Well the first secret world Beta is coming to an end and I promised to post my thoughts on the game.
Bias assessment: I remembered about this game being made a few months ago, found the website and read up on it and got quite pleased with what they claimed, however
having been there for the launch of Conan I had some doubts they would pull it off. So I would describe my viewpoint going it as excited but cautious.
So first a brief summary for the tldr crowd.
I really enjoyed the beta, it was a breath of fresh air and I actually felt enthused for an mmo again, something that neither rift nor old republic managed to
rekindle in me. Having said that I think this will be a marmite game. People will either love it or hate it. As for me well despite my current caution with MMO's
usually only paying for a single month up front I am sorely tempted by the lifetimer option on here as I really believe this could be a game I could play for a
couple of years.
I do not believe the game will be massive if I am honest I think this game will be a niche game with a loyal following much like Eve but I do not think Funcom
believes its going to be everyones cup of tea either. I suspect it will do the normal haemorrage over the first month then will slowly grow much as eve does and I am
fine with that.
And for the rest of you who can read a wall of text
Talking to xylax about the game he came up with the best fitting description I think, even though he has never played or seen it, this game is an old fashioned
adventure game like day of the tentacle etc. in mmo form. While there are all the normal quest types kill this,kill that, fetch this, there are also other missions
which are pure problem solving and sabotage missions which involve stealth. Not invisible rogue type stealth that would be too easy, using lines of sight to avoid
being spotted, lurking in shadows type stealth.
In addition I found no matter the quest type the way its presented to you it felt much more natural so I found I was drawn in and didn't really notice it was a fedex
quest or a kill quest. The quest system is also arranged very differently to the normal quest hub system which confounded me at first, then I caught on that the best
way to approach it. Some one described it better than I could in the forum so I will put a link in at the end so those with interest can read.
What I think the secret world does really well is to draw you into the story, set the atmosphere and cause you to tear your hair out till you get that moment of
enlightenment which gives you a brief moment of yay! before you realise that means you have to work out the next part. The game really made me feel like I was an
investigator sent out to find out what the hell was going on, whereas I never really got drawn into the feeling of being an imperial agent or a sith lord in star
wars. The starter area...all we were allowed for this weekend...actually felt like a believable small town in america and the attention to detail was spot on. I say
starter area but I barely managed to scratch the surface in a weekend I think I managed just over half of the possible quests as of now. Some of that to do with "I
wonder whats over there?" syndrome. But in TSW that pays off because often over there you might find a clue to another quest or some new quest. While there are
places where you can pick up multiple quests the rest are scattered around. A discarded PDA lying by a crashed car or a suicide note on a door for example.
The skill system in the game works amazingly well and I can forsee many hours spent trying to work out decks. While all of your actives relate to the two weapons you
are currently using the passives you can use seem to be able to come from just about any section of the wheel so there are lots of potential synergies there. At
first the wheel is a little daunting but after a short while it becomes quite intuitive to use. I think those not used to the standard style mmo systems will
possibly work it out faster as they have no preconceptions.
However I would say the games strengths are also it's weakness. Those who love complexity,connundrums and riddles and not having their hand held will love the game.
Those that don't read the quest text or skip cutscenes routinely and aren't really interested in lore will probably hate the game.As one beta player posted on the forum
"I just did it! After playing this game - i just bought the Grand Master Pack!!! This game is so cool - i just played 8 hours to solve a riddle. I never expierienced
something like this before! " (Grand master pack being the lifetimer).
A lot will be going it took 8 hours to do one quest? bugger that!
Well thats the good how about the bad? The character creator was awful with hardly any options though it was stated before the beta that they had cut it right down
for the beta and removed a lot of options. The combat is not stationary and you can even cast while moving however the combat did lack what for want of a better word impact. Though I think improved sounds and animations (We were also told many of the animations were place holders and the real animations werent being dropped in until near launch so the animators could continue polishing till the last moment).
While on the whole most people seemed to be not having many geography issues there were a couple of places where people would get routinely stuck or fall through the
world, again not totally unexpected in beta.
I am using a 32 bit os so I was limited to medium settings for the beta but even so I found the game quite stunning especially london, not sure if that is an engine
limitation or a beta limitation. Users with 64 bit os's were playing in ultra so its not a case of the textures weren't there. Some uses were reporting graphic
glitches but I didn't see any myself and most people seemed to be running fine but you expect that in beta tbh.
Link to explanation of how the quest sytem is best approached:
http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=29419
Questions are welcome so feel free
