Solothores
Loyal Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2003
- Messages
- 55
Gamespot said:Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs Impressions
Mythic's long-running online RPG, Dark Age of Camelot, will get its next retail expansion pack before the end of the year. Titled Catacombs, this expansion's focus is self-explanatory from the title. But in addition to offering many miles' worth of dangerous dungeon crawls, the add-on is going to do something that should make Dark Age fans most pleased--it's going to completely overhaul all the character graphics, which, for the most part, haven't changed since the game was first released back in 2002. We got to see side-by-side comparisons of the old and new looks of most of the game's various races, and were very impressed with how much better the new character models looked. Considering that the typical Dark Age player ends up staring at these character graphics for long stretches of time, they might as well look their best, right?
The new character models are a definite improvement. Dark Age of Camelot's character models have never looked particularly good in the past, but still captured the respective races' personalities fairly well. The new models do a much better job of it, and have especially detailed faces, as well as fully articulated fingers on their hands. Players who prefer the old-style character models will have the option to revert back to those, but after seeing the new ones, we honestly can't imagine someone wanting to go back. In addition to the updated player character models, many of the most common monster models have been redone, as well, and also look much better than before.
As far as actual game content is concerned, most of Catacombs' content expectedly takes place underground. There's justification in terms of storyline for why each of the game's three realms suddenly has access to a subterranean environment, but in gameplay terms, what this means is players of all experience levels will have new dungeon-style content to explore and gain experience in. Additionally, Catacombs will feature instanced content for the first time in Dark Age of Camelot, meaning player groups will be guaranteed access to dungeons unfettered by other players, and chock-full of stuff to fight and stuff to find. For good measure, all of Dark Age of Camelot's existing dungeons are getting a visual facelift with this expansion.
Catacombs looks like it's going to address two major areas for improvement in Dark Age of Camelot--the fact that its character graphics are frankly in need of a visual update, and the fact that its player-versus-environment gameplay could use more variety, especially the underground dungeon romp variety. We didn't actually get to play the expansion at E3, but having had a chance to see it, we're very much looking forward to when it ships late this year
Source: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/darkageofcamelotcatacombs/preview_6098109.html
More to come
Impressions:
Cybit said:I am there, and I met with Mythic. Their booth babes consist of Sanya and Georgia, so that's about it. I got some catacombs info, and some NF info as well, trying to upload it from here to CV (Swanny wru!!!).
Quick synopsis:
Catacombs graphics are just freaking amazing. The player models got a HUUUGE upgrade, like EQ2 level upgrade, some of the best models i've ever seen. The faces are actually 3d, the player models breathe, blink, tap their foots, etc. Dyes work nicely, as in they make the armor look more metallic now instead of just plain red. Catacombs itself is aiming to be as big if not bigger then SI, and its more of a traditional expansion pack, so more along the lines of SI.
Every classic zone is being updated to above ToA levels artwise, the bindstones are pretty, the redone entrance to barrows rocks. The underground races are Kobolds, Shar, and Inconnu. The underground city is beeaaautiful, holy cow. (Saw the mid city I believe, lots of kobolds walking around 8) 8) 8) ). No ToAish aggravation they promise. It will be in open beta for longer (they learned from ToA was the joke). Catacombs brings a teleportation system now to both Catacombs and the other zones they hope, they are looking at letting people teleport at least to horse routes and stuff, a lot of that is still in the air but there will be teleporting as of now. Giant stones are like teleportation beacons, tis quite cool.
NF: Open beta for at least another month, lots of things are gonna be looked at and tweaked. All their focus is on NF development wise (hence the lack of actual content so far on Catacombs, just mostly artwork). They are really putting time into this.
Any questions? Catacombs is set for december 2004 at earliest. Classes are not set at all, still deciding on basically everything except the story line.
Will check in again I hope.
Oh, almost forgot
Jewelcraft is coming with Catacombs. Rings, bracers, gem slot and necklace
Source: http://vnboards.ign.com/Percival_(RP)/b20670/68790093/?7
Blackjack said:Hey all. I just came from the Catacombs booth getting a first hand tour.
The new models are stunning! Armor is now done in pieces, so if the armor has a spike on it, it's not flat, it's actually a part of the model and not a flat piece of art.
The animations on the models are all new, all the models now have joints, the eyes actually blink, the jaw moves, etc.
Kobolds and Valkyns don't even look the same anymore. Valkyns are just amazing! Kobolds now are more defined and still quite blue.
The texturing on the models are on par with any top game out/comming out. At this time I'm not sure if screenshots have been posted, but take my word, they will blow you away.
I was told (and saw) a lot of the mobs in game have been redone and their animations redone. It looks like a whole new game.
I asked about the new classes and was told that information can't be given out.
I asked if any were to be stealthers, but again, was told can't say.
Haven't had a chance to ask about frontiers (going back today, have World of Warcraft duties (meeting with blizzard in an hour).
Source: http://vnboards.ign.com/Percival_(RP)/b20670/68796897/?0
Cybit said:If you can run ToA, you can run catacombs at same rate. That's what I was told was how computer intensive it is. :lol:
The keens are kinda cute tho. :x But once SS's get out of catacombs, you'll see how much of a graphics upgrade it is.
All of the content people are working on NF right now, so all you'll see is art until NF is done methinks.
AngablissFoundationTL said:Valkyns are much more .... animalistic. Think less of "Beauty and the Beast" and more "Homicidal Boar-Man."
The redo of the models is like ..... night and day. Very cool. Also saw the Imperator trailer, which was also quite nice to finally see.
Oh, and new saracens ....... rawr
Source: http://vnboards.ign.com/Nimue_(RP)/b21883/68793729/p1
dragonpupReaverTL said:Last night myself anf a bunch of other TLs got a demo in Mythic's meeting room. OMFG this stuff looks sweet. The artists have really outdone themselves. Oh, and epic armors are getting some tweaks(not new graphics perse). Like Warrior epic has shoulder pads. Paladin no longer looks like metal spandex, etc.
ps, Ashay is the 3rd Mythic booth babe
Headline story Camelotvault:
Camelotvault said:got to Mythic's office around 9:40ish, where I met Sanya. She introduced me to Moderately Evil Overlord (Copper) and Grand Evil Overlord (Firor). I presented my gift to Sanya (bag of chips and dip, she had it coming). Sanya turned many shades of red and ushered me into a room where Copper was fooling around with god powers on pendragon watching the frontiers fights. I chit chatted with them for a little bit, then Copper showed me a New Frontiers Video, then a Catacombs run through.
New Frontiers Video:
Their goal is to increase the use of tactics in RvR, as well as make fighting accessible to everyone. The video showed how towers were in different terrain types and features (swamps, valleys, urban sprawl) to facilitate different tactics to defend/take each tower.
Keeps (now referred to as castles) have severe upgrades. A video showed a keep being upgraded from 1-10, with it getting bigger, walls thicker, more hookpoints, etc etc. The interior of the keeps themselves were also very nice. I brought up the subject of level 10 keeps being very tough to take as well as teleporting defenders. Copper responded by saying players can ninja 3 towers to stop defenders from teleporting in, then upgrade the towers and attack the keep itself. They are trying to get away from the giant zerg vs zerg confrontations that occur at relic keeps that make the server cry, and from night ninja raids, but keep RvR fast, decently big, and furious. The open beta is scheduled for at least one month, with everything being up for change during the month.
Catacombs Demo:
Copper then loaded up a copy of Catacombs.
Sanya told me to make sure to let everyone know Catacombs is coming out earliest in December.
First initial looks were stunning, the character models are some of the best if not the best I've seen in a MMORPG. He had an old skin and a new skin toon next to each other, and the difference is amazing. The new toon's face actually looks 3d, instead of a 2d skin on a 3d model. The new toon has individual fingers, breathes, taps their foot, blinks, feels much more alive then the old ones. Copper then took me to a dungeon and asked what it looked like,` and it was the entrance to barrows (CM I think was the actual dungeon). Copper showed that the entire classic world will be getting a HUGE overhaul art wise, it'll be comparable to ToA and maybe even better. From the looks of it, the new entrance to barrows was beautiful. He then took me into an underground city they had made (was Mid I believe, lots of kobolds, kobolds ARE the red headed step children of Midgard :? , Sanya gets to explain that one), and it was the best artistically done dungeon I've seen in DAoC and up there for the best I've seen in any MMORPG. All the monsters are getting graphical upgrades as well, and then copper ported himself into a room where it showed old dyed epic armor and new epic dyed armor. The new epic dyed armor was much more realistic, you could see the metallic color coming through the red, the chain wasn't dyed (like in reality), and it looked far more authentic then the current dye system.
Copper said the underground races are the Shar, Inconnu and Kobolds off the top of his head, and JEWELCRAFTING IS COMING WITH CATACOMBS! It will allow players to use gem drops from monsters to make necklaces, gem slot items, rings and bracers as of now. Computer wise, you only need a computer that can run ToA to run Catacombs.
All I can think of. Sanya gave me a lanyard and a Mythic t-shirt. I asked Copper about radar/cheats, Sanya said if someone emailed her an exploit and said: this is how you do it and listed it step by step, she has it to Copper within the hour. Copper says they have programmers who sole jobs are to combat hacks and radar, and Sanya says if anyone can email her with specific info on a hack, to do it, and they'll nail it down. Sanya also mentioned that every patch they change things that mess up these types of exploits.
Source: http://camelotvault.ign.com/e32004/cybite3204.shtml
Alb Briton (m)
Alb female (f)
Alb Briton Paladin (m)
Alb Briton Paladin II (m)
Hib Elf (f)
Hib Elf (m)
Mid Valkyn (m)
Mid Kobold (m)
Source:
http://camelotvault.ign.com/e32004/e32004.shtml
Credit for Pictures goes to Cybit.