Funcom’s multi-year journey towards a finished version of
Age of Conan is showing a lot more of
the polish that’s been promised in recent months. For those not acquainted with
the most recent previous coverage
on MPOGD about Age of Conan, this is the M-rated MMO role-playing game based
off the brutal and rich fantasy world written about by Ron E. Howard and
immortalized in comics, movies and other games.
Funcom’s Game Director for Age of Conan, Gaute Godager, was our guide through
this latest revision of the game shown off at the 2008 Game Developers
Conference in San Francisco.
Godager recapped the introductory steps and scenes for new players entering the
game: Character customization begins with your character captive aboard a slave
ship, but appears to be more detailed, with more pre-set features to play with
for hair, facial types and more. Notably, this time around women are a choice to
pick from as a character type, but will have the sort of Amazon figures you’d
expect to be a match for the Schwarzenegger-esque features of the men. In fact,
as a further sign of just how much customization there can be, male and female
characters are even given the choice of three or four different types of voice
effects, including moans, groans, battle cries, etc.
Once the character is selected, play begins with your avatar stranded on the
shores of Tortage due to the slave ship wrecking during a storm. That starting
zone encompasses roughly the first twenty levels of play as a solo game play
experience. From the moment a player starts from the beach with a boat paddle in
hand, getting the hang of the real-time combat system is perhaps the most
important consideration.
All of this early-level exploration was largely similar to what was shown at
Eidos in December, when we last took a close look at Age of Conan. However, what
was considerably different was the smoothness and stunning beauty of the
graphics in motion on their test servers, especially in the Tortage area where
it was possible for me to compare and contrast what I’d seen in December. Every
texture and lighting effect seemed to have been given a facelift, thanks to the
new Direct X 10-fueled graphics engine rolled out in early January. The graphics
engine will scale back without sacrificing too much quality to accommodate less
advanced hardware than what was used to demo the game at GDC, according to Age
of Conan’s game director.
Then, we were shown new areas we hadn’t been shown before, starting with the
level 80 end-game area in the dungeons below Kheshatta, in the heart of the
magicians’ realm of Stygia. In this realm, the heavily buffed and well-balanced
party of a priestess, an assassin, a conqueror and a demonologist with a
summoned succubus were taking on a group of raptor-like lizards.
The most noteworthy new addition to the Age of Conan that Funcom revealed would
arguably be the mounted beasts that can be used for attack, expressly the War
Mammoth, War Rhino and War Horse, none of which are currently slated to be
earned in-game at this point but can be acquired through one form of purchase or
another. Godager compared the maneuverability and speed of the beasts to
vehicles in Grand Theft Auto, the mammoth being measured against the slow-moving
but tank-like bus and the horse on the other end of the spectrum being likened
to a fast, agile exotic sports car. The rhino, clearly taken from the movie 300,
is the balance of both ends of the mounted combat spectrum. Most attacks from
these mounts aren’t too dissimilar from ground combat, just from an elevated and
defensible position – using front, right, left, center and back attacks of the
“real combat” system and the few keys needed to carry it out. “High level
opponents,” Godager warned, “can knock you off your mount or slow you down,
although it’s a very effective position to attack from.”
The last demonstration from the game served to illustrate the power of guilds,
through the visually impressive if god-like construction of a defensible city in
a large plains area. “The process of building a city is very much like an RTS,”
Godager said. “There’s resource gathering to build it and you also have to be
careful to defend the positions in a city once you’ve created it.”
To even be eligible to build a city to start with, a player needs 30 members in
their guild. Resources must be gathered to build the keep and its walls. Then,
beneficial buildings that benefit the entire guild can be built into the city
structure. Temples and smithies add bonuses for the city and its guild
inhabitants, such as survivability,offensive and defensive enhancements. On the
flipside, to attempt to destroy a city in a siege by a rival guild, the
defensive towers must be taken in a certain order before the keep may be
overrun. High ground positioning can even the odds for attackers attempting to
probe a city’s walled defenses, which adds to the tactical considerations (and
RTS flavoring) within Age of Conan.
Age of Conan has shown marked improvement within the last two months, most
notably with the improved graphics engine and the revelation of the female
avatars in the game. But, to misquote Shakespeare, “The play’s the thing.” It’s
in-depth game play that will truly reveal what lies beneath the shiny exterior
of this visually attractive and approachable fantasy MMO. As the May 20th launch
date approaches, MPOGD is sure to share to keep you informed about the ins and
outs of Age of Conan.
Funcom’s Game Director for Age of Conan, Gaute Godager, smiling before the
new trailer was shown
The level of detail in the character customization screens are evident,
illustrated by the scowling and face-painted barbarian avatar
Buffing the high-level characters before combat
The party has closed off any escape for this lizard in the dungeon
Both the character and the War Rhino seeming to close in on the dangerous
chicken
The War Mammoth definitely lives up to its name, especially in size
Pointing out the details that go into building a city in Age of Conan |
