Comments on: Age Of Conan: PC Gamer Preview

By: Winterborn

Winterborn — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:47:52 +0000

Funcom have what’s shaping up to be a great game with a bit of a dodgy engine. I really hope they get in running smooth by launch or take some extra time to optimize it. Requiring big rigs and giving low framerates hurt EQ2 quite a bit, Vanguard also likely lost players from it but they had other problems.

By: Obdicut

Obdicut — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:30:44 +0000

Zell–

a 2% market share is perfectly viable. There are 16 million current MMO participants.

1.6% of that, which I think is what LOTRO is at now, at $20 per month at the cheapest rate, is $4.42 million per month in revenue.

I’d take that.

Also, there’s no sign that MMO subscriptions are leveling off yet. I think we’ll see plenty of niche games, and AoC could be exactly that.

By: Dr Cock2Puss

Dr Cock2Puss — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:22:36 +0000

This thing runs like Stephen Hawking. Seriously. Even on the lowest settings and with the debug options stripping out the garnish. You know, unimportant stuff like the sky, the trees, any water, textures [yes solid poly & wireframe glory]… you get the picture. ¬_¬

By: malkav11

malkav11 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:38:43 +0000

Uh….an M-rating isn’t any kind of death knell. One need only look at the massive sales of such titles as, e.g. the entire GTA series (especially from III onwards.), or the entire Halo series…

By: Zell

Zell — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:13:47 +0000

My experience with the technical beta program has been depressing. I’m going to to stop by the open beta when it comes around, but looking back at the last two years, one must wonder if Blizzard has not simply locked down this entire genre for the foreseeable future. I mean, look at this:

http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart7.html

EQ2? LoTR? TR? These were all pretty decent games, and they’re hovering around 1-2%. Conan is going to make a pretty decent game too. Is 2% market share economically viable?

Yeah, I realize I’m not saying anything new… but sometimes the relentlessness of a truth makes for a new truth.

By: drunkymonkey

drunkymonkey — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:54:26 +0000

“what
are
you
smoking?”

A cigarette of not having first-hand experience with the game. :)

The previews I’ve seen have largely been positive, so I’ve only had that to go on. The shame is, the game seems to have a lot going for it design-wise, but these technical faults you mention are putting me off.

By: derFeef

derFeef — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:10:44 +0000

WoW quality is ace, you are right. But its not all shiny gold. AoC does have some interesting features. Im in good mood that it will be succesfull. FunCom games are great!

By: heartless_

heartless_ — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:01:14 +0000

@drunkymonkey – I’ve played every single technical stress test beta they’ve put out. The combat sucks. The game barely runs on my quad core Intel Q6600, 4GB DDR2 PC6400 800 RAM, eVGA 7800GTX KO edition video card.

Haven’t we all learned the lesson that high system requirements, tacked onto shitty gameplay, does not equal success? Maybe it was just me.

PLUS this game is rated M, which is a death knell for almost any game, let alone a game that will need a monthly subscription.

I want AoC to be great, just as I want WAR to be great, but I’m having major doubts with both. And to say AoC will challenge WoW in quality…

what
are
you
smoking?

By: drunkymonkey

drunkymonkey — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:17:00 +0000

Nah, they’ve had female screenshots for a while, Cruz.

And yeah. This game I think has a lot of potential and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the feedback people have. After being disappointed with the WAR beta (not that I had particularly high hopes in any case) I think this will be the MMO to, quality wise, rival WoW.

The only misgivings I have are the system specs. Companies haven’t really latched onto Blizzard’s idea of sharing the love with croakier computers, and for an MMO, I think this might be a point that makes or breaks.

By: Cruz

Cruz — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:02:44 +0000

I’ve read that target specs are likened to Oblivion (unless you want the DX10 shiny of course).

I think the preview has the first screen of a female in the game. I think I can see why they’ve kept them under wraps.

I’m totally looking forward to this game, as it is my last hope for an MMO for a good while. So much so, that I don’t think I’d mind if they delayed it again to work out the kinks.

By: Chaz

Chaz — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:47:48 +0000

Yeah I’m looking forward to this one too, I’m just worried it might need a monster PC to run it though.

By: derFeef

derFeef — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:27:22 +0000

I am so looking forward to this game! Nice preview, I have already read it :)