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Funcom’s The Secret World has been one of the best kept game mysteries for the past couple of years. The team has chosen when and where information will be disseminated and how much will be released when it is discussed. However, as the game nears its April 2012 release date, the team is ready to start letting the rest of us in on what is arguably one of the most keenly anticipated titles coming next year. With that objective in mind, members of the worldwide gaming press were invited to visit Funcom’s Montreal studio where the bulk of the work on The Secret World is being carried out.
What Is The Secret World?
To begin our day, we were invited in for a brief overview of The Secret World. First TSW Senior Producer and Creative Director Ragnar Tørnquist talked about what The Secret World is and the premise behind the game.
For those who may or may not have been following, here is a recap of what we already know:
One thing that Tørnquist mentioned that especially intrigued me was when he said that The Secret World is essentially a jigsaw puzzle with millions of pieces that the team took and threw into the air, scattering them literally over the entire game world. Tørnquist admits that the story is linear but is discovered in a non-linear way. “Everything,” he said, “EVERYTHING is designed to be informed by the story.”
Anxious to let us test TSW, Tørnquist had one last thing to say, a caveat of sorts. “Right now The Secret World is a diamond in the rough from the standpoint that we are still about six months from launch. We are actively tweaking and polishing combat, our cut scenes are not completely finalized, and loading times on the test client are longer than they will be at launch. But,” Tørnquist said, “we are excited for you to get started.”
The press event was limited to the Templar starting experience, but, as it turns out, that was no limitation whatsoever.
Origin Story
Our journey into The Secret World began with a pre-made Templar character. We were not able to go through the character creation process but given what we saw later during our studio tour, the choices players will have to customize their characters will be impressive. As of our time there, a lot of the character heads models were being overhauled to give players even more flexibility during creation when TSW launches. But given how badly we wanted to get our hands on TSW, not being able to spend an hour creating our character was a good thing.
The origin story is told through a series of cutscenes featuring your character in Tokyo hiding in a dingy hotel room or apartment and slowly becoming aware of your strange new powers. The story introduces the first of the legion conspiracy theories the game will showcase including such ominous things as “what is the Japanese government hiding” and “bee problems plaguing the earth” and more. Your player fades in and out of consciousness. You finally awaken for good to a stranger who reveals the first hints of the Templars. You are given and envelope and told, “We’re the Templars. We’ve been around awhile.” From there you are told to head to London and to find the headquarters of the secret sect of guardians.
Once the initial assignment is given, players head off to get to London but need to complete several stages of the origin quest. The game’s movement mechanics and combat are taught through a series of quest tiers. One of the most important things new players will learn when entering The Secret World is that movement in combat not only is encouraged, but is necessary in a big way. Monsters don’t simply charge at you and stay there in front of you. They move in random patterns, throw projectiles and incendiary devices, and hurl spells and more. Movement is quite literally the way to stay alive even in these earliest phases of the game.
At the end of the initial quest arc, taking about 30-45 minutes to complete, I found myself in London at the Templar HQ: The Crucible. New Templars are instructed about the origins of the organization: “We don’t participate in the war on evil. We ARE the war on evil. We have an aptitude for violence. We are needed to keep society in order. Might will make right.” All of this is told in nicely voiced and animated cutscenes that included my character as well. The environments in The Crucible are lovely and grand as one would expect from a centuries-old secret society.
But historically old doesn’t mean lack of modern trappings both in the way that the Templars look, the trappings of The Crucible’s interiors or the way in which Templars train. After learning a bit about the history of the Templars, I was sent off to learn some skills.
Skills and Training
Once a player has finished the bulk of the informative background of the Templars, they are sent off to train. Players choose one to have bestowed on them before heading out to battle. Choices include Melee (swords, maces, etc.), Ranged (rifles, crossbows, pistols, etc.) or Magic. As said earlier, however, there is no limit on what players can do with their skills. If at some point one tires of being beaten to death by every monster entering melee range, they can simply head back to HQ to pick up a few handy ranged skills either in the Magic or Ranged training that is available to all players. And picking up those skills doesn’t immediately negate others that have been learned either.
While acquiring all skills is a good thing, players will need to keep in mind that only seven active and seven passive skills can be equipped at any given time. While skills can be changed out at any given time except during battle, players will want to experiment with what active/passive skills work best together.
Another innovative feature that Funcom is including in The Secret World is the Power Wheel. Gone is the ever-popular skill tree in favor of this rather complex wheel system. As players complete quests and tasks, they are assigned power points which can be spent in any skill area that a player has trained in (melee, ranged and magic). Once two cells in the inner wheel have been purchased, the more advanced outer wheel becomes available. Skill points can be spent on skills the player likes without using some skills as ‘stepping stones’ to higher level skills. Think Diablo 1’s Charged Bolt as a stepping stone to get to the more powerful Chain Lightning. That simply doesn’t happen in TSW.
Luckily for those of us who are less likely to micromanage or are less obsessive compulsive about discovering what works best together, the Funcom dev team will implement Templates that players can choose to help find effective character progression. These were not available for us to try out but they are there and will be in for launch.
Of course, hearing about 500+ skills, one has to wonder how on earth the team will be able to balance. According to Martin Bruusgaard and Joel Bylos, it’s a “self-countering system. For every so-called flavor of the month build, there is a counter to it. Everyone has the ability to own all skills so every skill can be effectively countered.” In addition, Bylos said, the team will be mining data on the skills to look for any that appear over powering or that aren’t being utilized enough. “Balance to players means that they win 2/3 of the time,” said Bruusgaard.
But back to my Templar: She trained herself in melee combat specializing in swords. My character started with three brand new skills centered around the sword and was then sent to discover Agartha, a strange otherworldly travel system that, for Templars at least, begins underground. It’s TSW’s fast travel system with portals opening to locations throughout the world. It’s not without peril, however, as players are told on embarking on their first journey to Kingsmouth on Solomon Island.
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Kingsmouth, Questing, and Battle
On leaving Agartha on Solomon’s Island, players are greeted by “Boon, Last of the Cowboys”. Boon offers players their first quest line on their way to Kingsmouth: Find and kill zombies. I felt sort of like Indiana Jones when I thought, “Zombies? Why did it have to be zombies.” But maybe Funcom is trying to get one of gaming’s more tiresome monster-types out of the way right at the start before introducing players to lesser-known critters. But even saying that, I was very pleased at how the team handled combat. It’s not just “run up and beat the zombies to death” type of combat scenario. I was asked to leap on cars to make the alarms sound which attracted a small horde of zombies. Then I needed to ignite a gasoline can to torch them all the while being careful not to torch myself in the process. That was simply brilliant!
Charging in and starting swinging isn’t terribly wise either. These zombies could haul arse, that’s no lie and neither do they just hang out waiting for you to beat them to a pulp. This “training area” is alive and these zombies are hungry so watch out!
Questing is accomplished in phases as well. Players can only collect three quests at a time (one main mission, one faction quest and one side quest) but you never feel limited by that as quests are tiered with several objectives that have to be met before the quest is actually completed. This really helps eliminate the “FedEx” feel that so many MMOs have these days.
It’s autumn in Kingsmouth with falling leaves, Jack O’Lanterns, rolling fog and more. According to devs, it will always be Halloween in Kingsmouth without the fun of trick or treating. The town is, or was, once a bastion for the Illuminati and there are signs of them all over. The local minister is even an Illuminati *wink wink* who is a “member of secret forums that don’t show up on Google”. But to quote Boon, Last of the Cowboys, “We gotta stand united against the darkness.” Townsfolk have been ‘zombified’ by the fog that surrounds the town and the citizens are holed up in a bunker-like area by the sheriff’s office, the quest hub in Kingsmouth.
But don’t think that that’s the only place that quests can be found. Funcom has lovingly scattered quests everywhere so it behooves players to explore. As Joel Bylos said, “We have crafted this world and we want you to enjoy it. We could handhold but we want you to get a feel for the town. TSW isn’t about the endgame. Finish a mission and, if you look around, within 15-20 meters, you’ll find another side quest to launch into if you wish. We have used a light touch to move players through the world.”
Speaking of Google, it’s going to be huge in the game. Because of the way the developers have crafted The Secret World, there isn’t necessarily a straight line running from the quest NPC and the place to solve that quest. There are obscure references to conspiracy theories that players will have to look up on Google. In fact, developers have plans to have an in-game capability for players to access Google for research to help them finish quests. Now how cool is that?
Another innovative twist to the quest system is the ability for players to make incorrect decisions. That’s right: You can totally blow it and have to go back to figure out what you did wrong. In one quest that my partner and I were working on, we had to examine paintings in the Kingsmouth Town Hall. Each painting gave clues to possible solutions for the quest we were working on. However, as we finally tracked down the last of the clues, we were basically told that this didn’t yield the results we needed and that we should go back and try a different painting. For those who like really linear play, this will be frustrating, I’m sure.
Let’s face it: The way Funcom has designed The Secret World, actual employment of gray matter is going to be required. Thinking, research and intelligent play are going to be requirements of TSW, that’s for sure. Interestingly, we’ll probably all learn a lot too. Now if we can just keep from becoming paranoid!
We spent over three hours in and around Kingsmouth and I know that I didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the available quests there. In fact, we only experienced a small portion of Solomon’s Island. When we were told we needed to move on, a collective groan rose from the players. It’s that good. But move on we did.
Multiplayer Dungeons
After wrenching us away from Kingsmouth, a group of us was paired up with one of the dev team and sent to the Polaris dungeon. What’s really cool is that there is, as with all parts of TSW, a cinematic story that goes along with the acquisition of the dungeon quest. We boarded our helicopter and off we went.
Dungeons in TSW are a lot of fun. Like player quests, dungeons have multiple objectives and multiple bosses to beat. Even the “normal” monsters are no walk in the park. Everything inside was tough! Funcom has created the dungeons with an emphasis on teamwork and on strategy. In our first foray into Polaris, we were obliterated pretty fast by the first mini boss when the water became electrified.
Oh…that’s what all those small islands were for, huh? Luckily, dying in to a mini boss doesn’t knock you out of the dungeon for good. Players are re-spawned and can rejoin the fight. There is a caveat to that, however, in that players dying to the final boss are then out of the fight for good, or at least until the entire party is wiped out. Luckily, dead players aren’t kicked out of the dungeon but are held in an area nearby until the entire party is wiped or the final boss is defeated. If the party wipes, everyone can regroup and try again.
The final boss in Polaris was MONSTROUS! Not only was he gigantic, but he packed a wallop to end all wallops. We could bang away at him for a time before he unleashed his sentries. If we were spotted by either the sentries or the boss during this phase, it was pretty much insta-death for everyone. The hard part was taking out the sentries before they could alert the boss. This had to be done by ranged fighters as we found out to our detriment.
Smaller dungeons are also being crafted for individual players. One we got a small peek at is called Blue Ridge Mine and is a sabotage mission. Interestingly, it all takes place in the dark with players having to find and wear a miner’s helmet for light. Additionally, while it’s considered a side mission, it helps fill in a part of the overarching storyline. The mine was the site of a terrible catastrophe in the 70s and that catastrophe directly affects what’s happening in today’s world in Kingsmouth.
We also got a brief look at the Akhenaten Pyramid where players will be able to fight the Black Pharaoh. It’s a journey downward through an ankh shaped hole, with each downward level representing a phase of the dungeon.
Sadly my team wasn’t able to take down the final boss in the Polaris dungeon though other teams managed to do so. The reward is pretty awesome. On finishing, rather than just being auto-magically transported back to Kingsmouth, the team re-enters the helicopter for a celebratory flight back….or not? Guess you’ll have to play it to find out.
Player vs. Player
PvP in The Secret World will happen. With three factions battling for control of the world, how could it not happen? One way that players will be able to take part in massive PvP factional confrontation is through areas like the location we were teased with. Up to 50 players per faction will battle for control of locations within this ancient citadel and fight to gain control of graveyards and other strategic locations. In addition, the zone features four temples that factions will battle for control over. The faction with control over the most temples will receive some nice buffs. But what makes this compelling is the fact that these zones are persistent. It’s not a map that is played over and over in single-match combat but is rather something that needs to be guarded jealously from the other two factions.
We were given the opportunity to play in the Eldorado PvP arena (a more traditional match-made PvP game). Teams from each faction were present and the objective is for teams to capture and hold relics. It’s a variation on capture the flag but with three factions in the mix, it’s a battle royal!
The Eldorado map features the ruins of ancient temples with above ground locations, collapsed stairways, partial rooms to hide relics in and more. The key here is to split the team correctly and leave enough members to guard the relics your team has in its possession. There is a lot of strategy required and it’s guaranteed that it will take avid PvPers a long time to figure out the best strategies and locations for each map.
Interestingly, while waiting in the queue for matches to begin, there is an open PvP area in the lobby. Players can head into the arena for free for all matches against any and all takers. The only objective here is to kill, kill, and kill!
Final Thoughts
To say that I’m impressed with The Secret World is an understatement. I not only liked the mechanics of combat, those things that make any MMO an MMO, but I adored character progression and am beyond amazed at the way that Funcom has created a “thinking player’s game”. There is so much to do, so much to see, so much to learn, so much to discover, it’s almost (but not quite!) too much altogether. The Secret World is something new and different on the MMO scene today. With launch less than six months away, my guess is that TSW is going to take the world by storm and set new standards for excellence in gameplay and engagement in an increasingly tired industry.
Source: mmorpg.com
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