Chronicles of Spellborn Trailer

[Evil Avatar]

Filecloud sends along word that they have posted a trailer (http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?file_id=2155) for Chronicles of Spellborn (http://www.thechroniclesofspellborn.com/), an upcoming Unreal 2.5 powered MMORPG.

http://www.evilavatar.com/images/thumbs/spellborn.jpg (http://www.thechroniclesofspellborn.com/)

The screenshots look nice, it would have made a great single-player RPG and instead they are hoping to bust into a market dominated by World of Warcraft? Good luck, they are going to need it.

I think we will soon be adding this to our list of MMORPG's that failed in the first 90 days.

[Orphiuchus]

The mmo craze has killed the single player pc rpg.

[Ernst_Jager]

It is really going to take something special to knock WoW down even a tad much less dethrone them. Still wanting a zombie survival MMORPG.

[Phades]

I really like the art style. Seems like they could have had the potential to make a great single player RPG. I agree with Evil though, in the MMO space they're probably doomed.... I'd actually be a little surprised if they even make it to market.

[Klade]

Filefront (http://files.filefront.com/SEARCH/;4189437;;/fileinfo.html) linky

Edit: Now that I've actually had a chance to see the trailer. Well the art is fine but what I didn't see was any kind of character interaction. I mean where's the combat? Must be pretty early in the dev process if they don't have that nailed down yet. And if its early in the dev process.. Well it means that it probably won't be out till after WoW releases their expansion and you end up dealing with a whole other mess of worms. These days timing is important for an MMO. Hope these guys have it or they will be dead before they begin.

[DeadPixel]

What I would like to see in MMO games is a much wider range of animations. Since the games have you combat/grind endless monsters for months, the same animations really get boring after the first few levels. I realize that adding animations is a time consuming process but just think if your avatar performed a swing with say 5-10 possible animations randomly chosen by the game engine. Seeing that diversity would make the combat much more fluid looking.

[bean19]

Dutch developer huh.

*prays for a clogging minigame*

[madmossy]

Hopefully it wont be long before something does knock WoW off its throne, it doesnt deserve it. Blizzard havent exactly done a good job imho, but hey its there first. Hopefully they will learn from there mistakes.

[Phades]

Hopefully it wont be long before something does knock WoW off its throne, it doesnt deserve it. Blizzard havent exactly done a good job imho, but hey its there first. Hopefully they will learn from there mistakes.

How exactly was Blizzard "there first" when there have been countless other MMO's released before it?

[DeadPixel]

How exactly was Blizzard "there first" when there have been countless other MMO's released before it?

Heh, I was wondering the same thing. Maybe WoW was the first for many :)

[bean19]

Hopefully it wont be long before something does knock WoW off its throne, it doesnt deserve it. Blizzard havent exactly done a good job imho, but hey its there first. Hopefully they will learn from there mistakes.

First post.

Is this someone trolling with a fake name? This just is so wrong on so many points that it seems like it has to be intentional.

[thecrazyd]

What the MMOs really need is to dip into other genres. I have played Generic Fantasy MMORPG, I am done with it. Lets see something new.

[Tia]

You might say I am trolling, But seriously, no depth of field, no shadows, sad looking textures, no bloom effect, no realistic lighting.

[Librum]

What the MMOs really need is to dip into other genres. I have played Generic Fantasy MMORPG, I am done with it. Lets see something new.

Sounds like it's time for another EVE Online plug.

So there it is.

[RandomViolence]

Hopefully it wont be long before something does knock WoW off its throne, it doesnt deserve it. Blizzard havent exactly done a good job imho, but hey its their first. Hopefully they will learn from their mistakes.

Clarified for those who misunderstood him.

[Doctor Setebos]

What the MMOs really need is to dip into other genres. I have played Generic Fantasy MMORPG, I am done with it. Lets see something new.That's part of the reason I play CoH over WoW. I'd rather play a kick-ass superhero than yet another fantasy warrior/rogue/mage/bleh.

But I have to admit, this game's art style gives it some credibility. But I want to see some action before I ever decide to give it a try. Art style means nothing if it isn't implemented well.

[Knite]

To add along with Eve Online being a non Fantasy MMO

There's also the upcoming
http://www.burningsea.com/
(Pirates of the Burning Sea)

and also, currently available
http://www.hitechcreations.com
(Aces High 2 World War 2 flight sim)

[PIPBoy3000]

Well, let's wait until Oblivion comes out before anyone starts predicting the death of single-player RPGs. I have a funny feeling I'll be spending a lot of quality time with that lil' game.

[ElectricMonk]

it wasn't that long ago that nothing could dethrone eq

the only thing they can do wrong though is release it too early, if it comes out next year i don't think the chances are good.

[eatme]

What a pretty game. How are they planning to distinguish it from WoW, again?

[Nerv]

Still wanting a zombie survival MMORPG.
It's fairly low tech, but have you heard of Urban Dead (www.urbandead.com)?
Not much to look at, but you can get sucked in fairly quickly, I've been playing since shortly after it was launched in the summer, and I've checked in almost every day since.

[Spigot]

I like the art style in this and the fact that rather than trying for realism they are going for a slightly stylized look.

That said, it looks a little too much like a slightly prettier version of WoW, especially the screenshot of Highstreet with those weird looking kids and the angular buildings.

[Royal Fool]

Checked out the backstory and FAQ and even tried out one of those 'interactive' scrolls... pretty nice, looks like a lot of work has gone into this, more than they have revealed on the site. It seems to focus a lot on rewarding players with new content and experiences, as well as allowing people to "leave their mark" and contribute to the world. We'll see how that goes - can hardly be worse than the promises Blizzard has failed to live up to.

But I agree that it looks eerily similar to WoW in some aspects. Could have made for a really great singleplayer game like you guys are saying. But hwo knows, maybe these guys will be successful. I sure hope so, anything that can bring more diversity into the MMO genre is a good thing.

[Ernst_Jager]

It's fairly low tech, but have you heard of Urban Dead (www.urbandead.com)?
Not much to look at, but you can get sucked in fairly quickly, I've been playing since shortly after it was launched in the summer, and I've checked in almost every day since.

I play Urban dead.

[Rommel]

Zombie Survival MMO? You mean hiding between buildings in burnt out, post-apocolyptic cities while finding other survivers to aide you on your quest?

...That could work.

[TrackZero]

The mmo craze has killed the single player pc rpg.

Agreed, and it's sad because I can see from this game's shots I do like the style and the world. But I know it just won't make it in today's MMO market and more fun could have been had if this was just a single player RPG.

[Librum]

Of course, popular as WoW is, there's likely a market for those folks who played the heck out of WoW but are either tired of it (having done everything they could do and now just wait for new content that they chew through in a week or less), or the casual folks who don't have a problem picking up and dropping MMORPG subscriptions when they feel like changing. If it's a competently run and genuinely entertaining game, people will play it. That's what drew people to WoW in the first place.

[Ernst_Jager]

A Zombie MMORPG would totally work. You could have different areas (cities or just parts of a city) as different zones. Tradeskills would involve things like weapon creation/repair, food/water gathering and construction (for the defensible buildings.) Starting areas would be low population/low detection zones where as the game progressed you would make it into larger areas where better abilities or certain skills would help you survive. I would make the game more goal based inside of lvl. Restoring power to the city, or clearing buildings of the dead would be like beating boss mobs. Also the game could be totally dynamic where one day the building you are in was clear, the next day it could have been overrun. Including the ability for players to play the zombies (very similiar to urbandead.com) and gain various skills themselves would really add a fun element to the game. Include perhaps a few vehicles here and there (mostly old clunker cars or motorcycles) for transportation between areas and you have a pretty freaking good sounding game to me.

If you need a variety of different zombie mobs you could have animals that were zombies as well.

[GrinR]

Of course, popular as WoW is, there's likely a market for those folks who played the heck out of WoW but are either tired of it (having done everything they could do and now just wait for new content that they chew through in a week or less)

I've never been able to understand this concept. I've been playing since beta and I -still- have yet to get a character to 60. The amount of variety in classes and races make for a very different experience - so if you've really "exhausted" your game, try something else! It seems like many of the lvl 60 complainers are stuck on the idea that their character is the only thing to play with, when there are 9 other slots there to work with! There's also different server types - the diff between PvP, carebear, and the new RP-PvP is huge. I know, I've got alts on all of them.

17 alts. highest level is 43, the rest around 35

[Goronmon]

I'm waiting for the MMORPG with gameplay more like Baldur's Gate as opposed to EQ. You know, where leveling was just a byproduct of travelling the countryside and going on quests. All of these level-based games play almost exactly the same, and I am definately getting tired of it.

[Mason]

I swear, everyone took their single-player RPGs and spent the past few years retooling them as MMORPGs. So that now Bethesdasoft is the unchallenged king of that particular hill, and everyone else loses tons of money on doomed-to-failure MMOs.

I think that the amount of money UO, EQ, and WoW brought in made half the game industry suffer from temporary insanity. They ignore the fact that basically no one subscribes to multiple MMOs, and that there's a pretty strong disincentive to "trying out" a MMO that isn't wildly popular. Eyes on the prize. Gonna beat Blizzard.

If Blizzard can hold onto its high-level players, nothing is beating them for at least a year. And certainly nothing that competes with them directly. Even the people who are sick of doing the same instances over and over aren't going to jump ship for yet another grind up yet another fantasy MMO.

[Mason]

I'm waiting for the MMORPG with gameplay more like Baldur's Gate as opposed to EQ. You know, where leveling was just a byproduct of travelling the countryside and going on quests. All of these level-based games play almost exactly the same, and I am definately getting tired of it.

Here's the problem.

There has to be a point to the game, if you're going to spend $15 a month and countless hours in it. BG gave you a great plot and interesting world to explore...which is hard to do in a MMO, simply because by definition the player can't be the big hero destined to save the world. As there are thousands of other big heroes who'd have to be destined to do the exact same thing.

So MMOs have ended up monomaniacally focused on "levelling" of some sort for a reason. Since there's a lot of other people in the world, it raises your standing (numerically and socially) with respect to those people. Secondly, it is really easy to develop a lot of content related to leveling that you wouldn't be able to do for plot, character development, or in-depth exploration. A field full of monsters to kill is easy to write, and cookie-cutter quests that involve killing those monsters is just as easy. A plot that remains interesting for hundreds of hours is not at all easy to write. Ditto for world exploration.

So the economics of development and fundamental topography of MMO games are strongly weighted against bucking the status-quo. Games like GW move in the right direction (far more plot oriented and far less leveling-oriented), but its nature as a proper MMO is always up for debate.

I think that the only trend that will move MMOs away from the current EQ-style will be a shifting of focus away from repetitively killing mindless NPCs toward advancement through interaction with other players. That entire concept sort of fell out of vogue after SWG hyped up a lot of these ideas and then failed to deliver the goods on many levels. Too many people had their dreams of being in-game politicians, or bounty hunters going after players who committed crimes, squashed by SWG's (initial?) failure. So there was kind of a big retreat back to doing a better EQ instead of revamping the whole genre.

I think that the Next Big Thing will be player-created content. It will be hard as hell to do interestingly and unexploitably, and guys with near-limitless pockets have tried and failed in the past, but still, it's the most intersting direction in which MMOs can move. No MMO can feel like an RPG where the player is the most important guy in the world, but they can sure be a lot more interesting by letting you shape parts of the world.

[GrinR]

I think it's malarky that MOGs couldn't be far far more plot driven. All you need is to take the current framework of factions and tie them to in-game stuff like items, locations, and quests. Throw in weekly world-changes and you have a much more dynamic environment. How many times has VanCleef been "brought to justice"?? Millions? How about closing deadmines for a while and opening up a new dungeon - you can always re-open deadmines later with VanCleef's cousin (and some slightly different drops!).

Here's another completely underutilized (and SUPER EASY) method: have in-game GMs be actual characters! How hard would it be to have a real person be Thrall, talking to players in the throne room. How easy it would be to have that character offer on-the-fly quests... "Our campaign in the north requires more Heavy Hides! Bring them to me and bring honor to the horde!" Alot the GMs a measured and consistant economy of money and items to reward with (along with the ability to alter faction and possibly spawn mobs...) and you have a REAL GM, in the traditional sense. GM's could even fight each other! "Thrall" could send the horde to attack goldshire "and slaughter every living thing" and reward as necessary.

If there were 200 GMs per server doing this, playing real in-game characters, you'd have a MUCH more vibrant RPG world, and in fact be more compelling than any single player RPG could be.