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NCSoft Launches New Game Sites
The font of information that is E3 has dredged up two new sites for NCSoft's upcoming mmogs. City of Villains and Tabula Rasa both have new sites up with extensive new pieces of information. Tabula Rasa, in particular, seems to have undergone some massive changes. Where once TR featured screenshots of light spaces and beautiful creatures, the game that the site appears to show off is a gritty hell. It will be interesting to see what other changes have found their way into Garriot's newest project.
I'll definately have to pick up Tabula Rasa. Action MMOGS are definately the wave of the future. I played Planetside. And while most RPG ethusiasts agree that the grind to get to maximum level should take several months to years, Planetside believed that the optimal play time should be one day. The funny thing about action MMOGS is that you can make the grind longer because people won't notice it because they'll be too busy playing a game.
The only fun thing about Planetside was I was playing it at the beginning when everyone was new. I found a killer strat early on and abused it. One of the funnest things to do in MMOGS is to abuse an overpowered strategy in PK before anyone finds out about it. Basically I'd have runs in a tank where I'd kill up to 50 people before I was killed. And when I wanted to get really cheap, I'd camp a respawn booth with a super shotgun. They respawn and boom they're dead. Pretty cheap stuff, but good for a few thrills.
God spoke to me.
To this day, Ultima V is one of those games that I remember fondly, and would play again (if I could get the damn thing to run on modern hardware, that is)*. I have the cloth map filed away in my filing cabinet, and in theory, I still have the coin somewhere, I think (Ultima V came with a free coin; ostensibly because the player, the Avatar, was called to Brittania with it). Richard Garriot really had something with the Ultima series. It had some real class. You don't get cloth maps and crazy "magic" coins these days (Or cheesy, but thoughtful, pieces of obsidian--the transportation device of Ultima VI). Sigh. Now all the boxes are tiny and they just contain a game CD case, a manual, and a lot of promotional material.
Is Garriot gonna do a non-MMO game again someday? Does anyone know if that's in the works? Not to knock the whole 'Net thang, but MMO games just don't suit my fancy.
*Dear nerds: I'm too lazy to do this, not too stupid. And yes, I have a legal copy of the game.
From the initial hope of Garriot creating a company and starting Tabula Rosa - Blank Slate! A fresh start! - to the shock at NCSoft buying the nascent company, to this rethinking of the game entirely is almost as painful as the sudden cancellation of UO2.
If the article is going to mention TR and City Of Villains, it should also mention NCSoft's other upcoming MMO - Auto Assault.
:(
And since I couldn't find it on those game's official sites, here are the ship dates from EBGames (which I'm sure aren't accurate, but hey):
* City Of Villains - 08/15/2005
* Auto Assault - 09/01/2005
* TR - 02/15/2006
This could get expensive.
(Although for the moment I'm still quite enjoying Guild Wars)
I wonder if she'll dance like Alizée, too?
THAT WAS YOU?!!!!!!!!
;)
(j/k
People have become bored with the existing types of games. Games like Save - a first person shooter, AND a CC variant, did remarkedly well. The servers are as crowded as they have ever been.
From what I've seen of the video footage - it looks fantastic. City of Heroes by NCSoft can get a little timely to progress, as do most MMORPGs, so I hope that they make leveling a little more speedy.
I give credit to NCSoft for trying to come up with a new genre, or at least variant , of the mostly similar games out there today.
..........FULL STOP.
"Where once TR featured screenshots of light spaces and beautiful creatures, the game that the site appears to show off is a gritty hell."
Oh Bloody Hell Not Again. What is it with every single producer of games, TV and film deciding that everything has to use the buzzwords Gritty, Dark, Sexy and Noir to pitch itself now. Ubisoft ruining Prince Of Persia is just one of many and varied examples. Even bloody Star Wars has to end on a downer just to keep the Fincher fanboys happy.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Even bloody Star Wars has to end on a downer just to keep the Fincher fanboys happy.
Well in ROtS, you have the total subversion of a representative government, and destruction of a order of warrior-monks devoted to do-gooding. All of this is the culmination of one man's longterm plans to grab power and rule the galaxy with an iron fist. How exactly are you planning to portray this in a "happy" film?
Oh and it's not just a reaction to the times either, the first Star Wars had the subtitle "A New Hope". That and the allusions to the events before the what is pictured in the film indicate that the previous episodes (if they were made at all) would be somewhat bleak.
Technically, the Star Wars movies end with ROtJ. While ewoks might be a downer to some people, they certainly are not "Gritty" or "Noir".
An RPG with minimal stats, leaving the post-EQ MMORPG fan out in the cold.
You know what? After 100 single player and about 5 MMOGs games of nothing but leveling throughout my life it's safe to say...
I'm bloody kind of sick and tired of bloody leveling!
I think EQ burnt me out. Sure Marrowind Elder Scrolls for the Xbox was kind of fun to level... And Shadowbane was just easy so it wasn't a chore.
But out of all the MMOG games I would have to say Ultima Online had the best damned system for character development since you could just play the game without having to kill things over and over just to get stronger just to kill more things.
The urge to make another 60 level character for anyone on any game gets very low when you think about the tedious effort it takes when you start from scratch on a new game.
Seriously... Diku MUD leveling is a 20 year old (if not older system) we need to have more innovation that Kill, Kill, Heal Heal, Ding, Ding!
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
It's pretty amazing how much of a difference there is between the old TR and the new TR. The old TR seemed like it was going to be some sort of freeform RPG in a quasi-utopian world. The new one is going to be an FPS/RPG in a "IN THE GRIM FUTURE OF HELLO KITTY, THERE IS ONLY WAR" world.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
I would argue that Star Wars doesn't really have any other way to "end" (well um in this case the end being a middle) since we already know Anakin turns into Darth Vader and have since 1980.
I defintately agree with you on the in terms of games. Despite good reviews, I just didn't want to touch the latest Prince of Persia because of the stupid visual style. What the hell is wrong with the Arabian nights look? Maybe selling an Arabian themed game is difficult in these times of turmoil in the middle east?
I won't even bring up the Shadow the hedgehog game Sega is working on (oops I just did).
Tabula Rasa looks like some Unreal/Starship Troopers sort of thing now. I guess they really didn't like the way the game was going, because it looks like they completely changed it.
Sometimes my arms bend back.