Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Undead and Zombies! (latest Sept. update video )
KolDraco
Member
A glimpse of the zombie
I am a huge fan of what undead can bring to games thematically.
Undead, to me, serve a purpose of hopelessness and despair. The difficulty of killing undead should create tension and suspense in multiple ways. But, we have to look at how the developer views what undead, to them, means.
Lets look at some different types of undead we have seen in media.
- The cursed: Undead who rise every night to punish the living. Set about by magic or by godly laws in the set universe.
- The diseased: Undead from a biological mutation.
- The Parasite: Undead being controlled by a host creature or insect.
Cursed: This type of undead, to me, is the pinnacle of how undead came to be. Through godly curses and incantations born from hate and malice. To punish those who are living for deeds they neglected or have done. Usually created by those with power or those who are desperate to make a difference. Abusing the natural laws of the gods.
I want to explain why this should be more prevalent in games to come and why ashes should invest in more immersive undead. What games have done to undead in almost every game is appalling. Killing undead, in video games, is boring. There is a stigma in the industry that make undead campy and they have to be considered low level mobs. The best example is Diablo series making them feel like paper. Blizzard in general making undead feel silly and stupid.
How to make cursed undead more enjoyable and more thrilling to encounter is easy in concept. You make them hard to kill, you make them in mass quantity, and you make them unstoppable until the morning light. This would be the curse in effect. The way to stop it or stall it for story purposes and/or re-playability would be to allow a catalyst that needs to be destroyed. These can be hidden in a nearby dungeon or in the bottom of a lake or in a house. Depending on how you want the player to interact with the world. Why does this makes the game more immersive? it's creating zones in which difficulty has increased to either go around or challenge. Luck can play a huge roll in how a character at night would experience a cursed undead horde. Creating moments of intense interaction that make for good player stories. The idea of a curse is to be unfair in how you can deal with it. Nobody makes a curse going I want it to be fair for the people who will experience it. When it comes to making undead, this would be the case of quantity, relentless quantity of un-killable past family members or recently deceased loved ones.
Making this into part of the games mechanics would amplify the undead experience and intensity of gameplay.
The Diseased: This would be your ideal resident evil zombie. Not technically what I would call a real zombie and more of a mutation. But, they have had the best overall view of how a zombie should act, only in resident evil 1 and 2. Slow and cumbersome, hard to kill, and in mass quantity. This makes a more scientific "realistic" reason for undead, similar to the walking dead series as an example.
The Parasite Portrayed in more futuristic games and some resident evil games. Having a creature embody a corpse or take over a host to the point of eventual death. I find this to be the least undead-like for the types of undead we see in video games.
intelligent cursed undead
Now, as for intelligent undead. You know the Boss fights that we all experience where a "death looking" ghost comes out and tries to kill us. This would be the creator of the curse, usually. Whether being punished for breaking the natural laws or using forbidden magic to become everlasting. Somehow, a subjects soul is trapped in an undead vessel with similar restrictions or laws governed by a curse. Being more aware because of their soul still being intact gives rise to influence and manipulation to have such power. What limits them from destroying the world could be lore related. Trapped in dungeons by punishment or trickery from gods, witches, catalyst restriction (genie in the lamp kind of thing). Essentially intelligent undead is very rare. Undead with a sole purpose is more common. both are curses. and whether they like it or not both have a hunger for life.
In Conclusion
So, how will undead be treated in the world of Ashes of Creation? Will we be scared to go into ruins at night alone? will we have quests to destroy the curse that plagues the lands (a node territory) full of undead? Will we come across a random catalyst and place it in the lake? (heh heh heh) Will we have random dungeons to enter in and experience a gripping tale of survival to whom which a party of 12 would have a hard time simply because of the sheer quantity of undead? Will we see nodes change due to undead influence growing if not kept in line? or will we simply crush them like paper and forget their existence until the next halloween event?
thanks for reading this. I hope maybe some of this can translate into future MMO's and possibly into Ashes of Creation. Maybe you have been broadened to the idea that cursed zombies are better. or not? either or I hope to see your comments and ideas.
cheers,
Kol Draco
I am a huge fan of what undead can bring to games thematically.
Undead, to me, serve a purpose of hopelessness and despair. The difficulty of killing undead should create tension and suspense in multiple ways. But, we have to look at how the developer views what undead, to them, means.
Lets look at some different types of undead we have seen in media.
- The cursed: Undead who rise every night to punish the living. Set about by magic or by godly laws in the set universe.
- The diseased: Undead from a biological mutation.
- The Parasite: Undead being controlled by a host creature or insect.
Cursed: This type of undead, to me, is the pinnacle of how undead came to be. Through godly curses and incantations born from hate and malice. To punish those who are living for deeds they neglected or have done. Usually created by those with power or those who are desperate to make a difference. Abusing the natural laws of the gods.
I want to explain why this should be more prevalent in games to come and why ashes should invest in more immersive undead. What games have done to undead in almost every game is appalling. Killing undead, in video games, is boring. There is a stigma in the industry that make undead campy and they have to be considered low level mobs. The best example is Diablo series making them feel like paper. Blizzard in general making undead feel silly and stupid.
How to make cursed undead more enjoyable and more thrilling to encounter is easy in concept. You make them hard to kill, you make them in mass quantity, and you make them unstoppable until the morning light. This would be the curse in effect. The way to stop it or stall it for story purposes and/or re-playability would be to allow a catalyst that needs to be destroyed. These can be hidden in a nearby dungeon or in the bottom of a lake or in a house. Depending on how you want the player to interact with the world. Why does this makes the game more immersive? it's creating zones in which difficulty has increased to either go around or challenge. Luck can play a huge roll in how a character at night would experience a cursed undead horde. Creating moments of intense interaction that make for good player stories. The idea of a curse is to be unfair in how you can deal with it. Nobody makes a curse going I want it to be fair for the people who will experience it. When it comes to making undead, this would be the case of quantity, relentless quantity of un-killable past family members or recently deceased loved ones.
Making this into part of the games mechanics would amplify the undead experience and intensity of gameplay.
The Diseased: This would be your ideal resident evil zombie. Not technically what I would call a real zombie and more of a mutation. But, they have had the best overall view of how a zombie should act, only in resident evil 1 and 2. Slow and cumbersome, hard to kill, and in mass quantity. This makes a more scientific "realistic" reason for undead, similar to the walking dead series as an example.
The Parasite Portrayed in more futuristic games and some resident evil games. Having a creature embody a corpse or take over a host to the point of eventual death. I find this to be the least undead-like for the types of undead we see in video games.
intelligent cursed undead
Now, as for intelligent undead. You know the Boss fights that we all experience where a "death looking" ghost comes out and tries to kill us. This would be the creator of the curse, usually. Whether being punished for breaking the natural laws or using forbidden magic to become everlasting. Somehow, a subjects soul is trapped in an undead vessel with similar restrictions or laws governed by a curse. Being more aware because of their soul still being intact gives rise to influence and manipulation to have such power. What limits them from destroying the world could be lore related. Trapped in dungeons by punishment or trickery from gods, witches, catalyst restriction (genie in the lamp kind of thing). Essentially intelligent undead is very rare. Undead with a sole purpose is more common. both are curses. and whether they like it or not both have a hunger for life.
In Conclusion
So, how will undead be treated in the world of Ashes of Creation? Will we be scared to go into ruins at night alone? will we have quests to destroy the curse that plagues the lands (a node territory) full of undead? Will we come across a random catalyst and place it in the lake? (heh heh heh) Will we have random dungeons to enter in and experience a gripping tale of survival to whom which a party of 12 would have a hard time simply because of the sheer quantity of undead? Will we see nodes change due to undead influence growing if not kept in line? or will we simply crush them like paper and forget their existence until the next halloween event?
thanks for reading this. I hope maybe some of this can translate into future MMO's and possibly into Ashes of Creation. Maybe you have been broadened to the idea that cursed zombies are better. or not? either or I hope to see your comments and ideas.
cheers,
Kol Draco
1
Comments
We got some cool Skelebro's as Enemies since the Start of Alpha Two in the Riverlands.
But either i have serious Memory Issues -> or i just never saw them. Skeleton Archers.
Where our cool Skelebro's with Bows at ?
For Example like this one.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Maybe i look after a Guild sometime soon
The Guys with the Darksouls-like, red-glowing Eyes - right ?
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Maybe i look after a Guild sometime soon
Great post, Kol. This is exactly the kind of feedback and creative thinking that can make Ashes something truly special.
for example the Grave(yard?) Golem and the likes. But there is just SO much more potential for cool Mobs around, which are somehow all related to Undeads - and things like Massgraves, unholy Ground and Soil, etc.
I imagine my very on Viking-Warrior trimmed and designed Kae'lar Human to run from a huge Monster - Abomination - a hulking Horror of dead Corpses and only motivated and moved by an unholy Hatred for everyone alive,
around where the Tropics change into the more "tame" Forests of the Riverlands or elsewhere,
a Monster or several with HUUUGE Ranges of which they will persecute and go after you,
in order to kill you - once you aggro'ed them.
Maybe give Healers, Clerics, etc. - some Extra Damage or Control against Undead.
Maybe give One OR SEVERAL -> on Necromancer styled Summoners the Ability, to enslave such a hulking Monster for half an Hour - like once every Day because when You enslave something undead so powerful that like +10 Players or so are needed to take it on,
you should have a reasonable Cooldown, so that this Ability is not completely overpowered.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Maybe i look after a Guild sometime soon
More often than not, yep. Although I found quite a few yesterday that didn't have it yet still revived. You'll see a little green hand icon in their buff bar that will indicate whether or not they'll revive.
Noticed that Icon as well. Neat that we get at least some information about it.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Maybe i look after a Guild sometime soon