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Battlefield Heroics...Slicing through the enemy ranks
benz9
Member Posts: 8
Hi,
I've been playing Gemstone off and on since you were on AOL. Great game. I am really looking forward to Hero's Journey. One suggestion / question though.
Whenever you watch a movie like Lord of the Rings, or Troy, or something like that where there are epic battles, it always seems that there are two kinds of warriors. There are the ordinaray warriors, and then the Heroes: Aragorn, Achilles, William Wallace, Ajax, etc.
It seems that the battles are actually won and lost, not due to the common soldier, but due to the ferocity and courage of these Heroes who lead their men into battle. In Troy for instance, Achilles single handedly takes the beach. He leads the charge, and you literally see him slicing through dozens of ordinary soldiers... this is what I have always wanted to do in a game.
Since the title of this game is Hero's Journey it seems that the characters in the game are meant to be closer to these Achilles type warriors than the common soldier. Everything I have read about the game supports this, so...
Is there any possibility that there will be missions where our characters will be able to slice through a battlefield of "ordinary soldiers"?
In other words I'd like to see situations where our characters could lead NPC's into battle, and where we could tear through the opposing ranks with relative ease, until we met an opposing commander. Then this would be a real test. The opposing commander would be of similar skill and would be the Hero of his army. The result of the battle would be determined by how many "ordinary soldiers" we kill, in addition to taking out the commanders. I think this would give a real sense of chivalry to the game.
Perhaps this battlefield concept may be too ambitious, but I'd really like to see some situation where our characters could just slice through an impossibly large group of low level mobs. The difficulty could be in the sheer number we have to defeat. I've just always wanted to do this. I had a similar experience toward the end of the originial Knights of the Old Republic. I feel it is more satisfyng to kill a large number of easy foes, than to kill one big dragon. Just my thoughts.
Thanks for reading. And I am counting the days til Hero's Journey goes live.
Ben
Comments
Heya Ben. I know exactly where you're coming from man! I have felt the same way in anticipation about many games (Planetside, AC2, WoW, etc.) but have always been disappointed, and especially so after the first few levels of the game.
Most people I talk to about this will argue: "Well, you shouldn't be able to 'solo' all that stuff because this is an ONLINE GAME and it should be all about grouping and teaming up with other players to accomplish any task - blah, blah, blah..." - and while I agree somewhat with what they are saying I am abliged to point out Asheron's Call 1 and the fact that the majority of the time most people were soloing in that game and it has been one of the most successful games to date (especially considering how old it is). And it's true, I did enjoy Asheron's Call 1 which allowed people to solo all they wanted and still have the option (and even the requirement in some cases) to team up with others.
I think they definately should have at least a few areas/quests where you can do this type of thing and be the 'hero' of the battle - just like Aragorn or Achilles
"I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person."
While leading armies into battle sounds cool and all, lag is something you still have to consider. Not everyone will be able to handle this sort of thing. Also, leading armies could make this into a completely different sort of game. Sort of an MMO-RTS/RPG.
I think our heroes will be more like is the Fellowship. We can hack, slash, and shoot our way through hordes of goblins and orcs, but we won't actually have an army to back us up.
Now... since all the quests are GM-made, and they have a ton of options in making these quests, it would be very possible for them to make several quests where you have to kill lots and lots of enemies rather than just a few weak ones. In fact, they can even put NPC's to back you up if they wanted.
I'm gonna go ahead and start a quest suggestions topic. Put this one down in it.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
I personally love this idea, especially as your character gets close to being maxed out. I don't think lag will be a problem, as was brought up bu another poster. I would expect for these types of things to be instanced, so these type of "Epic" encounters wouldnt cause the kind of lag you see in say a couple hunderd PC;s going at it. This kind of thing should be reserved for being high in level though, I think. But man, I believe that having this kind of option, instead of the opposite senario we see in every other game (100+ PC on one mob
) would be awesome! For once, you'd really feel like a hero!
"Imagine, having your and your small group of heroes attacking a fortress, guarded by over 100 baddies! Rushing in, avoidin catapult fire, blocking the rain of arrows as you approch the gate, as the gates open and dozens of battle tested warriors meet you head on.
But, they can only slow you down. Your party cuts into the mass like a scapel, 4 and 5 fall at a time as you make your way to the base of the citadel. Rain starts to fall, and the rain-soacked ground becomes red beneeth your feet. Now, the enemey is in full retreat, it's moral borken and anyform of disipline is lost! Suddenly, a crack of lightning strikes and brings you attention toa dark siloete standing in front of a massive iron gate. "You shall go no further..." the huge figure says in a tone that would make a normal persons blood chill. His eyes glow red in the darkness as he unsheaths a claymore, fire licking at the blade. Now, the true fight begins......"
I love this idea! It's the kind of "hero" that msot of us fantasize about whne we get done watching or reading a Epic fanstasy movie/book. And yet no MMO even tries to give us that feeling. Here's hoping HJ will.
I like the idea.
And there was a cow level. In Diablo 2
I probably should have assumed that would require explanation
I believe the way it went was:
-Rumors went around about a secret "cow level" in diablo 1
-When blizzard released starcraft, one of the cheats was "thereisnocowlevel" are a hint to stop looking
-Blizzard decided to actually include a cow level in Diablo 2 (at least I think that one wasnt a hoax). I believe it was a vast wasteland of tons of weapon-wielding cows. So the topic about huge masses of grunts coming at a hero made me think of that.
Goat
But anways.
I completely agree about the you vs. many.
But it shouldnt be ALL about brute force, there should be strategy too. If youve seen the old E3 preview movie, there was a large group of Ukar and they were taken out by the rockslide! If your defending a castle, you should be able to pour down boiling flameable oils, launch catapults, and deny the ladders pouring baddies into your fortress. So far I've seen 2 of the 3 (oils and catapults) so im not to worried.
Another movie example is King Arthur, when the Saxons come through the gates, and its all foggy. They march in and then Arthur and his (dozen or so) cavalry rip apart the formation. The fear of not knowing where your enemy is, the pounding of the hooves. INTENSE. There should be weather effects that effect game play. Fog would help stealth, decrease LoS or range of ranged weapons. Sun (when facing it) would decrease accuracy, Desert winds too.
But back on topic, I agree, big battles FTW.
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