Oh geez ... new MMO by Square-Enix

[fohfoh]

Alan Wake was pretty nostalgic. That's probably why I liked it. However, it had good controls. None of that RE/RE2/Dino Crisis spinning shit. Sort of like controlling a remote control car.

My new wants for a game:

1. Game play!
2. Controls (Pretty much the above... but more specific)
3. Theme
4. Graphics

I can easily overlook 3 and 4 if 1 and 2 are done well. (ie: Dead Space)

I'm not sure if I'd love another game full of heavy rain controls though... but the premise was really cool.

[Stsin]

Blade and Soul isn't really an MMO from what people have seen from the beta.  Since most of the game is solo play, but there is some interaction with other players.

Do you mean like grinding together, grouping for instances and bosses?  And it does have PvP.  From what I've seen.  I haven't seen a raid yet, but I think that's a good thing.  There are many cutscenes that includes your character when progressing the storyline (Something you'd think Square-Enix would do much of).  But it does prevent others from joining if haven't progressed as far, but that's the same as WoW in Cata's storyline.

Well, I'm looking forward to Tera also.  Have my console controller ready.

[newy]

I wonder if gamepad is the preferred input system for TERA. I do think that it's easier to move around (because such an action based combat system is used in well known hits like God of War or Darksiders) but I watched a report of a recent Frogster (Europe's publisher for TERA) where people from the press played some sessions and used a gamepad but wiped against one of those big crabs. Of course, that video material was not allowed to be shown in that report

[zat0x91]

I wonder if gamepad is the preferred input system for TERA. I do think that it's easier to move around (because such an action based combat system is used in well known hits like God of War or Darksiders) but I watched a report of a recent Frogster (Europe's publisher for TERA) where people from the press played some sessions and used a gamepad but wiped against one of those big crabs. Of course, that video material was not allowed to be shown in that report

I already hate the idea of playing first person shooters on a console with controllers and the targeting system in TERA is almost the same concept...

It works pretty well, but I wouldn't depend on it.  I'd rather just have a keyboard and mouse anyday over a gamepad with the exceptions being platformers.

[AceHigh]

There needs to be more console MMOs. Before anyone is like "You need a keyboard for an MMO!" both the Xbox 360 and PS3 accepts keyboards and wouldn't be a problem for people to spend an extra $20 to get one if a console MMO came out.

I believe it goes back to PlayStation 1. Back in 1996 there were a lot of people buying keyboards and mice for PS so that they could play Red Alert.

[Stsin]

Tera already supports the Xbox 360 controller.

Surprisingly, even though everyone has a fancy name in the game, the actual gameplay itself will be simple enough to pick up and play because it'll essentially play out as either a third-person shooter or a third-person action game (depending on whether you decide to play a ranged character or a melee character). It can also be played either with a mouse and keyboard or with an Xbox 360 controller.

The game's interface won't even have a cursor--you can jump to your inventory by pulling it up with hotkeys and navigating it with simple arrow key or controller taps. It will also have a radial menu for chat shortcuts. Producer Brian Knox suggests that the game is easy enough to play on a controller for combat and travel, while the keyboard and mouse come in handy in the game's social hub towns, where in-depth chatting is more appropriate.

http://gdc.gamespot.com/story/6253575/spotlight-on-tera-the-exiled-realm-of-arborea

While I have mixed feelings with that, it's expected with this type of gameplay.  I'll judge myself when I actually play it.

[fohfoh]

What would be cool would be if a community got together and planned then created a game. Make big companies wake up and try again.

[mgz]

There needs to be more console MMOs. Before anyone is like "You need a keyboard for an MMO!" both the Xbox 360 and PS3 accepts keyboards and wouldn't be a problem for people to spend an extra $20 to get one if a console MMO came out.

they dont however support you using your mouse and keyboard as you would on your PC and do their best to ban devices that allow the use of those pesky mice in games

[iindigo]

TERA

Action combat > static button smashing

The problem with "action combat" (I assume it's something like an FPS where one needs to aim, physics play into the equation, and there are generally less limits) is that it seems to me that playing a caster would be nothing short of a massive pain in the ass. The only way it wouldn't be is if all their spells were high-damage nukes that don't require constant casting.

And personally, I don't want to play any MMO without casters. Melee and guns can get boring... gotta mix it up a bit.

[AceHigh]

And personally, I don't want to play any MMO without casters. Melee and guns can get boring... gotta mix it up a bit.

Did you just assume that all MMOs are fantasy based, or was "caster" just a loose term for any character that deals in damage other than weapons?

Speaking of casters and nukes, I still remember the good old days of SWG where Officer class literally called in orbital bombardments and artillery strikes. Loveliest nuker I have ever had a pleasure to play.

[iindigo]

Well by caster, I mean something like a mage or wizard. Something like throwing fireballs/frostbolts/etc (doesn't have to be those, just similar).

I guess it doesn't have to be fantasy, but to be honest I don't have very strong interests in non-fantasy MMOs. Something that bridges futuristic and fantasy might be cool, though; Too Human was an interesting single-player game that did this.

Aside from that, I feel like fantasy MMOs are better for those who enjoy exploration of a vast, dangerous world. Lack of mastery over the entire planet with technology and such enhances the feel. The added travel time make the world feel more "real" and large as opposed to feeling... well, like a game. When you can zip from one end of the continent to the other in a couple minutes it cheapens the experience somehow.

[newy]

Range chars have a small aiming help to get those in the distance. I have no information about the individual spells/their damage/cast time.

[fohfoh]

I think Hellgate London was the one that tried the hardest to get a futuristic MMO going. Didn't seem to work.

[Tatsujin]

TERA

Action combat > static button smashing

The problem with "action combat" (I assume it's something like an FPS where one needs to aim, physics play into the equation, and there are generally less limits) is that it seems to me that playing a caster would be nothing short of a massive pain in the ass. The only way it wouldn't be is if all their spells were high-damage nukes that don't require constant casting.

And personally, I don't want to play any MMO without casters. Melee and guns can get boring... gotta mix it up a bit.

Yea, it's called keybind your shit and stop clicking.

[iindigo]

TERA

Action combat > static button smashing

The problem with "action combat" (I assume it's something like an FPS where one needs to aim, physics play into the equation, and there are generally less limits) is that it seems to me that playing a caster would be nothing short of a massive pain in the ass. The only way it wouldn't be is if all their spells were high-damage nukes that don't require constant casting.

And personally, I don't want to play any MMO without casters. Melee and guns can get boring... gotta mix it up a bit.

Yea, it's called keybind your shit and stop clicking.

Huh? What are you talking about? Of course I keybind in WoW. I guess you could in an action MMO as well, but it's still going to be a pain in the rear manually aiming each spell (especially if the spells have travel time).

[shabutie]

DCU actually did a pretty decent job with the action mmo thing.  Caster type classes worked pretty well also.  Did a simple 8 key setup with melee attacks as left click and ranged as right.  Everyone had both, but different fighting styles were better at different things.  Worked quite well, but unfortunately...  the world kinda lacked depth.

(As much as I LOVE DC, the game just kinda fell off for me...  Probably because I dislike most mmo's atm.)


I have faith in the action mmo genre, but it'll take some time, due to WoW whoring the mmo spotlight.

[Omnom]

Well from Square-Enix you get really detailed games, like it's sooooo pretty!! And MMO's taking a walk in the direction right now are what Aion and...Rift? You usually get soooo much stuff to deal with and no explanation for what really to do with it(looking at FFXI) until the community decodes it and gives some incite and shares experiences. Not be like Aion where when I capped there was little to no end game content and I became bored quickly.
I can't wait for Star Wars: The Old Republic, sure it doesn't look that pretty, the character design kinda does have something to be desired, and the space flight/combat looks too scripted but hey it's Bioware and they usually pump out fun games, except for Dragon Age 2, I hated it. Oh and I love Star Wars! <3

[Tatsujin]

TERA

Action combat > static button smashing

The problem with "action combat" (I assume it's something like an FPS where one needs to aim, physics play into the equation, and there are generally less limits) is that it seems to me that playing a caster would be nothing short of a massive pain in the ass. The only way it wouldn't be is if all their spells were high-damage nukes that don't require constant casting.

And personally, I don't want to play any MMO without casters. Melee and guns can get boring... gotta mix it up a bit.

Yea, it's called keybind your shit and stop clicking.

Huh? What are you talking about? Of course I keybind in WoW. I guess you could in an action MMO as well, but it's still going to be a pain in the rear manually aiming each spell (especially if the spells have travel time).

I see.

From FFXIV point of view, I fucking hated the battle system. It was so stupid. The camera and fixed character controlling is by far the WORST things they came up with. Not only that, but the slow ass battle system they did is also annoying. I expected it to be a real-time combat like WoW - Yes I know WoW has a turn based action - if anything, GCD (global cool down) capped which makes sense to have a real-time combat. But it would be stupid if you can hit ALL of your actions at once.

You can control your character and do a lot of shit in WoW and RIFT, but not like FFXIV. So did Square Enix learn their lesson about MMOs? Hope they did. FFXIV should just die already.

[fohfoh]

 The FF name is a golden cow. You can't slaughter that shit. That is an issue. I think having games move away from the FF mentality might help to improve games.

Sort of like how they determined a rift when developing RE4... thus DMC was created. (Supposedly)

[Omnom]

The FF name is a golden cow. You can't slaughter that shit. That is an issue. I think having games move away from the FF mentality might help to improve games.

Remember when they made games with so much content and random easter eggs that would make any fan boy wet? The great thing about them before was the amount of content and that's what a lot of FF games are lacking, if only FFIV was executed properly and didn't implode on it self by holding so many roots from FFXI then we wouldn't be here, we'd be complaining why we can't get groups for end game because no one can realize the awesomeness of it!

In short games need to be actually difficult not just a quick sit through, especially for rpgs then at that point in time we might see an attitude change.