I appreciate the candid review and I suppose it's exactly what I assumed that it would be. Not the 'all that and a bag of chips' that it was being pushed as, but a solid entry in the genre nonetheless. More or less 'safe', as it were.
I actually find it rather fascinating that all four of those who gave their impressions were pretty complimentary to one another. I'm not really used to that, but it does show that a variety of gamers who like different things can put out their thoughts and have a similar sort of consensus. That tells me more than any biased or lopsided review ever could on a title. So, kudos for the variation, folks.
I doubt the title will be for me, but I'm sure it'll do just fine. Honestly though, I feel a little bad for those people who are going to play this and figure that it'll be the be all, end all of MMOs. The people with the highest expectations are the first casualties of any game release and this will likely be no different.
Actually, considering that people get pretty attached to their characters, perma-death more or less assures that the game would never get anywhere. But there's a perfect storm going on that will pretty much result in a lot of issues...
Perma-Death: The ability to simply kill someone and have them not come back is a wet dream to trolls. Try going into any MMO these days and finding a troll is a matter of just going to the nearest city, really. You're going to have people waiting just outside of areas and butchering anyone who stumbles by, just because they can. Which leads into...
Unadulterated Player Killing: There are a lot of people who would simply off someone else just because they can, doing so for no other reason than to just ruin someone else's day. You're right, there needs to be limitations, but, frankly, I highly doubt that it would matter. Even if they put level limits, someone can only kill someone five levels higher or lower, etc, they'll still off you for the sake of being there. The reason why?
Ability to Loot: By allowing you to be able to loot other player's corpses, you actually give people a reason to want others dead for no other reason than to just take their stuff. Don't have something? Need some coin? Go butcher some unsuspecting passersby because you can. By giving people a reason why killing others in the game is good, you pretty much turn your game into a murder fest.
And what would it all amount to? The dissolution of random player groups to do things like dungeons, guilds that would have recruitment limitations that would make WoW guilds look subtle in comparison, and people pretty much not even wanting to walk anywhere, lest they lose their character that they've been trying to build up a bit.
It's like someone decided to make an MMO out of Rogue or NetHack.
Oh, right, also, Permadeath will never survive to the final version of the game. People won't fork over money if a lag spike will destroy hundreds of hours of work that they've put into the game. Simply saying that the game is for hard core people who like a challenge, then make the monsters harder. Otherwise, the game will instantly become a niche thing that will never make them any profit.
Wizardry? Seriously? Holy crap, that was a name I didn't think I'd ever see again, except on old CDs and maybe GOG or whatever. Of course, it could be interesting if they did it right. They were a pretty impressive series, to say the least. Now, if I actually believed it would be possible without the company screwing it up, I'd say they should make a Might and Magic MMO (based off of the RPGs, not the terrible turn based strategy games they seem so fond of now).
You know, from the right angles, Dante looks like the kid from Twilight. Not that that's a good thing, by any stretch. I just keep waiting for him to pop up and start sparkling all over the place in one of these clips or screen shots.
As those for people who don't think that the look of Dante is important? Well, actually, it is. Call it psychological, but when someone gets to playing a game they like, something classic or what not, it comes to be that particular character that one connects to. It's the same in real life. If a friend of yours gets a hair cut, different clothes, starts looking like a crack addict, you can get to the point where you actually reassess your liking of the individual. Simply put, old Dante was something of an icon. He sat beside Snake when it came to recognizability. New Dante looks like the type of person you'd want to cross the street to get away from. Not because he looks bad ass, but because he looks like you might catch something from him if you stepped a little too close. That's not the type of character most people want to play.
It also doesn't help that when people started saying that they hated the new Dante, Ninja Theory pretty much just said to deal with it, because it wasn't getting changed back.
I doubt it's that they can't fix their page, but that they are being lazy about it. Seems like a pretty consistent problem with them as of late. Personally, I don't want anyone knowing anything about me or my gaming habits without being the one to specifically TELL someone about those particulars. I prefer to play in peace without having people bothering me all the time.
Honestly, I had no idea that they actually did this, as they obviously don't want a breach in privacy to be that well known. I find that quite annoying though, to say the least. In any game, no matter which one it is, you always manage to find that one person who clings like a leech and won't let go, to the point of wanting to strangle them. It does not fill me with confidence that they can apparently just search my bloody name and find me when I try to hide from them.
They use the term '3-D' in the same way used 'High-Def' for the longest time. It's more of a buzzword now that absolutely everything needs to have access to. There's also a reason why people can barely stand the 3DS and the headaches that it causes if you screw around with it for more than a couple hours at a time.
I really can't wait until they skip over the 3-D fad into something a little more worthwhile for most people's time.
As for the mounts, sounds great to me. I look forward to being able to try them out.
Man, this is so much worse because Spyro was the first game I ever played on my PS1. It was a pretty amazing game and I've bought just about every one since. They were never really kiddie games. Cutesy, sometimes, but never purely for the kids, like this thing is. They were just outright fun while making something of an icon.
It feels a little...wrong to actually feel like saying, "Well, I think I'm done."
Not to rock any boats here, but I find the comment that STO has made a lot of profit for the studio to be quite interesting...
Cryptic has two games...one is CO, the other is STO.
After Champions Online went free to play, which is apparently heralded as the doom of all things by people who claim that $15 a month just naturally makes a game better (sorry, it really doesn't, but that's beside the point), Cryptic themselves said that not only did their player base multiply by ten times, but so did their profit margin. That basically says that the alteration to the new store allowed them to become far more profitable.
Sooo, where did the severe yearly losses come from, year to year? If STO was really that profitable, then are you claiming that CO's profitability was so bad that even a ten time multiplication of profit still managed to drag the company down like 7.5 million dollars? I suppose you could cling to the belief that Atari somehow did it, but nearly their entire loss on the year was from Cryptic and, to date, they haven't exactly come across as pushing that hard to get new updates for STO out.
I hate to break it to people, but STO is not a game worth $15 a month right now. Like Global Agenda, DDO, Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Everquest II, and numerous others, a changeover can sometimes work to the company's advantage. It just doesn't have the content to entice the non-fans of Star Trek...and sorry to say, the mainstream is where most of these guy's money comes from. Enticing the new people to try out their stuff. This is likely why the Federation in the game seems a good bit more interested in how many pieces you can blow an enemy ship into instead of hosting them for tea and diplomacy.
Personally, I hope STO goes free to play, because as much as people screech about how it 'doesn't work in the West', there are a lot more success stories about free to play games pulling out of the muck and succeeding than there are sub games coming back from the grave.
E3 2011: Hands-on impressions of Star Wars: The Old Republic
Jun 13th 2011 11:03PM (Massively)I actually find it rather fascinating that all four of those who gave their impressions were pretty complimentary to one another. I'm not really used to that, but it does show that a variety of gamers who like different things can put out their thoughts and have a similar sort of consensus. That tells me more than any biased or lopsided review ever could on a title. So, kudos for the variation, folks.
I doubt the title will be for me, but I'm sure it'll do just fine. Honestly though, I feel a little bad for those people who are going to play this and figure that it'll be the be all, end all of MMOs. The people with the highest expectations are the first casualties of any game release and this will likely be no different.
E3 2011: First look at Wizardry Online
Jun 9th 2011 1:45PM (Massively)Actually, considering that people get pretty attached to their characters, perma-death more or less assures that the game would never get anywhere. But there's a perfect storm going on that will pretty much result in a lot of issues...
Perma-Death:
The ability to simply kill someone and have them not come back is a wet dream to trolls. Try going into any MMO these days and finding a troll is a matter of just going to the nearest city, really. You're going to have people waiting just outside of areas and butchering anyone who stumbles by, just because they can. Which leads into...
Unadulterated Player Killing:
There are a lot of people who would simply off someone else just because they can, doing so for no other reason than to just ruin someone else's day. You're right, there needs to be limitations, but, frankly, I highly doubt that it would matter. Even if they put level limits, someone can only kill someone five levels higher or lower, etc, they'll still off you for the sake of being there. The reason why?
Ability to Loot:
By allowing you to be able to loot other player's corpses, you actually give people a reason to want others dead for no other reason than to just take their stuff. Don't have something? Need some coin? Go butcher some unsuspecting passersby because you can. By giving people a reason why killing others in the game is good, you pretty much turn your game into a murder fest.
And what would it all amount to? The dissolution of random player groups to do things like dungeons, guilds that would have recruitment limitations that would make WoW guilds look subtle in comparison, and people pretty much not even wanting to walk anywhere, lest they lose their character that they've been trying to build up a bit.
It's like someone decided to make an MMO out of Rogue or NetHack.
E3 2011: First look at Wizardry Online
Jun 9th 2011 1:13PM (Massively)Oh, right, also, Permadeath will never survive to the final version of the game. People won't fork over money if a lag spike will destroy hundreds of hours of work that they've put into the game. Simply saying that the game is for hard core people who like a challenge, then make the monsters harder. Otherwise, the game will instantly become a niche thing that will never make them any profit.
E3 2011: First look at Wizardry Online
Jun 9th 2011 1:10PM (Massively)Devil May Cry screens and trailer ('cause humans do care)
Jun 9th 2011 11:07AM (Joystiq)As those for people who don't think that the look of Dante is important? Well, actually, it is. Call it psychological, but when someone gets to playing a game they like, something classic or what not, it comes to be that particular character that one connects to. It's the same in real life. If a friend of yours gets a hair cut, different clothes, starts looking like a crack addict, you can get to the point where you actually reassess your liking of the individual. Simply put, old Dante was something of an icon. He sat beside Snake when it came to recognizability. New Dante looks like the type of person you'd want to cross the street to get away from. Not because he looks bad ass, but because he looks like you might catch something from him if you stepped a little too close. That's not the type of character most people want to play.
It also doesn't help that when people started saying that they hated the new Dante, Ninja Theory pretty much just said to deal with it, because it wasn't getting changed back.
The Daily Grind: Are you protective of your alts?
Jun 9th 2011 10:35AM (Massively)Honestly, I had no idea that they actually did this, as they obviously don't want a breach in privacy to be that well known. I find that quite annoying though, to say the least. In any game, no matter which one it is, you always manage to find that one person who clings like a leech and won't let go, to the point of wanting to strangle them. It does not fill me with confidence that they can apparently just search my bloody name and find me when I try to hide from them.
E3 2011: EverQuest II's Dave Georgeson in 3-D
Jun 8th 2011 11:11AM (Massively)They use the term '3-D' in the same way used 'High-Def' for the longest time. It's more of a buzzword now that absolutely everything needs to have access to. There's also a reason why people can barely stand the 3DS and the headaches that it causes if you screw around with it for more than a couple hours at a time.
I really can't wait until they skip over the 3-D fad into something a little more worthwhile for most people's time.
As for the mounts, sounds great to me. I look forward to being able to try them out.
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure preview: Babes in toyland
Jun 7th 2011 8:23PM (Joystiq)It feels a little...wrong to actually feel like saying, "Well, I think I'm done."
Captain's Log: To boldly go where... Perfect World has never gone before?
Jun 3rd 2011 11:20AM (Massively)Cryptic has two games...one is CO, the other is STO.
After Champions Online went free to play, which is apparently heralded as the doom of all things by people who claim that $15 a month just naturally makes a game better (sorry, it really doesn't, but that's beside the point), Cryptic themselves said that not only did their player base multiply by ten times, but so did their profit margin. That basically says that the alteration to the new store allowed them to become far more profitable.
Sooo, where did the severe yearly losses come from, year to year? If STO was really that profitable, then are you claiming that CO's profitability was so bad that even a ten time multiplication of profit still managed to drag the company down like 7.5 million dollars? I suppose you could cling to the belief that Atari somehow did it, but nearly their entire loss on the year was from Cryptic and, to date, they haven't exactly come across as pushing that hard to get new updates for STO out.
I hate to break it to people, but STO is not a game worth $15 a month right now. Like Global Agenda, DDO, Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Everquest II, and numerous others, a changeover can sometimes work to the company's advantage. It just doesn't have the content to entice the non-fans of Star Trek...and sorry to say, the mainstream is where most of these guy's money comes from. Enticing the new people to try out their stuff. This is likely why the Federation in the game seems a good bit more interested in how many pieces you can blow an enemy ship into instead of hosting them for tea and diplomacy.
Personally, I hope STO goes free to play, because as much as people screech about how it 'doesn't work in the West', there are a lot more success stories about free to play games pulling out of the muck and succeeding than there are sub games coming back from the grave.
Fallout Online's future in doubt as Interplay crumbles
May 31st 2011 11:40PM (Joystiq)Forgot about that...
Have to admit, they made some good Star Trek games back in the day. I always liked Judgment Rites. I still have that CD kicking around somewhere.