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Earth & Beyond Beta


Supreme Cmdr
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quote:


Originally posted by Epsilon 5:

I'm not sure but SWG is pretty much all around too... I mean, you have ground combat, vehicles, air (not sure, but some starfighter can fly in air), and space.


I dunno where you're getting your info from, but you might want to go back to your sources and actually do some, uhm, reading?

Here are some titbits

  1. Combat is the same skill/turn based far from other MMOG titles. Yes, its another EQ clone in the SW galaxy. While no necessarily a bad thing, how can that be compared to action combat like that seen in WW2OL, the upcoming BF1942, proposed in Planetside, BCO etc etc?

  2. There are only, what, three planets on SWG?

  3. There is NO space combat in SWG. At all. And they've already said that if/when that gets delivered (by way of the bait&switch expansion pack, it won't be seamless integration of planet

As I've said before, all these games will have their audience, but when the time comes and BCO is out, even in Beta, we'll see just how many will forgo the freedom of the BC series for a canned, run-of-the-mill fanfare for those lightsaber (oh wait! they're not even sure if you can be a Jedi yet! So, scrap that for now) massaging Bobba wannabes.

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quote:

I dunno where you're getting your info from, but you might want to go back to your sources and actually do some, uhm,
reading
?

Well I'm not really interested in SWG, I was just a little worried for BCO, as it seemed as the closest thing to BCO. I didn't read up much on it.

quote:

Combat is the same skill/turn based far from other MMOG titles. Yes, its another EQ clone in the SW galaxy. While no necessarily a bad thing, how can that be compared to
action combat
like that seen in WW2OL, the upcoming BF1942, proposed in Planetside, BCO etc etc?

I'm not sure what you mean with skill/turn based combat.

quote:

There are only, what, three planets on SWG?

Really? Sucks, I guess, but I read (yea right ) that they were quite detailed.

quote:

There is NO space combat in SWG. At all. And they've already said that if/when that gets delivered (by way of the bait&switch expansion pack, it won't be seamless integration of planet<-space. In short, it will probably be another
zone
you move to/from. Yeah, thats gonna be fun.

Oh boy. If I was ever interested in SWG, now I ain't at all

quote:

As I've said before, all these games will have their audience, but when the time comes and BCO is out, even in Beta, we'll see just how many will forgo the freedom of the BC series for a canned, run-of-the-mill fanfare for those lightsaber (oh wait! they're not even sure if you can be a Jedi yet! So, scrap that for now) massaging Bobba wannabes.

I guess people would prefer SWG for the "cool" factor, to say, "Hey, I'm a Star Wars character!". But yes, I do, and always did, believe that BCO was superior. I was worried becasue SWG have a franchise of gigantic proportion behind it, lending it a kind of advantage, especially about a bottomless marketing budget

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quote:


Originally posted by Epsilon 5:

I guess people would prefer SWG for the "cool" factor, to say, "Hey, I'm a Star Wars character!". But yes, I do, and always did, believe that BCO was superior. I was worried becasue SWG have a franchise of gigantic proportion behind it, lending it a kind of advantage, especially about a bottomless marketing budget

I quite agree.

But if industry history is anything to go by, not even a franchise can guarantee a hit. Look at STBC, last time I checked, BCM outsold it by such a margin, its quite embarassing really.

SWG will have its audience, but already being tagged as another EQ leveler (not necessarily a bad thing), I can't see it having legs.

Considering product costs, overhead, server management etc, its going to take quite awhile to break even. Yes, it will spike upon release (thats normal) but without anything different, its just going to be EQ in the SW galaxy. Hell, the reason DaOC is so popular is because it beat EQ at its own game, by taking all the aggravation in EQ, making it better and then some. But EQ still has the largest number of subscribers (if you trust the 400K+ number being quoted). Even AO has an install base, though it is struggling.

The bottomline is, if you spent $3m on developing an MMOG, you can make your money back over the long run. But considering bandwidth costs, server management costs, overhead etc, I don't think anyone will be breaking out the Ferraris anytime soon.

With BCO, I'm working with a template of tried and proven technology and experience. The only learning curve for us is the mp aspect (which is why I have an expert on board); but thats trivial in scope compared to my other technologies which I had to develop from scratch, with a clean slate and with no experience whatsoever.

PLUS, given the notoriety of the BC franchise, it is already synonymous with freedom, a massive game world, unparalleled scope etc. As such, even without any newbies climing on board, I already know what my target is. The uphill climb is ensuring that BCO has enough of an experience and new ideas to warrant a monthly fee.

And considering that it will be the only BC title being worked on once BCG ships (BCTC is a completely different game and mp is not planned for it), BC addicts won't have a choice if they want to be playing a next-gen BC title once BCG becomes old news.

Yes, I have a plan. Will it work? Since when did I give a toss? I'm gonna do it anyway and see how it goes

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quote:

BC addicts won't have a choice if they want to be playing a next-gen BC title once BCG becomes old news.

LOL! I wouldn't be suprised if that proves true

quote:

Yes, I have a plan. Will it work? Since when did I give a toss? I'm gonna do it anyway and see how it goes

Pretty much like everyone else...

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quote:


Originally posted by Dredd:

What are we allowed to say about E&B on here?


Anything you bloody well like; you're not on my NDA

...of course, you can always send a private message if you want.

[ 07-11-2002, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

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I don't think E&B has a NDA, but i'm not sure. The stuff I read said I couldn't use the beta for profit, blah blah blah. Don't think it said I couldn't talk about it....anyone else in the beta that knows for sure? I wanna rant and rave about E&B here and revive the topic!!!! (without getting kicked out of it)

[ 07-11-2002, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: Dredd ]

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quote:

I don't think E&B has a NDA, but i'm not sure. The stuff I read said I couldn't use the beta for profit, blah blah blah. Don't think it said I couldn't talk about it....anyone else in the beta that knows for sure? I wanna rant and rave about E&B here and revive the topic!!!! (without getting kicked out of it)

You agree that: (i) you will not copy or reproduce the Beta-Test Materials; (ii) you will not use the Beta-Test Materials for any purpose other than for Evaluation; (iii) you will use the Beta-Test Materials in strict compliance with the provisions of this Agreement; and (iv) you will carry out the Evaluation personally and will not provide access to the Beta-Test Materials to any other person.

Sorry Dredd but you can't talk about it. Shame on you SC for edging him on.

[ 07-12-2002, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: KreKol ]

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quote:


Originally posted by KreKol:

You agree that: (i) you will not copy or reproduce the Beta-Test Materials; (ii) you will not use the Beta-Test Materials for any purpose other than for Evaluation; (iii) you will use the Beta-Test Materials in strict compliance with the provisions of this Agreement; and (iv) you will carry out the Evaluation personally and will not provide access to the Beta-Test Materials to any other person.

Sorry Dredd but you can't talk about it. Shame on you SC for edging him on.


Now, show me which of those conditions, prevents him from talking about it.

I'll be waiting.

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Ok, I'll be the leader that I am and step up and go first.

From what I read of the documents, there is NO NDA. It says though that you can not take screen shots of the game and send them out, nor reverse engineer it. Thats bacically it. They had no NDA for me to accept to play the beta. If I get kicked, then oh well, no loss to me.

I played the beta for about 4 hours total and I think I've played enough of it. I have NO desire to play it any more. I just don't think it is that FUN. Games are made to entertain, to make us have fun. I just don't think this is all to fun.

First off, it is EXACTLY like Everquest in space but with more missions to do. I had the strangest sense of Deja Vu. You go around, kill stuff, get experience points, raise your skill, repeat. Sound familiar? Now where have I done this before? Nothing new here, I've played it all before. The combat is also like Anarchy Online and Everquest, I don't think it works the best with space ships. So much for that huge realtime furball.

Second, its skill based. See my rant in the topic "Showdown in cyberspace"

Third, I feel limited in this compared to even BC3k. You only get to fly a 1 person fighter. No big battlecruiser for you with multiple support craft, no crew to manage, etc.

So to sum it up, I would not pay $10 a month to play this. Thats all I have to say for now. I'm going back to playing BCM. Nuff said.

[ 07-12-2002, 03:00 PM: Message edited by: LordDavid ]

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quote:

Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:

uhm, doesn't
sound like EQ in space? Dunno

Here

quote:

"Let's just make EverQuest in space." That was the first thing the developers of Star Wars Galaxies made sure not to have as a design goal. So don't expect to camp at an Ewok spawn point and yell incessantly for SOWs and buffs. Star Wars Galaxies isn't just going to be a Monty Haul-esque fight-and-loot game with a chat window stapled on top like, say, EQ, Dark Age of Camelot, Asheron's Call, Anarchy Online. It's going to offer a giant, virtual society. With Star Wars trappings.

... they try to say no, it's not

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heh, nevertheless, I'm sure that it would be some sort of hit - though not in the numbers they're thinking. Unless of course there are some gamers out there who would play several MMOGs.

I may be impartial, but I've always been against rules based combat. There's just something un-natural about it. But it is required otherwise there is no way to use skills to determine combat success.

For BCO, real-time combat it is. One can model skills and experience in a lot of ways, without going the rules based route (I should know, after all, I am the AI guru ), lag or not. Them using the same model as EQ is just testament to the fact that it is EQ in space, with a few things thrown in an attempt to make it somewhat different. If you have the code already written, why re-invent the wheel?

I'd sure as all hell like to see how they merge a rules based space combat flight system into SWG. In fact, it is my bet that they can't. Which is why they are thinking of shipping it as an add-on (another EQ favorite tactic) once they figure it all out. Even then, it will probably end up being something in E&B. Again, rules based.

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