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2008 Lineup - A Look Ahead

Category: Default Game: All games Posted on Jan 26, 2008 9:02 am


2008 - A Look Ahead
Note: This is a follow up to my last blog post entitled "Was '07 really a bad year for MMOGs?" located here.

   
    I've seen a lot of talk lately on game forums and other gaming blogs about what we have to look forward to in the upcoming year. After my last article giving the rundown of the previous year in the MMOG world, I figured it would be nice to do a follow up and answer some questions about the upcoming year and what it looks like as of now. Ever since World of Warcraft raised the bar in the industry, there has been a lack of creativity from game developers, who have tried to use the World of Warcraft success to their advantage instead of making a truly unique game of their own. The best example to date was this previous year, where instead of creating a new game developers just imported generic MMOGs from overseas, a lot of which were duplicates of other games such as Maplestory or even World of Warcraft. Will 2008 be any better? What do we have to look forward to?
Florensia.
    Florensia is aimed to be released into the CB phase within the first quarter of 2008. The game is a unique game that follows along the lines of Pirates of the Caribbean online, and Pirate King Online, where you can play either on land, or across the mighty seas on either your personal ship, setting out for golds and conquest, or with your crew, setting out to make a name for yourself and destroy enemy ships. In the game there will be a player vs. player combat similar to the WoE system in Ragnarok Online, as stated by the company behind the project. Who, just for the record, is the company behind Alaplaya which makes Fantasy Tennis and a couple other cool MMOs.

    The graphic scheme looks like a more advanced version of ROSE Online, with a Sword of the New World clothing style, which makes a unique graphic style that reminds me of Ragnarok Online 2. I love the company as well, they are community-involved and very helpful. You can even find them on the IRC channels they set up if you need faster help, but the response on the forums is quick and accurate. They also look for suggestions all the time. Now I will leave you with some cool excerpts about the game to have you guys drooling..

Create new history! Pioneering new route and excavating ancient ruins.
Dreaming the riches man in the world. Finding trading route and building a new city.
Armada, Who dare stand in front of me! Naval battle by fleet and city siege.

Guilds will see themselves challenged and defeated, others will triumph - will you be among those with tailwind and the perfect nautic strategy? Train the 1on1 combat and the teamplay together with your guild - all afloat and ashore in the unique world of Florensia!
Maybe you even want to siege a whole town? Everything is possible if you bring along the will and the power to withstand your enemies for honor and glory!

Travel over the ocean and meet your destiny,create a new marine trade route or fight for your personal goals - everyone is welcome, everyone is special and everyone takes part in the evolution of this wonderful new world!


Age of Conan.

    Perhaps one of the most know and/or anticipated games of 2008. This is the game that a lot of people within this giant MMOG industry have their money on to give World of Warcraft a run at keeping a lot of it's active players. I could just ramble on and on about what makes this game so special, but I doubt I could do any better than what it says on the website which has me drooling every time I reread it...


An advanced combat system lets you choose every cut, thrust, and swing in real time.

Groundbreaking graphics and advanced DirectX 10 features plunge you into a world of breathtaking beauty.

A massive fantasy world based on over 75 years of books, movies, art, and music, developed in close collaboration with Conan Inc. to ensure the most realistic Conan experience ever seen.

An unprecedented character development and customization system with combo attacks, skills, special abilities, and deadly spells ensures no two characters are exactly the same.

Massive Player Versus Player combat. Capture battlekeeps and wage epic warfare between players and guilds, or hire yourself out as a mercenary and battle for pay!

New and exotic classes, such as the Demonologist, Herald of Xotli, and Dark Templar, along with incredible twists on classics like the Ranger and Assassin.

A detailed and engrossing crafting system, allowing you to make everything from armor and weapons to an entire city!

Hundreds of unique quests for combat and crafting with extensive NPC interaction and voice acting, immersing you in the living world of King Conan.

 An extensive story-driven single player adventure to start the game drawing you deep into the scheming, seduction, intrigue, and betrayal of Hyboria.

   
All I can say is holy crap I am excited for this game. It brings a lot of innovation to the combat, makes the gameplay a lot of competitive, and this will surely be a top-runner in the new MMOGs of 2008!

Guild Wars 2.

    Apart from Age of Conan, this is the game that almost everyone has their eyes one, and is dieing to play or at least get more information about. Because of the companies high reputation of top-of-the-line games, and the series high reputation of action packed, challenging game play all offered without a monthly cost, the idea of a free-roaming, more massive, more epic version in the series has millions of gamers drooling over the very thought.

    They are changing the game play dramatically, adding a z-axis that allows players to interact with the land through sliding, climbing, and even swimming. You can even jump over obstacles that are in the way of your path.  The game will require more then the original series did in terms of system specs, and will also support Direct X 10, but not require it.  The persistent areas will also be gone except in missions, so that you can meet others while exploring and training. The level cap will also be raised, it has only been suggested or hinted that it could be up to 100, or even unlimited. There are numerous types of player vs. player combat including structured and world player vs. player.

    The game will start over new with characters and perhaps races, but will be set about 250 years after the Eye of the North expansion. And the original series will continue to be updates with events and all that good stuff for the loyal players of that. My only fear is that the increased level cap will interfere with the whole skill rather then playing time issue. Where those who play more will be stronger then others, even if they have no skill in the games combat. Hopefully this will not be an issue however.

Aion.

    This game is no exception in the list from the other games. The game is absolutely visually stunning, and brings realistic actions into the game, meaning if you fly over a pond that you can actually see ripples in the water from the air being pushed down by your massive wingspan. You can climb cliffs, and do so much more not available in most of the modern MMOGs. My favorite part is the flying system. Way back when I was relatively new to the industry, FlyFF was a game I always admired but thought my computer couldn't handle from the website. After trying it out, I was wishing I had been right. The game disappointed me after I hit the magical level twenty and was able to fly, as the combat in the air was scarce, and the little bit of combat available was crap.

    Aion allows you to fly through the maps, but not just for transportation. For a warfare tactic. Fight your enemies above the land in order to bring in new skills and tactics that are unseen before in MMOGs.  A development that will surely bring in a lot of players just for this innovation alone. Whether your opponent wants to become airborne or not, you can toss them into the air to unleash a devastating blow from above, then reign down from above them taking them out once and for all.

    The game also is said to have an incredible variety of music in it, being composed by one of the top composers in the movie/game industry. This will surely help bring the game to life, especially in the all-new PvPvE system, that integrates player vs. environment with players vs. player action, bringing together a whole new system that no MMOG has even dreamed of. Even though we are mostly unsure of the system, it sure as hell sounds great, and will bring another new thing to the MMOG world in the great lineup we have for 2008.

Infinity.

    Not the space one currently being developed, the one being published by Gametribe. And older game being brought back, this game has incredible fast-paced action where you fight with your guards against foes, or side-by-side with your friends to defeat even stronger foes in the cooperative game mode. The games great combo system makes the action even faster paced. You start off in a lobby and can either join a PvE room, or a PvP room. In the player vs. environment rooms, you get money, so you can buy new items and characters. While in player vs. player rooms, you get experience and reputation.

Mabinogi.

    This is quite an older game that still made its way into the lineup because of all of the innovations to the industry it brings. Mabinogi changes up the combat system adding some unique additions that make the game more challenging then just point-and-click, even though you can't control you every slash like in Age of Conan. You can counter your enemies attacks, and that makes the game a lot more challenging since you can then attack much stronger monsters if you're good at the game. The most noticeable part of the game is either the incredible storyline driven through numerous chapters and episodes, that keeps players playing to get to the end of it through great quests that aren't just idiotic tasks to do, or the rebirth system that makes the ability point/skill point system a lot different.

    Every Saturday your characters grows one year older, thus getting your skills stronger. You can rebirth to the starting age and reset all except your skills in order to become a lot more powerful when wanted, which is unseen in the industry outside of this game. You can also use all the trade skills like fishing, cooking, etc. You can compete in large-based combats, whether they be against a rival guild or group, or against a boss such as a dragon. Castle sieges and raids are also popular, as team based combat is a must if you want to be successful.

    Mabinogi is entering the CB phase on January 30th for North America.

Requiem.

    Requiem is a full 3D MMORPG in which the player interacts with the game world. In addition to pet raising, item collection, communication, adventure and other features commonly found in traditional MMORPGs, Requiem also incorporates such elements as sense of accomplishment, horror, competition, political alliance and betray. There are four races, including Kruxena, Turan, Bartuk and Xenoa available in the game. The game is of course for the older crowd, and is filled with gore and and cruel scenes. The graphics are great even though the game isn't all that new overseas.

Darkfall.

    This game is a revolutionary game, but whether or not it will make it's NA appearance in 2008 is still being questioned. You can build an empire, free-roam across an enormous playing field that you can completely interact with, and it's also very competitive as you fight for the top-spot to become a legend and build your very own empire. The graphics are stunning, the features are amazing, and the economy is the ultimate player-driven economy. The only problem is the company and it's lack of updates and releases, but hopefully that will pick up pace when the game finally becomes available for us all to get our hands on and actually see what all the hype is about, since not too much is known other than how free you are in the game, to do practically whatever you want to.

Huxley.

    Perhaps the most graphically stunning game I have ever seen, Huxley brings a sense of Halo 3 to the MMOG world on the PC , and Xbox 360, when it finally gets released. It is a high graphics MMOFPS that looks to be absolutely amazing. The music in the game is also said to help bring it alive for the players, making the action that much more realistic and enjoyable. The only real problem is the company, Webzen, which is known for being terrible at releasing and managing games.

    The reason I say it's like Halo 3 but in MMOG form is that it's not your typical CS FPS game. You can get vehicles, new classes, etc., to make the game a hell lot more interesting. It also has a strong story line in the game such as the way Halo does, making this a very promising project to keep your eyes on.

Warhammer.

    Once again, I could ramble on for hours about this game, but instead I will just sum it up with a little description of it, then I will let you check out the site yourself so you can drool over it as you wait for more progress to be made so we can get ours hands on the final product. Think of the game as World of Warcraft on steroids. It has similar graphics, races, etc. Only everything has been improved. It's like a clone of World of Warcraft, where all the crap was taken out and brand new things were put in to make it so much better. This is my bet for the game that takes a lot of players away from World of Warcraft, because the two are so similar.

http://www.warhammeronline.com/english/home/index.php



If you have any other games, please post them here and I might add them to the list if they are good enough. Games such as Cabal NA, Dekaron EU, and a lot of other games you guys wanted didn't make the list because there's nothing really special about them. Perhaps they have good graphics, but they don't have anything innovative like the games in the list above. Rohan will be added if more people want it.


Thanks for reading, and enjoy this great year in the industry and all it will bring us that has not yet been announced!

comments ( 16 )

Razkuba
Post Time : Feb 04,2008 7:32 pm
yeah!!! its my birthday today!! horrah!!!
Razkuba
Post Time : Feb 03,2008 2:53 pm
post another blog oliase! :D
Oliase
Post Time : Jan 30,2008 7:35 pm
I'm not a fanboy like you might think. I despise Halo in every way except online. I have also played Unreal Tournament since the beginning. Yes, I can still say that they are all in the same family of advanced FPS's. If you don't understand why, oh well. It's like comparing Runescape to WoW. Even though the games are different completely in graphic style, when compared throughout their peaks, and compared through all aspects, you can see how much they are really alike.
MTL
Post Time : Jan 29,2008 1:00 pm
oh i see, thats right, you are person who plays FPS games with a controller, so you wouldnt even know what Unreal Tournament is. I remember when halo3 came out and they showed video of ppl were waiting in line; this one guy yelled out "HALO3 IS THE BEST FPS EVER!"...if i was there, and i heard that, i would have punched him.
I dont really mean to be an ass, but some ppl just have to be less ignorant to other FPS games and stop trying to call games "Halo killers" or comparing every shooter to Halo. Yeah, I bought Halo3 on the first day it came out, but about 2 weeks later I gave it way because it got boring.

Here is a video of Huxleys' arena gameplay (no vechicles in this movie)
http://huxleygame.blip.tv/file/547743/ or http://huxleygame.blip.tv/file/547743/
Here is a video i made just yesterday of UT3, although it doesnt show the vehicles, you get the idea.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5otIOjTUPKM
i assume you already know what Halo's gameplay looks like.

now after watching these, can you still say that its like Halo?
Oliase
Post Time : Jan 28,2008 3:18 pm
Well, the point of comparing it to Halo is that I am saying Huxley isn't your ordinary game, it's more like a console game but in MMO form, because you don't just find a gun, shoot, rounds over, reset. You can customize your guy, get vehicles, etc.
MTL
Post Time : Jan 28,2008 1:24 pm
umm what? Huxley is basically an mmo version of Unreal Tournament3. Both games use the Unreal3 engine and gameplay mechanics are exactly the same. Cant compare that game to Halo, seriously. This aint no lame overrated grenade-shoot-melee-repeat game.
Colaman
Post Time : Jan 28,2008 12:04 pm
omg i totally forgot about guildwars 2 i actually thought guild wars 2 was the new expansion eye of the north but after a while i figured it out rofl. Thanks for telling about guildwars 2 and finally u can interact with others while you're outside fighting WOHOO and climb and swim sounds like perfect world except u cant climb there just swim and fly xD this is gona be awesome looking forward to GW2 and i looked at movie of mabinogi it looks like total crap not looking forward to it looks like cra pgraphics and crap game play all u do is farm mine and get married havnt seen spell- skill system yet should suk i bet no offence to all mabinogi lovers
lozen
Post Time : Jan 28,2008 6:37 am
how late is later though?im really excited about it
lean
Post Time : Jan 28,2008 12:07 am
@lozen Yup, IAHGames will release dragonica english version later
lozen
Post Time : Jan 27,2008 10:39 pm
im looking out for mabinogi......is there english version for dragonica?
daveliu
Post Time : Jan 27,2008 9:34 pm
Good stuff. I'm keeping an eye on Warhammer. I'm not sure when Jumpgate Evolution is scheduled to release but that's another game I think many will be interested in.
Oliase
Post Time : Jan 27,2008 8:23 pm
Well, Ragnorak Online 2 has a reputation overseas for being terrible, an absolutely huge disappointment. Therefore I didn't want to put it on the list if we already knew it wasn't as amazing as it seemed it would be.
lean
Post Time : Jan 27,2008 7:34 pm
Age of Conan, AION, Warhammer online is on the list, good. But is RO2 going to be dead? You haven't mentioned it
Hyuk
Post Time : Jan 27,2008 6:32 pm
I believe mabinogi will succeed in 2008, nice post, keep your good write!
Oliase
Post Time : Jan 26,2008 8:01 pm
Thanks Raz. :)
Razkuba
Post Time : Jan 26,2008 6:18 pm
Hmm, nice post, I'm looking forward to some of these games I didn't even know about! keep going with the good stuff!