Conglomoblog: Marvel, DC, SWTOR, and Amalur

Marvel Heroes

I have zero faith in the MMO devs of this generation to create a MMO based on a major IP, especially an IP like Marvel.  I think the isometric view is a great choice, like Ultima Online, but I doubt Marvel Heroes will be a true virtual world.  In fact, I bet it won’t resemble a MMORPG at all.   Everything I’ve seen leads me believe it will work like Diablo 3 does, and if that’s a MMO then I’m out of touch. Then there’s the free-to-play, and I don’t need to elaborate.

SWTOR Layoffs

First and foremost, I feel for the employees losing their jobs.  This can’t be a surprise to anyone, though.  SWTOR hasn’t done as well as anyone hoped, and I think this is exactly what I was talking about yesterday.  MMO’s are not single-player games, and single-player games were never meant to be turned into MMO’s.  SWTOR is a mediocre MMO and a sub-par single-player game -only- because Bioware chose to go for this hybrid model instead of focusing on making it one or the other.

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Open World Trailer

Heads up LEGO game fans! LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes looks amazing.  500 square miles of city to explore, voice acting, and a whole lineup of DC Super Heroes and Villains.  If you’re one of our long time readers you know we love the LEGO games, so we’ll be all over this when it launches.

 

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – Completed!

I also finally beat Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning today.  To avoid spoiling it for anyone, click ‘read more’ to see some of my thoughts. SPOILERS AHEAD.  You have been warned.

Admittedly, halfway through the game I started to ignore side quests.  Nothing in the game was horrible, but the side quests just didn’t do it for me.  I quickly jolted past mobs that were unnecessary to fight because I wanted to get to the story.  I didn’t care about leveling because I already felt like I put 30+ hours into character progression and exploring the beautiful world of Amalur.

The final boss and the way the story wrapped up leads into a perfect foundation for Copernicus.  The whole story was about a world where everyone’s fate was already determined — everyone except you because you’ve been brought back to life, thus having no place in the tapestry of fate.  Now you’re changing the world and thus altering the fate of others.  The game ends with you killing this awesome dragon named Tirnoch who is as strong as the gods of Amalur or something crazy like that.  Tirnoch aided in your revival because she was always captive by fate and you were obviously the solution.

Now everyone in the world of Amalur is free from the dictates of fate and free to create their own destiny.  Great tie-in for the MMO.  Below are some screenshots of Tirnoch, and you can find more at my STEAM profile.

 

  • SWTOR F2P countdown starts, …NOW!

    Gamebreaker.tv has a good speculative video (http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/swtor-layoffs/), but of course they are spiraling down. Poor implementation, on top of poor core design, plus EA’s plentiful misrepresentations, and lack of ability to take personal responsibility for the natural consequences of their own poor decisions, equates to many disillusioned former players, and now investors.

    The video broaches what we have been discussing concerning how the repeated failures of massively expensive AAA MMO titles could have a dramatic effect on the future direction of MMO game design and marketing.

    ANet is in at a unstable moment in time for MMO investment and may play a greater role in directing the future of AAA MMO design/marketing than they would have without the financial failure of the SWTOR money spewing behemoth.

    Success of GW2 might just set the standard of future modeling, especially with regards to subscription and micro-transaction systems (http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/21/guild-wars-2-interview-monetization/#s:guildwars2-16).

    I would like to see the old core of BioWare devs jump boat (assuming they weren’t already made to walk the plank) and form a company in the tradition of the good ‘ole BioWare that we had come to cherish. Perhaps they could call it BioWhere or BioWary?

  • Diablo 3 is absolutely not an MMO – I don’t think more needs to be said on that beyond dreading other companise using the term “MMO” more frivelously in future.

    I found SWOTR dull, not particurlarly well implemented and cursed with the worst PvP I’d ever seen (including WAR which had the worst balance prior to this). So I stopped playing before the renewal was due and cut my losses.

    I was angered that senior folks tried to deny the (400K) decline and that “only the casuals have quit” and even had to deal with some borderline-insane “fanbois” (possibly Bioware staff, they really were astroturfing on an industrial scale) once this news broke: they confirmed that I was “casual” as I’d not completed every single quest/sidequest/flashpoint before quitting….. so now there’s a certain amount of Schadenfreude here now: I feel sorry for the staff that just worked hard on this, though not if they later sprayed manure over newsites/forums/blogs once numerical decline was highlighted.

    Guild Wars 2 really does look like the last throw of the dice for MMORPGs, if that fails to take a significant population beyond 3 months then I just see nothing on the horizon in this genre.
    Nothing other than whatever Titan turns out to be…

  • Amalur felt very generic without a soul.
    Why would I want to play an MMO in that universe?

    Oh and I did some more research on Diablo 3 and bought it.
    Its fun, but its also lacking something. I can not put my hand on it what exactly i just know Diablo 2 was better.

    Oh and.. The Dayz mod for Arma 2 + Operation arrowhead (combined ops) is pretty fun.
    Its like a survival game with zombies in it. (eat, drink, get cold, need meds etc)
    daysmod.com

    There is a reason Arma 2 combined ops is number 1 in the sales list of steam even if its not on sale.

  • I like the look of Marvel Heroes, regardless of whether it is or isn’t an MMO.

    Too much doom and gloom, though. A lot of people seem to have found The Secret World a lot better than they expected it to be, GW2 is on the way, there’s the mysterious FFXIV 2.0, Otherlands looks pretty interesting, City of Steam has great potential, presumably ArchAge will appear eventually, I’m looking forward to Wildstar and of course there’s Planetside2 and EQNext. That’s just off the top of my head.

    Finding the time to play them all is the problem.

  • Since this is an amalgamation of topics, and people are talking about various games, I just dl’d “Warlock – Master of the Arcane” for $20 on Steam.

    Master of Magic Civilization hybrid anyone? Yes sir, may I have another?

  • If someone like you with an obvious love for video games says they are “tempted to buy it”, well let’s just say I’ll be waiting for your review!

  • So far it is a lot of fun, very much old school CIV with lot’s of buildings and units, plus spells. You will get $20 worth of fun out of it, no worries.

  • SWTOR is fun for me , still playing it and loving it enormously,, maybe because i am casual / alt-o-holic.. the stories are fun

  • KoA:R was awesome, but I kinda felt that Tirnoch was a lame ending. At least, the fight on hard was super easy and done in like two minutes. I would love to see a KoA:R MMO. I really liked the whole atmosphere and even the side-quests were interesting to me (not all of them obviously).

  • Marvel Online is going to have Squirrel Girl, so I am sort of obligated to play it.