You know the score. However, Shadowbane stands out from its competitors in one very significant way. The entire game is based around player versus player combat PvP. You can level up to level 20 in a safe environment and hone your skills maximum level is 70 without risk of attack from vastly superior players.
But from then on you're packed off into the big bad world, and are fair game for higher levels to pick off and rob blind. Well yes, and no. It lends the game an element of real risk that you won't have experienced in similar games. You will feel genuinely scared when attacked by player killers or enemy guilds because you can, and will, lose everything. This kind of environment is not everyone's cup of tea. So where are the trade skills and quests, both considered essential for a successful online RPG?
They're not there, that's where. Outside of guild warfare there is nothing to do. And this in itself will cause many players to burn out long before they get into the full-scale warfare, even though the levelling-up process itself is relatively quick. On the plus side, there is a huge variety of classes, races, professions and disciplines to choose from and Shadowbane offers more variety in terms of character customisation than any of its competitors.
But ultimately the appeal or lack thereof of PvP combat will determine whether or not the game is a success. Shadowbane has yet to receive a UK release date, so for now you'll have to track down an imported US copy, but look out for updates as it develops.
In the beginning, while many companies toyed with the idea of bringing their titles online, there was only one company brave enough to risk spending time and money creating a new genre. That company was Origin, and the game was Ultima Online. You may argue that Origin had something of a safety net by using a brand name that was synonymous with the best the RPG genre had to offer, but nonetheless, those first tentative pioneering steps created a genre which is fast becoming overcrowded in today's market.
The main reason Ultima Online succeeded apart from the obvious advantage of having the Ultima name was it literally forced gamers into player-versus-player combat PvP and provided an adrenaline rush never experienced before on PC as gamers fought real people on the Net for supremacy in UO.
Since then, UO has been toned down to a large degree. There are now towns and areas where you can travel safely if you don't want to get involved in PvP, and much of the gameworld is considered 'safe' for travelling and exploration. So where does that leave gamers who are still desperate for their online fantasy PvP fix?
Enter stage left: Shadowbane. Shadowbane is designed from the ground up to fully support every facet of PvP imaginable. Player-made cities and towns will be the rule rather than the exception, and unless you quickly gain membership to a good player guild you will be open to attack from all other players in the game as soon as you set foot outside the initial newbie training grounds, and yes you will lose money and items to them if they successfully beat your brains out and loot your corpse.
Shadowbane won't be for the faint of heart, and all those who left Ultima Online en masse to go to EverQuest in order to get away from all the player killers are advised to stay as far away from Shadowbane as possible.
Designer Wolfpack believes there is a big market for player-versus-player combat, and it is backing this claim by going wholly PvP right from the start. This is a brave move, and to get it right will be no easy task.
From the beginning every hardcore PvPer in existence will be out to create a class that is designed purely for success in PvP. This gives Wolfpack something of a headache when it comes to balancing the classes for PvP capability. Given the diversity and flexibility of the character development system and the almost endless possibilities for unique character combinations, it will be almost impossible to completely balance all classes for PvP.
But since most of the PvP is expected to be between rival guilds, many of the players will be playing support roles rather than being directly involved in combat. Exactly what role you choose to play in the great scheme of things is entirely up to you, thanks to one of the best character development models we have ever seen in a RPG. While there are only four initial classes to choose from at character creation time fighter, mage, healer and rogue , as soon as your character hits level ten you get to choose a subclass which determines how your character will finally develop through his later levels very Dark Ages Of Camelot I must say.
There are 14 subclasses to choose from, and you can change the course of your character dramatically at level ten, depending on which subclass you choose. For example, a fighter may decide to change at level ten to a warlock, which means although he retains his inherent fighting skill she becomes capable of also casting spells, which makes him a good all-rounder and probably a good bet for PvP too. On top of this you can also choose between sets of disciplines which give you new skills and spells.
The use of a third-person view also hints strongly at influences from Origin's classic, although while UO uses a fixed 2D viewpoint, Shadowbane is fully 3D and you can change the camera any way you wish according to preference. While the third-person camera is adequate in most situations although it feels decidedly awkward to use at first , you have to wonder why a first-person viewpoint is not offered as an option.
So many people are used to using a first-person viewpoint now that they may feel a little alienated at having to go back to an 'outside' view for Shadowbane. Wolfpack says there is a first-person viewpoint under test but it may never make it into the game if they don't feel it works for the gameplay. We'll keep you posted on this as we get more news on it.
I don't know how it was done, and I don't care. It's so close to live it's not even funny. The little details all around the world, smooth as hell playing, it's amazing. Thank you for letting us play here! I'm loving how fast these bugs are being fixed, holy crap are these guys being paid? Play the game for 10 mins and you will find that whoever got this up and running is Brilliant and is light years ahead of any other "emulator".
I am glad there is finally another option for people and wish Artyom and Olga the best. The way the game runs it feels like they got the original server side code.
If you compare magicbane to sbemu you can tell it is a LOT closer to the original, so many of the little quirks still exist in magicbane, and it is not easy to replicate those little quirks. I will concede that Magicbane has a reputation for being more reliable in terms of large engagements. Every Shadowbane map available for any wipe and ability to create new map! Every piece of furniture, NPC, mob, and building exactly as it was from high fidelity sourcings.
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