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Age of Conan: E3 Preview
Last week, MMORPG.com Writer Carolyn Koh attended this year's, modified, E3. Today, she files this report on Funcom's much-anticipated upcoming MMORPG, Age of Conan.
"It's a mature game. Hyboria is a brutal world. It's savage. It's violent. It's sexy. There's no pink hearts and pretty fireballs. Heads will roll!" Announced Jorgen Thereldsen, Product Director of Funcom. This is the theme of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. "We have boobs in our game!" The demo room was in the basement of the Fairmont hotel and rigged up to look like a dungeon. Booth babes were on hand to pass out grotesque shrunken heads on a string.
Everybody and his brother, including the entire room of media people uploading assets, were connected to the same internet connection, bringing bandwidth down to a narrow pipe, but despite the technical difficulties, Funcom was able to provide an excellent demo. Ever the showman, Jorgen bragged as the group prepared for battle, "See? It's good to be a healer. You have a naked lady buffing you." Well, partial nudity anyway. Funcom was not shy to exploit the Conan IP's blatant sexuality.
;)
We were shown the Black Ring Citadel, a high level dungeon for you and your 23 closest high-level friends to overcome. I parked myself by the Necromancer station and Jason "Athelan" Stone joined me as they showed the crowd a three-person party demo. The Necromancer is Age of Conan's pet class, and a multitude of pets are to be had. Funcom had previously shown the melee before, which I will repeat here for those unfamiliar with Age of Conan's real-time combat.
Unlike many games' point, acquire target and click for auto-combat, the enemy closest to your character is targeted. There are six different moves that you can employ and some arcing moves can also strike other opponents if they are close enough to you. The UI is sparse, but in the middle is a radial indicator which shows where your swing will land. If there is more than one mob in that arc, you will injure all of them. If there are none in range, you will just be flailing through thin air with your weapon. Like real combat, some moves naturally lead to others and players can string them together in combinations, to devastating effect.
Magic is used in much the same manner. Depending on the spell in question and its area of effect, you may injure more than one opponent with it. Having this sort of control in combat means that combat is involving and immersive. You have to pay attention. If you are the type of gamer that likes to have your Cheetos in one hand and your coffee in the other while your character auto-attacks mobs, licking your fingers every now and again to hit that flashing special attack button, this game is not for you.
;)
Back to the Necromancer: Pet classes receive "pet points" as you level, with 8 points achieved at level 75, and different types of pets require different points to cast. We were shown a single point pet consisting of 8 scorpions. These were melee class with the added benefit of a poison attack. Pet controls are your basic aggressive / defensive / neutral (non-attack) stances plus direction - i.e. directing your pet towards battle. You could also direct each of your pets separately. Essentially micro-managing your little horde if you wish.
We were also shown a Reaper - or as Jorgen put it, "We made good use of Jar-Jar Binks here." It was a very tall creature, indeed reminiscent of Jar-Jar, and it was a caster. "It's a two-point pet," Jason told me. They did not have many other pets to show at this demo, but as the crowd thinned and press left for other events, I pressed for more details. At that precise moment, we had run into a gigantic Incubus mob. "Oh," said Jason, "You should see the Demonologist pet! The females have an Incubus and the males have a Succubus."
"What do you think? Buff?"
The Incubus was huge. Horned. Massive chest, six-pack, massive thighs, tiny loin-cloth. Jason and Erling Ellingsen, Product Manager, started playing around with the commands. "You have to watch the idle animation." The Incubus stopped swinging, dropping its massive sword where it sank into the ground. "Watch! It will cycle into the hip-thrust animation." Jason demonstrated, pointing with one hand while resting the other on his hip. Unfortunately, it wouldn't. So Erling took it back into combat readiness. It reached into the ground and hauled out the sword.
;)
"So, how real to life is your art?" Someone asked. "We can see," was the response and Erling moved under the Incubus and swung the camera upwards. So did the artist flesh it out? We could not tell, and I'm not sure if that was fortunate or unfortunate.
It is a dark world, but colors were not muted. They are dense and saturated. It is difficult to describe the look of the Age of Conan. The constraints in place to allow real time combat in an MMOG meant that FPS had to be high. To achieve that, Funcom artists have very creatively used colors and color shading to create the illusion of a texture rich 3-D world. Spell effects are varied but particle density is light. Blood spills and flies, but does not last long. Use of contrast is clever and players are never blinded by spell effects nor does FPS drop in intense combat.
However with this fast pace of combat, I asked Jason how and when chat for coordination could take place. "That's a question that has come up time and again," he admitted, "but don't forget that when we are doing demos, we have limitless health and mana. The actual pace of the game is not quite this fast. There will be time for chat, and there's always voice chat."
;)
"...And, there's always time for dancing and drunken gestures," Jorgen smiled as he demonstrated the multitude of animated emotes in the game. "Emotes can also be scripted together. You can totally have your character staggering around drunk and making rude hand gestures in celebration after a successful battle."
"Why no women avatars?" I asked, remembering the character customization available at CES in January. "Well, we aren't ready to show them yet." was the response. Hmmm, well, stranger things have happened. Lord of the Rings' music system for one, which was developed just months before their launch. Age of Conan will be launched in both a DX9 and DX10 version of the graphics engine. The Xbox Live version will be in DX9 in 2008, and their wish for it, is for the technology to be able to support hybrid servers by then, so that players on both the PC as well as the Xbox Live version can commingle in the same world.
fixed
I really hope for hands on prewiew
Really would like to hear some imputs on fighting system. It sounds and looks good...but how dificult it is to actually use?
For "twitch" skill-oriented games I tend to stick to gaming consoles, so I'm interested in how this game will combine more interactive combat with the traditional elements of an MMORPG. Admittedly, I had zero interest in this game initially (though I think Conan is a great license) but the more I read about it, the more it intrigues me. My main concern is they're gonna have to fall on one side of the fence (whether PC or console), since this game will ultimately be available for both platforms. I think if it's too twitch-based the mechanics could be a pain in the ass for PC gamers and give console players a definite advantage--whereas if it's the other way around, it may be more fulfilling for PC gamers but prove a dull experience for console gamers.
I never played EQOA, so maybe people who have played console-based MMORPGs could shed some light on how this has worked in the past (though I think this'll be the first title where PC and console gamers are playing on the same servers). Regardless, the devs' enthusiasm for this game is contagious and I'm excited to see how it turns out.
Me like ,Me want :D
Me want too ,nice chicks maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan
Agreed. Booth babes and show-and-tell events are fine but they need to start letting the press and conference attendees try the game. Esp. when they're talking about innovative combat systems, Funcom needs to let outside gamers try it and say whether or not it works.
Anything developers say is given 100% more credibility when somone NOT under their payroll says the same thing. When they get reviewers to talk about the game after playing it for an hour or so, then I'll start to believe all the stuff Funcom has been saying. Until then, there have been too many instances of hype over substance in MMORPGs for me to believe anything based solely on company press releases. No matter how hot the booth babes are.
And there's still nothing more about PvP combat. Ah well.
Agreed 100%. The fact that they've been to 3 E3's and no one has tried the game is a little ridiculous. What's even worse is that they've been to 3 E3s, and still no Female Avatars, no hands on play, and no PvP. I think either they're marketing staff is really horrible, or they're not even close to being done with the game and we can expect another delay.
well... i don't know if ill like it or not, but i would definately try it out just becuase their bloodshedding graphics and the combat system....
if they were skill based that would be like perfect... :p
The dev said there is over 900 hours of gameplay to reach max level. It would take you 45 weeks of button smashing and grinding to reach max level @ 20 hours a week. And as the look of things I am already burnt out on the grind just watching the lackluster videos.
I did get some "hands-on" time, by the way, but I just don't feel comfortable writing about "hands-on" based on something as short as a 5 or 10 minute play time, especially not for a full-fledged mmog such as Conan.
I'd feel better if I had a couple hours play time, try out a couple different classes etc. Further, all I got to try was the Necromancer which was... a spell caster. :P
After the beta embargo, we'll have more info for you.
Even initial impressions are something. It doesn't require judgement to be passed on the entire game. And the general 'feel' of a game can be determined after only a few minutes of play and a few combats IMO. Do the controls feel natural? Is the UI easy to follow? How intuitive is the new combat system? (Or the spell system)
I suppose the beta blackout has been limiting info on the game, but that still doesn't mean Funcom shouldn't be allowing more people the chance to try the game by now. Esp. when PvP is supposed to be such a major part of it, we should be at least seeing some PvP beta-videos I would think.
[quote]"Emotes can also be scripted together. You can totally have your character staggering around drunk and making rude hand gestures in celebration after a successful battle."[/quote]
As a roleplayer that makes me very, very happy.
Check it out! I'm pretty pumped after reading them. There's also some recent real gameplay videos on Youtube.
Don't go spreading lies and misinformation about AoC just because you're a warhammer fan.
For such a "mature" game, that quote sounds like a sure way to get preteens interested....c'mon... who shows off about boobs to promote a game, thats just getting desperate. This isn't BMX XXX
No thats not what the devs said. They said the average person has an account for 10 months, and roughly 900 hours. So the plan is to have 900+ hours of content in the game when it ships. They said absolutely nothing about leveling speed and those 900 hours.
I am watching this game to see how the combat system works, and the PvP does have some points i do like. However if you think that the mature rating will deter or keep kids from playing then you are deluding yourself. So far from what I have seen it has brought a lot of the worst kinds of players to the game.
I am not saying all AoC fans are immature brats, but it seems the vocal majority on most forums I visit are.
What the heck are you talking about?? PC not twitch based? You have to be joking, right? The BEST combat in ANY game ever is via keyboard and mouse.
" We were shown the Black Ring Citadel, a high level dungeon for you and your closest 23 high level friends to overcome..."
Oh noes..... another end game raid which most players will not see. Wonder why do they come out with this kind of game play again? Didnt they learn from WoW?
Wow that was one massive assumption on your part. What makes you think that high level dungeons will be remotely like WoWs? Especially since PvE gear means nothing in PvP in the game, and that crafted gear is almost just as good. These dungeons are for those that enjoy them. Unlike WoW, they aren't necessary to compete. In AoC Player skill > gear every time. :)
That or 'gasp' maybe they made the game based on novels that are extremely brutal and sexual. Go read some R. E. Howard and see how much scantily clad women play a role in them. :) You are 'definitely' reading to much into it. I mean yea, sex sells. But the world of Conan, Hiboria, is very sexual in nature. The books were written 70 years ago. It was a different time. They didn't just add some sexual side-tones to the game to get it to sell. It's part of the lore.
'Mature' ...Right. Then why does the guy sound so hilariously juvenile?
Newsflash... there's a way to make something mature, graphic and sexual without acting like a horny pre-teen. The fact that Funcom can't seem to market their content except like randy little boys, makes me feel that 'adult' is the LAST word you could use to describe this game and it's devs.
You think Funcoms devs act like little kids. I'd suggest you avoid any video of WAR devs lmao.
Yet strangely, it's Conan that's lately been getting a lot of bad vibes about immaturity, and not WAR.
There's a reason for that, and it's illustrated blatantly in this article. Because one company is marketing it's product like adults, based on it's gameplay and design rather than on 'Woot! We got bewbies and blood!' and doesn't have to keep repeating 'It's mature! IT'S MATURE DAMMIT' while acting the total opposite almost every time it advertises itself.
I'll let you guess which company is which.
I do agree that the lore behind the game is sexual in nature and has a lot of gore and such, however, as many have replied... The game is not being marketed like it's a mature game. Anytime you can quote a developer making an exclamatory selling point on the words "We've got boobies!"... thats not mature...
Exactamente.
This bothers me; I became interested in Conan lore when I heard about this game quite a while ago, and I feel like this is the opposite of the point of the world.
"OMG BEWBS!" is not the angle I feel like fans of the IP (I sort of include myself, but I am new; haven't even read the books) should be/are quite offended by that quote. I don't want the devs to be randy preteens at heart. I think that this is a gritty world, and yes, there is sexuality, but there is sexuality in the real world and not everone acts like this. I have a mature relationship with my lady friend, if you catch my meaning, but this isn't really the attitude I feel like I take when we are in "adult" situations.
Hyboria is brutal and savage and sexy, but I feel like the devs are missing real sexuality in favor of digital breasts.
OMG!
Reading your little hint there in between the lines made me chuckle thinking of acting like the Funcom guy did during some certain things...
Although, now that I think about it, I think I *do* get temporary buffs from her.
It's going to be a female avatars' paradise. Just make one with big boobs and log in. Money will flow.
Funcom knows that the majority of teen players will sell an arm and a leg to play this. The first MMO with mature esrb targeting teens. Nice marketing.
Heh, just had a nightmare vision of what this game could turn into if things go wrong:
- OMG BOOB!!11!!!
- LOLzor rtard U meen "NOOB"!??! keke
- WTF auto-pwnd... ROFLCOPTER...
This is one of the games I'm looking forward to. Though these days you pretty much never know how a community will turn out beforehand. So fans, cross your fingers :)
Guys/girls, oh my god. Tharaldsen was obviously joking; Conan is not a "OMG, WE HAVE BOOOOBS!" game, nor do the developers behave like that either. What I hate about pre-release discussion is all the assumptions, and all the speculation based on out-of-context quotes like this.
If your reading comprehension were just a grade level or two higher, you wouldn't be so confused. I'd take a console controller anyday over mouse-and-keyboard for any twitch-based game, whether we're talking FPS or hack-and-slash. I feel that the split second decisions that must be made in traditional "arcade style" game play are way better executed with a joystick than a mouse. If I'm performing some complex combo move, I'd rather leave it up to a few joystick toggles and button taps than the sloppy mouse point-and-click in one hand and fumbling over the keyboard with the other.
I'm pretty confident system specs have not been released yet. They usually do some tweaking of the game through beta and release the "official" required and recommended specs a couple months before launch, so it should be coming soon.
Yes, you can play Age of Conan with Windows XP and most DirectX 9 cards. DX10 and Windows Vista is only required for DX10 graphics.
YAY!!!! AND I WON THIS GAME!!! YAY!!!! Cant wait for the healer buffing me to showup lol
Also, I still can't believe that their marketing team was like "You know our game is going to be released in October, I've got it. Lets show a demo of a 25-man raid (24?). That'll really get them pumped about our mature, brutal, pvp-based game."
Someone should get fired for that stroke of brilliance.
More warhammer fanbois flocking to attack AoC? Who could have ever seen it coming. So the devs having a little fun automatically makes the entire game juvenile. But they plan on going to WoW 2.0 with all the same juvenile tree hugging elves and hold your hand gameplay. Sure, there will be some younger kids that go to AoC, but i'm willing to bet a WHOLE lot more of them will be going to warhammer.
It's just light-hearted humour, there's no way to know for sure when it comes to potential community. And seriously, to me, it's no issue to brood over now - *before* the game has even been released :)
Besides, I think as long as you have a popular game, you can't avoid teenagers or immature people whatever their age may be. It seems to me that we MMORPGers will learn to not mind childish behaviour in the games so much, if we want to keep playing. A good community is a joy, but from personal experience, it's ultimately how fun the gameplay itself is that counts more.
Darkfall will kick AoC's ass hard.
'Nuff said.
I've seen a lot of talk about the twitch nature of the combat system, and I'd like to set a thing or two strait.
Age of Conan isn't "Split Second". You can string combos together, this is the biggest part of this fighting system. You need to KNOW the combos. You don't just push X button and a combo will fire off. You'll have to tell it, to use each type of swing, and if the chain you put together is the same as a combo you've learned then it will trigger, and get a bonus to its speed of execution, or Damage or another aspect that combo has to it, like stun, or armor debuff. It's not like rapid button mashing. More like a planned out path of buttons pressed in a timely fashion. Watch the Videos on youtube, At the bottom center when the little area lights up yellowish, Its telling you that theres a combo that can be triggered from the move you just made, and the small lighted icon is the NEXT type of attack in that combo. IF you watch its not too fast. Most combos take a few seconds to rip off. NOW I do think that other classes such as rogues MAY have very fast combos. Don't quote me on that tho.
I think they probably felt pressure to stress they have "boobies" because with the complete lack of Female Avatars in the Screen Shots, the game is looking very "homo-erotic". (Note: I don't mean this as a homo-phobic remark, just an observation).
I have to agree with the sentiment that their marketing of a "mature themed MMO" has been very immature in nature. They are turning off a lot of Mature players and appealing more to immature teens. They could destroy the game's potential for success just by completely flubbing their marketing approach.
even if people dont like the m rating it still should be a good game.
You are the only person I have ever heard say that. Everyone I know that games, literally everyone, feels exactly the opposite
I agree, keyboard and mouse is well known as the best way to play a twitch game.
I've read R.E.Howard since I was a small kid and I have to say I'm really not getting into this game at all, Conan never felt like it was "all about teh booobz" even when I read the books as a kid.
Thanks for the heads up! It looks like Funcom is finally opening up the floodgates this month, cool I've been waiting to get more details on this game.
Now to slough through all the articles :)
Omg this game is being marketed to 15 year old boys and will unavoidably crash and burn.. all because a dev said 'hey look. boobies.'
DOOOOOOOOM!
Nor is it now. Some people (certain journalists included) are simply blowing it out of proportion, acting offended about basically nothing, etc. We live in very sanitized, politically correct times, especially in the U.S., and attitudes/reactions to such things reflect that, clearly, to the point where a tongue-in-cheek comment by a dev or two becomes a horrific travesty to some.
Male characters in games can get slaughtered in droves (by male or female characters), but show a female body part in a game (or even mention the fact in a humorous way) and all hell breaks loose. Gotta love the double standards that P.C.-ness brings to the table.
Agreed! This is going to be a darker, gorier, more violent mmo than anything previous, and yet it's the R-rated nudity that draws the ire of the conservative base. Good to know we have our priorities straight.
On a side note, I've done a lot of digging on this game (unfortunately since hitting 50 on LotRO, the gaming arena has been stale). This looks to be an excellent game. The gameplay will make it or break it for me though, and that's a variable that cannot be tested until launch (or at least late beta).
Darkfall is better than everything.
This is simply because the imagination can make it a perfect game. Because it will never exist, we can all imagine what a perfect game it could be.
I love Darkfall.
darkfall isn't going to go anywhere. It'l just be another shadowbane. With what i've seen the devs wanting to do with it... the community will eliminate itself.
For those who are complaining and stating that it is not mature because they keep mentioning boobs, that is part of maturity, being able to look at boobs in a game while keeping your hands on your keyboard and mouse is maturity, just like drinking within the game, it is aiming towards the aspects of life that adults are exposed to and are mature enough to handle, if you are looking at it as immature because of boobs, you may as well take out fighting, which is immature. Those who are able to not get carried away about boobs will be those that advance in the game and don't suck at pvp. No sane person would play a game just cause there are boobs in it, they may as well play 3feel, they play for content and because they feel it is a good game, which im sure AoC will be.
We're not saying the fact that it has boobs makes the game immature...its the fact that they need to prove the maturity of the game by proclaiming... "we've got boobies" and then furthermore try to show how "mature" and "sexual" the game is going to be by posting pictures of demons feeling themselves up on the website and call it a content update.... The game may be mature, alright sure, not arguing, the marketing strat isn't....
I find some of the post about how hot the fanny is at the booths are a bit over the top, because weather or not they have to result in using females to sell a product to me is just shallow. But I have to say I think the shot of them plastic nip and tuck tarts would not tempt my coin from my pocket unless I just wanted to play this game.
I personally can not understand why people get so excited with birds dressed in fur flashing their tit's about at game shows. Seems some of you folk do not get serviced to regular. Personally I would like to see the use of gender exploiting removed altogether from advertising.
Bandit.
Mature is an interesting word with an ironic effect on people.
Mature content is designed and intended for mature people. And yet, it is most often the immature, and not the mature, that are so specifically drawn to it. In a way it could just as easily be called immature content when you think about it.
As for AoC, I only hope they aren't using mature content to cover up a lackluster game, as so many games have done in the past.
Which I'm afraid they are <_<
You'd be surprised how immature top level executive meetings can get, we men are simple creatures with primal motivators. People would be amazed to find out about the decision making of some of the world's top executives.
We are after all still little more than cave men in cars and neck ties :)
Where's the male nudity? Stinking, male cheauvanistic, bible thumping devs.
On the serious side note, I am very disappointed that they decided to put raiding in the game and its already starting to look like they intend to focus on the elite 20% of the player base by giving them the best content and the best rewards just like the rest of the LOSER MMO's out there.
Of course they are. I figured that out over a year ago when the devs were arguing that the poor little raid farmers would be disappointed if they didn't get the most bestest stuff evar. And when they argued that nobody would sit through raid farming session if it didn't result in the bestest most uber leet rewards.
Since then they have learned to be more careful of their wording but they have never said that they changed their minds about it either.
Lol there is partial nudity for women and men in the game. The Barbarian in that video had no top on after all. Oh yea, I know, it's no 'good bits'. But you can blame god or evolution or whom ever you wish for giving women lovely breasts up top and men just skin and muscle.
As to the whole 'cater to the elite 20%' and raiding suddenly being the most important and be-all/end-all for the game. You really should do your research before posting stuff like that. The devs have made it abundantly clear that Raiding is just more content for PvE players, and not the sole focus of the game. On top of that, gear and loot in raids will have no effect on PvP. Even that crafted gear will be almost as good, and far more versatile then gear dropped in raids.
For more info, check this thread out;
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/thread/140003
A bunch of us had hands-on time about 2 weeks before E3. I know MMORPG linked to it.
Here's a direct link to my site: http://www.gamersinfo.net/index.php?art/id:1780
Here's TenTonHammer's: http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/8793
Does that help?