@ShaSt One: I remember trying to describe to my friends a show about a girl who turned into some sort of puddle due to radiation or something, and they looked at me like I was crazy. If I hadn't watched the show with my sister I would have thought it was some sort of weird dream, haha. #thesecretworld
@Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...: I've heard so much about DDO (good things). Is it worth downloading or am I just going to play it for 2 hours and uninstall? #thesecretworld
@Neocorey:
Try the lite interface which is a few hundred MBs to see if you like the game play. The graphics are really low end, but It shows the core mechanics of the game.
If you do, then you can download the larger more graphical interface version which is like 4 GBs.
It's a neat system for trying out the game with out having to go through a huge install.
@Pult|Ost - Not Backwards Compatible: Canada seems a natural choice! Like America, except it snows a lot. Oh oh, when your invading there make sure and end your setences with 'eh.' it drives them nuts.
By the way, I'm just joking. Don't kill me Canadians. He said they are invading. Not me! Were still cool.
@excel_excel: It doesn't drive us nuts. Depending on your accent, we either roll our eyes, sigh and think "Another newfie" or "Another tourist". Then we give you wrong directions.
Considering how much CoH improved after Emmert left (and how little goodwill he has among anyone who was around there when he was), I think it's safe to say I'll be avoiding this one.
@KillerBee: Why do you feel this way? Do you enjoy MMO's in general? Can you give any details at all?
This isn't all that different from what I've heard, actually, but a baseless claim still annoys me. WHY does the cell-shading need an on-off option, why is it awful? The images displayed haven't PARTICULARLY bothered me. Repetitive how? Repetitive for an MMO or par for the course? These are distinctions that would make your opinion worthwhile and might sway an opinion one way or another (I do assume that's why you give an opinion, I assume, to be taken). As of now, you give no details at all and so my gut reaction is to simply toss it aside as a troll and little else.
@stalin23: I had a pretty substantial explanation but then I stumbled outside the realm of this box and clicked my mouse in a stupor, destroying my displayed thoughts.
But I think the meat of my NDA-breaking discourse pertained to the combat in the game, how incredibly fun and diverse it is (especially considering how many different customizations they are implementing), and how this is the single most vital and important part of any MMO, since this is what you'll mostly be doing for hours upon hours.
I'm still gonna give it a shot, as I do for any and every MMO ever released, but I agree with you about the character creation business -- at least so far as COH is concerned.
@Evdor: It is far from baseless, and it is just my opinion.
The cell shading looks really good up close, but when you zoom your camera out, everything looks saturated and it loses all detail. I understand they are going for a comic book look, but it just really takes you out of the experience when you zoom your camera out to a normal gameplay level. Much like how too much bloom effect can ruin visuals, the cell shading in the game is just too much. It looks great occasionally, but other times looks like a child's crayon drawing.
Repetitive is par for the course for MMOs and I have played them all, but when you get bored in the TUTORIAL doing the most bland and uninspired starting quests, you can only imagine what is coming mid-game. I have been playing for a while and I have never felt super, unique or powerful. They stated that was sort of intentional, but it sucks. I want to feel like a bad ass hero right from the start, not an errand boy. The tutorial is supposed to hook you from the start, but this one makes me want to go back and spend more time creating characters than playing them. Not a good sign.
This game is so much like CoH from a design standpoint. It could have easily been a mod of CoH it is that similar. I know the comparisons are going to exist for obvious reasons (super hero game from the same company), but it is too similar. I suppose if you are a die hard CoH fan, you'll feel right at home.
@KillerBee: My opinion has more merit because I'm a better judge of game quality.
I love this, because I can just start to argue that my opinion that your opinion is not as good as my opinion is simply my opinion and I have a right to that opinion.
Also, it seems as though you're basing most of your accusations around the tutorial (which I found to be better than most MMOs I've played) and that is a really inadequate amount of information to use in judging how "boring" an MMO will be. From this alone, I can persist that you shouldn't be spouting an uninformed opinion to the masses of the easily-swayed at Kotaku.
My opinion has more merit because I'm a better judge of game quality.
Translation: I'm better than you! I'm right, you're wrong.
Anyway, boring is the least of the game's problems. I know this is a beta, but it's so incomplete and buggy, I don't think they'll make the release date. The basic combat mechanics make it even more repetitive than your average MMO. The quests are about the same too.
"The biggest criticism Emmert fears hearing is from superhero players who want a purely solo masked avenger experience. That's just not what Cryptic is out to do with Champions Online"
Dammit. Maybe I'm too much of an anti-social jerk for MMOs, but I'm not the kind of player who is comfortable going around and joining random pick-up groups to do quests.
When my friends aren't online, I want to still play the game without feeling like I'm constantly taking it up the ass- especially when its really just me being penalized for not wanting to spend the next hour trying to get PwnZard5571 to stop aggroing every mob he sees and then using me as a meat shield before I've had a chance to heal from the last time. Or listening to his squeaky voice while he yells at his mom to get out of his room.
@I Think We're Property: Don't worry about it, he's kinda talking out of his ass on this one, tbh. There's been a lot of criticism from beta players that the game is TOO solo-friendly, and that there is little to no reason to group up right now.
Apart from the "Lairs" which are made with groups/raids in mind, the typical overland questing is relatively easy to solo.
On the plus-side, if you do decide to group up with people for soloable quests, they keep it challenging. Depending on how many in the group, your foes will run for backup, aggroing other mobs a ways away. It sounds bad in theory, but it works great when you're playing.
Unfortunately a lot of quests are of the "Loot X items" variety, so grouping up tends to take longer. Not that I mind, I group to meet/talk to people, not to grind the levels faster.
I would like to see a hero creator, just so i can get an idea of how awesome this can be. and possibly a stat calc so i could see what builds i could do. Requesting wolverine spec with protoss zealot look. win.
@brotherauron: This. It would be really, really awesome if, kinda like the Spore Creature Creator, they released the Hero Creator stand-alone for free, so that we could see what it was like. Just don't have the main game suck as hard as Spore, eh?
Dangeresque (Kojima-san doesn't have to make Metal Gear any more) was starred
Dangeresque (Kojima-san doesn't have to make Metal Gear any more) was unstarred
At least their not trying to force the 360 version out at the same time. I hope they make that version work just right, as that will be the only one I'm playing.
@Invisible-Echidna: Honestly I wouldn't hold my breath. As far as I can see every single MMO that was released recently was supposed to deliver a console version and none of them did.
To get a console RPG really rolling they either need to have the Japanese market locked down (IMHO that is why Final Fantasy Online works) or have cross platform play as it is hard to build a critical mass of players otherwise.
I'd be happy for any game to prove me wrong, but I don't think that will happen soon.
@Xuchilbara: Really? Far Cry 2? I don't play WoW, but I'd play that over Far Cry 2. FC2 has some good moments, but the glaring flaws of that games make me instantly gravitate towards much better games like TF2, Quake Wars, Dawn of War, NWN2, etc.
@stupid_mcgee: uber pyro > zerg rush: Farcry 2 is like the marmite of the gaming world, you either love it, or the thought of it makes you enter a cold sweat, bout of vomiting and explosive diarrhoea through sheer unbridled hatred...
I'm a massive fan of Joseph Conrad's "heart of Darkness" (and the film "Apocalypse Now" that was based on it), and the references throughout the game made me feel protonostalgic... Chugging up the river in a boat whilst keeping a watchful eye on the hillsides is an incredible experience... Though my flatmates all loathed the game with a passion.
Conversely, I'm the only person in the house who likes marmite.
So wait, they never offered a free trial until now?
That doesn't seem smart. Unless they consider shipping a retail product and charging a monthly subscription fee a 'beta' period, which is what it sounded like in the beginning with AoC.
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
Besides, DDO is free and fun. #thesecretworld
11/11/09
11/11/09
Try the lite interface which is a few hundred MBs to see if you like the game play. The graphics are really low end, but It shows the core mechanics of the game.
If you do, then you can download the larger more graphical interface version which is like 4 GBs.
It's a neat system for trying out the game with out having to go through a huge install.
There are 3 sizes and they are all free. #thesecretworld
11/11/09
09/01/09
...
"MMO developer Funcom"
AHEM???
09/01/09
WORLD DOMINION!!
I also forgot they have offices in China, Switzerland and the US.
The Vikings are coming. Lutefisk and FÄrikal for everyone!
09/01/09
By the way, I'm just joking. Don't kill me Canadians. He said they are invading. Not me! Were still cool.
09/01/09
09/01/09
07/22/09
07/21/09
The cell shading is awful and it really needs an on/off option. The character creation is FAR better than the actual game, sadly.
07/21/09
Going by my experience in the beta, I agree.
The character creation is awesome though. I wish WoW had a quarter of the options that you have in Champions.
07/21/09
Please, others, do not take this user's opinion with any sort of merit, because I firmly disagree with his sentiments.
07/21/09
07/21/09
This isn't all that different from what I've heard, actually, but a baseless claim still annoys me. WHY does the cell-shading need an on-off option, why is it awful? The images displayed haven't PARTICULARLY bothered me. Repetitive how? Repetitive for an MMO or par for the course? These are distinctions that would make your opinion worthwhile and might sway an opinion one way or another (I do assume that's why you give an opinion, I assume, to be taken). As of now, you give no details at all and so my gut reaction is to simply toss it aside as a troll and little else.
07/21/09
But I think the meat of my NDA-breaking discourse pertained to the combat in the game, how incredibly fun and diverse it is (especially considering how many different customizations they are implementing), and how this is the single most vital and important part of any MMO, since this is what you'll mostly be doing for hours upon hours.
07/21/09
I'm still gonna give it a shot, as I do for any and every MMO ever released, but I agree with you about the character creation business -- at least so far as COH is concerned.
07/22/09
The cell shading looks really good up close, but when you zoom your camera out, everything looks saturated and it loses all detail. I understand they are going for a comic book look, but it just really takes you out of the experience when you zoom your camera out to a normal gameplay level. Much like how too much bloom effect can ruin visuals, the cell shading in the game is just too much. It looks great occasionally, but other times looks like a child's crayon drawing.
Repetitive is par for the course for MMOs and I have played them all, but when you get bored in the TUTORIAL doing the most bland and uninspired starting quests, you can only imagine what is coming mid-game. I have been playing for a while and I have never felt super, unique or powerful. They stated that was sort of intentional, but it sucks. I want to feel like a bad ass hero right from the start, not an errand boy. The tutorial is supposed to hook you from the start, but this one makes me want to go back and spend more time creating characters than playing them. Not a good sign.
This game is so much like CoH from a design standpoint. It could have easily been a mod of CoH it is that similar. I know the comparisons are going to exist for obvious reasons (super hero game from the same company), but it is too similar. I suppose if you are a die hard CoH fan, you'll feel right at home.
07/22/09
07/22/09
I love this, because I can just start to argue that my opinion that your opinion is not as good as my opinion is simply my opinion and I have a right to that opinion.
Also, it seems as though you're basing most of your accusations around the tutorial (which I found to be better than most MMOs I've played) and that is a really inadequate amount of information to use in judging how "boring" an MMO will be. From this alone, I can persist that you shouldn't be spouting an uninformed opinion to the masses of the easily-swayed at Kotaku.
07/22/09
My opinion has more merit because I'm a better judge of game quality.
Translation: I'm better than you! I'm right, you're wrong.
Anyway, boring is the least of the game's problems. I know this is a beta, but it's so incomplete and buggy, I don't think they'll make the release date. The basic combat mechanics make it even more repetitive than your average MMO. The quests are about the same too.
07/21/09
Dammit. Maybe I'm too much of an anti-social jerk for MMOs, but I'm not the kind of player who is comfortable going around and joining random pick-up groups to do quests.
When my friends aren't online, I want to still play the game without feeling like I'm constantly taking it up the ass- especially when its really just me being penalized for not wanting to spend the next hour trying to get PwnZard5571 to stop aggroing every mob he sees and then using me as a meat shield before I've had a chance to heal from the last time. Or listening to his squeaky voice while he yells at his mom to get out of his room.
07/22/09
Apart from the "Lairs" which are made with groups/raids in mind, the typical overland questing is relatively easy to solo.
On the plus-side, if you do decide to group up with people for soloable quests, they keep it challenging. Depending on how many in the group, your foes will run for backup, aggroing other mobs a ways away. It sounds bad in theory, but it works great when you're playing.
Unfortunately a lot of quests are of the "Loot X items" variety, so grouping up tends to take longer. Not that I mind, I group to meet/talk to people, not to grind the levels faster.
07/21/09
07/21/09
07/21/09
07/21/09
To get a console RPG really rolling they either need to have the Japanese market locked down (IMHO that is why Final Fantasy Online works) or have cross platform play as it is hard to build a critical mass of players otherwise.
I'd be happy for any game to prove me wrong, but I don't think that will happen soon.
07/22/09
They're not giving us any details beyond that, though.
07/07/09
Still though, nice to see a MMO not called WOW going strong, but is AOC still rough around the edges like a launch?
07/07/09
Now now. Don't reverse instigate.
07/07/09
06/24/09
06/24/09
06/24/09
Oh and the fact that the minute I got on my horse my game would crash.
And also gold farming was ridiculous and I would get PMs once an hour advertising gold buying.
Not to mention crafting was a joke.
But there were tits. Ooooh the pixel-tities
06/24/09
06/24/09
06/24/09
06/24/09
05/19/09
Not to mention Infamous and the Uncharted 2 beta are soon!
05/19/09
05/19/09
I'm a massive fan of Joseph Conrad's "heart of Darkness" (and the film "Apocalypse Now" that was based on it), and the references throughout the game made me feel protonostalgic... Chugging up the river in a boat whilst keeping a watchful eye on the hillsides is an incredible experience... Though my flatmates all loathed the game with a passion.
Conversely, I'm the only person in the house who likes marmite.
04/03/09
That doesn't seem smart. Unless they consider shipping a retail product and charging a monthly subscription fee a 'beta' period, which is what it sounded like in the beginning with AoC.
04/02/09
04/02/09
04/02/09
That, my friend, was Yakety Sax.
04/02/09