I would have to say that Heros journey shrumps vanguard, due to thier graphics, plus the fact the the Heros Journey looks like its storeline is better as well. I vote for heros Journey
Vanguard is my vote.....if they can pull off the no instancing thing without the lag caused in other titles that have attempted it. I play mmo's because i like playing in a full and open world. Instancing feels like being crammed into a bottle.
Still HJ, even if it isn't the OMGWTF amazing game everyone dreams of it is still a new game and concept. I don't like paying for a new box on an old game.
Vanguard is looking good. The move to SOE hurt their reputation a whole lot. However, it really does look like EQII, done right - this coming from a veteran of both EQ and EQII.
Even so, the idea behind Vanguard is of long travel times, spaced apart players and a full 20% of the content geared towards full day raiding. To me, that means that I will not be able to play with my wife in smaller blocks unless I want to throw away 20% of the game. We have kids, friends and jobs, so we can't sit at the computer all day long.
Hero's Journey looks fantastic. The ideas behind the Journey System, the character customization (both in looks and in play), the hand-crafted instances, and the ability to interact on a deeper level with everyone and everything in the game just puts them over the top.
My only deciding factors are how much this will set me back each month and whether Simutronics will separate players and content by household income level.
Originally posted by Firnwind Well from what is known I would say Hero's Journey ... but to say the truth most things sound nearly too good to be true.
(Or at least I fear they might not be as great in the game as they sound on paper).
Aren't we all a jaded bunch of people, we MMOers. We've actually gotten to the point where it's acceptable, and mostly realistic, to say "What's on paper is not not to be trusted, and we won't expect to see it in game until the game is released and we can see it with our own eyes." Not saying I disagree with you, in fact I completely agree. Though I do have a lot of faith in Simutronics, due to their HeroEngine and their philosophy, that they'll do a majority of what they promise.
Originally posted by benoa Vanguard is my vote.....if they can pull off the no instancing thing without the lag caused in other titles that have attempted it. I play mmo's because i like playing in a full and open world. Instancing feels like being crammed into a bottle.
Hehe I like this argument. It'd be like me saying "You guys enjoy your mob competition and camping, kill stealing, corpse runs, difficulty getting 'end game' loot due to lack of raiding groups etc, while we're doing our instanced, highly detailed, extremely well scripted-yet-dynamic dungeon crawls, while hunting for Wyr and other goodies. Meaning, there's no use you looking at Hero's Journey to begin with if that's the kind of game you're looking for, as you've stated. Just as there is no way in hell I'm playing Vanguard after chats I've had and the philosophy behind the game.
And to be honest, I find it really quite pointless to be having this thread conversation. It's like comparing EQ2 and WoW as everyone did for months and months. Two completely different game philosophies. Well, originally until SoE absorbed all the things in WoW that worked.
You're better off comparing maybe Age of Conan and Hero's Journey, and then Vanguard and Roma Victor or something.
Regardless, I'm passing on MMOs until Conan and HJ are released. Not even giving Vanguard a sideways glance due to the very focus of the game. No thankyou sir. I actually have a life to live. Vanguard doesn't seem to be allowing for one.
"(The) Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude." - George W Bush. Oh. My. God.
This would be a hard choice for me because I've been following both Hero's Journey and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes since their inception. Hero's Journey won't be out this year, but Vanguard is expected to launch this winter so I'll likely start up with Vangaurd.
The optimist in me wishes EVERY game that came out would be fun and exciting and absorbing for me.
The rest of me (99.9%) is a "realist", which, most cases (99.9%) is the same as a pessimist. This part of me understands that online gaming is still fairly new, and that the fact a game is "MMO" doesn't make it better than say a game like Oblivion or NWN2. Community is great and all, but having observed human behavior my whole life (34 years now), been a programmer for 26 years (I started early ), and having played MUDs since 1991, and MMO's since AC1/EQ1, I find that the online community reflects the "reality" all too well. I wouldn't group with most people in these games, much like I wouldn't take a vacation or go to a movie with most people either in reality.
I tend to have a core group of friends I stick with, who know me, and I know them, we "play well together", we're laid back, we aren't greedy, and there is a high level of *TRUST*. Trust, in my opinion is a thing often overlooked in the makings of a MMO "Community". In DDO, trust isn't as required for instance because loot is assigned . In WoW, if you "tap" a mob, its yours until you run away, die, or defeat it (No KSing, etc). In random pick up groups, as advocated by a game like Vanguard, there is very LITTLE trust to be had. You can find yourself spending hours with people you don't know, and all of a sudden, *WHAM* their true colors come out, and you find yourself hosed by these people. And, sadly, in THEIR minds, they think this is "all right", because if they hadn't done it to YOU, YOU'D have done it to THEM. Or, an even worse case scenario, you find out your warrior is one of those guys who thinks that just because HE'S at full life, means everyone else is ready to move on... *screams*.
So I am leery of "Vision" oriented games or games that focus almost solely on grouping or PvPing. I *hope* Vanguard is an incredibly fun game, but I realize.... it most likely won't be.
Hero's Journey on the other hand, sounds more reasonable in its game design. While I don't care much about sitting on stumps, etc, their overall game design sounds friendlier to the normal player, one who wants to have fun, and not have to sit at his PC for 6 hours to get it. So we shall see...
I vote in favor of Hero's Journey. I have tracked the growth of various mmos, and Hero's Journey seems to be the most promising of them. Vanguard on the other hand seem more like the correction of an error EQII made when it went over to SOE. While vanguard will likely be a well built game, I feel the Hero's Journey will have a lot more TLC from its makers.
Comments
Well from what is known I would say Hero's Journey ... but to say the truth most things sound nearly too good to be true.
(Or at least I fear they might not be as great in the game as they sound on paper).
Taken this into the decision I slightly prefer Vanguard right now because it takes on refining things to a next level even if it is not innovative.
In the end I will keep both games in memory and see which I may call a new home in the future
All politics aside now...
Still HJ, even if it isn't the OMGWTF amazing game everyone dreams of it is still a new game and concept. I don't like paying for a new box on an old game.
Vanguard is looking good. The move to SOE hurt their reputation a whole lot. However, it really does look like EQII, done right - this coming from a veteran of both EQ and EQII.
Even so, the idea behind Vanguard is of long travel times, spaced apart players and a full 20% of the content geared towards full day raiding. To me, that means that I will not be able to play with my wife in smaller blocks unless I want to throw away 20% of the game. We have kids, friends and jobs, so we can't sit at the computer all day long.
Hero's Journey looks fantastic. The ideas behind the Journey System, the character customization (both in looks and in play), the hand-crafted instances, and the ability to interact on a deeper level with everyone and everything in the game just puts them over the top.
My only deciding factors are how much this will set me back each month and whether Simutronics will separate players and content by household income level.
Not saying I disagree with you, in fact I completely agree. Though I do have a lot of faith in Simutronics, due to their HeroEngine and their philosophy, that they'll do a majority of what they promise. Hehe I like this argument. It'd be like me saying "You guys enjoy your mob competition and camping, kill stealing, corpse runs, difficulty getting 'end game' loot due to lack of raiding groups etc, while we're doing our instanced, highly detailed, extremely well scripted-yet-dynamic dungeon crawls, while hunting for Wyr and other goodies.
Meaning, there's no use you looking at Hero's Journey to begin with if that's the kind of game you're looking for, as you've stated. Just as there is no way in hell I'm playing Vanguard after chats I've had and the philosophy behind the game.
And to be honest, I find it really quite pointless to be having this thread conversation. It's like comparing EQ2 and WoW as everyone did for months and months. Two completely different game philosophies. Well, originally until SoE absorbed all the things in WoW that worked.
You're better off comparing maybe Age of Conan and Hero's Journey, and then Vanguard and Roma Victor or something.
Regardless, I'm passing on MMOs until Conan and HJ are released. Not even giving Vanguard a sideways glance due to the very focus of the game. No thankyou sir.
I actually have a life to live. Vanguard doesn't seem to be allowing for one.
"(The) Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude." - George W Bush.
Oh. My. God.
Nelson K. Thachuk
Stratics Media Group
FINAL FANTASY XI Stratics
The optimist in me wishes EVERY game that came out would be fun and exciting and absorbing for me.
The rest of me (99.9%) is a "realist", which, most cases (99.9%) is the same as a pessimist. This part of me understands that online gaming is still fairly new, and that the fact a game is "MMO" doesn't make it better than say a game like Oblivion or NWN2. Community is great and all, but having observed human behavior my whole life (34 years now), been a programmer for 26 years (I started early
), and having played MUDs since 1991, and MMO's since AC1/EQ1, I find that the online community reflects the "reality" all too well. I wouldn't group with most people in these games, much like I wouldn't take a vacation or go to a movie with most people either in reality.
I tend to have a core group of friends I stick with, who know me, and I know them, we "play well together", we're laid back, we aren't greedy, and there is a high level of *TRUST*. Trust, in my opinion is a thing often overlooked in the makings of a MMO "Community". In DDO, trust isn't as required for instance because loot is assigned
. In WoW, if you "tap" a mob, its yours until you run away, die, or defeat it (No KSing, etc). In random pick up groups, as advocated by a game like Vanguard, there is very LITTLE trust to be had. You can find yourself spending hours with people you don't know, and all of a sudden, *WHAM* their true colors come out, and you find yourself hosed by these people. And, sadly, in THEIR minds, they think this is "all right", because if they hadn't done it to YOU, YOU'D have done it to THEM. 
Or, an even worse case scenario, you find out your warrior is one of those guys 
who thinks that just because HE'S at full life, means everyone else is ready to move on... *screams*.
So I am leery of "Vision" oriented games or games that focus almost solely on grouping or PvPing. I *hope* Vanguard is an incredibly fun game, but I realize.... it most likely won't be.
Hero's Journey on the other hand, sounds more reasonable in its game design. While I don't care much about sitting on stumps, etc, their overall game design sounds friendlier to the normal player, one who wants to have fun, and not have to sit at his PC for 6 hours to get it. So we shall see...
I vote in favor of Hero's Journey. I have tracked the growth of various mmos, and Hero's Journey seems to be the most promising of them. Vanguard on the other hand seem more like the correction of an error EQII made when it went over to SOE. While vanguard will likely be a well built game, I feel the Hero's Journey will have a lot more TLC from its makers.