General Discussion

Is it just me or is anyone else here longing to play a MMO with an actual medieval feel to it? Don't get me wrong, I love the atmosphere of mythology, lore and stuff. But it's just been overdone hundreds of times. Warcraft, Warhammer, Aion, Guildwars, Might and Magic, ADnD, you name it...

Every setting has some muscle packed hero, some cunning ranger, some sneaky thief, a big-brained mage and a foul-hearted warlock to choose from. And you engage rats, boars, wolves, thieves, undead, lizardpeople, giants/ogres, dragonkin and some "hiiiighly" innovative monstrosities that make everything """unique""".

What do you think? Would a game that actually reduces these overdone fantasy concepts to an medieval setting in a more traditional sense be successful. Games like "the Witcher" or concept like "Roma Victor" give a hint of what COULD be possible in these games. More emphasis on humans while still having monstrosities as a highlight. So you actually ARE facing a deadly enemy when engaging a ghul in a tomb.

A nice sandbox concept could include witches, druids, priests, guardians, (REAL) thieves, (REAL) bards, alchemists, mercenaries, (real) hunters... things like that, while consequently excluding things like sparkling power of nature magic, walls of undead or fireball mayhem. Where magic and abilities could be a lot more subtile and more traditional concepts like social interaction and teamplay are necessary.

Well, I know, sounds like old SWG with middle-ages. I guess that's kind of what I want to play,

Meridion

Couldn't agree more with you

A sandbox of it would be even better

Dark Age of Camelot, to me, seems like  the closest thing to a "medieval" atmosphere you can get to.  Sigh....I love you DAoC.

I actually think Lotro is closest to that medieval setting you write about. There's almost no magic, most of the creatures are animals and bandits. There are no supernatural powers, but there is a supernatural evil and of course orcs. But these are probably inevitable.

Agreed, we need more truly medieval MMOs! I love watching that specific genre of movies and would love to play in a world similar to the worlds depicted on screen.

It really isn't that hard to do. I can imagine crafting playing a big role in such a game. Basically it needs not be flashy but instead more focussed on gameplay and sticking true to the theme. Riding turtles just won't cut it...regular horses should be the norm. Small details all add up in the end!

the sandbox aspect could underline the social structure of a feudal medieval realm.

In the imaginary middle-ages construct you get when joining mediavel festivals or joining any popular fantasy-RPG is grossly suppressing what was a central part of medieval Europe: Feudalism, slavery, landlords, plagues, poverty, warlords, religious fundamentalism... only touching these issues could easily provide conflict, suspense and grittyness for 10 AoCs...

Instead we're forced to play in funny bunny elf land where theres always some ruling, undisputed monarch, a working society in which no one ever suffers from severe poverty, noone ever suffers from illness, noone gets seriously  injured... *sigh* Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT asking for a reality simulation, i don't want the "You've got cancer, your character will suffer -10 sta/day and die within 120 days" debuff or things like that. Just a little less "yea im Lord Firecore, I don't age and I won't die, lets waste skeletons for the rest of the day"...

Meridion

Roma Victor

Originally posted by Lydon

Agreed, we need more truly medieval MMOs! I love watching that specific genre of movies and would love to play in a world similar to the worlds depicted on screen.

It really isn't that hard to do. I can imagine crafting playing a big role in such a game. Basically it needs not be flashy but instead more focussed on gameplay and sticking true to the theme. Riding turtles just won't cut it...regular horses should be the norm. Small details all add up in the end!

yep any movie such as Kingdom of Heaven, Hero, 13th Warrior and so on could be thrown together for a some wicked themes.. Dark Age is the closest IMO, i love that game, but it is getting older, and should have a hier.