Auto Assault NDA lifted

[d4rkj3di]

I tried it with a USB Xbox 360 controller, and it was a little more fun, but still only for a couple of hours.  This could actually be part of their cunning, "casual friendly gameplay" strategy.  Unlike WoW, which I used to spend anywhere from 8-14 hours a day, Auto Assault may allow me to have a life.

[Stormwaltz]

My own opinion only, not speaking for the company, not even speaking for the coworkers who have also played AA.

I played the PA weekend. It was... okay. Not unexpectedly thrilling like I found City of Heroes, not personally offensive like I found Guild Wars. Just kind of meh (except for the towns, where controls and animations reeked of a rush job). It didn't engage me at any point, I never got immersed in playing. That said, I put in a preorder.

If AA doesn't sell, pointy-headed morons in marketing departments all over the gaming industry will point at it and say, "See? Non-fantasy MMGs don't sell! We need to make EQ XXIV!"

I'm sick to fucking death of fantasy MMGs. I hate them enough to risk $50 on Auto Assault. It's like the last election, when I didn't vote for Kerry, but voted against Bush. The game would have had to offend me in order to stop that preorder, and it didn't do that. I'll give them a month or two to sort things out.

[Modern Angel]

That's absurdly idealistic. I love it!

I'm not dead set against buying it. I might. I might not. What I've discovered is that as these games get more solo/casual friendly I'm more apt to treat them like I would any other game since I don't have to be on every hour of the day to keep up. That's how they SHOULD be treated, ideally.

As such, I keep two subscriptions. The first is to WoW which I still enjoy with the exception of some design flaws. When I get frustrated with those design flaws or just need a change of pace I play something else. It was EQ2 until it made me barf, now it's CoV with a little Guild Wars thrown in as of yesterday. It might very well be Auto Assault if I think they realize they're too deep in the development cycle to turn things around but recognize their mistakes for another day.

I wonder how NCSoft is going to react though. It's not going to do very well and they've not had a flop yet. I like NCSoft because whether I like one of their individual games or not they're willing to take chances on different things. I hope it doesn't make them gunshy.

[Sky]

Screw the pointy-headed morons. If they can't see that it's only the bad implementation that didn't sell, and miss ALL of us wishing it were a good implementation, well, capitalism will take care of them and they'll be behind failed fantasy mmo #43397. The important data is how many people have built up interest in AA to be completely let down...leaving a chasm filled with subscription dollars. The thing pointy-headed morons are supposed to locate and mine...

I was playing it with a wireless gamepad, the results weren't exactly what I'd call fun. Quirky at best. But then, Planetside isn't very good with a gamepad, either, and that game has great gameplay.

[Furiously]

Planetside isn't very good with a gamepad, either, and that game has great gameplay.

It isn't that good.  Weapon balance has always screwed the game.

[shiznitz]

Planetside isn't very good with a gamepad, either, and that game has great gameplay.

It isn't that good.  Weapon balance has always screwed the game.

Weapon balance is a lame critique of PS. Play the "overpowered" faction and shut the hell up. I played TR. Yes, they "felt" weaker but that only made it more fun to play TR. Nothing better than killing those jackhammer assholes with a boomer or thumper.

[Strazos]

Is it just me, or was the linked post great, while the following posts were moronic?

I would go flame them if I had the energy. Skiing does that I guess. 

[Modern Angel]

That was sort of my point. If a good critique is subsequently drowned out by a deluge of BEST GAME EVER MADE then the devs don't get to hear what they desperately need to hear.

[Hoax]

What I liked was that all the AA lovers couldn't explain why he was wrong, instead they said things like:  "I would bother to tell you why everything you said is wrong, but obviously you wont care so I'm not going to bother" or even better "that can be fixed after launch, for now they need to focus on the bugs" welcome to MMO's newblet what you see in beta is what you get.  If anything it gets worse (more people = more bugs/lag/problems).

[Signe]

This game is so bad, how could anyone possibly say it's good.  I'm sure all those people just don't know about the colour green.

[AcidCat]

Weapon balance is a lame critique of PS. Play the "overpowered" faction and shut the hell up.

Yes, yes, yes, thank you.

[Sky]

It isn't that good.  Weapon balance has always screwed the game.

Oh, I agree. That's why I said the gameplay was great, not the game. The game has some huge flaws and the dev team isn't so hot.

I fucking hate jackspammers and refuse to play NC. I really do hate them, take that weapon out and the game instantly gets much better.

[HaemishM]

That was sort of my point. If a good critique is subsequently drowned out by a deluge of BEST GAME EVER MADE then the devs don't get to hear what they desperately need to hear.

So pretty much every MMOG beta board, ever?

By the time the games get into late betas, the fanbois have a stranglehold on dev ears and it's too late to change game-fucking flaws in the design anyway. Auto Assault is a turd, and no, the money men with no clue about gaming will think it tanked because it wasn't fantasy.

Very few people seem to realize that sucking on a fundamental level transcends genre considerations every time.

[Modern Angel]

it just struck me as different because even the fanbois were tepid in their praise. Like someone above posted. "Yeah, well. It's pretty good. And, uh... that's all."

I expect rabid defense from the fans not some lukewarm semi-praise.

And they don't have to change it that goddamnedmuch to sell me on it. Make it so I don't feel like I'm moving in mud. Make it handle more like a normal racer; they've already tweaked it once. Make crafting not retarded because the underlying ideas behind it are decent. Make towns... okay, not much they can do about the towns. Different missions. An auction house. Something! Anything!

Instead it's not even that bad it's just resoundingly mediocre. I'd prefer it to be eye bleedingly awful like L2. At least then I could work up a string of fun swear words or something.

[Yegolev]

If AA doesn't sell, pointy-headed morons in marketing departments all over the gaming industry will point at it and say, "See? Non-fantasy MMGs don't sell! We need to make EQ XXIV!"

I can think of at least one non-fantasy MMO that is doing well.  The marketeers saying this are not in touch with the market.

If you wanted to screw the Fantasy Establishment, there are non-shitty games you could have subbed to.

[Hoax]

General consensus says that the money hats who run the Dev labor camps that churn out The Next Big ThingTM believe that Sci-fi MMO's are not what people want.  People want elves, with boobies, throw in a dragon and shiney armor/swords, a dash of generic spells (fireball!) and viola!

There are a great deal of people for which that is true, I wont pretend to understand them but I acknowledge their existence.

The problem with many Sci-fi titles, is that they try to make it into DnD with guns.  That definitely seems to be the problem with AA, the same old EQ-clone systems shoehorned into the brilliant concept of cars+guns.

[AcidCat]

Which is why I'm really, really hoping Huxley is good and succeeds.

[shiznitz]

Garriott is giving sci-fi a shot with Tabula Rasa. If he fails, then sci-fi MMOGs are dead for a long time.

[Sky]

The problem with many Sci-fi titles, is that they try to make it into DnD with guns.

Mmm...Gamma World. Or Star Frontiers?

I'd like to see Huxley be good, but it's way too soon to care, and chances say it'll suck. This is forward-looking information, of course.

[Llava]

I want a MMG called Strange Tales or something similar, set in the late 1700s to very early 1900s, focusing on an atmosphere of stories like Sherlock Holmes, Jekyl/Hyde, Invisible Man, Poe, Lovecraft, Frankenstein, you get the picture.  Even Brotherhood of the Wolf, toned down a bit, would be good source material for this.  Archaic, creepy, weird science surrounded by an occult atmosphere.  And hell, set it in London.

(Did I just ask for a League  of Extraordinary Gentlemen MMG?)

[schild]

I really want an interesting world, but I've come to accept that fact that an interesting world won't have enough dings to make people interested. I think there's a better chance of seeing small scale stuff sooner. Like the persistant UT2k4 RPG mod but full game packages like that. I'd actually prefer this. The ability to set up a server on f13 and only have friends playing appeals a lot more to me than just playing any MMOG.

[Signe]

Which is why I'm really, really hoping Huxley is good and succeeds.

Awww... you're so cute when you have hope. 

[Swede]

soooo.... If I just got into the euro beta, its not even worth the time to DL it?

[Hoax]

Well it depends on how much you value the ability to bitch from a position of authority I suppose.

[Signe]

I didn't like it at all so I would say don't bother.  However, there seems to be people on that forum who think it's wonderful.  I have to say, I've seen more negative opinions on gaming boards than positive.

[Swede]

weeeelll... I guess that could be said about most of the currently-under-development mmorpgs atm..)

[Signe]

weeeelll... I guess that could be said about most of the currently-under-development mmorpgs atm..)

Yeah, so what do you do?  I suppose your only reasonable option is to download it, check it out and come back here and say, "Signe was right.  Why do I ever doubt her.  And she's ever so cute, too."  To which I'll blush and giggle inanely.   

[Kageru]

I'm still willing to defend the position that the fantasy genre is inherently better suited to MMORPG's. The obvious one
is that it allows "magic" and "magical monsters" which gives amazing flexibility as to what the world can contain. A game
that wants to have a realistic sci-fi foundation has to be more realistic in what is possible. Fantasy also involves slow
travel, which allows for a smaller more intimate world.

However the main one is that fantasy is inherently team based. The idea of fragile casters, defensive healers, offensive
melee and plater armored tanks forms a functional gestalt group. In too many high tech environments the optimum
functional unit is solo (pilot, guy with a sniper rifle). Even if you're in a squad like in counterstrike the level of interaction
between members is still low.

[Righ]

Science Fiction is primarily fantasy anyhow, even when it's chock full of "hard science" like a Greg Bear novel. There are as many implausible ideas in a typical Sci-Fi potboiller as there are in "Swords And Sorcery" fantasy books. The biggest problem that comes from the accepted "Fantasy" genre is that the most popular form is something called "High Fantasy" which involves one or more heroes who have a destiny. That doesn't translate well to an MMOG where its not practical to give every player the feeling that they are the central axis of the story.

[Kail]

I'm still willing to defend the position that the fantasy genre is inherently better suited to MMORPG's. The obvious one
is that it allows "magic" and "magical monsters" which gives amazing flexibility as to what the world can contain.

Yeah, but as people are wont to quote, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.  Take your fireball spell, rename it "napalm launcher,"  and poof, you're done.  It's science.  And monsters = aliens.

However the main one is that fantasy is inherently team based. The idea of fragile casters, defensive healers, offensive
melee and plater armored tanks forms a functional gestalt group. In too many high tech environments the optimum
functional unit is solo (pilot, guy with a sniper rifle). Even if you're in a squad like in counterstrike the level of interaction
between members is still low.

Okay, but I don't think that's inherently because fantasy games encourage teamwork, I think it's because games that require teamwork have been (mostly) fantasy based, which is the problem people are griping about.  There's no reason you -couldn't- do a sci-fi game that had characters of different specialties and so on.  Even if you have trouble justifying why Bob can get shot ten times as often as Frank without dying, you can take it to the level of vehicles (to bring this back to Auto Assault for a second) and say that certain types of vehicles (let's call them, oh, say, "tanks") have a lot of armor, and other vehicles can repair their allies somehow (like that truck from Spy Hunter), and other vehicles have bigger guns, and you'd have an almost identical party mechanic to EQ/WoW/et al (if that's what you're after).

[Morfiend]

Steampunk MMOG please.

(Or Planescape)

[Signe]

I wouldn't mind a Steampunk MMO at all... with some really weird crafting, too.

[Modern Angel]

I'd sell my mother into slavery for a Planescape MMOG. And not a half-assed NWN thing, either.

[Righ]

I wouldn't mind a Steampunk MMO at all... with some really weird crafting, too.

Agreed, could a developer please speak to Frank Chadwick and sort out a Space 1889 MMOG setting?

[Shockeye]

I hope someone makes a Planescape or Steampunk MMO and it sucks beyond belief so I can stop hearing about how much you people want these things.