It's too bad that Champions Online is so campy.  Its as if Joel Schumacher of 'Batman Forever' fame decided to create an MMO.

Who the hell wants to create a superhero and then run around fighting irradiated hillbillies, robot cowboys, ghost cowboys, and cheesey ice demons.  You can't tell me that this is the best that they could have come up with.  It's just too damned silly and Saturday morning cartoonish.

Now if this stuff is your cup of tea, well..more power to ya brother!  I'm not against anyone else enjoying the game and I'm not telling anyone else to drop Champs either.  I'm just venting..and I wouldn't have cancelled my subscription if the content wasn't so silly and childish.

Well, I find it a bit odd playing a superhero game and complaining it's campy. The whole superhero genre feeds on camp (maybe apart from the comics written by Alan Moore, who in turn feeds on analyzing said camp).

Could it be that people are actually buying Frank Miller & Christopher Nolan's adolescent Batman realism?

I love the cheesiness in this game... but not the gameplay.

Comic books that I've always brought did not feel 'cheesy' if I follow this thread

This weekend I just purchased 'The End League', 'Star Wars KOTR series' made by Dark Horse comics, Fathom, Dynamo 5, Green Lantern Blackest night, Action Comics, and PowerGirl.

The only way that felt lighthearted was Power Girl (made by DC Comics) which is a new series. But all the other popular titles I always buy always takes themselves very seriously.

I really hated the game went such a cheesy approach. It is almost as if they have no respect for the comic book genre and decided to make fun of it. But I guess the Champions IP they licensed is just campy like that.

Champions world is like watching Sky High. It's entertaining to watch but you don't feel immersed.

When you watch Spiderman 1&2, I'd say most people feel immersed in a world that was carefully crafted around realistic elements to immerse you.

I really wished Champions took itself more seriously but I guess they are just being true to their source material. But it's nothing like the Comic Books I regularly buy. I would even go so far as to say their power system is nothing like the comics I buy. What superhero you know of has to spam some weak attack in order to regen their power? What about superjump that does huge amounts of dmg to you... What about Flight being so easily detoggled in PVP you find yourself falling quite often.

If superman was in Champions Online universe he'd get his butt kicked cause he cant fly or use his superspeed (-travel powers).

But I disgress! Let me conclude by saying comic books I grew up on ALWAYS took themselves serious from the Incredible Hulk to Spiderman comics to X-Men to X-Factor to Sandman

The game is made to have that comic book feel, and really hits the spot on what the typical people feela comic book should be like. The term "comic book" could lead to 100 different paths, and I personally feel they did a wonderful job on showing those different sides.

Originally posted by BlueDagger

The game is made to have that comic book feel, and really hits the spot on what the typical people feela comic book should be like. The term "comic book" could lead to 100 different paths, and I personally feel they did a wonderful job on showing those different sides.

I agree with this.

To be blunt though, most of the discontent in the theme and style of the game's setting and presentation is likely coming from comic book readers/superhero fans who only recently (relatively, as in within the past 20/30 years) got into it, or people too young to know any differently and haven't bothered to really look back.

Comics weren't dark, or even really gritty, until the 80s. They had serious storylines, yes, but always in a style similar to Champions, i.e., not taking themselves *too* seriously or with too much weight. Even Champions addressed this with Dark Champions, which is decidedly more comparable to the Modern Age.

Originally posted by yumpinyimini

It's too bad that Champions Online is so campy.  Its as if Joel Schumacher of 'Batman Forever' fame decided to create an MMO.

Who the hell wants to create a superhero and then run around fighting irradiated hillbillies, robot cowboys, ghost cowboys, and cheesey ice demons.  You can't tell me that this is the best that they could have come up with.  It's just too damned silly and Saturday morning cartoonish.

Now if this stuff is your cup of tea, well..more power to ya brother!  I'm not against anyone else enjoying the game and I'm not telling anyone else to drop Champs either.  I'm just venting..and I wouldn't have cancelled my subscription if the content wasn't so silly and childish.

And you know that champions online is base one the Pen and paper RPG right?

http://www.herogames.com/productsChampions.htm

CO's comicbook elements are the most superficial and basic you might try to get away with, a stereotypical realisation presented in an embarassed and self conscious manner (unlike the Champions pen and paper game which is always clear and proud of the theme it is attempting to represent). What results is a generic 'story' with no depth, or conviction, an mmo with that makes minimal or effort to immerse and none to involve the player. For all the customisation there is one path, one effective activity, one outcome, no illusion of choice, consequence, ambition or worth aside from the egostroking self perpetuation of the avatar....a trait far more consistent with your average super villain rather than hero. The avatar creator is awesome, the world is dreadful and the latter effect appears to be stem from a profound lack of understanding and conviction in the theme.

I somehow knew something was going to happen before it went to open beta i was usually visiting their website in hope to get a beta invite. Every time I was there I always had the same thought, they are adding too many things that people want, they are trying to make everyone happy but will it work well? and the result is seen now with an unfinished game.

I always seen this in their forum they were trying to make everyone happy but that is not a solution you need to make the game work before doing such things and you can never make everyone happy.

Originally posted by Nikopol

Well, I find it a bit odd playing a superhero game and complaining it's campy. The whole superhero genre feeds on camp (maybe apart from the comics written by Alan Moore, who in turn feeds on analyzing said camp).

Could it be that people are actually buying Frank Miller & Christopher Nolan's adolescent Batman realism?

I love the cheesiness in this game... but not the gameplay.

 

tbh, I dissagree about the whole superhero genre being campy. I know some of it is but most isn't.

Still have more than 1 month and cant even force my self to play and use the free recton...

well there isnt anything to do other than random BGs with broken powers.. and world it self is small and always giving the single player feeling to me ...

i dont care really .. i've played for almost 2 month and iam not feeling sorry but this game is one of those that i wouldnt go back even after 1 year. having unlimited fun with Borderlands and after that its time for Dragon age.

Originally posted by Ghostmind

Comics weren't dark, or even really gritty, until the 80s. They had serious storylines, yes, but always in a style similar to Champions, i.e., not taking themselves *too* seriously or with too much weight. Even Champions addressed this with Dark Champions, which is decidedly more comparable to the Modern Age.

disagree with this . comics always had a darker gritty side before frank miller did dark knight returns.like..

1940s Two Face .had acid thrown in his face.an became a killer. www.comicvine.com/two-face/29-5555/

1940s was good for gritty dark heroes to who killed the villians .like The Shadow www.comicvine.com/the-shadow/29-28923/

1967 had the Deadman dark back ground if nothing else www.comicvine.com/deadman/29-5690/

1971 had Swamp Thing www.comicvine.com/swamp-thing/29-15809/

1941 had The Red Skull www.comicvine.com/red-skull/29-2250/ 

Theirs more characters an stories that took them selves serious enuff. marvels stuff with spider man an daredevil did.Champions online style would fit made for tv cartoons an some of the 60s stuff.more tword the gi joe cartoons .

Originally posted by Ghostmind

Originally posted by BlueDagger

The game is made to have that comic book feel, and really hits the spot on what the typical people feela comic book should be like. The term "comic book" could lead to 100 different paths, and I personally feel they did a wonderful job on showing those different sides.

 

I agree with this.

To be blunt though, most of the discontent in the theme and style of the game's setting and presentation is likely coming from comic book readers/superhero fans who only recently (relatively, as in within the past 20/30 years) got into it, or people too young to know any differently and haven't bothered to really look back.

Comics weren't dark, or even really gritty, until the 80s. They had serious storylines, yes, but always in a style similar to Champions, i.e., not taking themselves *too* seriously or with too much weight. Even Champions addressed this with Dark Champions, which is decidedly more comparable to the Modern Age.

X-men, Spiderman, Hulk, etc always have taken themselves very seriously. I disagree with this post. It is not difficult to get a hold of Classic X-Men books.

Classic comics were written in a time when the world was much nicer...simpler.

City of Heroes was a well-timed creation/mmorpg that allowed players to immerse. Immersion wasn't really a problem, since the birth of the game came at a booming moment for mmorpgs. But, how do we fair today? Billions of code later, we have an mmorpg that could easily be F2P with a cash shop <sigh>.

The old-school developers are retiring... so, we must search for that prodigy amoungst the babies who run the industry today.

If you live long enough, you will be disenchanted at every opportunity you take. This, by far, is the new mmorpg industry... I'm going to hold out for the sequel to DISENCHANTED.

There is no magic door, anymore.

Originally posted by deviladvent

Still have more than 1 month and cant even force my self to play and use the free recton...

well there isnt anything to do other than random BGs with broken powers.. and world it self is small and always giving the single player feeling to me ...

i dont care really .. i've played for almost 2 month and iam not feeling sorry but this game is one of those that i wouldnt go back even after 1 year. having unlimited fun with Borderlands and after that its time for Dragon age.

I know the pain.  I, unfortunately, bought the 6 month plan.  I haven't logged in a month, except to check out the bloodmoon event.  I logged in for 1 hour for that and realized how AWFUL it was, and logged out.

I did a clean install of Win7 and CO will not be making its way back on the PC.  The devs really dropped the ball, from the nerfs, the messed up patches, and the lack of content.  It's sad really.  I played in CB and then in OB and had high hopes for the title, but alas, I'm back to LotRO and enjoying my time in Middle Earth.

This thread saved me money, so thanks.

While there's some element's in today's comic world that are campy (colourful tights are still around) ultimately the tone of most of the popular series are darker. You have Green Arrow's sidekick dying of aids, the X-men facing extinction dealing with prejudice and so forth. I can tell by the OP's concerns that I'd be dissapointed with this game.  Comics are really 20-21st century heroic mythology, that's the appeal of them, not fantasies of flying around beating up robots.

Cancelled today myself. The premise is very campy. The servers are very unstable. Melee is completely outclassed by ranged. After a week in the game, all there is to do is level an alt. I guess ppl from CoX like rolling alts. I'm kind of a focus on a toon guy. 


[ Mod Edit ]

Originally posted by Ghostmind

Originally posted by BlueDagger

The game is made to have that comic book feel, and really hits the spot on what the typical people feela comic book should be like. The term "comic book" could lead to 100 different paths, and I personally feel they did a wonderful job on showing those different sides.

 

I agree with this.

To be blunt though, most of the discontent in the theme and style of the game's setting and presentation is likely coming from comic book readers/superhero fans who only recently (relatively, as in within the past 20/30 years) got into it, or people too young to know any differently and haven't bothered to really look back.

Comics weren't dark, or even really gritty, until the 80s. They had serious storylines, yes, but always in a style similar to Champions, i.e., not taking themselves *too* seriously or with too much weight. Even Champions addressed this with Dark Champions, which is decidedly more comparable to the Modern Age.

You are wrong on this one my friend.  Yes there have allways been "campy" comic books but to say comics didnt get "dark" or "gritty" till the eighties is completely untrue.  In fact "dark" and Gritty" comic books caused such a sture during the 40s and 50s congress was considering passing legeslation against such books Like "Tales from the crypt" .  In fact Batman was even a dark book even though he was mostly fighting gangsters.  Yes there has allways been "campy" comics but the Comics Code Authority is what chased away many of the darker titles up until the mid eighties when many of the publishers decided to experiment aulternate headings like Marvels "Epic" line.

Just thought I would correct your history

Originally posted by erickdefores

Originally posted by Ghostmind

Originally posted by BlueDagger

The game is made to have that comic book feel, and really hits the spot on what the typical people feela comic book should be like. The term "comic book" could lead to 100 different paths, and I personally feel they did a wonderful job on showing those different sides.

 

I agree with this.

To be blunt though, most of the discontent in the theme and style of the game's setting and presentation is likely coming from comic book readers/superhero fans who only recently (relatively, as in within the past 20/30 years) got into it, or people too young to know any differently and haven't bothered to really look back.

Comics weren't dark, or even really gritty, until the 80s. They had serious storylines, yes, but always in a style similar to Champions, i.e., not taking themselves *too* seriously or with too much weight. Even Champions addressed this with Dark Champions, which is decidedly more comparable to the Modern Age.

 

You are wrong on this one my friend.  Yes there have allways been "campy" comic books but to say comics didnt get "dark" or "gritty" till the eighties is completely untrue.  In fact "dark" and Gritty" comic books caused such a sture during the 40s and 50s congress was considering passing legeslation against such books Like "Tales from the crypt" .  In fact Batman was even a dark book even though he was mostly fighting gangsters.  Yes there has allways been "campy" comics but the Comics Code Authority is what chased away many of the darker titles up until the mid eighties when many of the publishers decided to experiment aulternate headings like Marvels "Epic" line.

Just thought I would correct your history

For the most part, those weren't superhero comics. Superheroes started becoming darker in the Silver Age (50s) when the characters themselves began "having issues". They were still pretty "light" then, though. The current trend of storylines in comics hasn't been around very long.

Go pick up an old comic book.

Originally posted by Ghostmind

Originally posted by erickdefores

Originally posted by Ghostmind

Originally posted by BlueDagger

The game is made to have that comic book feel, and really hits the spot on what the typical people feela comic book should be like. The term "comic book" could lead to 100 different paths, and I personally feel they did a wonderful job on showing those different sides.

 

I agree with this.

To be blunt though, most of the discontent in the theme and style of the game's setting and presentation is likely coming from comic book readers/superhero fans who only recently (relatively, as in within the past 20/30 years) got into it, or people too young to know any differently and haven't bothered to really look back.

Comics weren't dark, or even really gritty, until the 80s. They had serious storylines, yes, but always in a style similar to Champions, i.e., not taking themselves *too* seriously or with too much weight. Even Champions addressed this with Dark Champions, which is decidedly more comparable to the Modern Age.

 

You are wrong on this one my friend.  Yes there have allways been "campy" comic books but to say comics didnt get "dark" or "gritty" till the eighties is completely untrue.  In fact "dark" and Gritty" comic books caused such a sture during the 40s and 50s congress was considering passing legeslation against such books Like "Tales from the crypt" .  In fact Batman was even a dark book even though he was mostly fighting gangsters.  Yes there has allways been "campy" comics but the Comics Code Authority is what chased away many of the darker titles up until the mid eighties when many of the publishers decided to experiment aulternate headings like Marvels "Epic" line.

Just thought I would correct your history

 

For the most part, those weren't superhero comics. Superheroes started becoming darker in the Silver Age (50s) when the characters themselves began "having issues". They were still pretty "light" then, though. The current trend of storylines in comics hasn't been around very long.

Go pick up an old comic book.

Was 1954 when the Comics Code Authority came into being mostly cause of Dr. Fredric Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent", publishers established the code to curb potential governmental regulation. thats what cause campiness to be what made it to newsstands mostly. but not all comics used the code.by the way that was complete bovine excriment.you can read the list of does an do nots here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority 
 

So your actualy gona say batman wasnt a super hero comic?or the links an dates i provided  arent comic books.their was dark stories back then it did over all lightn up after the "code" came into being , in the late 60's an 70s it was some what lighter still but their was dark stories even in those times.an the 1st anti drug story had to be done with out the Comics Code Authority  aproval .

Co surely has a campy feel like a 80s comic tv show.but um you may have been reading gold key/disney/superman type comics an think thats a great sample of what was before the 80s .but their were dark story lines .their was blood , death , a world war even .their still was dark an even gasp gritty comics back then .

Originally posted by Nikopol

Well, I find it a bit odd playing a superhero game and complaining it's campy. The whole superhero genre feeds on camp (maybe apart from the comics written by Alan Moore, who in turn feeds on analyzing said camp).

Could it be that people are actually buying Frank Miller & Christopher Nolan's adolescent Batman realism?

I love the cheesiness in this game... but not the gameplay.

 

WOW!  I was about to say pretty much the same thing!

I loved the desert theme... it's just the "pew pew pew.... whooosh!  Pew pew pew" gameplay that turned me off.

And... 7 years ago, a game called Freedom Force was made, where you could punch a guy and they'd take falling damage from the knockback... even more if they hit a building, AND if it did enough damage, that building could fall in on them!

Now, 7 years later, the tech isn't there to at least put this in instances?  I understand the outside persistent world being an issue, but instances are set up to be extraordinary events;  areas devoid of innocents where you can take the kid gloves off and knock the baddies into next week!

Also:  I've said it too many times... CO should have focused more on power customization than adding a jillion costume props which add nothing to game play.  Save that stuff for the CO store.

CO was good effort, but a badly focused one.