Anti-Aliased: I'm a champion, and so can you
So last time we had an Anti-Aliased, we had a bit of a tussle. I talked about microtransactions and how I felt about Champions Online's model, and I heard from people who agreed with me, disagreed with me, and who thought I was getting fat bribes from Cryptic Studios. I had people picking apart my thoughts, people saying I was Bill Roper's puppet, and people who really couldn't care less. It was insane.
Through all of this though, I want to thank everyone who put in their thoughts onto the article. Even if you disagreed with me, I love seeing that type of discussion going through a topic, and I really appreciate everyone taking the time to make their voices heard, even if it was to tell me that I've sold my integrity. (Which I haven't, by the way.)
This week however, we're changing gears but not changing them entirely. It's Champions Online NDA lift time, and boy do I have a preview for you! The rest of their staff got their turn earlier this morning, but now it's my turn to be horribly opinionated with all the words I can fit in my article.
Is it good? Is it bad? Is it kind of eh? Well, I'm not saying anything -- I'm just going to relate my initial experiences to you, with snark!
Because half of the game is making a character...
Booting up the game and getting to the character select screen was glorious. For those of you who worried that Cryptic wouldn't deliver on character customization this time around... they delivered. Microtransactions be damned, the opening set of items and options let you really, really put your tweak down. In zero time flat I had created a battle angel (as I always do first), my Rock Band character, my friend's D&D character and... a very special test.
I wanted to see how good the system was, so I set to make a character from a really, really unknown movie. For you readers, I chose one of my favorites: "Colossus and the Headhunters." Mystery Science Theater junkies will remember the lead character Machiste, otherwise known as "My Cheesesteak" due to the cat calls of Tom Servo, Crow, and Mike.
Well, I felt that Mahcheesesteak needed a new life in Millenium City. And so, he was born, in all of his beefy 1960s glory, even wielding the sword he will never use in the game just like he never used it in the movie. (I gave Cheesesteak the super strength framework.)
Customization options range from body type, facial type, clothing options, clothing layering options (so you can put some clothes on top of others to layer the look), and even facial expressions and animation stances. For example, if you wanted to run like a wolf, you can do that. Now, of course, that's the only non-human animation stance right now, but it's sure to grow over time.
If you feel that this proof still isn't enough proof, you should go over and check out Kyle Horner's "Create My Champion" features. There's some great customization proof over there.
A framework for all
One of my favorite parts of the system is the ability to mix and match powers from different frameworks. Sure, you can just grab a single framework, but if your character concept involves multiple powers then this is a boon to you.
Plus, for those of you who never liked missing out on a power from another powerset in City of Heroes, now you don't have to worry about that. You can grab the powers you need from one framework, and then move over to another one and choose some new powers that act very differently from your current set.
Individual powersets also can encompass multiple aspects of their targeted genre. For example, the gunslinger set involves everything from pistol finesse to AK-47s and huge machine guns. The supernatural set jumps around from ghostly chains (like Marley from A Christmas Carol) to vampiric bites and bestial slashing.
Plus, there's the well known fact that you can change the emination points of certain powers (head, hands, fist, and chest) and the color of the powers. The only choice you can't make is having your powers become white, black, or somewhere on the grayscale. Apparently this does not work too well with certain powers, but it does suck that my angel character is limited to using golden powers instead of brilliant white powers, or my supernatural character being unable to choose black for certain powers.
But how does it play?
After jumping through the hoops of character creation, the game immediately gives you the option of jumping into a tutorial zone. Tutorial zones, as well as the later crisis zones, are capped at 25 characters, which I'm both at odds with and really enjoying. Sure, it's highly instancing a game that should be a "massive" experience, but wow does it make you feel more heroic. There was always something disheartening about being in a crisis situation and being surrounded by 20,000,000 other superheroes.
For those of you who really enjoy having 300+ people in a zone, you will not find that in the initial areas. Yes, that does suck. Yet, on the other, other hand, there are no servers. You can easily hook up with your friends and even dominate an entire zone if you have enough people online. How would you like doing a public quest with 25 of your closest friends right off the bat at level 4? There are upsides and downsides to this whole thing, and it honestly comes down to how you appreciate your gameplay.
