Preview Globe Technology Previews Hellgate: London

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Flagship Studios; Hellgate: London

Canada's Globe & Mail has <a href=http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050527.gthellgatemay27/BNStory/AtPlay/>previewed</a> Hellgate: London with an interesting interview with Flagship COO Max Schaeffer about the role-playing aspects of the game, and gameplay. Here's a snippet of the game's role-playing aspects:
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<blockquote>Flagship is promising that Hellgate's storyline will also be in some ways dynamic. "Our opinion," Schafer says, "is that you are the story in an RPG. Hellgate: London will have a vivid and rich back-story, but we will not force detailed narrative and plot upon the player. Instead, the player will write the specific story with their accomplishments."
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Hellgate's quests won't be simply "take item A to place B." Schafer asserts that Flagship intends to "expand the definition of quests so that there are smaller events that the player happens upon, quick missions given, and full-bore quests that advance the storyline."</blockquote>
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Read the rest <a href=http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050527.gthellgatemay27/BNStory/AtPlay/>here</a>.

 

[Screaming_life]

"Our opinion," Schafer says, "is that you are the story in an RPG.

Cop-out

 

[Astromarine]

"Chapter 1: I killed 60 goblins. Chapter 2: I killed 60 orcs. Chapter 3: I killed 60 minotaurs"

 

[Fez]

Epic.

 

[Txiasaeia]

"Hellgate: London will have a vivid and rich back-story, but we will not force detailed narrative and plot upon the player. Instead, the player will write the specific story with their accomplishments."

I could care less about creating a story than roleplaying a character. It's comments like this that makes Hellgate feel more and more like merely a FPS with RPG elements rather than an FPS-RPG like Deus Ex, for instance.

 

[Sol Invictus]

It's an Action RPG. Like Diablo. What do you expect, honestly?

 

[Naked_Lunch]

I expect tits. And lots of them.

 

[Fez]

Sorry, jiggle-tech went down with Toika.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I like the idea of the player creating a story based on what he does. That's pretty much how a lot of the truly open ended CRPGs have done things. The trick is to leave a lot of details about the world-at-large laying around for the player to find and then offering choices in how such bits of information can be handled.

However, I have to question if that's what Hellgate: London will really be doing as opposed to just tossing random area with random monsters at the player over and over again without little tidbits of larger events that the player can react to going on around him.