Champions Online

[Sosa]

So... the NDA will be released within the next 48 hours, and I'll finally be able to talk about my experiences with the game.

Open beta for the game starts on Monday, though keys are somewhat limited at this point.

More to come soon, including screenshots and basic game information!

[tempus]

short answer needed, is it good?

-t

[Sosa]

Yes. Very yes.

How much "yes" depends on what you're looking for, specifically... but it's solid.

[Sosa]

NDA's finally up as of today, so I'll be working on a quick primer for the game to explain what it is over the next day or two.

Until then: for anyone that doesn't know, Champions Online is an MMO from Cryptic Studios, the same company that made the City of Heroes/Villains game. City of 'X' was basically the first Superhero-themed MMO developed, and while it was a groundbreaking game in a lot of different ways, it had a lot of problems.

The long version short: though it's not a direct sequel, Champions Online is better than its predecessor in virtually every way. It plays better, it looks better and it offers even more customization than before.

It features 'open class' gameplay, where players can build their character in virtually any way they want... their role in a party is determined, handily enough, by the "role system," which lets them pick a stance from a drop-down list and gain its associated bonuses. A character in Defensive mode generates more threat and gets better mileage out of their defensive powers, for example. A character in offensive mode will have their defensive powers toned down or suppressed, but gain a lot of damage output. You can switch between these roles pretty much at will, subject to a 60 second cooldown.

The game is extremely fast paced and has a number of elements borrowed from action games in its combat system; your health and endurance (used for fueling your powers, kind of like a hybrid energy/mana bar from WoW) regenerate very quickly on their own when out of combat, but defeated enemies can also drop orbs, or players can use consumable items which replenish them instantly.

Combat is very fluid, with positioning and situational awareness being very important. Players can block incoming attacks to reduce incoming damage and use the environment to their advantage. Want to play a character reminiscent of the Incredible Hulk? Pick up that car and throw it at your enemies, or grab that lamp post and use it as a melee weapon.

Character customization is... well, frankly, the best available in the entire genre right now. You can make your character look like virtually anything you possibly want, and have an absolutely huge amount of options to tweak to make your character look exactly the way you want. The power system works by organizing similarly themed powers into frameworks, which you can mix and match at will. Mix swords, guns, martial arts, power armor, magic summoning circles and killer attack toys on a single character if you want. Build freedom is exceptionally open.

Of course, none of this matters if the game isn't any fun to play. So... is it?

I've had a blast so far. Leveling up solo pits you in a number of crisis-control scenarios around the world which basically revolves around questing. PVP is fun and frantic. Team content exists, ranging from quests that need a few players to tackle to Lairs, which are basically like 5 and 10-man raids from WoW.

The game does have a number if issues right now... power balancing still needs some work, especially in PVP, as defensive characters are dominating PVP right now. The difficulty is still being tweaked slightly, to adjust the pace of combat. The default controls/camera are a little finicky, and gamepad support is there (and handles very well,) but is still kind of unwieldy to setup unless you're using an Xbox 360 controller (which it supports natively, it's plug and play.)

All of that said, the game does a freaking fantastic job of making the player feel like a superhero in the first five minutes of gameplay. Screenshots to come soon!

[Ryx]

Aug 17, 2009 13:17:12 GMT -5 Sosa said:

Screenshots to come soon!

I look forward to seeing them! sounds like a pretty cool game indeed.

[Markus]

I was browsing the site, it looks hella cool. Too many MMOs so little time lol...

[Ryx]

whats the cite
championsonline?

EDIT: mispelled champion

[synless]

champions-online.com
Pretty excited to play this as well as wow, loved the customization and world in city of heroes and it did have problems which is what pulled me away

[lil]

I might have to tinker around a bit and reinstate Thermocycler. Maybe my computer will actually be good enough to run it now!

GoGo superjump!

[Sosa]

I participated in the beta for awhile, so now that the wall is down... I'm happy to answer any questions people have.

I had a lot of issues with CoH, myself. I loved the customization, but at the end of the day, there simply wasn't enough of a game there to back it up. You would spend 50 levels grinding in what were literally the exact same office, sewer or cave maps against the same enemy types... grinding, grinding, hoping to get that next carrot on the end of the stick.

Being a notorious alt-aholic, it became not about the journy to 50 for me... but about getting just as far as I had to in order to complete my character's theme or concept before moving on. Creating new characters was basically more fun than playing the game.

Frankly, I haven't had that problem so far in Champions. Creating a unique character and tailoring them exactly the way you want them is still very much the star attraction here, but Cryptic does a fantastic job of making you feel like a hero from the first five minutes of the game.

Enhancements are gone; they've been replaced with a 'universal' itemization system, where all characters can outfit themselves with one primary and two secondary upgrades in the offensive, defensive, and support categories. These are, for all practical purposes, conventional gear that you see in other games... but they're broader thematically. This lets you tailor your character's specific strengths further, and works well with the ability to have multiple character builds (and swap between them at will.)

They've also made a number of quality-of-life changes. They have implemented a revolutionary new 'retcon' system, where you go to a 'power house' to train up your levels, and are free to test out all of your selections to make sure you like them before you commit to them! Don't like that power as much as you thought you would? Undo it and pick something else. You can also go back further in your character's development choices, though leaving the power house causes these choices to become locked in, and you'll need to pay a fee to remove them later.

Additionally, the game simply plays very differently from CoH. It's much faster paced with an emphasis on things like positioning and taking advantage of your environment. Questing has been heavily emphasized, though there are other ways to get EXP. Missions are now engaging, and each zone has a cohesive story that ties everything together.

[Madlynne]

I'm looking forward to giving this game ago. I hope the support Heroes will be of more use soon.

[Sosa]

Incoming Screenshots: These are direct gameplay screenshots taken in the tutorial. I took the screenshots personally, and am rendering the game on medium-high settings with 4x antialiasing at 1024x800 resolution. 'Shopped down to fit the window better and reduce file size.











...And now a few of my technology-based hero, Arsenal. Arsenal is a Power Armor based character with a few powers from Force and Might, who emphasizes Strength, Intelligence and Constitution as his primary stats. He's built as a hybrid Tank/DPS character, with a focus on variable weaponry and the ability to take a huge amount of punishment.

[Markus]

Lol, it looks pretty cool. Are those wings just for show or can you fly?

Your technology based super hero makes me think of Sheldon lol...

Paraphrase:

Sheldon: I could never be the Green Lantern but with enough start up capital... I could be Batman.

Leonard: You could be Batman?

Sheldon: Sure... *Batman imitation* I'm Batman!

I wanna be Batman

[Sosa]

The wings are not for show. That's a jetpack. Unfortunately, there are currently some animation issues with the jetpacks.

There was a character wipe before the Open Beta began, so these screen caps were taken tonight after I rerolled him... hence the reason he doesn't have his travel power yet. Your travel power is used for navigating the world and increasing your combat maneuverability and you get one immedietly after leaving the tutorial. At level 35, you get another one.

There's a fairly big list of travel powers, including basic staples like flight, super speed and teleportation... but it also includes some less conventional ways to get around, such as jet/rocket boots, super jumping, swinging, burrowing, and more. His travel power is Jet Boots... think Iron Man. It's pretty much that.

More screen caps to come.

[Sosa]

I wasn't kidding about being able to pick up and use environmental objects as weapons. Case in point: here's a screenshot of Arsenal clobbering some unlocky sod with a lamp post.



Here are a few of a newer hero: Ghost - a mutation hero with the ability to phase matter and project kinetic energy (Force, Supernatural, Telekinetics.)