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General: The List: Top 5 MMOs That Need Remakes
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
At 12 years of age, the MMO genre can now safely dive into the vaults and start remaking the games that got us all hooked. This week, we count down the five games we think are sorely in need of a re-imagining.
Along the way, hundreds of games have come and gone, but the sequel (as we explored last week) has always been frowned upon. No one wants to mow through their own audience like an escaped circus cannibal.
But make no mistake. MMO years are not like human years. A 12 year old game is collecting social security checks. So what happens when a game that was once glorious no longer has an audience to cannibalize? Do you make a sequel? Do you update the graphics? Or, do you just let it die?
Here at MMORPG.com, we vote remakes. It’s time for a modern, fully featured reimagining of the games that got us all started.
Read it all here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
It helps if you read the list before trashing it
DAoC is #2 and AC2 is addressed.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
I thought AO was getting a Graphics update sometime in the future...they were going to use AOC engine
I’m not surprised to see UO as number 1
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
What about Warhammer Online??
UO truly deserves the number 1 spot, I am sure there are some secret plans inside EA about that game.
Well, you put AC in there but there was AC2.....if you put them in might as well put in EQ as it has EQ2...and Vanguard to an extent.
Hmm, Champions Online is somewhat of a CoX part duece.....but under a different publisher but still the same original developers, Cryptic.
Personally, I want to see a new EQ so I can make a Beastlord!!! I also want to see a SWG pre-CU.....that would be the bomb!
They could remake SWG and just update the graphics, fix the bugs and wham....new game ready for launch.
There is no game out now that has really captivated me.....if there was I wouldn't be posting nonstop on this forum.
I have two Aion accounts but just cant seem to log in.....I have CO as well but again, just cant seem to log in. I am actually thinking of reopening EQ2.
I really hope SOE does another EQ type game but I am sure it will be for the console and for the WOW crowd, which means simple, easy and single scope in concept.
....remake a game from 2008...
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
I also enjoy hockey.
Some good stuff on there, except for CoHs really.
I'm surprised, I would have actually though that Shadowbane would be in here as well. With the proper technology, that game would have rocked the PvP market. It had great potential for both the system and the graphics but at least the graphics would need a rework and better servers so city siege could go smoother and be much more enjoyable.
I would like to disagree on City of Heroes, I don't think a revamp would help it more. The game has already got a sequel that remained in the same style and I think NCSoft can push updates to keep the game going and change it.
In my book :
#1 - UO
#2- Asheron's Call
#3 - Anarchy Online
#4 - DAOC
#5 - ??? COH dont belong there.
I think a redone Anarchy Online would be a big hit.
Also, DAoC would do well too....three factions, that would definitely work well. I only played that game for a short while but it was nice when I did.
Shadowbane, the guy who got me to play CoH used to preach about SB all the time....that was his favorite. I did buy it and log in but that was about it........However, the PvP was well done, from what I heard, wasnt just killing ppl.
I think you missed swg (or at least a remake of the concept), but the list was fun to read. Good article.
An UO remake... I completely agree on your #1.
How the hell no one has copied it, and how the hell EA hasn't decently remade it (sure, there were several attempts, all canceled before release) baffles me. It's like they don't want the MMO genre to stray away from the Themepark and to go back to Sandbox, because that's what a decent UO remake would cause to the MMO genre.
One of the cool things about SciFi is guns - plasma, laser, phaser, lightning, BFG, etc. The crappy thing about every SciFi MMO is guns. The problem is that when I whip out a laser pistol and shoot a parrot, I expect to create instant fried chicken, a puff of feathers, or a puff of smoke. Instead, SciFi MMOs make you pewpew the frakkin bird from across the map until it's next to you poking your eyes out before you get it to corpse status.
Planetside had a similar expectation problem. If I stick a chain gun into your bellybutton and pull the trigger I really don't think I'm going to miss over your shoulder, but that was how the Planetside chain gun worked. What moronic creatures would create such a useless weapon, much less actually try to use it in combat? A brick would be more effective.
The gun problem just blows chunks and basically pushes me to skip SciFi MMOs.
Honestly I don't think any of these games need remakes. We like to wax nostalgic about the games of yester-year and remember how good they were, but really they were only good then because that's when and how they happened.
Remakes would end up being great for a little while, but they would be too changed from the original (because of technical or gameplay improvements made over the years) to hold the former players for long. You might get new players, but there would have to be enough throwback to the old game that it might intimidate new players.
Plus some of these games already have remakes in the form of sequels. It would be hard not to argue that Champions is a remake/sequel of CoH.
If anything, I'd say we need to remake games that had potential but failed. Remake Vanguard, which had so much cool stuff but a dev team that was more interested in sniffing crank than following through. Remake Asheron's Call 2 which did a lot of new and interesting things (I mean come on, I could throw bees at people ) but never really seemed to catch on. Remake Auto Assault which brought new and cool ideas into the genre, but again had a dev team that couldn't pull it off. Remake Planetside, which had plenty of potential with the idea of battle for territory and epic wars but failed to hold attention for long. Heck remake World War 2 Online but switch it to modern day a la CoD4. CoD4 as an MMO? Hell yeah!
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
I will have to stand behind you on UO in the #1 spot.
Another EA blunder I would like to see remade and that is Earth & Beyond. I was just getting into the game when EA hit it with the Out-of-NoWhere-Axe-of-Banishment for OVER 9000!!!
Heck and to a lesser degree, Motor City Online.
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forget CoH & put Shadowbane in there. That's a game that worth redoing big time. How come none of these guys ever mention it?!
Star Wars Galaxies need to be remaked! Why not a rollback to pre-cu and apdate the graphics lawl
I TOTALLY agree with UO, AO, and DAoC. There are, arguably, the best MMOs of their time, but in serious need of updating. I'd resub to any of the three should they get revamped.
PS: For the love of all things holy, breaking this tiny blog entry down into 3 pages just to get more hits/ad revenue is a slimy tactic. There was enough content for ONE page, not three. Please don't be slimy.
I'd put DAoC first. If they do ever remake it they will likely screw it up, but I would like to see them give it a shot. I would like to see fewer over powered abilities and gear, less tedious crafting, and more focus on RvR instead of 8v8.
I would also have SWG on the list. I was never a Star Wars junkie or anything, but that was my favorite game to just hang out and do nothing but listen to music in the cantina, decorate my house, go shopping for good deals on gear, or just play with my pets.
If they remade and re-modernised UO from the ground up . . . . it would never feel as good as the original did back in its day.
I would still give it a shot tho purely for the sake of it.
I say that not only as Chriswsm but as Lysandar Threat of Trinsic.
I used to visit this site a lot however in recent years it has become the home of negative forum posts, illogical opinions and tantrums so I visit less often.
Played or Beta'd: UO / DAOC / Horizons / EQ2 / DDO / EVE / Archlord / PirateKingsOnline / Tabula Rasa / LOTRO / AOC / Champions / Darkfall / Mortal Online / DCUO / Rift / STO / SWTOR / TSW
Needs more EQ and Shadowbane
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
In no particular order
Auto assault (good game but launch shadowed by WoW iirc)
Planetside
EvE online (maybe something realtime and physics based this time around?)
UO!
That is pretty much what I was going to say. Want to know why UO has never been properly remade? two little letters... E.A.
I also second the vote for Earth & Beyond. Although the genre is being flooded a bit, back then it was one of few games to delve into outer space. If someone took the IP and developed it the way it should have been from the beginning, I would go back to it without a seconds thought...
I also fully agree with AO, and no I don't think the engine upgrade is going to be enough. Though I am really not sure that they are willing to pump more into it what with AoC out and TSW in development now.
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"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
We don't do it to be slimy, we do it because at nearly 4,000 words that thing would be an epic scroll bar and it's very easy to lose your place in an article like that.
Generally we break pages every 1200 or so words, which is normally not an issue since most articles run 1200 or less.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
UO and DAOC, obvious choices. In that order.
It's amazing that no one's made a sandbox that's as much as a sandbox as the original. We've had a few others, but really, even the big ones like EVE and classic SWG are themeparks compared to UO.
And DAOC, a few have tried to borrow the RvR idea, but they always muck it up by changing it too much. It's like RvR, except only two realms? Or RvR, except without the well developed PvE? Or three realms, but they're all thrown together Gaheris-like? Wth?
The other three? Meh, whatever.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.