nothing went over my head jesus. you played it you arent convinced you like it. you wont be pre-ordering
it jeez what more do you want me to say lol.you said few nice thing's about it so you can whine at the end about the game then say i wont pre order i wont buy you have to twist my arm to play rofl. just go play something else and forget about it. just get tired of people that dont like a game that feel they must post and say i wont pre order i wont buy please convince me jeez let it go already cheers.
actually yes, it went WAY over your head, and since it did you wouldnt be aware of it obviously. gl with AoC. I tried to offer an objective opinion and i definitely got through to the non fanbois who were able to read my OP without bias, but I am not going to bother dealing with trolls on a forum since this thread has degraded into just that. Will still keep an eye on the game, as i said it can be very successfull, but will definitely not be pre-ordering and only buying after release and solid reviews. Thanks
I enjoyed your review and found it to be quite objective. Its funny all the people acting like you were attacking the game when in your OP you actually painted it in a favorable light and as someone else pointed out really skipped any negatives you found in the game..
As to the PVP beta weekend I was also in it and found the game enjoyable but saw nothing that innovative in the small pvp portion I was aloud to experience. Hopefully I will be proven wrong when the full game is released and I can experience it as a whole.
Thanks Was begining to think maybe i just typed up my thoughts in a way that didnt make my point clear based on some of these random troll responses.
OP, take the feedback on your review with a grain of salt. Unfortunately there is a decent number of people that feel the only good or correct review is one that agrees with their opinion and says nothing but positives. I wouldn't let those people get to you with their trolling, they are the same people that go to some of the other empty, meaningless 'this game is kewl!' reviews that provide no real substance, and give it their big thumbs up. Treat their feedback like the trash it is and just ignore it. Your review was fair and unbiased, and covered both positives and negatives with a realistic perspective given what is actually offered. Suckup reviews are absolutely worthless... we need people that can show both sides of the story. So thank you
Waiting for: A skill-based MMO with Freedom and Consequence. Woe to thee, the pierce-ed.
I just dont see how anyone can say the game isnt revolutionary, or even "New" when no one besides the Devs have seen more than I would say 70% of the game.
Surely the Beta Testers havent seen all of the game, and we arent talking to Beta testers anyways since thats against the NDA.
So why dont we wait and see and not try and pass the "The game isnt anything special" deal.
And just incase OP tries to come back and say "O but wait I didnt say that...
Originally posted by originalegg
but ultimately it is nothing amazing, and it will attract some new faces to the MMO genre. However MMO gamers who aren't fanbois will have a tough time finding anything new and exciting here. It looks like it will be a nice game, again if it releases well, that will break up the cold streak of new MMOs in the last few years, but will not be that amazing in the grand scheme of things. Thanks
after play, my dollar and two cents, i will wait 6 months after launch before touching AOC, maybe longer. havent even touched warhammer and that will wait several months after launch before consideration.
till then boat racing and barb-q's till i am sick.
can you smell that?!!...............there is nothing quite like it.....................the smell of troll in the morning............i love that smell.
I find it funny when I see people canceling their preorders for any game over a beta event. This game is going to be good. It is not going to topple WOW because the audience is completely different and the games offer two completely different experiences. WOW has glowy crap everywhere and a race of elves that resemble anime characters. Conan has one race and a lore that puts pre-teens to sleep from boredom.
The whole problem here is overhype. If you are expecting a game that instantly makes everybody flock away from WOW, this game is not it (nor is anything else though). Everybody out there is predicting that a game will come along and dethrone WOW instantly. I have even seen industry insiders say it, but they are all wrong.
The only way in which an MMO has ever done this was to come along with a completely new technology. UO dethroned a MUD because it had graphics. EQ1 dethroned UO because it was in 3D. AoC has Dx10, but it is still a largely un-embraced technology. Games that use existing or unpopular tech are fine if they are innovative, but let's be honest here. AoC does not possess any jump in technology that makes it able to dethrone anything in the short term. Not many people will be leaving their stable of maxed out WOW characters to come to AoC.
In spite of this, I think AoC will do well and grab a big market share. The game is fun and although there are no gigantic steps forward, the baby steps really add up. AoC will be a solid game, but the only way WOW is getting killed is if Blizzard kills it or someone invents a brand new piece of tech that blows everybody's mind. I see niether of these happening with WAR or AoC, but both games are going to be a lot of fun for their respective audiences.
People blame overhype on the devs. Well, the devs have to hype the game. It's their job. They can't go around saying "this game sucks" and expect to keep eating. What people have done here is taken the devs' comments and ran with them until their lungs burned. AoC will just be one more game out there. If you are buying it because you love the lore like I do, then I will see you May 20th. If you are buying the game because you want to hail the new MMO Messiah, please move along. There is nothing here for you.
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The game is not very innovative as some are claiming. Yes the combat system has a few differences, but ultimately it changes nothing. It is not a "WoW clone" by any means, but it definitely isnt going to change the face of MMOs either. TCoS and Darkfall are the only combat systems that seem to be on the horizon that are truly trying something out of the box in terms of combat, but there are of course problems surrounding both of those games as well. Thanks
Why does it need to "CHANGE THE FACE OF MMOs" to be fun? Why does a MMO get tagged with 'FAIL' if it isn't revolutionary?
It's not WoW, as you admit, and really, that's all that matters. That, and it's fun. If it's a good game, and fun, it will be more than "moderately" successful. And it doesn't need to hit WoW 2008 numbers to be successful.
If you're looking for revolutionary, and maybe Darkfall is that game, you better be prepared to wait 5-10 years. Because there is no 'revolutionary' game "on the horizon." Darkfall is so far off the horizon, it might as well be in orbit.
Some of us have been online gaming for more than 10+ years, I dont think its unfair to think we deserve innovation. Innovation sells, in music, in movies, and in many other areas. We dont really want more stagnation of the MMO market with games that are the same old same old. I dont think thats too much to ask.
Well in the same breath you said that you can't judge classes at this stage of the game verse end game or cap, but then you judge the game at this stage and make a resolute prediction about it's future? There are a lot of innovative things still untested such as: Mounts/Mounted combat. Unique crafting. (Architects that build cities/houses, and only crafted armor/weapons can be slotted for gems which gemcutters create causing crafted weapons/armors and gems to be far more valuable then dropped items.) City sieges. We can't predict the future of this game with the information we have.
Not even the moutned combat is new. On sullon zek in eq1, I fought from horseback on my holy steed all the time. The technique was called jousting.
Just my opinion here but came away with a luke warm feeling at best. As other posters have pointed out already, nothing really new here. The combat is a small step upward in the right direction but takes all of 5 minutes to master. Still just spamming keys just as I have in a dozen prior MMORPG's. Still doing quests and grinding my way up a ladder. A year from now it will probably be a better than average MMORPG. It just has to survive the first 3 to 6months. The overall community seemed a bit on the immature side also, not everyone mind you, but a good size portion. I will just continue with LoTRO and wait till the kiddies leave for WAR or whatever the next killer game is on the schedule. I have not pre ordered and really don't plan on buying it till after release if at all. How soon or if I do at all depends on how buggy the release version is. Just getting the balancing for the classes for the PvE/PvP right is just going to piss off a lot of people. Another rerun of AO's release there. Big question wil be "which class is the flavor of the week this week". I'll let someone else pay for beta, I am too old for that crap.
Oh and I am going to keep a open mind and if it gets great reviews the first month I will probably drop 50 bucks sometime in June or July.
With all the arguments over nipples and nudity, throw in the gore, this game will probably be mom and dads new babysitter.
I got a news flash that may come as a shock. Your $15 entitles you to exactly the same gameplay as anyone else, no matter how many MMOs or how many years you've been playing. So you might want to get off that broomstick you've been riding, it's not a horse.
Old timers may claim that they want innovation, but on these boards they actually want the same old, just rewrapped and repackaged. You just need to read beyond their claims and into the heart of their requests. People hate Vanguard concept because it was not true enough to EQ1. Look what people say about WAR when comparing it to DAoC. UO fans are waiting for a game that will never get released. SWG hate anything that is not an exact copy of pre-CU SWG. And so on. The old timers really have zero say on what's getting released. They are the minority and they hate everything. It's just like those old people talking about the youngsters and how different things were when they were young.
You can analyse any feature that AoC claims that will offer on release and state that it's not innovative because some game has done it in the past. I've seen those analyses. What most of you making these quite informative analysis however fail to realise is that you don't have any other game combining all these features in ONE package. It is true that pretty much everything was done in various MMOs released in the past. It is also true that you won't find all these features combined under one roof.
As for gore and nudity, once the novelty wares off (and you can be certain it'll ware off), the true qualities of this game will shine (or stink) over the flavour features. It's just a matter of time. As for maturity, it's not directly related to age in any shape or form.
Fair enough however offering tidbits of different games wrapped together makes it for a compilation.
It might be good, it might be bad, it might be mediocre. That will be seen after the launch.
The simple thign is that there will be focused games with better individual PvE, PvP, and economics. Now that means that compilation game might simply fall through the middle as people opt for the games that are focused on their player style. Granted, some will like the combo but yet others will chose to go with more then one game. Last example I had was a freind who plans to go for WAR for PvP (as it is PvP centric game more then AoC) and for LOTRO for PVE (as it is PVE centric game more then AoC), thus getting his fix of both.
Pure speculation on my part though, I just wanted to point out that IP and compilaed features might prove both a hinderance and an asset.
Just for the record, and based on info I gathered, I beelive the game will be decent to mediocre with 200k of stable base. I think it was poster "Whacko" who satated, in my opinion very correctly, that the game will be financial success. Business success doesn't mean an enjoyable game in long term.
We will see when it launches, the more the merrier, the only reason why I would want this game to fail is if it was released with too many bugs, technical issues, broken mechanics, half baked quests etc. Quite simply I am against the idea that new game should be half baked and then fanbase should support it while they work out the kinks during the next 6 months to a year.
OP, take the feedback on your review with a grain of salt. Unfortunately there is a decent number of people that feel the only good or correct review is one that agrees with their opinion and says nothing but positives. I wouldn't let those people get to you with their trolling, they are the same people that go to some of the other empty, meaningless 'this game is kewl!' reviews that provide no real substance, and give it their big thumbs up. Treat their feedback like the trash it is and just ignore it. Your review was fair and unbiased, and covered both positives and negatives with a realistic perspective given what is actually offered. Suckup reviews are absolutely worthless... we need people that can show both sides of the story. So thank you
Thanks for the comment. I guess i need to work on ignoring the trolls and not letting them drag me in to pointless debates. Ive never really been into forums beyond my guild or server forums.
Just for the record, and based on info I gathered, I beelive the game will be decent to mediocre with 200k of stable base. I think it was poster "Whacko" who satated, in my opinion very correctly, that the game will be financial success. Business success doesn't mean an enjoyable game in long term.
This is exactly how I feel, and was the main point in my review. Glad to see some others feel the same way, but also glad to see some others disagree and offer constructive/valid points against my opinion.
I dont care if you disagree with me, just do it politely and offer up some kind of opinion that makes sense and isnt just fanboism running rampant.
I would love to see this game prove me wrong and become a huge hit. Lord knows we need a great game in the industry to bring some new life to the genre. It doesn't need to kill WoW by any means, but just have a large enough player base to where you are comming across new players every day and has plenty of features to keep you occupied. And AoC like i said will give that to a lot of MMO'ers, but at this point in terms of innovation and "new feel" it just doesnt have it and it feels like MANY previous MMOs to me.
Edit:
Jiveturkey,
I read your post, and yes i said that, and stand by every word of it. Not sure why you think I would claim I didnt say it since, ya know, i typed it in this very thread. It is my opinion and I think it is a very fair one.
My two major concerns....the game is may require constant button mashing,ala a console.That's not something I am excited about.Secondly,the battle keep play may be an unplayable lagfeast.The main attraction of the game..for me is the battle keep seige warfare.I will grind to get there but it had better be worth it.
For me..I will wait and see what the reality is before I will buy.
OP I didn't find anything wrong with your original post at all.
You gave your opinion on the state of the game and innovation, and others need to learn to accept constructive criticism.
I decided not to buy AoC after this weekend for a lot of the reasons that you stated.
The game is nothing new, It is actually exactly the same as all the rest, you can slap a left, middle and right arrow button into the center of WoW's UI if you like and there you go. AoC by blizzard.
All jokes aside the game is ok, it will do fine for those needing a break from the same old same old.
It is still no match for WoW, (no I do NOT play WoW). It will have it's followers, and will prolly stable out around LotRO level. 200-300k subs.
That is enough to have strong servers and be a decent game.
It isn't going to be for everyone, it reminds me a lot of EVE. It will have it's niche cult followers, but nothing beyond it.
We still have AION and WAR to look foward to. Hopefully they will be better.
Again surfaces the issue of unrealistic expectations. 200k subs are by no means mediocre. Given the steep system reqs it would actually be a major success.
MMOgaming is still a niche market. One game being propelled into the mainstream by the relentless hype of the united gaming media doesn't change that.
Until Blizzard makes their next MMO we won't see subscriber numbers of 1 million or more ( for a "western" game ).
PS: I'm an oldtimer too. There is no revolution waiting just around the corner. So I'm happy about the small steps we do get.
Old timers may claim that they want innovation, but on these boards they actually want the same old, just rewrapped and repackaged. You just need to read beyond their claims and into the heart of their requests. People hate Vanguard concept because it was not true enough to EQ1. Look what people say about WAR when comparing it to DAoC. UO fans are waiting for a game that will never get released. SWG hate anything that is not an exact copy of pre-CU SWG. And so on. The old timers really have zero say on what's getting released. They are the minority and they hate everything. It's just like those old people talking about the youngsters and how different things were when they were young.
Old timer here
You are wrong. We dont, well at least not all of us, want the same old again. We startet out with 7MHz CPUs and 500 kByte PCs. Some game mechnaics have been good, others where crap. Once the first 32 or 256 colors graphical games came out, us players had visions of a future with highend rigs, just like we have them today. There was an insider proverb: reality is just 300 million poligons per second...
Now we have those PCs, but the games suck. Why ? Not because we old timers want the same old. No, quite contrary... because game development didnt evolve. They only offer better grahics but the SAME OLD mechanics actually. Why is there no UO in high quality graphics AND!!! triple the features of UO ? Because gaming industry didnt evolve. Us old timers did, but not the developing industry. Thats why we a re grumpy. We grew up. The gaming industry not. And thats poor and basically a huge failure.
The game is not very innovative as some are claiming. Yes the combat system has a few differences, but ultimately it changes nothing. It is not a "WoW clone" by any means, but it definitely isnt going to change the face of MMOs either. TCoS and Darkfall are the only combat systems that seem to be on the horizon that are truly trying something out of the box in terms of combat, but there are of course problems surrounding both of those games as well. Thanks
Why does it need to "CHANGE THE FACE OF MMOs" to be fun? Why does a MMO get tagged with 'FAIL' if it isn't revolutionary?
It's not WoW, as you admit, and really, that's all that matters. That, and it's fun. If it's a good game, and fun, it will be more than "moderately" successful. And it doesn't need to hit WoW 2008 numbers to be successful.
If you're looking for revolutionary, and maybe Darkfall is that game, you better be prepared to wait 5-10 years. Because there is no 'revolutionary' game "on the horizon." Darkfall is so far off the horizon, it might as well be in orbit.
Some of us have been online gaming for more than 10+ years, I dont think its unfair to think we deserve innovation. Innovation sells, in music, in movies, and in many other areas. We dont really want more stagnation of the MMO market with games that are the same old same old. I dont think thats too much to ask.
Moderate innovation sells. Epic innovation fails. You still have to work within the boundaries of what is playable on today's hardware, and hardware that is already 2-3 years old.
I've been driving a car with four wheels for a lot more than 10 years. That doesn't mean I can walk into a Toyota or GM lot tomorrow and ask for six wheels next year, just cause I think cars are 'stagnant'.
What you get in AoC are some tweaks, twists and improvements on systems that have been used before. And the gore and M rating. If that's not your game, maybe something else is.
There is nothing better than taking the time to make a 5 paragraph reply, only to have some jerk take up 3 posts after you to exploit the page cutoff and keep you from getting replies. Arcken, you suck for this reason alone. I really don't care what else you have to say. You did not need three posts to bicker with, especially when some of us have some non-troll posts in this thread.
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You are wrong. We dont, well at least not all of us, want the same old again. We startet out with 7MHz CPUs and 500 kByte PCs. Some game mechnaics have been good, others where crap. Once the first 32 or 256 colors graphical games came out, us players had visions of a future with highend rigs, just like we have them today. There was an insider proverb: reality is just 300 million poligons per second...
Now we have those PCs, but the games suck. Why ? Not because we old timers want the same old. No, quite contrary... because game development didnt evolve. They only offer better grahics but the SAME OLD mechanics actually. Why is there no UO in high quality graphics AND!!! triple the features of UO ? Because gaming industry didnt evolve. Us old timers did, but not the developing industry. Thats why we a re grumpy. We grew up. The gaming industry not. And thats poor and basically a huge failure.
QFT!
I started with a ZX speccy and oh boy... imo it is only Elite that truly evolved along with the gfx... into EVE online. And that was almost like a freak accident - it took geeks from Iceland to pull it off.
Personally, I blame it on consoles and the "disposable instant gratification" mentality they bred.
Moderate innovation sells. Epic innovation fails. You still have to work within the boundaries of what is playable on today's hardware, and hardware that is already 2-3 years old. I've been driving a car with four wheels for a lot more than 10 years. That doesn't mean I can walk into a Toyota or GM lot tomorrow and ask for six wheels next year, just cause I think cars are 'stagnant'. What you get in AoC are some tweaks, twists and improvements on systems that have been used before. And the gore and M rating. If that's not your game, maybe something else is.
I agree and disagree.
Epic innovation will sell way more than moderate if done properly. The problem (and someone hinted at this earlier) is that these developers are not willing to take the risk because of the huge costs in development. They put out these semi-unfinished games that really just put a new setting onto the same mechanic because they know it will sell.
Unfortunatly you cant really blame them since its the consumers who keep hyping and buying these games so they keep putting them out. I think it is very genre specific though, you dont really see this as much in console games (the really huge sellers of all time have introduced very innovative features in some way). But then there have been very popular titles who just put out a solid game without much innovation too.
I stand by my opinion that this will be a great game for people new to the genre (and this is great because getting more people into MMOs is good), for hardcore fans of the conan lore, and for the fanbois. Others will just use it as a filler because it is a solid game and they dont want to play WoW or EVE and need something to give them their MMO fix to something better comes out. And then there are those who are just gonna say "yawn nothing new here, not worth my time or money and ill just wait and hope one of the other mmos on the horizon delivers".
Im definitely in that last category, as are the vast majority of people i game with and other forums i lurk on. That being said, a lot (myself included) will certainly be keeping an eye on it after release and may pick it up if it exceeds expectations, which could be tough since it was overhyped.
There is a big difference between revolutionary, and evolutionary. I dont think a game has to be revolutionary to draw followers. While things like the City Building and Siege PvP have been done before, AoC is putting together things that were popular in other games, under one banner, in and of itself, that can be attractive, and a good thing to players.
I hate talking about WoW, but one of the things I always thought they did, was take other games ideas that worked, and they put them together, and did them better in many cases. It's actually nice to see a game take ideas that work, and then make them uniquely their own.
I'm not going to say that AoC is going to rewrite MMO history, but what it does offer, is something that can appeal to more than just a single group of players. If Funcom can make that work....then they've got a definite winner, and I think that's better than most ever do, probably because its not easy to do.
Another factor that contributes to the success or non-success of an MMORPG is also the community. It should be interesting to see the type of crowd that Age of Conan gravitates. However I know it can be kind of random which type of community migrates. A community can really make or break a game.
Look at SWG for example. It wasn't necessarily the best game on the market (although it did have many different features), but it had one hell of a great community between people bonding/helping/grouping/guilding together to get things accomplished and spring planned diverse events into reality. Too bad the NGE dispersed that community.
I think it's great that AOC has incorporated so many different aspects into one game. A game that might have a descent crafting system, on top of a good PVP system with a good PVE system, housing, cities, at least a semi-different form of combat, all has to add up to something in the end. Even though the features aren't necessarily new or revolutionary, incorporating them all into one game is surely going to lead to some benefit.
Comments
nothing went over my head jesus. you played it you arent convinced you like it. you wont be pre-ordering
it jeez what more do you want me to say lol.you said few nice thing's about it so you can whine at the end about the game then say i wont pre order i wont buy you have to twist my arm to play rofl. just go play something else and forget about it. just get tired of people that dont like a game that feel they must post and say i wont pre order i wont buy please convince me jeez let it go already cheers.
I enjoyed your review and found it to be quite objective. Its funny all the people acting like you were attacking the game when in your OP you actually painted it in a favorable light and as someone else pointed out really skipped any negatives you found in the game..As to the PVP beta weekend I was also in it and found the game enjoyable but saw nothing that innovative in the small pvp portion I was aloud to experience. Hopefully I will be proven wrong when the full game is released and I can experience it as a whole.
Thanks
Was begining to think maybe i just typed up my thoughts in a way that didnt make my point clear based on some of these random troll responses.
---sig---
Click this for lulz: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/173737/page/6
OP, take the feedback on your review with a grain of salt. Unfortunately there is a decent number of people that feel the only good or correct review is one that agrees with their opinion and says nothing but positives. I wouldn't let those people get to you with their trolling, they are the same people that go to some of the other empty, meaningless 'this game is kewl!' reviews that provide no real substance, and give it their big thumbs up. Treat their feedback like the trash it is and just ignore it. Your review was fair and unbiased, and covered both positives and negatives with a realistic perspective given what is actually offered. Suckup reviews are absolutely worthless... we need people that can show both sides of the story. So thank you
Waiting for: A skill-based MMO with Freedom and Consequence.
Woe to thee, the pierce-ed.
I just dont see how anyone can say the game isnt revolutionary, or even "New" when no one besides the Devs have seen more than I would say 70% of the game.
Surely the Beta Testers havent seen all of the game, and we arent talking to Beta testers anyways since thats against the NDA.
So why dont we wait and see and not try and pass the "The game isnt anything special" deal.
And just incase OP tries to come back and say "O but wait I didnt say that...
after play, my dollar and two cents, i will wait 6 months after launch before touching AOC, maybe longer. havent even touched warhammer and that will wait several months after launch before consideration.
till then boat racing and barb-q's till i am sick.
can you smell that?!!...............there is nothing quite like it.....................the smell of troll in the morning............i love that smell.
I find it funny when I see people canceling their preorders for any game over a beta event. This game is going to be good. It is not going to topple WOW because the audience is completely different and the games offer two completely different experiences. WOW has glowy crap everywhere and a race of elves that resemble anime characters. Conan has one race and a lore that puts pre-teens to sleep from boredom.
The whole problem here is overhype. If you are expecting a game that instantly makes everybody flock away from WOW, this game is not it (nor is anything else though). Everybody out there is predicting that a game will come along and dethrone WOW instantly. I have even seen industry insiders say it, but they are all wrong.
The only way in which an MMO has ever done this was to come along with a completely new technology. UO dethroned a MUD because it had graphics. EQ1 dethroned UO because it was in 3D. AoC has Dx10, but it is still a largely un-embraced technology. Games that use existing or unpopular tech are fine if they are innovative, but let's be honest here. AoC does not possess any jump in technology that makes it able to dethrone anything in the short term. Not many people will be leaving their stable of maxed out WOW characters to come to AoC.
In spite of this, I think AoC will do well and grab a big market share. The game is fun and although there are no gigantic steps forward, the baby steps really add up. AoC will be a solid game, but the only way WOW is getting killed is if Blizzard kills it or someone invents a brand new piece of tech that blows everybody's mind. I see niether of these happening with WAR or AoC, but both games are going to be a lot of fun for their respective audiences.
People blame overhype on the devs. Well, the devs have to hype the game. It's their job. They can't go around saying "this game sucks" and expect to keep eating. What people have done here is taken the devs' comments and ran with them until their lungs burned. AoC will just be one more game out there. If you are buying it because you love the lore like I do, then I will see you May 20th. If you are buying the game because you want to hail the new MMO Messiah, please move along. There is nothing here for you.
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It's not WoW, as you admit, and really, that's all that matters. That, and it's fun. If it's a good game, and fun, it will be more than "moderately" successful. And it doesn't need to hit WoW 2008 numbers to be successful.
If you're looking for revolutionary, and maybe Darkfall is that game, you better be prepared to wait 5-10 years. Because there is no 'revolutionary' game "on the horizon." Darkfall is so far off the horizon, it might as well be in orbit.
Some of us have been online gaming for more than 10+ years, I dont think its unfair to think we deserve innovation. Innovation sells, in music, in movies, and in many other areas. We dont really want more stagnation of the MMO market with games that are the same old same old. I dont think thats too much to ask.
Not even the moutned combat is new. On sullon zek in eq1, I fought from horseback on my holy steed all the time. The technique was called jousting.
With all the arguments over nipples and nudity, throw in the gore, this game will probably be mom and dads new babysitter.
To Arcken:
I got a news flash that may come as a shock. Your $15 entitles you to exactly the same gameplay as anyone else, no matter how many MMOs or how many years you've been playing. So you might want to get off that broomstick you've been riding, it's not a horse.
Old timers may claim that they want innovation, but on these boards they actually want the same old, just rewrapped and repackaged. You just need to read beyond their claims and into the heart of their requests. People hate Vanguard concept because it was not true enough to EQ1. Look what people say about WAR when comparing it to DAoC. UO fans are waiting for a game that will never get released. SWG hate anything that is not an exact copy of pre-CU SWG. And so on. The old timers really have zero say on what's getting released. They are the minority and they hate everything. It's just like those old people talking about the youngsters and how different things were when they were young.
You can analyse any feature that AoC claims that will offer on release and state that it's not innovative because some game has done it in the past. I've seen those analyses. What most of you making these quite informative analysis however fail to realise is that you don't have any other game combining all these features in ONE package. It is true that pretty much everything was done in various MMOs released in the past. It is also true that you won't find all these features combined under one roof.
As for gore and nudity, once the novelty wares off (and you can be certain it'll ware off), the true qualities of this game will shine (or stink) over the flavour features. It's just a matter of time. As for maturity, it's not directly related to age in any shape or form.
Fair enough however offering tidbits of different games wrapped together makes it for a compilation.
It might be good, it might be bad, it might be mediocre. That will be seen after the launch.
The simple thign is that there will be focused games with better individual PvE, PvP, and economics. Now that means that compilation game might simply fall through the middle as people opt for the games that are focused on their player style. Granted, some will like the combo but yet others will chose to go with more then one game. Last example I had was a freind who plans to go for WAR for PvP (as it is PvP centric game more then AoC) and for LOTRO for PVE (as it is PVE centric game more then AoC), thus getting his fix of both.
Pure speculation on my part though, I just wanted to point out that IP and compilaed features might prove both a hinderance and an asset.
Just for the record, and based on info I gathered, I beelive the game will be decent to mediocre with 200k of stable base. I think it was poster "Whacko" who satated, in my opinion very correctly, that the game will be financial success. Business success doesn't mean an enjoyable game in long term.
We will see when it launches, the more the merrier, the only reason why I would want this game to fail is if it was released with too many bugs, technical issues, broken mechanics, half baked quests etc. Quite simply I am against the idea that new game should be half baked and then fanbase should support it while they work out the kinks during the next 6 months to a year.
Thanks for the comment. I guess i need to work on ignoring the trolls and not letting them drag me in to pointless debates. Ive never really been into forums beyond my guild or server forums.
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This is exactly how I feel, and was the main point in my review. Glad to see some others feel the same way, but also glad to see some others disagree and offer constructive/valid points against my opinion.
I dont care if you disagree with me, just do it politely and offer up some kind of opinion that makes sense and isnt just fanboism running rampant.
I would love to see this game prove me wrong and become a huge hit. Lord knows we need a great game in the industry to bring some new life to the genre. It doesn't need to kill WoW by any means, but just have a large enough player base to where you are comming across new players every day and has plenty of features to keep you occupied. And AoC like i said will give that to a lot of MMO'ers, but at this point in terms of innovation and "new feel" it just doesnt have it and it feels like MANY previous MMOs to me.
Edit:
Jiveturkey,
I read your post, and yes i said that, and stand by every word of it. Not sure why you think I would claim I didnt say it since, ya know, i typed it in this very thread. It is my opinion and I think it is a very fair one.
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My two major concerns....the game is may require constant button mashing,ala a console.That's not something I am excited about.Secondly,the battle keep play may be an unplayable lagfeast.The main attraction of the game..for me is the battle keep seige warfare.I will grind to get there but it had better be worth it.
For me..I will wait and see what the reality is before I will buy.
OP I didn't find anything wrong with your original post at all.
You gave your opinion on the state of the game and innovation, and others need to learn to accept constructive criticism.
I decided not to buy AoC after this weekend for a lot of the reasons that you stated.
The game is nothing new, It is actually exactly the same as all the rest, you can slap a left, middle and right arrow button into the center of WoW's UI if you like and there you go. AoC by blizzard.
All jokes aside the game is ok, it will do fine for those needing a break from the same old same old.
It is still no match for WoW, (no I do NOT play WoW). It will have it's followers, and will prolly stable out around LotRO level. 200-300k subs.
That is enough to have strong servers and be a decent game.
It isn't going to be for everyone, it reminds me a lot of EVE. It will have it's niche cult followers, but nothing beyond it.
We still have AION and WAR to look foward to. Hopefully they will be better.
Again surfaces the issue of unrealistic expectations. 200k subs are by no means mediocre. Given the steep system reqs it would actually be a major success.
MMOgaming is still a niche market. One game being propelled into the mainstream by the relentless hype of the united gaming media doesn't change that.
Until Blizzard makes their next MMO we won't see subscriber numbers of 1 million or more ( for a "western" game ).
PS: I'm an oldtimer too. There is no revolution waiting just around the corner. So I'm happy about the small steps we do get.
You are wrong. We dont, well at least not all of us, want the same old again. We startet out with 7MHz CPUs and 500 kByte PCs. Some game mechnaics have been good, others where crap. Once the first 32 or 256 colors graphical games came out, us players had visions of a future with highend rigs, just like we have them today. There was an insider proverb: reality is just 300 million poligons per second...
Now we have those PCs, but the games suck. Why ? Not because we old timers want the same old. No, quite contrary... because game development didnt evolve. They only offer better grahics but the SAME OLD mechanics actually. Why is there no UO in high quality graphics AND!!! triple the features of UO ? Because gaming industry didnt evolve. Us old timers did, but not the developing industry. Thats why we a re grumpy. We grew up. The gaming industry not. And thats poor and basically a huge failure.
It's not WoW, as you admit, and really, that's all that matters. That, and it's fun. If it's a good game, and fun, it will be more than "moderately" successful. And it doesn't need to hit WoW 2008 numbers to be successful.
If you're looking for revolutionary, and maybe Darkfall is that game, you better be prepared to wait 5-10 years. Because there is no 'revolutionary' game "on the horizon." Darkfall is so far off the horizon, it might as well be in orbit.
Some of us have been online gaming for more than 10+ years, I dont think its unfair to think we deserve innovation. Innovation sells, in music, in movies, and in many other areas. We dont really want more stagnation of the MMO market with games that are the same old same old. I dont think thats too much to ask.
Moderate innovation sells. Epic innovation fails. You still have to work within the boundaries of what is playable on today's hardware, and hardware that is already 2-3 years old.
I've been driving a car with four wheels for a lot more than 10 years. That doesn't mean I can walk into a Toyota or GM lot tomorrow and ask for six wheels next year, just cause I think cars are 'stagnant'.
What you get in AoC are some tweaks, twists and improvements on systems that have been used before. And the gore and M rating. If that's not your game, maybe something else is.
There is nothing better than taking the time to make a 5 paragraph reply, only to have some jerk take up 3 posts after you to exploit the page cutoff and keep you from getting replies. Arcken, you suck for this reason alone. I really don't care what else you have to say. You did not need three posts to bicker with, especially when some of us have some non-troll posts in this thread.
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QFT!
I started with a ZX speccy and oh boy... imo it is only Elite that truly evolved along with the gfx... into EVE online. And that was almost like a freak accident - it took geeks from Iceland to pull it off.
Personally, I blame it on consoles and the "disposable instant gratification" mentality they bred.
Epic innovation will sell way more than moderate if done properly. The problem (and someone hinted at this earlier) is that these developers are not willing to take the risk because of the huge costs in development. They put out these semi-unfinished games that really just put a new setting onto the same mechanic because they know it will sell.
Unfortunatly you cant really blame them since its the consumers who keep hyping and buying these games so they keep putting them out. I think it is very genre specific though, you dont really see this as much in console games (the really huge sellers of all time have introduced very innovative features in some way). But then there have been very popular titles who just put out a solid game without much innovation too.
I stand by my opinion that this will be a great game for people new to the genre (and this is great because getting more people into MMOs is good), for hardcore fans of the conan lore, and for the fanbois. Others will just use it as a filler because it is a solid game and they dont want to play WoW or EVE and need something to give them their MMO fix to something better comes out. And then there are those who are just gonna say "yawn nothing new here, not worth my time or money and ill just wait and hope one of the other mmos on the horizon delivers".
Im definitely in that last category, as are the vast majority of people i game with and other forums i lurk on. That being said, a lot (myself included) will certainly be keeping an eye on it after release and may pick it up if it exceeds expectations, which could be tough since it was overhyped.
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There is a big difference between revolutionary, and evolutionary. I dont think a game has to be revolutionary to draw followers. While things like the City Building and Siege PvP have been done before, AoC is putting together things that were popular in other games, under one banner, in and of itself, that can be attractive, and a good thing to players.
I hate talking about WoW, but one of the things I always thought they did, was take other games ideas that worked, and they put them together, and did them better in many cases. It's actually nice to see a game take ideas that work, and then make them uniquely their own.
I'm not going to say that AoC is going to rewrite MMO history, but what it does offer, is something that can appeal to more than just a single group of players. If Funcom can make that work....then they've got a definite winner, and I think that's better than most ever do, probably because its not easy to do.
Another factor that contributes to the success or non-success of an MMORPG is also the community. It should be interesting to see the type of crowd that Age of Conan gravitates. However I know it can be kind of random which type of community migrates. A community can really make or break a game.
Look at SWG for example. It wasn't necessarily the best game on the market (although it did have many different features), but it had one hell of a great community between people bonding/helping/grouping/guilding together to get things accomplished and spring planned diverse events into reality. Too bad the NGE dispersed that community.
I think it's great that AOC has incorporated so many different aspects into one game. A game that might have a descent crafting system, on top of a good PVP system with a good PVE system, housing, cities, at least a semi-different form of combat, all has to add up to something in the end. Even though the features aren't necessarily new or revolutionary, incorporating them all into one game is surely going to lead to some benefit.
Hope for the best.