Alright guys, I have been playing AION for a few days now and I am far from being eligible to give a review, but I would like to post a few "first" impressions, here we go:

PROs:

• Great graphics, both in design as well as animation, interesting and quirky monsters. Good Performance as well
  
• Good music, very atmospheric and diverse
• Amazing character customization, at least there will not be a clone wars feeling (dont know about the items yet)
• Combat is a bit more exciting than WOW, due to the "Skill Chains" (Skills that trigger the availability of other skills)
• Players can open up "private stores", which means they can pretty much sit down anywhere and offer their goods, which makes economy a bit more fun and lively
  

CONs:

• Quest Design: All quests are pure grinding quests, go and kill x monsters, am Level 15 and have not encountered a single quest that was different, gets very boring and you do not care about the story anymore
• Drop System: You do not find many interesting things from MOBs, all the good weapons come from quest rewards or auction house, which takes away some of the fun "hunting" for you gear
• Lots of bots and gold farmers around
• Powergames community, people refuse to group so they get more EXP soloing etc.
• The crafting system is polished but to linear, no recipe drops and you can basically craft whatever you want, when you want as long as you are willing to spend hours doing the same thing
• The ****s may be but do not look diverse and you cannot really tell a caster from a gladiator just by looking at it
• No playable races (all human)
• A lot of game functions (channels, godstones etc.) are not explained in the manual or tutorial
• Very linear world/story progression, you will never have the choice where to go, as the world is constructed linear (not like WOW, where you have multiple areas you could continue to level)
  

Last Night, I had a discussion with a friend regarding how MMOs, by now, are established as the new major form of gaming (at least they are regarded as such by the majority) and the flood of releases is not stopping. Yet, there is a lack of MMO's which use licensed IPs (such as LOTR), I thought I might write a small list of possible licenses I could think of:

1. Harry Potter MMO:

In a Nutshell: Playing a pupil of Hogwarts school for witches and wizards based on the popular series of books by JK Roawling

****s / Skills / Equip: There could be various school of magic, all related to which are mentioned in the book, apparition, leviathon, defense against the dark arts etc. Furthermore, the four "houses" could be some sort of character ****s, giving you various benefits in form of access to the respective dorm rooms etc.Generic items such as staffs, wands, orbs etc, and unique items such as the "invisibility coat" or the "magic map"

Leveling / Quests: I think there could be 7 tiers (7 years of school) with 10 levels each. Unfortunately, the "year" system might be a bit unhandy, considering it would not make sense for someone to get out of sync with players who started out in the same year only because he leveled up faster. Maybe, the game could introduce and new mechanic, which years advancing once a month, and pupils would have to qualify for advancement by doing a special quest beside being the correct level ? Quests are easy, with such a rich lore, there can be quests given by other kids, teachers, parents and so forth. There could be outside areas, the school, dungeons and maybe even rifts into other realms and worlds (Think Goblet of Fire)

Characters / Monsters: Cameos by the movie characters, loads to choose and for the monsters you take the high fantasy mishmash Roawling offers in her books, a mix of mythological creatures and weird new creations

PVP: Maybe a competitive "House" scoring system, related to accomplished quests, loot gathered, monsters slain and other fields of competition such as exploration and quidditch games. The game should introduce lots of casual games (regarding the target audience), like in puzzle pirates. Puzzle brewing, rune stacking or else, to spice up the competitiveness as well as the casuality of the game

Endgame content: Tricky one, the book does not elaborate on that and mentioned a few characters here in there, furthermore, it does not make sense for pupils to "stay" in Hogwarts. The best way to go would probably to create "Dynasties" like in the books (The Potters, The Malfoys) and create new characters which are alternated by their "parents" (your previous chars) so you can inherit items and skills etc. as well as have your own family crest, books in the library, trophies in the trophy room etc.

Any Good ?: I think it would be, the system for some sort of linear levelling is in place, as well as rich lore and an amazingly popular IP.

2. BLADE RUNNER MMO:

In a Nutshell: The players take on the roles of Blade Runners, Replicants and the Military/Government in a dystopian metropolis

****s / Skills / Equip: Various forms of Blade Runner, specializing on various futuristic skills, The Marksman, The Hacker, The Driver, The Socializer etc. Same for the Replicants, except they have different goals, which may related to what they were created for, the Hauler, Driver, Prostitute, Security Staff etc. The Government ****s could range from straightforward Military units to spies. The skills could be sorted into fighting skills (weapon skills), technical (driving / hacking / crafting) and Social (manipulative) skills / magic (Hypnotizing / Tracking / Cybertech). Equip is an easy one, an abundance of melee and long range weapons. Armour should be focussing on cybertech instead of ****c armour. he ambigiuity of all character ****s (replicants look like humans, humans might work for the gov. they might not etc.) there could be a high amount if infiltration quests, so that player do not really know whether their opposite is actually a replicant or not and first need to test them etc. There could be skills / equip improving the chance to tell whether a player is a replicant. Furthermore, the governemt players could be both pro or contra replicant (measured by a corruption level) which in turn cannot be spotted as well on first glance by other players. Intriguing

Leveling / Quests: ****c Leveling system about 40 levels, the game is set in one big city, with unlockable areas (depending on authorization levels). Sewers, abandoned buildings, skytowers, outskirts etc. The quests are mostly generic (kill, fetch, explore). T

Characters / Monsters: Character types based on the movies, many sleazy folk and corrupt government workers

PVP: The three way competitive PVP. Both in direct combat (connected quests, which are random and times), as well as in overall achievment and control of the city. There could be areas which give the factions benefits if controlled

Endgame content: Grinding / PVP

Any Good: SciFi is not in vogue in the moment and Blade Runner not as popular as it once was due to the lack of any content coming from that IP, yet the atmosphere of the game would be a nice change from all the goofy and kiddy games around. The three way PVP system would make for great replayability and world dynamics, must be implented well though and might be a turkey. The fact that all player ****s are of the same race (seemingly), the game could ass a lot of suspense as game mechanic, creating and atmosphere of claustropobic mistrust and insecurity.

3. ANNE RICE's Vampire Chronicles MMO

In a Nutshell: The players are either Vampires or Hunters in the game set in the real world (specific era, maybe something eerie such as 1890), loosely based on the books by Anne Rice

****s / Skills / Equip: The character ****s would not be as variable as other vampire games (such as Bloodlines) due to the lack of vampire races, but the vampires ****s could be dependent on what they did before they were awoken and who awoke them. The same for the hunters, considering that vampire hunting might not be (other than in rare) occasions a full time job or something you come across as a youth, the characters have rich backgrounds relating to professions or social tiers. There are tiers of shared skills (fighting etc.), unique vampire skills and unique Hunter skills (with the hunter skills being related to secret hunting lodge knowledge and sacral stuff). Equip is real-world equipment, clothes / armour as well as special vampire hunting gear and relics for the vampires.

Leveling / Quests: ****c Leveling systems, the game should take place either in Europ or America (maybe the new world), and set in four or five city tiers (like Bloodlines). Quests are generic, except that vampires need to maintain their blood levels and their secrecy as well. Vampire Hunters of course must gather clues, fight lesser monsters etc.

Characters / Monsters: Real World inspired, but obviously some professions should be included like priests, renegades, artists, magivians etc. Monsters could be (apart from Player controlled vampires), ghouls, werwolves, lowert tier critters, bats etc.

PVP: Crucial to the game but hard to implement. The should be a system that Vampires leave "clues" and "marks" when fulfilling a quest only clumsily or dropping their secrety. Depending on their "secrecy" status, vampires can or cannot be found by the hunters (visibility, acessability of the hideout). It would be great if players would play both hunters and vampires, hunters during the day and vampires in the night, so that there could be a lot of intrigue going in between the vampires themselves, keeping their hideout and plans secret. There must be a lot of instanced and randomly generated quests, so that Hunters can never be sure where the Vampires hide and what they are up to. Vampires who are killed are thrown back into a lower tier and can "return" after a while (they loose XP as well etc.) Hunters who are killed can become vampires when the player's other vampire characters reaches a certain level.

Endgame content: Grinding / PVP

Any Good: The high interconnectivity of the hunter/vampire players is a big challenge, especially due to the fact that the hunters do not follow any other goals than to hunt the vampires, this might or might not limited the game experience. Hence my advice to let the vampire players play the hunters during the "day". Obviously there must be a benefit from doing that, eleminating other vampire players and/or earning points and rewards for playing a good hunter for the vampire aspect of the game

3. ANNE RICE's Vampire Chronicles MMO

In a Nutshell: The players are either Vampires or Hunters in the game set in the real world (specific era, maybe something eerie such as 1890), loosely based on thebooks by Anne Rice

****s / Skills / Equip: The character ****s would not be as variable as other vampire games (such as Bloodlines) due to the lack of vampire races, but the vampires ****s could be dependent on what they did before they were awoken and who awoke them. The same for the hunters, considering that vampire hunting might not be (other than in rare) occasions a full time job or something you come across as a youth, the characters have rich backgrounds relating to professions or social tiers. There are tiers of shared skills (fighting etc.), unique vampire skills and unique Hunter skills (with the hunter skills being related to secret hunting lodge knowledge and sacral stuff). Equip is real-world equipment, clothes / armour as well as special vampire hunting gear and relics for the vampires.

Leveling / Quests: ****c Leveling systems, the game should take place either in Europ or America (maybe the new world), and set in four or five city tiers (like Bloodlines). Quests are generic, except that vampires need to maintain their blood levels and their secrecy as well. Vampire Hunters of course must gather clues, fight lesser monsters etc.

Characters / Monsters: Real World inspired, but obviously some professions should be included like priests, renegades, artists, magivians etc. Monsters could be (apart from Player controlled vampires), ghouls, werwolves, lowert tier critters, bats etc.

PVP: Crucial to the game but hard to implement. The should be a system that Vampires leave "clues" and "marks" when fulfilling a quest only clumsily or dropping their secrety. Depending on their "secrecy" status, vampires can or cannot be found by the hunters (visibility, acessability of the hideout). It would be great if players would play both hunters and vampires, hunters during the day and vampires in the night, so that there could be a lot of intrigue going in between the vampires themselves, keeping their hideout and plans secret. There must be a lot of instanced and randomly generated quests, so that Hunters can never be sure where the Vampires hide and what they are up to. Vampires who are killed are thrown back into a lower tier and can "return" after a while (they loose XP as well etc.) Hunters who are killed can become vampires when the player's other vampire characters reaches a certain level.

Endgame content: Grinding / PVP

Any Good: The high interconnectivity of the hunter/vampire players is a big challenge, especially due to the fact that the hunters do not follow any other goals than to hunt the vampires, this might or might not limited the game experience. Hence my advice to let the vampire players play the hunters during the "day". Obviously there must be a benefit from doing that, eleminating other vampire players and/or earning points and rewards for playing a good hunter for the vampire aspect of the game

I will post more in the next few days. So what are your suggestions though ?!

Hello everyone,

just a quick update that I am still alive, I have been spending quite some time on Giantbomb lately, because I like to get involved and contribute to the site wikistyle, it is fun, but I won't desert Gamspot for that. I have been playing many games lately and I keep going back to old ones, maybe I am becoming nostalgic ? I bought two CDs full of old Amiga games and emulators and it is amazing fun.

Now, I have been discussing the issue of giving games a "chance" with friends recently and I'd like your opinion on that:

When do you decide to call it quits when you play a game ? How many hours you think one should invest in a game before abadoning it for good ?

Let me know

River

You know, now that I bought Spore: Galactic Adventures, once again I felt the ancient misagonic philosophy of Sartre rise up in my guts: "Hell is other people". One reason why I am not as enthusiastic about the latest (by now, rather old) trend of Internet gaming, which really kicked off with World of Wacraft and found its most ambitious contender in Spore (innovative wise), is that it pretty much relies on other peoples' social skills and ability to function in a community.

But as we all know, with more than 5 people in one spot, there is chaos, stampede and mayhem. I notice it every day, on the bus when people refuse to move, when reaching under tables to find colonies of little gums living there, in traffic, in cinema, in football stadiums, the list goes on. What now gave me the optimism to buy a game like Spore and Spore:GA ?

To be honest, I do not know. The game's premise is good enough and the adventure maker quite powerful, yet intuitive, but the are so many spam adventures around that are broken, buggy or simple cheats to get all achievments, that I already lost interested in the game, after a few days. The idea is good, but the world is not ready (like communism really). This is what ruined WOW for me, I was always interested in roleplaying, emerging in other worlds, taking a break from the hussle of the rat race I endure in real life. But all I ecountered was ROFLZ-Kidz. Why would I pay money for that.

There has always been a roaring discussion going out what the best type of content suits the game. Auhored by the game designers ? Random generated ? Or the newest fix - User generated ?

You can only get true depth and streamline with designed levels / plots / games, but some people prefer the challenge and feel of dynamic games. Think civilization which is quite random in its own way, or the ****c Diablo series which took randomization to a new level (Items) and gave it a true feel of a living & breathing world. The thing is, a little imagination will go a long way. For example, to me Diablo was not random enough so I started including more randomizers in my own game. Instead of choosing the stats and talents I rolled a dice to decide which one I had to choose, thus I had to change my playing ****and struggle with the weirdest of characters and combinations, which was way more fun than the powergaming I did before. Now, I imagined playinga character who is just as powerful as flawed, like Batman in a way. You should try it.

There is huge potential in user-generated content, mark my words, Imagine a game like World of Warcraft, whose flow and technical brilliance are unargued with a content that is created by the users without lowering the quality. User-generated quests, monsters, weapons, character ****s and so forth. But how to avoid the spam ?

I think the best way to go is to rely on peoples' willingness to participate in the game, but don't go around and give everyone the tools needed to make or break the game. Let people "nominate" users which are known to create good content (on a test real for example) and then slowly gather an army of volunteer designers which are handpicked but diverse.

If you think about it, a game like Diablo 2 for example is basically a very simple program which relies heavily on algorithms, but the principle game design is straigtforward and in every case very much expendable. You could easily include 1000 new monsters, items and quests (which has been done through mods) without changing the game's core.

People underestimate how important the "feel" of a game is. The ancient race of power gamers which is dying out (Thank god) is replaced by people, who have been branded "Casual Gamers". In my opinion, casual gamer means nothing but "normal person", does it not ? With WOW, gaming has been reliefed of its cellardwelling trollstatus and become a common commoditiy, which is both a good and a bad thing.

Now going back on topic, there is still too much of a divide between gamers who enjoy being powerful and gamers who enjoy the ride and the beauty. Spore and The Sims are games which encourage experimenting and cherishing aesthetics. Gameplaywise there are no differences how your Sim or Spore creature looks, but it is all to the player. But is that not the reason why people should turn to recreation ? Many books are technically the same in their storyarcs and storylines, but it is the aesthetics and feel of the fiction which makes them enjoyable, not the "technique" or "core". Sherlock Holmes is different from Miss Marple because of **** not technique, which makes the sensation different.

Game designers for example took ages to understand that people wanted the option to play both female and male avatars of character ****s, even if there were no gameplay differences. Why ? Because it "feels" different.

Okay, that is enough rambling and random thoughts, please share yours

River

I love how ambitious SPORE is and it works better than one would expect, but is still far from a polished and entertaining experience.

Your opinions ?

River

Hello everyone,

have not been around for a while but I am still alive and kicking, just wanted to let you guys now. The infamous summer dry season of games has kicked in I am afraid. Despite being star guests on my wish lists I neither bought The Sims 3 nor Spore Galactic Adventures. I cannot really say why, I guess I am not the kind of person anymore who enjoys simulating a household with no thrills and edges. Would love to try Spore GA but am not sure whether it is worth the money, considering that the Spor core game was pretty much a rip-off and disaster of a game.

So here is my question to you guys: Is Spore GA worth buying ? Are there many interesting user-created adventures out there ? And first and foremost, is it fun and addicting or does it become tedious and repetitive too soon ?



Who you gonna call ?

Okay, so the Ghostbusters video game turned out to bea budget titel, but at least it features the original cast as voice actors (though rumours has it, Bill Murray phones in his lines). It is a shame really, I think Ghostbusters would make for a great open-ended Cooperative game franchise. Just imagine: Left 4 Dead Gameplay (less but harder monsters, ghosts), Ghostbusters License (Cool cities, Dialogue, Ghosts, Equip, Car,Music, etc.), Open-Ended Gameplay (Dynamic city, generated quests and ghosts causing mischief), etc.Well, one can dream . . . *sigh*

Anyway, the good news is, that the game probably serves as antipasta for the upcoming (not really, 2012) Ghostbusters 3 movie, yay ! You look here.