E3 Day2: Now with more Dragons per square inch!
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E3 Day 2: Now with more Dragons per square inch!
We all know that up until now one MMO has beaten all comers
to corner the market on this type of game. Will that still be the case within
the span of one short year? I’m not so sure. Seen most recently at this years
E3 were two MMOs that could potentially dethrone this mammoth. The first claim
to this throne offered a variable class system and free DLC, the other threatens
to take it at the tip of a lightsaber. First I was privy to a demo of the
latest patch for Rift, a high fantasy
MMORPG from Trion entertainment. This game has been out for slightly under two
months and looks beautiful. This story is a lot less known, so Tolara is a
world protected by a shield to protect it from the other realms, but this
shield is breaking and creating Rifts into your world. You spend the first six
levels learning the skills of the game and then are thrust into Tolara to wreak
havoc or recreate the world as you see fit. The class system is amazing in this
MMO, it gives you the ability to create up to five unique classes you can
switch it and out at the drop of a hat depending on what you need to destroy.
You can create five different true classes, or become a jack of whichever
trades you please. With the patch going live on June 22nd, you’ll
have access to ‘world events’ that you can take a meaningful part in at any
level. These will have a lasting effect on the world regardless of the outcome
you choose, whether the world is wrapped in darkness or under a raincloud for
the next few weeks is based largely on how you decide to complete the different
tasks in each world event thrown at you. This is the first game I’ve seen with
a chance to topple WoW off its epic mount.
The second serious contender is a part of a huge universe
that has been established a good number of years ago, and is still just as
dynamic today. We’ve all heard something about The Old Republic by now, and I would bet that everyone has heard
slightly different things. The sum of these whispers and rumors should prove to
be a genre changing MMO with a Bioware spin on it. This one takes place 3000
years before Vader tossed The Emperor down a huge well, and 300 before the
events of the Knights of the Old Republic.
When The Old Republic starts, open
war ‘could’ break out at any time between the Empire and the Republic, with the
Jedi helming one side and the Sith helming the other. Each of the eight classes
have a unique story; meaning that if you choose a Jedi knight for one play
through and a Bounty Hunter for the next, you will not see any repeated
content. At this point I should bring up the reason Bioware hasn’t released
KOTOR 3, because they opted to release this MMO and give you the ability to
play out your own Star Wars trilogy; if you decide to know play through the
game three times. We all know that Bioware can weave a story like no other, so
it should be interesting to see this in an MMO, with the weight of the choices
you make actually affecting things in the galaxy you live in. A new feature
I’ve never seen in a team based game is having a conversation at important plot
points with all players having their own input. The choice your group actually
announces depends on how the NPC interacts with the players and how many group
members choose a similar answer. The Old
Republic looks as visually stunning as one would hope, with the story and
combat we all know that we can only get from Bioware. WoW certainly has some
stiff competition this year and only time will tell who ends up on top.
To the frozen north
we go!
The Elder Scrolls will ruin your life again with Skyrim, and
you’ll love every second of it. They promised plenty of dragons for months now,
and we got to see three huge clashes with these epic beasties, two of which
ended in their demise. This varied from demo presentation to demo presentation;
the dragons in Skyrim are very fickle and entirely unscripted bad guys and can
appear on a whim. This outing offers combat in both first and third person
mode, with each of the trigger button commanding each hand. The class system
has been done away with and replaced by a simple concept; however you want to
build your dragon-borne hero, do it. If you want to become a master of dual
wielding; then carry around two single-handed weapons and let the stabbing
commence. That still will increase and push you closer to your next level. I
don’t know that this means you can become a master minstrel though; chances are
you’ll end up just a spoony bard that gets killed, a lot. There are different
class stones found throughout the world which increase the rate you gain
certain skills. The skill tree and story progression is now based in the sky,
letting you create your own constellation through the course of the game. Every
quest will become dynamic depending on how you build your character and what
choices you make. We’re given access to ‘shouts’, which are widely varied
special moves, ranging from breathing fire to slowing down time to creating a
huge storm to pelt your enemies with rain and lightning. The only way to unlock
these is to find words of power written by the dragons, craft those words into
spells, and then kill dragons to unlock them. You’re rewarded for going after
the beasts from the word ’Go!’ which means the dragons that inhabit this
beautiful world will be feasting on noobs all day long. As each of the previous
Elder Scrolls titles have ruined your life for a few months, this one is no
different; outside of maybe being a little longer and more immersive. This
holiday season, you should kiss all your loved ones and tell them you’ll miss
them, feed your pets, quit your job, and camp in your man cave for a couple
months while you’re entirely absorbed in Skyrim.
-Pete Lindmark, GMU “Community Overlord’
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