Are you guys saying something along the lines of an Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura style mmo or something with less magic? I didn't get far in that game, but I loved what I saw. It was about half Steampunk and half magic.
I, too, would love to play a steampunk style mmo. Closest I've found was Neosteam, but the steampunk there, from what I saw, was less a part of the game system and more just a small influence on the art style...a very small part.
Oh, Arcanum. Buggy as hell, but what an amazing game from Troika. God rest that developer's soul. I would have loved for that game to take off and become a franchise.
I don't remember it being that buggy, of course that was several years ago. Sure was a heck of a lot of fun though. Great blending of fantasy and industry.
Tabula Rasa.......best damn game i ever played....NC soft should be knee capped for canceling that one. They should have made it free to play with a cash shop to support it it eventually could have overpowered WoW with little difficulty for me. Given the choice between playing EVE and Tabula Rasa id choose....EVE .....but still it'd be close. "I spit on you NC Soft"
In NCSoft's defense, they gave the Tabula Rasa devs a year to get their act together. They did not. "Best damn game" you ever played? Really? A perfect example of "to each their own".
Originally posted by Syrith Originally posted by BillMurphy Originally posted by KualaBD Are you guys saying something along the lines of an Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura style mmo or something with less magic? I didn't get far in that game, but I loved what I saw. It was about half Steampunk and half magic. I, too, would love to play a steampunk style mmo. Closest I've found was Neosteam, but the steampunk there, from what I saw, was less a part of the game system and more just a small influence on the art style...a very small part.
Oh, Arcanum. Buggy as hell, but what an amazing game from Troika. God rest that developer's soul. I would have loved for that game to take off and become a franchise.
I don't remember it being that buggy, of course that was several years ago. Sure was a heck of a lot of fun though. Great blending of fantasy and industry.
Arcanum is great, and I would love to play a steampunk style mmo.
I just wish they would develop Planetside 2. Planetside is still The best mmofps (or action game) ever made even if it still lacks all the basics we are used to in other games, like meaningful guild stuff, crafting etc.
I am Saddened that Planetside Gets only a passing mention. It has been alive for nearly as long as eve, albeit not with the same number of players, It also has done a better job at remaing in peoples minds, when you meet another gamer, you dont ask them about there eve character, the world is too big for that, players to seperated for it, but they will sympathize for that knife you put in a sniper's back. and the hour long Gen Holds at the bottom of tech plants. Every fps i play gets measured against planetside, and so far, i havent found any that equal the amount of fun it delivered.
Amen to that. I have eagerly hoped for a true successor to Planetside and nothing out there has come close (hint to developers 32 v 32 or 64 v 64 is not massive). The adrenaline rush of skmming the trees with my Galaxy for a low level bd drop, gen holds, full on base assaults and defences was a blast.
I've always said that if someone would merge Eve with Planetside (and hopefully some small fighter combat in space against the huge ships) I'd never leave home again. I don't think CCP is going to that with Dust given that its console versus PC, but I suppose one can dream.
Planetside for live brothers! I really miss that game. Ever since Core Combat, it just hasn't felt the same. I can't play it anymore... too few people, no real battles raging across the continent... also think EVE Online is fantastic, and I'm curious to see what CCP does with Dust. I might just play EVE and Dust 514 at the same time lol. Not a big fan of console games though... if only they would release it on PC
I'm surprised there was no mention of Jumpgate: Evolution.
I think part of the problem with a SCI-FI MMO is the game play. Everyone sitting around and shooting is a bit boring when compared to the wild running for position, kiting, luring, etc that the melee oriented fantasy style brings. That or you give it FPS mechanics which will turn off a lot of players (But attract those that don't like traditional MMO controls).
Someone mentioned earlier that Star Wars is Fantasy, and that's not entirely true. However the most popular Star Wars archetype is certainly fantasy: A Jedi fights in Melee and uses spells. Giving them a laser sword and calling magic 'The Force' doesn't change what it is.
This is the challenge developers face. They need engaging gameplay without just using 'space graphics' and far future/post-apocalyptic fluff. I'd love to see a Shadowrun or Rifts style game, And while I like Warhammer 40k and there are rumors for a MMO developed on it, 40k is also fantasy with guns. In space.
I also enjoyed E&B at launch. And I appreciate and empathsize with all the nastalgia about Earth & Beyond in this thread. But it wasn't just a perfect game that was killed by EA. It had serious design issues. The killer for me was no autopilot to fly between star systems (like EvE has). Seriously, you had to steer your ship every step of the way. This got to be boring very quickly and drove many potential players away early on--including me and my friends. But I know that EA neglected the game, and issues like that could have been resolved quickly if the developers were better supported by EA.
Uh it did have autopilot, you click on Waypoint A and then Waypoint Z and you fly right to it with no further input needed from you. Could interrupt the flight if you wanted to stop for whatever reason too. Only way you manually controlled your ship was when you were moving sublight in an area (like running around a zone after hopping off your mount in other mmos). This is how my jenquai defender helped newbies get some explore levels, I'd group up with them and then we'd fly around the galaxy doing some trade routes for quick cash. They were basically auto-following me most of the trip.
Any mmo without support will fail. EA just seemed to just not care about E&B, so just tried to recover some capital.
Comments
Oh, Arcanum. Buggy as hell, but what an amazing game from Troika. God rest that developer's soul. I would have loved for that game to take off and become a franchise.
I don't remember it being that buggy, of course that was several years ago. Sure was a heck of a lot of fun though. Great blending of fantasy and industry.
In NCSoft's defense, they gave the Tabula Rasa devs a year to get their act together. They did not. "Best damn game" you ever played? Really? A perfect example of "to each their own".
very nice article, and thanks for reminding me about how much I miss playing Earth and Beyond.
Oh, Arcanum. Buggy as hell, but what an amazing game from Troika. God rest that developer's soul. I would have loved for that game to take off and become a franchise.
I don't remember it being that buggy, of course that was several years ago. Sure was a heck of a lot of fun though. Great blending of fantasy and industry.
Arcanum is great, and I would love to play a steampunk style mmo.
Well in that case, I guess you are in luck.
Try googling Planetside Next
Amen to that. I have eagerly hoped for a true successor to Planetside and nothing out there has come close (hint to developers 32 v 32 or 64 v 64 is not massive). The adrenaline rush of skmming the trees with my Galaxy for a low level bd drop, gen holds, full on base assaults and defences was a blast.
I've always said that if someone would merge Eve with Planetside (and hopefully some small fighter combat in space against the huge ships) I'd never leave home again. I don't think CCP is going to that with Dust given that its console versus PC, but I suppose one can dream.
Planetside for live brothers! I really miss that game. Ever since Core Combat, it just hasn't felt the same. I can't play it anymore... too few people, no real battles raging across the continent... also think EVE Online is fantastic, and I'm curious to see what CCP does with Dust. I might just play EVE and Dust 514 at the same time lol. Not a big fan of console games though... if only they would release it on PC
I'm surprised there was no mention of Jumpgate: Evolution.
No Mention of Neocron?
That game came out years ago and is still going - sort of
http://ng.neocron.com/
Its definately a sci-fi - cyber punk game
Didn't play E&B for long but it seemed rather cool, have played some neocron and i loved the apartments in that game
But the game i still play and enjoy is anarchy online, i have 3 accounts active
Amen! Some bright spark really should develop William Gibson styled MMO
I think part of the problem with a SCI-FI MMO is the game play. Everyone sitting around and shooting is a bit boring when compared to the wild running for position, kiting, luring, etc that the melee oriented fantasy style brings. That or you give it FPS mechanics which will turn off a lot of players (But attract those that don't like traditional MMO controls).
Someone mentioned earlier that Star Wars is Fantasy, and that's not entirely true. However the most popular Star Wars archetype is certainly fantasy: A Jedi fights in Melee and uses spells. Giving them a laser sword and calling magic 'The Force' doesn't change what it is.
This is the challenge developers face. They need engaging gameplay without just using 'space graphics' and far future/post-apocalyptic fluff. I'd love to see a Shadowrun or Rifts style game, And while I like Warhammer 40k and there are rumors for a MMO developed on it, 40k is also fantasy with guns. In space.
Uh it did have autopilot, you click on Waypoint A and then Waypoint Z and you fly right to it with no further input needed from you. Could interrupt the flight if you wanted to stop for whatever reason too. Only way you manually controlled your ship was when you were moving sublight in an area (like running around a zone after hopping off your mount in other mmos). This is how my jenquai defender helped newbies get some explore levels, I'd group up with them and then we'd fly around the galaxy doing some trade routes for quick cash. They were basically auto-following me most of the trip.
Any mmo without support will fail. EA just seemed to just not care about E&B, so just tried to recover some capital.