Vanguard Saga of Heroes:
New Kid with a Fine Pedigree
Vanguard Saga of Heroes will be the first of the third
generation of MMORPGs. And this baby is pretty much EverQuest's
direct descendent: much of Sigil's development team were
involved with EQ. Like many of EQ's players, it seems, the
game-makers are also ready for a new challenge.
There's no 'carved in stone' release date for Vanguard.
Tentative dates shoot by as they always do in the gaming
industry, but it seems Sigil is more concerned with getting
it right than getting it out. Still, with release possibly
Spring, or Fall, or sometime in 2006, Vanguard communities
are already springing up all over the Web.
One look at the screenshots doing the rounds will tell
you why. With fantasy artist Keith Parkinson on board, Vanguard
is visually stunning. The step up is kind of like the feeling
you got looking at the graphics for Myst when it first came
out. Sigil are saying, no load screens, ever. Full immersion,
nothing to remind you that you're in a game. It'll be interesting
to see how the servers cope and what the system requirements
will be like (prediction: hefty), and whether Sigil will
let their lofty ambitions outweigh user convenience. Of
course, they got slammed when EQ came out because it required
a 3D card, so maybe, just maybe, they know what they're
doing. Some of the character animation has been done using
the kind of motion-capture technology that made Gollum come
to life (though they're currently claiming that the trolls
are kind of unco-operative).
Vanguard is high fantasy, so don't expect any real surprises
in characters, races, or basic skills. The promise is basically
EQ but better, with the little annoyances ironed out. Sigil
are promising no grinding - that the easiest way to level
up WON'T be endlessly killing the same monsters over and
over. Towns won't just be somewhere to shop or equip, but
a source of adventure in themselves. In the demo version,
NONE of the buildings are fronts, they're all fully explorable
buildings. Basically, if you can see it, you can interact
with it.
There will be new concepts in the game, though. Sigil are
talking about an 'apprentice' system, twinking that makes
sense in games terms. So high-level players will be able
to take on lower-level ones and help them level up faster
in a way that seems realistic. It looks like multi-classing
will be pretty flexible, too.
There will be a corpse run when you die, but Sigil are
promising, you won't be doing it naked and vulnerable -
you can store spare armour. However, you may have to fight
to get your corpse back. And a marker system will save you
having to ask that horribly embarrassing question, "Have
you seen my body?".
The talk coming out of Sigil is sounding pretty good, though
there are still a lot of unanswered questions even at this
stage. The simple fact is, if they can get the game to play
as well as it looks, Vanguard is really going to raise the
bar for on-line role-playing games.
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