Desde 1Up nos llega:
The guys at Sigil sure hope you like EverQuest. It's understandable, given that an awful lot of the people working on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, including Brad McQuaid, were responsible for EverQuest and/or its expansions in the first place. That experience is an obvious influence, though the fact that it's harder to find a wall in their offices that doesn't have the late Keith Parkinson's EQ art on it somewhere is also a bit of a tip off.
EQ hasn't aged all that gracefully, but in its day it was a real ass-kicker. Hell, even now it still holds a lot of players in its grip. While more casual-gamer friendly Johnny-come-latelys like WoW have been breaking records, there's still a pretty hefty subset of hardcore MMOers who aren't satisfied with what they're offering. EverQuest 2 was a particular disappointment for them, alienating many of the original's playerbase while failing to capture more casual players. Vanguard, on the other hand, looks a lot more like what EverQuest 2 was expected to be in the first place. It displays much of what kept EQ so playable for so long, along with a slick interface, greater depth to combat, reduced downtime, some really fancy graphics, and a whole lot of stuff to do besides beating up monsters.
Most obviously, it's a damn sight prettier. The game uses a heavily modified version of the Unreal 2.5 engine, and features some of the most detailed terrain ever seen in an MMO--or any other game, for that matter. The whole thing is just packed with detail. When showing us one of the game's major cities, producer Jeff Butler couldn't help but boast that "if you took every Epic-created Unreal level ever created, it's still not as complex as this city."
It's a pretty big place, and like the rest of the game, none of it is divided into zones. All of it is part of one seamless whole, including the interior of homes and the city's underground harbor. It's possible for a player on a flying mount to pass over and look down on the whole thing, from the marketplace to the castle to the slums, and set down wherever they like. Each of Vanguard's three continents is divided up into 2km by 2km chunks, with no load times between them. Even the game's rain and snowstorms cross these borders unimpeded. It's all one big, integrated world, without divisions or instances.
There are a few pre-made villages, and the major cities, where players can rent rooms or homes themselves, but then there also are all the plots for sale around the world where players can build their own structures. These locations are predetermined; so no building a house with a door out over the water or against another house's wall (I miss you, Ultima.) Some of the plots are isolated, while others are ideally located for either individuals or a guild to construct an entire village.
Constructing houses is all a part of the game's elaborate harvesting and crafting system. Players will need to buy, harvest or trade commodities like lumber for the structure and thatch for the roof before raising the building themselves, enlisting friends to help, or hiring players skilled in carpentry. Once they have a home, or permission to use someone else's, the players can place furniture and fill the place with weapons, trophies, or the heads of fallen enemies. Owning a home will be a big deal, and a major way show off, but the devs aren't blind to the possibility of a privileged few snapping up all the land early and sitting on it. Regular maintenance fees, scaled to the player's level, the location of the plot, and the size of the structure should keep squatting in check, and they're examining the possibility of limiting players to a single plot each, and guilds to a single village.
Player mounts are another unique aspect of the game. There will be several, from pack animals to warhorses, capable of traveling at different speeds or carrying larger amounts of gear. In a game with no way of teleporting around the world, travel is going to be a concern, but the developers don't want it to be an ordeal, either. McQuaid told us "We feel that mounts are something players should be entitled to," and with the first basic mount becoming available at level ten, getting around shouldn't be a chore. Mounts can still be prestigious, however, with fancier horses becoming available at later levels, and the possibility of flying mounts like wyverns or griffins for players at or near the game's cap. Perhaps just as importantly, mounts can carry a player's gear, and can be hitched at base camps found throughout the world, often outside dungeons. Having an extra set of equipment handy when the time inevitably comes to get your stuff back from your corpse should make things easier (yeah, corpse runs are back.) Mounted combat is something Sigil would like to implement, and the system was made with it in mind, but it's uncertain whether it will be ready at the time of release. Travel between continents is another story. Ships will have to be constructed by players to make it across the game's shark infested waters. At least you won't be waiting for a ferry, or, if you are, it'll be piloted by a player you can yell at.
The classes haven't been finalized, but again, these are the EverQuest guys. The rogues, wizards, monks, paladins, warriors, dreadknights, necromancers and druids are going to be there, along with new classes like psionicists, berserkers, and blood mages. Additionally, there are separate crafting, harvesting, and diplomacy skills to specialize in. So, in addition to being a healer, or a tank, or whatever, players can take up herbalism, blacksmithing, woodcrafting, tailoring, or stonecrafting. The races are a bit more set in stone at this point and there's a different combination originating from each of the game's three continents. Thestra, the obligatory medieval themed area is currently the most complete portion of the game, and plays host to Dwarves, Halflings, High Elves, Thestrans (shocking revelation there, but these are your humans,) Lesser Giants, Varanjars (barbarians) and Vulmane (wolf people.) Qalia is an Arabian Nights themed desert waste and the home of Dark Elves, two more races of humans, the Ahramun and Mrodebi, Gnomes, and Kurashasa (Thundercats.) Kojan is an eastern-themed island archpelago and home to Goblins, Half-Evles, Wood Elves, Orcs, more Humans, and Raki (another bunch of anthropomorphic animal people--foxes, this time.)
Stats are a lot more forgiving here, with no permanent commitments to be made. Assigning points to a stat raises its maximum cap, with its actual value built up through use. Players won't gain enough points to get everything maxed, and will have to pick and choose their priorities. If they ever change their minds it will be possible for a player to choose a stat that will atrophy, allowing them to put those points somewhere else, with the only loss being the time it took to raise that stat in the first place. So there's a penalty for making a bad build, but it's not insurmountable, and nobody will end up screwed if they discover that their build isn't working out.
Combat features an additional layer of depth over EverQuest. In addition to regular combat and spell abilities, arranged however the player likes as a row of hotkeys, there are additional buttons for reactive abilities. Lighting up when the opportunity arises, the player can use these skills to respond to different situations. Casters can fire off a counterspell in response to an enemy's spells. Combat classes can make counterattacks or rescue other players when aggression turns against them. Rogues can chain together starters, bridges and finishing moves. Setting up and using these opportunities adds a lot more reward for skill than EQ did, and should help keep players from falling asleep at the wheel. We had a chance to play around with it, and it seems like a system that invites a lot more active involvement while retaining the more deliberately brutal challenge that EQ provided.
For anyone who misses the infamously steep difficulty (and corresponding feeling of accomplishment) of EQ, Vanguard is a game to be keeping an eye on if you aren't already. But, judging by the large and enthusiastic community the game has gathered so long before its release, that doesn't seem to be much of an issue.
by Scott Sharkey 03/07/2006
Que ganas, que ganas, QUE GANAAAAS.
Mas info en
http://www.vanguard-esp.com/ web de compañeros eolianos
Edito: voy a ir traduciendo:
Los chicos de Sigil esperan que te gustase EverQuest. (este cacho no lo entiendo bien, pero vamos), ya que mucha gente que trabajo en Everquest estan trabajando en vanguard, incluyendo a Brad McQuad, el responsable de EQ y sus primeras expansiones.
EQ no ha envejecido todo lo bien que se desearia, aunque en su dia fue un autentico pateador de culos. Incluso ahora, 7 años despues, mantiene a un monton de jugadores (casi 500.000). Muchos jugadores de MMO no estan satisfechos con lo que se ofrece, WoW es demasiado casual, EverQuest 2 fue particularmente insatisfactorio para ellos, sacrificando muchos de los jugadores de EQ1 para conseguir mas casual players. Vanguard, en la otra mano, parece mas como lo que deberia de haber sido EQ2 en un primer lugar. Nos muestra mucho de lo que hizo que EQ fuese un juego tan largo, seguido de una buena interfaz, gran profundidad en el combate, downtime reducido (mmmm esto no se que pensar de momento), muy buenos graficos, y mogollon de cosas que hacer para matar a los bichos.
Lo mas obvio es la belleza grafica. El juego usa el motor de Unreal 2.5 altamente modificado, y presenta el terreno mas detallado que se ha visto nunca en un MMO o algun otro juego. Todo esta plagado de detalles. Cuando jeff butler nos enseño una de las grandes ciudades, nos dijo "si miras cualquier nivel epico creado para unreal, no es tan complejo como esta ciudad".
Es un sitio enorme, y como el resto del juego, no esta dividido en zonas. Todo es parte de una sola zona, incluidos el interior de las casas, y el muelle bajo la ciudad (ein?). Es posible para un jugador, volar en una montura, pasar volando por la ciudad, por el mercado al castillo, y aterrizar donde quieran. Los 3 continentes de vanguard estan divididos en trozos de 2km por 2km, sin tiempos de carga entre ellos. Incluso la lluvia y las tormentas de nieve pueden cruzar estos bordes. Todo esta intengrado en un enorme mundo, sin ningun tipo de division.
Hay algunas ciudades pequeñas ya hechas, y las grandes ciudades, donde los jugadores podran alquilar habitaciones o casas enteras, pero habra parcelas para vender al rededor del mundo donde los jugadores podran poner sus propias extructuras. Estas localizaciones estan predefinidas, asi que no podras hacer una casa con la puerda a la orilla del agua, o enfrente de una pared de otra casa. Algunas parcelas estaran ideadas para que las guilds puedan levantar sus propias ciudades.
Construir casas es una parte del elaborado sistema de crafteo y extraccion de recursos del juego. Los jugadores tendran que comprar, minear y comerciar productos como el "lumber" para las estructuras y el "thatch" para el tejado, antes de levantar el edificio, pidiendo ayuda a amigos, o contratando jugadores con habilidad de carpintero. Cuando tengas una casa, o permiso para usar la de alguien, los jugadores podran poner muebles y llenarlo de armas, trofeos, o las cabezas de enemigos abatidos (Os imaginais la cabeza de Lady vox en el salon? jojojo).
Las monturas de los jugadores seran otro aspecto unico. Habra muchas monturas, desde animales pequeños, a caballos de guerra, capaces de viajar a diferentes velocidades con gran cantidad de equipamiento. En un juego donde no se puede teletransportar, viajar sera algo a tener encuenta. McQuaid nos dijo "creemos que las monturas de los jugadores deberan ser (no entiendo esto xD)" y con la primera montura basica estando disponible a nivel 10, moverse por los allrededores no sera un problema. Las monturas seguiran siendo prestigiosas, con impresionantes caballos estando disponible a niveles mas altos, y la posibilidad de volar wyverns o grifos al "final" del juego. Tal vez sea tan importante como el que las monturas puedan llevar equipamiento, y podran ser dejados en las bases de los campamenos que se encuentran al rededor del mundo, o en las entradas de las dungeos. Tener un equipo extra de equipo a mano cuando el momento inevitable de
recuperar tu cuerpo (yeah, los corpses run han vuelto! sera de gran ayuda. Sigil prevee el combate en monturas, y a pesar de que el sistema esta diseñado para ello, aun no esta implementado y no saben si lo estara para la salida del juego. Viajar entre continentes es otra historia. Los barcos tendran que ser construidos por los jugadores para cruzar los mares llenos de tiburones. Al menos no estaras esperando a un ferry, o, si lo estas, sera capitaneado por un jugador al que podras gritarle.
Las clases aun no estan finalizadas, pero otra vez, estos son los tios de EverQuest. Rogues, hechiceros, monjes, paladines, guerreros, caballeros negros, necros y druidas estaran aqui, junto a nuevas clases como psiquicos, berserkers y blood mages. Tambien estan skills separados de crafteo, extraccion de recursos y diplomacia. Entonces, aparte de ser curador, tanke, o lo que sea, los jugadores podran ser alquimistas, herreros, carpinteros, costureros o escultores de piedras. Las razas estan mas definidas en este punto. Thestra, la zona obligatoria rollo medievo es la parte mas completa del juego, y alverga a enanos, halflings, altos elfos "thestrans" los humanos de vanguard, pequeños gigantes, varanjars (barbaros) y Vulmane (hombres lobo). Qalia es un desierto, casa de los elfos oscuros, 2 razas mas de humanos, los ahramun y los mrodebi, gnomos y kurashasa (noseque gatos). Kojan es una isla y casa de los hoblins, medio elfos, elfos de los bosques, orcos, mas humanos y raki (otra mezcla de gente-animal, zorros esta vez).
Los stats estan mas olvidados a estas alturas, sin cambios permanentes para hacerse.
Asignar puntos de stats suben el limite, que subiran con el uso. Los jugadores no ganaran suficientes puntos para tener todo al maximo, y tendran que escojer sus prioridades. Si deciden cambiar de idea, podran cambiar los puntos a otro skill, perdiendo solamente el tiempo que necesitaron para subirlo. Asi que hay una penalizacion por hacer un mal desarrollo de personaje, pero no es problematico, y nadie acabara jodido si descubren que su personaje no funciona tan bien como desearia.
Los combates son mas profundos que en EverQuest. Aparte de los clasicos combates y magias, habra algunas hotkeys para activar abilidades. Se encenderan cuando la oportunidad salga, y el jugador podra usar una abilidad para responder a diferentes situaciones. Los casters podran lanzar un "counterspell" como respuesta a magias enemigas, las clases e combate podran meter contrataques o rescatar otros jugadores que hayan pillado aggro. Rogues podran combinar todos estos movimientos. Preparar y usar estas oportunidades daran mas recompensa de skill que lo que daba el EQ, y ayudara a tener a los jugadores despiertos. Pudimos probarlo y parece que invita a mas actividad envolvente que la que daba el EQ.
para cualquiera que perdiese la infame curva de dificultad (y el correspondiente sentimiento de superacion) de everquest, hecharle un ojo a vanguard si es que no estais siguiendole la pista ya.
Bueno, me he saltado algunas cosas, pero nada relevante.
La traduccion no es buena, hay muchas cosas que no he sabido traducir, y otras que me he saltado, asi que si sabeis ingles, leerlo en ingles 
![[looco]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/borracho.gif "loco")
