check it out.

I've also been playing Star Stable since 2013 or 2014—just started playing it more frequently again—and I can confirm the post above (though I'm not as well-versed in some areas).

The graphics are much more detailed and they've done some complete overhauls, including on quests and the player character, which has a lot more customization options (facial features, skin tones, body types, etc.) and was one of the things that re-sparked my excitement about the game.

I'm not in touch with the YouTube side of the community (and still don't play SSO as much as some people), so I don't know what all of the main issues are, but I find that the game has improved and is continuing to improve. I'd definitely recommend coming back and seeing what's new!

[quote name="Comestique" date="2023-12-07 14:43:36" ] There has been a renewed focus on story quests and they are releasing updates to the story more frequently. That said, it's only once every few months (mostly), but there's also other kinds of updates peppered in (that aren't just new horses). For example: the new druidism update (which is really just another grind, but one where you aren't forced to go at the pace of a snail at, like with the daily quest reputation grinds). The game has changed a lot graphically, many areas have been changed and are not laid out the same as they once were. The artstyle has completely changed; they went all-in with the cartoony and fantasy aesthetic, especially with the new Hollow Woods/Valedale update. I've seen the graphical style compared to Fortnite, which isn't that far off, but I think it's less "clean" than Fortnite and more detailed when it comes to textures. Chances are, they've changed whatever quest you're stuck on, and I wouldn't be shocked if it's easier now. Don't expect the characters, story, or locations in the game to be the same. Many things about them have changed. I think the essence of the characters, locations, and the story (except for Lisa, unfortunately) have more or less stayed the same. IMO the direction they're going for the writing is much better than before; there's more focus on the characters and their relationships, but it also feels that there's lots of fluff to the story, especially in newer story quests. Some races have been removed, many new ones have been added in their place. [/quote] Yeah, that race I was talking about was in hollow woods, I think the goal of the quest it was a part of was to find anne who ran off with concorde and a clover. But for some reason these crows stop you I think? Either way with hollow woods it definitely has seen an overhaul. The hollow woods stuff is actually what inspired me to think about coming back, since I came across a denise wisestorm video commending the game for focusing on gameplay. Also certified star stable critic rattle has had no problems with the game lately with her newest what's new horse games stream which is really good to see. Joining around the time they began introducing their new artstyle (mistfall and connemara were respecively the first horse and area when I joined) I'd say it's kind of fortnite-ish but with more definition. Cartoony but detailed I'd say. I don't know much about the complaints from the youtube space, only that Minatozy reported an uh oh oopsie that made me feel conflicted enough to ask about the state of the game in the first place. Regardless whatever oopsie there was it doesn't seem to be affecting the quality of the game, which is good. That being said, thank you for the comments so far! I'll definitely come back and see what's happening on the game! Although I might swap platform to my iPad because I might aswell, seeing as I've already got ff14 on my computer. Edit: ok, seeing things from a distance minatozy seems to have devolved into an sso hate channel whereas in the time before I left they were ok. either way not good

[quote name="2Blue2BTrue" date="2023-12-07 23:54:34" ] [quote name="Comestique" date="2023-12-07 14:43:36" ] snip [/quote] . . . I don't know much about the complaints from the youtube space, only that Minatozy reported an uh oh oopsie that made me feel conflicted enough to ask about the state of the game in the first place. Regardless whatever oopsie there was it doesn't seem to be affecting the quality of the game, which is good. Edit: ok, seeing things from a distance minatozy seems to have devolved into an sso hate channel whereas in the time before I left they were ok. either way not good [/quote] I think the game was in a stagnant period for a while, and they made some decisions for the developers and the game that were questionable at best. The game having an unfinished and in-progress story since release isn't a great thing, either, especially considering these story quests cannot be replayed and you can only have one character per account. However, whoever is in charge of the roadmap for the game now is doing a good job, and the game is on track to be one that can actually be on par with games from other genres in terms of quality and entertainment value. Some mistakes (like the story (or at least a first story arc) never being finished on release) can't be undone and only moved on from, but the ones they can work on, they're working on. There is some very harsh and unfair criticism out there. I think it's fair to be upset about the fact that the game is much lower quality than other MMOs, but some people try to capitalize on this issue too much to the point that they veer the discussion to a place that's not helpful at best, and counterproductive at worst. If you've returned to the game yet, have you been enjoying it?

Holy heckles this gave me a vivid flashback from like 10yrs ago of being on Star Stable every afternoon. I just wish I knew my log in cause I remember getting up to the Icelandic horses release, and loving the new world Thank you for reminding me! I'm off to create a new account [emoji=familiar heart size=1]

[quote name="Comestique" date="2023-12-09 21:25:15" ] I think the game was in a stagnant period for a while, and they made some decisions for the developers and the game that were questionable at best. The game having an unfinished and in-progress story since release isn't a great thing, either, especially considering these story quests cannot be replayed and you can only have one character per account. ... Some mistakes (like the story (or at least a first story arc) never being finished on release) can't be undone and only moved on from, but the ones they can work on, they're working on. There is some very harsh and unfair criticism out there. I think it's fair to be upset about the fact that the game is much lower quality than other MMOs, but some people try to capitalize on this issue too much to the point that they veer the discussion to a place that's not helpful at best, and counterproductive at worst. If you've returned to the game yet, have you been enjoying it? [/quote] I've been back two days now, and spent like the whole of yesterday on Star Stable so I think i have! It's nice checking in with the characters again. I think they've left the story beats from the older era of the game in so things haven't been too confusing for me. Also I'm very happy I can perform magic now instead of making the soul riders do it for me. Also glad training isn't just running races now. It's kinda moreso bonding with the horse and interacting with it now, and I've been finding it intriguing to see how the horses act when seeing shared moments. One horse that I bought before I left was making themself out to be quite jealous for instance. Like dude this other horse shouldn't be affecting you I'm just window shopping. Also feel it's a lot easier to train with these changes, especially when the horse xp gained from shared moments scales with the horse's level. That being said, I am very salty that they added unicorns when they said they wouldn't. Although I did distance myself from the game for 2-3 years I did see the occasional new magic horse. I have never liked Star Stable's unicorn, I am incredibly disappointed in them. At least the other magic horses with horns and the upcoming gingerbread horse are pretty cool. I'm glad this thread has inspired other people to try the game again as I have, it's pretty nice, but I think the Hollow Woods and druidism update might've been a tiny bit overhyped. Also, Devil's Gap is an area now? Sweet! Edit: Also I did buy a new horse, I plan to be conservative with my purchases from here on. He's named after the Windsinger and I'm very very glad that most of his shared moments so far have been 'oh my god he's so energetic' - because that's the same sort of energy Wind dragons have. Edit 2: Did Fort Maria questline. Am very annoyed because the placement of an interaction when working with Katja. Please help.

Back again after over a week of playing sso again, just here to say how I've been doing.

Most of my points are the same after I last talked about the game. It's better, at least, and I feel like their dev team are trying their best to make things better. The cutscenes and gameplay are a lot more high quality than I remembered them. More stuff to do. I'm a little disappointed in the amount of quests in the MSQ released since my absence, but it's better than being drip-fed over the course of several months. Also, the problems I had with the quest where you need to help katja stabilize drakonium were fixed a couple days-ish after I encountered them. Thanks riding camp.

Either way, even though I'm running out of things to do already, I think I'm still gonna come back to the game every once in a while. It was the indirect cause of a lot of things in my life to happen, both good and bad, but mostly good.

I've mentioned this project of mine a couple times on FR every once in a while called Sheltered Chronicles, and it may have never happened if I didn't join a club on star stable and roleplayed with another member of said club. This isn't the right place to talk about it though. I'm not quite sure what forum would be suitable, really... But it probably wouldn't exist without SSO.

Also, I've got at least 5 pages of horses to train, quite a lot. So, I have my work cut out for me...