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Is EQN a sandbox?.....
Dewm
Member UncommonPosts: 1,337
NO!
now stop asking, its not a themepark either, from everything we've heard its going to be a new type of game.
Heavy crafting: Yes
Quest driven content: Yes
Quest hubs: No
dynamic events: Yes
large open worlds: Yes
player housing: Yes
multiple class system: Yes
endgame raiding: No
endless grinding: No
multi tiered destructable world: Yes
facial expressions: yes <---but really...who cares
Is it a hybrid?... YES!
P.s. Is EQ:L a sandbox? YES!
P.s.s I am currently going off of what they have announced, everything is subject to change.. so if you're going to post telling me that Smedley lies... don't bother, you'll just be wasting valuable internets.
Please check out my channel. I do gaming reviews, gaming related reviews & lets plays. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/user/BettyofDewm/videos
Comments
I do not remember quest driven content being announced (aka on rail questing). Omeedd even said in "Into the Portal" (a fan podcast) that their goal is "no repeatable content". The quests are going to be random events affected by lots of things in the world (mobs, what is happening, where you are, your standing with the factions involved, etc). They won't even have quest markers.
Also, if you happen to be calling Rallying Calls quests, they are not quests. They are more like GM events from the pre-WoW era that last a long time, are none-repeatable and affect the world. Dave G said back in August that Rallying Calls are not going to have UI notifications as well and that if players do not participate they will end uncompleted. Rallying Calls serve to make the storyline of the world move forward (under the control of the devs, because players usually do a crappy job at it) and provide lore.
So where are the rails for the themepark aspect?
So where exactly is the 'sandbox' aspect?
Destructable world? ala MInecraft?
Crafting? is it interwoven and codependant? Strict Tiers?
Methinks it'll end up more Theme than Sand. Calling it a 'hybrid' may not be accurate, but who knows.
Methinks the term 'sandbox' can mean different things to different people and is almost a loaded term.
In that sense, alot of MMO's can be deemed 'Hybrid'.
and of course, Imma "wait an see",...I will be right up there to check it out,.but to claim
"no repeatable content' I dunno,...smacks of hyperbole marketing buzzwords,...like "dynamic events" and " Quest driven content",...
I can change it to kill 11 rats instead of 10 and legally be justified to claim it is not a 'repeated' content.
As far as the facial expressions I think many will care when SoEMote is there. Proximity voice chat (in PS2) with SoEMote active means walking up and "talking" to people. Plus we've seen how smooth the expressions look with the artstyle... Will be great.
HEh
it's gonna be awesome when the lithe wood elf maiden saunters up to your group and says" Mayhap this sprightly young maiden join your quest?" while sounding like Seth Rogen.
Not to mention the dev use. Having every NPC "talk" because the voice actors face was recorded with the voice is huge and with hardly any additional cost.
Uhhh bro, I have news for you... do you remember Georgeson talking about how you are wandering through the woods happen apon some Orcs, and you fight them enough that they end up relocating etc etc etc...
What is that? if not a quest?
I think you have been steeped in mmorpg.com to long and no longer know the actualy meaning of the word "quest". Someone says "quest" and before you can take your text breath you get flashbacks of a WoW raid...
THATS what I think.
Please check out my channel. I do gaming reviews, gaming related reviews & lets plays. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/user/BettyofDewm/videos
Are we looking for a game that carries a LABEL or are we just looking for some real good quality games to play?
Point being ,does it really matter what label someone gives it?
When we get to play Next,then we can judge it on it's quality.Personally it is SOE and carries cash shop,that lone is enough to turn me away.If Soe wants to get more customers,they need to quit with the misleading costs and be TRUE/honest to it's customers or potential customers.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Is any game really a sandbox? The scale of definitions seems to be very large and no game is going to fit into any nice neat little package or box...
"Sandbox" seems to be more of an ideal/idea then actually obtainable creation. Personally, I think Devs have a "sandbox" to work with, but once it is introduced to customers/players and any sort of rules/restrictions are enforced, the box loses some of the sand.
Better question for people to ask is "Will EQN/LM be fun, entertaining, something you want to spend your time/money on." If you answer no to any or all, move a long.
A game being a sandbox or themepark does not guarantee that a product will be good/bad, regardless of the definition.
Someone dismissing a game based solely on a buzz word is dumb. If people enjoy EQN or hate it, that conclusion should come from the actual game experience, not if it fits into a pretty little definition.
If you aren't willing to call EQN a sandbox than I wonder what you would call a sandbox. It's true that EQN sounds like a sort of hybrid but you can argue the same about EVE and people general accept that EVE is a sandbox. SWG was considered a sandbox before it was changed and it had quest too. Just because it has a story and quest doesn't mean it's not a sandbox.
On another note, if you are so sick of the subject why not just stay clear of the topic rather than stoke the flames with another thread?
You have been around MMORPG so long that you can't even read a post. The thing you explained is exactly what my second sentence is saying: "the quest are going to be random events".
You speak like it's a new definition invented by some people thinking up their dream game. The gaming term sandbox pre-date the term themepark by over 10 years. The term isn't even MMO related, unlike themeparks.
Sandbox definition: free-roaming world (aka open-world) that isn't goal-oriented and/or linear (advancing through the content in linear fashion is not required) and it can be affected by the player(s). Sandbox never meant there is no quest and no story. It never meant players has 100% control over the gameworld either.
The first well recognized sandbox game is Elite (1984), which had missions (quests) and a storyline. Its "affect the world" was based on the faction system affecting travel, encounters and trading, ships requiring fuel affecting your trade route, the trading system and players being able to do anything they wanted under the gameplay restriction (aka being a space pilot). It was free-roaming (all 8 galaxies with 256 planets).
A themepark is what Disney World is: you cannot affect the content and it will provide the exact same thing at the same place under the same conditions. The content will be mostly linear and repeatable (either with the same or another character). Note that themeparks can be somewhat free-roaming. The term became popular when a journalist used it to explain how he felt about World of Worldcraft in his review in 2004.
Where did you get your definition? We all have our own. Some may be very similar, but I've read so many over the years that it is obvious that everyone doesn't have the exact same requirements for a game to be a "sandbox."
I've seen people say that a game with a story or dev made quests is not. Same with not having complete control over the world in some way.
Going back to my question, I can't think of one mmo that fits your definition of a sandbox (Including EQN/LM), at least none that are actually played by more then 20 people. Many have elements, but none do it all. Like I said, the scale is very large. One end we have dev tools and complete control and at the other...WoW.
My comments were just to the general concern people have with calling a game sandbox/themepark and that if a game falls under one of these umbrella buzz words that they will magically be good or bad, because they happen to be one or the other.
I've played plenty of Themepark games that are great. I've played games with more "sandbox" elements that are very good as well. I could care less if EQN/LM are "sandboxes" or not. I want good games. People should stop worrying how far they will be on the definition scale.
It should be fairly clear that LM is more "sandboxy" then EQN and EQN is less themeparky then most other mmos. They both have elements of both terms, while doing their own thing.
As the OP listed, both games will have a lot of features (new/old) that will be fun for many. Accept it or move along. People should stop worrying if they are a strict definition "sandbox."
It's not "my definition", read the whole thing might educate you (it's a bit technical in place though). You are doing the mistake of thinking that "sandbox" is a pure metaphore, but it never was.
Good read, hadn't thought about Adventure in years. Was one of my favorites on Atari as a kid.
Still, the article and author's views are just that. One view. I'm not disagreeing, but just taking the side that not everyone sees the same way. Did like that he pointed out that game design is the ultimate sandbox, basically what I believe as well.
While he does a great job on outlining where the "sandbox" has been and where it is going to some extent, it still doesn't set the hard line of what a sandbox is. Which people around here and other sites attempt to do all the time. A sandbox is XYZ cause I said so, doesn't work, yet many try. Basically why we continue to see posts like the OP.
While it is more then a metaphor or idea, it isn't black and white either.
Personally, I think EQN:LM is as close to a sandbox as an EQ game can get. EQN isn't too far behind, just with an extra layer of story and rpg elements tossed in. Compared to the majority of other fantasy mmos out there, nothing really comes close.
Second Life is probably the only sandbox mmo that I can think of, but it is in it's own far off spot and has no real connection to EQN or other fantasy mmos or mmos in general.
I guess my reason for responding to this thread was that I'm bored and annoyed that people continue to go on and on about what is or isn't a sandbox and how it has any real impact on a game being good or not.
EQN/LM will be what they are, people can choose to see them as sandbox, themepark, sandpark, or just great games, doesn't really matter in the end. Play or don't. I will be playing both and enjoying them for what they are.
I'll leave all the worrying about how much sand is in the box to other forum goers.