News from the Net

                     From Alex van Kaam

     Over at http://pc.ign.com/previews/12043.html there is yet
     another preview of Pool of Radiance, which seems to be close
     to finished:

One of the things that the recent D&D games have lacked is true
turn-based gameplay. While in Baldur's Gate you could pause the
action to think out your tactics, everyone still attacked like a
horde of Zerglings in Starcraft. In Pool of Radiance, you are able
to set the gameplay to be 100% turn-based, all the way up to the
real time chaos that Baldur's Gate fans may be more accustomed to.
A handy slider in the options screen that can be adjusted at any
time does all this, and it's a very welcome addition to the next
generation of D&D PC games.

Next up, the simplified interface is in place, and while it can
take a little getting used to after the last couple of years of
the Infinity Engine's split view, it is actually very functional.
Simply right click on a character and you get the full range of
options from viewing their character sheet to casting spells and
using items in your inventory. For the most part, you have a
completely full and unobstructed view of the screen. At the top
left corner of the screen is an initiative bar that shows the
order of combat, while at the bottom of the screen you have a bar
where you can access the map and options and another bar for your
party.  Right clicking on your characters, enemies, and objects
activates everything else. Thankfully, almost every action can
also be carried out by a series of hotkey commands, which can
shorten down the right clicking a bit.

One of the nice little additions to the gameplay with this type of
interface is the ability to interact with objects. Say you see a
barrel. Now, some characters would look in it and carefully
extract the contents, but not all characters are that
sophisticated. A Half-Orc Monk, who isn't exactly on the bright
side, wouldn't carefully open a container to find what is inside,
he'd smash it to bits. When you click on many barrels and
containers in the game you'd have the option to open, search, and
even smash them. It's a small thing, but it is nice to see.

     Over at http://everquest.allakhazam.com/news/sdetail159.html
     is an EverQuest vs. Anarchy Online, and although Allakhazan
     is probably a bit biased it does point out that AoL still has
     some issues, like EQ had in the beginning, so you might want
     to wait a little before you pick this up.

Playability

This is something I feel needs to be stated right up front,
because I am going to try to ignore it for the rest of the review.
At the moment, Anarchy Online is not a quality, playable game. The
game was released with Funcom fully knowing that it was bugged,
incomplete and unplayable. I was a beta tester and I was astounded
when I discovered that the version we were playing those last
weeks of beta was truly just a step from the release version.
Frankly, I believe that any legitimate company should hang their
heads in shame after releasing a game in this bad a shape.  Funcom
then rubbed salt into the wounds of even their most loyal
customers by announcing that the game was "110%" playable two
weeks after release, setting off the clock on the 30 days you get
with your purchase and assuring that they will start charging
people for a game many cannot yet play.

The lag in the game is horrendous. Anytime you get close to more
than a handful of other players, your frame rate drops to almost
nothing and you find yourself standing in place. What's worse
about this is that you can't sit or move your cursor enough to
even log out of the game, and you are often forced to stand there
for five minutes or more hoping to just get out of the game. Of
course, you can always alt-tab to windows and control-alt-delete
the game closed, but that seems like a pretty extreme measure.
Basically, this means that you are better off just not trying to
play during the typical prime time hours.

The pathing in the game is so bad that when you are in a mission
your best chance is to move to a room, stand still and wait to see
what starts to shoot at you. Of course, then it is often in
another room and shooting through the walls, but at least you can
shoot it back that way.  Mobs can attack you through walls and
across the playing field without you even seeing them or knowing
where to go to fight back. Quite often you will lag out during a
fight, which makes it impossible to use your special attacks, and
then come back in and find out that you died.

     http://pc.ign.com/previews/16530.html has a preview of Harry
     Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I guess eleven years of sleeping in a closet at the foot of the
stairs and tirelessly working for the family has finally gotten to
young Potter, as he jumps at the owl delivered invitation to
attend Hogwarts. Not to be confused with your back and buttocks
rash, Hogwarts in Harry Potter land is one of the top schools for
young witches and wizards (how many witch and wizard training
schools can England have?); seems Harry inherited some of that
magical charm from his folks. It's, of course, understandable he'd
want to leave this place, because you figure casting magic, riding
a flying broom, going on adventures, and going co-ed with a bunch
of witches sure beats the heck out of the wretched existence of
scrubbing uncle's butt with your hair brush.

Based off the first book in the series of the same name, as well
as the upcoming movie, Harry Potter: The Sorcerer's Stone puts
pits you, as Harry, with the help of your pals Ron and Hermoine
against the evil Mr. Fancy Pants Parent Killer Sorcerer Guy
Voldemort in an attempt to retrieve the sorcerer's stone he so
evilly swiped.

Built off the Unreal Tournament engine, the game comes across very
well detailed and portrays that classic distinct glossy UT look,
all castles and color. Character animation is fluid and the
lighting, textures, and world are all solid, and typical of what
Unreal technology has offered us in the past. For those worried
about how the authenticity of the series would be carried over in
game form (aesthetically speaking of course), you'll be happy to
know the developers are modelling a lot of the sets and backdrops
on the film, in fact Executive Producer Chris Graham told us,
"We've worked very closely with Warner Bros and we're using a lot
of film assets to create really stunning environments capturing
the spirit of the fiction."  This means the game will, to the best
technology can allow, accurately represent the movie. It will also
be scaleable to older systems to accommodate those stuck in the
ass era of computing (i.e. one year before *insert current date
here*), including both software and hardware rendering.

     Dragonriders of Pern has finally been released and over at
     http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/zones/reviews/pc/aug0
     1/pern.html is a review of the game

The most apparent facet of DragonRiders is that the world of Pern
has been captured with breathtaking detail. It'll only matter to
fans of the books, but given that they're the target market,
that's hardly a concern.  DragonRiders is utterly painstaking in
its recreation. From the very start there isn't a shadow of a
doubt that you're within the fabric of McCaffrey's world, from the
environment to the characters, you'll soon feel at home.


Your hero is D'kor, a fledgling dragonrider living in Fort Weyr -
the largest collection of dragonriders on Pern. The Weyrwoman, or
female leader of the Weyr, has just died and your wing of dragons
has been appointed to find a successor by visiting the various
holds and forts over Pern. As D'kor travels over the land, he gets
caught up in a web of deceit and intrigue as a plague spreads
across the land, and it's up to you to find a cure!

If you're expecting fast-paced action, stop right here, because as
with the books, DragonRiders takes its own time. It's standard
adventure-game fare, as you explore new areas, talk to the
inhabitants and locals, and uncover the storyline, however,
there's a hefty slice of role-playing style character building in
there too. As D'kor completes his tasks, he gains in one of three
attributes -- strength, knowledge and reputation -- which unlock
his ability to progress with the story. For example, certain
characters will only give him required information if he's of good
reputation, so he has to complete various subquests to raise
himself in their eyes.

It's really more of an interactive story than a fully-fledged
adventure game, but it's so expertly told with characters cut so
accurately from the McCaffrey cloth, that fans of the series won't
mind one bit. For someone new to the world of Pern, the simple and
steady nature of the world might grate upon the nerves somewhat,
but hopefully the engrossing story would suck any cynic out of
their malaise.

     Over at http://www.rpgdot.com/team/articles.php?ID=81 you can
     download a movie of Fatherdale:

Fatherdale: The Guardians of Asgard is an intricate RPG/Adventure
for the PC where the battle between the Gods and their eternal
enemy unfolds in the true medieval world of AD 1072. As one of the
few immortal Heroes who protect the ancient artifacts of
knowledge, you take on the reins of a warlord in a secluded
northern valley of Fatherdale just days before it becomes the
Battlefield of Fate to experience a story-driven multi-genre
gameplay focused around RPG, RTS and Adventure. With over hundred
and fifty unique characters, thrice that much in hand-crafted
inventory items, more than sixty locations in steppes, woods and
swamps, on plains, river banks and even inside the wooden Keeps of
the Guardians, you have a whole world to explore, protect and die
for -- and seven full-fledged Episodes to play through a number of
styles and genres before you face your real Enemy.

     After watching this is reminds me a lot of Baldur's Gate but
     then with lots of extras ... zooming in and out of areas on
     the fly (or so it seems), very nice graphics and all in all I
     must say I liked it !!!

     http://www.voodooextreme.com/articles/morrowinddiaryvii.html
     have the 7th diary up about Morrowind, it's a fun read but
     the screenshots on the page are very impressive, so I would
     suggest you head over there and check them out... I added one
     with my news, so Sue might place it

     www.justadventure.com as site I just discovered and is just
     about adventures ;-) has a preview up about Law and Order at
     :http://www.justadventure.com/Previews/Law_and_Order/LO.sh tm

Your first day on the job will find you in a Manhattan police
precinct.  Business as usual -- a crime has been committed, and
you and your new partner, Lennie Briscoe, depart your offices for
the Grover Academy, a private secondary school, where arson in the
computer lab is the transgression for the day. But does the
evidence point to arson? Who might have done the dastardly deed?
What was the motive? Who should you question? Are you conducting
your investigation in accordance with the law? Can you help to
build a case that will stand up in court? And keep an eye on your
time. If you take too long, you will lose points from your final
score.  Back at the precinct, you will evaluate your evidence to
determine what is relevant.  What evidence proves that arson was
committed? And who does it all point to?  As you play on in your
police role, you will have the opportunity to question suspects,
develop a prime suspect and arrest him or her, manage department
resources, deploy personnel, and much, much more.

As your police case winds down, you will change identity and will
play as the junior prosecutor assigned to the case by the office
of the Manhattan District Attorney. The DA will present you with
all of the evidence that the police have collected. It is now up
to you to put together a case that will meet the legal guidelines
and stand the test of a trial and successful prosecution and
verdict. Your days will be filled with bail hearings, plea
discussions, writing your opening statement for court, preparing
for cross-examination of witnesses, and preparing your closing
statement. And once again, you will need to keep your eye on the
clock. Tarry or waste time, and you will lose precious game
points. You can also lose points for doing too much, too little,
and making mistakes. This is like the real world, and the safety
of the city from the criminal elements rests on your shoulders.

Guilty? Not guilty? Hung jury? Hold your breath in the final
moments of trial to see how well you and the other minions of the
State of New York have performed. Have you done such a stellar job
that you will receive a commendation or a promotion? Can you make
it in the law, or should you make a career change to something
much less challenging?

     Over at http://www.qknowledge.net/royalquest/ you can
     download a remake of Kings Quest I, with new VGA graphics and
     you can even run it under win2000.... and it's free, so you
     wanna relive those days again (?) then go get it !!!  again I
     included a screenshot for Sue to place.

     Sierra have put up a call for a preview beta of Empire of
     Earth at http://www.sierrastudios.com/games/empireearth/

     Over at http://www.novusdelta.com/darkrelic/ is the homepage
     for Dark Relic, which is (as the webpage tells you) :

A 3rd person fantasy RPG utilizing the Destiny 3D engine.

The player must fight his/her way through 30 levels of monsters
and traps, solving puzzles as he/she goes.

Dark Relic (DR) will have outside as well as interior levels,
these levels will include cities, castles, crypts and dungeons.
Most of the game will be played within the dungeons of various
cities. This will allow the use of atmospheric lighting and make
the game much more "scary" to play.

As mentioned earlier, each level will have some sort of quest for
the player to do. These quests will drive the story along.

     http://gamepen.ugo.com/gamepen/review.asp?itemid=3844 have
     put up a preview of RuneSword II:

The guys at CrossCut Games, the developers of RuneSword II, love
role-playing games.  They are very much into old-school RPGs, with
rolling dice, dark dungeons, and simple RPG gameplay - and it is
reflected in their game.

They are also into making games, and want to encourage the user to
make modules as well. Moreover, they have made it so that even
people who are incompetent at making new adventures have an easy
time by making the computer able to create believable, challenging
adventures at any skill level with any size party.

As might be expected, the first RuneSword had a good following,
and they will be pleased to know that RuneSword II ups the ante.
The first visible difference between the former and latter is the
graphics and interface.  They've increased the size and resolution
of items and combat areas.  The interface is easier to use,
includes a new integrated skill/spell picker for fast access and
has a few different graphical looks to choose from - even a new
sci-fi look for futuristic settings!  They've also included
several dice sets.

As a bonus, they've also created an entirely new adventure called
The Hunt and three mini adventures.  There are several more skills
and spells to choose from when creating characters.  They've also
improved the Creator for editing adventures, completely retooling
the Trigger editor for faster edits, adding a new search/replace
feature and support for MP3s and AVI/MPEG files.  And finally,
they've rebuilt the Tome Wizard for generating even better random
adventures.


     Over at http://www.cam-castle.com/modules.php?op=
     modload&name=NS-gallery&file=index& set_albumName=album02
     &include=view_album.php&page=10 (sweet url or what ?) are a
     few new screenshots for Dark Age of Camelot, the highly
     awaited MORPG and at
     http://www.voodooextreme.com/games/interviews/daoc/3.html you
     can get a huge interview with them and a few more
     screenshots:

VooDoo Extreme -- We touched on this briefly before, but how is
the actual realm vs. realm combat handled?

That could take a novel! All right, let's see if I can sum up.
There are six enormous areas. Three of them are the home realms
for the three factions.  The other three are frontier areas
connecting the home realms.  In the frontiers are bigger monsters,
relic keeps, outposts, guard towers, and other assorted fun stuff.
Players from a realm other than your own are killable.


When you kill an opposing realm member, you get realm points,
which are accumulated and used to acquire special effects and
abilities (mentioned in part one - I wish I could go into more
detail, but we're keeping the rewards as a surprise for now).
We've gone out of our way to make players from other realms seem
as foreign as possible - you cannot communicate, their spells look
unfamiliar, their strengths and weaknesses are different from your
own.  Monsters with the ultimate in artificial intelligence, so to
speak.

Realm vs. realm is more than just wandering around looking for
people to gank. Large groups of players can take over outposts
belonging to an enemy realm. If they are in the same guild, it's
possible to run up a flag with the guild emblem on it, and that
guild is then able to outfit the (now friendly) NPC guards in top
notch equipment. If the players are not guilded, then the original
realm's flag comes down, and the flag of the conquering realm goes
up, and NPC guards of the victorious team begin to spawn there.


Most interesting will be relic raids, I think. Each realm has a
number of sacred relics in special buildings. As long as the
relics are safe in their niches, every member of the realm has
certain stat bonuses.  However, those relics can be stolen and
moved to other relic keeps, giving the conquerors an extra bonus.

Of course, it's technically even possible to invade the home realm
of the enemy, but that would take essentially server-wide
co-operation and effort.  It will be interesting to see if it can
be done. Personally I have no doubts that the players will manage
the trick, but we have set it up to be enough of a challenge so
that those who prefer not to fight will be safe in the interior.

     I personally have seen what groups can do in EQ and how hard
     it is to get everyone to follow the leader's commands once
     fighting starts.... so I wonder if a full server wide raid
     can be done.....


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