Requiem: Bloodymare - GDC First Look Interview
At this year's Game Developer's Conference, Community Manager Laura Genender caught up with the folks developing Requiem: Bloodymare to talk about their upcoming MMORPG.
Your average MMORPG shows a definite appreciation of certain adult concepts: revealing female armor, enemies such as skeletons and zombies… hell, entire games are based around combat and killing. Today at GDC, though, I saw Gravity Interactive’s upcoming MMO Requiem: Bloodymare, a game that takes adult and mature concepts to the next level.
Gravity’s Joon Yoon (Marketing/Public Relations Coordinator) and Bohle’s Derek Asato (Vice President) gave me a tour of the game – and as the name suggests, its very bloody and very gory. Every swing of our character’s sword produced a spray of blood; deaths were heralded by flying limps and, on rare occasions, I was treated to the sight of creatures cut clear in half.
As we waded through hoards of NPCs, Yoon explained the story behind Bloodymare. Long ago there were many races, all at war; with all the magic and technology they used in battle, they caused a cataclysm that let loose many monsters. To combat these monsters, the races researched types of genetic alteration to create super soldiers to fight against the beasts. The game starts after the cataclysm, and the players play the super soldiers.
The DNA theme is not purely backstory, either; in addition to your usual equipment (armor, weapons, etc), players also have 5 “DNA slots.” DNA slots allow you to equip, unequip, swap, etc. various DNA strands you buy in town. Different DNA gives you different bonuses and effects; one might boost your damage output, or accuracy, or defensive stats, etc. In addition, sometimes the right combination of 5 DNA will produce a 6th special effect – players will have to find these magic combinations themselves!
While the game’s class tree is somewhat small (everyone starts as a novice, level 10 you pick between fighter type or caster type, and later on you branch out into 4 total classes), the use of DNA and careful skill choices gives players the ability to customize to their choice role.
As we killed monsters and watched the creative deaths, my guides pointed out a red meter bar filling up at the bottom of the screen. This bar, they told me, is related to another individual feature of Bloodymare: beast possession. Once the bar fills up, players can transform into one of three equipped beast forms.
Beast forms, like players, follow the basic archetype patterns (fighter, mage, healer, etc)…but a healer type character does not necessarily need to have healer type beast forms. Let’s say you’re with your group, and the tank kicks the bucket; you might use a fighter type beast form until the group is safe.
Beast forms are temporary; their duration is dependant on their level, with a lifespan of about 1 minute at level 40. As you play on your beast form, you earn EXP – this EXP can also be shared with other beast forms. Beast forms also have their own equipment and skills. A player could have two of the same fighter type beast form with entirely different purposes, dependant on how they manage equipment. Of course, one can’t forget how awesome the beast forms look, especially when killing. Creatures killed by beast forms don’t just fall to the ground…they burst into chunks and sprays of blood. Nasty!
This led into another interesting feature: nightmares. An in-game day (24 hours) passes every 2 hours; for 15 minutes of that 2 hour period, the world gets darker, fog rolls in, and powerful monsters spawn. During nightmare hours it’s not safe to travel alone outside of known safe areas; a lone player might have a chance against nightmare creatures with their beast forms, but otherwise it requires a solid group. Quests and hefty experience/item rewards will tempt players into fighting the nightmare creatures.
I asked briefly about PVP; PVP options include a /duel command and special PVP areas. These areas can support battles up to 96 vs. 96! The graphics of Bloodymare look a little bit dated – very much like Lineage II 4 years ago, though shadows are blockier and somewhat awkward. Since the game is just now entering Closed Beta, though, there might be some graphical updates before we see release.
Sounds like character creation and development will be fun, which is my first priority in a game. Combat also sounds to be exciting and fun, which is another requirement. I would be interested in knowing what other features this game has, because right now, it just sounds like an Asian grinder action game (because of the reference to Lineage II, I assume this is an Asian game).
Yes, this is another asian import. Already released in Korea. Early reports say it is somewhat of a grinder. However, many boast that it's a fun play... so we shall see how it turns out.
Personally, I'm looking forward to it and hope it wont be too grindy.
I like the whole Nightmare time idea.
It's being developed by Gravity, who also made Ragnarok online. While that game might not have been everyone's cup of tea, I found it to be a pretty fun game. Though, Ragnarok Online 2 is also coming.
I don't like the fact that they seem to be trying to take the art style in a somewhat realistic direction, while leaving the graphics a couple of generations behind. I'm sorry people, but if Lineage 2 is the most graphically intensive game you can play... its time to upgrade. I know graphics aren't everything, but it can directly impact ones immersion in a game world.
Also, you can sign up for beta announcements at their us site, playrequiem.com
mmosite also had a nice looking cg video.
I've been following this game since 2002. Its about time its released. Hope its good though. The long development cycle could see a few of its gameplay concepts becoming obsolete. Glad Gravity is also showing at US Game Conventions, although I doubt again they will show at E3 after they vowed not to so many years ago.
While the graphics look a little dated and the general gameplay was a bit grindy, the beast possession and nightmare time was really cool. I'm looking forward to giving it a first-hand try :)
Adding dna strands to your character to make them more suitable to my tastes sounds like fun. If they were one time consumeables there could concievably be quite a market there, especially if they had experiment points or something to play around with so every item produced was not an exact clone of someone else's items.
Also the idea of experimenting with different dna strands combinations to potentially unlock something extra sounds like it be fun to play around with.
I like the backstory. And hacking off limbs and seeing lots of blood sounds like fun. Throw some sexy female and male avatars in there and you have something really cool maybe.
I wanna play a game that is over the top. A game that shocks me and makes me think to myself, wow...even I wouldn't have gone that far. Maybe that's not possible though.
I'd warn people to not get too excited over this game. I've spoken to several who have played the asian version, and it is indeed a grinder, which for them took out a lot of the fun. They say the blood and gore is fun for a bit but in the end is just a gimmick to mask the underdeveloped content.
I'm hoping the version we get has plenty of content to keep us occupied... at least until AoC goes live!!
Looking forward to play this game
This game sounds like it could be alot of fun.
Im not thrilled with the limited classes though.
I like the nightmare aspect of the game, addsa little strategy you have to be aware of the time.
On the Grindy side of the game, I think its important to remember its been in development for 6 years and its also Gravity developing it. If you ever played Ragnarok Online in the last 2 years you would see the Gravity has been addressing grind issues. The thing is to actually get around it like in the really high levels you have to party and take down tough monsters.
Dunno yet, wait and see. This type of games are hit and miss in the market nowdays.
I know I am the stick in the mud....how will any characters be any different when there is a set group of skills to choose from?
Just like any game nowadays...if you are not spec'd for this or that then you might as well log off and play Go Fish...
I am curious, what is gonna stop the same old BS from going on in this game?
yeah; I didn't see any sexy male avatars, but there were some weird tree-ish (cross a dryad with a centaur) topless ladies. According to the devs there's also some strong language, but I didn't hear it during our tour :)
nah, I thinks Conan will beat Bloodymare hands down.
gore and maturity is nice, but korean play-style (aka do the same thing 1000 times to get a better knife, and to get nice sword, kill 100000 boars :) - imho it's not for us, europeans (and those overseas :) :)
the Nightmare time idea is rather cool
and if it'll be not too much grindfest
and free-to-play, I;ll give it a try...
I hope this game meets the marketing buzz that is already startong to build around it. I would liove for a pmajor publishing house to plough investment into a high-engined adult themed MMO game such as this. A real hard edged lore and storyline such as the supernatural or horror would be a great break from the traditional genres IMO and I can see great scopr for a game full of murder and intrigue.
If you look at popular televeision culture, that has followed a trend of storylines and shows that keep the viewer guessing as to where its all going, (Xfiles, Heroes, Lost), and I think that there is a great potential for this type of approach to an MMO.
Some interesting features, at the least the game seems like it's worth a try
I read on their site that yall are giving away some of the closed beta accounts codes. As an avid Ragnarok Online player, I was wondering how yall will be going around with giving those out? I would like like to know. I know that yall are giving them out friday, any help?
This game is awesome. I never saw a game like this one
my gameplay video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Koj-66eZrHc
Intro:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SZH1VHf8pfc
?????
Okay, question...
Is there going to be PvE servers? If not, is PvP totally optional (not even 1 more bonus from PvP)?
If you answer no to both question, I will just pass this game and mourn for a real PvE game again. Tired of seeing all games force me into THEIR vision of endgame. MY VISION OF ENDGAME = PvE GROUPING and I will never make any compromise, cause this is what I want to do days-in, days-out.
I haven't actually encountered Open PVP yet. I only played in a dual. Also they have massive PVP arenas, but they currently are bugged. I think they may make Open PVP servers because of how the servers are labeled, however they currently are not in-game.
From what I experienced so far, the game is heavily quest based exp. However, the quests have been pretty generic, but its an early assessment. Also the first time you see the Nightmare Mode turn on it definetly will make an impression.
"Every swing of our character’s sword produced a spray of blood; deaths were heralded by flying limps and, on rare occasions, I was treated to the sight of creatures cut clear in half."
haha, cure your flying limp by getting yourself chopped in half
I just recently found out about this game due to a banner ad, i've been busy with Hellgate, but I guess my question is even tho this game seems cool, and looks bloody enough for my tastes is it going to be a pay to play or a free mmo? Will it have a sing player stand alone or what? To be honest I may not have looked hard enough for this information, but where I have looked I have been unable to find out.
So anyone know?