As I had time today to look a bit at The Cronicles of Spellborn, I wanted to show u a link of the character creation in TCoS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHTDo0WH0Oo. I also still think that the feet are defintely too big, but I really like the huge variety of colors and other options to create your character. And what I saw from screenies, there are really pretty faces available too :)
First u have to decide if u wanna be "human" or "daevi" (this human/demon mixture thingie, the one with the wiered legs). If I saw it right u can be then either male or female (no gender restrictions to any classes).
In general it will be like this that there are 3 different archtypes you can choose from: warrior, rouge and spellcaster. when u reach level 5 u have to decide for the class that u really wanna play (but with the option that u can try all 3 first before u have to decide).
For Warrior: Wrathguard, Blood Warrior (roarrr, i like it :), Adept
For Rogues: Death Hand, Trickster, Skinshifter
For Spellcasters: Rune Mage, Void Seer, Ancestral Mage
skill system is skilldeck based, which means that u can create ur own skill deck, where u have 6 tiers available. in each tier u can put 5 skills. so in combat u have to use a skill of tier 1 first, which allows u to use a skill of tier 2, then u can use one of tier 3 and so on (till tier 6 and then u start again with a tier 1 skill). if I understood it right u can create quite mixed and different chars that way, cause for instance everyone can heal somehow, some better, some worse. by this they are trying to get rid of the typical tank, healer, dps classification. so the most important thing is to make good skilldecks, like u have to decide if its necessary to put a healing spell in every tier or instead use the space for other skills. with some skills u can also do combos (up to 10 skills in a row) which grant u special stuff if u do them right.
so what they claim now is that combat really depends on the skill and style u play, and not so much on the gear and weapons that u are using. what I saw from the gameplay vids the aiming is much more important as in AoC, which looks like a lot of fun. also the coordination in a group seems to be quite important.
there will be also a crafting system in the game, but I didnt look so far for any useful information about it yet. only thing i saw was that its seems to be probleamtic as its not clear yet where it will go and whats the aim of crafting so far.
so if we can all ignore our big feet I think the game looks like a lot of fun. the general graphics and the atmosphere seem to be nice, and the combat system looks quite challenging, as u have to run and jump around constantly and to aim precisly at your enemys the same time; very squishy everything :) but after AoC I realized that I definitely prefer a combat system like this than just target and press the buttons like in WAR!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
DDO not so ugly (not much more than war at least lol)
Ofc the armors look like cut on the body textures, more like pijamas than real armor but some are still nice.
Oh and side note for Kanu, the game is full of breakables crates and barrels and there are lots of epix chests ;). We're still lvl 2 though, it takes quite a while to level (bit slow esp when u redo things >_<.
But well levelling is very slow (16 lvl max) so we got 3 lvl 2 (2 mages, 1 fighter for me, 2 bards 1 priest for blinky).
Dungeons have traps but are fairly generic at start, it requires balanced group often to do it all (some area require 18 strength or 18 int to do) but not to do the main quest so we fare good for now, I die a lot as usual ;).
We tried a boss lvl 8 with a group, line of shield and me spanking spells behind, worked fine on second try. Actually still many people around (redoing chars mostly)
well I know kanu isn't sick anymore so won't blabla much ;) just wanted to post a few screenies, cya soon :)
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Foreshadowing 2010: Thinking of Kanu :p
Hey guys
Well haven't played much this week, somehow too tired to stay long in front of comp.
Hope you're doing well.
Ok here is the tid bitt of news that could be intersting in the long run.
There is a new MMO announced that is called Otherland.
It's from Tad Williams book (I read them, blinky probably will someday, 2010 might be too soon though) and the universe is really rich and interesting.
Basically it's all about virtual reality. In the book the characters follow different realms in this virtual reality so if the base is cyberpunk (just for kanu ;) ) the rest can be anything. War of the worlds, fantasy, big sized bathroom, etc...
This means that if the gameplay is right we could each find what we like in the same mmo which could be cool.
But well I don't know anything about the game yet (haven't found official site yet (if any)) but I'll be sure to follow it :)
Well haven't played much this week, somehow too tired to stay long in front of comp.
Hope you're doing well.
Ok here is the tid bitt of news that could be intersting in the long run.
There is a new MMO announced that is called Otherland.
It's from Tad Williams book (I read them, blinky probably will someday, 2010 might be too soon though) and the universe is really rich and interesting.
Basically it's all about virtual reality. In the book the characters follow different realms in this virtual reality so if the base is cyberpunk (just for kanu ;) ) the rest can be anything. War of the worlds, fantasy, big sized bathroom, etc...
This means that if the gameplay is right we could each find what we like in the same mmo which could be cool.
But well I don't know anything about the game yet (haven't found official site yet (if any)) but I'll be sure to follow it :)
Monday, September 29, 2008
get well soon :p
Hope you guys are feeling better! ;)
I know Kanu isn't bored enough to read blogs but as he's sick I still give a shot just in case :p who knows ;)
We didn't play much yesterday but gave a better try at ddo (played something like 2-3h).
I like it for now, blinky likes the fact it's more RPG than other mmo but find it a bit too dark for now (only did some sewers and dark caves). Couldn't resit buying it at 3€ and well if we really like it we'll of course spam u till u join us ;) but well I liked war at first too and it quickly grew boring to me so not gonna push u to try it, except if you find it at 3€ too ;). (normal price 45€, had quite an hard time to find it downtown (only 1 box but didn't buy it as I wasn't sure I'd find another one, then I went into a smaller shop near home and found THE bargain lol) well ofc my key was fuxored but the customer support went fast enough to resolve the problem (1 day).
Short review of what we saw:
Character Creation: I like it, Blinky found it puzzling. It has a bit more choices than WAR, much less than AoC (ofc). Fact is it follows some DDO rules so after customizing your toon, you have to pick spells, distribute points etc. I like to have a strict canvas that makes u feel u have control over ur char. Ofc when u never played a D&D game it's puzzling.
Graphics: well it's ugly, especially the characters and start equipment. I cranked the graphx up but then I get some slow downs in Stormreach (the main hub/city). Water and light effects are nice (some environment are really cool even if outdated) but the textures are really low and buildings are overly edgy.
The spells are looking very nice imho, not too much but more than what we could see in other games lately.
Controls: Probably the part that takes the most to get used to. Basically it's not like in other games: Right click = swing your weapon. Left click select. You can't go foward using your mouse only. You can turn the camera around using the left button (but then can't select except using tab). There is a targetting mode (key "T") that allows u to move the camera (and character, haven't found a way to make the camera face u) as u move the mouse (but then again can't select or click on abilities). It takes some time to get used to and leads to some mishandling during the first hour. However the game has some nice things for it, like jumping and grabbing an edge, it's quite reactive and u need to swing in the cone (no hard lock on target like on war), it's not aoc ofc (u still need to trigger an ability) but u can jump away from a hit and actually avoid it if fast enough.
Interface: another clunky part. The shortcut bars are easily to move around and duplicate, but you can't resize them (haven't found a way at least).
I don't like the inventory window, too small for my taste (and can't resize) and no hoover text to discover what is something used for. However u can get several bags that allow you to bring directly some items in them and sort them which is a really nice touch. It's not always easy to know where to find the right information.
Biggest grudge are the quests. You don't have a quest summary until you enter the quest area. And all the quests are listed together in the window even with those you have finished (just marked finished) so when u have several quests u don't always know which u just took or finished but didn't brought back. Chat windows are a bit weird too (you can't see everything like no clue how much money u grabbed)
Starting Area:It's fairly fast and boring (cuz it's solo). You have one challenge to make in the tavern that explains u how to play (nice enough) then u have the different trainings per class, nothing stops you to do those that aren't for ur class but you prolly won't succeed them anyway so I don't see the point. Hopefully it's done in 20 mins max.
Quests/Dungeons:All is instanced, so you get a quest to move to a "door" to enter the instance. Those we did for now are rather fast. There are some traps (that you need to avoid) and puzzles, sticking together is a must, blinky already found herself stuck away from me having to battle out before we could regroup cuz she went too fast ahead ;). You can't do the area completely without a balanced group as there are some doors that can only be moved by people with a lot of strength or to those who can detect invisible doors. but the objectives can always be done no matter the classes. It's fairly generic but the closed environment feel is there and I was rather immerse, there just a rush to be the first to crash crates and barrels in case there is something in it (and sometimes there is a surprise lol). As money isn't shared among all group members that tends to split the group. However the game has been fairly easy so far, I almost died once but that's all. Oh and there is a voice over telling u what u see a bit like a dungeon master but it's only for important stuffs in the quest area.
Game Mechanics: Hard to say at lvl 2 ofc. Levelling is slow (only 16 lvls I think), each level is cut in 5 rank, at each rank u gain one action point that you can spend at a trainer among an amount of feat (more choice with levels, not really intuitive however). Once u level it follows ddo rules, so depending the level you'll get feat points (strenght, wisdom etc), ability points, skill points, spells etc...
What I like is that the game have indeed that strict set of rules, hence lots of mobs are resistance to something and have a weak point (like crushing weps against skelettons). Knowing the lore helps to avoid spending precious spell points on a spell the mob is going to resist.
I'm playing a mage so I basically have to pick my spells beforehand among a selection, can only switch them while resting (at a tavern or a rest point, knowing u can only use the rest point once) so you have to think about which spells to take beforehand. Casting a spell often uses a physical element so you need to have enough in your inventory too.
Food helps recover faster but only in taverns. This means that apart from potions, only heals can help you recover health and only rest can bring back ur spell points. Sometimes it's thus better to hit with a staff than cast a spell.
Another thing I like is that the combat feels more alive because of the dice roll. So when u hit someone you see a dice that tells you how much u rolled. Same goes for heals, sometimes you're healed for 1hp sometime for 6. (am only having 30 at start).
You quickly get quests reward that allows u to change gear it seems, dunno how it evolves. As there are only 2 servers, there are still many people walking around (saw around 20 lowbies yesterday).
What I like less is the Stormreach lore instead of Forgotten realms, having mechanic mobs or forged race doesn't suit me much but the rest of the lore is there also.
Overall I think the game could be fun as a group but dunno what it has to offer on the long run, compared to launch I hope it has enough content now (back then u had to redo quests (u can redo them hard or elite) to reach lvl 4, thing that I hate) but I mostly hope it's more varied than just sewers (I read it's but waiting to see with my own eyes).
I know Kanu isn't bored enough to read blogs but as he's sick I still give a shot just in case :p who knows ;)
We didn't play much yesterday but gave a better try at ddo (played something like 2-3h).
I like it for now, blinky likes the fact it's more RPG than other mmo but find it a bit too dark for now (only did some sewers and dark caves). Couldn't resit buying it at 3€ and well if we really like it we'll of course spam u till u join us ;) but well I liked war at first too and it quickly grew boring to me so not gonna push u to try it, except if you find it at 3€ too ;). (normal price 45€, had quite an hard time to find it downtown (only 1 box but didn't buy it as I wasn't sure I'd find another one, then I went into a smaller shop near home and found THE bargain lol) well ofc my key was fuxored but the customer support went fast enough to resolve the problem (1 day).
Short review of what we saw:
Character Creation: I like it, Blinky found it puzzling. It has a bit more choices than WAR, much less than AoC (ofc). Fact is it follows some DDO rules so after customizing your toon, you have to pick spells, distribute points etc. I like to have a strict canvas that makes u feel u have control over ur char. Ofc when u never played a D&D game it's puzzling.
Graphics: well it's ugly, especially the characters and start equipment. I cranked the graphx up but then I get some slow downs in Stormreach (the main hub/city). Water and light effects are nice (some environment are really cool even if outdated) but the textures are really low and buildings are overly edgy.
The spells are looking very nice imho, not too much but more than what we could see in other games lately.
Controls: Probably the part that takes the most to get used to. Basically it's not like in other games: Right click = swing your weapon. Left click select. You can't go foward using your mouse only. You can turn the camera around using the left button (but then can't select except using tab). There is a targetting mode (key "T") that allows u to move the camera (and character, haven't found a way to make the camera face u) as u move the mouse (but then again can't select or click on abilities). It takes some time to get used to and leads to some mishandling during the first hour. However the game has some nice things for it, like jumping and grabbing an edge, it's quite reactive and u need to swing in the cone (no hard lock on target like on war), it's not aoc ofc (u still need to trigger an ability) but u can jump away from a hit and actually avoid it if fast enough.
Interface: another clunky part. The shortcut bars are easily to move around and duplicate, but you can't resize them (haven't found a way at least).
I don't like the inventory window, too small for my taste (and can't resize) and no hoover text to discover what is something used for. However u can get several bags that allow you to bring directly some items in them and sort them which is a really nice touch. It's not always easy to know where to find the right information.
Biggest grudge are the quests. You don't have a quest summary until you enter the quest area. And all the quests are listed together in the window even with those you have finished (just marked finished) so when u have several quests u don't always know which u just took or finished but didn't brought back. Chat windows are a bit weird too (you can't see everything like no clue how much money u grabbed)
Starting Area:It's fairly fast and boring (cuz it's solo). You have one challenge to make in the tavern that explains u how to play (nice enough) then u have the different trainings per class, nothing stops you to do those that aren't for ur class but you prolly won't succeed them anyway so I don't see the point. Hopefully it's done in 20 mins max.
Quests/Dungeons:All is instanced, so you get a quest to move to a "door" to enter the instance. Those we did for now are rather fast. There are some traps (that you need to avoid) and puzzles, sticking together is a must, blinky already found herself stuck away from me having to battle out before we could regroup cuz she went too fast ahead ;). You can't do the area completely without a balanced group as there are some doors that can only be moved by people with a lot of strength or to those who can detect invisible doors. but the objectives can always be done no matter the classes. It's fairly generic but the closed environment feel is there and I was rather immerse, there just a rush to be the first to crash crates and barrels in case there is something in it (and sometimes there is a surprise lol). As money isn't shared among all group members that tends to split the group. However the game has been fairly easy so far, I almost died once but that's all. Oh and there is a voice over telling u what u see a bit like a dungeon master but it's only for important stuffs in the quest area.
Game Mechanics: Hard to say at lvl 2 ofc. Levelling is slow (only 16 lvls I think), each level is cut in 5 rank, at each rank u gain one action point that you can spend at a trainer among an amount of feat (more choice with levels, not really intuitive however). Once u level it follows ddo rules, so depending the level you'll get feat points (strenght, wisdom etc), ability points, skill points, spells etc...
What I like is that the game have indeed that strict set of rules, hence lots of mobs are resistance to something and have a weak point (like crushing weps against skelettons). Knowing the lore helps to avoid spending precious spell points on a spell the mob is going to resist.
I'm playing a mage so I basically have to pick my spells beforehand among a selection, can only switch them while resting (at a tavern or a rest point, knowing u can only use the rest point once) so you have to think about which spells to take beforehand. Casting a spell often uses a physical element so you need to have enough in your inventory too.
Food helps recover faster but only in taverns. This means that apart from potions, only heals can help you recover health and only rest can bring back ur spell points. Sometimes it's thus better to hit with a staff than cast a spell.
Another thing I like is that the combat feels more alive because of the dice roll. So when u hit someone you see a dice that tells you how much u rolled. Same goes for heals, sometimes you're healed for 1hp sometime for 6. (am only having 30 at start).
You quickly get quests reward that allows u to change gear it seems, dunno how it evolves. As there are only 2 servers, there are still many people walking around (saw around 20 lowbies yesterday).
What I like less is the Stormreach lore instead of Forgotten realms, having mechanic mobs or forged race doesn't suit me much but the rest of the lore is there also.
Overall I think the game could be fun as a group but dunno what it has to offer on the long run, compared to launch I hope it has enough content now (back then u had to redo quests (u can redo them hard or elite) to reach lvl 4, thing that I hate) but I mostly hope it's more varied than just sewers (I read it's but waiting to see with my own eyes).
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Look ... whats that !? is there maybe a new MMO on the horizon?
Darkfall Online
http://www.darkfallonline.com/
In my weekly routine with checking gamesites for upcoming games and beta registrations, I stumbled over this. After filling out the beta registration, which I do usually without the demand to know much about a game, I started reading about the features. To make the story short - no breaking new features - but they picked a lot of good things from other games.
http://www.darkfallonline.com/
In my weekly routine with checking gamesites for upcoming games and beta registrations, I stumbled over this. After filling out the beta registration, which I do usually without the demand to know much about a game, I started reading about the features. To make the story short - no breaking new features - but they picked a lot of good things from other games.
- Graphic looks nice on the screenshots. on the movie you see that they have still some work to do especially the character animations.
- Skillbased character advancing frees me from the class picking discussion
- Factions
- Solid death penalty
- You can push other people, which makes me wanna meet on a bridge with you :)
- NPCs to hire for certain tasks (bag-carrier)
- no PvP Restrictions with the tradoff to ruin your faction standing
- ...
Thursday, September 25, 2008
De "war"
Well had a talk yesterday with blinky and none of us are convinced by WAR so far. :/
Nothing to do with the grafx, it's ugly but I'm used to it now :).
We knew it was a pvp centric game but didn't expect the pve side to be so barren.
Put it this way: we like instances (dungeons) and there are none :(. That's our main grief.
The game has lots of qualities, it's well thought out, it's polished, there are tons of stuffs to do...in theory.
Basically right now all the Public quests are the same and few are oustanding/surprising (except the first dark elf one and the first empire one so far that have a bit more cinematic approach). The chore of it is all about grinding and after a few it gets boring to me. (also the fact that in the end we fight the same mobs ad nauseum)
Everything feels very repetitive, be it pvp or pve so far. They made a tremendous effort to flesh out the quests but tbh we don't read them much and it's too much run and bring back once more (doing quests in batch isn't a good option so far cuz it'll force u to redo areas).
Ofc the class I play have something to do in it (pretty static) but still the progression doesn't suit me either (not enough gear for my taste) and overall I find the immersion factor pretty poor. I don't even see any other class that would fit my style and meet my "fun" requirements (hear look good enough to my eyes for me to identify to my char)
Where AoC was intense in combat here I feel like mashing the same button over and over again for little gain. I don't feel my skills are counting much as in the end it all ends up to a roll of dice (in pq) or to levels (in pvp).
Problem is right now I don't feel like playing much (I'd not even consider playing war solo), the only thing that makes me wanna play is play with you guys lol. Which is sort of bad when I haven't even reached the end of the free month (usually I get tired of an mmo after the first free month not during, hence my concerns)
Dunno if it's an mmo's fatigue from me (never been doing mmo's non stop for so long and there are games ahead that I'll wanna try for sure lol), but I know blinky isn't happy with it so far either so there isn't only that.
Maybe it'll get better with levels but I sort of doubt it and dunno if I wanna put the effort in it. :/
Tbh I don't feel like going back to AoC now, the wound is still too fresh for us to get back there. I prolly won't before the expansion is out.
And I don't see many games I haven't tried and disliked lol. (as I hate redoing things)
For the moment am thinking of giving a try to dungeons and dragons online: stormreach (I'd have preferred it centered around Forgotten Realms than stormreach but well...) like I told u (when I get time I'll try to check the shops for it). I don't have high hopes for it but the game is dungeons centric (instances everywhere) and would probably suit me more than war.
Again just ranting and maybe next playtime will prove me wrong but well am sort of convinced now that WAR just isn't for me no matter its qualities.
Nothing to do with the grafx, it's ugly but I'm used to it now :).
We knew it was a pvp centric game but didn't expect the pve side to be so barren.
Put it this way: we like instances (dungeons) and there are none :(. That's our main grief.
The game has lots of qualities, it's well thought out, it's polished, there are tons of stuffs to do...in theory.
Basically right now all the Public quests are the same and few are oustanding/surprising (except the first dark elf one and the first empire one so far that have a bit more cinematic approach). The chore of it is all about grinding and after a few it gets boring to me. (also the fact that in the end we fight the same mobs ad nauseum)
Everything feels very repetitive, be it pvp or pve so far. They made a tremendous effort to flesh out the quests but tbh we don't read them much and it's too much run and bring back once more (doing quests in batch isn't a good option so far cuz it'll force u to redo areas).
Ofc the class I play have something to do in it (pretty static) but still the progression doesn't suit me either (not enough gear for my taste) and overall I find the immersion factor pretty poor. I don't even see any other class that would fit my style and meet my "fun" requirements (hear look good enough to my eyes for me to identify to my char)
Where AoC was intense in combat here I feel like mashing the same button over and over again for little gain. I don't feel my skills are counting much as in the end it all ends up to a roll of dice (in pq) or to levels (in pvp).
Problem is right now I don't feel like playing much (I'd not even consider playing war solo), the only thing that makes me wanna play is play with you guys lol. Which is sort of bad when I haven't even reached the end of the free month (usually I get tired of an mmo after the first free month not during, hence my concerns)
Dunno if it's an mmo's fatigue from me (never been doing mmo's non stop for so long and there are games ahead that I'll wanna try for sure lol), but I know blinky isn't happy with it so far either so there isn't only that.
Maybe it'll get better with levels but I sort of doubt it and dunno if I wanna put the effort in it. :/
Tbh I don't feel like going back to AoC now, the wound is still too fresh for us to get back there. I prolly won't before the expansion is out.
And I don't see many games I haven't tried and disliked lol. (as I hate redoing things)
For the moment am thinking of giving a try to dungeons and dragons online: stormreach (I'd have preferred it centered around Forgotten Realms than stormreach but well...) like I told u (when I get time I'll try to check the shops for it). I don't have high hopes for it but the game is dungeons centric (instances everywhere) and would probably suit me more than war.
Again just ranting and maybe next playtime will prove me wrong but well am sort of convinced now that WAR just isn't for me no matter its qualities.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
DDO Dancing mobs
Vid of a guy making mobs to dance with a spell. Priceless.
Danger Danger High Voltage!
Danger Danger High Voltage!
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