Since I was not able to attend PAX 2010 in Seattle — actually I was a there but not allowed to purchase a one day pass — I would like to present a compendium of trade show reports from various blog and news sources.
Without further ado here they are:
- Cameron Sorden from Digital Life does a great job in reporting his favorites from PAX 2010 — good analysis here!
- Wadstomp’s Gaming Blog journeyed to PAX 2010 and penned: My Top 5 Games From PAX – Check out his comments on the upcoming MMOs: Guild Wars 2, Rift Planes of Telara and Tela.
- Massively has a nice write-up with their PAX 2010: Hands on with Rift: Planes of Telara.
- Kotaku has an article on their impressions of Duke Nukem: Forever which finally made an appearance at PAX in Seattle. Also be sure to check out their revealing article which explores how Duke Nukem Was Brought Back to Life.
- Hardware Canucks have a nice video that shows us their Guild Wars 2 Gameplay Impressions.
Expect more reports from Seattle to arrive as PAX attendees get down to writing their articles in the days ahead.
If anyone has any other interesting PAX 2010 impressions links please reply to this article and I’ll be sure to add them in.
-Wolfshead
Maybe there is hope for the genre. People seem to get tired of moar generic DIKU reloaded. I am talking about SWTOR here, I really wonder how this fully voiced DIKU stuff will turn out in the end.
TERA is promising, caveat is that it is very Asian in graphics style, softporn female characters extreme incoming. Rifts/Telara does not get as much buzz usually, but their Rift event system reminds me a bit of Tabula Rasa.
By all the hype and hopes surrounding GW2, it also abandons a lot what made GW appeal to the original Guild Wars players. GW1 already has been dumbed down by giving players overpowered PvE skills by now, death penalties and the option to fail got almost completely removed. Same for the skill system, 5 of 10 now come determined by your class and weapon choice in GW2. GW1 also gave a crap about gear stats, it was more about modding a weapon with extras of your choice and otherwise all about looks and vanity. Seems GW2 has made a lot of concessions to the general DIKU crowd, now it is again about levels and gear.
But at least they killed the trinity of tanks and healers. Unfortunate that otherwise they made really huge concessions to the generic DIKU mindset of endless level and gear progression and other silly ideas. This means the world will still feature level-based zones, “sidekicking” and other tricks can’t really hide that. This was something that GW1 was almost done with, especially “hard mode” turned even the few early low level starter zones into max level areas.
I can’t stand Asian themed MMOS — as someone of European heritage that lives in the west they are a big turn off.
Regarding the Guild Wars franchise to me it’s always had this Asian influence that never appealed to me. The emphasis on big breasted females that adorned all of their box covers and the general tenor and feel of the geography and culture within Guild Wars is evidence of this.
I prefer European fantasy archetypes as popularized by Dungeons & Dragons. They are well ingrained in western culture.
Right now I’m taking a wait and see approach to Guild Wars 2. I just hope they don’t blow it by catering to the Asian market like so many MMOs do these days.
GW1 had to cater to “the Koreans”, but the style blend and gameplay was probably still to western for them. It bombed in Asia, but was a huge success in the western world. It is interesting to note how the style moved away from Asian influences more and more with each chapter.
GW2 seems to cater more directly to the western market. The armors/clothing are not revealing at all (to my disappointment and that of my Necromancer Lady), seems GW2 is set in the Age of Puritan WASPs! 🙂
WASDStomp really opennes my eyes about Guild Wars 2. He said it was flawless in his mind. I’m a huge follower of SWTOR and was surprised he didn’t add it in his top 5. That scares me and so does the lackluster gameplay videos lately. I’ll have to look into Rifts more