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PANTHEON Twitch Stream Review : Impressed
ste2000
Member EpicPosts: 6,194
Ok first of I suggest you watch the full Twitch 3 Part coverage on CohhCarnage Channel
I strongly suggest you watch that on FULL HD as the difference between the default and the HD version is quite noticeable.
Secondly just keep in mind this game is in Pre-Alpha, it is way behind Camelot Unchained or Crowfall.
Before I start though I want to congratulate Brad Mcquaid and his Team for the hard job they put into this game.
I have to be honest, I thought Pantheon wasn't going to be made, I thought that because of the lack of (initial) crowd-funding money this game had no chance, I also didn't see much progress during those years of development, but after watching the footage I am now confident the game will be made.
I also want to point out that Pantheon is the only MMO in production that didn't use Kickstarter money, so hat off to VR for managing to secure an actual third party investor, which is something that seems gone out of fashion these days.
Having prefaced all of that I proceed to give my impression on Pantheon based on the Twitch footage:
1) Overall Graphics and Art Style:
The Art Style is perfect for this kind of game, the world look fabulous, it seems very detailed and it feels like a real fantasy world you can immerse yourself in.
Graphic quality is excellent, it is not on par with the Unreal Engine kind of graphic, but the Unity Engine seems to do an excellent job.
The color palette is also spot on, not too realistic but not too cartoonish, I don't like the ultra realistic graphics on my MMOs.
2) Character and Armor Graphics:
That's the best feature and biggest surprise out of this Twitch stream. The character models and the armor are absolutely amazing.
They look exactly like the art style sketches, which I loved, but I feared that the beauty of it would get lost into translation once they got turned into 3D models.....that didn't happen, they look great!
Races looks so unique and different and very detailed, in particular I loved the Arcai, it looks badass, it would make a perfect Necro, though I am gonna play an Ogre Tank as my main.
The Armor art style is just the best I've seen in recent years, its design fits perfectly the High Fantasy settings while still retaining a realistic look, much much better than Vanguard where I thought character models and Armor design was its weakest point.
Whoever is the 3D Artist.....you are doing a GREAT job!
Also though still early on, animation seemed already quite decent.
3) Races and Classes:
Good progress in implementing both Races and Classes, placeholders are gone (thank God)
So far Arcai, Dwarf, Human, Ogre, Gnome and Elves are in.
Also though I am not completely sure, it looks like Warrior, Shaman, Cleric, Rogue, Wizard and Crusader (Aradune character?) are in.
Of course many spells and abilities are missing (Cleric without Resurrection?), but it seems like they are on the right track.
4) Slow Combat and Downtime:
Ok, 30 seconds to kill the Scout Lizard (a trash mob)? Yes please! That's what I need in a MMO right now.
Many won't like that, and it's ok, plenty of alternative to chose from.
I also appreciate the downtime, the group resting to recover mana (I guess the Enchanter is not in-game yet) brought back some good memories of shit talking while waiting to get back to full HP/Mana.
5) Cooperative Group Dynamic (Quaternity):
If one of the player suck the whole team will fail, simple as that. And that's how it should be.
It looks like a Pantheon group needs all Roles to function, Tank, Healers, Buffers, CCers and of course DPS.
This is not a game where you can DPS your way through a dungeon, you need to be tactical and make good use of all the roles the game offers for optimal results.
6) Day-Night Cycle and no Mini-map:
Day-Night Cycle is in, though the Weather Cycle is not yet, but it's fine, it's already a good start for a Pre Alpha state.
Also I want to point out the lack of Mini-Map, which is a positive thing, in EQ I memorized every map and ever point of interest, I didn't need a map to move around because I knew the world map by heart, that to me adds to the immersion because you have more time looking at beautiful sceneries rather than staring at the Mini-map.
7) No Quest Hub and Perception System:
There are no Quest Hubs in Pantheon nor exclamation points, Quests work together with a Perception System which activates as soon as you approach a certain Area or NPC, so it is not so much the player that interacts with the environment but it is the environment that interacts with you.
All you have to do is exploring and the environment will alert you if there is anything interesting to do around that Area.
8) Vertical Dungeon and Climbing System:
In the Part 3 of the video they showed a Vertical Dungeon which I found impressive.
Basically it is a dungeon that progress upward rather than horizontally. You'll have to literally climb the dungeon right to the top while fighting mobs.
In order to do so, there is a Climbing System that allows you to hang from the cliff edges to help you climb more efficiently, though this is an ability you have to skill up, so you won't be able to climb the hardest dungeons unless you leveled the Climbing Skill.
As a side note, in this dungeon you can also find an elite Dwarf who will allow you to craft Special Gear that can only be crafted in his Forge (similar to Molten Core forge in Vanilla WoW), I find this a nice touch and a good incentive for Crafters to embrace adventuring and not just sit on their asses making stuff.
I am sure many people would argue that they didn't show much, of course it's true, they didn't show anything of the other many features advertised, though they did speak about some of them during the stream.
For now we'll have to do with combat, races , classes and some nice graphics, but what I've seen it's enough for me to get me excited and finally convince me to Pledge.
If you really like Old School, and Cooperative Group games, this is definitely the one to watch.
I strongly suggest you watch that on FULL HD as the difference between the default and the HD version is quite noticeable.
Secondly just keep in mind this game is in Pre-Alpha, it is way behind Camelot Unchained or Crowfall.
Before I start though I want to congratulate Brad Mcquaid and his Team for the hard job they put into this game.
I have to be honest, I thought Pantheon wasn't going to be made, I thought that because of the lack of (initial) crowd-funding money this game had no chance, I also didn't see much progress during those years of development, but after watching the footage I am now confident the game will be made.
I also want to point out that Pantheon is the only MMO in production that didn't use Kickstarter money, so hat off to VR for managing to secure an actual third party investor, which is something that seems gone out of fashion these days.
Having prefaced all of that I proceed to give my impression on Pantheon based on the Twitch footage:
1) Overall Graphics and Art Style:
The Art Style is perfect for this kind of game, the world look fabulous, it seems very detailed and it feels like a real fantasy world you can immerse yourself in.
Graphic quality is excellent, it is not on par with the Unreal Engine kind of graphic, but the Unity Engine seems to do an excellent job.
The color palette is also spot on, not too realistic but not too cartoonish, I don't like the ultra realistic graphics on my MMOs.
2) Character and Armor Graphics:
That's the best feature and biggest surprise out of this Twitch stream. The character models and the armor are absolutely amazing.
They look exactly like the art style sketches, which I loved, but I feared that the beauty of it would get lost into translation once they got turned into 3D models.....that didn't happen, they look great!
Races looks so unique and different and very detailed, in particular I loved the Arcai, it looks badass, it would make a perfect Necro, though I am gonna play an Ogre Tank as my main.
The Armor art style is just the best I've seen in recent years, its design fits perfectly the High Fantasy settings while still retaining a realistic look, much much better than Vanguard where I thought character models and Armor design was its weakest point.
Whoever is the 3D Artist.....you are doing a GREAT job!
Also though still early on, animation seemed already quite decent.
3) Races and Classes:
Good progress in implementing both Races and Classes, placeholders are gone (thank God)
So far Arcai, Dwarf, Human, Ogre, Gnome and Elves are in.
Also though I am not completely sure, it looks like Warrior, Shaman, Cleric, Rogue, Wizard and Crusader (Aradune character?) are in.
Of course many spells and abilities are missing (Cleric without Resurrection?), but it seems like they are on the right track.
4) Slow Combat and Downtime:
Ok, 30 seconds to kill the Scout Lizard (a trash mob)? Yes please! That's what I need in a MMO right now.
Many won't like that, and it's ok, plenty of alternative to chose from.
I also appreciate the downtime, the group resting to recover mana (I guess the Enchanter is not in-game yet) brought back some good memories of shit talking while waiting to get back to full HP/Mana.
5) Cooperative Group Dynamic (Quaternity):
If one of the player suck the whole team will fail, simple as that. And that's how it should be.
It looks like a Pantheon group needs all Roles to function, Tank, Healers, Buffers, CCers and of course DPS.
This is not a game where you can DPS your way through a dungeon, you need to be tactical and make good use of all the roles the game offers for optimal results.
6) Day-Night Cycle and no Mini-map:
Day-Night Cycle is in, though the Weather Cycle is not yet, but it's fine, it's already a good start for a Pre Alpha state.
Also I want to point out the lack of Mini-Map, which is a positive thing, in EQ I memorized every map and ever point of interest, I didn't need a map to move around because I knew the world map by heart, that to me adds to the immersion because you have more time looking at beautiful sceneries rather than staring at the Mini-map.
7) No Quest Hub and Perception System:
There are no Quest Hubs in Pantheon nor exclamation points, Quests work together with a Perception System which activates as soon as you approach a certain Area or NPC, so it is not so much the player that interacts with the environment but it is the environment that interacts with you.
All you have to do is exploring and the environment will alert you if there is anything interesting to do around that Area.
8) Vertical Dungeon and Climbing System:
In the Part 3 of the video they showed a Vertical Dungeon which I found impressive.
Basically it is a dungeon that progress upward rather than horizontally. You'll have to literally climb the dungeon right to the top while fighting mobs.
In order to do so, there is a Climbing System that allows you to hang from the cliff edges to help you climb more efficiently, though this is an ability you have to skill up, so you won't be able to climb the hardest dungeons unless you leveled the Climbing Skill.
As a side note, in this dungeon you can also find an elite Dwarf who will allow you to craft Special Gear that can only be crafted in his Forge (similar to Molten Core forge in Vanilla WoW), I find this a nice touch and a good incentive for Crafters to embrace adventuring and not just sit on their asses making stuff.
I am sure many people would argue that they didn't show much, of course it's true, they didn't show anything of the other many features advertised, though they did speak about some of them during the stream.
For now we'll have to do with combat, races , classes and some nice graphics, but what I've seen it's enough for me to get me excited and finally convince me to Pledge.
If you really like Old School, and Cooperative Group games, this is definitely the one to watch.
Post edited by ste2000 on
Comments
I will keep an eye on that Game for sure. It felt so "oldschool" but refreshing on the other hand.
My guess is it will be a game for us "Oldies". At least by looking at it it looked that way; Oldschool'ish.
I saw a guy saying in Chat something like; They re-do DAoC? Ofc there will be only one PvP Server to please the PvP Audience, which is fine. I'll head to PvE and enjoy the 12 Classes!!
Aerowyn's Video Compilation of ALL things Guild Wars 2
They probably will want to have a faster mana regen later, or one of the classes get it because you don't really want a lot of downtime as a full group, but there is so much time to tweak all that.
Players are interdependent to each others and this is a classic example.
Enchanters should have Mana Regeneration buffs, but they are not in game yet, so the downtime it's longer than it should.
My mana regen comment was more about the observation made about the cleric sitting 90% of the time. As much as I like the old school games, no one really wants to be sitting on their ass most of the game lol. Loved when they added the mounts in EQ for that reason, you were still "sitting" but you could actively cast and fight.
edit: And I think I might have saw the cleric always sitting somewhere else, so no wonder my comment seemed a bit off lol. Maybe it was remarked about on the video comments lol.
Edit : There were times in EQ1 when I would be up late at night or up early in the morning to play.... Where I would nod off waiting for regen. Not sure I want that again.
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
This is a Pre-Pre Alpha version after all.
Beyond the pretty graphics, it's more of the same, nothing new or innovative.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Also, almost no game these days are really new or innovative. Everything has pretty much been tried and anything "new" is just something tinkered slightly.
Besides, this game is not targeted towards the quick, slaughter them all game of the future (that really isn't) game hopper crowd. Just a solid, fun team based mmorpg.
Whether it turns out that way is yet to be seen, but after watching the stream, I'm actually hopeful.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
https://www.pantheonmmo.com/game/pantheon_difference/
And for your information it's been 13 years since there was a MMO with this kind of system, so how you are bored of it, it's beyond me.
I don't think you watched the full video though because in one of the dungeon, the group managed to pull a group of 8-10 trash mobs, and guess what, the group wiped in less than a minute.
So there are packs of mobs but you are not supposed to fight them all at once, that's the point (BTW, Vanilla WoW used this system, that's why I prefer Vanilla to today WoW).
The selling point of a game like Pantheon is a combat system that requires you to split group of mobs up so they can be killed one by one, that's the fun part of the game.
Getting the tactic right, the right classes and using the right spells at the right time so you are able to split groups and fight them one by one is what makes EQ/Pantheon fun for me.
You might be bored of this type of game, but I am absolutely fed up with games where I can steam roll groups of 8-10 mobs with a single fart.....THAT's boring.
No tactics, no thinking, no challenge, just roll your face on the keyboard and collect the loot.
Where is the fun in that?
However, for the people that want to band together and fight mobs that are more powerful and dangerous, then Pantheon is a god send.
It's fine if this game is not for you, I just don't get why people go out of their way to comment on a game that they know does not align with their preferred game style. That would be like me going over to BDO boards, and telling them why I think they're wrong about why they like the game. It's a bit of a head scratcher.
I agree. I never understood how people can get their jollies by running down games that they have no intention of ever playing. It would be like me going over the EVE forums and telling them how PvP is bad
We have seen the a single crowd controller whittle a crowd down to 1 active and some inactive participants. I've done it myself. It can be fun. What we haven't seen is 6 people fighting in 6 coordinated 1-on-1 fights, helping each other. One person blocking a mobs attack on his neighbor. If you want crowd control, then that activity takes one participant from each side, i.e., the crowd control operation is more than a fire-and-forget tactic, but takes complete active involvement from the player to ensure the add stays out of the fight. More like combat in a formation (ancient tactics), rather than a loose group of individuals with a common goal. Knock 'em down, jump on 'em and grapple 'em. If there's more of them than you, you fight defensively, or run away.
The way for the genre to evolve is to look to the future, not to look back wistfully at the past. I fully intend to try Pantheon when it releases, so much for the 'no intention of playing' attacks. How long I will stick with this game will depend on how I much it entertains me, and how much I want to relive 1999 again on that particular day.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Not sure I understood properly.
What you are saying is that you would like to see some kind of active body blocking instead of Spell CCs, basically being able to physically stop the mob to reach another player with their body rather than using time based CC spells?
Like basically every class should be able to offtank?
i dont mind some break here and there to rest and chat (i miss it)....but everyone not just the heal and mage
i'm not falling for that hype so easily this time but i will admit this video got my heart pumping. my main in EQ was an ogre shaman and i played on one of the pvp servers (valon zek).
after watching that video and seeing the ogre models, pvp servers, and seeing the shaman a little bit? it gave me nerd wood.
all i can say to the devs is keep up the good work and don't mess this up because you could have something great here, good luck!
There is plenty to accomplish in a game like Pantheon - much like EQ - in a reasonable amount of time. You just won't be "competitive" as easily, and that's the crux of your argument. Sorry, most people don't think that way.
People can over look class difficulties if there having fun, and I don't imagine it will be as bad as it looks now come release, as far as mana goes anyway. Hopefully something closer to Vanguard in that respect.
Nah, people like that just want to auto win no matter how badly they play. Everybody gets a price...