I hear what you're saying. Some of what you're talking about does occur in Gemstone. They run live event storylines and sometimes a town(Wheinemer's Landing or however you spell it, comes to mind) will get burned down. The player characters will join together sometimes with a GM controlled NPC, to take out the leader of the evil forces. And when that leader is dead, he's dead for good. It used to be that there was permadeath in Gemstone for player characters. I don't remember why exactly they got rid of that, probably because it wasn't that popular. They even ran a storyline where player characters debated eachother to see which one of them would become mayor of the Landing. I don't remember exactly how it ended, I just know that a GM controlled NPC came in and killed them all and none of them became mayor. There are also player run stores now.
So there are a lot of events that you're referring to in their text based games. It's my understanding, and I could be wrong, but I believe that their goal is to do that in Hero's Journey too. Probably not to the extent that it happens in their text based games but certainly there will be live events in HJ. Of course there will be standard quests. If there is one complaint about live events it's that not everyone gets to fully participate in them and that leads to people feeling left out. It happens in their text based games where the players are more concerned with role play than just hack and slash, so if it happens there then it will happen in a graphics game where you have more hack and slash players than role players. Having standard quests allows everyone to say, "Hey, I was the one that destroyed that bridge and prevented the enemy army from crossing over and raiding our city." Is that unrealistic? Sure but this isn't a reality game, it's a fantasy game.
And just remember. There are a lot of companies that didn't get their MMOPRG's right the first time. WoW was popular when it came out but it still wasn't that great of a game. Guild Wars is their second attempt at an MMORPG and it's much better than WoW. FFXI sucks IMO and I'm not sure what SE's next one, Front Mission Online, is going to be like, but I gotta believe that it's going to be better than FFXI. It sure can't be any worse. I think Simtronics should be given a lot of credit for turning out this type of effort in their first attempt. And with the tools that they're using to make this game, they'll be able to add and update stuff on the fly. No need to create an expansion. Their tools should also allow them to do what other MMORPG's can't, or won't, which is burn down villages and stuff like that.
Unfortunately I don't expect it to be exactly the type of game that you are hoping for. I feel like we're in the minority when it comes to what all we want. The fact is that most players of these graphics games are kids that are just into hack and slash and that's who these companies target when they make these games. Gemstone has maybe 4-5000 people in their lone server while there are millions of people in the graphics RPG's. If there were more people like us then I think the population in text based games would be higher.
If Hero's Journey can attract enough "role players" then maybe the game will end up being what we would like it to be. But my guess is that there will still be plenty of hack and slash players so Simu will want to take the "lets make it something for everyone" type of game. What I'm hoping for is that the GM's will focus most of their attention on the role playing servers and that way those servers can be the "living, breathing" worlds that we'd like to see and the other servers can be the hack and slash servers that those players want to see.
Have you read about the awards they got for their showing at E3? MMORPG's best in show. GamersInfo.net's Editor's Choice award. Not to mention great reviews by several other sites after seeing the game at E3. That stuff doesn't happen by accident and it doesn't happen if the game isn't any good. Maybe the best review that I've seen so far is at http://www.corpnews.com/node/36.
I'm guessing that you've had a bad experience with MMORPG's. Hey, it happens. There isn't a perfect game out there and there will be always someone that isn't satisfied. I doubt that there's a game out there that has 100% customer satisfaction. All I can say from my experience with Simtronics games that when someone has a problem they do listen. They obviously won't take care of every complaint because some you just can't take care of. You can't please everyone all of the time. If they change one thing to make one person happy then someone else will be upset. That's just the way that it is.
So while you may not like what you've seen about HJ, that doesn't mean that everyone else feels the same way. It's not just the fanboys that are excited about this, lot's of other people are excited as well, including plenty of people that were skeptical at first. Just based on what I've seen and read about this game, I feel like it's already better than most of the MMORPG's out there.
Why don't you tell us what you like and don't like about current MMORPG's and what you'd like to see in future games. What are you playing right now? You've been critical of HJ but I don't think I've heard you mention what you WOULD like to see.
Simu wouldn't even waste their time with this game if it wasn't going to be innovative. They were going to release a game with this same title a few years ago but scrapped the plan and started over because they knew it wouldn't work. Now they've come back with something that they know will be innovative. If Simu wanted to "cash in" as you say, then they would have done so a few years ago when there weren't so many MMORPG's out there. This project has been in the works for 3 years now. It isn't something they just threw together overnight. What they're trying to do is take everything that's made their MUD's successful and incorporate that into a MMORPG along with some never before seen stuff. Even their old stuff is better than what's in most MMORPG's. I've had my good share of MMORPG experiences and none of the games that I've played have come close giving me the enjoyment that Gemstone has. Who knows. This might not be the best game in the genre but I guarentee that it will be one of the best. It won't be like a lot of the crap you see out there now.
If you expect this to be like Final Fantasy or Everquest or WoW then you will be greatly mistaken. Simu has a long history, 18 years in fact, of getting it right. They wouldn't be around this long if they hadn't.
Only Simtronics has a history of coming through with their promises. If you've played any of their current games then you would know this but you haven't so you really aren't speaking with any knowledge. I am. Simtronics has won several online gaming awards and it's because of their great GM interaction that they have. Simu isn't making promises, they're stating fact. Trust me, I know. I've played their flagship game Gemstone and their GM interaction is unmatched in any MMORPG out there. When this game comes out, every skeptic will be pleasantly surprised with how well the GM interaction in this game is.
Because that is Simu's trademark. If you know anything about Simu then you would know that they've been around since 1987. One of their games, Gemstone, was the game they launched with at that time. The world of Elanthia, the world that Hero's Journey is based in, is the same world used in Gemstone. That's what they've gone with for a long time and that's what's made them successful. Everyone wants to talk about Dungeons and Dragons but Simu and Gemstone were just as big in pioneering online gameplay, at least when it comes to RPGs. They've chosen to go with the traditional fantasy world because that's what they've been doing for 18 years now. They aren't copycats. They're the people that others are copying off of.
They've released maybe 10% of what's going to be in the game, if that. If you've read the interviews they really don't want to reveal everything all at once. The game is still in development and probably won't come out until sometime next year. If they told you everything now then your interest would be gone by the time the game came out. Now isn't the right time to release all the "good stuff" about the game. They'll wait until closer to the release date to really "hype the game up."
If you've ever played any of Simtronics's current games then you'd already know that this is going to be a great game. But for those that haven't, and are only accustomed to the current MMORPG's, then you really have no idea of how great this game is going to be. Simu is one of the innovaters in "Roleplaying" games and they've won gaming awards before so they really do know how to put together a true "roleplaying" game. They aren't the new kid on the block just talking a great game. They have a history of success.
If you want to know what this game is going to be like then go to play.net and sign up for a free 30 day trial of either Gemstone or Dragonrealms. Basically this game is going to be a graphics based version of the formentioned games. Simtronics has won gaming awards in the past including Computer Gaming World's online game of the year so they do know how to put a great game together.
My personal experience with their MUD's tells me that this game will be much better than any other MMORPG out there. When they say they're going to put the emphasis on "roleplaying" I believe them because they have a history of that with their current games. What you may not have heard is that there will be several different types of servers. If you are heavy in to roleplaying and you want to make sure that everyone else in your server is too then you can go to a RPG server. No matter how hard they try to keep everyone in character all the time, they know that isn't possible so for those that do want to play this game without the emphasis on roleplaying, there will be out of character servers. If you don't want PvP then you can chose a non-PvP server.
I think what is going to set this game apart from the others is the heavy involvement of the game masters. The GM's will be involved with so much within the game that it will blow your mind. They will be adding content to the game all the time and if I read it correctly then they'll be able to do so without any need to buy expansion disks. Also, the best thing about their MUD's is the fact that the GM's are always running storylines, i.e. controlling bosses and other creatures, etc. A lot of the story is based on the actual interaction between the GM controlled characters and the player characters. I don't know how much of that is going to be included in HJ but it wouldn't surprise me to see GM's randomly creating enemy armies and invading friendly towns every now and then just for the heck of it.
I can understand how someone who hasn't played any of their games can be skeptical of this but as someone that has played their games, I can assure you that once this game comes out, your skepticism will be put to rest. Simtronics isn't the new kid on the block just talking a good game. They're one of the originators of online gameplay and they have a long history of getting it right.
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I hear what you're saying. Some of what you're talking about does occur in Gemstone. They run live event storylines and sometimes a town(Wheinemer's Landing or however you spell it, comes to mind) will get burned down. The player characters will join together sometimes with a GM controlled NPC, to take out the leader of the evil forces. And when that leader is dead, he's dead for good. It used to be that there was permadeath in Gemstone for player characters. I don't remember why exactly they got rid of that, probably because it wasn't that popular. They even ran a storyline where player characters debated eachother to see which one of them would become mayor of the Landing. I don't remember exactly how it ended, I just know that a GM controlled NPC came in and killed them all and none of them became mayor. There are also player run stores now.
So there are a lot of events that you're referring to in their text based games. It's my understanding, and I could be wrong, but I believe that their goal is to do that in Hero's Journey too. Probably not to the extent that it happens in their text based games but certainly there will be live events in HJ. Of course there will be standard quests. If there is one complaint about live events it's that not everyone gets to fully participate in them and that leads to people feeling left out. It happens in their text based games where the players are more concerned with role play than just hack and slash, so if it happens there then it will happen in a graphics game where you have more hack and slash players than role players. Having standard quests allows everyone to say, "Hey, I was the one that destroyed that bridge and prevented the enemy army from crossing over and raiding our city." Is that unrealistic? Sure but this isn't a reality game, it's a fantasy game.
And just remember. There are a lot of companies that didn't get their MMOPRG's right the first time. WoW was popular when it came out but it still wasn't that great of a game. Guild Wars is their second attempt at an MMORPG and it's much better than WoW. FFXI sucks IMO and I'm not sure what SE's next one, Front Mission Online, is going to be like, but I gotta believe that it's going to be better than FFXI. It sure can't be any worse. I think Simtronics should be given a lot of credit for turning out this type of effort in their first attempt. And with the tools that they're using to make this game, they'll be able to add and update stuff on the fly. No need to create an expansion. Their tools should also allow them to do what other MMORPG's can't, or won't, which is burn down villages and stuff like that.
Unfortunately I don't expect it to be exactly the type of game that you are hoping for. I feel like we're in the minority when it comes to what all we want. The fact is that most players of these graphics games are kids that are just into hack and slash and that's who these companies target when they make these games. Gemstone has maybe 4-5000 people in their lone server while there are millions of people in the graphics RPG's. If there were more people like us then I think the population in text based games would be higher.
If Hero's Journey can attract enough "role players" then maybe the game will end up being what we would like it to be. But my guess is that there will still be plenty of hack and slash players so Simu will want to take the "lets make it something for everyone" type of game. What I'm hoping for is that the GM's will focus most of their attention on the role playing servers and that way those servers can be the "living, breathing" worlds that we'd like to see and the other servers can be the hack and slash servers that those players want to see.
Have you read about the awards they got for their showing at E3? MMORPG's best in show. GamersInfo.net's Editor's Choice award. Not to mention great reviews by several other sites after seeing the game at E3. That stuff doesn't happen by accident and it doesn't happen if the game isn't any good. Maybe the best review that I've seen so far is at http://www.corpnews.com/node/36.
I'm guessing that you've had a bad experience with MMORPG's. Hey, it happens. There isn't a perfect game out there and there will be always someone that isn't satisfied. I doubt that there's a game out there that has 100% customer satisfaction. All I can say from my experience with Simtronics games that when someone has a problem they do listen. They obviously won't take care of every complaint because some you just can't take care of. You can't please everyone all of the time. If they change one thing to make one person happy then someone else will be upset. That's just the way that it is.
So while you may not like what you've seen about HJ, that doesn't mean that everyone else feels the same way. It's not just the fanboys that are excited about this, lot's of other people are excited as well, including plenty of people that were skeptical at first. Just based on what I've seen and read about this game, I feel like it's already better than most of the MMORPG's out there.
Why don't you tell us what you like and don't like about current MMORPG's and what you'd like to see in future games. What are you playing right now? You've been critical of HJ but I don't think I've heard you mention what you WOULD like to see.
Simu wouldn't even waste their time with this game if it wasn't going to be innovative. They were going to release a game with this same title a few years ago but scrapped the plan and started over because they knew it wouldn't work. Now they've come back with something that they know will be innovative. If Simu wanted to "cash in" as you say, then they would have done so a few years ago when there weren't so many MMORPG's out there. This project has been in the works for 3 years now. It isn't something they just threw together overnight. What they're trying to do is take everything that's made their MUD's successful and incorporate that into a MMORPG along with some never before seen stuff. Even their old stuff is better than what's in most MMORPG's. I've had my good share of MMORPG experiences and none of the games that I've played have come close giving me the enjoyment that Gemstone has. Who knows. This might not be the best game in the genre but I guarentee that it will be one of the best. It won't be like a lot of the crap you see out there now.
If you expect this to be like Final Fantasy or Everquest or WoW then you will be greatly mistaken. Simu has a long history, 18 years in fact, of getting it right. They wouldn't be around this long if they hadn't.
Only Simtronics has a history of coming through with their promises. If you've played any of their current games then you would know this but you haven't so you really aren't speaking with any knowledge. I am. Simtronics has won several online gaming awards and it's because of their great GM interaction that they have. Simu isn't making promises, they're stating fact. Trust me, I know. I've played their flagship game Gemstone and their GM interaction is unmatched in any MMORPG out there. When this game comes out, every skeptic will be pleasantly surprised with how well the GM interaction in this game is.
Because that is Simu's trademark. If you know anything about Simu then you would know that they've been around since 1987. One of their games, Gemstone, was the game they launched with at that time. The world of Elanthia, the world that Hero's Journey is based in, is the same world used in Gemstone. That's what they've gone with for a long time and that's what's made them successful. Everyone wants to talk about Dungeons and Dragons but Simu and Gemstone were just as big in pioneering online gameplay, at least when it comes to RPGs. They've chosen to go with the traditional fantasy world because that's what they've been doing for 18 years now. They aren't copycats. They're the people that others are copying off of.
I'm sorry about that big wall of text. I messed up and submitted it as an HTML format instead of a plain old text format.
They've released maybe 10% of what's going to be in the game, if that. If you've read the interviews they really don't want to reveal everything all at once. The game is still in development and probably won't come out until sometime next year. If they told you everything now then your interest would be gone by the time the game came out. Now isn't the right time to release all the "good stuff" about the game. They'll wait until closer to the release date to really "hype the game up."
If you've ever played any of Simtronics's current games then you'd already know that this is going to be a great game. But for those that haven't, and are only accustomed to the current MMORPG's, then you really have no idea of how great this game is going to be. Simu is one of the innovaters in "Roleplaying" games and they've won gaming awards before so they really do know how to put together a true "roleplaying" game. They aren't the new kid on the block just talking a great game. They have a history of success.
If you want to know what this game is going to be like then go to play.net and sign up for a free 30 day trial of either Gemstone or Dragonrealms. Basically this game is going to be a graphics based version of the formentioned games. Simtronics has won gaming awards in the past including Computer Gaming World's online game of the year so they do know how to put a great game together. My personal experience with their MUD's tells me that this game will be much better than any other MMORPG out there. When they say they're going to put the emphasis on "roleplaying" I believe them because they have a history of that with their current games. What you may not have heard is that there will be several different types of servers. If you are heavy in to roleplaying and you want to make sure that everyone else in your server is too then you can go to a RPG server. No matter how hard they try to keep everyone in character all the time, they know that isn't possible so for those that do want to play this game without the emphasis on roleplaying, there will be out of character servers. If you don't want PvP then you can chose a non-PvP server. I think what is going to set this game apart from the others is the heavy involvement of the game masters. The GM's will be involved with so much within the game that it will blow your mind. They will be adding content to the game all the time and if I read it correctly then they'll be able to do so without any need to buy expansion disks. Also, the best thing about their MUD's is the fact that the GM's are always running storylines, i.e. controlling bosses and other creatures, etc. A lot of the story is based on the actual interaction between the GM controlled characters and the player characters. I don't know how much of that is going to be included in HJ but it wouldn't surprise me to see GM's randomly creating enemy armies and invading friendly towns every now and then just for the heck of it. I can understand how someone who hasn't played any of their games can be skeptical of this but as someone that has played their games, I can assure you that once this game comes out, your skepticism will be put to rest. Simtronics isn't the new kid on the block just talking a good game. They're one of the originators of online gameplay and they have a long history of getting it right.