It is being marketed as "the first mature MMO" not as "the first game with enough sex to warrant a M rating". Which is why I'm a bit pissed off that they failed to deliver upon their marketing. I'm perfectly okay with there being a game with boobies and vaginas (but no dicks, wouldn't want to make our players feel insignificant after finding out that their character's dick is at least twice the size of their own) and decapitating women and all that jazz. If that's your kind of thing then more power to you.
It's the first Mature RATED MMO. That rating has nothing to do with the maturity of the GAME. It's about the maturity of those your allowed to sell the game to.
I just can't figure out what you were expecting from a Conan MMO. It's like buying Deadwood: The MMO and being surprised at all the swearing.
ITT: People overreact by telling people who don't like the content that they're overreacting.
Nobody's doing anything more than saying their opinions on what the game's "mature" content is. I don't understand why people have to get butthurt about it. For some people, vagina flowers and nipples don't endear them to purchasing a product. For others, apparently, those things are to be zealously defended under any pretense possible.
ITT: People overreact by telling people who don't like the content that they're overreacting.
Nobody's doing anything more than saying their opinions on what the game's "mature" content is. I don't understand why people have to get butthurt about it. For some people, vagina flowers and nipples don't endear them to purchasing a product. For others, apparently, those things are to be zealously defended under any pretense possible.
Noone's zealously defending it, just pointing out that this was what could have easily been predicted from the get-go. Well, apart from the vagina flowers which is pretty ridiculous.
One of the biggest differences between this MMO and most other fantasy worlds is that this one is made for a mature audience. There's no veil to cover sensitive eyes here. Conan's world was one of naked bodies covered only in the blood of their enemies. Players will enter the world to find a heavy helping of heavy handed violence, unabashed sexuality, and other mature themes. This is a dangerous and wicked world that Conan lived in full of people just trying to survive and live amongst gods, monsters, and men gone mad.
Eurogamer: One of the most notable things about Conan is the attempt to make this into a mature game - you've commented previously about wanting to break away from the traditional view of MMOGs as cartoony and family friendly. The level of violence and the degree of sexuality are obvious moves in that direction - but what other things have you done that make this mature? Violence and sex seem mature if you're a thirteen year old boy; are there things you've done to actually make this appeal to adults, as opposed to kids who want to play "adult" things?
Ole Herbjornsen: When we write the story and the quests, they have a much more mature theme than you're probably used to in most MMOs, or other types of game for that matter. The locations and the art direction also lend themselves to a more realistic perspective - more gritty, more sinister. Hopefully we've managed to realise Robert E Howard's vision of the world, and in a mature way.
Joel Bylos: There are definitely a lot of the design elements in the quests - and of course, that spills over into world design and so forth - which are more mature. A lot of people look at games and think of children; but we have quests where the player really has to think in an adult way.
I have one quest where the player has to sentence people to execution - they have to talk to these people and weigh their crimes, and then decide whether they live or die. It's not an easy choice - there's no simple situation where someone killed another man, so he's a murderer and you kill him. It's very much a case of people who have done something bad, but are also good people in other ways. The player has to make a decision, and the outcome of that will affect the reward they get.
While we're very impressed with how some of the game mechanics and systems in Age of Conan are shaping up, we're under no illusions about the appeal of the game. Funcom has pinned its colours firmly to the mast by ramping up the level of violence and sexual content - and while it describes the game as a "mature" MMOG, we don't doubt that many adults will find that aspect offputting.
Certainly, there's more to the maturity of the game than just blood and boobs. Funcom's depth of experience in the adventure game genre, for instance, has contributed to a great dialogue and conversation system, and we're assured that this will feed into genuine moral choices and mature storytelling as the game progresses.
We hope this isn't lost in the gratuitous nature of some of the rest of the game. We're not sure if it was a bug or intentional, but the story NPC early in the game who informs you of the plight of her kidnapped younger brother, all while stroking herself and arching her back sensuously, didn't fill us with hope for genuinely mature handling of sexual subject matter.
Only time will tell how genuinely "mature" Conan really is - but in the meanwhile, we're happy to give the benefit of the doubt on the basis of the excellent combat and well-considered PvP. We're definitely looking forward to giving Conan's well-oiled pecs another appreciative rub come March.
Anyone who says that this game was just being marketed as having a mature rating obviously wasn't paying very much attention.
It doesn't help that AoC's devs can't seem to think of ways to hype their game that don't include the equivalent of shouting 'Whee! Titties!" Check these quotes from E3, by Jorgen Thereldsen, Funcom's Product Director::
"It's a mature game. Hyboria is a brutal world. It's savage. It's violent. It's sexy. There's no pink hearts and pretty fireballs. Heads will roll!"
"We have boobs in our game!"
"See? It's good to be a healer. You have a naked lady buffing you!"
And, when watching a clip of an incubus character: "You have to watch the idle animation. Watch! It will cycle into the hip-thrust animation."
(He then angled the game camera up under the demon's loincloth to try and show off it's genitals. All while scantily clad 'booth babes' handed out shrunken head 'party favors' to the audience.)
Conan's world was one of naked bodies covered only in the blood of their enemies. Players will enter the world to find a heavy helping of heavy handed violence, unabashed sexuality, and other mature themes.
shryke on
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DietarySupplementStill not approved by the FDADublin, OHRegistered Userregular
It doesn't help that AoC's devs can't seem to think of ways to hype their game that don't include the equivalent of shouting 'Whee! Titties!" Check these quotes from E3, by Jorgen Thereldsen, Funcom's Product Director::
"It's a mature game. Hyboria is a brutal world. It's savage. It's violent. It's sexy. There's no pink hearts and pretty fireballs. Heads will roll!"
"We have boobs in our game!"
"See? It's good to be a healer. You have a naked lady buffing you!"
And, when watching a clip of an incubus character: "You have to watch the idle animation. Watch! It will cycle into the hip-thrust animation."
(He then angled the game camera up under the demon's loincloth to try and show off it's genitals. All while scantily clad 'booth babes' handed out shrunken head 'party favors' to the audience.)
Weren't you done with this thread?
Also, I kinda of agree... it's almost "over the top" with the nudity, but strangly, people actually playing the game are being way more casual about it than a lot of people here. I expected the inverse to be true. I mean, if you want to poo-poo it, fine don't buy it. Good for you. More stuff for me pull fatalities on. Whatever. Can we get back to actual gameplay discussion instead of going all Jack T up in here?
For example:
My friend and I got our characters to level 11 last night, and actually made an attempt at some group quests. Not that I'm here to compare this to WoW, but... this game will totally make you rethink group/party dynamics. He plays a DT and I have my barbarian, but it's not like he "tanks" mobs (at least, not at level 11), it was pretty much ganging up on npc's that gave us more trouble (casters, archers) and then singling out the stragglers. We turned our area into a meat grinder, spilling blood and pulling fatalities left and right. And it was glorious. Previous to this experience, we had primarily solo'ed and it was good... but our first concerted team effort eventually turned into a dps-fest, him with his two-handed spear and I with a two-handed pick-axe, whirling and bashing our way through tracts of enemies. We would line them up in front of us, 3 or 4 abreast, and pull combos.
We're wondering, though: is there "flanking" in the game? On mini-bosses I found I had a much better chance to hit while behind an enemy, as opposed to right next to my friend as mentioned above. We also like to stagger our lunges and retreats together too, to maximize damage.
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MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
It's like buying Deadwood: The MMO and being surprised at all the swearing.
Ye gods that's BRILLIANT. Have it playable for me by Friday.
But seriously, complaining that flowers that look like vaginas (wtf FF's spellchecker doesn't think vagina can be plural) is necessarily immature or that sexual content is only going to appeal to teenagers is off base. If it were true there would be a lot more high school boys hanging around the Georgia O'Keefe museum in New Mexico.
When I was told there would be nipples (of both the milk-producing and vestigial sort) my reaction was pretty much as follows:
"Huh. They're gonna put titties in like people have been doing in the movies for decades and they're not going to be ashamed of it. Good for them."
My girlfriend's reaction was something like this:
"Will it have glistening man-nipples?" (yes, she used the word "glistening")
I told her yes. She says she may look into it.
I'm not going to pick this up because of rasterized meat pillows, nor is anyone else. (though it may impact their purchasing decision a small amount) Why? Because anyone who is thinking about playing this game has a fast internet connection, and anyone with a fast internet connection can get pictures of actual, factual chest cantaloupes that are not attached to demon spawn with goat legs, horns and a whip (whip optional), and they will be doing things far more arousing than letting out a banshee wail, getting cut with swords, burned alive, or electrocuted or whipping you. (whip, again, highly optional)
The point is, they left in the sex to make it more authentic. People really do want to bump uglies with powerful, broad-chested barbarian types, so why leave that out of the experience? It is, perhaps, a bit odd that they rendered nipples for NPCs they wouldn't ever expect to get naked except through a bug, but perhaps they are all just cut (rasterized?) from the same mold.
If they had programmed the game so that your dong swung out from behind your loincloth accidentally once in a while, I think that would also have been a step in the right direction. All men have dongs, but all loincloths don't necessarily cover them effectively. Also, it would make it more likely that I could get my girlfriend to play with me.
See thats where you and I differ. My current flame will NOT play a game with naked babes running around ... well she probably wouldn't play any MMO but i know i'd have a better chance convincing her if there wasn't so much sexiness in the game. BUT i am fine with that. I've never had a girlfriend who would in any way consider joining me in my hobby of MMOing. Tolerate, just about. Join? Hell no!
But yeah, this thread has gone totally against the cocksdickslol norm of the PA forums. I assume if the flowers in questions were wang shaped it would be a different story, and the quest would also be MUCH funnier. "Go forth and collect me some flowers. They are shaped like dicks. You have to caress them carefully to remove the head without spilling the nectar so take care!"
See thats where you and I differ. My current flame will NOT play a game with naked babes running around ... well she probably wouldn't play any MMO but i know i'd have a better chance convincing her if there wasn't so much sexiness in the game. BUT i am fine with that. I've never had a girlfriend who would in any way consider joining me in my hobby of MMOing. Tolerate, just about. Join? Hell no!
But yeah, this thread has gone totally against the cocksdickslol norm of the PA forums. I assume if the flowers in questions were wang shaped it would be a different story, and the quest would also be MUCH funnier. "Go forth and collect me some flowers. They are shaped like dicks. You have to caress them carefully to remove the head without spilling the nectar so take care!"
AoC has always said they were going for a "Mature" rating in order to be faithful to the source material. They've been as faithful as they can (they dropped the hot spicy racism for obvious reasons).
Apparently, you don't like pulp. Good for you, I guess.
As a huge fan of Howard, that's utter bullshit.
The pulpy sex was an obvious expression of Conan's absolute masculinity and raw, uncivilized nature. Women weren't often naked until he was around and it was always expressed as very matter of fact.
It was not "tee-hee, I see vaginas and tits everwhere, wink-wink, nudge-nudge", which, by all accounts AoC is running with wholesale.
Morskittar on
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MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
Women weren't often naked until he was around and it was always expressed as very matter of fact.
This is very "tree falls in a forest." When exactly will players have contact with NPCs while said NPCs are not in the presence of a massively desirable PC?
Also, as someone who was never a big fan of the books, can I ask what racism y'all are referring to? How do you reflect real world racism in a book with fictional races?
That is a good point. If all characters are analogs for Conan, that part works.
The key (for me, at least) the tone of the books was quite matter-of-fact about it. The sex was very much not glorified, but rather appreciated for what it was (a singularly male expression of unattached and freeform lust). Personally, I don't know yet if AoC reflects this or not (but the vagina quest doesn't seem to indicate it). In fact, Howard's expression of sex in the Conan stories is very un-American; it's way too pragmatic and understanding of the realities of human existence. I can see how the developers would easily translate this into the more modern American "too-much-importance-because-we're-repressed-and-make-it-a-big-deal" sentiment.
His stories generally didn't have separate fantasy races (other than monsters). They're extremely ignorant in their portrayal of real-world races, though, falling back on stereotypes and some pretty foul descriptions. It's not necessarily directly hateful, but it is hateful by way of ignorance; imagine being taught that it is absolute fact that certain races are more feral or less intelligent than others.
As much as I do love his stories, those bits are sometimes really painful to come across.
Morskittar on
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FiggyFighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered Userregular
so this whole discussion is based off of one flower for one quest?
And someone else talking about topless NPCs.
I think that's actually a display bug, like the armless NPCs. I haven't seen either.
It's not a display bug. Yes, there are NPCs where the breasts clip through the clothes. I'm talking NPCs that are fully clothed with absolutely no tops. Also, NPCs that have absolutely no clothes on but a tiny bikini. No gloves. No hat. No shoes. No shirt. No pants. Just a bare, naked NPC standing there selling potions.
I'm not complaining. I just don't get why it's there. There isn't even any dialogue in the NPCs interaction that hints at it. I'd be equally troubled if I saw an NPC with a gigantic head standing there repairing armour, or a lizard NPC in a barbarian camp cooking up some vittles. If you're going to have something entirely out of place, have some sort of context explanation somewhere; otherwise, it comes off as just a gimmick to entice the adolescents in the audience.
Women weren't often naked until he was around and it was always expressed as very matter of fact.
This is very "tree falls in a forest." When exactly will players have contact with NPCs while said NPCs are not in the presence of a massively desirable PC?
Also, as someone who was never a big fan of the books, can I ask what racism y'all are referring to? How do you reflect real world racism in a book with fictional races?
It only tangentially relevant but go look at the Mass Effect thread and the hatred for the character Ashley. She's considered a xenophobic bitch because she distrusts and fears the aliens.
Also, I kinda of agree... it's almost "over the top" with the nudity, but strangly, people actually playing the game are being way more casual about it than a lot of people here. I expected the inverse to be true. I mean, if you want to poo-poo it, fine don't buy it. Good for you. More stuff for me pull fatalities on. Whatever. Can we get back to actual gameplay discussion instead of going all Jack T up in here?
I never said I was done with this thread, and discussing the maturity level of the content has literally nothing to do with Jack Thompson. Decrying anything that questions content as Thompson-esque is, in my opinion, very narrow-minded.
Conan's world was one of naked bodies covered only in the blood of their enemies. Players will enter the world to find a heavy helping of heavy handed violence, unabashed sexuality, and other mature themes.
Yes, from my first quote. Read it closer. And then, when you've read it a few times, realize this too: That quote was posted entirely in response to people saying that this game was marketed as the first game to have a mature rating, as opposed to being developed with mature content in mind. All of those quotes were.
Now, as per pulp as it relates to this sort of thing. I love pulp. I have Howard all over my bookshelves. I find it very difficult to read, being as "politically correct" as I am, sometimes, but I still enjoy the best parts of it for what it is. All I'm saying is that, true to the source or not, the "mature" content that I've seen come out of this game is much, much closer to "durr durr titties whee" than it is to the questionable content of the Conan stories, and that I don't want to bother with it.
Whiniest Man On Earth on
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FiggyFighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered Userregular
All I'm saying is that, true to the source or not, the "mature" content that I've seen come out of this game is much, much closer to "durr durr titties whee" than it is to the questionable content of the Conan stories, and that I don't want to bother with it.
Exactly. While for me it doesn't necessarily equate to me not buying the game, it does discredit the storyline a bit.
Look, it's not like I walked into a bordello in Tortage (aptly name "The Bearded Clam" by the way) and was shocked to see naked women. I walked down the street of a main city to pick up a quest and saw a potion vendor standing totally naked.
Yes, the game is rated "M." Yes, the Conan mythology is famous for its gore and nudity. Yes, the game is sticking true to its source material (if in a very choosy sort of way). However, it seems like the developers are turning this into nudity just for nudity's sake. It's like some of the writers from the latest Leisure Suit Larry broke into the Funcom offices and changed some shit around without anyone seeing.
FiggyFighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
We're going back and forth with this nudity thing, so I'll introduce something to perhaps change the topic a little bit. We're am little over a week till launch and many are having major technical problems running the game. There are rumours that a much more current client exists, but some are worried it won't make it to launch.
Internally we have, rather than one "magical build", between 12 and 15 various branches. I won't go into specific details about any of them, but I'll try to give a quick example of why they haven't reached the beta yet.
Take for example BranchA, where we've fixed major issues with shaders and rendering.
In BranchB we've tweaked lots of the code that basically makes up the core of our animation system, so it now runs smoother and faster than ever before, and consumes less memory.
However, when we integrate these branches together to make a complete build of the client, they end up conflicting with each-other and resulting in a build error.
So, the various coders working on the different branches sort out the conflicts, and once that is done, we manage to build a new version of the client.
Once that is done, the build goes to QA, who run through extensive testing procedures to catch as many bugs as possible in the new version.
Enter the coders again, to fix all the new-found bugs, and repeat the entire process until the build is deemed stable. At this point, and no sooner, will we push it to the beta.
Now, keep in mind, that in the example above I've only spoken about code (and 2 branches rather than 10+). With that being said, code often relies upon data just as data relies upon code to function properly, and you further complicate the process.
So, it's not like we hold back on a new beta-build just for the fun of it; we actually do it because we need to follow certain routines before deploying something externally.
With all of that being said, calling the current beta-build (which is what, 2-3 weeks old by now) for the release build, and at the same time knowing that we're still working hard on polishing, improving, optimizing and stabilizing the client is more than slightly off-target.
I think that seems like a fairly tall order given the limited time-frame left before launch.
On the 10th of May Funcom is transforming the entire Open Beta into PvP MAYHEM, while at the same time giving testers access to all which Hyboria has to offer!
As we take down our servers for a short period we are at the same time changing the entire server rule-set to Free For All PvP carnage!
Here are the dirty details:
* All servers become PvP servers. You can kill each other – no level restrictions on killing or getting killed, but you cannot PvP in the major cities.
* All level 13 characters becomes level 20. Their inventory is wiped, but they have “tons” of money and really nice equipment suitable for level 20’s. Shopping bonanza!
* You have access to ALL zones and ALL levels after level 20!
* You will be zoned to your Race’s Hub. (Cimmerians – Conarch Village, Aquillonians – Old Tarantia and Stygians – Khemi!
We will get back with detailed information on the exact time it starts on the official Open Beta forums at IGN, as well as on the Age of Conan forums and community site.
On the 10th of May Funcom is transforming the entire Open Beta into PvP MAYHEM, while at the same time giving testers access to all which Hyboria has to offer!
As we take down our servers for a short period we are at the same time changing the entire server rule-set to Free For All PvP carnage!
Here are the dirty details:
* All servers become PvP servers. You can kill each other – no level restrictions on killing or getting killed, but you cannot PvP in the major cities.
* All level 13 characters becomes level 20. Their inventory is wiped, but they have “tons†of money and really nice equipment suitable for level 20’s. Shopping bonanza!
* You have access to ALL zones and ALL levels after level 20!
* You will be zoned to your Race’s Hub. (Cimmerians – Conarch Village, Aquillonians – Old Tarantia and Stygians – Khemi!
We will get back with detailed information on the exact time it starts on the official Open Beta forums at IGN, as well as on the Age of Conan forums and community site.
Sweet.
That is awesome. Is this only going to be for the 10th only? I might have to use some sick time.
I got in the house at 9pm and got in the que, estimated wait time 63mins
Its now 12:51am and the estimated wait time is 29 minutes
edit: 1:02am and now its 30 minutes estimated wait :<
And that's why I love being a subscriber. Plus the money I spent on it has gotten me into enough beta's that kept me from buying enough games that I probably saved some money in the long run.
Unfortunately the game runs like shit on my computer. I can run Crysis on High but AoC bullies my computer into submission. Every time you load an area or even just randomly turn around you get an FPS drop, and it puts a damper on the whole experience. My only PvP experience came from some douche who warped circles around me, so I couldn't hit him at all. So that wasn't very fun either.
Overall I was not wowed at all, but I might try it out on launch anyway.
Unfortunately the game runs like shit on my computer. I can run Crysis on High but AoC bullies my computer into submission. Every time you load an area or even just randomly turn around you get an FPS drop, and it puts a damper on the whole experience. My only PvP experience came from some douche who warped circles around me, so I couldn't hit him at all. So that wasn't very fun either.
Overall I was not wowed at all, but I might try it out on launch anyway.
At least you got to play the beta, I just going to pay them $5 for the early access pre-order, then cancel/continue for the full version depending how good it run on my PC.
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PSN ID : Kiunch
I play Blazblue, Soul Calibur 4, Street Fighter 4 and soon Tekken 6... yeah... so add me if you want to play any of those.
All I'm saying is that, true to the source or not, the "mature" content that I've seen come out of this game is much, much closer to "durr durr titties whee" than it is to the questionable content of the Conan stories, and that I don't want to bother with it.
Exactly. While for me it doesn't necessarily equate to me not buying the game, it does discredit the storyline a bit.
Look, it's not like I walked into a bordello in Tortage (aptly name "The Bearded Clam" by the way) and was shocked to see naked women. I walked down the street of a main city to pick up a quest and saw a potion vendor standing totally naked.
Yes, the game is rated "M." Yes, the Conan mythology is famous for its gore and nudity. Yes, the game is sticking true to its source material (if in a very choosy sort of way). However, it seems like the developers are turning this into nudity just for nudity's sake. It's like some of the writers from the latest Leisure Suit Larry broke into the Funcom offices and changed some shit around without anyone seeing.
in cases like that, the npc is not intended to be nude. Have you seen any mobs in the beta that look like they're checkered? these mobs have not been given skins yet by the devs. Similarly, many NPCs have not been given clothes. so the problem is not that the devs are even less tasteful than we hoped, it's that they're even less finished making the game than we hoped =P
Unfortunately the game runs like shit on my computer. I can run Crysis on High but AoC bullies my computer into submission. Every time you load an area or even just randomly turn around you get an FPS drop, and it puts a damper on the whole experience. My only PvP experience came from some douche who warped circles around me, so I couldn't hit him at all. So that wasn't very fun either.
Overall I was not wowed at all, but I might try it out on launch anyway.
Welcome to the world of betas. This isn't a demo. If you are not reporting bugs every two seconds (and there are plenty to report) then there is no reason to play.
Unfortunately the game runs like shit on my computer. I can run Crysis on High but AoC bullies my computer into submission. Every time you load an area or even just randomly turn around you get an FPS drop, and it puts a damper on the whole experience. My only PvP experience came from some douche who warped circles around me, so I couldn't hit him at all. So that wasn't very fun either.
Overall I was not wowed at all, but I might try it out on launch anyway.
Welcome to the world of betas. This isn't a demo. If you are not reporting bugs every two seconds (and there are plenty to report) then there is no reason to play.
We're going back and forth with this nudity thing, so I'll introduce something to perhaps change the topic a little bit. We're am little over a week till launch and many are having major technical problems running the game. There are rumours that a much more current client exists, but some are worried it won't make it to launch.
Internally we have, rather than one "magical build", between 12 and 15 various branches. I won't go into specific details about any of them, but I'll try to give a quick example of why they haven't reached the beta yet.
Take for example BranchA, where we've fixed major issues with shaders and rendering.
In BranchB we've tweaked lots of the code that basically makes up the core of our animation system, so it now runs smoother and faster than ever before, and consumes less memory.
However, when we integrate these branches together to make a complete build of the client, they end up conflicting with each-other and resulting in a build error.
So, the various coders working on the different branches sort out the conflicts, and once that is done, we manage to build a new version of the client.
Once that is done, the build goes to QA, who run through extensive testing procedures to catch as many bugs as possible in the new version.
Enter the coders again, to fix all the new-found bugs, and repeat the entire process until the build is deemed stable. At this point, and no sooner, will we push it to the beta.
Now, keep in mind, that in the example above I've only spoken about code (and 2 branches rather than 10+). With that being said, code often relies upon data just as data relies upon code to function properly, and you further complicate the process.
So, it's not like we hold back on a new beta-build just for the fun of it; we actually do it because we need to follow certain routines before deploying something externally.
With all of that being said, calling the current beta-build (which is what, 2-3 weeks old by now) for the release build, and at the same time knowing that we're still working hard on polishing, improving, optimizing and stabilizing the client is more than slightly off-target.
I think that seems like a fairly tall order given the limited time-frame left before launch.
Not really. That's professional software development for you. Perforce does most of the work anyway. It's a complex process, sure, but in a game studio it happens every day for a big chunk of the cycle.
so after having to get in the queue a SECOND time last night at midnight after my first download crashed at around 1 gig mark... I checked it again before i went to work at 1pm today, and found that I was STILL in the damn queue after 12 fucking hours.
It apparently started sometime during my time at work though, so now, 24 hours or so after getting in the queue I am at a hefty 13% downloaded.
Holy god... I hate fileplanet.
I seriously hope to god they have a better format for the early launch downloads, because at this rate it wont be worth the $5 if it will take til the day the game comes out to download the fucking thing.
Posts
It's the first Mature RATED MMO. That rating has nothing to do with the maturity of the GAME. It's about the maturity of those your allowed to sell the game to.
I just can't figure out what you were expecting from a Conan MMO. It's like buying Deadwood: The MMO and being surprised at all the swearing.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Cykstfc
I've heard there's some sort of temporary, last-minute censoring going on, since this is an open beta and that it'll look normal for release.
And someone else talking about topless NPCs.
Nobody's doing anything more than saying their opinions on what the game's "mature" content is. I don't understand why people have to get butthurt about it. For some people, vagina flowers and nipples don't endear them to purchasing a product. For others, apparently, those things are to be zealously defended under any pretense possible.
Noone's zealously defending it, just pointing out that this was what could have easily been predicted from the get-go. Well, apart from the vagina flowers which is pretty ridiculous.
On the efforts to develop as "mature":
Again from Eurogamer, re: Maturity:
Anyone who says that this game was just being marketed as having a mature rating obviously wasn't paying very much attention.
Weren't you done with this thread?
Also, I kinda of agree... it's almost "over the top" with the nudity, but strangly, people actually playing the game are being way more casual about it than a lot of people here. I expected the inverse to be true. I mean, if you want to poo-poo it, fine don't buy it. Good for you. More stuff for me pull fatalities on. Whatever. Can we get back to actual gameplay discussion instead of going all Jack T up in here?
For example:
My friend and I got our characters to level 11 last night, and actually made an attempt at some group quests. Not that I'm here to compare this to WoW, but... this game will totally make you rethink group/party dynamics. He plays a DT and I have my barbarian, but it's not like he "tanks" mobs (at least, not at level 11), it was pretty much ganging up on npc's that gave us more trouble (casters, archers) and then singling out the stragglers. We turned our area into a meat grinder, spilling blood and pulling fatalities left and right. And it was glorious. Previous to this experience, we had primarily solo'ed and it was good... but our first concerted team effort eventually turned into a dps-fest, him with his two-handed spear and I with a two-handed pick-axe, whirling and bashing our way through tracts of enemies. We would line them up in front of us, 3 or 4 abreast, and pull combos.
We're wondering, though: is there "flanking" in the game? On mini-bosses I found I had a much better chance to hit while behind an enemy, as opposed to right next to my friend as mentioned above. We also like to stagger our lunges and retreats together too, to maximize damage.
Ye gods that's BRILLIANT. Have it playable for me by Friday.
But seriously, complaining that flowers that look like vaginas (wtf FF's spellchecker doesn't think vagina can be plural) is necessarily immature or that sexual content is only going to appeal to teenagers is off base. If it were true there would be a lot more high school boys hanging around the Georgia O'Keefe museum in New Mexico.
When I was told there would be nipples (of both the milk-producing and vestigial sort) my reaction was pretty much as follows:
"Huh. They're gonna put titties in like people have been doing in the movies for decades and they're not going to be ashamed of it. Good for them."
My girlfriend's reaction was something like this:
"Will it have glistening man-nipples?" (yes, she used the word "glistening")
I told her yes. She says she may look into it.
I'm not going to pick this up because of rasterized meat pillows, nor is anyone else. (though it may impact their purchasing decision a small amount) Why? Because anyone who is thinking about playing this game has a fast internet connection, and anyone with a fast internet connection can get pictures of actual, factual chest cantaloupes that are not attached to demon spawn with goat legs, horns and a whip (whip optional), and they will be doing things far more arousing than letting out a banshee wail, getting cut with swords, burned alive, or electrocuted or whipping you. (whip, again, highly optional)
The point is, they left in the sex to make it more authentic. People really do want to bump uglies with powerful, broad-chested barbarian types, so why leave that out of the experience? It is, perhaps, a bit odd that they rendered nipples for NPCs they wouldn't ever expect to get naked except through a bug, but perhaps they are all just cut (rasterized?) from the same mold.
If they had programmed the game so that your dong swung out from behind your loincloth accidentally once in a while, I think that would also have been a step in the right direction. All men have dongs, but all loincloths don't necessarily cover them effectively. Also, it would make it more likely that I could get my girlfriend to play with me.
But yeah, this thread has gone totally against the cocksdickslol norm of the PA forums. I assume if the flowers in questions were wang shaped it would be a different story, and the quest would also be MUCH funnier. "Go forth and collect me some flowers. They are shaped like dicks. You have to caress them carefully to remove the head without spilling the nectar so take care!"
I laughed. And I'm comfortable with that.
I think that's actually a display bug, like the armless NPCs. I haven't seen either.
As a huge fan of Howard, that's utter bullshit.
The pulpy sex was an obvious expression of Conan's absolute masculinity and raw, uncivilized nature. Women weren't often naked until he was around and it was always expressed as very matter of fact.
It was not "tee-hee, I see vaginas and tits everwhere, wink-wink, nudge-nudge", which, by all accounts AoC is running with wholesale.
This is very "tree falls in a forest." When exactly will players have contact with NPCs while said NPCs are not in the presence of a massively desirable PC?
Also, as someone who was never a big fan of the books, can I ask what racism y'all are referring to? How do you reflect real world racism in a book with fictional races?
The key (for me, at least) the tone of the books was quite matter-of-fact about it. The sex was very much not glorified, but rather appreciated for what it was (a singularly male expression of unattached and freeform lust). Personally, I don't know yet if AoC reflects this or not (but the vagina quest doesn't seem to indicate it). In fact, Howard's expression of sex in the Conan stories is very un-American; it's way too pragmatic and understanding of the realities of human existence. I can see how the developers would easily translate this into the more modern American "too-much-importance-because-we're-repressed-and-make-it-a-big-deal" sentiment.
His stories generally didn't have separate fantasy races (other than monsters). They're extremely ignorant in their portrayal of real-world races, though, falling back on stereotypes and some pretty foul descriptions. It's not necessarily directly hateful, but it is hateful by way of ignorance; imagine being taught that it is absolute fact that certain races are more feral or less intelligent than others.
As much as I do love his stories, those bits are sometimes really painful to come across.
It's not a display bug. Yes, there are NPCs where the breasts clip through the clothes. I'm talking NPCs that are fully clothed with absolutely no tops. Also, NPCs that have absolutely no clothes on but a tiny bikini. No gloves. No hat. No shoes. No shirt. No pants. Just a bare, naked NPC standing there selling potions.
I'm not complaining. I just don't get why it's there. There isn't even any dialogue in the NPCs interaction that hints at it. I'd be equally troubled if I saw an NPC with a gigantic head standing there repairing armour, or a lizard NPC in a barbarian camp cooking up some vittles. If you're going to have something entirely out of place, have some sort of context explanation somewhere; otherwise, it comes off as just a gimmick to entice the adolescents in the audience.
It only tangentially relevant but go look at the Mass Effect thread and the hatred for the character Ashley. She's considered a xenophobic bitch because she distrusts and fears the aliens.
I never said I was done with this thread, and discussing the maturity level of the content has literally nothing to do with Jack Thompson. Decrying anything that questions content as Thompson-esque is, in my opinion, very narrow-minded.
Yes, from my first quote. Read it closer. And then, when you've read it a few times, realize this too: That quote was posted entirely in response to people saying that this game was marketed as the first game to have a mature rating, as opposed to being developed with mature content in mind. All of those quotes were.
Now, as per pulp as it relates to this sort of thing. I love pulp. I have Howard all over my bookshelves. I find it very difficult to read, being as "politically correct" as I am, sometimes, but I still enjoy the best parts of it for what it is. All I'm saying is that, true to the source or not, the "mature" content that I've seen come out of this game is much, much closer to "durr durr titties whee" than it is to the questionable content of the Conan stories, and that I don't want to bother with it.
Exactly. While for me it doesn't necessarily equate to me not buying the game, it does discredit the storyline a bit.
Look, it's not like I walked into a bordello in Tortage (aptly name "The Bearded Clam" by the way) and was shocked to see naked women. I walked down the street of a main city to pick up a quest and saw a potion vendor standing totally naked.
Yes, the game is rated "M." Yes, the Conan mythology is famous for its gore and nudity. Yes, the game is sticking true to its source material (if in a very choosy sort of way). However, it seems like the developers are turning this into nudity just for nudity's sake. It's like some of the writers from the latest Leisure Suit Larry broke into the Funcom offices and changed some shit around without anyone seeing.
From the beta forum:
I think that seems like a fairly tall order given the limited time-frame left before launch.
Sweet.
That is awesome. Is this only going to be for the 10th only? I might have to use some sick time.
What about people who pre-ordered? I know they start 3 days early, but what about OB?
Was Fileplanet suscribers, then they had keys for everyone for a few hours. Pre-orders do not get you into the beta, only the early access.
I got in the house at 9pm and got in the que, estimated wait time 63mins
Its now 12:51am and the estimated wait time is 29 minutes
edit: 1:02am and now its 30 minutes estimated wait :<
And that's why I love being a subscriber. Plus the money I spent on it has gotten me into enough beta's that kept me from buying enough games that I probably saved some money in the long run.
4 Days? Hah, I'll be downloading it in 63 minutes!
Now I feel really silly :<
(Current estimated wait time: 20 minutes)
It was decent
The combat was ok, and the world was ok
Unfortunately the game runs like shit on my computer. I can run Crysis on High but AoC bullies my computer into submission. Every time you load an area or even just randomly turn around you get an FPS drop, and it puts a damper on the whole experience. My only PvP experience came from some douche who warped circles around me, so I couldn't hit him at all. So that wasn't very fun either.
Overall I was not wowed at all, but I might try it out on launch anyway.
At least you got to play the beta, I just going to pay them $5 for the early access pre-order, then cancel/continue for the full version depending how good it run on my PC.
I play Blazblue, Soul Calibur 4, Street Fighter 4 and soon Tekken 6... yeah... so add me if you want to play any of those.
in cases like that, the npc is not intended to be nude. Have you seen any mobs in the beta that look like they're checkered? these mobs have not been given skins yet by the devs. Similarly, many NPCs have not been given clothes. so the problem is not that the devs are even less tasteful than we hoped, it's that they're even less finished making the game than we hoped =P
Welcome to the world of betas. This isn't a demo. If you are not reporting bugs every two seconds (and there are plenty to report) then there is no reason to play.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Cykstfc
but....launch....is.....13.. days..
nevermind
Not really. That's professional software development for you. Perforce does most of the work anyway. It's a complex process, sure, but in a game studio it happens every day for a big chunk of the cycle.
It apparently started sometime during my time at work though, so now, 24 hours or so after getting in the queue I am at a hefty 13% downloaded.
Holy god... I hate fileplanet.
I seriously hope to god they have a better format for the early launch downloads, because at this rate it wont be worth the $5 if it will take til the day the game comes out to download the fucking thing.