A nice preview of Earth And Beyond, Westwood's upcoming futuristic MMORPG, has been published at Gamespot. Here's a part of it for you:
Westwood is very adamant about Earth and Beyond being more than just a combat game. The three races are built along three different styles of gameplay: exploration, trading, and combat. The three main classes in the game are also geared toward one of those three gameplay styles. Westwood says that each "career path" is equally viable and is taking pains to make sure that this is indeed the case. If you want to explore, you can map sectors, uncover hidden locations, explore planet surfaces, guide others to inaccessible locations, prospect for minerals and resources, and act as a scout for a party. Every player gets experience for doing these things, but if you play as an explorer, you will gain much more experience than other characters. If you choose to play as a tradesman, only you can design item formulas and manufacture special items. And you get the most experience from trading goods and supplying other players with rare items and weapons. The combat-oriented player, of course, can fight hostile enemies, hunt down space creatures, and be at the forefront of defending Earth from alien invaders. To be clear, every class can fight if it comes down to that, but some classes are better at it than others. So choosing to play as a tradesman or explorer isn't a second choice to playing as a warrior. After all, as a Terran tradesman, you'll have better weapons and systems than your Progen warrior or Jenquai explorer, and if you choose to play a Jenquai explorer, you will have psionic skills that make up for your weak shields. So clearly, the non-combat-oriented classes are not a dead end. |
Earth And Beyond Preview at Gamespot
