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DC Universe Online To Launch January 11th
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that their long-awaited superhero MMO DC Universe Online will be launching on January 11th in the US and January 14th in the UK. The game will be available for Windows and the PlayStation 3. Massively recently wrote up their impressions from the beta test, and a preview at The Escapist said this of the combat: "Based on my early experiences, the action of DCUO is a lot of fun. You can lock onto targets, but there is no auto attack button. To take down enemies, you must click a button to punch or fire a ranged attack. The brawler-style action feels like a wham-bang comic book. Scenery is not just difficult terrain; picking up barrels and tossing them at your foes is sometimes necessary for tough encounters. Leveling up your skills unlocks combos, with varying effects that can interrupt enemies from pulling off that devastating fire breath or stunning punch. ... The only downside with such frenetic combat is that the keyboard and mouse interface isn't really conducive to all this action. It's hard to follow up nine short left clicks with a long right button click. While I was visiting SOE's offices, I was able to play with a PS3 controller, and this control scheme was preferable."
Let me tell you my thoughts form the beta:
The game is clearly designed as and plays like an arcade game made for a console; one that happens to have other people running around playing the same arcade game. Every once in a while you need/want to get some of these other people to join you in what you are doing. For the most part though I preferred to play it alone; which is not good considering theis is supposed to be an MMO. Also, the controls are clearly designed for a gamepad including limits on how may powers / attacks you have access to (at any one time – as in you need to swap thing in and out at times) due to the limited number of buttons on a gamepad. So my preference for mouse and keyboard was a liability for the game.
So from my perspective of wanting MMORPG that works well with a PC it is something to avoid. So much so that I canceled my per-order. Basically I was hoping for a better version of CoH set in the DC Universe. But what i got was a piss poor port of a console arcade game with a monthly fee.
Couldn't one just get a Bluetooth dongle and use the PS3 pad itself?
No no no. It's always 'Batman... if he has time to prepare.'
If it was done any way close to how Square did FF XIV did their control schemes then run away from this... FAST!
I've got boots of escaping! *flees*
Bye!
I'm an EQ2 player, been so for like 4 or 5 years.
Do they advertise EQ2 on TV? No.
I think they might in gamer mags, but I don't know, I don't read them anymore (too many of them are just paid advertisers these days, no real reviews or unbiased reports. Plus i'm totally sick of the bullshit hype they do).
But when it come to advertising, Sony sucks big ass donkey balls and always asks for seconds.
Not to mention, sony couldn't even do Free to Play correctly for EQ2. You know, instead of bring new peeps into the already existing servers (that they had to merge recently because of lack of players), they make a new fucking server for it. So, now you have a bunch of noobs, on a free to play, but damn, you better pay out your nose for market shit, server. If the peeps decide they like the game and want to pay for a subscription, are they really going to want to leave the server they were on and made friends on for a normal eq2 server? No, they won't.
Let's discuss Star Wars Galaxies. You know, where sony was in charge and they made it so becoming an jedi was so easy it made the hardcore players quit?
DCU would be best served by anyone other then having Sony as there sugar mom.
Now me, personally, i'm waiting for Champions Online to become Free to play in january. Why? Because I'd like to have a superhero MMO that I can play on occasion. I don't need another subscription for a game I won't find that interesting. Would I spend money for stuff? Probably. I do with DDO even though I don't play that game that much. I'd rather spend $10 every few months then $15 every month.
Be seeing you...
I'd love a game that played like Freedom Force as an MMO. I remember creating X-men vs the Hulk scenarios and ending up with entire city blocks leveled. Of course you would need to instance battles like that but how cool would it be to have Superman hit Doomsday into a building which collapses, Michael Bay style, all around him? Throwing cars at flying heroes to know them out of the sky...
City of Heroes had some knockback but nothing like Freedom Force's epic combat.
... I want you... to remember, Clark... ... in all the years to come... ... in your most private moments...
I want you to remember... my hand... at your throat... ... I want... you to remember... ... the one man who beat you... .
Years later, a doctor will tell me that I have an I.Q. of 48, and am what some people call "mentally retarded".
>>Couldn't one just get a Bluetooth dongle and use the PS3 pad itself?
Yeah. I've been playing it on the PS3 with the controller. It works fine, though dealing with a lot of powers is kind of a pain.
It really feels more like a brawler game than an MMO, which has some real appeal.
On the downside... it's the DC Universe. The Villain campaign is especially black and white ("Doing Good is an affront to Trigon!" says random NPCs), and poorly written.
I've played 2 characters into the beta, albeit not very far. I've played quite a few MMO's, the most important being City of Heroes and Warcraft. I'll also say that I love DC comics, and I'm a huge fan of Superman and Batman ( as well as others). This game just isn't doing something that distinguishes itself from the pack. They could have chosed a more comic-like interface, instead it feels like an all too familiar MMO. They could have chosen a different combat system or more creative powers, but it feels recycled. Maybe it feels a lot better on the PS3, but this is one game that will most likely never be installed on my PC once it goes live.
On the downside... it's the DC Universe. The Villain campaign is especially black and white ("Doing Good is an affront to Trigon!" says random NPCs), and poorly written.
"And pleasing Trigon is good, and doing good is bad, so we should displease Trigon by doing good to do bad which is good which is bad.. aaaaiiieee! "
The enemies of Democracy are