The Secret World

[Morgoth]

Yes, MMO. Mummy help me you might think.

 

But this one looks pretty interesting, and might as well get me into the genre. Plus extraordinary writer-genius Ragnar Tornquist (The Longest Journey, Dreamfall) works on it, and he often claimed he wants to do something innovative with it. But yes, let's wait and see....

 

Check it out over Eurogamer!

 

And don't miss out the awesome concept art!

 

 

Oh yes, maybe you want to read the official Press release, too.

Edited May 11, 2007 by Morgoth

[metadigital]

You forgot the Secret Forum.

It's an MMO for PC and Xbox 360 that's being created by game director Ragnar T

[Morgoth]

I recognise Neo and Jacky Chan, but who is the girl?

 

Who? She looks hawt, that's all that matters.

Edited May 11, 2007 by Morgoth

[Morgoth]

Poster extraordinary. Hot Asian chicks and Cthulhu, who couldn't fall in love with such a game?

 

Edited May 11, 2007 by Morgoth

[Walsingham]

God DAMN that looks good. If the game themes are as good as the art it may take my MMO cherry!

[Alvin Nelson]

This looks good.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Looks good, but can it fundamentally change the way MMO's work and thus actually making them enjoyable to play?

[Alvin Nelson]

Looks good, but can it fundamentally change the way MMO's work and thus actually making them enjoyable to play?

 

LOL! that is the question!!

[Pop]

Hey, devs can't use netspeak

 

But the concept art is real promising. Maybe this is as close as we'll get to a CoC RPG?

Edited May 11, 2007 by Pop

[Musopticon?]

My god, that looks good.

[samm]

that looks... wait, has it been said before?...

[Diamond]

Yeah, I admit these pictures radiate so much coolness that I'm going to melt.

But this is only concept art, let's not jump to conclusions here.

[Xard]

Oh. My. God.

 

Game might be good, it might be bad, but this concept art is pure awesomeness.

[Pop]

So wait, isn't Funcom the same company that made the lukewarm and clunky Anarchy Online? Or am I mistaken?

 

*edit - It appears I am not mistaken.

 

What's true for Bethesda must also be true for Funcom. This game is going to suck.

Edited May 12, 2007 by Pop

[Oerwinde]

What MMOs need to do to make them enjoyable is remove the MMO aspect from them. What makes them so unenjoyable is that you are forced to play with other people.

[Morgoth]

What MMOs need to do to make them enjoyable is remove the MMO aspect from them. What makes them so unenjoyable is that you are forced to play with other people.

Agreed. Funcom is trying to adress this issue with their soon to be released "Age of Conan" MMO, by starting the game in a Single-Player mode for the first hour or so, then have the choice to continue alone or real MMO mode.

 

Here from the AoC FAQ:

 

 

6.1 Is there a single-player game in Age of Conan?

Yes, a part of the gameworld in Age of Conan will be single-player, but you always need to play online on our servers. Even though you are playing alone in an instance in the gameworld you still get the chance to communicate with your friends on the same server, as well as potentially thousands of other players.

 

Age of Conan is still a fully-fledged MMO, but we have taken some key lessons from the other games out there and decided to feature a limited single-player experience that in some ways plays out like a traditional RPG. When you first start out in the game, you will be spending the first hour or so completely alone before you stumble into the freebooter village of Tortage where you will suddenly start seeing other players. From here on you will be able to switch between single-player and multiplayer. During the day, you're always multiplayer, but during night you're all alone. You can switch between the two by sleeping at the inn. Once you reach level twenty and leave Tortage, then you will step into the massive MMO world where you're always multiplayer and where the day and night cycle is dynamic and independent of your actions.

 

6.4 Why have you chosen to have a single-player part at the start?

We believe this is a new and better way of introducing MMO players into the gameworld. We felt that many online games out there are too difficult to get into, so we tried to find a new approach. The mix of a single-player experience inside a MMO gameworld is our attempt to do something about that. They form one unique whole though, so you will feel that you are playing one complete game.

 

 

Well, that's certainly a step above WoW.

 

The more they go away from the stupid monster slaughter gameplay in TSW, the better.

[metadigital]

That's an interesting approach; it allows for a (common) background (and presumably skillset/s) to be imparted via the single-player campaign and the allows people to mingle.

 

What they need to do is have some sort of rating system, whereby people can meet freinds-of-friends, etc, so that the social groups needn't be needlessly getting on each other's ****.

[Dakar]

What MMOs need to do to make them enjoyable is remove the MMO aspect from them. What makes them so unenjoyable is that you are forced to play with other people.

 

What sucks about MMOs are the fact that the massive amounts of people breaks almost every game system.

 

The most fun I've had on an ORPG was a 100 or so person RP-based UO shard with a scaled down world.

 

The Secret World does look interesting, but I have doubts it can really redefine what it needs to in order to keep me happy. And if AO is any indication, this will be fun for a little and then be a chore when the imbalance and poor design catch up to it.

 

EDIT: Oh this is for 360 too? Then there is no way it doesn't suck.

Edited May 14, 2007 by Dakar

[Wistrik]

I'm not big on MMOs because I don't care for the usual types of people one tends to meet there, the inevitable hacks and cheats, and so on, so I usually end up soloing. If I'm going to solo then I might as well play singleplayer games. This game has interesting artwork (did everyone crawl out of the sea?), but I think I'll wait for future Dreamfall episodes instead.

[Walsingham]

I don't know why but I suddenly thought 'why don't we lead a sort of slave revolt of all those poor saps in the Far East being paid to do scut work for cash.'

 

Just kind of what is lacking in MMOs is more meta-currents of activity. Social change, schemes, etc

[metadigital]

Yeah, I guess that's the first step: win over people to the idea of equality and freedom for all. Then (in the real world) we can start to work through it with all the negative issues associated with such a scheme: corruption, indefinite and fluffy goals (what is "free", when do we know that someone rescued is able to be left, and in what condition, etc et cetera).

 

Changing tack: I wonder if Garriott will be able to create the "next gen" MMORPG with his new Tabla Rasa SF effort.

[Morgoth]

Certainly not. He isn't even really involved in Tabula Rasa. People just exploit his name, but he's actually "just" doing managing stuff and interviews.

[Walsingham]

Sobverting communist China... Hmmm. yeah, I'll buy that for a dollar.

[metadigital]

Certainly not. He isn't even really involved in Tabula Rasa. People just exploit his name, but he's actually "just" doing managing stuff and interviews.

... designer Richard Garriott, aka the legendary Lord British ... created the first major massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Ultima Online. Now Lord British and his team are putting the finishing touches on Tabula Rasa, a sci-fi MMORPG that's been in the works for over five years. We caught up with Lord British and producer Starr Long for the details.

 

GameSpot Preview

RG: We really wanted to make combat in Tabula Rasa feel different than the "whack-a-mole" combat of most online games. We wanted to combine the character progression of a role-playing game with the pace of an action game, without making it based on reflexes. We mix real-time elements like crouching (increases damage done) and cover (reduces damage taken) with role-playing elements like special powers (lightning, crab mines, and so on). Tactical decisions happen on many levels, from unique artificial intelligence (like shield drones who protect enemies) to damage types (EMP weapons take down shields, virulent weapons don't work on mechanicals, and so on).

 

On top of all this, non-player characters are constantly fighting each other (Bane versus AFS, predators versus prey, and so on) instead of just standing around waiting for you to kill them. We also try to make the AI as challenging as possible. Run behind cover to get away from being shot, and that Thrax soldier you messed with may just run around the corner and kick you in the face. It's not your typical massively multiplayer online game by any means.

Seems pretty involved to me.

[Morgoth]

Certainly not. He isn't even really involved in Tabula Rasa. People just exploit his name, but he's actually "just" doing managing stuff and interviews.

... designer Richard Garriott, aka the legendary Lord British ... created the first major massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Ultima Online. Now Lord British and his team are putting the finishing touches on Tabula Rasa, a sci-fi MMORPG that's been in the works for over five years. We caught up with Lord British and producer Starr Long for the details.

 

GameSpot Preview

RG: We really wanted to make combat in Tabula Rasa feel different than the "whack-a-mole" combat of most online games. We wanted to combine the character progression of a role-playing game with the pace of an action game, without making it based on reflexes. We mix real-time elements like crouching (increases damage done) and cover (reduces damage taken) with role-playing elements like special powers (lightning, crab mines, and so on). Tactical decisions happen on many levels, from unique artificial intelligence (like shield drones who protect enemies) to damage types (EMP weapons take down shields, virulent weapons don't work on mechanicals, and so on).

 

On top of all this, non-player characters are constantly fighting each other (Bane versus AFS, predators versus prey, and so on) instead of just standing around waiting for you to kill them. We also try to make the AI as challenging as possible. Run behind cover to get away from being shot, and that Thrax soldier you messed with may just run around the corner and kick you in the face. It's not your typical massively multiplayer online game by any means.

Seems pretty involved to me.

As I said, he's giving a lot of interviews - he talks. But the Lead Designer/System Designer etc. is someone else. He even admitted that once in some other interview. The times "Lord British" working his own ass of are over. Garriot is just a brand now.