Game Like It's 2007 - Hellgate: London Open Beta (June 30)

[UnSub]

T3 / Hanbitsoft is re-launching Hellgate: London in North America and Europe, with open beta starting on June 30.

It will be launching F2P plus contains the expansions seen in other countries.

[Malakili]

Meh.  I used up all my energy I had for caring about HGL for one lifetime, even if its a lot better and nice and bug free and whatever, I just can't bring myself to care again.

[01101010]

Meh.  I used up all my energy I had for caring about HGL for one lifetime, even if its a lot better and nice and bug free and whatever, I just can't bring myself to care again.

QUITTER!

I am half curious... but only the bad half.

[sam, an eggplant]

I love threads about the HG:L ressurrection, because at least one stupid bastard is absolutely guaranteed to post "I paid for a lifetime subscription, do I get anything special now that it's F2P?" followed by two pages of derisive laughter.

I might have jinxed it with this post, though.

[Dren]

Considering the game died once, you'd have to have bought two lifetime subscriptions to expect that!

[Ratman_tf]

It will be launching F2P plus contains the expansions seen in other countries.

I can play it for free right now! 

Seriously, is any of this going to be offline content? I was never impressed with the multiplayer in the first place, and this FTP deathmatch stuff doesn't sound interesting at all.

[penfold]

I didn't really play it first time round, just a few levels round a friends. I played the CBT a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I can't wait for the OBT.

[Dren]

Rise. Grave. Yeah.

So, I was looking down the huge list of MMORPG's at MMORPG.com last night and saw Hellgate.  I checked it out and it looks like it has been released, sort of.  The original game is now functional it looks like (online only) and now they are working on Hellgate: Tokyo or something.  I started to get the free download, but stopped it because it is huge and didn't know if I wanted to invest my time and bandwidth to it.  You know, it is an older game, but seriously the videos and screencaps continue to look really good.  It has aged well.

Anyone playing?

[Ratman_tf]

Anyone playing?

I tried it a little.

It's the HGL engine with some cash shop and korean multiplayer crap tacked on. More named bosses seem to spawn, there's this GODDAMN ANNOYING second password thing that I also encountered when playing Dragon Nest. You set up a 4 digit code, and it asks for it after you get into the game at some point. For HGL usually when you try to enter your first portal to another region.

It's free, so check it out. I was not impressed though.

[DLRiley]

Is it fun?

[Dren]

I was one that bought it when it first released and played a good amount.  The game itself is well done.  It basically is a 3D Diablo with tons of drops and inventory management for keeping/selling. 

The issue, which Ratman_tf brought up earlier is that playing solo is fun for awhile then kind of gets old.  The multiplayer aspect of it doesn't really add anything.  The instances scale accordingly and then you just have more people spamming damage and killing more and bigger things along with more and more item drops. 

You go from hub to hub into instanced areas much like Guildwars, kind of.  If I remember right, once you get to a major hub you can teleport back to the other major hubs.  There is some overarching lolore going on throughout with some cutscenes once in awhile.

If you have never played, it is certainly worth dl'ing and trying out for free.  I'd guess, without knowing the payment structure, you'll get about 20-30 hours worth of enjoyment at least.  At that point, you'll either want more and pay for some things, or just drop it and move on.  If they make you pay to get past some point (a la demo mode,) then it will be much less.

I have to stress this is based on my playing it during the original release.  I haven't tried it at all yet during this second release.

[Cadaverine]

I tried it briefly, a few months back.  The game itself was the same as I remember it.  The only change I noticed was the addition of a counter of some sort, where after you killed so many mobs, a mini-boss would spawn in your vicinity.  The main problem I had was the terrible lag/rubberbanding.  For normal critters, it was ok, as they died fast enough that it wasn't too noticeable.  The mini-boss guys that spawned would vanish on me after I'd kited them down to around 10-20% health, then reappear a few seconds later with full health.  It would usually happen a few times before I was able to kill them.

[schild]

Buying a lifetime sub right now.

[Lantyssa]

 

[Der Helm]

Buying a lifetime sub right now.

Keep the receipt. 

[Yegolev]

Buying a lifetime sub right now.