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General: Five MMOs That May Surprise You
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy writes this week's list, taking a look at five current MMOs in development that may just surprise MMO fans.
It used to be that we could count ourselves lucky and check for the coming of the End of Days when more than one new offering to the MMO genre released in a single year. These days, we see a handful or more come and go in that same timeframe. But often all the glory is left to the games who can afford a robust advertising budget. In the spirit of rooting for the little guys, here's a list of games that may come up and bite us in the collective rear end this year... should they make their proposed release dates.
#5 Allods Online
It's not too often in this gaming world that "Free-to-Play" and "Quality" are uttered in the same sentence, and yet that's exactly what the makers of Allods Online are hoping to change. From Astrum Nival, a Russian developer that's been in the business for ages, Allods seeks to combine the quality of a triple-A MMORPG with the value of the F2P market. Based on the cult-favorite Rage of Mages series, Allods Online sports impressive visuals (though they may be reminiscent of a certain game), a blend of Sci-Fi and Fantasy trappings, a unique aerial combat mechanic for warring factions, mini-game based professions, and the no-NDA beta has the blogosphere abuzz with anticipation.
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Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Copernicus looks pretty interesting =O
Though I will play mortal online for a while
I've been following 38 studios since it's inception. I srsly hope they show some kind of build at e3 this year. I'm starving for some concrete game info. This studio is one of the last hopes for the mmo industry.
I am wondering if the author has actually played or followed the current state of the Mortal Online "beta".
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I laughed when I saw number 1. I understand the author is looking forward to this game that hasn't even been announced yet, but that's just it...it's not even a game yet. There isn't even a synopsis for what the developers hope the game to be. Why not put the bethesda mmorpg at number one other than personal preference?
I'm not saying that it is or isn't going to be a unique game. I'm saying I don't agree with putting a game in the list that there is no info for other than it's called "copernicus" and who is involved with it. Every unnanounced game, current or unrealized, may surprise you. It's great you are trying to get the word out about some possibly good, under the radar games, but I don't think the list should be mixing games that have information about them, with games that have virtually no info at all.
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I don't think the Agency will make it out this year. There hasn't been any major news for a good 6 months and I don't even remember if they have beta sign ups, let alone if they've started beta.
It's wrong to make a list and have one of the items, let alone the #1 item, be something that doesn't yet exist.
I understand people get excited about things to come (which is what causes all the trouble since the games never live up to the hype, ever). But it's going to far when the excitement is literally about a game that doesn't exist. That invalidates the entire list.
I'd love to try Mortal if the goddamned launcher would function. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but every game I've trialed or tested in the past two months I had no problem with the launchers or downloading.
In all honesty, yes I am "Surprised"... the one game I'd like to try and test, is the one that I can't because I'm supposed to play detective and figure out how to get it to download. I hope the game is good for those it works for though.
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
I also had problems with it. The one I really wanted to try,but no. You have to spend more then 4 hours to start the patch. I felt like I was playing some tpye of sadistic game just trying to get to the patching process. Then have yet, another error during it. Needless to say, I was surprised by this game.
Earthrise might be interesting and I really do hope it surprises me.
The talent behind Copernicus is almost unreal, one can only dream -sigh-
As for Mortal Online, i wish them the best of luck. Putting together a MMO to break the norm is not an easy thing. I am not going to comment on the state of the game as it is today, considering this article isn't about that, but I hope they have better PR then Darkfall.
I hope the mmo community begins to support games such as Darkfall and Mortal Online so we can see a resurgence of new concepts and sandbox play.
As far as I recall they had something where you chose your side (Paragon or U.N.I.T.E.), signed up for the newsletter and were to be kept informed on beta. Given the lack of newsletter, or news, I'd take it that beta is a ways off. Even the twitter feed doesn't seem to have been updated much since E3....
I mostly agree with the list except for 2 games.
Mortal Online: having played the beta, this won't surprise anything, at least not if they're going with their projected launch date.
Copernicus: I don't really see why this game is at nr1, reading this list was the first time ever I heard about it, and the little bit of text under it didn't really say much.
I went and looked up what it was about, but it seems as good as no info is out there on it.
So... first on the list? Well I guess whatever comes out for it, it can't do anything else than surprise us, in a good or bad way.
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Good #1 choice. Look at the thread title, folks - he's ranking these games based on their potential to surprise us. And what could surprise us more than a game whose core features haven't even been announced yet? Talk about potential. Potential greatness or potential disaster, we'll have to see.
Good #2 choice. Earthrise is looking excellent on paper, so if those Bulgarians can implement their ideas well, we'll have the first good sandbox game in a long time.
The rest of the list I wouldn't dispute, but I'm not sure I'd agree 100%. I do hope Mortal Online surprises, though - right now, a good, solid launch and a complete game would be surprising.
Bill I'd add World of Darkness Online to that list in place of one of the others (2-5) going on the same premise as your number 1 pick. In fact, if you put it at #2 then your top 2 picks represent the only two games in development that I am supremely interested in knowing more about and hoping for a pleasant surprise. Warhammer 40K Online would probably be third on my list only because I worked for GW for a bit and that I was really disappointed with WAR. The interest comes in seeing if GW learned anything from WAR and puts their influence to use in designing WH40K Online very differently.
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Very nice enviroment in that games , they look really good and like all your coments,
and very good work Autor !
R.A. Salvatore is making the story for Copernicus?....What?? If that is true then the story will be exceptional. Holly crap, just thinking of it, makes me want to play. I haven't heard of the rest of the list. I may look at Allod Online though; I like Sci-fi Fantasy mix. And I'm just so tired of the plain ol' fantasy mmos.
Thats a clear no he just search for info on net and blind take it over and use it in his own topic ive seen it before in this news section bah:(
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Allod's Online is another f2p MMO that seems a WoW clone (do you remember Runes of Magic? Well... i prefear it to AO).
For me the surprise can be Earthrise, and i don't like shi-fi MMORPGs. I really don't know anything about Copernicus, so i cannot write anything about it. The Agensy is by SOE, and the last SOE good MMORPG is very, very,very old: EverQuest II. Mortal Online: i really don't like developers that make free beta test only for preoderers. And if i don't like your game? Or really free beta or nothing.
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There is a tone to this article that reminds me of PR copy: everything is gearing up to be just great and wonderful. And then it's released, and you pooh-pooh it to no end, making sure never to remind anyone of what your original position was, and how much you were responsible for hyping it up in the first place.
No matter how often you do it, the beauty of it is that the cycle can be infinite: rinse and repeat. This site, funded by advertising from wall to wall, is living proof of it: It lives off hype, feeds off it. Then, when it's safe, when knowledge of your original position is being dissolved in the mists of time, you dismiss it. Hype and dismiss, hype and dismiss; and never ever revisit your own hyping. I know the pattern: that's what gaming magazines are doing all the time, and now they have zero credibility with me.
If by "may surprise you", you mean, "you have expectations so low that you can't be disappointed, no matter how bad it is", then it fits perfectly with at least two titles on this list, The Agency and Mortal Online. True, I don't have intimate knowledge of either game, but whatever beta reports we get from Mortal all say the game is nowhere near shipping form, and that The Agency will just be another shooter with aspirations of MMO-hood.
The nadir of this blind, drooling fan's list (what else could it be?) is its first place being given to a game about which nothing is known. But hey, that's the old lesson: Just make it *secret* and you get the fanboys drooling. Just ask Blizzard, who have been doing this for years.
I just wish MMO players in general to wisen up, and grow more sceptical of games they haven't seen or played, instead of rushing in all the time as soon as "pre-order" goes up. A list like this one contributes nothing towards this. Drool all you want, but don't drool on me.
I agree with Allod's Online and Copernicus. The others, not so much. I would swap out MO with a very little known Russian game(those Ruskies are really making some interesting games) called Craft of gods. Also, would take out the Agency since it seems more of an action MMO than an MMORPG. Would rather see Black Prophecy in the spot of Earthrise, and maybe throw Heroes of Telara into this list.
5. Allod's Online
4. Craft of gods
3. Heroes of Telara
2. Black Prophecy
1. Copernicus
That's just my OP and how I would have listed this idea.
I agree. It seems to be dead-in-the-water since $OE has focused its devs and resources into DCUO over the last several months. I think I would be more 'surprised' seeing the Agency go live anytime this year.
Earthrise is the most promising of the bunch as it is aiming for the same gaming niche that Dark and Light promised, that is, Eve-Online but on earth and without the grind. How well its engine really does remains to be proven but that fact that Interplay (maker of Fallout) signed some sort of licensing deal with Masthead Studios (the Earthrise developers) for their own MMOG would seem to indicate that Masthead has something of value. And Earthrise is due out the second quarter of this year.
It's interesting how many people read "Five MMOs That May Surprise You" as "The Top Five MMOs That Will Surprise You"
Allods looks like a polished and solid entry to the field, offering a lot for a few different subsets of MMO gamers. Earthrise is one of those games that I need to see to believe. The others seem to be building for a specific audience and I'm hoping they are accurately judging their audience's size.
Cool article, again, Bill!
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I'm looking into Earthrise for as soon as I can play it and Mortal Online has me stoked for whenever it gets fixed.
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elocke, hmm I agree with you again. Even though we don't know much about it at the moment, I would throw Heroes of Telara on the list as for a top five mmo that may surprise us. Lots of studios like to talk a good game about creating a "dynamic, breathing, living world" but Trion seems to be the only people who may actually be able to back it up. So if they do manage to pull it off, then by all means count me as surprised!
Then you might want to add Dawn to that list too...and Atriarch. Both are made by incompetent developers but they are both aiming really frigging high and apparently are both still alive.
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