Dark days are coming

I don't know if they are referring to the Funcom stock but it seems this site missed a recent trailer and interviews for The Secret World game.

Some added info from a Norwegian interview:
* Designer hates the grind, min-maxing and games that feel like jobs just to get to the real content
* Skill based, gaining and customizing abilities seems to be the "long term" investment into the game
* You can focus on one ability, but eventually you'll have to adapt new ones for resistant creatures
* "Flat" access to most content
* One world, "continous" transition between zones
* Main story is soloable, but there's also group-only content

The setting is too restricted and will severely curtail their audience from the get-go.

Nice ideas on paper - but without min-maxing of some kind, I don't see the appeal personally.

Might work well as a niche game, but it'll never compete with the big boy(s).

Well not only that. New MMORPGs are trying to semi-alter the wheel, the current mmorpg model by changing minor nuances, features. These would be things like, develop skills to adapt to more difficult monsters etc. No level caps.

IMO, the only way to reinvent the MMORPG is to scrap the entire model as it is and start over. Stop thinking in terms of caps and structures (gear, zones, spells), think in terms of flexibility. Can the player make a choice? A choice to act how he pleases?

Some ideas. If the player is a pacifist mage can he level by conducting research in the city? We have yet to see a non-melee diplomatic class involved in some sort of in game politics.

Can you murder npcs? Will there be investigations? Can you run for office? Burn a field?

The only RPGs that have ever come close to offering this kind of flexibility for players, imo, has been Troika.

In my opinion, the key lies in the flexibility of the engine and the power you place in the hands of players.

Make a good engine - and plan for maximum freedom and implement smart systems of consequence, and you'll have come a long way towards the revolution of the genre.

Have money, hire a great team, hire me as project lead - and I'll give you a revolution that will generate just enough money to make it all stay afloat.

thegreatsimoni said:

Some ideas. If the player is a pacifist mage can he level by conducting research in the city? We have yet to see a non-melee diplomatic class involved in some sort of in game politics.

Can you murder npcs? Will there be investigations? Can you run for office? Burn a field?

Click to expand...

Sounds like some fun ideas and almost like extending into the adventure realm.

Sorry to be an optimist but I think the genre is about to explode, even far beyond WoW's current success. DarkFall Online and Mortal Online are taking the skill based approach which has been around since Ultima Online, while other games can simply do more thanks to technology - same with movies. A movie such as Matrix Online simply wasn't possible 25 years ago, and it's almost 8 years old (not sure) itself. The same is true of MMO's...we are about to see some fantastic games in the near future.