SWG: Reinvented?

“Welcome to a world where you shape the epic sagas that will be told by future generations. Welcome to a world where the fate of millions hangs in the balance as player clans struggle for supremacy. Do you have what it takes to become legend?”

This is the theme to Aventurine SA’s, a game development company based in Athens, Greece, highly anticipated massive multiplayer online (MMO) fantasy roleplaying game titled Darkfall Online.

Races of Darkfall

It seems that Aventurine SA is trying to differentiate itself from many MMO’s that are currently on the market by creating a more realistic and intensive combat system through use of what they term “real-time combat”, as opposed to the “click and wait” combat that currently permeates the MMO genre. Approximately 5 years ago, there was a moderately popular MMO that launched with very similar concepts to what Darkfall Online is attempting to emulate, it went by the name of Star Wars Galaxies (SWG).

A great game ahead of it’s time; Star Wars Galaxies quickly lost it’s steam mainly due to the introduction of World of Warcraft (WoW). World of Warcraft introduced very basic combat game play; allowing for a multitude of people across the globe to easily integrate themselves into the MMO genre. It can be argued that it solidified the foundation of which most MMO’s now use as a template for their combat styles. Jumping on the bandwagon, Sony Online Entertianment, producer/publisher of Star Wars Galaxies, quickly began making combat game changes to simplify the games combat use. In the end, Sony Online Entertainment disenfranchised it’s core player base causing the rapid decline of the games popularity and demand.

Darkfall

Fast forward five years, Aventurine SA begins to make it’s way onto the MMO scene which is quickly becoming a staple of PC based gaming. Outside of “real-time combat” Darkfall Online seems to share many similarities to that of which Star Wars Galaxies used to be such as : a seamless and zoneless game world; the lack of a leveling system; a skill system based on skill practice, rather than skill purchase; flexible character development, no need to re-roll a character because your main character can switch rolls at will; the freedom to align yourself to either “bad” or “good” from a starting neutral alignment;and the ability to interact with and shape the world. Yes, the game will have player, guild housing!

A city in Darkfall

If you were a fan of what Star Wars Galaxies used to be than I highly encourage you to give Darkfall Online a serious look.

Darkfall Online is currently in development and is scheduled for a simulataneous 50 country release, including the US, late this year. The game has a tentative Beta set for the end of November 2008.

You can sign up for the Beta here.

It will be interesting to see the impact of the re-introduced concepts of Darkfall Online and how they will affect the future of the quickly budding MMO genre.

-Xo

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