First Look

Posted: Dec 1, 2005 4:37 AM ET
Category: Previews 0

Spellborn Preview (Page 2 of 2)

With these nine classes to look forward to, players will have plenty of options.

When it comes to crafting players will not have to spend endless hours of development to gain skills for making the best loot or items in the game. Spellborn offers a Passive Crafting System which will allow players to farm resources from different Shards for their respective classes. Each class can then bring these resources to an NPC who will create items they can use in game. This crafting system will certainly stop players from wasting valuable play time standing in a corner and continuously clicking away to make their own epic sword. It offers the gathering or resources without the hassle of putting them all together. It also eliminates the failure to craft something which many systems include.

The structure of Spellborn gives players five great Houses to choose from when selecting their character’s destiny. Each House is made up of members from both races seeking to develop their future on the Shards. Houses also hold together player formed guilds which serve to explore the shards and expand across the Deadspell Storm. The Houses are not based on kingship, but ruled more by councils. Houses represent the PvP system of the game which will allow players to compete for resources from the four known world Shards as well as expand into unexplored new Shards that open up through quests and player activities. Each player right from Level Zero can directly influence not only the world around them in game, but the destiny of their respective House. When starting off on the Ancestral Quests players will not only gain abilities and grow, but become worthy by the Oracle to venture forth into new Shards. At mid to high level game play characters will then gain access to the new Shards. Once a Shard is discovered a House will then have to clear the hostile inhabitants and farm resources. New Shards will offer players an Elite level of combat and adventuring with more dungeons to explore and bosses to kill. Huge demons like the “Unclean Slayer” await the top Houses challenging them to further the story of Spellborn. If the Shard is cleared and opened up by the other Houses players must compete for resources. Attacking and defending major points on a Shard will put players both sides of a fight. This unique design for conquering new zones will also add to the huge PvP portion of the game where players can fight to control areas on each Shard.

With the mention of PvP, many future players must be concerned with combat. A combat system can make or break a game for many people interested. Spellborn offers something new to a player which allows for a “Hit were you swing” system. Players can engage and disengage in combat quickly by switching targets. Players can both move out of range of attacks or use a skill to dodge incoming damage. Many MMORPGs keep you locked on a specific target and maintain aggro throughout the fight. Spellborn is not the type of game where you can click on the monster and walk away to get coffee only to return and find it dead. The combat will be much more dynamic and fast paced. Players will get a Skill Deck to choose their moves and attack combos along with magic and healing. A rolling skill bar at the bottom of the screen will allows players to select from a range up to five skills at any one time. This bar will turn rapidly each time a players uses a skill. In a moment players will now have a new set of five skills to select against their opponent. Players can decide to do single attacks each time, or they can opt to combine subsequent attacks to enlarge the effect. This is called combo attacks.

Many MMORPGs offer a random critical hit system, in Spellborn players can build their own combos to critical strike and opponent and finish them off. Players can quest to gain new skills and combinations to further character development. The combat moves fast and furious with plenty of activity to keep players focused while in a fight. If that is not enough to get you excited for combat, how about the benefit of having your own statue in the town square as part of your rewards for both PvE and PvP victories. This will give players the chance to show off their heroic deeds to the rest of the community.

In closing, there are three main goals that Spellborn has remained focused on throughout its development: Atmosphere, Story and Competition. The international design and development team offer a wonderful atmosphere for players to customize characters and adventure through unique new fantasy worlds. The story of life for the Humans and Daevi after the destruction of the Eight Demon Empire gives players the ability to explore Shards as well as travel and fight inside the Deadspell Storm. Finally, both PvE and PvP competition await players with a fast paced skill deck system to fight, attack, evade, and move through combat whether in the open field of a new Shard or the giant Arena which is part of the capital city of Quarterstone. New content will be shown to the community weekly, the interest for this game will continue to grow. It is certainly refreshing to see a game company include players in the fun of its dungeons, as well as listen to the community about development and game play. The Chronicles of Spellborn heralds the next generation of MMORPGs for players and from what has been seen so far the buzz will continue to grow for this game until after Beta. A special thanks to Barry Hoffman who made my Thanksgiving much more interesting than turkey and stuffing. I look forward to seeing all of you on the Shards of Spellborn when the game is released.

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