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Who is the audience for this game?
MindTrigger
Member Posts: 2,596
Besides the obviously condescending comments I'm seeing thrown around about mouth-breathing endgamers vs intellectual problem solvers, there is some merit to the discussion of who this game was designed for. It does require much more patience and the will to solve puzzles. You have to think more about Myst and less about WoW. You aren't going to simply run around and do combat here, and that is going to feel very slow for a large number of gamers who prefer something that caters to attention deficit culture. If you are one of those people who's going to follow online quest guides so you can get yourself through the conent faster, you are missing the point entirely and speeding towards nowhere.
I actually enjoyed it, despite the fact that I *hated* all the cut scenes in SWTOR. The scenes and NPC dialogs go great with the setting of this game, and since they are giving you puzzles and mysteries to solve, you can/should be rewarded for paying attention to them. In fact, I started thinking yesterday that they needed to take all of this a bit deeper than they have, but then I haven't got very far into the game, so I will reserve that judgement for after launch.
My main concern for this game is that it didn't feel nearly as social as it's going to need to be in order to pull-in and keep the niche market it will attract. I've always maintained that this game was going to be niche, though I don't know what the numbers will be. This BWE and the types of comments I have seen which are very dichotomous, only proved what may of us thought. You will either love or hate this game, and there isn't likely to be much middle ground. This automaticaly makes it a niche game.
I think Funcom better sit back and start thinking about those people who *are* going to play and enjoy this game, and what features they specifically would love. If they focus on people who are more in the realm of WoW and GW2 in an effort to try to make this game mainstream, they are barking up the wrong tree. If it was my game to design, I would immediately start planning for things like player housing, more RP elements, social elements and events, lots of collections and minigames, live events, deeper crafting, more challenging puzzles, etc. If they don't, the crowd of intellectual gamers this game may attract will get bored and go play something more action oriented like GW2, or just go back to reading.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Comments
The cutscenes are a huge annoyance in this game.....To me the only cutscene should be at the very start of the game (like before we even start playing)....Anything more than that is just a huge distraction.....I guess they wanted to do something other than text questing , which most of us dont read anyway, but this is even more annoying.....WHen I want to play a MMO, I want to play it not watch it......To answer your question, I have no clue who is their intended audience.
Ragnar always said they are aiming for a different crowd with this game.
They are actually one of the few developers who got the message that WoW players will play WoW!
So The Secret World is trying to aim for a more "mature" crowd in the gaming community, with a tad more patience.
Gamers who just enjoy a slow pace of gaming... enjoying the HP Lovecraft setting of the game, solving puzzles, uncovering mysteries, etc. Instead of the mainstream MMO crowd who like to race to max level and enter the endless gear grind mill. Like WoW, EQ2 and Rift already offer.
Do we really need YET ANOTHER race to cap / Endgame gear grind MMO? NO! Hell NO!
That's where The Secret World comes in..... offering something different for people like you and me, who got fed up and tired of WoW, EQ2 and all it's clones!
It's funny that you mention that. I was playing the TSW beta on Friday, and my brother asked me if I was watching a movie (and not a very good movie, at that)... WAY too many cutscenes.
I've got to say (this is just how I feel) I like to take my time with a game....I know this makes me not "hardcore" frankly I dont care. For the life of me I dont understand people who rush to max lvl....then bitch theres nothing to do.
I have had alot of fun I like the story and I really like haveing to stop and think to figure out answers, and roaming around and happining on a clue and following it to a quest. also the send report insted of running back to where i got the quest from turn in is verry cool.
I come from FFXI not my first mmo but my favoriet by far. maybe haveing never played WoW has realy messed up how I look at games....dont know but I feel TSW offers me somthing I have been nmissing from alot of nextgen mmos.
I realy hope im not alone in this line of thought.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
They are trying to appeal to horror fans looking for a game to play with others . However, they've succeeded in crating a horror wow clone with neat puzzle and investigative quests tucked away in kill 5 of this and do this 4 times then stir.
They aren't trying to appeal to someone who doesnt like wow, cause borrow the wow combat scheme? Instead of creating something that was related to the theme of the game. Every cthullu/horror based tabletop rpg i've been apart has very little combat, because the idea of combatting such horrors in traditonal ways plays out about as silly as it feels in the game. Zombie and man going toe to toe with one another. A shadow creature killing one perwson, like u, effortlessly and yet u with difficulty.
Think of how crazy that sounds. We want to do a mature game, not a wow game. Okay combat, oooh let's have have all these skills but limit their uses to tanking, damaging and healing. Forget that we have the opportunity to really add some depth, add different investigative skills, stealth skills.
Sorry my friend, but maybe you should go back to WoW and play that for a while again. Refresh your memory! And then come back and try out TSW again.
Saying TSW is a WoW clone with some puzzle and investigation quests tucked in is just plain wrong!
- TSW is not a themepark game! It has no level progression. Nor typical gear dependend progression.
- TSW has no endgame that involves and endless gear grind to create Uber L337 characters to WTF pawn other players in PVP or sit in Ironforge to show how L337 you are.
Need to go on??
Rest my case.
Oh stop it...
Age of Conan...nipples, decapitations...made for mature players.
Anarchy Online, rated M for mature...again, nipples, swearing and what not and out before WoW was a glint in someones eyes.
WoW has nothing to do with it, Funcom is Funcom. The game will be for mature players, the game will also not live up to its expecations, have a launch with more than average amount of bugs, be missing a great deal of gameplay, have higher than average times between updates, have updates that dont meet expectations, take forever to fix major issues and the list goes on and on.
Funcom is Funcom....just like fanboys will say the most outrageous things to make a game the second coming.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
Just because the game lacks level progression, doesn't mean that it's not a themepark. The game is a themepark in every sense of the word when you consider how the content is presented. In a typical themepark game, you're gated from one quest to the other in a certain order, which is basically what happens here.
As far as the endgame goes, you stated what the endgame is not, rather than what the endgame is. So what is it?
I'm going with people who buy every MMO then leave disappointed.
People that enjoyed The X-Files.
Oh hey buddy
Except for the crafting system and the level/classless progression system oh and the ability wheel.
Noot really. It's more like go where ever you want 10 minutes after character creation, grab what ever quest you want type of thing.
me. I think this game is for me.
It, however, is not for my daughter to watch me play.
I think for the sake of the MMO genere, we should all cheer for something different instead of more of just the same.
You had me in agreement up until you started to harp on WoW and GW2 fans. I happen to love WoW and GW2 and TSW, so what does that say about me? Matter of fact, I think GW2 shares more in common with TSW than any other MMO to date, it just happens to have more polished combat from what I've played. I plan to play both games equally in a given week. I also plan to hop back into WoW when expansions come out, same with Lotro and Rift. So....if any game is a difference maker in playstyle, it's Tera. But who know, maybe someone out there is enjoying Tera a ton and loved the TSW beta weekend, I don't know. I know I hate Tera and love TSW, so...who knows.
Hey, pal. So I can just run straight to the airport, the orochi outpost and the scrapyard and get the quests there? Or maybe you missed a lot of the "padlock" icons on the quests? It's understandable. Just the simple fact that the mobs gets more difficult as you get farther away from the sheriff's office, basically debunks your point.
Leveless progression system does not make this not a themepark neither does crafting.
Try again, please.
Btw sharpe post OP. This belongs on the Official forums. Devs check in and post a lot.
Actually you do!
The only linear "themeparkish" part is your faction storyline quest serie. All side quests are scattered all over the place.
This game actually encourages exploring again (just like LOTRO pre-Moria and EverQuest 2) to find tons of hidden quests.
Not like the real Themepark linear garbage like Warhammer Online, Rift and SW:TOR that force you through a "fixed" path of questing.
Most of the quests are padlocked until you fulfill some requirement. Mobs get progressively stronger the farther you get away from the sheriff's office, basically forcing you to do content in a certain order. It may be a little less strict than games like WoW but the usual themepark limitations are still there.
*snickers* *giggles* guess I am one of the only ones who got this, good one
I think it will be for more patient gamers who want to immerse more into the game and not just madly and quickly as possible crash through all the content then sit around saying they are bored and the game sucks. That is my hope.
My only two complaints right now:
1. thanks to STWoR, I now wish I could push my own choices and talk some, not just stand there... Even if I will always end up doing the same thing, at least it lets me justify why my character is doing it :P
2. HP Lovecraft is my favorite writer, I think Kingsmouth is amazingly well done, so I wish it had been a high level, endgame zone instead of the very first thing. This is just a personal complaint though, for me it is like they gave me the big best dessert ever to start the game, so I am not sure if anything else will live up to it. Anyone else feel that way too?
The crowd that is sick with all the wow type games and are eagerly looking for a refresh. No doubt they will get a good customer base if you ask me.
That's simply not true man. There is no two ways about it. I've ran into 1 on top the police station, (15 minutes into the game mind you) That one is padlocked due to story no level or or gear or anything. If I'm not mistaken if you do some of the story, like a couple quest it unlocks. I haven't seen any other, if I have I didn't notice them.
They did it with AOC as well through Tortage, but I'm really hoping the other zones aren't as bad as the rest of AOC zones were compared to Tortage or in this case Kingsmouth.
People with an interest in story and puzzles but don't have a desire to rush to an endgame.
This is probably for people that like SP games but also want a more social experiance, whether they like to join a guild or group or not. They get to experience the game as if it is alive, bustling with players but with no dependence on them.
There are not locked, only that some sometimes have pre-requisites to have completed a sertain other quest.