Champions of Norrath (Initial Impressions)

[Shane R. Monroe]

I've only gotten to look at it for 15 minutes, but I wanted to pop on here and talk about it (ummm ... during commercial breaks of a new That 70's Show).

The game has gone even MORE Diablo. Gate scrolls. The store is just like Diablo now. The inventory is just like Diablo. There are now portals, just like Diablo.

The player selection and configuration is pretty cool.

Overall, everything has taken a notch up (even if a bit on the copy cat side). Everything is a bit smoother, sleeker. There is now a BLOOD option (gore galore).

I'll post more as I get a chance.

[btaylorstl]

How does it compare to Dark Alliance?

[Shane R. Monroe]

same OVERALL engine ... LOTS more Diablo ....

I need some players tho ... anyone want to get in on a game?

[Shane R. Monroe]

I got a shot at playing online last night for about an hour.

First off, if your system is modded, disable your mod chip before you play or they won't let you on the network. I knew about it ahead of time, but figured I'd try to get on without disabling it. DENIED! :)

Many reviews say that the online system isn't very good, isn't refined, etc. They bitch there is no 'lobby' or 'buddy system' blah blah. THANK GOD. I'm not there to shoot the breeze and talk in IM speak. I want to find an open, public game, see who is in there (levelwise) and where they are in the map. I want to join and play.

When you connect, they show you all the public games, how many of the 4 players there are already inside, the level of the character, and where in the map they are. This gives you a good idea if you're compatible.

Once you connect, the game caches everyone together (this is where you get to tell whose on broadband or not - everyone ramps up to 100% quickly except the guy that has like 256k DSL, and he takes 3 minutes to ramp up).

Once connected and all that, you're dropped in a location. All four characters are visible (colored rings around them to denote who is who) and you can see everyone's stats on the top.

Its pretty smooth overall. The screen stutters occassionally (and I'm sure its the low DSL people screwing it up) but its not a show stopper. To use portals, ALL players have to be touching it; however, one person CAN use a gate scroll or exit the area ALONE and take everyone with them. That can get frustrating when someone has a personal agenda that maybe doesn't sink up with the group.

When you die, you are at the mercy of the rest of the group (they need to find a save point to revive you). You can then watch any player you want until you're revived.

Yeah, you're not confined to the same screen either. You can happily stay behind and loot corpses while the other three trollop off to another part of the area. This is leet, because you can spread out and attack large strongholds my systematically. Send the mage in through the back, if you will.

The communication system is a little ... skewed. You can communicate with EITHER a keyboard OR a headset. If you have a headset, you can talk with other headset owners, but the people without do not hear you at all. That's kinda messed up. Of course, everyone sees the text chatter on the screen. After using the headset, I wouldn't want to use the keyboard. I wouldn't call the headset/mic a gaming revolution, but I will admit that it beats typing - especially in the heat of battle.

The headset worked remarkably well a lot of the time. However, when battles got fierce, the audio broke up to the point where you couldn't hear or understand the other player. In the game I played, two of us had headsets, two did not. I'm curious how bad the bandwidth would be if ALL FOUR of us had headsets.

Champions feels a lot different than the previous two games (I'm still trying to put my finger on why it feels different). I'm not sure I like it more than the straight DA engine. Time will tell I guess.

Anyway, anyone with a copy and the desire, throw me a private message and we'll see if we can arrange a game.

[DaMenace]

I'd be interested Shane I just gotta get the game :-)

[Galaga will never die]

I just finished the quest in Champions of Norrath on the weekend, and have to say while I was suitably impressed with the combat and gameplay upgrades compared to Dark Alliance (1), I was equally dismayed at the downgrades in story depth, imagination and atmosphere compared to DA. The dialogue in particular was abysmal compared to the quality seen in DA. I also prefer the camera angles in DA.

In terms of overall experience I've ended up liking Dark Alliance more. But my Norrath character is at Lv 20 now, and I will take her through the more difficult campaign later to level her up. Despite CoN's creative shortcomings it is still hands down the best gameplay engine ever for this type of game, and that's enough to have fun with it on a purely visceral level.

I haven't taken it online yet, since I'm too stingy to buy a PS2 network adapter just for one game right now. Right now I'm undecided on whether I should get excited about Champions of Norrath 2: Return to Arms...

[Shane R. Monroe]

We just logged about four hours on Champions (my kid and I .. playing LOCALLY). Thank god I don't play for story. We just retrieved the Horn of Whatever in Act III.

We finished DA2 and it was a good time.

Champions 2 ... yeah, I read about it. I guess they are removing the randomization levels that really (to me) adds the replay value I was hoping for. I'll still look at it.

Its good bonding time for me and my kid.

[Galaga will never die]

I am going to buy DA2 soon. Looking forward to it, I hear it has a dual-wielding weapons feature of some kind. I recently played a bit of Crimson Tears (another PS2 dungeon crawler with random dungeons, not to be confused with the similarly named Crimson Sea) and got excited about the dual-wielding weapons feature in that, so I'd love to see it in a DA game.

[JayP]

Looks like the price of Champions is down to $20 or so... I'll try to find it this weekend.
I looked at it when it was $50 and when I found it was online- I passed.

Is it an online-only game or can the game be played single player?

I absolutely loved Baulder's Gate/DA. I bet I replayed that game 4 or 5 times... since you can cheat a little and get the good weapons/characters for the beginning.

[Shane R. Monroe]

I played on line once. That was enough.

The solo experience is where its at (take a friend local with you).

[Galaga will never die]

Another dungeon crawler that sounds promising and I'll be sure to buy is the new update of Gauntlet that John Romero is developing (http://www.johnromero.com/phpubb/viewtopic.php?t=2264).

[Shane R. Monroe]

Feb 10 is the release date for Champions 2.