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[bryant]

For the record, I spent most of Saturday having a pleasant Mother’s Day celebration with my family.

Sunday was the day I spent mesmerized by City of Heroes. And there is a screenshot album, which will keep getting updated as long as updating it amuses me. “Some villains do not wish to end their lives of crime. The Teleonaut uses his mystical shadow powers to reason with them.”

Comments

[kniedzw.livejournal.com]

So you know, a few of the albums appear to want to be displayed in "insecure mode," and I can't view 'em.

Cool-seeming game, however...

[bryant]

Ah, that'd be because I was screwing with things a second ago. Should be OK now.

It is pretty cool. I mean... you're a superhero. And it feels right.

It may yet prove a transient addiction, however.

[ogier30.livejournal.com]

Look for Major Martyr on Victory server.

This game is excellent.

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Julian Merrick is now level 7 but I can't find Circle of Thorns cultists to kill to save my life!

I need to post my own characters and servers sometime soon.

[bryant]

Rooftops in King's Row -- but only at night.

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Booyah! Thanks! Wish I'd known that earlier... :)

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

Look for the green glow.

-- Kirby, aka Kid Kestrel on Victory

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

So this game really doesn't get old? You aren't just doing the same thing, over and over again?

I ask because from what I've read, it sounds like Star Wars Galaxies with a lot of stuff taken out -- no crafting, frex -- and Star Wars Galaxies (the only MMORPG I've ever played) got old fast for me, because it was so monotonous.

[bryant]

It is very very different than SWG -- it's almost the exact opposite, in fact. Which doesn't mean it'll get old eventually...

CoH is story-driven; so far almost everything I've done on all my characters has been driven by NPC contacts. You start the game talking to an NPC, who gives you a mission. You do the mission and get another one, and eventually you get introduced to another contact, who gives you a mission. By around level 7, you'll have multiple contacts offering up choices of missions.

There's storyline in the missions as well. I know one gang is pushing this drug, Superdyne. I don't know where it comes from. I know the rough outline of the origins of these clockwork mechanical bad guys, but I don't know exactly who triggered that origin and I look forward to finding out. Lotsa stuff like that.

Now, eventually I'll reach the end of the story. Dunno what happens then.

Meanwhile, there's no crafting. There's no meaningful player economy. There's just going out, doing missions, learning more story, finding power boosters, etc. (Which happens to be a lot of fun, because the gameplay is very good. Also, the gameplay differs a lot between characters -- I think the replay value is quite high.)

Compare this to SWG, which had very little integral story but a lot of things to do. Crafting, economics, etc. SWG was a sandbox, while CoH is a story-driven game.

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

If it isn't a sandbox, why is it multiplayer and online instead of single-player? I don't understand; I have not incorporated this strange new paradigm.

[bryant]

Even game players are social, I think. Also, the design is such that it is markedly easier to defeat things if you are with a good group; thus, one element of play is managing group play skillfully.

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

I've got to agree with almost everything you say here, bryant, especially the replayability factor. This game encourages the character whore deep inside every RPGer to shine. :)

Things I would have liked to have seen in the initial version, though, include a skill system (not necessarily a crafting system), and eventual customizable team HQs for very high-level superteams.

[ogier30.livejournal.com]

That gang would be the Skulls, who're sometimes seen talking to the Trolls.

Meanwile, the Hellions would appear to be doing the dirty work of the Circle of Thorns, what with their trying to steal magical artifacts, but apparently are working for someone else. Which makes me wonder what the CoT are up to? And why are the Tsoo wandering around Steel Canyon?

Meanwhile, the 5th Column is recruiting and has teams marching through Boomtown. Clockworks are building robots out of scrap, led by their mad King. We've got the mad doctor Vahzilok unleashing the dead in the back alleys and sewers, stealing body parts. The Lost are preaching for change and using stolen (I hope it's stolen) Ritki technology, while appearing horribly mutated.

And this is all just the first 15 levels!

As for why it's MMORPG? Because getting together with 8 friends and roleplaying are way through two are three missions, kibbitzing and having fun is a lot easier with this than setting up a game of Champions FTF. I've spent more rpg time with them in the last two weeks than I have in the last year combined.