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As I mentioned in my last column, I saw a gameplay trailer for the new Star Wars MMO coming out. It's being done by Bioware in conjunction with LucasArts. If you have played Star Wars games, either single-player, or the existing MMO, then you know this is a good thing. I have played Star Wars Galaxies several times at different phases in it's meandering lifespan. I have revelled in finally reaching 'glowie' status and have ground away at the Jedi path, and have also had my Jedi status handed to me on a silver platter. In short, while I have enjoyed playing SWG in the past, it can be kind of confusing, and if you leave the game and come back, chances are they will have completely changed the mechanics and you will have to learn how to play all over again.
Bioware is the outfit that produced the best of all the Star Wars games that I have played, Knights of the Old Republic. It was set about 4000 years before the events in the movies, at the height of the Sith Wars and had a role-playing system based on Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game. It had great gameplay, and the roleplaying aspect was excellent, driven by a menu system that let you choose your responses to events that you encounter. The new MMO they are developing uses this same system and also the concept of accruing Light side or Dark side points. These points are earned based on choices you make, and have quite a large impact on gameplay down the road, from abilities and equipment available, to how people react to you. This was one of the coolest aspects of KoTOR.
The combat system also looks very promising, with a few features I have not seem before. Combat seems a lot more real-time. In the trailer, a smuggler-class was engaging multiple opponents at the same time, moving to cover and firing from cover. It was impressive. While in combat, the system indicates places in the terrain that will provide cover, and also indicates where others are taking cover
The word used quite a few times in the trailer was 'epic'. The developers want the combat to feel epic - heroic - not routine, but exiting. Based on what I have seen, Star Wars: The Old Republic has a chance to immerse the player in its world like few other games have been able to. The story seems to be very important to the developers - an integral part of the game, not just a construct to build the game around. I love my WoW, but might have to take some time away from Azeroth to jump into the Star Wars world again.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Gaming News
Well, I should have seen it coming, but Bizzard has finally released information on the next expansion for World of Warcraft. Of course, it was announced in conjunction with BlizzCon, and it has some interesting stuff in it. One of the things I have lamented, despite how much I have enjoyed the two expansions, Burning Crusades and Wrath of the Lich King, was that the old Worlds - Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms have been getting neglected. The next expansion, titled Cataclysm addresses that in a big way. Deathwing the dragon returns to Azeroth with a vengance, and this world event gives Blizzard the opportunity to revisit the old kingdoms quite extensively.
One of the laments I have heard from friends who no longer play is that if they were to return, the new recent expansions look cool, but they don't have the heart to grind through the same old low level content one more time as a part of getting to the new coolness. I sympathize. The thought of slogging through Silverpine or the Barrens again does make my head hurt. Also, one of the things that been said more than once in response to the question, "Will I be able to use flying mounts in the old kingdoms?" is that no, they were not designed for flying mounts, and rewriting all that code would take too much time.
Well Blizzard has apparently heard some of the same feedback I have and has addressed some of our concerns. Cataclysm will feature an upheaval to the old lands that will give the game designers a chance to take their crayons out and completely revamp the zones we are familiar with. According to the FAQ I read, all of the old zones will be reworked to one degree or another. To quote the web site: Nearly all of the game’s original zones are being altered to some degree, but the extent of the changes varies by zone. For example, Darkshore is flooded and has been completely redesigned with all new quest hubs. The Barrens have been split in two; one half is for low-level players and the other is for higher-level players. Azshara is now a low-level zone for Horde players and connects directly to Orgrimmar.
The re-tooling of the original zones has also given the powers that be a chance to implement flying mounts in the old world, but they haven't yet said exactly how this will be done - at what level it will be available, and so forth.
The level cap has again been raised, but not by the standard 10 levels, but only to 85, and they have mentioned a new "path system" which makes me a little nervous. I have visions of Dark Age of Camelot's lame Champion Abilities dancing in my head, but at the same time have more faith in Blizzard than I ever did in Mythic. They are also introducing guild achievements, similar, I suppose to those used in EQ2 - which is a nice system.
One of the main features of Cataclysm is two new playable races, the Goblins and the Worgen. People have voiced the desire to play goblins for some time and now will get their chance, siding of course with the Horde. The Alliance will finally get a scary-looking monster race in the Worgen, a race grown out of the Arugal storyline in Silverpine Forest, and are doing something I have hoped they would - use one of the zones that show up on the world map, but have never been opened before. In this case, they are creating a zone called Gilneas, which was sealed off behind the Greymane Wall at the southern end of Silverpine forest. Goblin players will start on the Isle of Kezan and then head to the Lost Isles in the South Seas before joining the mainland. There are therefore two new starting zones and quest lines to experience, and Blizzard has promised an experience similar to the Death Knight questline and a prominent use of zone phasing. That's a good thing since the Death Knight starting quest line is an exceptionally cool experience.
One of the other minor features is new race/class combinations. In addition to the new races, they are opening up a few other new possibilities including an expansion of the druid class for the first time ever to include worgen and trolls, as well as a few other interesting combinations.
Well there you have it. Feel free to stop by the WoW website and check out the trailer and screenshots, but Blizz has given us (well me at least) something to look forward to. That is not all the news though. In my next post I will discuss the cool new things I saw in a gameplay trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic coming from LucasArts and Biosphere.
One of the laments I have heard from friends who no longer play is that if they were to return, the new recent expansions look cool, but they don't have the heart to grind through the same old low level content one more time as a part of getting to the new coolness. I sympathize. The thought of slogging through Silverpine or the Barrens again does make my head hurt. Also, one of the things that been said more than once in response to the question, "Will I be able to use flying mounts in the old kingdoms?" is that no, they were not designed for flying mounts, and rewriting all that code would take too much time.
Well Blizzard has apparently heard some of the same feedback I have and has addressed some of our concerns. Cataclysm will feature an upheaval to the old lands that will give the game designers a chance to take their crayons out and completely revamp the zones we are familiar with. According to the FAQ I read, all of the old zones will be reworked to one degree or another. To quote the web site: Nearly all of the game’s original zones are being altered to some degree, but the extent of the changes varies by zone. For example, Darkshore is flooded and has been completely redesigned with all new quest hubs. The Barrens have been split in two; one half is for low-level players and the other is for higher-level players. Azshara is now a low-level zone for Horde players and connects directly to Orgrimmar.
The re-tooling of the original zones has also given the powers that be a chance to implement flying mounts in the old world, but they haven't yet said exactly how this will be done - at what level it will be available, and so forth.
The level cap has again been raised, but not by the standard 10 levels, but only to 85, and they have mentioned a new "path system" which makes me a little nervous. I have visions of Dark Age of Camelot's lame Champion Abilities dancing in my head, but at the same time have more faith in Blizzard than I ever did in Mythic. They are also introducing guild achievements, similar, I suppose to those used in EQ2 - which is a nice system.
One of the main features of Cataclysm is two new playable races, the Goblins and the Worgen. People have voiced the desire to play goblins for some time and now will get their chance, siding of course with the Horde. The Alliance will finally get a scary-looking monster race in the Worgen, a race grown out of the Arugal storyline in Silverpine Forest, and are doing something I have hoped they would - use one of the zones that show up on the world map, but have never been opened before. In this case, they are creating a zone called Gilneas, which was sealed off behind the Greymane Wall at the southern end of Silverpine forest. Goblin players will start on the Isle of Kezan and then head to the Lost Isles in the South Seas before joining the mainland. There are therefore two new starting zones and quest lines to experience, and Blizzard has promised an experience similar to the Death Knight questline and a prominent use of zone phasing. That's a good thing since the Death Knight starting quest line is an exceptionally cool experience.
One of the other minor features is new race/class combinations. In addition to the new races, they are opening up a few other new possibilities including an expansion of the druid class for the first time ever to include worgen and trolls, as well as a few other interesting combinations.
Well there you have it. Feel free to stop by the WoW website and check out the trailer and screenshots, but Blizz has given us (well me at least) something to look forward to. That is not all the news though. In my next post I will discuss the cool new things I saw in a gameplay trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic coming from LucasArts and Biosphere.
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