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Otherland: GDC 2012 Preview
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Scifi + Tad Williams + online gaming = a cyberpunk's ultimate MMO and if our GDC 2012 preview of Otherland is any indication, this could be a golden game for fans. Read more of what we discovered about Otherland during GDC and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Our preview began on Lambda Mall, which is one of the three announced worlds in Otherland, alongside 8 Squared and Mars. Lambda instantly reveals the cyberpunk atmosphere of Williams' series, and our previewers called the world a kind of "'Blade Runner' meets Coruscant" or "what it would be like to be in the Internet" (a terrifying proposition). The comparisons are fair, as Lambda Mall is littered with AR-inspired neon signs, multi-layered city architecture and cybergoth sensibilities à la Deus Ex: Human Revolution, along with shops, clubs and pubs for you to explore. You can enter class shops to build your characters from 2 genders, 3 races and a bunch of customization options, which you can change at any time from within the game, although Gamigo haven't settled on the daily limits for this feature just yet.
Read more of Som Pourfarzaneh's Otherland: GDC 2012 Preview.
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Comments
I'm at the point now where I don't care how many "worlds" or "pretty screenshots" are released. SWTOR had several, but like every other post-WoW game, they were extremely thin, loaded with exhaustion zones (another form of invisible wall), narrow, simple, and stupidly linear.
Until a developer comes out and says, "Our world is the largest and most innovative out of any MMO", I'm not going to bite.
wait... you fall for sutch easy and mutch use PR lines ?
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As for the game.. keeps me intrested, its one of those games you just have to try in order to know if it works or not, social aspect seems strong in this one so might turn out good.
"Our game is everything you've ever dreamed of! Now pre order sucker!"
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"
And this quote is exactly what I fear for this game. Mr J's wasn't in Otherland it was in the normal net in the books. Otherland was the perfect simulation in which you couldn't tell the difference between reality and virtual reality. Mr J's was a portal to get a glimps of this on the normal net and at the same time obtain childrens neural brain activity to feed the Otherland system.
So the devs either didn't actually read the books or going on false memory and that can lead to inconsistancies which will be nitpicked at by fans of the books. For the record I'm not even that much of a fan.
It could be interesting. Tad Williams is well known writer and a good one. If Gamigo successed in capturing the atmosphere of his books and with all other necessities that make great mmo, then maybe they have a fighting chance.
Then you are going to go hungry. How can any new game claim that? To be bigger than games that have added content for years? And what would be the most innovative to you? Pure subjective to claim that. Plus this game is F2P, so would cost you nothing to try it out.
So...you'll fall for the marketing gimmicks but not the visuals?
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
"Otherland will be free-to-play"
Meh, I knew I smelled something when I saw the company logos at the start of the video.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
I'm interested in this game. I like the whole 'cyberspace' attitude of it where anything is possible. The game is not limited to any rules in that sense.
Having said that, it's still kind of hard to get my mind around what they are trying to do here. I mean I get it on paper, but as for how it will play, I don't think anyone can know until they play it. In a standard MMO, even something new like GW2, we have a general idea of how things are going to be in the game world, and what we will be doing. I don't know if that is the case in Otherland.
I've seen a lot of screenshots. It looks great, and I'm following it on Facebook as an MMO / VR fan.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Of the upcoming MMOs, this one intrigues me most.
Just the fact that it's not exclusively a combat game makes me interested in it. Things like being able to have apartments in the Lambda Mall spice it up more.
The world of the books make it possible to expand on this indefinitely...
Oh, and I've always been a sucker for cyberpunk.
So, here's hoping...
I guess Tad Williams didn't read them and isn't much of a fan, either, since he's involved in the project.
The game looks really interesting to me, and it's on my "one to watch" list going forward.
That it has a cash shop does give me pause as Cash Shop games are invariably designed with the intention of giving people just enough game to get interested, while presenting enough potholes and speed bumps to get people spending as much money as possible, as often as possible. That's just the nature of the beast at this point, I know, but it annoys me when I can tell some aspect of the game is blatantly and deliberately handicapped, with a remedy for it conveniently provided at a price. It's just so contrived. I'd much rather the effort go into creating a deeper experience and getting me immersed.
Sure, statistically, a large number of people don't spend much or, allegedly, anything at all, but those aren't the people the developers rely on to keep the game afloat. The low- or non-spenders are used as numbers to make the game look healthy in PR releases and investor reports. Again, just the nature of the beast. But, it is what it is, isn't it.
Though, if the world is as interesting as it sounds, diverse as it appears and fun as it looks, I'll certainly be spending at least enough time in there to see how well they've recreated Tad Williams' world(s). If it's well done, and the cash shop isn't too obnoxiously present, I might even stick around for a while.
Well it don't say that the game is gonna only be in the Otherland network. So hence it's gonna be the normal VR world and Otherland. So in otherwords I think this is before the system locks people in.
hmm yea. Huge fan of Tad Williams. On the wait and see list. Not a fan of cash shops personally beyond cosmetic items.
the poster formerly known as melangel :P
I think you read the article wrong. Lambda Mall is not within Otherland. It exists outside the Otherland network, and that's exactly where Mister J's exists. So I think on this one... the devs/writer are right, and you're wrong :P