General Discussion

i read the two articles over the past few days  ...  and all i can say is GOOD LUCK .... and i really mean that , its sad when ppl want to compare and assume  before knowing all the facts .. in hind sight we will not know more cos they dont want to let out too much ... this is understandable.  I think in some ways this was their way to ask us ok heres our game heres our idea we CAN do this .... now what would u like to see as we move forward. This engine and the dynamics of the game sound by far more than interesting adaptive AI ... its like a PC that lives [ TERMINATOR ] and adjust to the world around it.

"Today i kill Snowlord Axtelsmash and tomorrow when i think all is calm the AI has made his Brother to come avenge his death while gaining my enemies trust or backing in which they could all conspire against me to see me fall six feet under  ... three words " COME GET SOME" ... lol i really hope to hear more on this in the future ... is there a website or official site we can see this game coming up or is it still gonna be secret for another yr or two ? ..."

now as a pvper this actually sounds quite interesting with the collesium , for several reasons the pvp is kept to a secluded area .. can be solo or grouped based [ makes good for clans and guilds ] so in games where pvp is usually possible we already have gotten rid of a PK problem  in open ended areas while in the actual progressive world. However im concerned about the balance of the pvp as if ur on ur own quest developing ur skill not everyone will be equal. Im hoping theres actually some kinda cap or set for the pvp ... there has to be rules. However this could make u alot of money if ur good at it ... the idea that others can watch is something interesting too cos then u cant say U DIDNT LOSE to the NOOB lol ... only thing i can see is pvp players need more warzones and map types to keep them interested ... its all bout strategy and adaption and a tru pvp player understands and loves that aspect.

One of the more interesting parts i read is the availability of the quest and where or how far they can go ... more so in the Air ... so maybe theres a flying class or something ... dunno but this game sound totally open ended as far as where u can go cos if u can get to the air that opens up a whole new game ... even if it is instanced ... i ll say this for ppl saying this is like GW ... in GW one of the best things that help it work is its instanced areas , ppl dont have time to wait for a bunch of ppl to kill the same person , however the way this game sounds im interested also to see whats instanced and whats open ended cos it sounds a bit confusing and contrasting. But i do wish u good luck on implemention. The Last part i found most interesting was the END GAME ... when u finally reach ur climax a new one will begin .... im thinkin this has to do with that adaptive AI ... when u take one out of power surely another foe will rise ... interested in this part extremely cos REPLAY value is whats the biggest key to any game.

sorry to post twice but hoping that one of the team sees this thread which im sure they are otherwise they wouldnt be doing the interview or w/e ... in this reply i was hoping just to give some feedback of some stuff im sure u thougth of but as ur game sounds well like real life i just wanted to give a few ideas i hope to see as this comes along .

First in this article it says in one part about what u want to do on a day to day basis and some change ups like a hunting party or living ur adventure or helping on a town seige etc ...well it got me to thinking a game that sounds this dynamic needs more RL implications.

Like maybe marriage to an NPC or another player ...  as it says u will forge relationships with NPCs that will affect u later this sounds great as an enemy could always use ur family against u. If he or she were to die this would definitely be an affect that would shape a persons future and their outlook on life.

Time itself ... a change in seasons as well as day and night

Character housing which surely could be instanced ... ppl could come on invites i suppose ... if  attacked  ur home for instance an enemy could burn it down or cause damage forcing u to do repairs .....

this may be flamed a bit but ... not sure on what rating ur going for as far as ur audience but what if one day i dont feel like doing anything just sittin back in the game world minding my own business talkin with friends or gettin to know new ones ... i want to CHILL bY the OLD SHADE TREE and take down my last swallow while watching the sunset while Fishing for rations  in the old lake or pond ... this could make for some great screens btw as well as video later as well as a drunkard storyline as ur character may become obsessive with drinkin and fishin by the old shade tree lol.

how about PETS ... yes i went there , everyone knows mans best friend is loyal ... only this is some fantasy world so imagine what could be created ... however all pets eventually die or take one for the team once in awhile ... so death should be embraced. When ur pet dies it dies ... they are like doritios ... kill em off they ll make more lol ...

since u have betting how bout a gambling house where u can play slots or poker or some blackjack for ingame cash. could be set up like mini games and something on the side for players to do besides all the other activities already at their disposal. this is the part that also makes me think this games audience is gonna be a more mature audience as far as its demographics the betting alone im sure would be a major concern from the parental community for children so if ur gonna do it go all the way lol

im sure i could go on and on but i wont just something bout the lil bit of info says that all of the above is fully possible in ur game .... but as u r trying t break the mold on the MMO market i wish u the best of luck and lookin forward to hearing much more on this game ... I think this is exactly the type of game Jeff Strain over at Anet was talkin about in his " How to build a Successful MMO"  article .... for those that havent read it google it , its a good read.

Originally posted by Bountytaker

Question:  If they have multiple servers, and a gameworld that is completely dynamic, how are they going to handle coding the updates, bug fixes, events, etc.  If each server has a different world on it, won't they have tailor each update to the coding of each world?

Jatar

Citadel of Sorcery dev team member

Originally posted by jaigaia

sorry to post twice but hoping that one of the team sees this thread which im sure they are otherwise they wouldnt be doing the interview or w/e ... in this reply i was hoping just to give some feedback of some stuff im sure u thougth of but as ur game sounds well like real life i just wanted to give a few ideas i hope to see as this comes along .

First in this article it says in one part about what u want to do on a day to day basis and some change ups like a hunting party or living ur adventure or helping on a town seige etc ...well it got me to thinking a game that sounds this dynamic needs more RL implications.

Like maybe marriage to an NPC or another player ...  as it says u will forge relationships with NPCs that will affect u later this sounds great as an enemy could always use ur family against u. If he or she were to die this would definitely be an affect that would shape a persons future and their outlook on life.

Time itself ... a change in seasons as well as day and night

Character housing which surely could be instanced ... ppl could come on invites i suppose ... if  attacked  ur home for instance an enemy could burn it down or cause damage forcing u to do repairs .....

this may be flamed a bit but ... not sure on what rating ur going for as far as ur audience but what if one day i dont feel like doing anything just sittin back in the game world minding my own business talkin with friends or gettin to know new ones ... i want to CHILL bY the OLD SHADE TREE and take down my last swallow while watching the sunset while Fishing for rations  in the old lake or pond ... this could make for some great screens btw as well as video later as well as a drunkard storyline as ur character may become obsessive with drinkin and fishin by the old shade tree lol.

how about PETS ... yes i went there , everyone knows mans best friend is loyal ... only this is some fantasy world so imagine what could be created ... however all pets eventually die or take one for the team once in awhile ... so death should be embraced. When ur pet dies it dies ... they are like doritios ... kill em off they ll make more lol ...

since u have betting how bout a gambling house where u can play slots or poker or some blackjack for ingame cash. could be set up like mini games and something on the side for players to do besides all the other activities already at their disposal. this is the part that also makes me think this games audience is gonna be a more mature audience as far as its demographics the betting alone im sure would be a major concern from the parental community for children so if ur gonna do it go all the way lol

im sure i could go on and on but i wont just something bout the lil bit of info says that all of the above is fully possible in ur game .... but as u r trying t break the mold on the MMO market i wish u the best of luck and lookin forward to hearing much more on this game ... I think this is exactly the type of game Jeff Strain over at Anet was talkin about in his " How to build a Successful MMO"  article .... for those that havent read it google it , its a good read.

Jatar

Citadel of Sorcery dev team member

Originally posted by Lindfalas

I did read about this game. It did seem like a perfect game, but then I did read about the instance. Then it will be a group/single player game, not a mmorgp game. Have seen this in a couple of game and always they claim it has to be that way, I dont think so. instancing should only be used when it has to be.

If it is a dynamic game, than instancing is not a part of that. So what will be left of the dynamic mmorpg game?

I hope they change there mind and drop almost all instancing. Then they would have a very good game.

I know I would be testing it then, but with instancing I would not spend my time on it.

 

Greetz

LOL i love this one, says instancing wont make the game dynamic, so what your saying is that if 500 people sit there waiting for the orc chief to spawn that is dynamic, The instancing Allows for a dynamic game, one group may have ot go kill the orc chief, but another player may have destroyed the orcs and now there is a small guardpost there with a quest. That is the beauty of instancing it allows for specific portions of a quest to truely be Your own story.

I am looking forward to try this game, after the launch. :P  Not going to try anything in beta, want to experience it fully. :P

CoS looks interesting and I wish the team well in bringing it to market, but there are several reasons why I doubt if I will be playing it, should it ever actually go live.

Firstly, the "You are the Hero" concept is an absolute turn-off for me. Not only do I have no desire to play a "hero", but I actively like to play regular, run-of-the-mill, anonymous kinds of characters. I thoroughly detest RPGs that tell me I am big, important or special; I just like to be there in the background, wandering along fairly aimlessly, doing my own thing. Being made the centre of attention or the focal point of the story is plain annoying.

Most MMOs give a nod to this kind of thinking, having NPCs recognise your character and claim they have "heard of your exploits" and so on, but it generally isn;t material to gameplay and I can easily tune it out. If gameplay actually relies on me playing my character as if what he does is "important", then that's lost me as a customer right from the start.

Secondly, CoS sounds extremely story-driven. I don't actually look for story in MMOs. I read books for stories, or watch movies, where stories have genuine depth and meaning. It is possible for RPGs, on or offline, to tell a story (although Adventure games in the old style did it better), but generally those stories are pretty trite and thin. I am far more interested in my character having a "life", where his own story accretes out of a theoretically endless series of apparently unrelated actions - just like non-virtual life does, in fact. So the game having a strong, overarching storyline that it is pretty much compulsory to follow is another big turn-off.

Finally, I like predictability and repetition. That, in large part, is what i come to MMOs for. Intelligent AI, clever monsters, dynamic content, a changing world - all of those are negatives for me. It's about as attractive as if i came home from work each day and found someone had moved all my furniture round. I want to know where things are, I want them to be where they were yesterday, and I want them to do the same thing they did last time i used them. So, another offputting design element there.

I have, however, seen many of these claims made before for MMOs that turned out in practice to be absolutely standard for the genre, so I live in hope that most of these will turn out to be nothing more than promotional fluff and CoS will finally emerge as another mainstream, solid MMO. In which case i will definitely give it a try

Wow and omg i try and think of the type of game Bhagpuss says he likes and i honestly can't even think of how completly boring a game like you would describe would be. No story, nothing actually happens people just mill around waiting cause they all expect something to happen to them before they do it then they chew there lips cause if they react in any remarkable way someone may go hey and pay attention to them leading to one conculsion

This is his mmo game

You make old people that sit around shuffling from room to room occasionally yelling at the nursing staff then you scurry away to avoid "attention" while waiting for reletive to arrive and give you things to do, veyr mundane things, like get them a sandwich or help with the groceries. The reward for these activities is points used to be left alone and make people not remember who they are, which help cause most of the players are old people anyway