Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion (Squeenix)

[schild]

Finally, some news:

TOKYO--Although it's been about a year since Square Enix announced the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion, little has been heard of the game's development, and Square hasn't shown so much as a single playable demo. That looks t change, as Square Enix this week announced on the game's official Web site that it will begin recruiting beta testers for the PC game starting Monday.


One of the few things known about Fantasy Earth is that it will incorporate action RPG and strategy elements into the existing MMORPG formula. Although the game will have its share of goblins and other monsters from which to earn money and experience points, its core content will be realm-versus-realm battles between player characters. Players can associate themselves with one of five different countries in the game, and they can fight to take down one another's fortresses in battle. Up to 100 players can participate in a battle, divided into 50 players on each side.

Fantasy Earth is slated to make its commercial debut this winter.

That's the closest thing to a UI I can find in a screenshot. Hotbars are curiously missing. Could this be? Nah. It's probably hotkey driven.

[Velorath]

So their first MMO was EQ 1.5, and now this one will be DAOC 1.5?

[Pococurante]

I hope that SS is old...

[ahoythematey]

Yeah, I was wondering why the graphics don't look as polished as FFXI, but then meh.  Game sounds promising, keep us updated schild.

[schild]

I hope that SS is old...

You and everyone else who's ever played a square game knows they do better UI work than that. I, for one, would like to see if Squeenix can burp out a game without a soul-crushing grind.

[ahoythematey]

They do it all the time, actually.  Radiata Stories is a recent one that I enjoy, but generally speaking the FF games can all be turned into giant grinds when you factor in the levels, leet items, hidden areas, etc.  FF7 had the best grind I've ever done to date, what with chocobo breeding, races, materia hunting/building, limit breaks, gold saucer stuff, and on and on.  I suppose having a combat system that doesn't suck shit helps.

The question you are asking I suppose is if they can do the same in a MMO.  Me hopes so, me likey the Squeenix.

[HaemishM]

That bar on the right hand side looks a lot like a hotkey bar to me.

Also, if it has levels, it can suck my sweaty, hairy balls for dessert. I refuse to play a level-based RVR game that has faggy angst shemales for character graphics. Yes, Lineage 2 touched my no-no spot.

[WayAbvPar]

WTF is it with the giant oversized axe? That tiny character wouldn't be able to lift that thing over its androgynous head. HATE HATE HATE that kind of shit.

[Dren]

WTF is it with the giant oversized axe? That tiny character wouldn't be able to lift that thing over its androgynous head. HATE HATE HATE that kind of shit.

It's made of aluminum, duh!

[Nija]

Lineage 2.33333333333

No thanks. I like these games though. Less weirdo pedos in other games = good.

[Hoax]

I'm going to go against the grain and say I'm interested in how this turns out.  FFXI could have been a hell of a game but the grind was so terrible it made me want to cry tears of blood.  I have no idea why that ss looks like such ass when FFXI's art/world to me was better then WoW or EQ2.  Hopefully they will keep the complex (renkei was damn cool) combat system and take out the grind...

[Miasma]

I keep thinking that if they had Realm vs Realm in FFXI that the Japanese would have migrated to one side, North America the other, and then they would have knocked the shit out of eachother.

Edit: That might not have made sense if you never played FFXI.  Both Japanese and Americans are on the same servers, they include crude translation tools and your Looking for Group window has Japanese/English filters.  This caused a lot of both fun and friction.

[Margalis]

The game sounds to me a lot like Phantasy Star Online. It even looks like PSO.

I loved playing with Japanese players in FFXI, they were very polite and helpful.

[schild]

That bar on the right hand side looks a lot like a hotkey bar to me.

Looks like a hotbar for switching weapons.

[HaemishM]

How the fuck would one carry that many weapons of that size on one's person? 

[schild]

How the fuck would one carry that many weapons of that size on one's person? 

Matters? Do you have a packmule in WoW.

[HaemishM]

I have a hedgehog named Frank. In my anus.

[WayAbvPar]

I have a hedgehog named Frank. In my anus.

At least it's not a vole.

[Pococurante]

I have a hedgehog named Frank.

DIMSDALE!

[Strazos]

The game looks completely and utterly uninteresting. Are they even Attempting to do something that resembles "new"?

[schild]

The game looks completely and utterly uninteresting. Are they even Attempting to do something that resembles "new"?

Like the game you've been playing? Don't be a tool.

[Strazos]

Hey, I was just playing for the grouping. it's not like I wasn't bitching while playing.

Oh, and I'm not renewing my sub in October. Senior Seminar pwns me.

[Velorath]

As a former Square fanboy I wish I could muster up some interest in this game.  The truth is though, that Square hit it's peak way back in the Playstation Era (and Enix peaked even before that).

[WindupAtheist]

Square could make the greatest game ever, and I wouldn't play it until they figured out how to draw men that don't look like women.  IE, never.

[ahoythematey]

The men avatars in UO generally looked like effeminate fairies that spent their time when not playing dress-up traipsing through daisies and you are going to badmouth what Square does with some of their artwork to games that are generally excellent in gameplay?

[Pococurante]

Certainly the paperdolls do... but then the kind of guys who play with paperdolls probably expect that.