Number of posts : 6807 Location : Netherlands IGN[Game NickName] : Snow, Nuts, Nut, Snowball, Splash, Snowy Current Status : Busy at School Registration date : 2008-06-02
Hmm it might have less destinction between the same classes, but if the classes themselves are very seperate from each other you won't have much of a problem not being super special compared to others in your class.
At the same time, the little ammount of skills, if a class has a lot of good skills, will actually promote different kind of builds inside the same class. Since if you can only take 7 skills and there are 20 GOOD skills, you ll have to pick 7 out of 20 leaving 13 other GOOD skills out of your skillbar.
DCUO has only 6 skills on bar, so that's what I'm reffering to here.
ya that why i will test this and not just skip it.from gameplay video it does look pretty decent.might not be a good choice for long term gaming but short to mid term i think this will be fun like dc universe hehe
Number of posts : 6807 Location : Netherlands IGN[Game NickName] : Snow, Nuts, Nut, Snowball, Splash, Snowy Current Status : Busy at School Registration date : 2008-06-02
:O now this game got my interest aswell, after watching this video. I have to say I had my doubts if it was worth looking after, but this video shows some really promising stuff.
ya snow.already posted this video snow hehe but ya i will test this game cos i like modern doomsday mmo style.basically i like all the features like 3 faction/graphics/weapons etc except for the battle system which i have some doubts so i will need to test it.
out of 500 skills u can only pick 7 active and passive pffft
Number of posts : 6807 Location : Netherlands IGN[Game NickName] : Snow, Nuts, Nut, Snowball, Splash, Snowy Current Status : Busy at School Registration date : 2008-06-02
Shu wrote:out of 500 skills u can only pick 7 active and passive pffft
You do realize, that Guild Wars, had about 300 skills per class and could only put 8 on skill bar yet it was a huge success
Small skill bars, with loot of stuff to choose from is a very good system, as long as they allow changing, so you can build your own skill setup, and adjust your toon to your own liking once you realize you prefer to play differently during the actual game-play
What I was wondering about, if the combat system is not too action type for you though :O?
The Secret World developers just sat down with Gamesnafu and revealed more secrets about the upcoming skill-based action game, including the death penalty, PvP and quest mode. Read on to find out more details. Though in the interview, the developers from Funcom aren't ready to talk about some specific details, as usual, they shed some light on the death system. According to Lead Designer Martin Bruusgaard, they don't want to give players the chance to exploit this system as a fast travel system. He reveals that players will be penalized on time, instead of stuff, items or experience. Bruusgaard doesn't go deep into the mechanics of time penalty but he points out that "we don’t want a situation where our players will quit playing because they feel the time penalty is too harsh."
PvP is free for all in the fight club of every hub city. What's special is that you can even make a gank. Although it's a little bit dirty and unfair to some of you, it seems that it's really what the developers want to see, "what we usually see in games like this is that these areas are being self-policed by the players. If a player plays dirty, he will be punished by the other players." Besides, fighting club can be occupied by other factions. For example, a group of Illuminati players burst into Templars' fight club and occupy it while Dragon players may suddenly come and kick Illuminati out if it.
There will be a mission type called Sabotage. Described by the developer as a similar gameplay style to the original Deus Ex game where you avoid security cameras, disable traps and hack computers etc, Sabotage's traps can be disabled/enabled by everyone. "This becomes interesting when other players can accidentally trigger an alarm in the camp you are sneaking through," says the developer.
At last Martin Bruusgaard talks about the clothing. We've told before that all clothes in the game are for aesthetics and have no stats. The items that have stats are body modifications, which is invisible. "In The Secret World you will see people dressed up the way they want to look, not the way they are forced to look if they want to have the most optimized character." Source: gamesnafu
I know about as little about The Secret World as the name of Funcom's next MMO implies. In the five years since its inception, I've only seen a few of the game's playable zones, little actual combat, and have never played it myself. It exists though, and today IGN brings you the latest trailer.
But even the "Everything Is True" trailer shows off very little of the actual game. Instead it gives context. The Secret World is set in a world very similar to ours, except, as the video says, all the nutty conspiracy theories out there actually exist. I caught up with Ragnar Tornquist, who is directing The Secret World, to find out just how all these crazy ideas come together.
Though The Secret World allows players to jump around due to the virtues of having a level-free progression system, the story is meant to be linear. "Players can go anywhere they want," Tornquist says. "Of course, having an open world and no levels doesn't mean we have a completely flat game. The difficulty scales, and players have to get the right gear and the right powers in order to tackle the tougher challenges." Despite this, by raising the right skills early and grabbing some friends, the creators admitted at GDC that players could theoretically jump straight to the endgame, but that they may find themselves unable to do large portions of the rest of The Secret World.
Many of the missions that make up much of the structured content of The Secret World revolve around small story arcs that are tied to the area they are in, but they might hint at a broader, overarching story. Then there's the story of your faction. Depending on which you choose -- the Dragon, the Templars or the Illuminati -- your story mission will be different. "The Templars are all about their crusade against evil," Tornquist tells us. "The Illuminati only want to manipulate and control and, hopefully, put a boot up the ass of their sworn enemies, the Templars; and the Dragon...well, the Dragon's ways are mysterious, and players aren't necessarily given a lot of information to go on, but suffice it to say that the Dragon likes to cause chaos." The different motivations of the three factions will hopefully provide plenty of motivation for leveling alts, although whether you'll be able to maintain multiple characters on the same server is undecided at this point. Funcom wants your faction choice to be significant, and at GDC earlier this year they told us they were still weighing the pros and cons of allowing characters from multiple factions for the same player on the same server.
The settings promise to span the globe.
Regardless of your faction choice, your story arc, Tornquist informs us, will have a beginning, a middle and an end. Sort of. "Players will have an arc to follow, through the story mission that begins with the origin story and the first visit to their hub city, and carries on through every location in the game, leading to an epic conclusion...and cliffhanger." He tells us they already have a few years' worth of post-release content planned out (and some even currently in production). This includes new powers, just in case you somehow manage to learn all 500 within like three days.
The assumption, of course, is that in actuality there will be hundreds of hours of content, a sentiment echoed by Tornquist himself. Though he believes that, given the nature of the not-so-simple investigation missions, which he says may require the cooperation of the entire community, some investigations "could take months."
Your choice of faction affects more than just your story -- it affects which skills you are able to obtain. " There is a sizable selection of really cool and unique powers that players will earn as they gain ranks and progress within their secret society," Ragnar Tornquist says. "These are themed to match the philosophies of each society." This could lead to interesting player-versus-player scenarios, but also the potential for imbalance. Tornquist is confident that the 1v1v1 nature of their faction system means that even if one society becomes stronger than the other two, there's nothing stopping the remaining factions from "ganging up on the schoolyard bully."
Funcom wanted to make sure we were aware that this was a demon and not a dragon.
Funcom plans to make the time spent as enjoyable as possible, of course, and part of that is ensuring that everything -- from cinematics (of which we are told there are over 300) to conversations with NPCs -- will be fully voice acted. I've seen some samples, and remember at the time thinking that it walked the line between dramatic and over-the-top hokeyness.
I have a feeling that's mostly intentional, as Tornquist sites a vast number of sources as inspiration for the story The Secret World, from H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe and Clive Barker to Joss Whedon, Hellblazer and the X-Files. The best stories, however, have endings. We asked Tornquist, given the interconnectivity and the planned "cliffhanger," if he had an ending planned for The Secret World as well.
Content is something that can separate good games from common games and it's what the developer of some huge projects really care about. The Secret World is Funcom's big deal in 2011 and the developer, of course, tries to make impressive story to back up its gameplay features. Ragnar Tornquist, the producer and director of The Secret World, just told Eurogamer that they've prepared for "seven years" of post-launch content and story.
Although Funcom keeps this project in darkness without telling the public too many gameplay details, they've already begun to work on the content and story after launch. And one of the new features that will be added in the future is mount. But according to Tornquist, they just plan to make the mounts as an aid to travel.
On the other hand, Ragnar Tornquist talks about the story of The Secret World on the game's official site. The story in The Secret World is a giant jigsaw puzzle, says Tornquist, there are thousands of pieces scattered all over the game world, both figuratively and geographically, that form the whole backstory. What's more, all these pieces are infused into every corner and everything in the gaming world, the mission cinematics, dialogue, gameplay mechanics, the environment and monster ecologies, even the sound and music. Everything has story, everything has context and everything has meaning.
Next week we have an interview on all things TSW with none other than Ragnar Tørnquist himself, but for this week let’s focus on something that will likely play a very key role in the shaping of Funcom’s Secret World: the factions. Each one has their own goals and designs for the future of mankind and Earth, and there’s a whole lot of reason to start thinking now about just which one you wish to pledge allegiance to. I’m personally hoping that the three-faction setup of TSW leads to some long-missed “realm pride” in Funcom’s upcoming MMO.
In terms of the game itself, it seems that you’ll be able to play together and quest together with members of the opposite faction with the idea being that the NPCs are a larger threat than opposing factions. Additionally, while there will be certain skills and items which are only available to one faction, Funcom is promising that each faction will be balanced accordingly. All that said there’s got to be a reason for three distinct groups to be at each other’s throats, right? Let’s recap what each of these sects stands for.
The IlluminatiThe Illuminati are sort of the pirates of TSW. Now hear me out. Their motto is “Sex, drugs, and Rockefeller” and they pride themselves on their cutthroat tactics and bad boy persona. Throw an eye patch on them and give them a sabre and you’re set to rule the seven seas. Their whole existence is founded on the principle of looting and plundering the many mysteries of heaven, hell, and the mortal realm. They will exploit every advantage they can in the search of power and wealth. There’s no honor or rules… there’s only the pursuit of the shiny. This one’s for the gear-driven folks, eh?
The TemplarsThese are the “Lawful Good” characters of the The Secret World. The Templars truly believe they are the righteous in a world filled with ne’er-do-wells. Their only goal is to rid the world of evil and deliver it unto the light by force… and everyone knows they have the capability to back up all that trash talk. They’re brutal and uncompromising, but they know that their cause is just and ample reason for any eggs that must be broken along the way.
The DragonThey’re ninjas.
Oh, you probably want more than that. The Dragon are the stealthy, espionage driven faction in Funcom’s recreation of the world. They excel at playing their enemies against each other and assassinating the right people behind a cloak of shadows. While the Templars outright declare war, the Dragon wait in the wings, slip a vial of poison into the right cup, and live to fight another day. They don’t care for spoils of war or “righting the wrong”. The Dragon is all about respecting the balance between dark and light, and they’ll do anything and everything they can to make sure that balance is maintained and the scales never tip.
So now the question is: which of the above three do you find the most appealing? Is it the shrouded and mysterious keepers of the balance, the power-hungry and obsessed, or the zealous and righteous militaristic type? One thing I know for sure is that it’ll be really interesting to see how the numbers shake out and what sort of driving force the war between the factions has on the rest of the game’s direction.
You say that you want to give meaning to everything in the game, including crafting. how is crafting in the Secret World more meaningful than that system has been in many of today's leading MMOs?
Joel Bylos:
We're not really ready to talk about crafting yet. Kudos for slipping that one in though!
MMORPG.com:
How will you deal with the fact that MMO players will share the answers to the various in-game puzzles online as soon as they are solved? Doesn't this take away from the experience?
Joel Bylos:
Collaboration, in my opinion, is one of the great strengths of the multiplayer genre (probably the human race). Why discourage people from sharing their knowledge? While I think intentional spoilers (like somebody spamming global chat with answers etc.) will receive some action on behalf of customer service, I see no problem with external sites that contain spoilers. Players would need to spoil themselves. Part of the problem is the emphasis most games put on progression. If people are doing something *only* to be rewarded, then they will search for the path of least resistance. The aim is to make the challenges enjoyable enough that the players feel rewarded simply for overcoming them. This is something we are encouraging in every aspect of The Secret World - no levels and classes takes the emphasis off *acquisition* and hopefully puts it back on *enjoyment*. I think players who are stumped by tough riddles will appreciate the help and support of their fellow players, and no, I don't see this as a problem as long as people need to actively search for spoilers. You can do this on any single player game, as well.
MMORPG.com:
Will players be led from one story point to the next in order, or is TSW's story somehow crafted in a way that allows for real, player-driven discovery rather than "on rails" revelation?
Joel Bylos:
Story missions are more of an "umbrella" mission. For example, one of the early goals in the story mission is "Investigate events in Kingsmouth". Through exploration and completing other missions in the area, the player will come upon the trigger which updates that goal in their own time - we don't tell them where to go or what to do. The Story Mission has a nice mix of these open-ended moments and also tightly scripted linear sequences. This encourages good flow and allows people breathing space between big revelations.
MMORPG.com:
The dev diary makes mention of the fact that all characters in TSW are motion captured and voice acted. Will this be the case at launch or will it only extend to the opening parts of the game as was the case in Age of Conan?
Dag Scheve:
We're putting a lot of emphasis into making characters in The Secret World believable, and giving them a voice is one aspect of that. Our aim is to have all characters in The Secret World fully voiced at launch, from the start of the game and all the way to the end game content.
MMORPG.com:
You say that the most important story in The Secret World is "your" story, meaning the story of the players. With that said, how is my story, as a player, going to be different from the stories of every other player?
Dag Scheve:
When we're talking about your story, we're talking about the one you'll create for yourself. How you experience the game, the friends you'll make and the alliances you'll forge. Your experience will be different because you're you, with your unique point of view. Everything you experience in the game is part of your story, and your experiences are always the most important.
MMORPG.com:
How do the specific mission types mentioned in your dev diary differ from the standard MMO missions that exist in nearly every other game?
Joel Bylos:
I think that all missions in every game (single player included) can be boiled down to a certain number of mechanics. So it is my firm belief that it is the wrapping of missions that matter. It's not what you do, but *how* you do it. That said; let's talk about the main mission types in TSW. Action Missions - These are the closest in style to what we see in other MMOs. However, the team is encouraged to come up with mechanics that feel fresh. How about instead of killing 10 monsters, you fire a flare which lights an area so that a sniper can take things down for you? What about a mission that first asks you to collect the ingredients for various bombs, creating them and then has you setting up a tower defense style gauntlet to lure monsters through? Action missions cover the usual suspects, but with a twist that will surprise you. Sabotage Missions- Sometimes in TSW it is necessary to recover information covertly or complete a mission without revealing yourself to outsiders. To this end we have created mechanics that encourage an unorthodox approach to problem solving. Security systems that must be bypassed, enemies who will incapacitate rather than kill you, environmental hazards and triggers which ask the player to react. Sabotage missions usually have open ended goals. Instead of "Use the Keypad, Open the Door, Enter the base" we simply say "Enter the Base". One player might go over the fence. One player might use a passcode to get through the blast door. One player might just blast down the blast door. Hell crafty players might just wait until *someone else does the work* and then sneak through the still-open door. The idea of Sabotage missions is to encourage players to find creative gameplay solutions in line with their playing style. Investigation Missions - These missions are really the connecting line between the real world and The Secret World. Your character needs answers, answers that can often only be found through searching the vast annals of human knowledge. Instead of trying to include all of the knowledge of human experience inside the game world, we simply acknowledge that answers exist on the outside. And then we let players research and uncover these things to solve in-game problems. Some investigations are informational - you have to search for the right information which clues you into what to do next. Some of them are logical - figure out a sequence of numbers or a series of events. Some require very specialized knowledge - hack this computer using a series of commands only a hardcore hacker would know or translate a riddle from this language which is only spoken by 300 people on earth.
MMORPG.com:
Will groups of friends be required to be a part of the same secret society in order to participate in the story missions that relate specifically to the secret societies?
Joel Bylos:
The story mission is keyed to the individual player. You cannot share the story mission, though you may share similar goals sometimes with someone in another society. So yes there are times when banding together for a common purpose is possible...just don't ever trust anybody from another secret society!
MMORPG.com:
One of the biggest problems facing new MMOs today is the expectations game, with player expectation often reaching well beyond the developers' original scope for the game. As of right now, are there any myths or misconceptions floating around about The Secret World that yo'd like to take this opportunity to correct or address?
Joel Bylos:
I would simply encourage our future players to get themselves out of a treadmill mindset. There is progression in TSW, and your character will become more powerful through diversification and gear, but don't make the mistake of thinking we want people running through the world looking for the endgame. In a very real sense, TSW is all endgame.
ya fors i will try this for sure also.but better don't rush into pre-order this time untill after we tested hehe.
i like so far most of the feature but the limited skill slots need to be tested.also since this game have designated pk zone and non pvp zone the questing must be fun or will end up boring as well.but looking at the video i think this will be a pretty good horror gene mmo.just hope they have loads of content for us ^^
also hope the release date don't crash with the other good mmo lol.will give us time to test each one and see which one is best
Hahaha yeah i've learned my lesson not to pre-order any MMORPG anymore. Almost all the games pre-ordered usually end up a flop or last only for a few weeks.
Throughout the week, Funcom has revealed three new locations that players will visit in The Secret World: Atlantic Island Park, the Accursed Woods and Innsmouth Academy. While the lore surrounding these areas is certainly interesting, we want to know what they look like in-game. Funcom must have read our minds because they just posted three screenshots of the locations on the game's Facebook page!
In the above image, a character shoots at one of the "hideous things" you'll find in the Accursed Woods. You can view the screenshots for the abandoned amusement park and the Illuminati school after the jump. Click on any picture for a larger version, or check them all out in our gallery.Atlantic Island Park Innsmouth Academy
Joel Bylos, Lead Content Designer for The Secret World
After my philosophical post of a couple of weeks ago, I thought this would be a good opportunity to get into the practical side of building the world in The Secret World.
But keep in mind that this is the short version of a process that takes months!
Identifying Purpose
Every location that is in the game is there for a reason. The first step in creating a new location is identifying its purpose. How does this fit into the story? What does this area showcase that is unique to The Secret World? Who lives here, and why?
The answers to these questions give us the broad framework for the area.
Research and the Secret History
Because our locations exist in the real world, the history of a region is often already well established. Solomon Island, for example, has to adhere to the general history of Maine and the United States.
The writing team goes to work, digging through dusty online articles and reading by flickering LCD light to compile a comprehensive guide to the back story of an area. Layered onto this, however, is the secret history. This is the history of an area as only a member of The Secret World can experience it; the footprints of the secret societies and their past conflicts; the truth behind the local myths and legends; the echoes of ancient magic and forgotten rituals.
Meanwhile the art team is doing research of a different kind. What is the time period and architectural style? What are the seasons like in this particular location? They prowl the web, watch movies and even make visits to the actual locations – all in order to create a visual style for the world which captures the spirit of the location while still adhering to the overall vision of The Secret World.
Now that both the artists and writers have done their research, enter the Content Designer.
Building Flow
Using the research provided by the two teams, the Content Designer creates an overview design for the area. This design can include story points (this is where we place the character who tells the player about the bird flu conspiracy), art points (this is an opportunity for us to make an amazing lighthouse in true New England style) and includes important gameplay points as well (wouldn’t it be cool to let the players blow this f*!%ing building sky high?).
In general Content Designers are very concerned with the concept of flow.
Flow is how the environment design, content production and story – using any of the mechanics available – direct players through an area. It’s a tricky thing to get right; some players prefer to be guided step by step through the content while others prefer complete freedom in how they approach things.
Flow can be intrusive (a one way corridor which a player is forced to walk down) or subtle (a flickering light off in the distance which draws the curious player to investigate). It is one of the strengths of a good content designer to understand where to be heavy handed and where to use a light touch.
In The Secret World, for example, different mission types require a different feeling of flow.
Action Missions – We tend to be fairly heavy handed here. Action missions will lead the player from point to point, dealing with enemies and obstacles along the way.
Sabotage Missions – These are more open, but not completely freeform. Yes, we want players to use their skills and abilities to find the way into the pumping station, but we still tell them where the pumping station is!
Investigation Missions – Here we tend to be completely freeform. We don’t guide players at all. We let them find the path with no attempt to guide them beyond the most subtle of clues.
Once the Content Designer is done with the overview and keeping in mind the importance of flow, it is reviewed and approved and the preliminary production of an area begins.
Prototyping and Production
So the design is Complete™. And by complete we mean as best as a design can be on paper which is an incredibly difficult way to judge actual fun and atmosphere. So now we actually have to stop speculating about how an area will work, and start actually building the area.
As this involves all kinds of professions from across the company working in a variety of tools, I won’t go into detail now. But in the next blog, I will talk more about how we build the physical environment of our games using our world design tool.
Number of posts : 6807 Location : Netherlands IGN[Game NickName] : Snow, Nuts, Nut, Snowball, Splash, Snowy Current Status : Busy at School Registration date : 2008-06-02
^^ will only do that for game i enjoy or plan to play long term snow heh.nowadays game are so realistic even vami say he feel giddy if he turn on apb at max video setting in certain resolution if play too long heh
i remember i vomit 2-3 times in aion before i got used to it after 2 days lol.anyway tsw is not action style mmo.but i will need to get ready for blade and dragonnest since they are :)
Number of posts : 6807 Location : Netherlands IGN[Game NickName] : Snow, Nuts, Nut, Snowball, Splash, Snowy Current Status : Busy at School Registration date : 2008-06-02
Hitskin.com
Home
