Mamorpagahs (MMORPG discussion)
For the past 5 years, World of Warcraft has -dominated- the MMORPG market. This is a statement of fact.
Still, in the past 5 years, many new MMORPG's have been released, but none enjoy nearly the same success as WoW. Most, in fact, just take what WoW did with the genre and re-package it as something inherently the same. But hey, your demographic now mostly consists of WoW players. If they wanted to play WoW, they'd just play WoW! So much is wrong with this genre, it's kinda silly.
BUT WAIT. There's legitimate hope for the future! Games that are coming along that -promise- to be different from WoW. No fresh new coats of paint, but whole new party dynamics and methods of story-telling!
So let's take a moment to discuss these potential usurpers to WoW's crown.
The Old Republic - Star Wars universe KoToR the MMO. The whole game experience is being designed as though it were Oblivion or Dragon Age, set in space, and a heck of a lot longer. Voice acting for every NPC, Bioware-esque story telling... and there seems to be some promise of a unique fighting system, or at least one more similar to that of an adventure game like Uncharted or Force Unleashed.
...my only problem with this game is that it's in a Star Wars universe... couldn't care less!
Star Trek Online - Space MMO 2.0. Taking cues from Eve Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea, STO seems to be ready to, forgive me for saying, boldly go where no MMO has gone before. Like Pirates of the Burning Sea, it has highly developed ship customization mechanics and ship battle stuff. Apparently, there's 3 types of ship classifications that equate to tank, healz, and dps, so it's already got a unique system in that respect. So, what makes this truly different from the current space-combat king, Eve? "Away team" missions! Every player individually has their own ship, and their own crew. You are a captain, so you can get together with other captains (players), and explore planets, action adventure style. If you don't have enough players for a full team, or you're just a loner? You can take members of your own crew, who have their own leveling systems and talent trees and such. Sounds all awesome, right? Turns out, according to Ryan Scott of Gamespy, all that ground combat jazz is basically a reskinned WoW. Actually, that sounds kinda nice. If they tweak the quests enough to where they might be more fun, on top of the ship combat options, this might be a pretty robust game.
...except for the fact space combat has its own niche, while ground combat has another, and if you require those two niches to overlap, you're kinda asking for failure. Also, Star Trek sucks. I don't mind the universe as much though...
Final Fantasy XIV - SE's new MMO. Final Fantasy XI came out a year or two before WoW, taking traditional JRPG elements and turning them up to 11, so they last hours upon hours longer, and require much more skill to execute properly. I loved the hell out of that game. It required constant attention to detail, incentive for amiable social interaction, and a great way to have a network of lots of friends. XIV is the next step for SE, and is bound to be completely different. It still has its JRPG roots, so it's bound to have a really unique character development system. I've read what they have to say about character advancement, and it still doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. I guess it sounds like FFXII's gambit system to some people, but to me, it really just represents a way of fully customizing one's own character, beyond just appearance. Every action you take, each weapon you equip will influence the advancement of your character. Introduce a bit of balance, and you've got one splendid idea. If this game can learn the right lessons from Wow and FFXI, it's something I very much want to play.
Because the Final Fantasy universe kicks ass.
Cataclysm - WoW’s newest expansion, where they take everything they’ve learned about the genre in the past 5 years, and apply it to their original game. They’re basically re-inventing the wheel here, and it’s quite a commendable endeavor. Blizzard isn’t giving WoW the chance to become stale, and it’s still pretty much at the top of its game. Rather than sit and wait for one of the previously mentioned games to be a viable contender against WoW, they’re bulking up their defenses. And what defenses they appear to be... Two new races, with instanced starting areas that change as you advance through them... a redesigned Azeroth, with the ability to fly everywhere... new high level content up to level 85... redesigned quests, new faction leaders, new character models (hopefully)... kinda awesome.
I’ll probably play this one long enough to plateau somewhere and not be able to make the time commitment to actually get powerful enough gear to experience the end game content.
I'll be making a post on the front page pretty soon about the new information available for FFXIV since I last updated, but I just gotta say, I'm really excited for it.
Part of the reason I've chosen Drupal for my site's CMS is so that I can use the site as a place to host guild business. There's this module I'll activate once it's necessary that will allow the formation of "organic groups," which users can join freely or by a screening process. Each group gets their own page and wiki and discussion area, so it's basically a mini-guild website that just tacks onto the rest of the community!
I'm really excited to form a linkshell or guild or whatever in FFXIV with all my friends... it'll be just like back in FFXI days.
Oh, memories.
That's the real reason I'm so excited/hopeful for FFXIV... logically, they should be fixing all the reasons I ever quit FFXI, while keeping all the reasons I loved it. Because, you know, my opinion is the most important.
If I get an X360 before XIV comes out, I'll get it for sure. And if I get excited about WoW again, I'll pick up Cata. I don't care too much for the others.
It's actually not slated for 360 release at this point, and probably won't be at launch, if ever.
I'll probably buy a PS3 for it so I don't have to get a new computer.
Im probably going to have to upgrade my now out of date computer to run XIV :C. Even then it's probably going to run pretty slow. Or im assuming so from how the gameplay looked in the E3 trailer.
I'm looking forward to XIV. The MMO part draws my eye. For now, I have WoW. I'm getting closer to 80 everyday, but sometimes it's such a chore. Oh, is the life of MMO gaming.
are you planning on raiding when you hit 80?
Probably, a little. By the time I actually get there, Cataclysm may be close...
Oh, I thought it was coming for 360 too, well... I guess not then... : D But, some of my friends have a PS3 and some are getting it, so maybe I'll start saving for that instead of 360. : D
At this point, either one is a safe buy. I think I'm looking forward to more PS3 titles right now than 360 titles... Last Guardian, FFXIV, Heavy Rain.
Then on 360... there's... stuff that isn't exclusive... and wow, I don't know what else.
Yeah I agree. But the most important thing I need ATM, is a new PC. If I don't get super lucky, I won't be getting a new console 'till next christmas or something : D
Last Guardian, FFXIV, Heavy Rain.
Oh man, I watched David Cage play that game and talk about it live. You can lose characters, which then gets woven into the story. I'm sold.
Also, Fahrenheit was a great game.
I am truly excited for FFXIV. You must all play it. Then, we'll all be on the same server (since SE does international servers), we'll all be able to join the same guild, and we'll each meet new people along the way, incorporating them into our folds.
The art direction FF games are known for, multiplied to MMO levels, this is going to be quite enthralling. Scope of the world, rewards for work, me being graduated... the perfect ingredients for spending a longass time in a game.
when's it coming?
It's TBA 2010, as of now.
Ok, it's settled, I'm saving for a PS3 after christmas... I was thinking with my friend about the M-class driving license for the moped, and we came to the conclusion that we're not gonna get them yet, 'cuz we wouldn't even get mopeds 'till next summer or so... so all my money I'm gonna get between christmas and next summer is going for a PS3 : D
I expect it to hit 360, but then again Square might actually keep it an exclusive this time. Either way I can get it, because I have both. Also, PS3's are damn cheap compared to when I was in 8th grade, and saved for the machine when it was $600!
Yeah, well I can get a 40GB PS3 for 220€ : D Maybe we should hold a fundraiser for me lol? : D
SE undoubtedly wants it on the 360, since it'd get them more money... BUT! There's a small problem there. When the 360 first came out, a version of FFXI was released for it, where you didn't have to be a Gold subscriber in order to play, but you did need to pay SE's monthly fee. This is the only situation in which SE could feasibly bring an MMO to the 360, otherwise they're asking subscribers to pay a lot more. And, it seems that Microsoft has become rather reluctant to set up such a situation a second time, especially after seeing the success of the FFXI setup. They want to get money wherever they can, and they know MMO's have the potential to generate millions on a monthly basis.
On top of that, PS3 development is typically a lot harder than 360 dev, as there aren't as many resources available for developers to utilize. Most games that are developed for the 360 and the PS3 are made first for the 360, then ported to PS3, so oftentimes the latter version will actually look worse, despite the superior hardware. In the case of an FF MMO, there's a wide audience of Japanese people SE has to consider, like they have for FFXIII, where PS3 is the dominant system. If they don't deliver the best experience to the PS3, people are gonna shit their pants. There's rumors that the 360 version of FFXIII will ship on 4 disks... I think they have their priorities straight.
SO YEAH. If SE had the 360 in mind during development, everything would slow down, their PS3 version would suffer, and their subscription setup would be fucked. Once the game is released, a 360 version might be possible, but by that time I'll want to have already reached the max level in at least one character or class.
lololol double post (not against the rules here)
So has anyone else tried Champions Online? I played in the open beta, but found the control scheme to be a rather terrible detriment to the game. I felt like I wasn't actually able to control the character, although I may have given it up too soon. There was also this weird loading thing where character details wouldn't load until they were up close.
Anyone else have any experiences with this?
There was an open beta? Talk about it in more depth, Joshura! I was loosely following it a while back, because I love the idea of being a superhero. Also I love the idea of it not being CoH.
Have they announced the system specs for FFXIV yet? Im probably going to upgrade my computer for it. Or maybe i'll buy a ps3.......id probably only play XIV on it though.....this is a tough one!
Considering the 360 isn't actually DirectX 10 capable, I'm sure any PC that can play Dragon Age or new games that have console versions will be able to handle FFXIV at some configuration. I'm assuming mine won't be able to since it's several years old, and I don't like to go into my Windows partition anyway.
I mention the 360's capabilities because when you think about it, consoles hold back PC games a great deal (not that it's a bad thing). Here we have hardware that has been unchanged for 3-4 years, while PC's more than 2 years old often find themselves being sluggish. In order for a game to work on the 3 HD platforms, it has to be made with those consoles in mind. They turn town settings and tweak certain aspects to fit each specific console, then give the options for gaming rig PC users to turn everything up to 11.
Basically, no, they haven't released the specs, and I really wish they would, if they've got that closed beta going already. I'm buying a PS3 for it (and Last Guardian)
You make a good point,I wish there were more PS3 games that looked attractive to me so I could justify buying one. But upgrading my PC to compete with a PS3 shouldn't be too expensive!
So the last two days i've been trying out warhammer. The graphics are so much better than wow, but that's about all it can really boast over WOW. The Gameplay was alot less involved than wow and the playerbase was terrible. I really shouldn't judge a game by the people who play it,but the regional chat is annoying at best. Every two minutes Someone says "Wow" And shitstorms of average proportions breakout,the only topic I saw being discussed was WOW and how much it sucked.
The unlimited free trial was pretty neat and it had a pretty good humor about it, but it just felt lacking when I compared it to WOW.
Im off to try a city of villains free trial now,I hear the character creation is pretty good.
never had an interest in warhams, so I never even thought about playing it. Not too surprised to hear its underwhelming, though.
CoV is pretty neat, but kind of broken. You can really tell it's old.
The character creator is really robust,which was fun. I only saw two players for the five hours I spent playing the game (To be fair a quarter of it was spent making characters). Not having the ability to fly straight off the bat was lame. And yea, it does feel pretty old.
Oh yea,cata is kind of confirmed for a late summer/early fall release. What with Blizzcon being held in october and a game developer saying something along the lines of:
"You'll all be complaining about how overpowered goblin rouges are in PvP by the next blizzcon :P.
http://www.wow.com/2010/03/25/blizzcon-2010-officially-announced-october...
It's official, cataclysm beta invites are being sent out........to members of the press.....I wish I was a member of the press.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/07/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-press-beta-inv...
I'm not sure I'd want to play in the beta for it.
I mean, there's still a bunch of pre-expansion events to see, and getting into the beta would just be sorta underwhelming without the build-up
Then again, this means cataclysm is probably coming by the end of the summer. So that's good.
I opted in a while ago. I've always wanted to be a beta tester, Being a part of the development process sounds cool.
Things as they are now im looking forward to cataclysm and XIV. I love the goblins in wow heaps so thats cool. And the promise of non mind killing leveling up is great. Plus new guild features,simplified stats,and goblins on go karts. FFXIV on the other hand blew me away with it's amazing graphics and unique class system.