DAY 45 / GAME 45
Neocron
I always really enjoyed the idea of a Massively Multiplayer Online game, but most of what was available prior to World of Warcraft didn't really appeal to me for the most part. I think my choices pre-Neocron were Everquest and Ultima Online. Both were pretty tame visually, which was most of the drawback for me at the time. So when Neocron came out, I was pretty impressed that a MMO could look this good.
Neocron was shown to me by a classmate when I was studying at Toronto Film School, so it was around 2003ish. As soon as it launched a few of us hopped on and tried it out. We only played for a few months, but it was a pretty awesome experience for my first MMO. Neocron was a FPS design, which was unique for an MMO. It basically ends up looking a lot like System Shock or Deus Ex. You equip yourself with weapons and cybernetic upgrades to battle your way through a post-apocalyptic world. You find safety in the city and have to traverse the dangers of the outer-wall in order to really discover anything of the world.
Combat was a little more fun than your typical MMO since it wasn't turn based, or had to rely heavily on cooldowns or other means to slow the pacing of a fight. You could build hoverbikes and trucks with mounted guns so you and your friends could go into a fight together outside the wall. But the real appeal for me with this game was the whole experience of a persistent world full of other real players. Hanging out virtually and conversing seemed like such a neat thing back then. Keywords in conversations triggered animations in the characters, so when walking by groups of people it looked like they were having real life conversations.
I had a couple really cool moments in this game. I also had some terrible ones. Ideally at a certain point you want to traverse the badlands from the city to an outpost across the map. It's pretty difficult and you really need a vehicle to do it. So I finally get a cheap bike and I almost made it on my first try, but I got destroyed by some huge monster. Second time around, (It takes a good hour to get there.) I finally make it to the outpost and I'm about to hit the save-point station so I can start up there from now on and some player goes on a rampage and wiped out every low-level player in sight. So then I had to try again. This time I make it there no problem, but for some reason I make a wrong turn and quite literally fall into an open elevator shaft, to my doom. On my fourth try I finally get there unscathed. It was quite the experience.
Games like this are all about the little quirks and moments and experiences that make your play unique; quite often caused by other player's interactions and influences. It seems to me this game is still around in it's updated form. (Neocron 2: Beyond Dome of York.) I'd seriously love to load it up again. For old time's sake.
Neocron
I always really enjoyed the idea of a Massively Multiplayer Online game, but most of what was available prior to World of Warcraft didn't really appeal to me for the most part. I think my choices pre-Neocron were Everquest and Ultima Online. Both were pretty tame visually, which was most of the drawback for me at the time. So when Neocron came out, I was pretty impressed that a MMO could look this good.Neocron was shown to me by a classmate when I was studying at Toronto Film School, so it was around 2003ish. As soon as it launched a few of us hopped on and tried it out. We only played for a few months, but it was a pretty awesome experience for my first MMO. Neocron was a FPS design, which was unique for an MMO. It basically ends up looking a lot like System Shock or Deus Ex. You equip yourself with weapons and cybernetic upgrades to battle your way through a post-apocalyptic world. You find safety in the city and have to traverse the dangers of the outer-wall in order to really discover anything of the world.
Combat was a little more fun than your typical MMO since it wasn't turn based, or had to rely heavily on cooldowns or other means to slow the pacing of a fight. You could build hoverbikes and trucks with mounted guns so you and your friends could go into a fight together outside the wall. But the real appeal for me with this game was the whole experience of a persistent world full of other real players. Hanging out virtually and conversing seemed like such a neat thing back then. Keywords in conversations triggered animations in the characters, so when walking by groups of people it looked like they were having real life conversations.
I had a couple really cool moments in this game. I also had some terrible ones. Ideally at a certain point you want to traverse the badlands from the city to an outpost across the map. It's pretty difficult and you really need a vehicle to do it. So I finally get a cheap bike and I almost made it on my first try, but I got destroyed by some huge monster. Second time around, (It takes a good hour to get there.) I finally make it to the outpost and I'm about to hit the save-point station so I can start up there from now on and some player goes on a rampage and wiped out every low-level player in sight. So then I had to try again. This time I make it there no problem, but for some reason I make a wrong turn and quite literally fall into an open elevator shaft, to my doom. On my fourth try I finally get there unscathed. It was quite the experience.
Games like this are all about the little quirks and moments and experiences that make your play unique; quite often caused by other player's interactions and influences. It seems to me this game is still around in it's updated form. (Neocron 2: Beyond Dome of York.) I'd seriously love to load it up again. For old time's sake.
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