Rock, Paper, Shotgun

It might just be me, but the tone of this first Neverwinter MMO trailer seems like it’s about to break into being a send-up at any moment. I was sat waiting for the punchline that never comes. Anyway, it’s basically illustrating that the game’s dungeons will be heavy on the story elements, which seems to make sense, given the Dungeons & Dragonsness of it all. Also appropriate: a dragon. The game – which was recently reworked as a free-to-play MMO – will appear next year.
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It’s not quite clear what IGN’s source is for this, but according to them the Dungeons & Dragons online-RPG Neverwinter, which Cryptic said originally was “an old-school tactical Western RPG”, but online, is apparently an now MMO more “closer to a game like Nexon’s Vindictus”. So a free-to-play one where action dominates. Quite how this contrasts against what Cryptic’s Jack Emmert told us previously is detailed in part through the link (and mainly consists of learning the lessons of Star Trek and Champions going free), but it doesn’t actually seem like that a big a change to me.

Nevertheless, word is that the game has been delayed to the end of 2012 to make the necessary changes. It would seem that these changes might have come about thanks to Cryptic’s acquisition by expanding F2P giant Perfect World, who also bagged Runic, and are planning to make a Torchlight MMO at some point.

You might recall that last year I talked to Cryptic’s Jack Emmert about the MMO he called “an old school Western tactical RPG”. It’s Neverwinter, a game that also, apparently, marks a new direction for the studio. You can see some of the fruits of that new direction over on the official site, and also in the teaser trailer below.

Looks like a fantasy action-RPG to me! Yes sir. The most interesting aspect of this, of course, is that Cryptic are planning to let people come up with their own dungeons, with their own fictions, to be installed in the world. If they pull it off it could be a genuinely interesting spin on the way these kinds of games work.
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It looks like Atari, recently the focus of negative attention after Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Games went on strike due to their treatment, are looking to gather some more cash. Via PCG we see Gamespot spotted the news that the publisher is selling Cryptic, the studio behind Star Trek: Online and Champions: Online.

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It’s been fascinating to watch the MMO scene evolving over the past couple of years, and seeing the various players stepping away from traditional models. Now it seems to be Cryptic’s turn. After City Of Heroes, Champions and Star Trek, they are now looking at creating something a little different: Neverwinter, a D&D game that appeals to both the adventurer and the Dungeon Master, relying as it does on an amalgam of Cryptic’s own content and user-generated dungeons for its ongoing adventures. Cryptic’s bossman Jack Emmert has already spoken in interviews about how he felt that Champions and Star Trek lacked polish, and in this interview he speaks about what that realisation means for Neverwinter, and why this game represents a new era for the company that originally set out to make MMOs.

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Confirming rumours from a previous point in our temporal existence, Cryptic are “do”ing a new Neverwinter game. Specifically, called “Neverwinter”. From the details in its press release and about page, it’s a persistent world Neverwinter Nights (Including content creation tools) based around co-operative groups of five (with the computer controlling the NPCs if you haven’t got the right number) plus fourth edition D&D rules (which is a definite plus for Co-op groups, I suspect) and all the character customisation that Cryptic excel at (though you are kind wonder how much variety can you get out of dudes wearing leather). Interestingly, it’s also a “multi-platform event”. Except it doesn’t mean consoles. It means a trilogy of novels and a tabletop roleplaying game. Man, I hope we don’t have to dumb the game down for those readers. It’s planned before the end of next year and I find myself tentatively excited. Yay? Yes, yay.