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Imperator News - Combat System Preview
Posted by Dana Massey on Jun 01, 2005 | 14 comments in our forums
At E3 this year, the first half of Mythic's "dog and pony show" displayed Imperator, a sci-fi MMORPG where Rome never fell. However, weeks before E3 we had released this preview based on a visit to their HQ. So, I asked, why spit that back at you again? Instead, we trapped a member of their design team, Mike Lescault, and had an in-depth discussion about one aspect of the game: the combat system.
;) Imperator is set in a sci-fi alternate earth reality where Rome never fell and the republic is locked in an inter-stellar war with the Mayans – who left Terra (Earth) years before, leaving a plague in their wake. This setting immediately differentiates the game from most others. It is not fantasy in any way. The characters look realistic; there are no wizards or magicians – only people. Although some games obviously leap into a similar setting – namely Star Wars Galaxies – this change alone provides them with comparatively uncharted waters to explore and create something new in.
The first thing players notice in Imperator is that there is no auto-combat. If you wish to attack an enemy, you need to select an attack. As you fight, you lose energy and gain focus based on what feats you choose. The various combat moves work off one, or both of these things. This combination ensures players need to pay attention and strategize their combat. For example, do they wish to work the whole fight and build up to one giant pay off move that zaps all their focus or would they prefer to play it safe, and use more, but smaller moves that use only a portion of their hard-earned focus? |
You can read the full article at this link.
Really looking forward to see how Mythic handles this. As it looks on paper, it looks great. Also nice to get away from the click, wait, ooo critc, click, miss, click, miss, miss, miss, drink, click, click, click, dead combat system.
I assume the game is not going to be in Latin, but I wonder if Mythic took into consideration the Roman Empire's dominant language was Latin when they made the game (like having signs in Latin, famous people in game with Latin names, maybe a few "Carpe Diem" slogans here and there, ect.).
I think I'm gonna try to teach myself a bit of it so I can come up with a cool Roman-ish name at release.
I am so psyched for this game to come out. I love that they are really going out there with their backstory, a Harry Turtledove-like alternate history. I also like that Mythic is trying to come up with answers to problems that have plagued promising licenses, like the issue that are swamping SWG right now.
Yes, I am a fan of the latin names too :)
Action packed wont deter me from trying the game. But odds are that I will not maintain any subscription past a month for something ''action packed'' rather then something where you, in theory, focus on thinking rather then acting fast...purely a selfish reason, my reflexes lack and with mostly english speakers, I am at a double disadvantage in action packed.
But will still try it...and action have a bigger fanbase then ''game based turn'' old schoolers, they are just not really interested in the rpg style and usually more in the fps style. Weird choices = high risk = high potential reward.
I will definitely stay tuned and try it.
PS: Anyone that bring the fact D&Donline is ''action packed'' will receive an extremely well thinked: DIE HERETIC!
To be clear - it is still very much an RPG in terms of mechanics and from the descriptions while some classes (light tanks) will be quite action packed, others will be a little more measured. The whole point being that it allows you to find the playstyle that is right for you. A different class is more than different math.
OMG!!! Something that is NOT yet another cookie-cutter fantasy MMO!!! Looks like an excellent alternative with a promising world and combat mechanics.
I really hope they support a world wide audience, and don't screw us Aussies like most MMO's, these days, do constantly.
*cough* City of Heroes *cough*
Interesting read. I like some of the gameplay ideas and the setting they are using is obviously very unique. The skill system also sounds like a nice change of pace. From reading the class info the "Quantum Theory" class sounds interesting along with the shock trooper (sounds like a class that won’t be boring to play)
If it plays like it sounds should bring some fresh air to the stale MMORPG combat we have come to know and loath,
dare I say this game will require some skill, we will find out
TeamSpeak integrated into games bad, branching voice macro system a la Planetside good - look at Planetside itself, you'll often see the "Defend the Control Console" and "I need reconstruction" voice macros, but hardly ever get a Voice Chat invite.
For those who haven't seen/played Planetside you'd have one key to start the voice macro (e.g V), one for the type of message (e.g. (C)ommand, (N)eed, (A)ttack, (D)efend, etc.) and then a final one for the specifics.
So you can type quick three-letter codes to get out a message like "Attack their Medic" or "I need repairs". It's a very neat system and one I wonder why it's not being taken on by more games (though City of Heroes has similar for their emotes).