*Action* MMORPG

[Klunka]

So I was just reading The Champions Online game features (http://www.champions-online.com/game_features) page. I read the very first line and then wanted to stop
The First True Action MMORPG
How many MMOs have claimed this in the past few years? Have any of them actually delievered? Will they? I'm currently running through Tabula Rasa. Another game which claims to have fast paced action. While it may control different, it's not very different at it's core than any other MMO.

I just wanted some opinions on the whole Action MMORPG thing. It's a concept that greatly appeals to me. I'm something of an action RPG whore and would love to see one in a true MMO setting. The Phantasy Star games have come close but that's not really a true MMO. A massive lobby with 4-8 player games is nice, but I can get a similar experience from Guild Wars without the monthly fee.

[Panthera]

http://www.battlegroundeurope.com/scripts/wwiionline/index.jsp

[Kweli]

http://www.battlegroundeurope.com/scripts/wwiionline/index.jsp

Haha, World War II Online... I bought that when it first came out... What a sucker i was

All MMORPG's have a feature list that is overzealous.. So i cant claim they are truthful or not.... but i wouldnt be surprised if its similar to diablo/hellgate

[Panthera]

Haha, World War II Online... I bought that when it first came out... What a sucker i was

Yeah, the publishers really reamed them on forcing a release date. The good news is that the game is unrecognizable from what it was before - even the graphics have been completely overhauled.

[Telefrog]

I think Planetside may have been the only MMO to get the "action" part right. Of course, the rest of the game was crap...

[Zanzibar]

Planetside. Best 7 days of playing in my life.

I trained to pilot a Galaxy drop ship on one of my first days. I got a random invite to a 'guild.' Next thing I know, on my very first combat mission, I was part of an army of nearly 100 guys steamrolling through enemy territory. I fly in with a couple of guys on the gun turrets, we mow through several guys. The battle's over. I land next to 3 other Galaxies. The army Commander jumps into my boat along with 10 other guys and says 'Let's move.' I realize that I'm gonna lead the way, with the 10 guys and the Commander going to need a hot-drop over the next enemy base. I've never done a hot drop before, never even SAW one. I whisper to the Commander 'Um...this is my first hotdrop.' He whispers back 'Don't worry about it. Slow down a little over the center building and we'll jump out, then go land and come join the party. It'll be fun!' Sure enough, I do as he says, they all bail out of the plane, I land, I go in and help wreak havoc.

Later, as we're moving towards the next base, several enemy Mosquitos attacked, which drew off our Reaver air protection escorts (Galaxies are susceptible to air attacks) - it was a trap. Two enemy Reavers popped up out of nowhere, and we're helpless. I yank the plane around and nosedive towards the turf. I realize that my right wing gun turret is empty - a few guys jumped out thinking we were done for. I swing around towards my left to let the left turret guy have a clean shot in addition to the tail gunner. We killed one Reaver right away. Our Reaver protectors returned and beat off the other one. We were damaged, but intact. I get a tell from the commander: 'That was a helluva good job of flying. Well done.'

But that was all. Repeat the base capture routine ad nauseum. Every tower looks pretty much like every other tower. No variety. Not to mention that it's really easy to steamroll through, only to discover the next day that another faction had steamrolled back. It's like the Risk boardgame. There were no frontlines to hold; no sense of accomplishment apart from your own battle.

That game was SO close to being fantastic. The actual combat was incredible and fun, but the infrastructure was lacking.

[GrinR]

Zanzibar said all I wanted to say. AND MORE.

[Gorvi]

Wasn't Fury supposed to be like an MMO fighting game?

[Goronmon]

Ahh...Planetside, such an awesome game and so close to being a masterpiece. I did the Heavy Assault role for a while, charging forth with my Jackhammer into close-quarters.

Once that got old I switch to a sniper role, which I found to be quite enjoyable. My favorite setup was to grab an ATV and come up behind the enemy force assaulting a base. Pick a high ridge overlooking the battlefield and start taking people out. Sniper fire was not instant either, so you had to lead your target if they were moving at too much of angle from your spot. I can only imagine how many people swore at me as they tried zig-zagging only to be caught with the second and final hit just before they made it to cover.

[Kweli]

Yeah, the publishers really reamed them on forcing a release date. The good news is that the game is unrecognizable from what it was before - even the graphics have been completely overhauled.

So this game is still out? going strong? Any good?

Is it free? Are the upgrades free?

I still have the disc, but i reckon the game is over 5 years old?

[PsychoticVile]

Sony also has an action MMO coming called "The Agency (http://theagency.station.sony.com/)".

[nixpayn]

Wasn't Fury supposed to be like an MMO fighting game?

oh god Fury was a piece of shit.

[nixpayn]

Sony also has an action MMO coming called "The Agency (http://theagency.station.sony.com/)".

i'm wary of the agency just because its a sony mmo.. they started off smart with everquest, but now they're like 90% of the other mmos out there - sell a box for $$$, collect a couple months subscriptions, then let it taper off and stop supporting it. or. they release it way before its done. Hi Vanguard, how you doin.

[Deadend]

APB?

The one thing I am liking about post-WoW, everyone is realizing that they need to be different to be noticed. As you can't out-wow WoW.

[Citizen Philip]

Zanzibar said all I wanted to say. AND MORE.

Agreed. I was tempted by Tabula Rasa, but not enough. I hear of a Planetside 2, I'll throw my money down immediately.

[NeoSuplex]

APB?

The one thing I am liking about post-WoW, everyone is realizing that they need to be different to be noticed. As you can't out-wow WoW.

APB looks fucking sweet.

[Tricky Thumb]

I think Champions Online is going to come pretty close to Marvel Ultimate Alliance, considering Cryptic was making Marvel Universe Online before this anyhow.

http://www.massively.com/2008/02/22/champions-online-and-cryptic-studios-information-bonanza/

There's some info in there about the combat controls for the 360 version of the game. It sounds very similar to Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

[DangerousDaze]

Neocron (http://ng.neocron.com/) launched in Nov '02. It's a sci-fi MMORPG with stats, (stats for players, armour, weapons, implants, drugs etc.) but it is played like an FPS either in first or third person.

[Primus]

I think Champions Online is going to come pretty close to Marvel Ultimate Alliance, considering Cryptic was making Marvel Universe Online before this anyhow.

http://www.massively.com/2008/02/22/champions-online-and-cryptic-studios-information-bonanza/

There's some info in there about the combat controls for the 360 version of the game. It sounds very similar to Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

Thank you for this info. I will watch this.

[Mashidar]

I think Champions Online is going to come pretty close to Marvel Ultimate Alliance, considering Cryptic was making Marvel Universe Online before this anyhow.

http://www.massively.com/2008/02/22/champions-online-and-cryptic-studios-information-bonanza/

There's some info in there about the combat controls for the 360 version of the game. It sounds very similar to Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

After reading the GI article I think that i'm more excited for the game then before. Nice graphics that have a cell/comic style. Plus Cryptic kept and enhanced the character creation system that CoH/CoV used. Seems in the testing during the article they had 360 and PC playable versions.

Tell you the truth i'm more excited for this then Warhammer and Conan. :D

[SilentScreams]

Neocron (http://ng.neocron.com/) launched in Nov '02. It's a sci-fi MMORPG with stats, (stats for players, armour, weapons, implants, drugs etc.) but it is played like an FPS either in first or third person.

Now there's a game I totally forgot about. I think I played it for about a month way back when I'd just quit UO and was looking for something new.
Isn't there Neocron 2 out now?
I wonder what it's like these days.

Agreed. I was tempted by Tabula Rasa, but not enough. I hear of a Planetside 2, I'll throw my money down immediately.

Man, I loved Planetside back before they put in the BFRs. Those things kind of killed it for me.
If there is really going to be a Planetside 2, the one thing I hope they put in more than anything is realistic damage models, IE headshots killing quicker than shooting somebody in the leg.

[Vandabo]

Did anybody play the Air Warrior series years ago? It was a persistent WW2 flight/tank simulation where you chose a country and fought to take over airfields and whatnot. It was fairly primitive, but it created some very epic battles. It was fairly realistic, but it just came out before many people had broadband internet and thus the lag issues were really bad. I still had a lot of fun with it for a while though. I really want a well done modern version of that.

[Xerxes]

I didn't know Champions was coming to 360, paint me interested.

[Savok]

Neocron (http://ng.neocron.com/) launched in Nov '02. It's a sci-fi MMORPG with stats, (stats for players, armour, weapons, implants, drugs etc.) but it is played like an FPS either in first or third person.
I played that a long, long time ago. It was seriously, mind shatteringly awful, worst MMOG I've ever played actually.

[AversionFX]

Wasn't Fury supposed to be like an MMO fighting game?

Fury is worse than an alternate universe of a thousand years of Nazi reign.

Tabula Rasa did the "action" thing decently well.

Planetside, I guess is the best answer.

[Wyrm]

My favorite MMO is called Shattered Galaxy. Not too many people have probably played it, but I put about 2 years of my life into it and had a ton of fun doing it.

The best way to describe it would be to call it a mixture of Starcraft and Ground Control, but that doesn't really do it proper justice. You level up an avatar as your units do and skills in different areas control how you progress. You can either get access to more advanced units earlier on, or more advanced equipment, or have the ability to better outfit your units. The amount of customization is insane, and the battles...

The game is actually free to play now, though the pay option is still there, like Anarchy, I think.

As for Planetside, I'll agree that nothing quite compares to the feeling you get on the first dropship you ride along with toward an objective. If you somehow managed to get into it with a huge group of people, the game was insanely fun, but there was no variety in the landscapes, nor was there any sort of difference in the way each situation played out. I'm not someone who felt the combat was anything special though, it was well enough implemented to keep you interested, but not for more than a week. Still, given the right situations, the game was great, and if those things could be replicated on an even larger scale, and done right, that's an MMO I'd gladly blow money on.

[SilentScreams]

I'd like Blizzard's much speculated about Starcraft MMO to be done in a Planetside type of style. That's a company that could probably do it right.
I always thought Planetside had potential, but constant patches that fixed things that weren't broken and the aforementioned BFRs (Battle Frame Robotics/Big Fucking Robots) just put me right off the game.

I think I played Shattered Galaxy a while ago.
I know I played an RTS-style MMO anyway...I don't remember the name, but it sounds like that.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

You all mean to say you want a Tribes MMO right?

[The Strand]

You all mean to say you want a Tribes MMO right?

You're making me cry. Why am I crying?