Quote (dcjsp @ Sat, Jun 21 2008, 04:56am)
I attempted to write this preview several times now, and each time it gets shorter and less detailed. The reason for that is simple: the average person seems to have too short an attention span for a 10-page preview. The other reason is that the original preview was basically a Diablo III parody to show off the similarities between the games. Then someone told me that comparing Mythos to Diablo II is like comparing your new girlfriend to your ex, and no one wants to do that. I disagree.
Diablo II is your long-term ex-girlfriend. You were together for years. You spent long, passionate hours together deep into the night, forgoing sleep and study to stay together. You had noisy, aggressive afternoons together in your dorm room that made your neighbors want to off you to quiet the place down. Then the inevitable happened: she got old. (Sidenote for all our female readers out there: just replace girlfriend with boyfriend and her with him mentally for the entire article, because no offense is intended at all) After Diablo II you were in danger of a relapse, tempted to call her up one more time for a quick get together. But no, it was over, there was no more she could offer you. Afterwards you may have given up on dating altogether. Maybe you went from ling to fling trying to fill the void. You probably even ran into FATE, who transferred to your school a few years later. Still, nothing could help.
Then a miracle happened: You discovered that Diablo II had a cousin. An extremely attractive, strong, and flexible cousin with some new moves and happens to still be maturing into something that can only become more attractive. Not only that, but she happens to be the cheapest date you ever had. Congrats, you have hit the jackpot, slap a ring on her finger and get hitched, because it can possibly get any better than this.
Welcome to the world of Mythos
This is exactly what it feels like to play Mythos. Mythos is a game in production by Flagship Studios, a company with numerous people who worked on the Diablo Series, worked at Blizzard, and more talent from other companies, such as programmers from FATE as well. The combination is a fast paced, imaginative, and fun dungeon crawler with a sprinkle of MMORPG elements spread throughout. All the things that made Diablo and Diablo II fun are there: Multiple classes, randomized dungeons, lots of loot, multiple skill trees, item customization via crafting, gems, enchantments, etc., and so much more. To make it even better, there are numerous new elements in the game, such as different races, Achievements (which can be equipped for stat boosts and such), a PvP-only version of the game world, and much much more awaits. To top it all off, the game is free to play, with an in-game store (described in the interview at the end of this article) as the company means of making money from the game.
Say hello to your new long-term girlfriend. I think you will find her quite satisfying.
The default camera option is a rotatable top-down view similar to some games you may know.
Before I go into further detail about the game, I should explain that it is still in closed beta, which means a lot will change. For example, up until about two weeks ago, all of the wilderness in the game was instanced, with randomized, set cookie cutter paths between Point A and Point B. What the devs found was that most people were playing the game as if they were alone, killing things in their own private randomized wilderness and hardly ever partying. Socialization was more or less limited to the chat box in the corner of the screen. Now, however, the game has an Overworld added to it, with dungeons still being privately instanced and randomized, but the town and the world above being shared with a limited number of other players. While various things are still being adjusted, it has achieved its goal of encouraging (but not forcing) players to group together to do dungeons and quests. I myself joined a group with a bunch of German-speakers to hunt down the Mythos version of Fallen Ones and venture into a dungeon.
The thing to keep in mind about this game is that the developers are unbeatably amazing in their socialization with their player base. They listen to our suggestions and complaints, and somehow manage to make changes that satisfy almost everyone. They listen to our ideas and suggestions on skill balance and make them work with the game. The forums, where most of this interaction occurs, is littered with posts from developers either responding to our ideas, helping us in our tech support problems, or socializing in various bits of forum silliness, sometimes posting and showing us that they are STILL working long into the late hours of the night. These devs care, and I have absolutely no doubt that they are going to make a record-breaking game.