Rise of the Godslayer

[Supplement Four]

Age of Conan is getting an expansion, set in Khitai, called Rise of the Godslayer. What I think is interesting, besides exploring a region of Conan's world that has received very little attention in the books/games/comics/movies featuring the mighty barbarian, is that the story is linked to The Tower of the Elephant.

It seems that Conan's intervention in that story has ramifcations for Khitai years later.

That's kinda cool.

Here's a press announcement.

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Rise of the Godslayer will take players into the Empire of Khitai, a land inspired by eastern Asia where "countless hours of more brutal, sexy and savage adventure awaits." Along with a brand-new setting and storyline, the expansion will also introduce factional gameplay and an alternate advancement system.

The Empire of Khitai is being torn apart by warring factions in a conflict set in motion years ago by a young Conan when he killed the Elephant God in the Robert E. Howard classic The Tower of the Elephant. Players can join these factions, earning rewards as they advance through the ranks with either their existing characters or one of the Khitan, a new race available in the expansion.

"Since the turn of the year the team has been working hard on bringing the Empire of Khitai to life," said Executive Producer Craig Morrison. "Our focus now is on expanding on the strengths of the game by providing massive new regions of the world to explore, and the Empire of Khitai offers a whole new perspective on the Conan lore and universe. Age of Conan has evolved leaps and bounds since its launch last year, and we are making sure to build on the existing qualities and expand them further with the brand new content and gameplay in Rise of the Godslayer."

The expansion will include two new mounts, the Tiger and the Wolf, but there will be no new classes, nor, strangely enough, will the level cap be raised. Instead, players will have to master the new "alternate advancement abilities," feats and combos that open up new abilities that can then be trained and perfected over time. No release date has been set.

 

[flatscan]

Interesting. But tiger and wolf mounts? Getting too WoW IMHO. I mean the mammoth and rhino mounts were bad enough. But I'll give it a shot as I'm finding the rest of AoC to be quite the time sink. Oh yeah, and there's this!

Do you wanna date my avatar? :lol:

 

[zozotroll]

So thats what you have been doing instead of updateing your chronicles.

 

[flatscan]

LOL. It's a juggling act. So many things on my plate these days. 8)

 

[Supplement Four]

Interesting. But tiger and wolf mounts? Getting too WoW IMHO.

I agree. AoC gets so many things "right" that I marvel at what they don't get "right". And, I think they do that to balance a game within a universe.

For example, there are, really, too many mages in the game. What I think they should have done is not allow any avatar to begin as a mage--the character would have to start as something else--maybe a scholar type. Then, around level 40, he starts getting spells: a novice at 40; apprentice at 50; journeyman at 60; and so on, 70, 75, until a master at 80.

That would make a lot more sense to me.

But, Funcom's got to think about sales and the game, too. Trust me, there are a hell of a lot more people playing Conan that know nothing about Conan than there are people playing who've read Howard's stories. So, for them, it's, "Whaddaya mean we can't throw magic until 40? That sucks! I'm sticking to WoW."

So far, I think Funcom is doing a good job balancing the "game" portions of the MMO with the "universe" portions. I'd say about 80-90% of the game certainly does a good job of "feeling" like Conan and delivering that Hyborian Age atmosphere.

 

[quigs]

I was gonna pick this up once it comes out on xbox

 

[flatscan]

While I understand the challenges transferring the Conan brand to video games must pose, some of their decisions are just...bizarre. Why is Princess Akivasha in Tarantia when there are Stygian play zones? Why is Thak in a pyramid in Stygia? Why do Stygians (and everyone else in the game) refer to the world as Hyboria? :?

 

[Supplement Four]

While I understand the challenges transferring the Conan brand to video games must pose, some of their decisions are just...bizarre. Why is Princess Akivasha in Tarantia when there are Stygian play zones? Why is Thak in a pyramid in Stygia? Why do Stygians (and everyone else in the game) refer to the world as Hyboria? :?

There's a whole story about the Princess. Not sure about Thak since I've played little in Stygia.

There are several quests associated with the Princess, though. You'll find quests about her in Stygia, leading you to Tarantia. If you go into the pub on the docks, you'll hear the sailors talk about a mysterious cargo from Stygia, and a whole ship with everyone dead on it. Then, there are quests to go down in the tunnles underneath Old Tarantia where you find the Princesses' sarcophagus.

Then, finally, you meet her in the Wild Lands, in the ancient Acheronian ruin.

Sometimes, the Funcom designers extend the game--take a story to a point later than when it was told. After all, the game is set when Conan is King, and many of the tales are several decades old.

As I said, I think Funcom gets it 80-90% "right". There's still a 10-20% margin there for them to improve.