Everquest II's lore just doesn't make any sense. - Page 2

Morgander · 03-15-2008, 03:47 PM

I agree, I feel there's no use at all for greed in the gameing industry. A good game makes a huge profit because it's a good game. When a bad game makes a good profit, it's because that's what the company set out to do, and nothing more.

Being the best of the worst isn't something to be proud of--a title I believe EQII nearly claims. Granted if you enjoy WoW or other such popular mmo titles, there's definately nothing wrong with them, in my opinion they simply aren't the same kind of games to those in the style of EQII.

Granted, EQII seems to be copying WoW more and more lately. I'm still waiting for the day when EQII decides that it's time to allow players to pay a small fee for any item/level/reward they want in the game. That'll be a funny day in my eyes.

Edwin Ahe · 03-15-2008, 03:50 PM

Hmmmm I`m the only one who thinks that there was no open war between Qeynos and Freeport when eq2 was released? It was like "cold war", when leaders wave their fists, call each other names, but without open conflict.

Niber · 03-15-2008, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgander

I agree, I feel there's no use at all for greed in the gameing industry. A good game makes a huge profit because it's a good game. When a bad game makes a good profit, it's because that's what the company set out to do, and nothing more.

Exactly, until that mentality changes we're stuck with fast food. There are flickers of hope tho. Ilucide, despite being an arrogant bastard is EQ2s best designer, the guy constantly breaks convention, it's a shame there aren't more like him.

Edwin Ahe · 03-15-2008, 03:55 PM

We should open new game-studio, and show $OE how it`s done! :P
On a serious note, maybe it can actually work? Oo

Niber · 03-15-2008, 04:00 PM

I think the solution is two fold.

1. Accountability -- publish which designers do what in the patch notes (no more mysteries!).
2. Allow the playerbase to interact with the designers. Reward those designers with the most positive feedback.

I think these two changes alone would increase content quality exponentially, especially if feedback is factored into promotions and raises. They're being paid to entertain us, so lets reward the designers that are the most successful.

Vainamoinen · 03-15-2008, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin Ahe

We should open new game-studio, and show $OE how it`s done! :P
On a serious note, maybe it can actually work? Oo

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but waht if this is already the case?

Edwin Ahe · 03-15-2008, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but waht if this is already the case?

Then I only got one question: Where do I send my application?

kanolth · 03-15-2008, 04:07 PM

I definitely noticed that the cold war between Qeynos and Freeport was forgotten after the first expansion.

It was a great concept, but it wasn't enforced and that's why it fails.

In hindsight, keeping this cold war going by instituting conditional pvp and other stuff, would have allowed for the expansions to continue supporting this cold war of two leaders vying for power in the new Norrath, because players would have cared.

But instead, no one gives a shit anymore about any of it and lore has become diluted by hack-content designers who look to WoW for inspiration, when they should be looking at WoW for ideas on what NOT to do.

Morgander · 03-15-2008, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin Ahe

We should open new game-studio, and show $OE how it`s done! :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin Ahe

On a serious note, maybe it can actually work? Oo

It takes a lot of work to have a game of this magnitude developed.

For the most part, companies won't make your ides, they simply won't. It doesn't matter how good they are, they won't take them in any light.

The gaming industry is a lot like other areas of the entertainment industry, such as the movie industry. You may be a brilliant screenplay writer, but to have your movie made, that's an incredibly turmoil filled endeavor.

It's doable, but it's incredibly challenging.

First off, you need a team of developers. No company, at all, under almost any circumstance, will simply take an "idea" and make it a game. You need to put it together yourself. Even Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler during the initial throws of Everquest's production while they were still in collage was created primarily based on just those two individuals. It often takes years and millions of dollars to see a plan through to fruition, and even then they can flop (ala Vanguard).

I believe that online developers aren't seeing the bigger picture though. The next generation of online games need to deviate from the standard rung of developmental mistakes current these days.

We need people who love to play games--to make games. That's the key right there. The biggest problem the way I see it is, making games takes more work than any single person (out of the biz) understands. I hear people regularly talk about their desires to get access to the gaming industry, but very few would be willing to do what's necessary to actually get their foot in the door.

You have to make a game in order to get financed, and you have to be financed in order to make a game. The irony of that vicious full-circle is that until you can find a way to do that, you better hope you can even work on a game project, let alone create one yourself.

That's my goal of course, but we'll keep that on the down low for now.

Caswydian · 03-15-2008, 04:10 PM

MMOs are hugely expensive these days. There have been some major disasters recently - Vanguard at 30 million and Tabula Rasa at over 100 million - come to mind,
and the general consensus is that WoW has essentially won, and theres not much point in trying to compete with them for now. Thus, getting money for a startup venture is going to be very difficult. So far, it seems SOE is really the only one pushing to develop original titles like The Agency and Free Realms, while most others are looking to build games on existing properties like Age of Conan and Warhammer.

Ironically, for all the bashing that goes on, SOE would probably be your best bet if you're looking to get an independent MMO published, as SOE is already positioning themselves as both a developer and publisher, as we've seen with PotBS. I'm not aware of any other major company that has similar relationships.