Actual Shenmue Online game images...

MartinB · Post by **MartinB** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:58 pm

They'll bollocks it up, you know they will.

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 4:02 pm

Having Beta Tested City of Heroes, my first and only MMO game, allow me to say that Zeta -- they aren't all full of morons. Yeah, you hear stories about Everquest and Counterstrike, but think of that statistically:

You hear stories that sum up the accounts of maybe ten people; out of a player-base of over 200,000. Does that mean MMO games are automatically overrun by idiots? No. Of course, that doesn't mean you won't get a pure experience - there's always gonna be some asshole out there who killsteals or some moron who can't type, but that's true not just for the internet, but all of life. You deal with it, and you move on. (Having been slowly increasing the amount of online games I play like Half-Life and UT2004, I can also safely say that I've only encountered two lamers in my entire playing experience)

I had a lot of fun with my CoH beta test (despite getting in only on the last 24 hours of the beta). I played with some of my friends, killed some critters, and generally just goofed around. I mainly just kept to either myself or my friends, and I only ever encountered one person whom I did not know that asked me to join his Super Hero Group. (I declined)

Like Gibbon said - the social interaction is half the fun. Hell, I've gone back to PSOPC three seperate times since I got it over a year and a half ago. Slowly but surely I've worked my main character up to level 80. As long as you got friends to play with, these games are really quite fun.

And you don't "re-buy" the game every month. Most MMO games cost about $5-$10 per month. That's low enough to where you can practically dig through the couch and find that in change.

That being said, I think the MMO genre is being flooded. EverQuest 2, City of Heroes, Ghouls and Ghosts Online, Shenmue Online, Matrix Online, Final Fantasy 11, Shadowbane, Earth and Beyond, World of Warcraft... and tons more I can't even name off the top of my head.

It's nuts. While I guess you could pick the one you like, planet earth doesn't need 10+ MMO games. There's a reason why most MMO games today (I think Shadowbane and Earth and Beyond just got axes recently) don't last more than six months to a year: Not enough people give a crap!

Shatterstar · Post by **Shatterstar** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 7:00 pm

Why couldn't they make a normal Shenmue 3, shenmue 2 was good, shenmue 1 was good, this game is t3h $uck

Post by **Segaholic2** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 7:04 pm

I played in the WoW beta for a bit, and it was actually quite fun. Of course, I only played with real-life friends of mine, and never with random people online. We basically acted like huge dickheads to everyone else. It was pleasant.

Argent Silver · Post by **Argent Silver** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 7:32 pm

Of course, that doesn't mean you won't get a pure experience - there's always gonna be some asshole out there who killsteals or some moron who can't type, but that's true not just for the internet, but all of life. You deal with it, and you move on.

But not having to deal with real life problems is what makes playing video games fun. It's an escape.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:21 am

You can get into good groups in MMORPG's, but what I've found with both PSO and FFXI is 90% of everyone on there is a moron. You just have to weed through the idiots and find like 20 guys that aren't and then play with them. It really isn't that bad. Shenmue Online seems like a shitty idea to me though. They should put the money into Shenmue 3 instead of losing it all on something that I can tell right now is going to fail. Then again I don't know much about the Asian demographic so it might be popular...

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:21 pm

Why would Asians pay money to play a game in which the main draw is to play as an Asian?

They can do that for free!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:35 pm

YEah, but they can't fight, nor look cool for free!!!

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:36 pm

Zeta wrote:Why would Asians pay money to play a game in which the main draw is to play as an Asian?

They can do that for free!

Why would caucasians play a game where the main draw is to wander the world as a white guy? Molyneux magic, I like to call it.

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:37 pm

Molyneux magic, I like to call it

I have another term for that - over-hyped shit.

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:39 pm

"We don't like to use that word, 'Overhyped', at Microsoft. We prefer 'Mass marketed'."

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:22 pm

What other games is Molyneux responsible for? I played Black and White and thought it was pretty cool. Well it was a badass idea anyway, pretty poor execution.

aso · Post by **aso** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:38 pm

The Populous games...

And he's also working on The Movies right now.

The GHZ Forum

Actual Shenmue Online game images...

Guuuh... HAL JORDAN!!!