Hey everyone, so I'm wondering how everyone feels about underwater dungeons/cities etc? One of my all time favorite zones in an MMO was Kedge Keep in classic EQ. First, it felt like a very "hidden" zone despite not needing a key to enter. Unless you made a habbit of exploring underwater, you likely didn't know it was there unless someone told you. Plane of Water was also a really fun raid zone. I don't think EQ had the best underwater mechanics at all, but that didn't stop it from being very fun for me. I also liked how some zones like Ocean of Tears were mostly above-water maps, but had hidden tunnels and passages underwater leading to cool surprises. I feel like this is an under-utilized immersion option in a lot of modern MMOs.
I think a good example of a game that did really good underwater zones was Majoras Mask when you played as a Zora. They REALLY did a good job with making and utilizing underwater gameplay, and I bet that could translate really well into an MMO if done properly. I've even long desired an MMO where one of the races is aquatic, with underwater cities and zones, and this race needs EB items to come up on land just like terrestrial players need one to visit the underwater city. I felt like there was a cool opportunity for this with both Iksar and Frogloks and wasn't realized fully in EQ. Or, imagine an amphibious civilization that has an underwater city that's similar to Rapture in Bioshock or Gungans in Star Wars. Sure, the city itself has normal buildings, walkways etc, but you're actually deep under the ocean. I think that's really cool!
What do you guys think?
I do not usually compliment WoW but I really enjoyed their underwater zone in Cataclysm expansion, depths of Vashj'ir. Matter of fact, I played several characters through that zone because I liked it so much. I heard mixed things about it but I really enjoyed spending time down there. Very immersive place. Problem is, like all of WoW, nothing but quests!
First off, my apologies for the incoming foul language.
#%&@ Phinigel Autropos. #%&@ him, #%&@ those sharks, #%&@ the stupidly rare drop rate on the wizard epic piece....just #%&@ him. Oh..and Corinav can suck it too. #%&@ing fish.
Ok...I'm better now. With that out of my system, I can say I didn't mind the underwater zones because they did provide a different experience than any other zone. Where it became frustrating was where it was clear the engine didn't deal with what I'm sure was in the developers' mind for the zone. They were just too buggy to be enjoyable. I'd be willing to test underwater zones to see how the things have progressed and if can be done properly then I'm all for seeing underwater zones.
I honestly never liked underwater zones. It probably has to do with what Vandraad said about the buggy feel of them. I always felt out of place, which may be the point but IDK it never really meshed with me. I think a big part of them was it felt really difficult to fight underwater in EQ if you weren't an Iksar because you never swam well enough to chase anything down and the animations were off. To me the underwater zones and game play felt more like a broken note in a wonderfull symphony, if I am to enjoy the whole thing I just better ignore that part. I hope I feel different about it in Pantheon but in general I think biped movement underwater is a fairly awkard thing and not something condusive to an gaming battle.
My thoughts are that Terminus is of an unknown world and of many origins. That it would seem fruitless to think, that adventure & exploration of that world, would not lead into the sea...
Or across it..
take away the z-axis AE and pathing bugs, and Kedge Keep is still arguably one of the best dungeons in any MMO ever. Vash'jir in WoW is awesome. Underwater monuments in Minecraft are awesome (and lethal).
Clearly, I am a big fan of that kind of content. There's just something inherently nerve wracking and scary with those environments.
I think underwater would be AWESOME addition to gameplay immersion. I also am one that believes when its pooring rain movement should be reduced in both speed and ways to travel. Especially snow when it's snowing have it be very difficult to move and run and do things and even snow in mountain towns for a time. Okay so example for both high altitude zones and underwater zones. In previous discussions on day/night timing people brought in seasons ansd lunar phase etc. What about in zones? If it's winter have the underwater locked in minus secret or special ways out because the water above is frozen and the mountain town is snowed in. Forcing timing of adventuring in those zones to be considered. We could do a whole new day/night sum/win/spr/fal becuase we are on a new planet around a new start with different rules than earth. So if we did a 4 hour day cylce with 15 mins for dawn and 15 for dusk and 145 for day and 145 night, throw in lunar cycles and then seasons its a real world! Just a thought with a new system and our on rules it could be 4 rl hours a day cycle and 2 rl weeks for a season and 4 rl days for a lunar cycle and even have an anual eclipse where its total darkness for 4 rl hours which in rl would be 8 weeks for special events.
I like the idea of completely underwater cities or towns, and the restriction of needing an EB/Scuba device to be able to visit. Or time specific bottles of air you can buy from nefarious gypsies just in the town border where you can argue about the price since that same air is free- just 2 steps away!. I like not being able to sit in underwater zones ( makes sense) so if fighting you had to manage your mana, and maybe be more weapons proficient- knife-in-the teeth sort of thing, using the knife or weapon for more damage since your casting ( if a caster) was limited.
Best duo I had was with a ranger in Odus docs, we were both level 10, and we were hunting sharks (and some poachers). got to 11 and even enough of a buffer into 11 to survive at least 2 deaths without losing a level. I provided the water stones but we had no time to med without taking a break by coming out of the water, mostly both of us stabbing, some casting.
I loved underwater content in GW2. It had amazing depth (pun intended :) You had different abilities for land/underwater, including some that could move you through the water, or your target (to or away from you). Everyone started with a simple underwater breathing mask, which you could upgrade over time (not timed btw., that is you could dive for as long as you wished).
Another game which does (under-)water content very well IMO is Archeage. There are ships which are incredible fun to sail with, and on the ships you have breathing apparatuses so you can dive for some time. There are also dedicated diving suits to improve underwater speed (and breathing time of course), and there are also some plants growing on the ocean floor that allow you to breath longer. There's underwater farms and mining, and other harvestable resources which you find only in the sea (for examples pearls).
Sarim said:I loved underwater content in GW2. It had amazing depth (pun intended :) You had different abilities for land/underwater, including some that could move you through the water, or your target (to or away from you). Everyone started with a simple underwater breathing mask, which you could upgrade over time (not timed btw., that is you could dive for as long as you wished).
Another game which does (under-)water content very well IMO is Archeage. There are ships which are incredible fun to sail with, and on the ships you have breathing apparatuses so you can dive for some time. There are also dedicated diving suits to improve underwater speed (and breathing time of course), and there are also some plants growing on the ocean floor that allow you to breath longer. There's underwater farms and mining, and other harvestable resources which you find only in the sea (for examples pearls).
Archeage has the best water graphics exterior and submersion of any game out there... I am actually amazed at how realistic they were able to make it feel. Not sure what they can do with Unity 5 or sub-software but I am anxious to see the final result. I recommend that the Devs check out some gameplay in Archeage if they have not done so already. It is seriously that good!! Too bad they ruined the game with their PTW store tactics...