Flagship Studios Announces Hellgate: London

[Bolty]

Give a click for great justice!

If you don't know what Flagship Studios is, I can sum it up for you: Blizzard North (and friends). If you've been wondering what they've been up to, this is it. Will be featured on the next issue of PC Gamer, as the makers of the Diablo games obviously have some industry following.

Note that everything you may read about the game right now is probably way off of what will eventually ship, i.e. 'Warcraft III will have 6 playable races," "You will be able to play a Demon in Diablo II", and other pre-pre-pre-pre-release hype things that have all been said in the past.

Still, it sounds like Diablo to me! Had to expect that from the people I know: Ken Williams, Tyler Thompson, Peter Hu, and of course Bill Roper.

-Bolty

Edit: typo.

[Thecla]

Well, I guess those people that suggested it was set in Washington DC mistook St Paul's for Capitol Hill.

I have high expectations of this game. I hope they're met. :)

[Nystul]

The concept sounds extremely good. It's also marvelously vague at this point.

[Treesh]

Quest system is not linear, therefore you will have random paths and different outcomes. You choose which quest to take. This seems to be similar to World of Warcraft and Diablo II quest system.

Umm, WoW quest system isn't linear? D2 quest system isn't linear? What?! Granted, WoW does have slightly different paths you can take, but it's still the same outcomes for each individual quest. I just don't see how they can say the new system is going to be non-linear and then say it's similar to D2's quest system especially.

Would be nice if Flagship Studios' page would have at least made a press release consisting of "We've announced our game to PC Gamer. Go buy the mag to find out more", but there's nothing on their site even hinting at that. Guess that's what I get for following actual developers instead of all the silly general mags and sites. ;)

[Occhidiangela]

Give a click for great justice!

-Bolty

Edit: typo.
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Great justice? I guess I am missing a ref somewhere.

EDIT: I got a PM explaining my lack of Zero Wing awareness. All my Justice are belong to FenrisWolf. :D Grazie, amico mio!

I wonder if they will ensure that Buzzards are in the game somewhere as a tribute to their origins.

Occhi

[Thecla]

If you don't know what Flagship Studios is, I can sum it up for you: Blizzard North (and friends).  If you've been wondering what they've been up to, this is it.  Will be featured on the next issue of PC Gamer, as the makers of the Diablo games obviously have some industry following..

Still, it sounds like Diablo to me!  Had to expect that from the people I know: Ken Williams, Tyler Thompson, Peter Hu, and of course Bill Roper.
[right][snapback]72016[/snapback][/right]

PC Gamer is out, and it does make Hellgate: London sound a lot like Diablo (with a first-person view, though "a third-person mode for melee fighting will almost certainly be included").

Random dungeons (50% below ground); some randomization in quests; lots of items -- including ones with open 'slots'; ranged spell-casting-like weapons, with weapon to-hit/da character stat/skill-based, not twitch-based; paper-doll; npc's that will join player characters; one character type announced, the Palad.. oops I mean the Templar; 16 (possiby 32) player multiplayer game, primarily co-op....

[Gregorius]

Umm, WoW quest system isn't linear?  D2 quest system isn't linear?  What?!  Granted, WoW does have slightly different paths you can take, but it's still the same outcomes for each individual quest.  I just don't see how they can say the new system is going to be non-linear and then say it's similar to D2's quest system especially.

Would be nice if Flagship Studios' page would have at least made a press release consisting of "We've announced our game to PC Gamer.  Go buy the mag to find out more", but there's nothing on their site even hinting at that.  Guess that's what I get for following actual developers instead of all the silly general mags and sites. ;)
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Considering most of the pre-beta hype for StarCraft (I love the old SS's that you can still find of the War2-esque interface), Diablo II (much of which is STILL on DiabloII.net), WarCraft III, etc. I wouldn't take much stock in a lot of the current info. But I am still going to find everything I can about this. I'll have to do everything I can in WoW so I am ready to pick up this thing in 2006. The next year or more will be torture, waiting for this...I'm already way more excited about this game than I've been about any other game, even WoW! And I don't even know anything about it!

For me it wasn't just the fact that Diablo II's quest system was linear, but that completing every quest was unbelievably straightforward, like we're three year olds who need to be told everything...if the quests turn out to be somewhat tricky, and allow more options on where the story goes, then I'm all for it! I'm also wondering if having a huge number of players in the game will impact monster attributes (and drops, and exp given) like in Diablo II. It almost has to, since otherwise the game would be a total zerg unless it's impossible alone...I'll wait for criticism until I know more, and buy the magazine at least!

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! (sorry)

[ZatarRufus]

Give a click for great justice!

I tried Bolty's link yesterday and just now. This is what I continue to get:

Warning: main(modules/News/index.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/bp/bp/www/modules.php on line 30

Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'modules/News/index.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usrb/php') in /home/bp/bp/www/modules.php on line 30

Is anyone else having difficulty accessing the site?

Thanks.

ZR

[DeeBye]

PC Gamer is out, and it does make Hellgate: London sound a lot like Diablo (with a first-person view, though "a third-person mode for melee fighting will almost certainly be included").
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Is there any chance that someone with this issue of PC Gamer can post some scans of the article?

[Griselda]

Is there any chance that someone with this issue of PC Gamer can post some scans of the article?
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Don't they tend to get very upset when people post scans of "exclusive" preview stuff?

[DeeBye]

Don't they tend to get very upset when people post scans of "exclusive" preview stuff?
[right][snapback]73449[/snapback][/right]

Ack! I suppose you're right.

Disregard my request :(

[[wcip]Angel]

ZatarRufus, you're not alone. I get the same message. Are you using Opera as well?

[ZatarRufus]

Are you using Opera as well?
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No. Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106

[ima_nerd]

No. Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106
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I'm using FireFox and am having the same problem : /

[roguebanshee]

I tried Bolty's link yesterday and just now. This is what I continue to get:
[right][snapback]73433[/snapback][/right]

Looks like someone broke their article script, not much you can do about it other than emailing the webmaster.

[Dozer]

Give a click for great justice!


Still, it sounds like Diablo to me!  Had to expect that from the people I know: Ken Williams, Tyler Thompson, Peter Hu, and of course Bill Roper.

-Bolty
[right][snapback]72016[/snapback][/right]

Does that mean you get lots of inside information? :P :P

[Thecla]

Ack!  I suppose you're right.

Disregard my request  :(
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There's a scan of the cover and a summary of the article here, but apart from a couple of pictures of Bill Roper with a demon in the background, you aren't missing a whole lot by not seeing the article itself.;)

[DeeBye]

There's a scan of the cover and a summary of the article here, but apart from a couple of pictures of Bill Roper with a demon in the background, you aren't missing a whole lot by not seeing the article itself.;)
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Thank you for that link :)

[Nystul]

The FPS-Roguelike hybrid... almost makes me think someone still reads my posts. :)

The only thing that really concerns me from this early preview is the promise of 16 (or 32?!) player cooperative support. I mean, from a marketing standpoint, it is almost mandatory. Most gamers aren't going to see this issue the same way I do. I just hope they don't screw the game up trying to make largescale coop worthwhile. A group of 16 player characters isn't a caving party, it's a bloody infantry division.

[JustAGuy]

I tried Bolty's link yesterday and just now. This is what I continue to get:
Is anyone else having difficulty accessing the site?

Thanks.

ZR
[right][snapback]73433[/snapback][/right]

Try this link instead:
link

Just a syntactical error, replace "news" instead of "News" and the script works fine.