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6 January, 2009
Vanguard: Saga of Dedicated MMOG Players
The New York Times Arts & Leisure section ran a big profile on the game designed by one of the key Everquest team members:" Hero Returns to Slay his Dragons". What has he done since then? After a brief stint in management, he decided to make another game. 5 years and $20+ million later, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes emerges. A big deal game, I guess - I hadn't heard of it before now!
McQuaid isn’t pinning his hopes on appealing to World of Warcraft’s millions of casual players. Instead, Vanguard is a gamer’s game. While World of Warcraft uses a cartoony visual style that runs fine on slower computers, Vanguard can humble even the beefiest PC with its emphasis on fantasy realism and its huge, richly detailed virtual universe. Where the older game tries to impress with its accessibility, Vanguard is about more complexity, more choices.
The Diplomacy track sounds most immediately interesting: a game mechanic around persuasive communications which can earn you status and strength apart from killing or crafting.
[The game's designer] says he’s going after “players who are looking for something deeper, more like a home.”
Wow - I want to experiment with this game, but I already have a home! The reviews say it's buggy and demanding. I wonder if I have the patience? 61 on MetaCritic so far.
Posted by justin at February 12, 2007 12:06 AM
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