Roleplay: Wonderful stuff. Constant world RP, keeps the players guessing as to what's going to happen. Very thought out storylines and arcs. Everyone is able to input ideas for world story arcs, and it is quite enjoyable. The coder is always working on something new. in the middle of the night she gets on and gives sneak peaks of what is up and coming. There are 4 classes standard and a new one in the works. Also, several prestige classes which you can get through roleplay. There is the possiblity for custom items under their token system. The world is always changing and evolving, how depends on the rp of the players more than the whim of the staff. The world itself is HUGE, when it was started it was over 40000 rooms, then another continent was added and nearly doubled the size. Though it started as a final fantasy theme it has moved far beyond it and you never hear the words final fantasy muttered at all. There is a small staff and enough people to where you can talk to everyone and eventually befriend everyone with little difficulty. This is one of the best muds i have ever played, whenever i try another i always end up back here.

I logged on tonight with an open mind toward a genre of MUD I haven't experienced. I'm a fan of the Final Fantasy series, and I was pleasantly surprised by many of the areas. There were about 15 players on, but I didn't notice much chat happening on the public channels. The areas I explored were a nice change of pace from the typical stock areas that populate many MUDs, and there was some interesting code. Roleplay seems to be very encouraged there, which was pleasing. I was rather bothered however, by another newbie chatting on the OOC channel and asking for help. Upon recieving help, he responded 'k, thx' and was told not to use chatspeak, because it is annoying. A 'someone' responded it could even get a person deleted. I found that pretty harsh, and proceeded to read the rules. Some of the rules are rather specific, while others are left wide open to interpretation. For example, 'botting' is illegal, pretty straightforward, but so is 'being stupid' and an immortal has the right to evaluate the level of stupidity and deem an appropriate punishment. Chatspeak was listed nowhere in the rules as an offense, which leads one to assume it would be covered under the 'being stupid' category, which leads one to wonder what else is considered offensive. All in all, parts of the MUD seem worth sticking around for however, it didn't leave me with a very good or friendly first impression. I talked with some other players and played for a few more hours and upon leaving to write this review, my first impression seemed to be right. I think if someone is willing to swallow a lot of pride long enough to get known there or to befriend the right people, it would be a fun MUD to play on. Otherwise, it doesn't have a very newbie-friendly atmosphere. Some of the tips that newbies are presented with however, do seem to give some fair warning of what is and isn't considered a good idea. For example, 'Never question an immortal's authority' is one, along with 'Arguing with [head imm] is a very bad idea.' My suggestion for anyone that is going to give this MUD a try is to just keep quiet until you make some friends. After which time, you should have a blast.

Roleplay: Wonderful stuff. Constant world RP, keeps the players guessing as to what's going to happen. Very thought out storylines and arcs. Everyone is able to input ideas for world story arcs, and it is quite enjoyable. Staff: Wonderful staff of very wonderful people. Ideas are being brought to life in the game, either by code or by OLC editing and mobprogs. Code: Heavily Modified ROM base does not even really describe what the Coder does, nor does 'Very Large' describe how very large Cleft actually is. Cleft has, easily, over 40000 rooms, including the world map. All in all, Cleft is one of the best MUDs this Head Builder has ever had the privalege of being apart of. (And yes, I have been a builder/headbuilder on more than one MUD.. ;))