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The Secret World: Can It Be True?

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

Is The Secret World too good to be true? Judging by the press previews last month, it appears not. But many have a healthy sense of skepticism about Funcom's ability to deliver. Take a look at the budding optimism that is building here at MMORPG.com and then let us know what you think in the comments.

I know what you guys are thinking. After the recent round of press previews, there’s no way The Secret World can be as good as it sounds. I can dig that sentiment. I mean, how many times have we been burned by the hype of a game nearing launch, only to find a muddle mess which we spent $50 on? Our own Suzie Ford was quoted as saying, “With launch less than six months away, my guess is that TSW is going to take the world by storm and set new standards for excellence in gameplay and engagement in an increasingly tired industry.” Let me tell you something guys and gals… Suzie doesn’t impress easily. I should know. Nothing I ever say gets but a scoff and a scowl.

Read more of Bill Murphy's The Secret World: Can It Be True?



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Comments

  • manio22manio22 Member UncommonPosts: 35

    Overhyping a game always fails to deliver at the end.

    I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it
    --Voltaire

  • StofftierStofftier Member Posts: 93

    We only can hope that it is true .... the mmorpg genre needs a title again that is complete different frome what else is on the market and being successfull at the same time that the genre can change again in another direction before all got burned out of the same stuff over and over again is my opinion.

  • MaquiameMaquiame Member UncommonPosts: 1,073

    I myself am looking forward to this game and will be there at launch. The more and more I see it and hear about it the more and more I am thinking this will be my main mmorpg with TOR being my second. I was very impressed with what I saw at NYCC.

    image

    Any mmo worth its salt should be like a good prostitute when it comes to its game world- One hell of a faker, and a damn good shaker!

  • TalthanysTalthanys Member Posts: 458

    Keeping an eye on it, but Holy Age of Conan, Batman, Funcom has a reputation of being clueless with launches and client stability. Everything could be the second coming with TSW, but if the CTD's are constant no one will care.

    image

  • RavingRabbidRavingRabbid Member UncommonPosts: 1,168

    I will be playing it at some point, but I'll take a wait and see approach with this game. SWTOR will have me busy for a while.

    ***Raving Rabbid will choose Illuminati as his starting faction!***

    All my opinions are just that..opinions. If you like my opinions..coolness.If you dont like my opinion....I really dont care.
    Playing: ESO, WOT, Smite, and Marvel Heroes

  • tom_goretom_gore Member UncommonPosts: 2,001

    Anyone remember how Age of Conan also supposedly had action based combat and free aiming of spells about 6 months before launch? :)

    It's Funcom.

    Just saying...

     

  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237

    I hope this game is everything and more than Funcom is telling us. If it is they will have my sub for a long time.

    I have been there for the AO and AoC launches. With Funcom I will take a wait and see approach. I was in the early closed Beta for AoC. So much feedback and bug reporting was ignored to meet the launch schedule... we see how that turned out.

    Hopefully I am wrong as I am a huge fan of Funcoms ideas, just not the implementation.

  • AkaisAkais Member UncommonPosts: 274

    I'll be playing it, but not at launch.

    What's funny is that I know in my heart this game is going to have a strong launch purely due to who is implementing it. It's probably mean to say that I chalk the bad launches of their previous two MMORPG's to the design implementations of one person, but I do. That said though, I am still going to wait a few months from launch before buying the box.

  • OmnifishOmnifish Member Posts: 616

    There's one major flaw with this argument: without hyping or generating buzz for new releases this site becomes irrelevent.

    Basically it's all very well saying, 'oh were cynical, so you can trust us when we say it's going to be awesome!', but if you were actually cynical then not only would you lose posters but you'd lose cooperation from the developers for access. Fansites/reviewsites have to be self perpetual they have to be positive about the future, otherwise whats the point?  I'm not critisng, I know how this works, but it's a bit rich to assume that the above sentiment gives credibility.

    At the end of the day it's Fun.com.  Fact of the matter is they've had two god awful launches and a lot of failed promises.  If you weren't skeptical about anything else they produce at this point I'd like to take some of whatever it is that makes you so carefree and happy :P

    So far for a game that's releasing in six months I've seen a lot of chatter and not much actual footage.  Maybe I've missed something as I haven't followed it that closely but for me this is a, 'wait for six months after release', type of thing.  Thats my being optimistic as well :) 

    This looks like a job for....The Riviera Kid!

  • quasar941quasar941 Member Posts: 159

    Ten years of dealing with FC has conditioned me not to expect a whole lot from TSW. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it after opening though and if I hear good things, I'll give it a shot.

  • crysentcrysent Member UncommonPosts: 841

    Honestly its not the game that's the problem, it's the company - Anyone who has dealt with Funcom know's they have a terrible history.  It's taken them 5 years just to fix AoC.  Maybe the game will have great graphics, maybe it will have a great story and nice mechanics, but I'm betting it will be full of bugs, class balance issues and broken quest, then it will take Funcom 5+ years to fix things during which the population will dive bomb until it ends up like AoC -a game with great potential early on, a great idea, a great population at first and then nothing..

  • AlalalaAlalala Member UncommonPosts: 314
    The launch hype around AoC and subsequent dissappointment still burns bright. I hope lessons were learned and will be not be repeated.
  • delta9delta9 Member UncommonPosts: 358

    I remember when Funcom showcased their huge PvP in a scripted and totally fake way to build hype for AoC so I take anything they show to the press now very lightly

  • Bishop200Bishop200 Member Posts: 68

    The game seem great.

     

    Didn't they plan on going cash shop + sub....

     

    I will pass on that one.

  • gladosrev2gladosrev2 Member CommonPosts: 203

    I'm waiting for it and hope it delivers, however my enthusiasm is somewhat limited by the fact it is done by Funcom therefore it will most likely suffer from a small instanced world.. which is a big issue for me. I have no doubt the graphics will be top of the line with fun combat just like AoC though.

    My Guild Wars 2 First Beta Weekend "reviewette" : http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/4944570/thread/349125#4944570

  • snoockysnoocky Member UncommonPosts: 724

    great!

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

    Edgar Allan Poe

  • MisatoTremorMisatoTremor Member UncommonPosts: 72

    Well, atleast Funcom got their Dreamworld technology much more mature and stable for AoC than it was at launch. That leaves hopes that TSW could be delivered in a good fashion technology wise.

    As for the rest, it looks very, very exciting. But how much of this will come true we'll see at launch. Press covarage sounds good so far, but that was the case for AoC, too.

    Misato - TankDoc for Life
  • MyrdynnMyrdynn Member RarePosts: 2,479

    Originally posted by crysent

    Honestly its not the game that's the problem, it's the company - Anyone who has dealt with Funcom know's they have a terrible history.  It's taken them 5 years just to fix AoC.  Maybe the game will have great graphics, maybe it will have a great story and nice mechanics, but I'm betting it will be full of bugs, class balance issues and broken quest, then it will take Funcom 5+ years to fix things during which the population will dive bomb until it ends up like AoC -a game with great potential early on, a great idea, a great population at first and then nothing..


     

    we know one thing, there will be no issues with class balance.  Its skill based, classless game, where everyone can have every skill

     

  • rrawsonrrawson Member Posts: 2

    My excitement for this game is strictly because Ragnar is involved. If this game was being directed/designed by Gaute Godager (Anarchy Online, Age of Conan), then I'd be right there with all the other skeptics. Ragnar's games are all pretty much critically acclaimed and he's never been in a leadership position on one of Funcom's MMOs before. That by itself makes me extremely hyped for TSW.

  • 69Cuda69Cuda Member Posts: 251

     It is Funcom. Period. Not even worth looking at until about 6 months after release judging by thier past history. They have some great great Ideas and at that point those ideas should be sold to a competant company to make the game.

     Playing this game on launch day is like hiring a personal finance planner that has lost all of their clients money for the last 10 years.

  • ProfRedProfRed Member UncommonPosts: 3,494

    I think Funcom's past hate and track record are actually a benefit to the Secret World.  People will have realistic expectations and that will keep the general hype subdued.  When you have little to no hype for a game that is when they have the greatest chance to grab you and impress you.  If you have unrealistic expectations or hype a game up too much in your head with your own ideals the game will never live up to your expectations.  I have seen it so many times where a friend gets so hyped when they finally play they only play for a couple hours and are left dissapointed.  Then a few days or weeks later if they go back and find what in the game actually suits them they end up enjoying it.

    I think it can be true, and I think Funcom will deliver a pretty solid project.  Ragnar is great at what he does, and if you hold Funcoms track record against the game you should be able to also hold Ragnars track record in favor of the game. 

  • IcewhiteIcewhite Member Posts: 6,403

    Cautious optimism, tinged by that little "but it's Funcom" doubt lingering in the back of my head.

    Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.

  • ProfRedProfRed Member UncommonPosts: 3,494

    Something interesting I found that pertains to this topic from an interview:

     

    ZAM: Some of the team came from Age of Conan and are now working on The Secret World; were there any major lessons learned from Age of Conan that really helped inform the making of The Secret World?

    Joel: There is a long catalogue of lessons learned but perhaps the ones that are most relevant to people who are "gun-shy" after AoC:


    • We try to maintain the consistency of content across the entire spectrum of the game, rather than the uneven polish that Conan launched with.

    • We have a much more mature engine, which was responsible for many of the complaints in AoC. We have years of bugfixes done on the game engine.
  • SBE1SBE1 Member UncommonPosts: 340

    I will never believe any pre-game hype about a Funcom product.  What is supposedly in the game, shown on demos, etc. will not make it in the final retail launch.  Just a fact of Funcom.

  • Zookz1Zookz1 Member Posts: 629

    I simply won't buy into any hype for an MMO. If they make a great game, then I am there. If they make a crap game and I shell out 50 bucks for it, then I'm the fool.

    MMO companies seem to be immune to the wise words of Bush.

    "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — [pauses] — shame on you. Fool me — [pauses] — You can't get fooled again."

     

     

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