Kalyn Valeheart
Constructively Friendly!
|
Well this is a slight change. I am more of a fan of AQ or DF myself becase of their great variety and tons off different thing to do to keep the player entertained and interested. Generally speaking, when it comes to offline rpgs, I am myself a fan of epic, 30-50 hour rpgs, which branch off to a lot of sidequests, employ a lot of custom systems etc, etc and which I can play for months on end without rushing through them. This was, in fact, the prime appeal of AQ when I first came to play it in June 2006. Anyway. About WF. Despite my doubts, and I'd like to highlight that, I am not unenthusiastic about this project. On the contrary. Given my current workload, I usually don't have time to play much and end up catching up on relases at a later date. From this perspective, I do welcome the otherwise also necessary monthly update scheme. More time to prepare the release for the AE, more time for the player to catch up with what has been going on. Plus, undeniably, more time to stretch the story in time. A monthly update scheme will be of huge advantage. Which brings me to my doubts. Given the idea, it could just as well be simply implemented as a saga to AQ and it would work fine. It is basically a branched-off single chapter, technically a part of a greater game universe. The idea seems indeed very focused so far, very consistent. Normally I would say this is a better material for a stand-alone offline game as it seems to be even right now a clearly planned out idea with a specific course to take, which is strengthened by the consistent quests. Speaking of quests, because they are intended to unlock as you level up, it does strengthen the impression of structure and order which at the same time is likely to make things easy to follow for new players, I do agree with that and I do think it is a plus for WF. Somewhat controversial as the idea of an "in-continuous-development add-on" enhancing its "in-continuous-development base game" seems to me, it is nonetheless something that might actually add up to the variety so far to be found in AE, and variety not merely on the level of the "diegetic" world of the games, their major themes, character and "feel" but also the variety of the ways in which the games themselves are technically executed (less focused, more focused, expanding more, staying more narrow....it is a huge game-making workshop that is being in operation here and which I always find rather impressive) as well as in different solutions being applied to different games, thus possibly appealing to more and wider tastes. WF is also graphically superior to some of the older parts of AQ and thus more unified than AQ ( which isn't necessarily a bad thing at times..it does let you see how much AQ has in fact changed) Some really awesome cut-scenes are already there too. The nice music from some of the creative forumites is an icing on the cake. Generally speaking, everything so far adds up to create a very pleasant and interesting new release, with a couple of good ideas already thrown in (unlockable quests, interesting- although somewhat debatable- battlesuit and weapon solutions for example). Despite my scepticism, I do believe it has potential. Which is why, all things considered, I will be actually looking forward to observing its further growth.
|