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Differences?
darquenblade
Member Posts: 1,015
So, to anyone in the know..what's going to make Hero's Journey different than all the other fantasy MMOs out there?
I've found very little info on this game so far...
Comments
Let's see... Not sure if this will remedy your question, but it might give some additional information that you hadn't seen before.
1.set in the world of Elanthia, but like both Dragon Realms and Gemstone III/IV, the world is new but with the same title
2.scheduled release date 2005
3.there will be a closed beta test supported by applications which the public will have to fill out.
4.use multiple servers and zoning/instancing in each world (said to be similar to what is seen in City of Heros)
5.the races in game are: Ilvari, Burian, Qwi, Suwari, Toggs, Humans, and the "Constructs".
6.Ilvari are equivalent to elves it seems. Burian might be equivalent to dwarves, the Qwi to gnomes, Suwari are cat-like.
7.I've gotten the impression that there will be GM-run quests (which will be one of the major things which will make this game stand out from the others). GMs will develop quests for individual players I think. no more strictly static questing from NPC A or NPC B.
8.i would also like to think that creature spawns will not be the magical or abrupt appear-in-area without warning sort of thing but rather be incorporated as more realistic. nothing on this yet, but i do know the devs want to shy away from magically appearing creatures (in order to make the advent of them a little more realistic).
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
You seem pretty into this game, Adreal. Do you plan on playing it?
"Whoever controls the media controls the mind..-'Jim Morrison"
"When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out." ~Abbie Hoffman
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
Some other areas where Hero's Journey is different:
- Extreme level of customization for your character. The level of detail in your appearance is truly amazing, both in your physical appearance (facial features, hair, etc.) and in your clothing. The designers separated the way your character looks from the offensive and defensive abilities of your armor and weapons, so you can look like you want.
- The game world is built on an advanced engine that lets the GMs add new features continuously. They can built parts of the world, script missions, tweak monster AI, all while the game is ongoing. This is the key feature that separated Simutronics' text games from the others -- it gives the game a level of interactivity and dynamics that are critical to ongoing fun.
- Focus on fun and friends. You can play with friends regardless of their levels. And the designers looked at gameplay elements in the prior Simutronics games and other MMO games and realized that there were lots of design "features" that got in the way of having fun. Those are being reduced or eliminated to focus on the good stuff.
There is a lot more going on in the design that will set it apart, like the focus on a rich role-playing experience vs. other games that put all the emphasis on combat -- which is fun, too, but not the sole reason for playing HJ.
I thought I'd share since I've been lurking here and since the rest of the team is busy at the Simucon convention this weekend.
Neil, EVP of Simutronics... the business guy
Rule for MMO's post EQ is that there is no difference between MMORPGs and Everquest. Potential for being different prior to non-employee's posting about it is just speculation and possibly delusions by the development team. It's normally just a question of how much fluff a company added on to the EQ system. I don't believe any fantasy/scifi RPG can break away from this system archtype.
Until it actually does and I'm playing it in beta, my hopes have been dashed too many times.
That's not to say I don't rov the Simu team, but nobody has made a non-eq graphical RPG yet 
. Ultima Online was, but it's not anymore.
I think there are a lot of people that feel the same way that you do Bokonon. A lot of people feel like Simtronics hasn't really mentioned anything that really makes the game innovative. David Whatley said in an RPG Vault interview that it's much harder to explain what makes HJ different than it is to show. That's why there wasn't much hype for the game prior to their E3 showing. Not many outsiders really understood what Sim was trying to accomplish until they actually saw what Sim was talking about. But from what I have read, everyone that saw the showing was very impressed. I haven't found a bad review yet.
The game is still a year away from going live so there is still a lot of development going on. They can't really release much information right now because a lot of what they're working on isn't finalized yet. They don't want to say one thing now and then later on have to recant those statements. I'm not sure when their next showing is going to be, but whenever that is, that will be when we all get a better understanding of what they're going to do. Some things are just hard to explain with words and this project is one of them.
One major thing id like to add to the list, is their Journey system. Now, I cant even begin to fully understand how it really works, but basically it gathers information about your character, people you know and your past, and creates ongoing missions for you. Now, I cant explain it very well, but you can read about it in other interviews.
Many gamers suffer these days from a undefinable longing for their ideal, perfect "Holy Grail" of MMORPGs. They read the hype, get their hopes up, and are often disappointed to see that a game is not as innovative as they expected come release. The game doesn't rise to their expectations of that ideal game they long for so deeply, and they wander away still looking. Over time, this leads to lowered expectations, a reluctance to believe the hype any longer, and a cynical outlook on games and gaming in general. But, the desire and longing for that "Holy Grail" remains.
I have been in this state myself for a few years now, as have many of my friends. I have been gaming since the earliest days, and cynicism comes easily now.
But...just remember that many of us here working on Hero's Journey ARE in that same situation. We know what you feel, and we long for that perfect, ideal game as well. That drives us in the creation of Hero's Journey to make sure we aren't compromising, to make sure we do live up to our own extremely high expectations.
No game will ever please all gamers, of course. What makes up the 'perfect game' is not the same for everyone. But, I can say with some very serious definiteness that everyone I have worked with here on Hero's Journey is striving to be truly innovative, to think outside the box, and to rise to a higher standard of game with HJ.
Only time will say if we meet the expectations of the larger gaming community...but be assured we are not just making another clone of the games that already exist.
--Oblivion
HJ-Oblivion
Hero's Journey Gamemaster
www.play.net/hj/
Back in '99 I got this feeling when I played Everquest for the first time. It was so original and revolutionary in virtually every aspect. Nothing on the market was remotely like it. The feeling I got was like what a kid feels on Christmas morning. I want that feeling again.
Yet, as mentioned above, we are always promised a game that doesnt live up to it's promises. Because of this the gaming community has become de-sensitized to the "fluff" that ad campaigns are full of. Therefore expect a "Tough crowd" when it comes to reactions from the gaming collective.
I must admit though that "Hero's Journey" does have impressive graphics. But ... I have screensavers that have impressive graphics and that doesnt mean I want to play them. Everyone will admit that it takes more than graphics to make a game. Which is why I feel "Meridian 59" is a better game than "Everquest 2".
"Hero's Journey" definitely deserves to be watched. I'm just hoping to have that "Christmas feeling" again.
Darktania
HJ will be more than just good graphics. Just remember Simtronics has two successful MUDs so they know a thing or two about good gameplay. They've had years and years of experience with gameplay before they even got involved with graphics. So they already had the gameplay down well before they started making this game. That's the problem with other companies. They come out and make a game and because they have no experience with gameplay they just attract people with good graphics. I think that will be the difference between HJ and these other games. With Simtronics you have someone that already knows what good gameplay is about.
As a former Simu customer on the DragonRealms game, I have been both pleased and displeased in the way Simu handles things.
I played DragonRealms since its beta days and carried over into the AOL freeplay. I had grown accustomed to the way they did things, but then some people must've been promoted up to the upper ranks in the game design station, because things began changing... and not for the better.
One of the major things I have seen about the way Simu has done things is they don't care what their customers think. The man in charge is going to change everything the way he feels he likes it and there's no fighting that.
As for Hero's Journey, if you Simu can live up to the expectations and hold me for longer than 30days, I'll be happy. I do miss my DragonRealms experiences, but now it's just so tryanical in the way it's run it's not even worth playing.
I hope to see Hero's Journey first hand.
You talking about the Dragonrealms producer or Whatley? Because Whatley seems to be caring about their customers/potential customers when it comes to HJ.
While I cannot comment on your experiences in DragonRealms, or other Simutronics products in the past, I will say that the level of community involvement in the development process of Hero's Journey is unprecedented in the industry to my knowledge.
The comments, suggestions, and input given by the Hero's Council, a group made up solely of players and designed to allow a continuous communication between those of us developing the game, and those who have experience as consumers in this industry, are listened to very closely. The inclusion of players to this level, and this early a stage in a game's design is just one indication of just how much Simutronics truly DOES care about what the players and the larger community think about this game.
No, not every player who offers input, or who plays Hero's Journey will always get what they want exactly in every situation. It is not humanly possible for us to satisfy everyone...desires, ideas, and interests are far to varied in this genre for that. However, to say that Simutronics, and those of us developing Hero's Journey might not care what the players think, or what they like or want is a severe stretch I feel given the lengths they are going to to make this game as fun as possible, and as responsive to the community's desires as they can.
Design choices have to be made, and rules have to be written, enforced and followed for a game to succeed. They will not all make everyone happy. But on the whole, I can say in all seriousness, that I believe that Simutronics is doing, has done, and will do a much better job of listening to and responding to the customers and the players than any other game company in the genre.
I think the success of previous Simutronics products, and the amazingly loyal fanbase is proof of that.
--Oblivion
HJ-Oblivion
Hero's Journey Gamemaster
www.play.net/hj/
Ditto what Oblivion said. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to please everyone all of the time. I don't know what your problem with Dragonrealms is Mirrandor(you weren't very specific), but my guess is that whatever it was, it probably came down to a matter of the game being able to make others happy but at the same time wasn't your cup of tea. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. I know that my experiences with Gemstone have been great. I've never played Dragonrealms but I know the DR fanboys think it's even better than Gemstone.
As far as HJ is concerned, I think that what they're doing to get players involved in the development is unparralled in the MMOPRG industry. I've never seen anything even close to what they're doing. I don't think they would try to get that much involvement just to say "screw what you think, we're going to do what we want." They won't include everything that the players want to see, but I'm sure that you'll see most of the major stuff that players have suggested.
Hi Orcc,
I agree with your recent postings here and elsewhere on the HJ forums. From what is going on at Simu, my Most Anticipated List is:
1. Hero's Journey
2. Pirates of the Burning Sea
3. Maybe something Else Somewhere/ (I'm extremely picky as hell.)
I recently registered for OriginNow. Very Cool. Thx!
Maxximus
[One major thing id like to add to the list, is their Journey system. Now, I cant even begin to fully understand how it really works, but basically it gathers information about your character, people you know and your past, and creates ongoing missions for you. Now, I cant explain it very well, but you can read about it in other interviews.]
-- The Maxx
I have so many damn Holy Grails, and I agree with you.
Top 3 Maxximus Holy Grails:
1. The Ultimate MMORPG
2. The Perfect Online Combat Game
3. The Greatest Mouse,Keyboard,Laptop,Joystick,Video Card,CPU,HDs,Memory Chips,Monitor
The is NO REST! Arrrrgh!
Maxximus
[Many gamers suffer these days from a undefinable longing for their ideal, perfect "Holy Grail" of MMORPGs.]
-- The Maxx
I guess in a way I was a little vague on my topic. My problem with Simu was stating certain rules for DR in the beginning and then changing all the rules whenever someone new stepped up the plate. It was rather annoying. Sure, some liked it, but the people who'd been playing for awhile really were against some of the implementations. I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to possibly put any doubts into HJ.
I believe HJ is possibly going to be a great game. I really hope to be able to try it out and see for myself if Simu is able to incorporate what made their MUDs so great into a graphical game. I look forward to the chance to see those who are on these boards in the game sometime so you can possibly throw my slight skepticism in my face.
Simu is big on calculated research, I can't imagine that too many things are done without necessity or strategic thinking. Updates to a gaming system every so often (gemstone has gone though, what, 4 versions at this point?) keep the game fresh, make it more interesting for new players, and break up system abuses that develop (well, to some extent).
Naturally people who play a game for a long time are upset when major things change. Their level of frustration/anger is proportional to how much they've invested in it, emotionally, financially, time, etc.
If simu's goal is to develop an MMO where people can create a highly customized character, with potentially unique traits, pets, personal property, that's going to be what makes them win.
The main point is with an MMO, you have to address players with different interests. So some people play an MMO to be a hero and start a clan. Some people play an MMO just to be a merchant, some people play MMO's for the questing. As long as they can pay proper attention to the variety of consumer profiles out there, then they'll be fine.