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Platform: PC
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Age
of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Mention
the name Conan, and the first thing most people think of are big, bad
drums, with large, muscular barbarians who look like they budgeted far too
much for gigantic swords, and far too little for a comprehensive
wardrobe. The
Schwarzenegger films brought the Conan franchise to people’s
attention, and there have been quite a number of books to come out over
the years that continued the barbarian’s adventures, but now Funcom is
taking the world of Conan to the realm of online gaming with their new
MMORPG, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.
Setting itself apart from other online RPGs, Age of Conan will actually start off as a single player game, with players making their way to level 20 on their own, and forging their own path in Hyboria before hopping online to play. At first, players will start off as a slave in one of the three starting regions of the game (and no, you can’t play as Conan, he’s an NPC in the game), and have to fight their way to freedom, fame, and so forth. During these early portions of the game, players will start as a commoner, and at level five will have a small, basic collection of classes to choose from, ranging from warrior, to mage, to priest, to rogue. Once players hit level 20, though, the rest of Hyboria will open up, and players can take part in the MMORPG portion of Age of Conan. This could be an interesting way of approaching the genre, as it prevents things like power leveling, and forces players to really learn their character, and get a sense for the game’s world. Once players his level 40, they will be able to specialize their character even further. Interestingly, Age of Conan will go so |
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far as
to allow players to exclusively go through the single player game if
they like, never stepping foot in the online portions of the title,
though with the new abilities that come at level 40, and all of the
other intangibles that come with an online game it seems unlikely most
will call it quits before at least trying the game online.
The one area where things could become troublesome, though, is when players decide they want an alt. If Age of Conan were to go in the same direction that Dark Age of Camelot does, where players can start an alt at level 20, consequently skipping |
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Age
of Conan’s
single player portion, then players would not have as much of an
opportunity to learn their new character.
However, if players do start from the beginning, how inclined
will they be to see similar narratives again?
They may be making a new class because they want to have it ready
as soon as possible to help their guild, which is short of that class.
The last thing your guild buddies want to hear is, "Well, I'm off
to create a priest. See ya in a few weeks!"
It’s a bit of a catch 22, and Funcom will have their work cut
out to address this.
As
far as the narrative is concerned for Age of Conan, writers from several
popular games will be involved in this new title, including people who
previously worked on The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, and Anarchy Online.
However, when players aren’t dealing with the story telling in
the game, they’ll likely be out and about, bashing, stabbing, and
blasting stuff. With that
in mind, Age of Conan’s combat system looks to be a complete about
face from what we normally see in an MMORPG.
More often than not, combat in an online RPG seems more like
something out of an S&M party with its, “You hit me, then I’ll
hit you” mentality. In
Age of Conan, things will happen in real-time, and players will be able
to control how and where their weapons swing, giving the game somewhat
of an action game feel to it. This
new style of combat will likely be something to keep an eye on during
PvP play.
In
online play, combat will have more to it than simply bonking people over
the head. Age of Conan will
introduce the concept of formations similar in concept to that which has been seen
in games running on the Infinity Engine, like Baldur’s Gate or Icewind
Dale. With formations, one
player will be in charge of the group, directing them as they travel,
and choosing the particular formation that will be used.
However, the person in charge of the formation will control both NPCs and other
players depending on the situation.
Another
aspect that will be included in online play is that players will be able
to take part in building cities with houses, inns, shops, and such,
while surrounding as much of the these structures as possible with
walls. These cities won’t be guaranteed of safety, though, as
there will be plenty of monsters around that will try to lay siege to
the city, so players involved with the creation and upkeep of the town
may find a warning message while adventuring, advising them that their
town is under attack and that it may be a good idea to hightail it back
there to defend it.
Age
of Conan looks to be trying a number of new things that haven’t been
seen before, while including as much as possible from the lore of the
Conan universe. Hopefully
the finished product will be something that both long time fans of the
franchise and people that know little of it outside of the movies can
enjoy.
Mr.
Nash (May 2, 2005) |
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