A slew of updates on official.

Hi, seekers!
Well, it seems my little "cartography" post earlier prematurely stated there was "not much going on", because after a long nap to battle a migraine, "POW!", *several*, (5, specifically),new posts, of which Vahrna's Blog has already alluded to. In the interest of trying to "keep up" with the Official Chinese Forum announcements, I'm going to make a lengthy post to get up to date. Buckle up, seekers: here we go:

Post number 1: NPC's

Aside form being the static statues of most mmo's, the NPC's of Forsaken World have designed to be a bit more interactive. In addition to the 5 races playable in FW, NPC's also represent a multitude of other races in Grand Mundo, including "werewolf, Maronite, Genius, tree spirits, Orcs, Nagas and other races." I'm sure the list is bigger than that, but you get the idea. 

 

NPC of the Vampire Race

An elegant NPC of the Naga race.

From what I gather, at *some point* these NPC's may/may not have been designed as playable races. They all have background stories, distinctive appearances, skills and abilities. Potentially deemed as 'overpowered/imbalancing", at current they are there to guide and assist the players. According to the post, they may lend special abilities to the player, dependent on the player's race. As in an earlier post, this may be altering your image to avoid mob detection , or provide other assistance required by the player to complete quests.

"Bohemian Style" NPC. Looks like a Tarot reader, to me.

"Celtic Stlye" NPC. Hmm..I feel I've seen him before.

This post also talks about the "Forgotten Sea". Leave behind your life preservers, seekers, for this seems to be the name for the Egyptian-themed desert area. In this thematic area , you can expect that the NPC's will be dressed accordingly, with loose clothing, bearded men hawking wares by their camels, veil-covered women, and Vulture-faced God NPC. The general impression is that for artistic congruity, Forsaken World has place a lot of effort in keeping their areas distinct form each other, while still maintaining visual integrity.

Post number 2 and number 4: "Hail to the Dark Fathers" (my emphasis, merged for ease)

As we covered, albeit briefly, in a post about Runic's Happy New Year" video , which gave as a few tantalizing glimpses into the game, Max Shaefer , currently of Runic Games, tested Forsaken World.

 

Mr. Max Shaefer, testing Forsaken World. Lucky man.

Well, we all know that "No man is an island", but certain men may achieve the status of "glorified peninsula" . Max is one of those guys, along with his brother, Erich Shaefer. For you younger players, you may not realize the impact they have had on gaming, in general, not just "Torchlight". 

Mr. Erich Shaefer testing Forsaken World. 

Aside of being "high-up muckety mucks" at Blizzard in the late 90's, (yeah, *that* Blizzard)  they were primary factors on the development of Diablo and Diablo 2, Starcraft, as well as other games. A lot of what's considered "industry standard" nowadays stared as ideas on these guy's desks. Fortunately, these guys remain human and approachable, not at all the gaming world gods they could rightfully claim.

Other pics from these (combined) posts: 

 

 Bard

  

 Bard, another.

  

Moss Lord

 

Desert Oasis

Post number 3: "A Game for games of all ages" 

This post address the multi-genreational appeal of Forsaken World. How many times have you played a game, and heard "You're too young for this game!", or conversely "You're too old for this game!" ? I have no doubt you've heard it, before. Game communities have a tendency to pigeonhole games as "primarily for girls" or "primarily for the hardcore players, only", or some variation of "for 'X' group only".

  

The Music is gonna get you!

Designed from the ground up for even someone who's never played an mmo before, all the way to the seasoned mmo veteran. An example: "Auto Routing". (a feature I enjoy during afk breaks). For the new, you can "click, go here", and watch your character move along to it's intended destination. Many 'hardcore' vets detest this (for whatever reason), and will find it is a feature they can deactivate in Forsaken World.

"I'm too smexy for Auto Routing!"

"Bang, bang!" Maxwell's Silver Hammer came down, upon his head...

In addition to the game mechanics, the aesthetic value of Forsake World should appeal to gamers of many varying tastes. If you've followed along with Forsaken Journal for a while, you know there's always something new and different within the Forsaken World..and it's usually visually stunning.

"Less QQ, more 'Pew, pew!"

And there's always something different to *do*, as well! Mining, fishing, picking flowers, exploring..always something. Want to take a break from the wave of violence in PvE/PvP? Go to the Circus, test your mental abilities. Do everything..or do nothing. The choice is yours. Make Forsaken World YOUR game.

Post number 5: "Killing, as positive therapy"

Yeah, you read that right. "Killing is good for you" (in a virtual environment). 

Remember earlier, when we talked about Mob AI? Well, it seems the research in psychology wasn't just to make them a better challenge for the player, but their very *design* is based to evoke emotional, embedded human response. Long through human development, we have faced certain 'creature types' that have posed a collective hazard to our well being. Snakes, Spiders, wolves, ect. These are the "bad guys" of nature in our childhood fairy tales. In today's "big city civilizations", how does one relieve the built up stresses of modern life? You can't grab a rifle, and go hunt a bear, unless you do it *virtually*. That means "gaming simulation", or simply "do it in a game". You know what I'm talking about. I would guess that we won't be fighting off hordes of fluffy bunnies in Forsaken World.

Plumed Serpent

Glutton for Punishment

I shall name you "Toecutter'

 

Concept Art: Lizard 

So, there you have it, seekers. 5 new posts, at one time. Total blog creation time: longer than I'd like to admit.