combat
Latest
A look at EVE Online's combat basics
Jim Rossignol has become well-known in the game journalism scene, more recently as a regular contributor at RockPaperShotgun and the author of This Gaming Life. Along the way, he's become a veteran EVE Online player, and he's passing along some of that combat know-how to readers in a series of articles at Eurogamer. Rossignol is starting out slow with the first installment, easing readers into "the basic principles of killing people," but he'll progress to more advanced aspects of combat and conflict in EVE. Ultimately, he hopes to introduce players to the ambitions and tactics of New Eden's alliances, which can number well into the thousands of players.In 'combat basics', Rossignol relates the basic principles of combat in EVE Online to the standard groupings of damage, tank, crowd-control, and healer that most MMO gamers are familiar with from other titles. He notes that these combat roles are quite different in EVE, as a given ship's module fittings give players a great deal of flexibility, but of course makes for a more complex PvP system. Rossignol touches on the idea that speed is king in EVE, and he's correct. Just keep in mind that the nano-era's days are numbered, a fact which Rossignol stresses as well. Have a look at Rossignol's combat basics, and his take on the ever-changing state of PvP in EVE Online. [Via CrazyKinux]
Jumpgate Evolution combat maneuvers shown in walkthrough videos [updated]
Netdevil is a firm believer that the MMOG genre is missing the galactic action-packed and fluid experiences that compare to Freelancer and Wing Commander. What is not lacking is the marvelous economic system found in EVE Online; however, when it comes to combat in space there's a lot to be desired and growth potential. Netdevil is setting out to fill that void with Jumpgate Evolution. We get a look at its current form in this two part developer with Associate Product Manager, Tim Hodges from E3-2008 courtesy of GameTrailers.com. Unfortunately, what we loved about earlier builds that showed off the first action cockpit view is absent but not removed. Several landscapes and bases show a sense of scale and some combat aspects from the game. The videos don't reveal much detail, but for being in such an early state of development it looks okay. Jumpgate Evolution is due out sometime in spring 2009, and the alpha is underway and there's no official word on when the beta will start. However, beta signups are live on the official website. The second video is available for viewing after the cut.
New Fallen Earth vehicles revealed
The latest update to the Fallen Earth website is all about vehicles; it features pictures of five never-before-seen cars and bikes from the game, four of which are actual in-game models.The article describes what players can use vehicles for. They can, of course, be used for rapid transportation. But they can also be used for item storage -- a portable vault, if you will. Unfortunately, vehicles with more storage capacity will use more fuel, which can be quite costly. Vehicles can also be used in combat, although apparently repairing them will also be very expensive. Visit the site for more details.Fallen Earth is a post-apocalyptic MMORPG developed by a studio also called Fallen Earth, which is associated with North Carolina-based Icarus Studios. We've been following the game for a while, but most of what we've seen so far has been info pages just like this one. [Via MMORPG]
E308: A glimpse into The Agency's guilds and classes
In our recent talk with Matt Wilson at E3, we were given a lot of really illuminating information about classes and guilds in the upcoming SOE title, The Agency. It would seem that the Agency crew is doing a very good job of listening to many of the frustrations of MMOG players, while taking the time to study popular games like Team Fortress 2. If you've been wondering about the different classes and abilities, as well as social structure in this upcoming MMOFPS, then you'll be interested to hear what's in the works.Massively: What are the classes or archetypal roles in The Agency?Matt Wilson: Our four primary classes are basically Combat, which is the ability to have weapons and have high defenses. Stealth, which is more of a high-DPS, sniper rifles and other things that you take into battle, [Undercover] Stealth which is very important, which is sneaking around and distractions. And finally, there's the Support classes like your Medics and Field Techs. Field Techs are about defense, turrets, other cool things like that. Medics are more about supporting the team, being able to support med stations while you're out in the field, heals, that kind of thing. Those are the general archetypes. Then we have specialties that fall out of those, allowing players to specialize further in each class.
E308: Combat in Free Realms
Because it's not required in order to advance (characters will be able to level up without ever killing a monster), combat in SOE's upcoming free-to-play MMO Free Realms is a bit different than you may be accustomed to. When we sat down to chat with Lead Designer Laralyn McWilliams at E3 this week, she described the combat system by saying, "Combat is our biggest mini-game." Monsters will never attack you as you're exploring the world -- only when you enter clearly marked combat zones. "We took a very Disneyland apprach," said McWilliams. "You're walking around Disneyland, you see Space Mountain, it looks awesome, and so you think, 'I want to go on Space Mountain!' Our content broadcasts itself to you." In the screenshot above, you see the entrance to a combat zone: a gate clearly proclaiming danger. So like any good MMO player, what do you do but walk up to it and see what dangers await you on the other side? Interacting with the gate, like launching any other mini-game in Free Realms, will give you a choice of several different combat encounters associated with the area.%Gallery-27758%%Gallery-27753%
New Atlantica trailer shows off turn-based battles
Between Concerto Gate and Atlantica, we may just have to start using a new acronym: MMOTBS or massively multiplayer turn-based strategy game. Don't get us wrong though, the thought of more turn-based MMOs makes us all tingly inside. In fact, we're very happy to see MMOs that dabble in the world of turn-based battles and it really is underutilized mechanic these days. Obviously because of our love for them you can count on us to report on anything related to these types of games, like this brand new trailer for Atlantica!We get to see lots of turns being taken in this trailer, which truly warms our heart. However, we also see plenty of epic battles being waged. It all looks so grandiose and dramatic. In fact, we're not really sure if we've seen a game trailer with that many quick-cuts in it before. It may not be as good cinematically as say, an Oxhorn Brand Melody, but it certainly could be a lot worse: It could be set to some overused movie theme.
Massively visits Stargate Worlds: The interview, part 3
In part three of our interview with Cheyenne Mountain's studio head Dan Elggren, creative director Chris Klug, art director Howard Lyon, VP of technology Demetrius Comes, and senior marketing manager Kevin Balentine, we discuss endgame content and go into great detail about the graphics and combat.
MMO MMOnkey: Comparing active attack and auto attack
In the opening sentence of a previous column I compared Age of Conan's active style of combat in which the player must instigate every attack with a keypress to the auto-attack combat common to most MMOs. I characterized auto attack as a go-make-a-cup-of-coffee type of combat which, as one commenter pointed out, was a bit of hyperbole designed to accentuate the difference between active and auto attack but which offended several other people who thought their combat skills were being denigrated. The earlier column had nothing to do with styles of combat but all the combat-related comments got me thinking about some of the differences between active and auto attack. The two types of combat appear to have few, if any, important differences for the experienced player at the operational level (deployment of unit or squads in raids) or the strategic level (player-controlled access to important game resources as in EVE Online, Dark Age of Camelot and possibly Warhammer Online). When we look at game mechanics and individual unit tactics, however, important and potentially interesting differences begin to emerge.
Massively visits Stargate Worlds, part 2: Gameplay
We saw gameplay in two contexts. First, we saw canned footage of a firefight on the planet Lucia. Second, we visited the Quality Assurance department and watched testers play the game. The scenario they were playing appeared to be a prison break. From this we acquired a relatively good understanding of the basics of Stargate Worlds' combat. We didn't see any of the other modes of gameplay, but we talked about them a bit in our interview with the directors.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows combat preview looks astonishing
We've had a love/hate relationship with past iterations of titles featuring our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, though one aspect of every title that we felt was never quite right was the manner in which the beloved web-slinger placed the beatdown upon unsuspecting thugs. Sure, certain games have had entertaining, intuitive combat systems, but none truly captured the way the arachnid protagonist whips up on baddies as he does on ink and paper.However, a recently released video from Shaba Games, developer of the upcoming Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, has boosted our spirits significantly, displaying the kind of aerial acrobatics and swift brawling we've always hoped to see in a Spidey title. Now, as long as they can avoid any glaring graphical issues or frequent cutscenes showing Peter Parker bawling his eyes out, Web of Shadows could be one of the better adaptations of the Spider-Man comics to ever hit the market.
Squeaky monsters slain in Rohan: Blood Feud video
Rohan: Blood Feud is currently in open beta, and Ten Ton Hammer has visited the land of Rohan to get some video footage of the combat system in action. Our protagonist appears to be a ranged specialist character, with abilities that focus on firing arrows and slowing enemies from a distance.In the second half of the video where commentary ceases, we hear the in-game sounds. As people lay into the NPCs, they give off sickeningly cute (and very quickly, annoying) rapid-fire squeaking noises. As hard as you try to focus on the combat being shown, you WILL be distracted by the little monsters squeaking their way into your nightmares. Check out the video and see for yourself -- if you dare.
Earthrise game mechanics confirmed in Masthead Studios dev chat
The creators of the sci-fi MMO Earthrise have been very active in recent months -- granting a number of interviews, releasing monthly newsletters, and participating in dev chats. Stratics recently hosted the third Earthrise 'House of Commons' dev chat, with three members of the Masthead Studios team.The Masthead Studios devs that took part were Atanas Atanasov (CEO of Masthead Studios), Apostol Apostolov (Lead Game Designer), and Moll (Community Manager). Their discussion ranged from the professions available to players to the extensive crafting system in the game. Read on after the jump for details straight from the devs about what we can expect from Earthrise.
Devs give lowdown on new reasons to kill folks in Empyrean Age
The previous EVE Online developer blog entry was about the faction ranks that will be introduced when Empyrean Age goes live next month. That was interesting, but it couldn't hold a candle to the latest one. This time, CCP's Greyscale describes in detail all the new applications of combat in factional warfare.Empyrean Age will add combat zones, militia missions, and combat sites (which are distinct from combat zones). The term "combat zones" refers to the two stretches of contested space lodged inbetween the Caldari and Gallente, and Minmatar and Amarr civilizations. Militia missions are like regular missions, but they'll send you into enemy space, where you'll have to do battle with hostile players. Combat sites are exploration points which will show up on your sensors as cosmic anomalies. These are territorial capture points. If you capture enough of them, your faction will be able to attack the system's control bunker. If the attack is successful, then the system will change hands during the next downtime.
Player vs. Everything: Singing the praises of Vanguard
I have a confession to make: While I was waiting for the Age of Conan launch, I decided to dip my toes back into Vanguard for a bit. It wasn't as crazy of a proposition as you might think. I've always liked Vanguard. It was never the design that was flawed -- it was the execution. Vanguard failed not because it was a bad game, but because when it launched it was a horrible, buggy, crashing, slow, unplayable mess. I know this because I was in late-stage beta, and that experience made me pass over the game when the launch date finally rolled around. However, a crack SOE development team picked up the pieces of the broken dream of "the Vision," as McQuaid called it, and they've been working feverishly to stitch them together into something both exciting and stable over the last year. Last week, spurred by a desire to just have some fun, I dusted off the copy of the game I bought this fall and rolled up a Necromancer. I didn't expect much. I was just killing time until the Age of Conan launch started. Surprisingly, Vanguard grabbed me. Without really intending to, I was having more fun in an MMOG than I had had in a long time -- so much fun that when the AoC servers finally came up, I was still playing Vanguard. All this week, while logged into AoC, I've been thinking about Vanguard. I'm seriously contemplating putting Age of Conan on ice for a while to go play Vanguard some more. I was enjoying myself that much. What's so great about this allegedly terrible game that I'm willing to play it over the brand new blockbuster flavor-of-the-month?
.jpg.cf.jpg)
Gamers with Jobs tackles barbarians in Age of Conan
Crashes, bangs, and a few broken bones are what combat in Age of Conan is all about. Players do not simply press a button and watch the beatings in this world of chaos. Players carefully judge their foe as axes swing, arrows fly, and swords slash. Attempting to dodge and strike as the action unfolds are novel concepts in the auto-attack world of MMOs. The system used in Age of Conan is so unique, in fact, that it took an armor wearing, staff smacking, fencing guru of a gamer to describe just how wonderful it all is. The man is Julian "rabbit" Murdoch and the battlefield is Gamers with Jobs.Julian has an interesting and entertaining article concerning how a man who loves the art of combat finds the world of virtual battle. Julian says that the combat is fluid, realistic, and full of excitement. "There is a real sense that you as the player are influencing combat." Certainly a change from the mold these days. If you are not excited yet, we can give you at least six reasons you should be excited about AoC. If you are pumped, and want to give it a go, AoC has launched. Go pick up your club and start smacking angry bad guys!
Player vs. Everything: Could a turn-based MMOG really work?
Have you ever noticed how the combat formula for mainstream MMOGs has managed to remain surprisingly stable over the years? There may have been a few small advances: more skills to use (World of Warcraft), counters (Vanguard), twitchier gameplay (Age of Conan), and destructible environments (City of Villains), for example. But even in the games that make use of those newer concepts, the basic formula of the gameplay hasn't changed a whole lot since the days of EverQuest. We run up to the monster we want to kill, pop auto-attack, and start using whatever skills we have to take it down. It has worked out just fine in most games (I'm obviously a fan of the system), but it's also pretty simplistic, to be honest. Combat tends to occur without a lot of strategy or feedback -- it's usually too fast for a lot of complexity. Even if you had a bunch of interesting skills, stances, and counters, it would be more annoying than fun because using them in real time would require remembering where they all were on your hot bars and clicking all over the place. Given all this, how could you possibly make combat more interesting without making it less fun? Well, I was reading an article the other day where a developer was defending his use of turn-based combat in a modern game, and started wondering how well it would work in an MMOG. If we slowed things down and made a turn-based MMOG, could we have much more complex and interesting fights? Would you even play a turn-based MMO?
A quick developer look inside Age of Conan's combat system and player cities
Smash, Burn, Maim! Combat is so crucial in a game that revolves around killing enemies to advance your character. We have been anticipating Age of Conan's combat ever since its announcement. How did we get to this new era in combat with lopped off heads alongside a variety of other deadly reactionary combos? Well, in this part one video by MMORPG.com, Age of Conan's Gaute Godager and Erling Ellingsen help demonstrate the melee combat combo system and aiming with the ranger class and how it plays an integral role in the ranged combat system. There isn't nearly enough shown in the video to gauge the differences in combat from other MMOs, but the fact that the developers gravitated towards a combat system reminiscent to Street Fighter 2 and other console fighting games does help explain things a bit better if you haven't tried AoC yet. While the pundits mull over Age of Conan's early start and the thousands of others wait for the official launch we can't help comparing the differences in this combat system from the one in World of Warcraft. Be sure to check out MMORPG.com's inside look regarding AoC's player cities from the same event.What do you guys think: Is Age of Conan's combat system is revolutionary or does it take button mashing to a whole new annoyance level?
Player vs. Everything: Age of Conan closed beta impressions
Everyone and their brother seems to be writing about Age of Conan over the last few days, but hopefully you're hungry for a little more. I've spent the last day and a half trying out different classes and playing through the various starting missions, and I'm ready to serve up some impressions. If you want the quick and dirty version, I'm really impressed with what Funcom has done. This game is worth your money. I'll try to talk about the aspects of the game that I haven't seen discussed much yet, as well as the stuff that everyone is talking about. It's also important to note that I've been playing with the closed beta client -- not the open beta one. There is a serious difference. I should mention that when I wrote Friday's article, I hadn't yet played the game and I was basing my arguments largely on the claims of people who had had bad experiences with the open beta client. I still stand by my arguments about making games with outlandish system requirements, but I think Age of Conan will run just fine on many systems. Keeping all of that in mind, here's what I think of the game.
The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the best combat?
The upcoming release of Age of Conan has brought this question farther into the light, with its foray into real-time battle. Sure, there have been others -- the late, not-so-lamented Fury being a great example -- that have tried to redefine what MMO combat can be like, but many games are content to offer the tried-and-true click to attack model, with slight variations.When it comes to fighting in games, surely the biggest defining factor is, or should be, "Is it exciting?" Given that singular criterion, then, which game has the best combat? Which one gets your blood racing? Which MMO really lets you, as the kids used to say, throw down?
More details on monsters in Tales of Symphonia
Some of you may not be fond of Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World's fighting-with-monsters scheme, but we think it looks pretty neat. Spencer Yip from Siliconera gives us an even more in-depth look into the system than before, reporting that you can ditch your entire party (with the exception of the main character Emil, of course), for a party full of monsters, like in the screen shown above.After you battle monsters, you'll often have a chance to negotiate with them and have them fight for you. It's not as simple as "catching" them all, though, since some monsters will refuse to join your party if they have a grudge against one of your other allied creatures. Since the game provides 200 different species of monster that you can fight with, which we think this can add a lot of depth to this Tales rendition. As long as you don't become obsessed with collecting them, that is, because then you might as well be playing something else.Drawing more similarities from Pokemon, these monsters also evolve. However, you can cause their evolutions by serving them certain foods, so the cooking system in the game should be pretty interesting. We're not sure yet, though, whether these are true, outward-and-inward evolutions, or just stat alterations (as we reported before).Those of you who are looking forward to this title still have a long wait ahead of you. The RPG is set to hit North America in Q4 of this year. Gallery: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
