2/25/00 - Latest News
Diablo II Preview
Berendir @ 20:28 EST
IGN just had another look at Diablo II, and they've put up a great Preview for it. Heres a piece of it: The new size is sure to please fans who can't get enough -- and there are a lot of you out there. Twelve different regions with a variety of dungeons, and a set of quests for every Act -- not to mention the extra character classes will make sure that you'll be playing this one for months after its release. For non-perfectionists, you won't actually have to finish every quest in order to finish an act of the adventure, though in keeping with the random feel of the game, you won't know which quests you'll have to finish in order to move on. There are three acts in total, spanning grasslands, jungles, and dry deserts, as well as a final act pitting you against the horned brat himself, Diablo. Each act will have you exploring a large chunk of land, as well as creeping through a variety of caves and dungeons -- areas so large, in fact, that the team has introduced waypoints in order to give you quicker access to far-off locations. Though there is still a lot of randomization in the game, the dungeons will keep their general shape and size a lot more than the original. You'll still have to seek items and monsters out in randomized places, but the team's stronger control over the style and feel of the dungeons mean that each area will have a unique look, and deftly avoid the problems with repetition that the first game (and any randomized game, for that matter) had to contend with. Theres lots more, check it out Here.
This is a new game in development right now which just joined the Vault network recently. Heres a piece of the FAQ to look at:
What does Camelot have that EverQuest and Asheron’s Call don’t?
Camelot has an immediately identifiable background that will be familiar to anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of mythical history. The Arthurian legends, the Norse Sagas, and to a lesser extent, Celtic folklore, are all represented in the game. The gods in the game will come from the pages of well-known mythology - gods like Odin and Thor, heroes like Cuchulain, Lancelot, and Galahad will all be part of the game’s background (and maybe foreground!).
Camelot also has a built in PvP system, which strongly guides the player into conflict against members of opposing Realms. The PvP system has been strongly thought out and is an integral part of the game itself, unlike the other large commercial online RPGs. Instead of having every player be able to fight any other player, as in Ultima Online, in Camelot, PvP is team based, where you can only fight characters in opposing Realms. This will encourage teamwork and cooperation among the members of a Realm as they must band together to fend off attacks, raids, etc. from the other Realms.
You can see the rest of the FAQ Here.
That system of PVP just might work, since it actually encourages PVP, but in a more controlled RPing way.
Go Here to see the rest of the site.
2/24/00 - Latest News
New War Craft III Art
Berendir @ 14:58 EST
I've added a few more War Craft III Screenshots to the Game Art Section. Check out all the War Craft III pictures Here Also heres a great piece of concept art on a
2/19/00 - Latest News
Info on NWN
Berendir @ 10:37 EST
Hi all, heres some news from the NWvault about various subjects. Siege Weapons We're steering away from siege weapons in the original release (they're vehicles just like horses and, as we all know, that opens up a whole can of worms that are better left for a potential expansion). We may be able to pull a few tricks out of our sleeves yet but don't get your hopes up at this point. That said, "Doombringers," one of the modules in the official campaign, revolves around some siege golems. Limits on Characters and Solstice Beta I can't comment on the 3e stuff, of course, but we are building our modules to correspond to the Character Vault limits. At this point, 12th level and 100 hours are vague estimates and little more. Once we've actually got the modules up and running we'll be able to be a lot more accurate. As for the content gap you mention, there has been discussion of a Solstice beta at some point prior to release. It would certainly be in our interest to get your feedback on the tools and have some user-developed content up and running at the time of our release. We'll examine the issue in a little more detail later in the dev cycle (in other words, don't email us asking if you can be on the beta... Expansions for NWN Our plan is to support NWN long after it's launch with expansion packs. In the expansions we plan to include a new chapter in our storyline, some new player models and monster models, some new terrain tilesets and possibly some new character classes or races. With the expansions, we will extend the variety of modules you can create and provide a challenging story for your enjoyment.
2/15/00 - Latest News
Fighting Multiple Opponents
Berendir @ 18:41 EST
I received an interesting email from David on Fighting Multiple Opponents. I'm sure it was in response to the post about multiple opponents in Hero's Journey, and the comments I made on fighting numbers of enemies at once. Heres what he wrote: One of the more important variables in determining how many people an experienced warrior can deal with is the degree of teamwork that the "many" exhibit. Fighting 10 individuals at a time, while no trivial task in itself, is nowhere near as difficult as fighting 3 who act as a coherent team. 10 people fighting individually will only conduct joint attacks by accident and will more often get in each other's way. In practice, a really good fighter will only fight one of them at any one point in time. I've seen a really top-notch swordsman take on 10 average swordsmen at one time and win on a regular basis. I convinced one friend to team up with me and, together, we could neutralize him, though not defeat him. We added a third person to our team and ran the Well I'm not an experienced swordsman myself, but thats some interesting insight into how fighting multiple opponents might work. However I still think in the case of a war, that there should be no character who can charge into battle, kill hoards of enemies, and have no fear of injury or death. Though if they are an expert swordsman, I suppose defeating many lesser swordsman, is quite possible.
poor fellow ragged around the melee field.
2/14/00 - Latest News
LOTR Board Game
Berendir @ 19:05 EST
Heres some news from the Shop section of the site: Reiner Knizia, a titan in the German board game design industry, has designed a "Lord of the Rings"-themed game. The game was recently announced at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in Germany. Available details are limited: The game will play on four boards, each corresponding to a location in Middle Earth where the story's action takes place. Chris Lawson, a friend of Knizia's who is often involved in the play-testing of his games, announced on rec.games.board: "Like the film that is currently in the making, it is going to be very dependent on personal taste. We all have our own preconceived ideas, and 'Lord of the Rings' is no exception. But (places 'smug' hat firmly on head) having play-tested the game a lot, I think it does retain the theme and will keep the fans happy." Go check out the rest of the info on the board game in the Shop section of theonering.net.
Human Castle in War of the Ring
Berendir @ 18:59 EST
The picture of a Human Castle that has been released by Gurthaur, and created by Riven, for "War of the Ring", his War Craft II Conversion, has been added to the Game Art section. Go check out the picture of the human castle, and the rest of the WorT Screenshots Here. Check out Gurthaur's site Here.
WotR Building
Enoreth @ 16:00 EST
Gurthaur posted a new building on the WoTR website, a human castle. Beside the fact that it is the first real new building that any of the public have seen for WotR, I'm working on the project myself (Riven) and I would have to say were getting quite close to beta. Watch for updates. You can view the castle here.
2/13/00 - Latest News
WotR Music
Berendir @ 11:16 EST
Gurthaur has put the music to the War Craft II conversion (War of the Ring) on his site. Go check it out Here
2/10/00 - Latest News
Multi-Opponents in Hero's Journey
Berendir @ 18:37 EST
Heres something interesting. A question, or statement was brought up about fighting large amounts of creatures, even at high level. As anyone that followed Middle Earth Online might recall, they planned to have it always be dangerous to take on a hoard of orcs, no matter how high level you were. So that there would be no god type characters. Here's the statement which is responded to on the hjvault: A small group of relatively unskilled goblins should be quite a threat to even the most skilled adventurer. Advancement should be realistic, a skilled warrior shouldn't be able to take 10 young, unskilled warriors with no problem. (Heres the response from the guys at Simutronics) This is an area that seems a perfect example of prime focus-group country...just how much should skill count against raw numbers. My leaning would be on the high side (this is a -heroic- fantasy, after all), but there still should be limits, I agree. Maybe the expert swordsman -could- take 10...but not 15. Or maybe it should be 6, but not 10. Something we'll have to settle when we have a bit firmer ground to stand on, i.e. once we have a publisher and know what world/system we can use or build. Fortunately, that sort of balance is relatively easy to -adjust- assuming you build the system to handle multiple opponents in the first place (something that was overlooked in GemStone). I'd like to see a system where there are no god type characters put in. I like the idea of having a game where no character can change into battle and have no fear of death. Source: Hero's Journey Vault