By John Walker on February 21st, 2013 at 8:00 am.
After my time spent on the beta weekend with Neverwinter, I’ve been itching in my chair to get back to the game. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but then it’s a beta and they’re not meant to be, but a couple of days in Cryptic’s envisioning of the D&D realms captured a purity of both fantasy and the MMO that made me want to carry on. In the meantime, I’m applying trailer patches to my arms, the latest introducing the Orcs.
And not “Orca” as I just typoed, which I think we can all agree would have been better.
It’s an odd trailer, seeming to think you’re going to want to see pictures of an Orc on paper, obscuring the actual in-game Orcs behind them. But get through that silliness and roaring and there’s a good glimpse of the game’s combat too. And that’s pretty important for understanding why Neverwinter got its hooks in me – the combat is far more like a Diablo than a WoW, real-time, action-packed, and swishy.
And while I’m here, it seems sensible to share with you the video put out for the Guardian Fighter last week. It’s a very frantic cobbling together of combat moments.
21/02/2013 at 09:08 yurusei says:
Its okay Mr.Walker, we orcassionally make typos as well.
21/02/2013 at 09:30 Arglebargle says:
I think he did it on porpoise!
21/02/2013 at 09:57 serioussgtstu says:
Dolphinitely.
21/02/2013 at 11:44 Blackcompany says:
Whale now, this didn’t take long….
21/02/2013 at 12:08 DarkFenix says:
Well it’s hardly unexpected, pun threads are an ofishial requirement of any RPS article.
21/02/2013 at 12:15 Suits says:
I think I’d rather seal for myself though
21/02/2013 at 12:22 JabbleWok says:
While it looks quite good, I’m not sure it’s the sort of game I’d want to pay anywhere near twenty sick squid for.
21/02/2013 at 13:05 -Spooky- says:
*whaleface*
21/02/2013 at 09:17 GoliathBro says:
Photoshop? Moving up in the world, are we Mr. Walker?
21/02/2013 at 10:08 John Walker says:
Paint Shop Pro X, actually. As is always the case for my incredible imagine crafting skills.
21/02/2013 at 16:19 Foosnark says:
I’ve always been more of a Paint Shop Pro type than Photoshop myself. The interface just makes a lot more sense to me.
21/02/2013 at 10:19 The Godzilla Hunter says:
Photoshop? Where? I don’t see anything.
21/02/2013 at 13:19 Runty McTall says:
I think perhaps the whale in the second picture?
Or have we descended into some sort of nested sarcasm and I no longer know what’s real?
21/02/2013 at 21:57 stupid_mcgee says:
The latter of the former, twice-removed.
21/02/2013 at 09:31 Low Life says:
I’d love to try this game out. The combat looks interesting, but it’s one of those things that can’t really be judged from a video – quite a few people have said that it feels great, though.
So give me my beta already!
21/02/2013 at 10:09 Chris says:
It’s the toolset that will determine whether this game lives or dies.
21/02/2013 at 11:35 DK says:
No it’s the post-release content rate. If they can keep up and add classes at about a class every 2 months or faster (more or less the rate they add ships in Star Trek Online) they’ll keep people playing.
21/02/2013 at 14:41 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
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Now unleash the full power of aquatic mammals at your enemies with Summon Orca! Nine tons of muscle, teeth, and blubber! Throw them at your enemies, drop them on your enemies, summon them in your enemies’ digestive tract, use them to bridge a small chasm, clear out pesky seal infestations, feed a family of four for eight months… The uses are endless!
Order now and we’ll throw in a Gem of True Smelling – Why SEE your enemies in the dark, when you can SMELL them?
21/02/2013 at 15:23 methodology says:
I used the Gem of True Smelling AFTER casting Bento’s Resplendent Constipation on an enemy and this has caused me great harm and suffering. Since there was no disclaimer or warning on this combination expect a summons from my attorney.
21/02/2013 at 16:49 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
No problem, to receive a full refund just fill out our simple form!*
*Any similarities between this form and a scroll of “Summon Angry, Hungry Weasels” are entirely coincidental.
21/02/2013 at 15:45 Archipelagos says:
I love you.
21/02/2013 at 17:22 MacTheGeek says:
drop them on your enemies
And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence.
21/02/2013 at 19:57 Dances to Podcasts says:
“Not again!”
21/02/2013 at 15:27 Keyrock says:
Meh, this is all about fighting against Orcs. I don’t want to fight against Orcs, I want to play as an Orc.
21/02/2013 at 15:46 Archipelagos says:
Quiet you! You’ll take your standard fantasy tropes and love it.
22/02/2013 at 00:41 Keyrock says:
Yes, sir.
/puts on elf ears
//fires off a dozen arrows in less than 5 seconds
///prances away
23/02/2013 at 01:19 paddymaxson says:
Word on the internet street is that Half Orcs are pretty much confirmed as one of the first new races (along with Archer Rangers and Scourge Warlocks as classes)