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Post by Celera on Oct 6, 2007 15:34:29 GMT -5
What naked women? Pfft. I've seen that before. The game is more likely to be too gory for my tastes than too -- I dunno, too naked?
However, advertising that it's an adult game with beautiful naked barbarian women is, ironically, sure to draw a great many 12 year old boys (whether actual or mental age). If the community is like a full world of Barrens chat, then it will not matter how great the rest of it is.
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Post by Fechak on Jan 16, 2008 12:28:15 GMT -5
Hey there's some CES coverage over at my friend's site that I just so happened to shoot and edit together... check it out, there's some cool play footage as well as explanations. gamingshogun.com/Default.aspx?a=703Be sure to digg it so he can get some traffic going.
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Post by Val on Jan 17, 2008 0:39:39 GMT -5
consider it dugg
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Post by Fechak on Jan 17, 2008 12:38:33 GMT -5
I'm getting a free copy of AoC before it comes out! Gimmie a who's your daddy!
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Post by Val on Jan 17, 2008 13:35:32 GMT -5
When life gives you lemons, cut someone's head off with your advance copy of Age of Conan.
I'm still getting the Collectors Edition, just for the War Mammoth.
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Post by Vangelis on Jan 17, 2008 17:54:28 GMT -5
I have to say that the real selling feature seems to be the added sex and violence, which leaves me cold. I'm afraid I'm with Julie on this one and besides, I still actually like WoW and can't wait for the LK.
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Post by Sorcha'Rei on Jan 18, 2008 2:17:26 GMT -5
The degradation of women in the Conan books is not my cup of tea. I wouldn't play this game unless they removed that aspect entirely, and they will not, because that is half what makes the universe what it is. It's a well-defined, coherent universe that makes sense, but it's not one I want to play in.
Considering the possibility of moving to Feathermoon full time with WotLK. Sorcha is my all time favorite character to play. I can't get enough of her story, even though most of it is only in my head. And Deyla has no life outside Feathermoon. I'm not sure I want to run a guild through the opening phases of a new expansion, and if I decide to take it easier in the next go-round, I'll do it with Sorcha. In the meantime, Vashj must die!
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Post by Val on Jan 18, 2008 15:01:45 GMT -5
Sorch, you actually just addressed one of those moral pitfalls that I have been doing my best to avoid, but it's true.
I've read/owned all of the Conan stories and read them several times and she is correct in the way Robert E. Howard really did degrade the inherent strength in the female, with the exception of one of my favorite stories "Queen of the Black Coast" the character BĂȘlit is one of the very few instances where the woman isn't portrayed as an object, and, from what I felt from what I read, one of the strongest characters in the Conan world.
But regardless, Sorcha is right, the Conan world is one of female objectivity. She is right with it having a manner of coherence with the world it is based in, and I can't really claim to say that it's "not that big of a deal" because to some, it's revolting.
But, Conan was written by a socially inept loner who's world was basically one large boy's club, so it's only natural that art reflects his world. But, I'm a boy and despite my better intentions, I like boobs and decapitations, so I'll just hope that Funcom did their best to stay true to the story, but with that expansive area for creative room, add some strength to the feminine characters.
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Post by Fechak on Jan 18, 2008 17:14:12 GMT -5
Honestly I could give a damn about all that, I'm here for the gameplay and depth. If it don't have that I'm out.
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Post by Sorcha'Rei on Jan 18, 2008 19:03:31 GMT -5
I'm not making a moral judgment here, you know. I don't enjoy that universe, so I don't want to play in it.
The same thing comes up for me sometimes with books. There are extremely well-written books with themes that resonate for me that are difficult for me to sustain interest in because the setting doesn't work for me. I guess it's just as well. There are already too many good books to read in a single lifetime.
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Post by Val on Jan 20, 2008 22:57:12 GMT -5
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Post by Fechak on Jan 21, 2008 9:20:26 GMT -5
They haven't really changed it, they've just been tweaking it for a long time, combining classes all the while. Really, they've been tight-lipped about it. But having played the beta, this doesn't surprise me one bit: www.gamingshogun.com/Default.aspx?a=721May 20th now folks... I'll have time to upgrade!!
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Post by Val on Jan 21, 2008 15:59:27 GMT -5
I'm going to so Emo cut myself now. *emo emo emo*
I'm glad they pushed it back, that means they will have enough time to get the game finished and actually package the damn thing.
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Post by Fechak on May 8, 2008 12:56:44 GMT -5
So I didn't have time to upgrade because I have absolutely NO money hehe... but hopefully I'll be able to play just scaled down a lot. Is everyone still planning on picking this up?
It's about a week and change away now before the official release. Whoever is first, let us know the server you're jumping to so we can meet up.
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Post by Celera on May 22, 2008 11:29:34 GMT -5
First! Seriously, Jon being the early adopter that he is (we not only have a Blue Ray player, we've already broken it!) we have not one but two collector's editions. He's been playing for a couple of days. I was going to wait until the weekend, but, well, I'm not that mature, so last night I installed the thing. Overall, from looking at it myself and watching over Jon's shoulder: I did get a new computer in the last few months, and the game is still a bit stuttery on the best graphics setting. However, Jon switched to the low graphics setting and it runs fine and still looks good. (His computer is not new, although he did upgrade his graphics card.) The look of the game is pretty nice -- not as cartoonish as WOW, not quite as drab (or as unfinished) as Vanguard. Way more character customization than WOW. I was afraid that the combat mechanics would be too complex for an old, slow person like me, but so far it's ok. Of course, I'm only on level 4. Jon has tried a few classes and found the ranger difficult, the priest easiest. My female character's starting outfit was described as "pants" and "gown" but it looked like a bikini to me. But, given the setting, it's more realistic than Larae's assless plate armor. (I haven't checked for bobbling, yet, Emi, I'll let you know!) The story begins with a shipwreck of a slave ship, on which you are one of the captives. You wake up on a beach, and a fellow comes by to tell you the first couple of things to look for. He also gives you a broken bottle to use as a weapon. (Ha!) The first thing to do is rescue some woman who is being held captive nearby. She then follows you around for a while, answering questions and occasionally cheering when you do something right. Probably nice if you're a guy -- I kept wanting to her to find her own broken bottle and make herself useful. There's more blood spurting around when you fight but it isn't as graphic as I thought it would be. The dialog is more adult -- captive women hint that they have been forced to provide sexual favors. It's not like Bowser and Princess Peach -- but it's not explicit or anything. I don't know that women can be objectified in a game where female characters play all the same roles as the men, but we'll see. The only thing not to like so far is that the voice actors are pretty lame. They have these sort of mystifying accents, which mostly just sound rather silly, especially the first "boss" you have to kill, who sounds like Charles Nelson Reilly doing a Scottish/Arabic accent. It's kind of distracting. PVP servers are mostly free-for-all rules. At the last minute they added a couple of "culture" PVP servers, where you are limited in your ability to attack players of your same race/culture. Sort of like Horde/Alliance, but not as strict -- you can make guilds and groups with mixed races. It seems that all the RP servers are also PVP -- which actually sort of makes sense. I noticed on one forum (might have been Ten Ton Hammer) that players had informally designated one of the PVE servers as RP. That's my report so far. I'm sure I'll be dividing my time between the two games for a while, especially since there is nobody I know on AoC. It appears you can only make 8 characters in total, which don't have to be on the same server. You start out in a sort of solo instance, so you have to get through quite a few levels before you get a feel for the community on a particular server. I'll be trying a few things before I make any commitments.
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