Preview Hellgate: London pre-stuff at Gamespy

Tags: Bill Roper; Flagship Studios; Hellgate: London

<a href=http://pc.gamespy.com/>Gamespy</a> also gets their share of recent <a href=http://www.hellgatelondon.com/>Hellgate: London</a> news with a <a href=http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/hellgate-london/754393p1.html>preview</a> of the game. There's not much going on, other than mentioning <i>Diablo</i> and drooling over being able to recolor your gear to impress whoever may care about that. Short clip:
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As is the fashion for RPGs these days, quests are easy to find in the main areas via NPCs with "!" icons over their heads. In an effort to differentiate quests from the same-old-same-old, Flagship is trying to create as many unique, memorable quests as possible. As an example, Roper showed us a mission called "Lights Out," which involved your character heading into a lower dungeon with just a flashlight to light the way, evoking visions more of DOOM 3 than any RPG.
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Because of atmosphere? Because of creatures in the shadows? Because he had to switch between his weapon and the flashlight? We may never know.
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Anyway, they manage to get some clarification on that whole subscription hoopla:
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Will the MMO-like features add any ongoing cost to the game? There's been been widespread speculation that Hellgate will require a ongoing subscription fee, but as Roper clarified for us at CES on Wednesday morning, no official decisions or announcements have been made on that topic. Roper acknowledged that once you start running your game like an MMORPG, you need money for a customer support team, but there are any number of ways that might happen. Common sense dictates that some kind of fee might be required; we're hoping it's just a one-time deal or something along the lines of a one-year subscription.
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So the final statement is that you'll have to pay <i>for something</i>, but Flagship still hasn't figured out what.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPG Watch</A>

 

How right they are.

 

This game will fall in to obscurity after a few months. Even in such a mainstream industry the common gamer isnt interested in this crap.

 

I guess you'll have to pay <i>something</i> when you buy the game?

 

The common gamer is interested in this type of crap. Look at the success of Titan Quest, which is just an uninspired unpolished version of Diablo2. Ditto for Sacred. Both of those games are either getting expansions or sequels and neither are very good.

Hellgate London is the same thing except highly polished with a couple unique features and in full 3D. That's about all it takes for it to be HUGE a success. That's what World of WarCraft basically was.

 

And don't forget that cenarios are sort of randomized like in a roguelike game. That maybe the only remotely intersting thing in this game and only because games are a desert of inspiration these days.

 

I meant that there will be no sign of it on the gaming sites, the forums will be dead etc.