Age of Conan

Fallingman

Given the mention on the PA home page today, I thought it might be time for an AoC thread. I'm afraid I'm a bit new to this - and I'm sure its been in development for years, so someone should feel free to contribute an overview of some kind.

I'm quite hopeful for a serious MMO to do well on the 360, and this seems to be the one I'm most interested in.

I was a complete Conan virgin until about 2 weeks ago, when I bought the complete Chronicles book off Amazon for a little look-see. I was pleasantly surprised. Gritty and not nearly as cheesy as I was fearing - and of course, seminal fantasy for genre fans.

So, I'm hoping for a lore-rich game that does the world justice.

Who else is looking forward to this?

As a discussion point, the idea of a combat system requiring some skill - I find intriguing. I wonder how far they will take this? Will it mean that a skilled low level player could take on someone whose character had more experience? I think there is probably a balance to be met here...

Aldo

...The balance being that the higher level player has more experience with the game and has equipment and skills to fend off lowbies who have a limited scope of options in combat and with subpar equipment.

Err, I'm not much better at OPs, but let's kick off with linking to the official website, okay? www.ageofconan.com

Then we post a warning that this game will most likely be rated M or 17+ due to excessive gore.

Then we copy-paste the bulletpoints on the official website;

* Enter the true Conan experience – The first official Conan online RPG sends you on a brutal journey in the footsteps of the worlds' greatest fantasy hero. Meet Conan's friend and foes, battle demons and monsters known from 70 year of Conan history, and step up to the ultimate challenge and befriend the mighty king Conan himself.

* Explore the world of Conan – Enter a gigantic and unique gameworld containing more than 30 distinct regions spread across the three mighty nations of Aquilonia, Cimmeria and Stygia. Explore deep jungles, burning deserts, inhospitable mountains, vast valleys, dark dungeons or gleaming cities, and take part in an incredible journey of exploration and adventure.

* Real Combat Engine – Experience Funcom's revolutionary Real Combat engine, and fight mounted or on the ground. A new multi-point melee system allows the players to swing their weapons where they direct it, in real-time, going head-on against the formulaic nature of online RPG combat. The Real Combat engine also allow players to team up in battle formations and command both NPC's and other players in epic multiplayer battles, as well as giving you the chance to participate in massive sieges.

* Single-player vs. massively multiplayer – Emerge as a hero from the story-driven single-player experience and embark into even greater adventures in the massively multiplayer part of the game. The branching single-player story is created by the award-winning writers behind The Longest Journey, Dreamfall and Anarchy Online so expect something extraordinary.

* PvP and PvE – Meet the ultimate resistance in human opponents, and enjoy crushing the skulls of fellow players in mini-games, sieges, arena fights and drunken brawls. Charge into the world of Conan, and fight monsters and demons alone or in groups.

* Extensive guild and solo gameplay – Form guilds in the multiplayer game and lay siege to hostile castles. Let the catapults sing their merry song of death as the enemy is brutally crushed to a pulp. Team up with other players in large guilds, and explore a large range of social gameplay opportunities. 'Conan' also offers extensive solo gaming opportunities, taking you through an amazing single-player journey and deep into the lands of Hyboria.

* Varied gameplay – Besides bringing the most brutal experience ever seen in a MMO, Conan also promises to deliver what all fans of MMOs love and enjoy. Vast character customization opportunities, a deep character creation, lots of social opportunities, crafting, a deep and fun RPG system, exciting classes and player-made cities are but a few ingredients in this powerful RPG.

* Amazing graphics – 'Conan' takes graphics in MMOs to a new level! With the latest and greatest in technology and an amazing art direction the graphics in 'Conan' immerses you into a world as never before seen in any online fantasy universe.

* Stunning Sounds – Listen to a powerful and epic soundtrack in 7.1 surround. Hear gripping voices recorded by professional actors, and enjoy a dynamic soundscape bringing players to the edge of their seats.

* A story to die for – 'Age of Conan' delivers a brutal, mature and compelling storyline that will send you headlong on a journey of brutality, intrigue and depth. Mixing the finest of storytelling found in classic RPG's with the open-ended approach found in MMOs, 'Conan' delivers a rare and special story experience.

* The first mature MMO – In the true and barbaric vision of Robert E. Howard, 'Age of Conan' promises to bring mature online players something dark, new and refreshing. This is no cartoony fairytale, 'Conan' is made by grown-ups, for grown-ups, giving online gamers the chance to unleash the ultimate havoc and fury.

Then we post some fancy screenshots that aren't too big...





And last but not least:

The governor!

Winnie The Pooh

I didn't see anything on the website about it being on the 360, though I would love to not have to build a new computer to play this. Oh well

Aldo

Mazik wrote: »

I didn't see anything on the website about it being on the 360, though I would love to not have to build a new computer to play this. Oh well

It says "Games for Windows" on their mainsite, so I suppose it won't come out for Xbox.

Fallingman

Cheers Aldo - well done.

A quick google shows me that I wasn't going insane. There are plenty of gamer sites stating that funcom has announced AoC coming to the 360. Having said that, I cant find anything from Funcom themselves...

Also I did a search on their official forums, and there afre a few posts from people asking whether players will be buying a 360 or PC version.

If anyone's Google-Fu is sharper than mine, an official link would be good - I can only find a few articles from IGN, TeamXbox, Gamespot etc...

Aldo

I wiki'd it, wiki refers to Team Xbox.

Team Xbox wrote:

“This is a groundbreaking leap forward for Funcom. The fact that we now get the chance to develop ‘Age of Conan’ for the Xbox 360 means access to a potentially whole new and large MMO market,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom.

So if I read between the lines here, they have yet to start developing the Xbox version.

Fallingman

You could be right.

I did however, manage to find something official.

Not that I know anything technical about the process, but I understand that the Vista gaming environment is similar to the 360 - making ports easier. So here's hoping that it wont take too long!

Olivaw

I didn't think this was going to be any good at all, but now that I've looked at it again, it looks totally kickass.

I guess a lot about a game can change in a couple years.

Aldo

Oh right, you need Vista to play this game? This will be a game for when I get myself a new PC, then.

GimpyBoy

No, you don't need vista. It will be much prettier in Direct X10, but they have stated multiple times it's capable of being played in XP.

Zek

I'm interested in this game but I know very little about it beyond the basic concept. What is it that you actually do at level cap in the MMO portion?

Aldo

t Gimpy: oh, ok, must of misread something. ^^

t Zek: blow the castle of a rival guild to smithereens, pillage their villages and take their women?

SanderJK

Aldo wrote: »

t Gimpy: oh, ok, must of misread something. ^^

t Zek: blow the castle of a rival guild to smithereens, pillage their villages and take their women?

Crush your enemies, See them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women

Aldo

SanderJK wrote: »

Aldo wrote: »

t Gimpy: oh, ok, must of misread something. ^^

t Zek: blow the castle of a rival guild to smithereens, pillage their villages and take their women?

Crush your enemies, See them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women

This is pretty much the sole reason I would want to play this game. :P

Drool

I'm just glad they weren't scared to put blood and gore in an MMO. Swords lop of limbs and cause people to bleed, they don't make flashy sparkles or little explosions. That and you actually have to walk up and hit people. No more auto attacking while standing three paces off wiffing yet still doing damage. This alone will make this worth trying.

Morskittar

I love the Conan stories, but I think this may be coming out too close to Warhammer for me to pick up. I'm intriuged, but I just don't know if the timing will work out. I'll certainly hit a trial, if one's released.

Talleyrand

The environment definently look excellent. Some of the character models in the videos on their website...not so much.

They talk about seiges in PVP combat but it seems like the site refers to player made cities the only attacks they talk about come from NPC barbarians. Does that mean player made cities won't be able to attack each other?

The slider scales for character customization are just awesome.

Morithain

It's definitally coming out for the 360, as the tech demo shown at the last E3 was played on the 360 itself, you'll find it at www.gametrailers.com under the Age of Conan vids, pretty sweet.

This game may become my new World of Warcraft, assuming that it's good. I played CoX for nearly a year until WoW came out, then I played both for 6 months or so, then I finally left CoX and played WoW full time.

I really can't waiit for this. Really.

Fallingman

I recently read an Intro that howard had written about the world. It was called - "The Hyborian Age"

I reccomend it to anyone interested. The world is actually set in North Africa and Europe - only the historical era is fictitious. Pre-History, if you like. The idea being that the races mentioned go on to become the Greeks, the Romans etc... I thought it was a novel idea.

Apparently he wrote it for himself as a guide to refer to when he wrote the Conan stories as a way of providing depth to the world. Its not very long, but gives me hope for a well fleshed-out world in which to set the game.

death.hilarious

Here's a list of some of the things that really set Age of Conan apart from other games for me, and have kept me following this game for almost 2 years. I hope this doesn't come off as too fanboy, but I really am excited about this game (I run an AoC guild called Krypteia):

• Meaningful Endgame. The biggest problem for me with most MMO's is that after a while you realize that the only reason you're playing is to gain better gear for your toon. Now, the existential dilemma of spending hours of your real life to better an online avatar aside, grinding gear in the same dungeons night after night just isn't fun - in fact it's just down right tedius. What makes Age of Conan great is that endgame seems to be more about guild progression than individual progression. Instead of grinding a dungeon to get a sword that will increase your DPS by 10%, how about building an advanced forge in your guild city which gives everyone a +10% melee damage boost and working to defend it from the attacks of other enemy guilds. The fact that you're defending your own guild city, which your guild built themselves, is a world of difference than defending your faction's or your alliance's city - it makes it personal. Also, because of the inclusion of prestige classes which give a guild passive bonuses, it's likely that there will be a lot less elitism in endgame, allowing casual players to play and contribute in the same guild as hardcore players.
  
  
• Combat, Combat, Combat. That's what the guys at Funcom describe as their design mantra for making Age of Conan. You can forget about boring static auto-attacking in AoC. Every swing has a direction and you can chain together combos for more devastating attacks (same with spells). Age of Conan will also feature Formation Combat, so if you've ever played Total War series and wanted to experience being in a cavalry charge riding into the exposed flank of an infantry formation, that's exactly what you'll get to do in Age of Conan! If you're a magic user, you can make your own formations with other magic users to summon huge demons able to destroy city walls. Finally, for plain simple down-time fun, AoC will also have drunken brawling in taverns, where levels don't count for anything and instead feats and abilities depend on the type of alcohol you're drunk on.
  
  
• A Beautiful and Mature World. Age of Conan is the first next-generation MMO that actually looks the part. The game world is stunning and vibrant. The Conan license itself is absolutely refreshing for people getting sick of the standard pansy fantasy world of elves, dwarves, and orcs. Robert E. Howards Hyboria is a grim and brutal world (very loosely) based on the earth's own prehistory. There are no other playable species except Human (though you'll get to decide whether you want to be a Cimmerian barbarian from the northern wastes, a civilized Aquilonian, or exotic Stygian). The developers have said they plan to give the game a Mature rating and take it seriously to live up to Howards dark world. So expect a lot of blood and even some sex (and hopefully a few less kiddies).
  
  
• A Quality Developer. Funcom is an experienced developer in the MMO space (having been something of a pioneer with the development of Anarchy Online). Even knowing this, I'm amazed at how the developers seem to constantly make the right choices. They're not afraid, like so many other developers, to borrow from successful games like WoW. And yet they're also not afriad to try things that are radically different when the old models aren't working (action-combat, formation-combat, siege warfare). There focus seems to be solidly on making a game with best possible gameplay experience, so you're not playing simply because you're addicted to the game, but because it's actually fun to play.

I'm also watching Warhammer online closely, but the idea of playing another game full of 14 year-old kids playing elves seriously makes me want to puke.

cuellar

Well probably one of the best parts of AoC is that it will not be rated PG. They said this is an adult oriented game, not for the kiddies. Hence it will be realistic and bloody.

-Cuellar

Operative21

I found this video regarding the building of cities in the game. Unfortunately, the sound and video quality is bad (it was obviously shot from a videocamera at a conference demo), but it certainly looks like they've got some interesting ideas for city conflicts. I'm also rather curious about how players having a separate line of development for PvP will pan out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9S7fQFHpac

HarshLanguage

While I do hope AoC will turn out well, FunCom's handling of Anarchy Online doesn't instill a lot of hope. They did some interesting and unique things with that game and its expansions, but they were all pretty half-assed, and the core game was never improved much. But, that may have left them lots of time to work on AoC instead, so who knows.

Also, how does one run a guild for a game that won't be released for 8 months? :P

death.hilarious

HarshLanguage wrote: »

Also, how does one run a guild for a game that won't be released for 8 months? :P

heh, well it's not all our fault, the game has been delayed on us twice already. (The new release date of October 30, 2007 seems pretty solid though... and actually realistic unlike the previous ones)

But the guild is cool. We're getting to know our members, working out the kinks in our guild structure (which is pretty unconventional), and organizing to make the best use of beta. Though mostly my job at the moment seems to be giving away free stuff to keep everyone interested and from killing each other out of boredom :P

Anyway, anyone wanting a good video introduction to the game should check out the third video here (in two parts). It's a presentation from E3 2006 so the graphics have improved since then(especially in the DX10 build), but the video does go through many of the core features of AoC, including city building.

Zephos

The 360 Version isnt slated till roughly a year after the PC version, and it may or may not be on the same servers.

I know a couple funcom employees

death.hilarious

GDC 07 Developer Walkthrough Pt. 1

GDC 07 Developer Walkthrough Pt. 2

Two brand spanking new videos of Age of Conan, with a developer taking you through the gameplay. Definitely my new favorite for the best video introduction to this game.

Afty

Very very nice.

Aldo

Those videos are amazing

death.hilarious

As if that weren't enough here are a few more gameplay videos that were posted a couple of days ago (in High Definition goodness). They show some group combat.

Downloads HD quality:
Video 1: http://files.filefront.com/169_ageofconan_gp_1_030907wmv/;6897281;;/fileinfo.html
Video 2: http://files.filefront.com/169_ageofconan_gp_2_030907wmv/;6897445;;/fileinfo.html
Preview Video: http://files.filefront.com/169_ageofconan_vp_030907wmv/;6898662;;/fileinfo.html

Aldo

death.hilarious wrote: »

As if that weren't enough here are a few more gameplay videos that were posted a couple of days ago (in High Definition goodness). They show some group combat.

Downloads HD quality:
Video 1: http://files.filefront.com/169_ageofconan_gp_1_030907wmv/;6897281;;/fileinfo.html
Video 2: http://files.filefront.com/169_ageofconan_gp_2_030907wmv/;6897445;;/fileinfo.html
Preview Video: http://files.filefront.com/169_ageofconan_vp_030907wmv/;6898662;;/fileinfo.html

Tapdancing Jesus on a stick, I can't even play those videos without lag. This game is so next-gen it hurts.

death.hilarious

Aldo wrote: »

Tapdancing Jesus on a stick, I can't even play those videos without lag. This game is so next-gen it hurts.

They are available in lesser quality on youtube as well.

Update: Now on YouTube! Thanks weezer!
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFi0GS4y_fY
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaY-Qfuzl0E
Preview Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt0BWUfoFng

JAEF

death.hilarious wrote: »

Aldo wrote: »

Tapdancing Jesus on a stick, I can't even play those videos without lag. This game is so next-gen it hurts.

They are available in lesser quality on youtube as well.

Update: Now on YouTube! Thanks weezer!
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFi0GS4y_fY
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaY-Qfuzl0E
Preview Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt0BWUfoFng

If HD content on your computers stutters you should try this guide out:

That guide is great, but I found it didn't really work well for me. I ran some tweaks and installed a few things from another website and my computer has literally quadrupled in speed. Click here to check it out.

Aldo

JAEF wrote: »

death.hilarious wrote: »

Aldo wrote: »

Tapdancing Jesus on a stick, I can't even play those videos without lag. This game is so next-gen it hurts.

They are available in lesser quality on youtube as well.

Update: Now on YouTube! Thanks weezer!
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFi0GS4y_fY
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaY-Qfuzl0E
Preview Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt0BWUfoFng

If HD content on your computers stutters you should try this guide out:

That guide is great, but I found it didn't really work well for me. I ran some tweaks and installed a few things from another website and my computer has literally quadrupled in speed. Click here to check it out.

Well played sir, well played.

Wren

It looks like its coming out around the same time as WAR, which is a problem for me. Otherwise it looks kinda neat.

Doesn't look like it would run very well on my rig either, but I don't think that'll be an issue 8 months from now.

death.hilarious

JAEF wrote: »

That guide is great, but I found it didn't really work well for me. I ran some tweaks and installed a few things from another website and my computer has literally quadrupled in speed. Click here to check it out.

Sorry, I decided not to include the guide because it contained a link to a pirated version of the CoreAVC codec, and I forgot to remove that last line from my post. :oops: Anyway if HD stutters on your system use CoreAVC (google it). ;-)

As far as system specs go, they should be similar to Oblivion for the DX9 version of the game.

Sonos

i said I'd never play another time sucking mmo after ffxi but after hearing about Drunken Brawling I have since decided that i will. if it comes out on the 360 within a reasonable time.

LoM2

I think this game looks really refreshing and will offer A LOT of new features that MMO's will be stealing from and using in the future.

As for the guild cities, OMFG that is awesome. I think taking your guild across the land to go massacre another guild's city and pillage all their stuffs (as well as have ur way with their women >.^) is so much cooler than raiding the same dungeon over and over and over just to get a hat. I've played my fair share of MMO's and I'm really looking forward to some of the new ones coming out. This is definitely up at the top right now.

Sonos

depends on how much of a grind exp is for me. and I dont want to play if they dont integrate the servers. I prefer to play on a console but I wont play with 100% XBL people. Majority of them as we all know are complete idiots.

Aldo

Sonos wrote: »

depends on how much of a grind exp is for me. and I dont want to play if they dont integrate the servers. I prefer to play on a console but I wont play with 100% XBL people. Majority of them as we all know are complete idiots.

Normal MMO-players are complete idiots as well. :P

For as far as I am aware none of the "next gen" MMOs will feature any grinding, that game got old fast.

Sonos

i dont mind a tad of grind but the game i came from (ff11) was a bit too much. I dont want it easy like WoW but with the success it's had i am like you in that i doubt most developers will stray from that gameplan.

LoM2

The MMO's that are coming out now are trying to move away from grinding through innovative fighting styles. For instance in Age of Conan they are stressing guilds and raiding as opposed to running around and just killing rats to get X amount of xp. They know that most people that are looking for new MMO's or might want to change is due to the immense amount of grinding that is in modern MMO's. I don't think you have anything to worry about as far as a game with grinding in it with any of the MMO's that are scheduled for the next year or so.