Okay, the SOE reveal of Everquest Next wasn't what I was expecting, and I don't think that it was what most people were expecting. I think that SOE did a dis-service to themselves with this because a lot of people have been waiting for this for a long time and it was expected to be a lot farther along than it actually appears to be. The result is that they have taken a very excited group of people ... showed them some really cool stuff ... and then said 'but you can't have it.'
We're at a point where what is out there is in a down swing and both titles that were expected to pick that up and be the 'next big thing' (Elder Scrolls Online and EverQuest Next) have both pushed off at least until next year. The result is that a lot of people in feeling the let down of not getting the game they wanted to play are now focusing their disappointment on what was shown when really it was over the lack of a beta/release announcement.
Add to this the fact that EQ:N is currently 9 years removed from EQII and the fact that the EQ Fan base have been looking for a re-made EQ, and now they're being told 'wait an undefined time longer.' The fans have known that EQN has been in the works for a while now (this is currently the 3rd 'version' of EQN that they're building). So a lot of those fans are kind of going '10 years and you're not ready for prime time?'
I want to take a moment and take a look at what we did find out ....
Graphics -
I love the look, something of a painted feel to it. I've seen people describe it as 'Disney' or 'Dragon's Lair' like. Both are reasonably good comparisons. The look and atmosphere that they've created is wonderful with both richness and depth. Moving through the areas in the fly-overs that they did felt natural and the day/night cycle is very nice (though I expected that given the day/night cycle in PS2 which uses the same engine). The graphics will certainly create a world in which a player can feel immersed. I suspect that to play on the settings used for what was shown will require some serious system specs, but SOE has generally done a good job with graphics scaling in the past (and with PS2) so while things may not be AS pretty they will still look pretty amazing.
Those of you that know me, however, know that I don't put a whole lot of stock in graphics. Graphics are eye candy and are great for getting 'oooh's and 'ahhh's but long term eye candy doesn't stay sweet. That is to say, if all the game has is good graphics it's not going to last.
So what else grabbed my attention -
Multi-classing -
A lot of people weren't keen on this aspect, I like it in concept but I'll need more information about the mechanics of it before I can really say if it's a good system or not. The concept of being able to collect different classes and mix/match abilities to create the class you want is something that I really like. The idea that you can customize the abilities of your character to suit your style of play, or the situation at hand, is great. It is, in the end, nothing new. Rift has a similar system (at least on the surface though in Rift you're limited by your archtype) as does The Secret World, just from the MMOs that I've played.
People frequently complain that 'people just find the best combos and everyone just uses those' ... well that's a problem with people, not the system. I have also found that, more often than not, those 'best combos' aren't that much better than other combos, if at all, it's just someone said on a forum somewhere 'you have to play this combo or your going to be gimp' and people bought it, often without checking it out in any way. Non-traditional groups worked in EQ and I'm willing to bet that 'non-traditional' ability combos can work in EQN.
Destructible World -
I think this is going to be bigger than a lot of people think. No, the destruction isn't permanent (in most cases at least) but it does add tactics (and dangers) to the mix that have never existed in MMOs before (blasting out the bridge to stop the mobs from getting to you or falling down the hole that you just blew in the floor.)
Procedurally Generated Content -
The idea that the world has caverns that can be dug into (or blasted into) and explored and that those caverns can change over time is huge for people that like exploration and 'adventuring'. Details on this were a sparse, but I suspect that this will also be a means of gathering certain crafting materials and the like. I also suspect that these areas will not be free of dangers, both from the environment as well as hostile mobs. Which brings us to ....
Emergent AI -
The idea of mobs that know what they like and what they don't and will move and adapt to changes to the environment to find what they want (and avoid what they want to avoid) is, frankly, amazing. That you can (for a time at least) actually get those orc camps to pull up and move out of the commonlands or that they'll move off into a corner where people aren't traveling as much, and the idea that pushing them out of an area may cause other consequences (such as pissing off Emperor Crush so that he starts sending raiding parties out). This is something that players and developers have wanted in MMOs for AGES ... the idea of a dynamic world ... a world that changes in responce to the actions of the players.
Can they pull it off, and to what extent remains to be seen of course, but I'm willing to believe that if they're willing to stick their neck out on this that they feel that they have a pretty solid base for it.
Rally Calls -
Large quests that are community wide (that is everyone on the server is on the quest) span months and permanently change the game world. This concept (particularly combined with some of the other stuff) is huge. People are shrugging and going 'whatever', but I think this is a result of a SOE misstep again. They called them 'public quests' and I think most people just filed them away as that and didn't really pay attention or think about the rest of what was said.
These are events that are procedurally generated (like parts of the world) and PERMANENTLY change the world (now this doesn't mean that another Rally Call may not come along and undo that change ... but that's life like ... over time nothing is really permanent). Also, these events are server specific ... meaning each server is going to develop uniquely .... and my experience on server A won't be the same as yours on server B.
More so, from the description given, there is going to be several different ways to participate in these events (and remember they're intended to take months to complete by the population of the server) including crafting, adventuring and potentially raiding. These have a potential to draw a community together more so than some other ideas that I've seen. And in the end community will make a MMO more than any other aspect of the game.
Roleplay -
They did say that they want to create a 'rich roleplay environment', and from character expressions and in game atmosphere I think they have a strong start on this. Until we get more information on the lore and game itself, however, this will ultimately remain an unknown.
Now ... to be fair ... I did see things that disappoint and concern me as well.
Movement -
Okay, the movement looks fantastic, don't get me wrong here. But the focus on fast, fluid movement means that they expect you to be doing a lot of it. This worries me that they intend for the party to be moving around and being very active. By nature this limits socialization, or at the least segregates the player base into 'voice' and 'non-voice' players. I'm not fond of socializing through voice ... voice chat has it's place in a combat situation where I can say 'behind you' a lot faster than I can type it. But I'm old school and I prefer text chat for 'every day' socializing ... and DEFINITELY for RP as voice in a RP situation is often immersion breaking (players rarely sound like their characters) and/or uncomfortable.
Early Hype / Lack of Information -
While the general lack of information is something that time will likely fix ...I can't help but feel that they've started the hype machine on this too soon. Had they not hyped the 'big announcement' for EQN players would have still wanted it, not been 'disappointed', and they wouldn't have to try and keep the hype going for the next year or more until we actually get to the point of launch. I could be wrong and they may be closer to launch than I think, but the lack of info like 'playable races', 'starting classes', and the only showing 2(?) zones and preliminary music mixes (mind you it sounds great and given who's composing it I expect it to be epic) lead me to believe that we are still a good way off from seeing this launch ready.
Holding hype for a long period of time will wear the fans down and/or build their expectations up to unreachable levels (to the point of if it doesn't cure cancer and bring world peace they'll call it a complete failure). Now they are going to release 'Landmark' winter 2013 ... this will be a world building game where they are inviting the community to take part in developing some of the things that will ultimately be found in EQN when it finally launches. This will buy them some time and allow them to get some feedback about things without being full on Beta and without the leaks inherent in a beta. It will also give them material to post shots and get the community involved in an evolving world and that will help keep people interested.
Some people, in their disappointment in the fact that EQN isn't launching as anticipated this year, are going cynical and saying things like 'It's just going to be EverCraft' or 'They just want us to do their job' ... but I think they're looking at things the wrong way around. They are giving us the opportunity to help create and define some of the things in EQN ... they are giving us a chance to make it 'our' world.
EQN has the makings of a revolutionary game. Maybe most of the individual pieces aren't earth shattering, but putting them together and in a MMO is game changing. They are offering us, at long last, a world that we can change, build, destroy and live in. A game where our actions can matter more so than they have ever been able to matter in the past. A world in which we CAN make our mark ... I for one will be eagerly awaiting more information and the game itself .... I look forward to stepping into this new Norrath and leading the Scales into a new Era both in EQN: Landmark and, when it is time, into EQN itself.
Klikhizz Grimscale,
Master of the Scales of Pain
Scales.Guildlaunch.com
@ScalesofPain on twitter
ScalesofPain on Facebook
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Full Voice Acting
Okay ... I've been absent from the realm of blogging for a couple of years, and I'm not going to promise anything in terms of regular updates or anything, though I am finding an interest in writing again.
So ... what have I been up to since I last blogged about EVE Online? Well I've been in EVE off and on, played several MMOs (Rift, Fallen Earth, Planetside 2 (I'll do an article on that another time), The Secret World to name a couple) and played a bunch of other games as well, but nothing that stands out as outstanding or anything.
What brought me here today was a rant about MMOs and 'fully voice acted' content. It started with Everquest II and has been growing ever since ... and it is probably one of, if not THE, biggest mistakes that modern MMO continue to make.
Why do you say that? People go ga-ga over full voice acting in games ....
Yes, that is true, and in a single player story driven game it is a wonderful way to increase the player's immersion and enjoyment of the game. Notice I said 'single player' and 'story driven' ... these are not things that truly belong in a MMO.
Let's take a look at a MMO that did both full voice acting AND story driven content - The Secret World (TSW) -
TSW is a very innovative game and in a lot of ways I like a lot of their design decisions ... the two above are not among those, however. While TSW was a very enjoyable experience a 'story driven' MMO suffers from a couple of primary problems, namely content creation speed, and player immersion. Content creation speed in that developing a plot line, creating the scripting for a deep and meaningful story that ties into the world and advances or at least deepens the over all story of the game is something that takes time. While it is possible to create short stories and asides for the players to enjoy in a relatively short time frame, they are things that will be 'consumed' in short order, often in an afternoon or over a weekend at most, yet they take weeks or months to construct, code, and patch into the game.
Player immersion is a difficult thing to talk about in a MMO in the first place, as the realities are that there are so many aspects of a MMO that break immersion in most games that in many ways expecting to become immersed in a MMO is foolish. However, the idea of a story driven game IS immersion, but it is hard to become immersed in a story that you know everyone else is doing as well ... you aren't THE hero ... you're one hero of a thousand that are saving the same town ... you're tripping over each other to fight kill 10 zombies and when you're done there's still 20 zombies on the beach. Some games get around this with instancing, or phasing, allowing for the illusion of your efforts having an effect on the world as a whole, but that can lead to other issues (players becoming separated as they end up in different phases or instances of the world at different times to name one).
Having a MMO that is fully voice acted then compounds those two problems in horrific ways -
Content creation speed slows considerably as not only does the dialog have to be written, it has to be given to a voice actor and recorded. This may sound easy, but getting a good read for a line can take time to get the right intonation and inflection for the intent of the scene. Having worked in movies and commercials I can tell you it's a lot harder than it seems upfront, and can be more problematic if there are multiple people involved and they aren't available to record at the same time. Combine that with the added cost (you're now paying a voice actor) and complications to future content that uses that character (now have to make sure that you can get the actor to come back in and record new material for the new quest.) or to updates to existing quests that use the character. (If, for example, you change any aspect of the quest that he mentions in the dialog, you also need to re-record that voice track or accept the fact that what the character tells you to do is no longer what you actual DO for the quest ... which takes us into immersion.)
In regard to immersion you would think that voice acted material would be very immersing for the player, and it can be. But in any game there becomes the issue of character voice. In any game this is an immersion problem with voice acting because either the player's character is mute (unrealistic and immersion breaking unless the character is in fact supposed to be mute), the player character has an assigned voice (which will invariably not be what the player feels is correct), or the player will have a choice of 'x' voices for the character (which still often leaves the player dissatisfied because the 'right' voice isn't an option .... and has the added downside of multiplying production costs by 'x'). A MMO which will be adding content continually, player voice becomes an increasingly problematic option and 'mute' players become increasingly frustrating.
Players don't need voice to be immersed. A good book is probably one of the most immersing experiences out there, and not only is there no voice acting, there aren't even any graphics. Imagination is a truly amazing tool, but it seems more and more that MMO developers don't want players using it.
So ... what have I been up to since I last blogged about EVE Online? Well I've been in EVE off and on, played several MMOs (Rift, Fallen Earth, Planetside 2 (I'll do an article on that another time), The Secret World to name a couple) and played a bunch of other games as well, but nothing that stands out as outstanding or anything.
What brought me here today was a rant about MMOs and 'fully voice acted' content. It started with Everquest II and has been growing ever since ... and it is probably one of, if not THE, biggest mistakes that modern MMO continue to make.
Why do you say that? People go ga-ga over full voice acting in games ....
Yes, that is true, and in a single player story driven game it is a wonderful way to increase the player's immersion and enjoyment of the game. Notice I said 'single player' and 'story driven' ... these are not things that truly belong in a MMO.
Let's take a look at a MMO that did both full voice acting AND story driven content - The Secret World (TSW) -
TSW is a very innovative game and in a lot of ways I like a lot of their design decisions ... the two above are not among those, however. While TSW was a very enjoyable experience a 'story driven' MMO suffers from a couple of primary problems, namely content creation speed, and player immersion. Content creation speed in that developing a plot line, creating the scripting for a deep and meaningful story that ties into the world and advances or at least deepens the over all story of the game is something that takes time. While it is possible to create short stories and asides for the players to enjoy in a relatively short time frame, they are things that will be 'consumed' in short order, often in an afternoon or over a weekend at most, yet they take weeks or months to construct, code, and patch into the game.
Player immersion is a difficult thing to talk about in a MMO in the first place, as the realities are that there are so many aspects of a MMO that break immersion in most games that in many ways expecting to become immersed in a MMO is foolish. However, the idea of a story driven game IS immersion, but it is hard to become immersed in a story that you know everyone else is doing as well ... you aren't THE hero ... you're one hero of a thousand that are saving the same town ... you're tripping over each other to fight kill 10 zombies and when you're done there's still 20 zombies on the beach. Some games get around this with instancing, or phasing, allowing for the illusion of your efforts having an effect on the world as a whole, but that can lead to other issues (players becoming separated as they end up in different phases or instances of the world at different times to name one).
Having a MMO that is fully voice acted then compounds those two problems in horrific ways -
Content creation speed slows considerably as not only does the dialog have to be written, it has to be given to a voice actor and recorded. This may sound easy, but getting a good read for a line can take time to get the right intonation and inflection for the intent of the scene. Having worked in movies and commercials I can tell you it's a lot harder than it seems upfront, and can be more problematic if there are multiple people involved and they aren't available to record at the same time. Combine that with the added cost (you're now paying a voice actor) and complications to future content that uses that character (now have to make sure that you can get the actor to come back in and record new material for the new quest.) or to updates to existing quests that use the character. (If, for example, you change any aspect of the quest that he mentions in the dialog, you also need to re-record that voice track or accept the fact that what the character tells you to do is no longer what you actual DO for the quest ... which takes us into immersion.)
In regard to immersion you would think that voice acted material would be very immersing for the player, and it can be. But in any game there becomes the issue of character voice. In any game this is an immersion problem with voice acting because either the player's character is mute (unrealistic and immersion breaking unless the character is in fact supposed to be mute), the player character has an assigned voice (which will invariably not be what the player feels is correct), or the player will have a choice of 'x' voices for the character (which still often leaves the player dissatisfied because the 'right' voice isn't an option .... and has the added downside of multiplying production costs by 'x'). A MMO which will be adding content continually, player voice becomes an increasingly problematic option and 'mute' players become increasingly frustrating.
Players don't need voice to be immersed. A good book is probably one of the most immersing experiences out there, and not only is there no voice acting, there aren't even any graphics. Imagination is a truly amazing tool, but it seems more and more that MMO developers don't want players using it.
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