By Adam Smith on May 28th, 2012 at 9:23 am.
It’s Monday morning and the British summer continues to be nothing at all like a British summer by the very act of continuing. It’s hotter than the devil’s trouser press out there and after two days of waltzing about in the great outdoors, I’m about ready to sit in a dark room and write about PC games. First up is Legends of Dawn, an RPG that “liberates from class restrictions unlike real life”. That’s official. In real life, if you excel in mathematics at school you’re locked in until the end of your days. You’re a Mathemancer and there’s no way to change that. Apart from a lack of class restrictions, Legends of Dawn also offers a wide open world to wander in, with deviation from the main storyline an option for all. Let this trailer enter your mind.
Admittedly, not the most thrilling video to start the day with. Sorry about that. But I did have a think about it and some of my favourite RPGs probably look quite dull in motion: a man strikes a monster with an axe, repeatedly and with no variation. The monster hisses – they always hiss, whether insect, slime or reptile – and eventually falls over. Experience is gained.
Apart from the uninspiring animations, the actual areas and enemies don’t look particularly exciting either. With freeform character development and exploration, there could at least be some interesting systems in place. There’s no firm release date yet but the vast amount of enemies and items promised, along with spell creation and crafting, could mean there’s more to these legends than meets the eye. Time, and hopefully a playable demo, will tell.
28/05/2012 at 09:34 PodX140 says:
“Unlike real life” just made me laugh far too loudly for 4:30 am.
Not quite the best introduction to a game either, there are so many hotbars there that I’m reminded of a buddy of mine that plays wow with ALL of the hotbars active. It’s terrifying. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even remember what half of those buttons do either :/
28/05/2012 at 09:38 ColOfNature says:
“Experience is gained”. And in the game?
28/05/2012 at 09:39 CheesyJelly says:
The only feeling I got from that trailer was mild motion sickness thanks to the constantly rotating camera…
28/05/2012 at 09:56 Njordsk says:
same here.
28/05/2012 at 13:05 adonf says:
Yeah me too, I can hardly type. Somebody thought that these camera movements were a good thing ?
On second thought, there are so many games coming out that “The game that made you puke ” may not be a bad way to get your game noticed. Good job, developers!
28/05/2012 at 09:40 NathanH says:
To be honest I’m pretty much locked into a class now. I suppose I could dual class but then I’d lose all my maths abilities, and I have quite a few levels in maths so it would take some time to get them back.
I also chose a crap prestige class for my Phd.
28/05/2012 at 09:55 AngoraFish says:
I’m easily on my fourth or fifth class change IRL. Tragically, the respec costs are prohibitive, and one basically has to start completely over again at level one, so you need to be thoroughly sick of the class you’ve been playing to justify the effort. Luckily, I’ve now found a class that I can play competitively and am never likely to get sick of.
28/05/2012 at 10:06 Dreforian says:
I’m a jack of all trades, master of none. AND I play a shaman. I’m pretty sure I’m locked into the same class for life.
28/05/2012 at 10:09 MrDreadlock says:
Whoa! There are so many ARPGs that we are running out of words to name them.
Next one is going to be Legends of Grim Exile 2?
28/05/2012 at 10:11 caddyB says:
Well, I guess I’m not too old to respec.
28/05/2012 at 10:26 frightlever says:
I spent yesterday with D3. Killed Diablo, tried a bit of Nightmare. Pretty much done with D3 for now.
This doesn’t look remotely visceral enough.
28/05/2012 at 10:47 SCdF says:
I’m not sure the name could get any more generic.
28/05/2012 at 11:23 RedViv says:
Actually it could follow the “Word – More Words of Subtitle” pattern. Then it would be more generic.
28/05/2012 at 15:07 sinister agent says:
Major Studio presents: Online Game.
28/05/2012 at 11:07 Squire says:
After playing D3 I’m underwowed by this, my first thought was:
“Twice as exciting as THREE high-quality shovels!”
I had to skip to see if the excitement ramped up past the excitement level of seeing six HQ shovels at once. In B&Q.
28/05/2012 at 11:26 Shadram says:
Indeed, my degree in Mathromancy has condemned me to a life of eternal calculexing. If only there were some way to shed these numeragogical chains and embrace a less multipliciferated life. :(
28/05/2012 at 11:53 sneetch says:
You admit that you practice the vile art of Calculexy?!?! Your base crimes sully all Mathemancers!
You are condemned by your own words! Burn him! Burn the Calculexer!
28/05/2012 at 11:43 Carra says:
Seeing the Barbarian trailer for Diablo 3 got my blood pumping.
*ROAR* *JUMP* *SMACK* *SMASH*
28/05/2012 at 12:00 The Sombrero Kid says:
Adam wins RPSer of the month with “Mathemancer”. Nearly split my sides.
28/05/2012 at 13:13 antoniodamala says:
Pretty awful combat. Not interested. None of these diablo-likes are interesting, not even diablo 3.
28/05/2012 at 13:13 misterT0AST says:
this is pretty much Sacred 3.
Only it’s not called Sacred 3 and it’s not developed by the same people.
Unlike Sacred though it doesn’t use greek letters as if they were magical symbols, slapping them randomly around a circle.
This game seems to be slapping other symbols, like “§” around magic circles.
28/05/2012 at 13:46 Kong says:
Interesting how the axe moves through the thorn things on the helmet. Ugly magic helmet: own weapon cannot damage or remove it
28/05/2012 at 15:07 sinister agent says:
God, I wish. If I were still any good at half the stuff I was good at fifteen years ago, I’d be God Emperor of the Multiverse by now.
That top screenshot looks utterly gorgeous. Fantastic colours.
28/05/2012 at 20:35 Narzhul says:
Been fighting vampires? Better get some greater restoration scrolls.
28/05/2012 at 16:07 Fearzone says:
It looks hot, I hope it succeeds.
Haven’t played Diablo since the first one, but D3 looked like a cross between God of War and Deathspank, meaning too contrived to be taken seriously. God of War was ok because Cratos is like a god, and Deathspank was not supposed to be taken seriously.
RPGs of yore at least attempted to mimic combat as it would actually be, rather than put on a random sound and light show at the click of a mouse.
28/05/2012 at 18:27 Urthman says:
I come to RPS to hear “Adam Smith” scoffing at the very idea that a class system exists! Also, video games.
28/05/2012 at 23:12 kud13 says:
this looks incredibly Spellfoce-y. without the RTS bits.
i’m somewhat curious.
29/05/2012 at 00:27 TODD says:
“Legends of Dawn” —–> “Dawn of Legends”
When the words in your laughably generic fantasy title can be switched and make more sense, your writers have a problem.