Initial Impressions on E3: Part 2
Josh 'Moxie' Sprague, 2005-06-02

Being handed my first press pass was a fairly golden experience and the fact that this pass was for E3 made it all the much more. My itinerary was chock full of interviews and I tried my darnedest not to be starstruck or late (both of which I failed at some points). Regardless, there was an extensive roster of titles showing this year and the odds are in the RPG fan's favor that there will be at least one satisfying game coming in his or her near future.

I do have quite a bit of material to write up and some recordings to put online as long as the extreme volume at the expo didn't make them unusable, but in the meantime I wanted to give you guys a quick summary of the upcoming RPG's that I was able to check out. These will be in chronological order as not to show any preference.

Dungeon Siege II

To be honest, I never touched Dungeon Siege I. I had read that it was extremely linear and figured that it wouldn't be up my alley. So, when I randomly dropped by the Microsoft booth for a demo I was surprised by how much I'd really like to play this game. Now, I do need to say that DSII is adding more sidetracks to the storyline than the first and according to the dev I spoke with will offer more freedom to deter from the primary task at hand. They've had fun with the party's beast of burden and now have options for pets beyond the donkey. These pets will fight with the party and can grow by feeding them unused items. The action is frenetic in a fun way and I think fans will be excited along with players new to the series (i.e. me).

Gothic III

Stefan Berger's enthusiasm while showing this game was immediately contagious. I have been impressed with the complex environments that the authors of the Gothic series have created and I'm looking forward to seeing how they execute their ambitious vision for this next title. We're looking at a world that's 3x the size of Gothic II with six different factions to join. The world looks great and I was surprised by the "Pre-Alpha Build" watermark hanging in the corner of the screen. Dual-wielding was implemented and I was able to see the character change from holding a single sword in his hand to wielding two after grabbing another blade from his back. Their focus follows the previous two titles in that they want to create an incredibly rich single storyline with multiple solutions and approaches.

Dreamfall

I am keen on stories that involve the transience of multiple realities. The initial series in the Longest Journey series had a sincerely compelling story and this sequel looks to build on that. I appreciate the richness in culture and setting that I saw in the demo. As an example of that, you start as a Spanish heroine in 2200 A.D. Casa Blanca. How many titles feature ethnically diverse heroines in Northern Africa? This title is going to be multi-platform and the control scheme that has been established really seems to take out some of the clunkiness of getting around in other adventure games. This scheme resonates with the most recent Monkey Island, but with some of Funcom's own innovations.

Age of Conan

I only got to see this game through a tinted glass window. When the escort brought me to the demo room, he had trouble opening the door. The guys on the inside seemed unable to open the door as well. The escort rushed off rather quickly and came back with a key. He fiddled with this for a while, but was unable to open the door. From here, he took off and never returned. The guys on the inside continued the demonstration and the mountains looked great from what I could see. When the escort didn't return, I took off. It's a good thing for the guys in the room that there wasn't a fire.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Bethsoft tends to take pride in their biggest strength in the Elder Scrolls series, which is the fact that they start over in design with each new title. Todd Howard's demonstration of their current opus drew this out and highlighted the areas where the game is seeking to offer innovation. The visuals in motion are night and day from the static screens that we've been offered so far. The physical play enabled by the Havoc engine has skulls bouncing around on the floor and chains swinging into each other realistically. The thing you can't see about the forests in the pictures is how the trees sway with the wind; their implementation of SpeedTree is something really special. The NPC section of the demonstration left me reminiscing to the old days as it really reminded me of Ultima 7. My brother told Todd this and he said, "That's my favorite game." This title is going to be covered to death, but I'll make sure to write up some tidbits that may not make it into other articles.

Neverwinter Nights 2

Though Never Winter Nights 2 was not showing this year, I did have a chance to sit down and talk to Feargus Urquhart and Chris Avellone about the project. We talked about some ideas that they're fiddling with and game enhancements, but we also had the chance to talk about the approach to the mod community, non-massively multiplayer RPG's, and what being an RPG geek is all about. I'll write more about NWN 2 this week. For now, know that the story will be richer and more varied, the NPC interaction may have some exciting features in store, and the new modding tools should bring more than smile to the community.

Hero's Journey

I've been quite curious to see an MMORPG offering from this traditionally text-based developer. MUD's have tended to offer a level of depth not seen in graphical MMO's, but Simutronics' slight differences really show that difference in approach. Character customization is extremely detailed and even sliders such as "Facial Symmetry" show an originality in the foundation of this title. I was also impressed when I saw a player cast a spell by painting a line on the ground which erupted into a wall of fire. There's more and I'll definitely do a write up for the site.

Age of Pirates

Akella has an attractive game in the works and with the support from the previous titles (Sea Dogs and Pirates of the Caribbean), it should see a European and North American release. The interface is clean and crisp. The boats and water look very good and I did like watching the sails unfurl on the ship as it was departing the port. My host took pride in the raging storm that she steered our ship into. The character creations seemed to maintain the level of freedom that fans of the series expect, but I didn't get to play it enough to say a lot about the level of depth that is currently implemented. The quest system is randomized which offers potential in replayability and breadth if done well, but could make for more of a niche title if not. I would say that my glass is half full on this one though, and I think we should look forward to its release.

Well, that concludes the list of titles that I was able to check out more closely at the expo. Sequels in strong franchises and new titles from teams with established credibility make for a fairly solid list of games this year. As I said before, the odds are in the RPGdot reader's favor that we'll all find at least one title we enjoy in the coming year.