There's just something so enticing about Norse mythology, between the heavy drinking and the constant battling it just has so much to offer on a primal level. It
would appear that game developers have taken notice of this over the last few years and have been increasingly incorporating this into their games. We've had
Valkyrie Profile on the Playstation, Rune on the PC, and let's not forget the classics like Norse by
Norsewest. Now it would seem that Funcom will be venturing forth into the world of Viking culture with
Midgard, a MMORPG for the PC. However, this won't be a strictly combat oriented affair, this game will actually
emphasize resource management, trade, and politics.
The
crux of Midgard looks to embrace the more social aspects of online RPGs
by having people take up a trade, be it being a blacksmith, a hunter, a
tanner, a
farmer, a tailor, or any of the other expected fields of expertise found
in that era. This should appeal to the Ultima Online players who
preferred to spend their time
baking as opposed to laying waste to all manner of beast roaming the
countryside. However, players won't be able to directly choose their
specialty in something like the character creation section at the start
of things. Instead their character will be plunked down in Midgard and
players will then have to seek an apprenticeship and slowly learn the
ropes in their trade, all the while developing a reputation in their
skill, be it as a talented tanner, or an incompetent blacksmith. This
will then determine how they rise in the ranks of their village and how
important they will become to even the surrounding villages for their
skill. It could even result in them becoming the leader of the village
if the other players inhabiting the settlement deem you important enough
in your skills to also act as a leader for them. This is the main focus
of how characters will advance in the game, not through combat and
"leveling up", but through learning skills, and gaining
influence in their community.
All of this isn't to say that combat is non-existent, this is a game
about Vikings after all so expect there to still be plenty conflict to
be had. Midgard will be inhabited by the gambit of beasts from Norse
mythology, from giants to the big boys of myth like Fenris, a gigantic
wolf who roamed the forests, leaving death and destruction in his wake.
Where we have Vikings we also have Valhalla, that happy-go-lucky
afterlife where the Norse warriors could spend eternity eating,
drinking, and pounding the crap out of one another. When players die in
Midgard they go to Valhalla instead of just looking forward to the grim
task of corpse recovery. Interestingly, Valhalla will also server as the
only PvP area of the entire game where players can beat each other over
the head to their hearts content. It will also work as a makeshift chat
room to yack it up with the other players there. When players have had
enough of Valhalla, they can return to Midgard and get back to baking,
or whatever they were doing before.
The
game is still very early in development, so there still hasn't been any
screenshots released so that we can have some idea of the motif of
Midgard. At this point there is just concept art to look at, all of
which has that wispy, oil painting look to it similar to that found in
the art from Icewind Dale. There is also some audio samples available
for download at Midgard's Official Site, showcasing what some of the
music will sound like, and again it has a very similar feel to it that
the music in Icewind Dale has, mellow, subdued, and somewhat
ethereal.
The people developing the game come from a number of past projects, most
notably there are people who worked on The Longest Journey, No Escape,
and a few people who worked on Anarchy Online. Unfortunately for Midgard,
the biggest problem it faces is not the already crowded MMORPG market,
nor the currently weak state of the global economy, it's the simple fact
that the game is being made by Funcom, the same company responsible for
the buggy debacle, Anarchy Online (Don't you just love the irony in that
title?). Those who bought AO last summer are still up in arms over there
poor technical quality of the game and this has cast a dark shadow on
Funcom of late. Now the only question remains, will Midgard be the
company's redemption, or will it even be given a chance considering the
company's recent track record.
