Gods & Heroes Preview - Page 2 of 2

The “action combat” system of Gods & Heroes was the next topic of discussion, and it was here where we discussed how much the game looked and felt like a console game.  The Gods & Heroes combat system is based on interaction, with each player and enemy having unique moves that they can perform.  Moves such as trips and knockdowns were impressive to see in an MMO environment, adding to Gods & Heroes’ feel of being a console-like game.  The demoed movie showed a display of humans fighting humans as well as a human fighting a Cyclops, with all the special moves such as trips and throws being performed.

The example of the Romans fighting the Samnites was shown on screen with hundreds of NPCs fighting one another along with larger scale mobs such as War Elephants and even the Colossus.  The battle required the players to fight through and kill an enemy in the opposing faction’s fortress that will turn the tide of the battle and bring the Romans victory!  The demo beside us also showed an excellent example of the skirmish level combat in the forests with groups of satyrs.

From the screenshot gallery

The discussion of graphics came up next, and Awenyddion really wanted the goods on how such a graphically intensive game could run so smoothly.  According to Stieg, the Gods & Heroes game was built for a mid-level computer and not for a high end “uber” system.  It was also stated that there would be various different options in terms of visual controls, such as turning off grass, shadows, and other things that you will no doubt buy a better video card to see.  All of Gods & Heroes characters and NPCs are non motion-captured and all done by hand animation, a really impressive feat for a game of this graphical quality.

Character creation was then brought up in a direct manner by Awenyddion who teased Stieg about Vanguard’s robust character creation system.  In terms of graphics, there will be various different facial customization as well as body type and color.  The more unique option in Gods & Heroes is the option to choose a primary and secondary color that will be visible on your character as well as you minions.  No details were given as to specific character options, but don’t worry; they should be coming soon!

Future content planned includes epic style raids of players that with minions will come out to hundreds of different characters engaging in combat against the high level content of the game.  Since Gods & Heroes has a very heavy reliance on the use of minions and their integration with the players, there will no doubt be larger content that expands on the strategic use of minions. 

Walking out of the SoE booth, after wiping the drool off Awenyddion’s face, I had to lower my head in shame after realizing what happened.  I’ve researched and done interviews for almost five games this E3, and I have intents on subscribing to all of them now. Gods & Heroes will be no different in this regard, another game I MUST play when it comes out.  Damn you Perpetual, damn you right to hell!