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Chronicles of Spellborn.. triumph of design over hype

VesaviusVesavius Member RarePosts: 7,908

TCoS is number one here on mmorpg.com on the released game's chart the day of it's release.

As  much as the haters will now start to mark it down because it 'threatens' their pet game, so it WILL drop, thats fantastic.

It has it's bugs, yes, and it has it broken quests, yes, and it needs content (in the same way CoH needed content at launch), but...

For an underhyped mmorpg from a indie dev with new ideas trying to do something different (both system wise and artisically), lets give it kudos.

check these out for the new player experience;

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/229694/A-L10-review-Loving-the-game-.html

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/230678/A-L20-Review-Still-loving-the-game.html

and my blog, dealing mainly right now with SB;

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/vesavius

And just to say, the client (box) is FREE, and you gt 2 FREE weeks to play to see if you wanna sub. From launch. Thats right... free client and unlimted free play (in terms of characters slots and hours per day) before you choose to pay a cent.

To me, thats an incredibly open and generous sales plan.

Cya ingame :)

 

btw, it may not be the game for you, and thats fine, SB will NOT be for everyone (nothing unique ever is), but there is nothing to be gained from hating a indie dev following it's vision just for the sake of hating. We all need individual indies to triumph if we want to see change in this genre right? Not asking to give it 'leeway', but just asking for rationality, objectivity, and maturity. Thx.

 

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Comments

  • VyethVyeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,461

    Its an excellent game.. I will not go on to say that it is the "best" (put your weapons down), but it deserves kudos and any attention given is earned..

    I truly think that when PvP is fleshed out and realized in full factional combat, this game will become the PvP game of choice (as is darkfall right now)

  • brostynbrostyn Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 3,092

    I like it, too. The only problem I see is that the game won't have much of an economy, and I will miss that.

  • Brone87Brone87 Member Posts: 244

    I love the game and I wish it all the success in the world!

  • VesaviusVesavius Member RarePosts: 7,908
    Originally posted by brostyn


    I like it, too. The only problem I see is that the game won't have much of an economy, and I will miss that.



     

    it will do, it will have it's own version of it, it just needs time. :)

    Will it have an economy in the sense of EQ2 or WoW or whatever tho? Well, imo, hopefully not. All those mmorpgs have horribly borked played driven economies imo that create a barrier to new players entering the game.

    This is day 2. The potentiol for SB is dizzying :)

  • afoaaafoaa Member UncommonPosts: 578

    Considdering how most valuable drops and many quests rewards are in the form of crafting recipes and most of them always need difficult to get materials then yes there will be an economy. People just have to learn whats rare and wanted.

    I think its too early to declare the game a triumph but its certainly a wonderful breath of fresh air:

    - No trinity what so ever! They have actually managed to get rid of the Tank/Healer/DPS "trap" and still retain classes that feel wastly different and yet have a group game where you never have to ask for a specific class to fill out a group, which have made grouping a lot easier, more fun and happening much more regulary than what you see in most new MMOs.

    - Smart mob ai that do not follow some silly agro system but instead evaluate what happens and try to do nasty stuff in response, like trailing you, kiting you, running for help, deducting the most efficient way to defeat your group and act uppon it and so on. . . PvE is DYNAMIC not static like you see in all other MMOs so far.

    - Weird strange world that make a zoned gameworld make sense for once.

    - An item system where items function is to have a visual appearance and then hold slots for items that give bonuses. So you can design for yourself how you want to look and what bonuses you want to have. And even better if you get some new nice gear you cant take out the bonus items and slot them in the new gear.

    - A real combat system where you manually have to hit and manually evade/defend against attacks combined with a very unique combat design system where you yourself set up your personal combat tactics and prefered ways of doing things through how you setup the combat deck.

    They still need to fix some problems though. First of all the 5 way PvP warfare system dont work and in PvP zones is effectively FFA. There are many quests that become bugged through key NPCs getting stuck in a certain stage until server resets. And many people experience crashes from time to time.

    But all in all a very pleasant surprise this game.

    "You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."

  • paulscottpaulscott Member Posts: 5,613


    TCoS when it truely takes off will be a brillent case of design over hype.

     

    I don't even like the game but I reconize it as the most "evolutionary" game of the year(or last/whatever,  silly release schedule) to be honest I'll give it both.  The only legitiment thing I can say against the game(besides me not liking fast combat) is the licensing agreements.

     

    *note if it was revolutionary no one would like it,  and based on the mechanics marketers could honestly say that it is revolutionary if they had any.

    I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.

  • TerranahTerranah Member UncommonPosts: 3,575

    I think it might be a pretty good game from the limited time I've had playing it. 

     

    The quests are kind of humorous and the writing is pretty good. 

     

    The graphics are kind of a mixed bag.  I think the armor and clothing look pretty cool.  I spent a lot of time geting just the clothing look that I wanted and I was pretty happy with it.  But as usual, the female avatars are ugly and there are not very nice hair styles.  It became a matter of choosing what I disliked the least.  When I was finished though,  she didn't look too bad.

     

    I think it must be harder than it looks to create nice looking avatar faces or something, because so many games have fugly faces. 

  • Gabby-airGabby-air Member UncommonPosts: 3,440

    I played back in closed beta and it was really fun,the graphics have a nice style and the community at the time anyways contained vets that were sick of wow clones, so i would say its different and i like how they give you free 2 weeks so obviously worth a try

  • crunchyblackcrunchyblack Member Posts: 1,362

    nothing i love more than a mob darting away from a melee attack in perfect timing, or applying a magic immunity buff if a spam magic on them.  I even suspect that some mobs lure me in deep to draw aggro from nearby mobs.

    Good combat, good gameplay, buttery smooth game engin(although not the most modern engin)  Theres really no grind, more quests than you need,  with a decent story line.   The potential for faction style pvp between the high houses will make for some nice drama as well.

     

     

    However this game is NOT loot or equipment based.  No uber drops, just weapons/armors with no values unless you add sigils to the slots, other than that its whatever suits your tastes. 

     

    I just hope they have something along the lines as high house raids, would really be a nice touch, more of a pve style raid to add to the open world pvp....

     

    so far, one of the best launches youll never hear about...wonder why the good launches go unnoticed.

     

    *edit*

     

    I forgot to add this startling fact....no gold spammers.

    They tried in the begenning, but the combination of the mandatory starter tutorial instance, lack of a global chat beyond your high house chat and the fact that you really dont need to use money for anything made them give up.   Sucks having to redo that damn tutorial everytime your spambot gets banned i guess.  Whatever they did it worked, i never see spam.

  • GameloadingGameloading Member UncommonPosts: 14,182

    I don't see any reason to start playing the game now. The game was dead on arrival in Europe and is probably going to end up the same way in the US.

  • SylianSylian Member UncommonPosts: 65

    Well it is rather hard to say this game will end up dead.

    I mean when you look at AOC it had 800k boxes sold but at the end there was only 100k users left. On the other hand EVE started with 10k users and ended up with 250k users. I think as long as Spellborn makes proper marketing this game can easily hit 100k numbers because this game is well designed and engrossing.

  • VesaviusVesavius Member RarePosts: 7,908
    Originally posted by Gameloading


    I don't see any reason to start playing the game now. The game was dead on arrival in Europe and is probably going to end up the same way in the US.



     

    lol I do love the great outlook of the typical poster on these boards.

    Not playing, or even trying, a game because it might end up 'dead' somewhere down the line...

    Despite the fact that it offers so much, a LOT of people are obviously enjoying it, and it's 100% FREE (not so called 'free to play', where the word 'free' is just a cover for a hideous item shop, but really FREE) to play for the next 2 weeks.

    Makes me happy to be part of the human race

  • SoludeSolude Member UncommonPosts: 691

    I was excited to play TCoS... until I actually played it.  It just not that interesting a game.  The combat is unique but not intuitive or fun.  The UI is a chore and frankly it being free or $30/mth doesn't mean anything to me.  So I'll watch this one from the sidelines and go back to playing CoX and CO beta until something fun comes around.

  • crunchyblackcrunchyblack Member Posts: 1,362
    Originally posted by Gameloading


    I don't see any reason to start playing the game now. The game was dead on arrival in Europe and is probably going to end up the same way in the US.



     

    good spread the word on the wow servers thant tcos is a failure.  the more of you guys that stay away the higher quality community the rest of us can enjoy!

    by the way a dead game to a wow player is any game that doesnt get 10mil subscriptions.  despite this number includes like 7mil permanant subscribing asians who pay to play by the hr.

    (mature community)+ (unique combat and gameplay) - (uber loot/equipment based stregnths)+ (muliple factioned open world pvp) =

  • brostynbrostyn Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 3,092
    Originally posted by crunchyblack

    Originally posted by Gameloading


    I don't see any reason to start playing the game now. The game was dead on arrival in Europe and is probably going to end up the same way in the US.



     

    good spread the word on the wow servers thant tcos is a failure.  the more of you guys that stay away the higher quality community the rest of us can enjoy!

    by the way a dead game to a wow player is any game that doesnt get 10mil subscriptions.  despite this number includes like 7mil permanant subscribing asians who pay to play by the hr.

    (mature community)+ (unique combat and gameplay) - (uber loot/equipment based stregnths)+ (muliple factioned open world pvp) =

    You think your post was mature?

  • thing0thing0 Member UncommonPosts: 2
    Originally posted by Gameloading


    I don't see any reason to start playing the game now. The game was dead on arrival in Europe and is probably going to end up the same way in the US.



     

    what you say is bullocks! tcos isnt dead on the european servers; its much alive

    so if you dont like the game dont make others to not play it, because you dont like it

     

  • LydonLydon Member UncommonPosts: 2,938

    It's an amazing game and my favourite band sings the theme song. I can't think of anything more I'd want.

  • thing0thing0 Member UncommonPosts: 2

    you dont mean within temptation rightXD?

  • WraithoneWraithone Member RarePosts: 3,806
    Originally posted by vesavius

    Originally posted by Gameloading


    I don't see any reason to start playing the game now. The game was dead on arrival in Europe and is probably going to end up the same way in the US.



     

    lol I do love the great outlook of the typical poster on these boards.

    Not playing, or even trying, a game because it might end up 'dead' somewhere down the line...

    Despite the fact that it offers so much, a LOT of people are obviously enjoying it, and it's 100% FREE (not so called 'free to play', where the word 'free' is just a cover for a hideous item shop, but really FREE) to play for the next 2 weeks.

    Makes me happy to be part of the human race

     

    Well, you know how it goes Vesa, some people just have to have something to hate <shrug> .  But I'd not say that there is any "typical" poster here. Just some seem more vocal than many. SB seems ok for now, fairly decent graphics(but the engine will not wear well, since it doesn't use multi core), sound and game dynamics are ok.  But its going to be limited to a niche market due to its real time combat system, and also the mistakes during the European and NA beta/launch didn't help matters.  Couple that with problems with the download system(being worked on now as I understand it). These days games can't afford to make many business/design mistakes if they expect to be around for more than a year or two.  There are WAY too many alternative games that people can spend their time and money on.

    Over all, its too early to say whats going to happen. It depends on what the Dev's do content wise, how timely Aclaim is in following the international patch progression, and how many people are willing to adapt to the real time combat system.  Lets just hope it doesn't go the route that Ryzom and Horizons did,

     

    "If you can't kill it, don't make it mad."
  • LydonLydon Member UncommonPosts: 2,938
    Originally posted by thing0


    you dont mean within temptation rightXD?

    I do indeed.

  • RubycatRubycat Member Posts: 223

    They only let you get to about lv 7.9 as a trial playthrough, gives you 2 levels of actually being one of the 3 archtypes split offs (which each archtype has 3 different class varients)

    I liked the skill deck/roller combat mechanic, it was a interesting system.

    Same with the partly manual aim combat, but this and the dodge mechanic was a bit wonky to me.. -Melee mobs run up to where you were standing and whiff if you move from them before the animation begins (other wise youll take the dmg no matter how far you move away).  

    Some mobs are a bit short, requiring you to angle to down alot in order to hit them properly,, using your skill even a little bit off the target is a full blown miss- (even if your sword looks like it went right through the mob).

    =I was on a old Asherons Call board when I got wind of the game, but its not something Im really serious about=

    -Ive done the whole "Quest giver" go kill or talk to this person and return for xp dealeo enough as it is in other games, while being forced through level minded zones-

    Was a fun little game to 7.9 but I dont really care to go any farther as Ive been down this road before.

  • TammzinTammzin Member Posts: 38
    Originally posted by Rubycat


    They only let you get to about lv 7.9 as a trial playthrough, gives you 2 levels of actually being one of the 3 archtypes split offs (which each archtype has 3 different class varients)
    I liked the skill deck/roller combat mechanic, it was a interesting system.
    Same with the partly manual aim combat, but this and the dodge mechanic was a bit wonky to me.. -Melee mobs run up to where you were standing and whiff if you move from them before the animation begins (other wise youll take the dmg no matter how far you move away).  
    Some mobs are a bit short, requiring you to angle to down alot in order to hit them properly,, using your skill even a little bit off the target is a full blown miss- (even if your sword looks like it went right through the mob).
    =I was on a old Asherons Call board when I got wind of the game, but its not something Im really serious about=
    -Ive done the whole "Quest giver" go kill or talk to this person and return for xp dealeo enough as it is in other games, while being forced through level minded zones-
    Was a fun little game to 7.9 but I dont really care to go any farther as Ive been down this road before.



     

    Actually, the next 2 weeks are unrestricted and totally free... I do respect that this game isnt for you though, not everything is for everyone. TCoS is a themepark quest driven game, and that suits me very well at the moment as I can only play pretty casually. I should say here as well as loving the game that the community once you get out of Hawksmouth is brilliant.

  • boognish75boognish75 Member UncommonPosts: 1,540

    I am absolutly loving this game!!!

    playing eq2 and two worlds

  • TammzinTammzin Member Posts: 38

    Ahh, I lost this thread when it was moved from the general forum. I agree with Boog!

  • MetaSevenMetaSeven Member Posts: 20
    Originally posted by vesavius



    btw, it may not be the game for you, and thats fine, SB will NOT be for everyone (nothing unique ever is), but there is nothing to be gained from hating a indie dev following it's vision just for the sake of hating. We all need individual indies to triumph if we want to see change in this genre right? Not asking to give it 'leeway', but just asking for rationality, objectivity, and maturity. Thx.

    There are some things I really do not agree with (missing quest tracker etc.). But then they aren't funcom or mythic and they seem to get a lot done with their patches. 

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