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Vanguard - The Next EverQuest?
Posted May 10th, 2006 by Shayalyn
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Vanguard
The Next EverQuest?
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| by Karen “Shayalyn” Hertzberg | |
Approaching the Vanguard booth, one thought is running through my head: I can’t wait to see this game. You see, Vanguard is the game I’ve been following since last fall, and it’s the one I’ve been most eager to get my hands on. I look forward to it being the one game that will hold a candle to my first MMO, EverQuest. After getting a hands-on demo of the character creation system, and watching Sigil Games Online associate game designer, Steve Williams, demo Vanguard in action, I know that not only will I be able to create a completely unique wood elf, but she’ll be able to kick considerable ass as my favorite class, the druid.
As you begin your journey into Vanguard’s world of Telon, you’ll first create a character, selecting from a dizzying array of playable races and classes (which we’re told are subject to change until launch). Standing outside the Sigil booth, I watched a demo of a male orc warrior going through the rigors of customization. In a matter of five minutes, the orc’s appearance drastically changed…so much so that the first version would have been completely distinguishable from the latter.
Lisa Boleyn, associate game designer for Sigil, swept me inside the booth to let me demo the character customization system. If you’ve seen Star Wars Galaxies and EverQuest II, you’ve seen advanced character customization systems, but let me assure you…you ain’t seen nothing yet. Vanguard’s customization system is by far the most extensive I’ve seen.
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| A Horse! |
“Go ahead and play with it,” Boleyn encouraged. I started out on a screen where I could select my race, as well as its starting continent (which is determined by race). I chose a wood elf female. Without any further customization, she was already a realistic and appealing character, but it’s going to be impossible to resist tweaking in this game. Oh, there’s a random appearance generator if you want to go that route, but what fun is that?
I found right off that I could adjust things like my character’s arm mass, arm length, shoulder mass and torso scale in minute detail. Gone are the enormous mitten-like hands present in some MMO’s—there’s a hand scale adjustment. And yes, Virginia , there are boob sliders (well, Sigil calls it “breast scale,” but again…what fun is that?). And not only can you tweak those particular assets size-wise, you can also adjust them for perkiness (that’s called “lift.”) There’s also, in the same customization area, a slider for “mood,” (which may or may not be related to the ability to have cut an impressive figure, chest-wise). Mood changes the character’s facial expression from ornery to cheerful and everywhere in between.
“One of the things we’ve tried to do is allow players the options they need to look unique,” says Boleyn. “If you look at what makes brothers and sisters look similar, it’s the distance between their facial features. So what people can do is make completely different looking characters that are instantly recognizable by others.”
Genre: Fantasy
Status: Published
Release Date: January 30, 2007
Fee: P2P
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