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General: A Cryptic Question And More
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MMORPG.com columnist Richard Aihoshi has once again scoured the Internet to find the most intriguing news stories with which to opine. In The Free Zone this week, Richard takes a look at the changing of the guard at Cryptic Studios and the new business model for LEGO Universe Online. Head through the jump to read The Free Zone and then leave a comment or two.
Like most other weeks, the one just ended saw a fair number of things come across my desktop that got me thinking, wondering and speculating. In a different setting - like over a cold beverage or three with people in the industry who know me well enough to speak freely - I could spend hours talking about them all. Indeed, the opportunity to do so may be what I miss most now that I'm no longer a regular attendee at events like the recent GDC.
Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The Free Zone: A Cryptic Question And More.
Comments
It's a plot.
"console-quality games will be delivered through the browser"? oh for holy Mario World's sake!
Online Games in Girl's Eyes
http://chickgeekgames.blogspot.com
Leave the browser to strategy games like Thorns of War. I'll take my 3D games in install form, thank you very much.
The formula for real fun:
Graphics 1 | Fun 10 | Sound 0 | Community 10 | Role-Playing 10 | Performance/Lag 10 | Value 10 | Service 10
http://www.thornsofwar.com
"In any case, I'm curious to see if, as the new CEO, he will do anything to stamp his personality into that role."
Honestly it doesn't matter what hat Emmert wears at Cryptic; his personailty always gets stamped into everything they do.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
i might actually try lego universe if it goes f2p
Lego Universe going F2P would be a sensible idea, given that the box + sub version has done so poorly that Gazillion sold it off to the Lego Group (along with a number of NetDevil developers) in a face-saving move that means they don't have to shut it down.
Jumpgate: Evoluation is vapourware at the moment, with NetDevil being sued by Codemasters to get back some of its development money.
Regarding Emmert, yes, he was responsible for going with the Champions IP - between Marvel and Microsoft falling out over MUO it took a month to nut out a deal with Hero Games to buy the Champions IP (and licence it back to Hero Games for use in RPG development). This means that Cryptic can do what they want with development, unlike STO where every story and piece of art has to be signed off by Paramount / CBS.
Oh, and here is Needham saying that all Gazillion titles are going F2P: http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/11/gazillion-ceo-cryptic-john-needham/
The biggest thing i want to know is who is responcible for epicly messing up criptics last few games?
personally i am very familiar with the champions table top game and its amazing way you actually "build your powers "
oddly there wasn't anything in criptics champions i recognised either in power building or charactor building
needless to say i don't subscribe even for F2P
and the now infamous STAR TREK WREK what happened? it was looking so awesome and deep and immersive BEFORE criptic got hold of it and turned it into a cartoon.
I was an EVE refugee and I had been looking long for a game that would rival it in size and depth but not be a total PVP stinkhole.
I eagerly entered beta and couldnt even last the 4 hours without getting bored of all the instancing and tiny, simplistic universe and narrow game play THE DIDNT EVEN BOTHER TO HAVE ALL THE PLANETS IN SOL SYSTEM!!! so you couldnt goto mars or do titans turn there were so many missed oppertunities to me this goes down in gaming FUBAR right along with sony star wars to be honest i wanted to do some mining, hauling, transport solders to destonations I really didn't want to be forced to have to do ground missons they should be optional.
and in combat they didnt make it so you could support your team mates like extending shields or blocking or transfering power, or towing with a tractor beem, or helping with damage control crews and so forth
so many missed oppertunities they make me sick.
I'm actually not playing any games right now even though i could because there is no space games worth playing.
make a world, not a game, we dont want another game.
Well I had no clue there was a lego online anything. So that was news. All I have to say is all these devs want to keep going the route of browser games, as they think its the future of gaming.
I just don't see it.
Now if they take sto to f2p I migh have it as a backup, but I am sure not giving cryptic any of my money.
"I believe he was the person most responsible for Champions Online"
CO, a complete failure of a game that frankly should have been a bad ass, though unsanctioned, City of Heroes 2 with some serious upgraded bells and whistles. A game that reflected almost zero percent of the brilliant pen and paper IP it was drawn from, and seemed most like an LSD fueled Delorean trip to a hellish alternate reality where there was a terribad prequel to City of Heroes.
And you are saying I can blame this dickwad almost exclusivly for that debacle... Well it seems I should congratulate Cryptic for shifting this vile infection and at the same time give my heartfelt condolences to Gazillion for coming down with the same strain of "creeping crud" that killed both of Cryptic's "Sure thing" MMOs.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
"In that position and subsequently as lead designer, he (Emmert) was clearly a major driver of that title's style of play and how it (City of Heroes) turned out in general."
You are obviously completely unacquainted with City of Heroes other than as an occasional outside observer from a long distance away.
While the original concept and implementation of City of Heroes was revolutionary (trinity not required, not a fantasy MMO), Mr. Emmert's subsequent narrow mindedness and lack of vision leave me wondering just how much of an influence he had on the original design, or if perhaps the early brilliance in the design fundamentals was in spite of him, rather than because of him.
City of Heroes is a game that has changed practically beyond recognition since Mr. Emmert's departure, and only for the better.
If its cheaper they will build it and call it the wave of the future. sad part is it will kill the genre in the long run. This only tells me that they don't get people in these companys with any vison. they're like hollywood actors who tend to date within their own circle. even if the actor is a waste of human being he's one of us.
Browser based gaming is not going to be the future. These type of games just wreak of poor quality and give you a dismal feeling of poor game design. It also tends to make me think that somehow this game can easily be hacked even if that is not true.At least for me a good MMOG will be client based with more control sitting on my desktop.
lets face it guys the genre of multiplayer MMO's may be coming to an end as far as innovation and fun. GW2 looks good but I will hold out until more information is given.
These companys recyling people that killed other games and then getting them onboard, must truly think those of us that have been players a very long time can't remember who did the killing of that game. I wann create a list of game companys that have hired people who just plain suck at game design and black list these greedy idiots from working in the industry forever.
The Cryptic philosophy appears to be to deliver the absolute bare minimum, least effort, least investment mmo solution, experience, creativity and imagination don't factor very highly. Emmett is very much a key to that concept as his record shows, so there is little hope for anything of note to appear from that company (STO might be considered adequet but only by virtue of the inbuilt potential of its IP). Sadly Cryptics model is going to be very tempting to cash strapped companies, if you can just feed an addtion with reskinned generic dross then many will try and exploit that..... I just hope that Needham learns to value creativity in his new role rather than taint Gazillion with more of Cryptics ideology.
Dunno about what Star Trek looked like BEFORE Cryptic; when it comes to MMO's, almost everything that never makes it to beta somehow tends to "be" all our MMO fantasies come true, without ever having BEEN.
But I suspect Cryptic's overall design philosophy, going back to CoX has been that most players are shallow pew-pewer's who don't care much about the world, or non-combat content. We just want to keep killing stuff over and over. The process in which they cut out "boring" content, they would probably call: "Streamlining".
While CoX is a much more robust game than it was at launch, you can still see the Cryptic fingerprints every time you do a mission. The silly floorplans, the limited mission objectives... randomization, particularly as implemented there, just feels recycled.
CO and STO are just the next generation of that same philosophy. Even more pew-pew, even less non-combat stuff. They totally missed the boat on power customization for Champions, and totally ignored the "3rd way" nature of Star Trek. And as you point out about the solar system, I don't think I've ever played a space game in which space seemed so small. It's incomprehensible to me that the earth space station basically has... 1 and a half floors, and running the outer diameter takes about 30 seconds. I think Earth station, essentially the main home base for the Federation, should be significantly bigger than my yacht in SWG. We had some 7 seasons(?) of DS-9 and that's worth... 3 FLOORS? I'm not the type that loves a 3 hour run from place to place, but in STO space, EVERYONE* can hear you scream, cuz you're all stuck in a shoebox.
*Everyone in your instance, anyway.