Champions Online: The No-NDA Merged Edition

[SnakeCharmer]

Applied, but no answer as of yet.

Maybe some day. 

[Evildrider]

I keep getting these messages telling me that I'm invited to do some preview days, but I'm not in beta or have a key.

[Triforcer]

For a game supposedly so close to release, there is very little info out about this.  Is it not possible to play a villain?  That gives DCUO a huge advantage right from the get-go. 

[Nonentity]

I think he actually means you can move during cast time, not cast time = 0.

Yea, I was just being snarky ;-) Honestly, it's something I've wanted more of in these games. To date though we mostly only get run and gun when it involves an actual gun in that type of setting. More spells-while-moving please.

You know... you could cast spells while moving in Vanguard. 

[HaemishM]

I keep getting these messages telling me that I'm invited to do some preview days, but I'm not in beta or have a key.

Email them, and they'll get you a key.

[UnSub]

For a game supposedly so close to release, there is very little info out about this.  Is it not possible to play a villain?  That gives DCUO a huge advantage right from the get-go. 

No villains at launch for ChampO afaik.

[stray]

Microsoft can neither make nor distribute an MMO, and it'll all turn out to be complete and utter horseshit. DC will release, however, no matter tight lipped they are about it.

[Numtini]

You know... you could cast spells while moving in Vanguard.

I was never able to move without crashing.

[Trippy]

Microsoft can neither make nor distribute an MMO, and it'll all turn out to be complete and utter horseshit. DC will release, however, no matter tight lipped they are about it.

Take-Two is publishing Champions Online. Microsoft dropped out a long time ago (back when it was still Marvel Online).

[stray]

Doh. Well, good thing then.

[UnSub]

Microsoft can neither make nor distribute an MMO, and it'll all turn out to be complete and utter horseshit. DC will release, however, no matter tight lipped they are about it.

Take-Two is publishing Champions Online. Microsoft dropped out a long time ago (back when it was still Marvel Online).

Atari is publishing ChampO, since Infogrammes bought Cryptic. Take-Two was dropped. Keep up! 

[Trippy]

Microsoft can neither make nor distribute an MMO, and it'll all turn out to be complete and utter horseshit. DC will release, however, no matter tight lipped they are about it.

Take-Two is publishing Champions Online. Microsoft dropped out a long time ago (back when it was still Marvel Online).

Atari is publishing ChampO, since Infogrammes bought Cryptic. Take-Two was dropped. Keep up! 

Oh yeah, heh.

[Nevermore]

Any other F13ers in yet? If enough have, it might be worth having a separate sekret beta board. We can make a request for one, apparently.

I applied on the first day of beta signups, but I have yet to be invited. 

There must be someone from Cryptic lurking here and they're sick of me bitching about how awful the cell shading looks.

[UnSub]

Especially when they can read that kind of message continually on their own official boards. 

I can point to this pic that appears to lack the comic shading effects of some of the other shots:

[UnSub]

If you are interested in seeing how much costume customisation is in ChampO, check out Rate My Champion which is made up of existing beta characters.

[eldaec]

If someone had told me that was rate my (city of) Hero, I wouldn't have blinked.

Not that this is a problem.


As for the cel shading, till I see it animated and full resolution, I can't judge.

[Lantyssa]

If you are interested in seeing how much costume customisation is in ChampO, check out Rate My Champion which is made up of existing beta characters.

I went through twenty.  The highest any of those outfits deserved was a 2, and that is being very, very generous.  That's only because a few were better than most, which deserved a 1.  All of them should be normalized to lose a star because most weren't even worth 1.

[Xerapis]

I was underwhelmed.

Of course, I can't be sure that the system is to blame. Maybe they just don't have any testers with creativity.

Some of those either deserved negative stars, or should have the age or IQ of the tester as explanation for why they deserved even one star.

[Triforcer]

Wow, those are the kind of heroes you see in crowd hero shots in poorly drawn 1960s-era comics. 

[Fordel]

They look like the same Heroes that populate 95% of CoH currently.

[Nevermore]

Wow, those are the kind of heroes you see in crowd hero shots in poorly drawn 1960s-era comics. 

Apparently this is the effect the designers have been trying to achieve.

As for the cel shading, till I see it animated and full resolution, I can't judge.

The only reason this game is even on my radar at all is because I know cel shading usually looks much better in motion.  On the other hand, I've been underwhelmed by the videos released so far.

[Triforcer]

ChampO given just enough Rope(r) to hang itself

http://www.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=16753

 

[Trippy]

He's not the problem.

[Triforcer]

In the immortal words of George Costanza, it doesn't help.

[Trippy]

That's true.

[UnSub]

He's not the problem.

Who would you say is? No points for originality if you say "Jack Emmert" or mention "because I didn't like some of the changes to CoH/V".

[Falconeer]

Did Bill Roper just became a disgrace to the videogame world in your books thanks to the failure of HG:L, or do you hold personal previous grudges?

That said, from the interview:

Tamat : Creating your own Nemesis sounds like a great idea. Can you give us any more details on this aspect of the game? Will this enemy be with you for the long haul, such as through future expansions?

Bill Roper : The Nemesis system allows players to create a series of villains that become a part of their personal storyline and challenge them unlike any other enemies in the game. Players create a customized Nemesis, including their costume, power set, minions and THEIR power sets, and their motivation. We'll have reasons for you not only to defeat your Nemesis, but to create others once you lock your first away in Stronghold. Best of all, this is just the foundation of the future for the Nemesis system. It’s a big part of our current and future plans for the game, so expect to see them with you for a long time.

In this sentence, what I hate about recent MMOs. This is exactly the kind of cool innovative feature (on paper) that won't make it in at launch, will be delayed indefinitely, and ultimately dumbed down and slapped in with the evacuation patch that comes with the server merger, right before terminal shutdown. Bets?

[Venkman]

ChampO given just enough Rope(r) to hang itself

http://www.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=16753

 

Did you just want to use a funny analogy or was there something Roper said that I missed where he threw Cyrptic under the bus? Seemed like the usual tame interview stuff to me. Even the statement that "it would be almost impossible for any MMO to compete with WoW" is basically conventional wisdom for anyone whose got a business interest in this specific segment of the genre.

[Triforcer]

The sentence I was referring to in the interview as terrible was the sentence where it said Bill Roper works on Champions Online.

[Malakili]

I mean sure, Hellgate: London flubbed it up big time, but I don't actually think the game was THAT bad. The game in its final version before it died was actually fairly entertaining to play (at least mechanics wise, the levels were repetitive and there wasn't enough to do, but I though the mechanics were quite solid myself).

Anyway, whether Roper is involved in this project or not, I'm not sure if I'll be interested.  Super hero MMOs are interesting because in my opinion they are one of the few MMO settings where its actually appropriate for everyone to be silly powerful and well, heroic.  In fantasy and sci fi settings, i like to be able to play an "average" person, but in a super hero MMO, i don't feel that pulling at me.

If it is fun, I will play it.

[UnSub]

The sentence I was referring to in the interview as terrible was the sentence where it said Bill Roper works on Champions Online.

They aren't using him as a business manager. As a developer, he could be exactly what ChampO needs given his action RPG background.

[Triforcer]

The sentence I was referring to in the interview as terrible was the sentence where it said Bill Roper works on Champions Online.

They aren't using him as a business manager. As a developer, he could be exactly what ChampO needs given his action RPG background.

Not if he has a gypsy curse on him when it comes to online games.  Which I think is very likely.

[Falwell]

I still give Roper a helluvah lot of credit for knowing how the minds of action gamers work. As a business manager of any kind, not so much.

Short opinion, good pickup for Cryptic and a chance at redemption for a guy who's done quite a bit for (and in) this industry.

[Margalis]

His total failure with Hellgate seems like a square peg / round hole problem. He's probably one of those guys who needs a couple of more pessimistic, grounded in reality types who can slap him around when he proposes making a game with no revenue model and then creating an entirely separate game just to test the networking layer.

Something you see a lot is that one member of a collaboration spins off on their own and without boundaries strays off into crazy land. As long as they keep him doing what he's good at it's probably a good pickup. Then again, who the hell really knows how integral he was to the success of Blizzard products? Perhaps he's a guy that was a good public face and talked a good game.

[UnSub]

In the same vein as the DCUO stuff coming out of NYCC, ChampO has a new if brief video showing some in-city fighting. Also, some new demo footage from NYCC

Also, a few new images of Millennium City at the top of the screenshot page. If you look, it appears that they've toned down the comic shading / black outlines in these pictures to make them a little less cartoony.

Gamestop has ChampO pre-orders for a launch on June 2. It hasn't been confirmed, so I'm guessing someone just wants some pre-order money.

Overall, it looks like DCUO is certainly more the fan favourite title thus far, but that might be because 1) the IP and 2) they've got longer until launch so can promise more.