Civilization...Online

[Ginaz]

I've never played any of the Civ games so I don't know how to react to this.  Yay?

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/08/07/massively-exclusive-jake-song-introduces-civilization-online/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzWnjuZrgEY

[Ingmar]

Sounds sort of Tale in the Desert-y, I guess?

[Abelian75]

My reaction just underwent the biggest 180 imaginable, from an initial eye-roll to sudden massive interest the moment I heard "Tale in the Desert."

Something tells me it's going to back at least a little bit toward the eye-roll once I click on the article. :)

Edit:  OK, a brief read and I'm still kind of intrigued.  Neat to see something that seems wildly different than the norm, at least.

[Yoru]

The concept sounds intriguing, like a modernized ATITD with a few, lightweight traditional MMO systems layered on top.

My main concern is that the developer is XL Games, notable notorious for producing the highly-successful, fun and well-regarded hack-prone grindfest shitbags that were Lineage, Lineage 2 and ArcheAge. Not a good track record for producing fun, engaging, varied, modern games.

I mean, unless by "fun and engaging" you mean "replete with polygonal elf pantyshots".

That said, joining up with a Goonswarm-equivalent, rushing to nukes and blasting all the Renaissance-era pubbie scrubs back into the stone age is... kind of appealing!

[Mrbloodworth]

I just read about this today, and I have to say. I'm Highly skeptical. Mainly because this is a turn based title turned MMORPG, and because its XL games.

[Yegolev]

But you like everything.  I'm not sure what to think now.

[Bunk]

I'm at least curious. I like the idea of an MMO with an end goal that resets, but I'm wondering how the masses will react to a game where you periodically lose all your phat lewts and have to start over.

[Nebu]

My reaction just underwent the biggest 180 imaginable, from an initial eye-roll to sudden massive interest the moment I heard "Tale in the Desert."

Me too.  A Tale was the MMO I have the fondest memories of since DAoC.  If someone could make a version that's even slightly better, I'd be all over it.

[Typhon]

Looks interesting.  I wonder why they bind you to a specific civilization?  Seems to be a server imbalance issue waiting to happen.  Seems like it would make more sense to create 'maps' of different size, randomly generate the civs in each map.  Then fill the map with the correct number of people (using guilds of various sizes and mercenaries) and lock the number of people on that map. 


Actually, the server would probably need to be a bit more intelligent about what to lock.  Probably something like average playtime per civ.

[HaemishM]

I... but... how...

WHY?

That was my first reaction. After reading the article, I'm somewhat intrigued but still kind of... confused. I won't dismiss it out of hand, but yes, having the lead guy be the same fuckhead that did Lineage 1 and 2 doesn't instill a lot of confidence.

[Typhon]

I actually read more into it than was in the article.  I was assuming that each Civ has an AI guiding it's development, or that there is some democratic means of determine Civ-level choices, but that actually isn't clear.  The "mayor" and "social experiment" stuff seems to indicate the opposite.

[Chockonuts]

I... but... how...

WHY?

That was my first reaction. After reading the article, I'm somewhat intrigued but still kind of... confused. I won't dismiss it out of hand, but yes, having the lead guy be the same fuckhead that did Lineage 1 and 2 doesn't instill a lot of confidence.

If it's any consolation, he worked on Tabula Rasa too but was smart enough to bail before it went busto. 

[Speedy Cerviche]

I'm at least curious. I like the idea of an MMO with an end goal that resets, but I'm wondering how the masses will react to a game where you periodically lose all your phat lewts and have to start over.

People are fine with it as long as they get some minor acknowledgement like a special trinket and perhaps slight permanent power boost. So a small one for completing a campaign and maybe slightly better one for winning one.

I haven't seen this in a MMORPG but have in games like Shattered galaxy and M&B warband c-rpg mod and it works.

[ghost]

How can you possibly have managed to not play an of the civ games?   

[WayAbvPar]

If there is a title that screams "Flawlessly executed online games", it is certainly Civ. 

[Yoru]

Well, that's bad news.

Civilization Online is developed by South Korea-based XL Games in partnership with 2K, and will be available first in Korea. No release date has been set. There are no plans for a North American release at this time.

Developed by a grindhouse and released primarily to the grind-friendly Korean market. That's about as close to writing this one off as I can get without shorting their stock.

[Tannhauser]

In the article they said it won't be grindy, career progression that is.

Sort of scared and excited about this.  I've lost so much of my life playing civ 

[satael]

While XL Games' previous MMOs have been "Korean grinds" atleast they've released 3 of them successfully which is something that is starting to weigh more and more when it comes to whether I'm interested in some MMO project (as first time or even second time publishers seem to flounder these days when it comes to actually launching a working game).

[Yoru]

In the article they said it won't be grindy, career progression that is.

You believe what game developers say in interviews? How precious.

[Numtini]

Civilization Online "is not a fixed world like traditional MMORPGs," explained Song. Each civilization starts in its own area, and players must explore outwards to expand their civilizations. Because of this, players will have no idea what level of advancement other civilizations are until they bump into them.

Well, unless they read the forums.