The Secret World

[SuicideBunny]

I don't understand why some people think that the devs don't have faith in their product. Because they use a subscription modell?

selling lifetime subs for 200bucks before launch is a sure sign that the devs don't expect the game to perform well or run significantly longer than one year before the p2p switch, and their content plans will look accordingly.

 

[Cassidy]

The thing that disappoints me the most is that there is so much stupid, unbelievable stuff right from the get go, instead of gradually easing the player into the supernatural nature of the world, like say Bloodlines did.

Even Deus Ex, which never took its central conspiracy theme much seriously(Bob Page is so stereotypically villainous it hurts) managed to create a sufficiently believable world that the "decline of liberty" it had in-game was believable even if the whole conspiracy and AI merge weren't, but still good enough for suspension of disbelief. What a disappointment. EVE Online isn't even about conspiracies and featured and features far more conspiracies from interactions and power plays between players than this ever will. And speaking of which, this whole theme becomes little more than window dressing without gameplay mechanics that empower the players to try changing the game world and becoming their own political entities and secret societies competing with each other there instead of fetching 7 shoggoth eyes for Templars in the same instanced quest over and over. Add shitty writing and we can really compare this to Dan Brown crap as in both exploit conspiracy themes to draw attention and are shit.

Ultimately a multiplayer strategy game with a very strong and detailed set of espionage/covert actions game mechanics, where drawing too much attention would lead to severe penalties as violating the masquerade does in VTMB, would fit much better for this kind of theme. Instead of the "LOL WE ARE MEN IN BLACK AND THOSE ARE ALIENS LOOK EVERYONE NOTHING TO SEE HERE" the comments about this one suggests. Speaking of it even the MiB film(the comedy one) is more believable than this(ok I may have exaggerated now).

tl;dr: Traditional grindan MMORPGs don't fit well with this game's theme and underutilize its potential for awesome backroom deals between players and their "guilds".

 

[J_C]

How do you even know how will the conspiracies work in the game, when you really can't see that from the beta?

Yeah, and Bloodlines eased the player into the supernatural world alright. We were dropped in the middle of vampire societies right in the intro.

 

[Angthoron]

While I'm not playing the beta, I'd imagine that if conspiracies were an important part of the game, they'd be featured more prominently to impress the players and make them hype the feature.

 

[Sul]

Deal with it. We are talking about a theme-park MMORPG here. Conspiracies will be nothing more than excuses for instanced Faction vs Faction gameplay.
Funcom wants to play safe, especially after Age of Conan.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

If theme park MMOs are so bad, how come most people here seem to like Guild Wars 2?

 

[SuicideBunny]

because it has fun combat that doesn't feel like a chore that you have to finish in order to get to the good parts and easy instant travel that doesn't require you to waste half an hour watching the screen before you are able to meet up with some buddy and actually play.

 

[J_C]

The basic combat system is similar in GW2 and TSW. GW2 seems a bit more refined but I take TSW's clunky combat over GW2's generic high fantasy theme, and oversaturated graphics which I'm fed up with.

 

[Angthoron]

The basic combat system is similar in GW2 and TSW. GW2 seems a bit more refined but I take TSW's clunky combat over GW2's generic high fantasy theme, and oversaturated graphics which I'm fed up with.

Because steampunk is high fantasy now.

Also from what I see TSW is more like Fallen Earth than GW2 in terms of combat mechanics.

 

[SuicideBunny]

eh, the charr having their industrial revolution doesn't make all of gw2 steampunk. it is mostly a high fantasy theme and a lot of it will feel generic, especially when you are disinclined to give it more than just a quick look.

The basic combat system is similar in GW2 and TSW.

hmkay, if you say so... let's talk again after both games have been out for a year.

 

[Angthoron]

eh, the charr having their industrial revolution doesn't make all of gw2 steampunk.

There's the Asura as well. Plus a bunch of random crap from I'm not even sure what half the time. Sure, it's not Arcanum-level steaming, but still.

 

[Mangoose]

Are there any adventure games that have gameplay similar to Secret World's investigative quests? As in requiring you to do outside research and make really intuitive guesses?

 

[markec]

Lore missions in Starfleet Academy in Star Trek Online.

 

[asxetos]

they just sent me an extra invite to give away.
first person to send me a pm will get it

EDIT:
sent to Hoaxmetal

 

[Morgoth]

Finally got a Beta key today and now I can't download the client because there's server maintenance?

 

[Morgoth]

Been playing a bit now. It's really nicely done, but despite it's modern day paint and dark atmosphere, it's just another MMO in the end of the day. That is, you run around a lot and kill stuff.

God I'd kill for a Ragnar Tornquist/Funcom developed Secret World singelplayer RPG. But in the meantime, this is pretty much the best we can hope for a nice Lovecroftian/horror inspired game done well. Maybe I'm gonna pick it up later this year, or maybe I won't. But if I ever decide to go back to MMO gaming again, I know which one to buy.

 

[J_C]

Wait, what? How can you play it? The beta weekend supposed to start on tomorrow.

I suggest you play the investigation missions, those are not typical MMO stuff.

 

[Morgoth]

Beta weekend? It says Closed Beta.

 

[Mangoose]

BTW the investigation quests are the ones with the 'laptop' icon.

I redownloaded the client and will be playing this weekend because I am so fucking bored with life.

 

[Morgoth]

Anybody else playing this in DX9 instead?

This is really all hit and miss. LA Noire and Civ5 run better with DX11, but it seems TSW is still using some old-ass engine that is struggling with maxed-out settings on DX11, while there's zero problem with DX9. When will those fuckers leave WinXP to die already?

Either way, this game is growing on me. Fuck.

 

[J_C]

You got a code to the closed beta? You lucky son of a bitch. :D

I play the game in DX9, because the optimization is so shitty so far, that the game is unplayable in DX11 for me. And I have a good PC.

 

[Morgoth]

Been playing more, and the game is seriously addictive. Unlike many other MMOs, including Funcom's own AoC, this one keeps me entertained and entertained. Now I'm even contemplating to get a Grand Master Pack (including Lifetime sub) for a nice €200 Jewros, since I'm such a Jew.

 

[J_C]

Been playing more, and the game is seriously addictive. Unlike many other MMOs, including Funcom's own AoC, this one keeps me entertained and entertained. Now I'm even contemplating to get a Grand Master Pack (including Lifetime sub) for a nice €200 Jewros, since I'm such a Jew.

Good, good. Succumb to the Dark side. I didn't have chance to play it this weekend yet, but according to what I saw, they improved the game quite a lot in the last few weeks.

 

[Thane Solus]

Well i played the second weekend, and i am dissapointed.

Good:

- Enviorment, dark and gritty, zombies, unknown etc.
- Skill system
- Melee+ range + magic abilities

Bad:

- not enough to stand up from the evercrack/wow recipe
- combat not so good
- CINEMATIC DIALOGUE, FU BIOWARE!
- same static content, same shit thempark recipe

I am sure it will be fun to play it for a few weeks maybe months, but it really doesn't bring anything new to keep you in.

Maybe i played way too many mmos and i am burned out...

 

[Morgoth]

Things I like:

-Setting; atmosphere
-Some really good writing
-Open Character development
-PvE, Singleplayer focused
-Felt very polished (at least the Closed Beta, which I heard is a newer build than the Beta weekend)

Either way. WoW didn't keep me long entertained, even AoC didn't keep me long entertained, and those hacks at Mythic who made Warhammer Online deserve to go out of business entirely. TOR? I'm not even bothering with this outdated WOW+Lightsabers+BioWare inaneness POS. But I think TSW really captivated exactly what I enjoy about large-scale RPGs. I'm gonna wait a couple of weeks to see whether the entire game has the same polish as Kingsmouth, if yes, Funcom has the permission to take my Jewros.