E3 SOE Round Up

Wrapping up E3 the SOE Way

By: Tony "RadarX" Jones

 

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As I sit in the airport terminal, exhausted from this weeks E3, I'm reflecting on the slew of MMO's that I've seen (amongst other things). I visited dozens of booths this week, but SOE had one of the most impressive array of games. While they did show every MMO they currently support, there were 4 games inside their Castle Grayskull booth they gave the media a better look at. Gods and Heroes, Vanguard, Star Wars Galaxies, and EverQuest 2. As luck would have it (by luck I mean TenTonHammer made appointments), I managed to see every one of these games.

Gods and Heroes is one of the more interesting MMO titles I saw. The mythological premise, is always popular among those wishing to smite mere mortals. What really made this game stand out though, was the use of minions. Yes can we all use "pets" in other games but have you ever had more than 1 or 2? The game even had a console like feel of special moves like leg sweeps, and a wrestling style flip. This game has absolutely amazing potential to be a great title and with the right care and mechanics could be a serious contender in the MMO genre. It's still in early development, but I'm anticipating we'll be seeing a lot more in the coming months.

Next up, was Vanguard. Ahh, game that I loathed but now want to to try, it's quite the enigma. On one hand, I saw some cool looking dungeon crawls, complete with creature spawning trapped chests. Out door dungeons, decent graphics, and working ships raised my respect for Vanguard. On the other hand, Doug Kronkhite made repeated mention of "core games" and seemed to scoff at the exsistence of "casual gamers." I don't consider myself a casual gamer. I don't raid, but I put in some decent hours. I don't like having to travel forever to meet up with friends. If I can't find a group, I don't want to craft. By the time E3 concluded, I had spoken with three different Sigil developers and had not once heard the word "fun" mentioned. I consider fun, in addition to challenge, a vital gameplay element. Vanguard has an amazingly experienced group of individuals, so here is to hoping they can do everything.

Star Wars Galaxies. The name itself brings fond memories, and the anger of many former players. I personally never experienced the combat upgrade, and haven't played since but this game just keeps chugging along. Even before my appointment I poked at one of the EQ2 Developers to see if they knew what SWG was showing. They gave me some line about G-14 classified and re-nerfing Templar DPS, so I had to back down. All this hush hush had to mean one thing, expansion. This was SOE. Of course it was an expansion. I went in with my game face on, prepared to act shocked at the announcment. No expansion. What?! No expansion? Why are you you guys in the SOE castle with no expansion news?

The character in the demonstration stepped into a city, and a scripted battle began. Rebel soldiers began spawning, and running straight into a mob of defending Imperials. Ok, a scripted battle I can admit is fairly cool, but worth the booth? Feh. Finally, the battle ended with a blinding flash of light encompassing the city, and heavy smoke rolled in. After about ninety seconds, the smoke cleared and the city was in ruins. What?! No server reboot? Wow....then he goes and runs up a girder to the second level! Holy crap! SWG just went vertical (make your jokes because I did)! This is supposed to hit servers next month.

EverQuest 2! Here is what I had really come for. Echoes of Faydwer and The Fallen Dynasty, were two titles I knew they would be showing, and I couldn't wait. I got Steve "Moorgard" Danuser for my presentation so I got to ask questions, and he knew the answers and everything! Echoes was just a demo video, with a few in game video sequences. I'm excited about the new race and new starting city, but I'm curious how they are going to build an entire new set of content for level 1-70. How much content is there going to be? Could I hang around and level there? Where are my freaking safety rails?

The Fallen Dynasty was EverQuest 2's asian themed adventure pack coming next month. The armor, the weapons, the pig races? I watched in glee, as you could bet on one of eight pigs, and they ran down a pen setup for racing. So much betting to do, so little money. The entire theme of the zone was very cool, from the authentic looking village, to the twenty foot high, half snake women who look exactly like a woman scorned. The zone is built for levels 55-70, which seems to be a majority of the population, so I'm excited I'll have new quests to complete. Achievement Point grinding gets a bit tedious after awhile, and a new zone is just what we need.

SOE did a great job this year, and I'm not easy to impress (read my Dark and Light interview). Despite how easy it is to become jaded with MMO products, I foresee great things in 2006/2007 from everything they showed this week. As I fly over New Mexico, I'll leave you with a bit of unrelated knowledge I picked up this week. On an airplane, children have two modes: Off, and so freaking loud you want to bash your head through the window, depressuring the cabin, and ending it quicker. I'll definetly have an iPod before I make another trip like this again.