KoA: Reckoning - Interview and Upcoming Sequel

From CBS Sports comes an interview with Curt Schilling, the CEO of 38 Studios, the studio behind this game. He reveals that it was his unhappiness with Everquest 2 was what drove him to make 38 Studios:

Schilling got serious about it several years later. He recalled feeling disappointed by "EverQuest II," the sequel released in late 2004 to the popular multiplayer online game. Irked by certain elements, he'd wonder: "What were they thinking?"While playing online with several developers from Sony, which produced the game, Schilling would muse about hatching his own startup. "You do that, I'll definitely join your company," they'd tell him.They didn't quite believe him when he later actually offered them jobs. In October 2006, the business launched with 11 employees. Today, 38 Studios -- as in his uniform number -- has nearly 400.

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Curt Schilling, the CEO for this game, was on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show. When asked, if there'll be a sequel for the game, he answered, according to Gamespot:

Fallon remarked, "I bet there's gonna be a sequel," to which Schilling responded, "Oh yeah." Schilling went on to say, "[38 Studios] was built to be something that stays around and becomes huge.

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More information.

Heh. More and more I feel like I paid $60 for a demo of their upcoming MMO game.

Ovenall said:

Heh. More and more I feel like I paid $60 for a demo of their upcoming MMO game.

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We did the whole game was a experiment to setup the mmo. The wow graphics,fetch quests, and even the quest zones. Still something draws me and other people to play it.

I don't know...I think it's a very fun game...it may not pass the high pedigree some of you apply to some games(not others) but I think it was excellant for a first game and look forward to see what they do in the future. After all, rome wasn't built in a day.

The demo was interesting overall.

The lack of objects in the game world and the loot system reminded me a bit of DA2. It was annoying that you can find things in the world like "invoices," "tattered documents," etc., in containers, but you can't read them. Like all those "moth-eaten scarves" from DA2.

Enemies tended to spawn in a way that felt rather unnatural, like TOR or an MMO. Most enemies seemed to be focusing a bit too much on the player. The suspension of disbelief is hindered by the way that encounters are staged so that you don't observe enemies engaging in other activities. Almost as soon as you can see them, they are either attacking you or standing around and waiting for you to get closer.

The archery didn't work for me at all. I prefer the archery systems where you have to draw the bow back, like Duke Patrick's archery mod for Oblivion.

The lore was interesting, the voice acting top notch and most of the dialog seemed to be well written.

The character progression system was compelling enough to make you think a bit when leveling up.

Unlike Witcher 2, I didn't run into invisible walls every time I attempted to cross a tiny puddle of water, which was a very good thing.

The art style was strange, but there was something rather original about the game world that held my interest, perhaps the way that the art style of the environments ties in to the very detailed lore. Some of the character models seemed to be very well done. However, certain models (particularly the trolls and similar creatures) were so cartoonish that I suspect it might become a bit annoying after playing the game for an extended period. As it stands I think I can live with the art style.

I think I will probably pick this one up on Steam at some point when it goes on sale around $10 or so.

You can come across creatures doing things in the world. For instance the little wooden guys worship at altars and bears attack other animals. In camps some bandits do puships and hang around the camp. I think it depends on when you come on them as to what they are doing.

For all of Curt's disappointment with EQ2, I still see it as one of the best MMO's out there… and better than what an MMO based on the shallowness of Reckoning promises to be. Fun combat, but a chore to play otherwise.

That's your opinion.

Curt's living my dream. I would love to have the money to make the kind of games I like. Only difference is my game would be like baulders gate not wow. Koa is just one more step towards a gaming world that is made up of only ARPG's. Even skyrim and the witcher, 2 games I really enjoy are more ARPG's. I wish there was room for some good old stat heavy complex party based rpg's but I guess those days are gone forever. Unless I win the Lottery.

I've tried almost every mmo out there, and the only two I've ever stuck with have been EQ1 and 2. Nothing else comes close, and if 38 Studios plans on entering the mmo market, they'll have to do something much better than what KoA offers. The child-like graphics would scare off most anyone over the age of 20 or so.


-Carn

Inspiration from EQ2's limitations are quite conceited if you ask me. I think EQ2 with a SWTOR type conversation tree's would make it the pinnacle MMO that all should strive for. A more proper inspiration should come from EQ1. I think what we have here is a modern day Richard Garriot wanna be narcissist.

I think what we have here is a well-meaning, rich guy that likes MMO's. Just because he's not going to make real crpgs isn't a reason to bash him to death. Reckoning is most likely the only game that non-MMO members will play. The sad thing is that Curt might expect his sales of Reckoning to pave the way to a large audience interested in his MMO and that isn't going to happen. I expect his MMO to fail hard, unless he makes massive changes to the game we saw in Reckoning. However, his game with a few tweaks could become a massive single-player success. He just needs to add more depth and the rest is a very solid base. Also, Ken Rolston is great at single-player game design but I don't think it's going to cross over well at all. The problem with making Reckoning into an MMO is that folks are getting bored with it and setting it aside after about 20-30 hours. That's not going to cut it for an MMO. If they plan on making an MMO out of this, they should probably see how quickly they can churn out new zones in a few DLC and see how those sell.

I'm not sure that Ken Rolston needs to crossover - he works for Big Huge Games and, I would imagine, will continue to make SP games. With 400 employees, the MMO is surely being built by a different team.