In the wake of yesterday’s post I am very excited to see a Project Copernicus world fly-through video just released today (30 minutes ago)! I’ve read statements in the news today that Project Copernicus has a June 2013 release date, but I haven’t seen or heard anything official. Whatever the case may be, I’m going to take this as a sign of good news.
My thoughts on the video are simple: I love the world so much. I wrote yesterday how Reckoning is a good game, but it’s the world of Amalur that has made me a devoted fan. This video definitely reenforces my feelings. The diversity of environments, the color, and the details of Reckoning appear to be present in Project Copernicus.
I would love to hear from someone at 38 Studios about how much of the world in Copernicus will be familiar to Reckoning players. Will we go to some of same places at all or should we expect Project Copernicus to be set in a completely different region? I think this ties in to the questions I have about how much of the world was done prior to 38 Studios acquiring Big Huge Games.
Definitely check out the video, and let’s all hope this means we have a lot more to look forward to from 38 Studios!
This whole situation is hilarious. Anti big gov republican gets money from government, fails to pay back, wants more money. Guess the government is only bad when it’s about others.
Anyways, the world looks like the standard post-WoW fantasy. Nothing special. How was KoA? I’ve heard that the combat gameplay was nice but the rest of the game was mediocre. And have they said what they wanted to do with Copernicus? Just another braindead themepark?
@h: KoA is a good game. The combat is nice. The main story is enjoyable, as are some faction quests, but the side quests are mediocre at best. The setting/world are my favorite part.
Curt said it will be a class-based game. To my knowledge, that’s the most we have to go on factually without bringing in hyperbole. I would assume themepark of some kind.
@h
“This whole situation is hilarious. Anti big gov republican gets money from government, fails to pay back, wants more money. Guess the government is only bad when it’s about others.”
I don’t know Curt’s politics, but if you are correct in that assumption, it certainly would be a form of real life karma in action (and if this were FB you would get a “Like” from me).
They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but I think so is empathy. The greater the degree of personal loss, the greater the understanding of the plight of others similarly affected.
Let’s avoid taking this in a political direction given the fact that it has nothing to do with politics.
How about that June 2013 release date? Speculation from Rhode Island’s Gov. or perhaps the real deal?
Personally I am not excited for the game, due to my total boredom with class-based themepark MMOs, but that video was pretty cool. I think it’s definitely a step or three above “basic post WoW fantasy”; the art design is just *good* in ways most games don’t achieve.
Things like color design, variety of scale and scale of detail relative to the size of the object, objects fitting together in a cohesive manner, variety… The technical stuff on show here is just totally solid. It is definitely a world imbued with a sense of place, and also is evocative of a sense of magic and wonder in a way good fantasy can be.
Now, I would be far more excited if it weren’t all built on another generic western European feudal culture and mythology. That alone might be enough to turn me off even if I could stomach the MMO underpinnings. But that by itself isn’t enough to write the world off as derivative. What matters is what they do with the setting…
Sure it looks pretty, but I guess I am just jaded these days with another cinematic trailer. I only tend to pay attention to actual game play footage.
It is shiny, but if game play is another whack-a-mole MMO then I will likely choose to give my money to a company that tries to reinvent the wheel…
I wouldn’t be as excited if I hadn’t played Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Something about it just grabs me.
WoW clone, 2 factions, PvE Centered with Raids as the sole source of best Endgame gear, SO much fail in his philospophy. He is makign a game thats been made a thousand times and it will turn out just like TORtanic.
Keen you sir gotta realize that Copernicus will share nothing in common with Reckoning other then the world. Curts already said this. All the things you liek about Reckoning is not getting put in Copernicus.
i checked out KoA:R gameplay videos and it looks and feels like standard fantasy game. nothing feels different compared to other fantasy games.. if this sameness translate to Project C then it wont have anything to stand out compared to other game of it class
btw this trailer looks like standard trailer for zone flyby.. nothing special here , though the cynic in me see this and the previous post as a kind of hidden advertisement , keen.
@Zederok: I removed your long comment that just quoted Curt’s FoH forum post. I’ve already blogged about his comments here.
I know Copernicus won’t have the combat of Reckoning. Copernicus won’t be a skill based progression game, or a sandbox game. Copernicus will be level and class based game. That’s really all we know for sure.
If all Copernicus shared with Reckoning was the world and setting, I would be fine. That’s what I expect it to share. It’s not an action RPG, it’s a MMO.
“WoW clone” is so broad. Is GW2 a WoW clone? Is LotRO a WoW clone? Depending on the person the answers will be different. If you ask me, GW2 is not a WoW clone but LotRO is definitely. Someone might disagree, but that’s the point I’m trying to make.
Copernicus will probably be a themepark game by design. Themepark games aren’t all WoW Clones, though (hence why I believe GW2 is not a “WoW clone” but LotRO is…)
I hope that clears things up for you
@bcu: You can’t watch trailers of a game and pretend to know anything. I’m commenting on my approval of the aesthetics of Copernicus given my actual experience with a game developed solely to present players with a foundation for the setting. I play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I like the races (LOVE the Gnomes — better be playable in Copernicus!), the scenery, and the lore. Yes, it’s fantasy. I like fantasy games. Writing about games I like, or reasons why I may like a game coming out, does not constitute direct advertisement.
I could describe what a WoW clone is but like the guy on FoH forums, its rather self explanatory but here is his remarks:
1. Fast Leveling “game begins at endgame”
2. 100% or mostly instanced Dungeons/Content
3. Quest focused leveling – most of which are soloable.
4. Fast loot replacement during the leveling process.
5. A few hard factions (generally 2 that can’t talk with each other).
6. Worldwide AH
7. Speedy travel at early levels
8. Lots o’ instant attacks per class (though WoW back in the day didn’t get too spammy, like say Rift) – generally significantly diminished auto-attack
I too am looking for something different its why I am so hyped on GW2 and TSW. They both share some similarities but what themepark game doesnt? However their differences are readily apparent to me. Hence me liking THEM and me being turned off from games like TESO and Copernicus.
The thing that we all need to remember is that we really don’t have a solid idea of how these mechanics will be executed, so most opinions are equally valid as they are equally based in similar degrees of ignorance.
My ignorant guess is that it will be most resemble a WoW clone. I base this on the frank statement of not reinventing the wheel as well as the other WoW similarities that Zederok already listed.
In general I think companies that try something new strongly advertise that point and are quick to throw around the term “revolutionary”.
Here they seem to be pushing the marketing information in the opposite direction, leading me to believe that I should expect something familiar, which in turn likely equates to WoW, but who really knows?
A WoW clone doesn’t have to necessarily be a bad thing. I really liked Allods until I realized that it was just runed (purposeful misspelling) by their greedy pyramid schemes…
The art style is nice. Right now this does not sit high on my list, mostly for the fact i know nothing about it. Most stuff i have read has been too broad to glean any insight out of. KOA excited me about as much as two worlds 2 did, i might try it once the price drops but i am not expecting extreme quality.
As for the whole situation, if they cannot manage their finances at this stage of the game more then likely the MMO was never meant to be. It is best for RI to help them see the game through to its conclusion so that they dont lose their money, but Rhode Island is fully in the right to put Curt and the rest of the gang through the wringer.
@ Gankatron: Regarding our earlier exchange, I see what you’re getting at now, and agree with you there. Sorry for jumping down your throat.
I think it’s safe to assume this game will resemble a “WoW clone”, mutated – its DNA mussed with to restore some forgotten aspects of EQ and similar games, which the devs have repeatedly referenced as inspiration (IIRC).
I never played EQ myself, but looking at the MMO space, I think there is a lot of room to reinvigorate a game by reaching into the pre-WoW era for direction; to unearth some ideas which have rested fallow long enough to be fresh again. Some of the only good ideas in TES Online are a result of this type of process.
It is true that such a game will look an awful lot like WoW – but that’s because WoW was itself an EQ clone.
Now, to be fair, things like “fast leveling curve with game starting at endgame” says to me that they missed the most important lesson of EQ-era MMOs. So I guess I’m mostly playing devil’s advocate in an abstract sense, which isn’t good. I wish I could talk more about Copernicus, but we just don’t know enough yet.
@Brise:
Did a comment of yours get deleted or am I not being thorough enough to find the “exchange” you are referring to; is it on another thread that I haven’t seen as of yet?
In any case as the the people of my country say, “don worry ’bout it”…
I’m sorry, I guess H is the one I need to address the apology to. Not sure why, but I thought that you, Gankatron, were the one who said it was post-WoW fantasy.
I.e. I goofed.
@Bries: “I never played EQ myself, but looking at the MMO space, I think there is a lot of room to reinvigorate a game by reaching into the pre-WoW era for direction; to unearth some ideas which have rested fallow long enough to be fresh again. Some of the only good ideas in TES Online are a result of this type of process”.
The problem with this is WoW was modeled heavily off EQ as well and I jsut dont see enough wiggle room to reinvigorate the same thing, hence me and hundreds of others calling it a clone. Theres a reason why, and I dont want to turn this into a GW2 praise thread, but theres a reason why games like GW2 are so hyped, because its not really based off any one thing. Except for the WvW which is based off of the DAoC RvR model, but still that seems so fresh because 3 faction RvR has only been done one other time. My point is how many times can you polish the WoW/EQ model? I hate being a skeptic but 7 years of failed WoW model’ed games leaves me with the impressio nthat this model has been done plenty enough and nothing fresh could reinvigorate it.
It’s vaporware. A nice shiny fly-by video does not, nor will it ever, a game make. I think you summed up the major problem in your least post Keen. Their eyes were bigger than their stomach. Instead of starting something small and growing it, they tried to come out big and unless you have some major, major, MAJOR coin to back you, development cost for something like this get out of hand very quickly.
The mediocre sales on KoA: Reckoning was probably just a drop in the bucket for their development cost for that game and the continued money demanded by Copernicus. That’s why they missed their loan repayment. The MMO environment is just way to demanding these days, you have to come out swinging with a ready and polished game or you won’t have a healthy, growing game. I have not seen any information that would say Copernicus is enough of an innovator to spark the interest needed to make a name for itself in the MMO space. This would be fine if it was aiming to be a niche game, but that hasn’t been the case with lots of talk about this being Curt’s secret project that would be the next big game to play, name dropping R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane. But in the end it’s all puff and no stuff.
“But in the end it’s all puff and no stuff.”
Haha, that line is now mine! Funny.
Yep MMO marketers want to be WoW, but aren’t willing to take the years to develop a large players base that they originally did. If WoW came in a bottle, well you know the rest…
Sorry to be cruel, but isn’t this company dead? They can’t pay their employees, they fired any casuals or contractors and they missed their payment to the Rhode Island government and they put up the IP as collateral.