Movies, News, and the like on HG:L

Hill-Shatar · #1 (**permalink**) 10-01-2005, 05:35 PM

I was just thinking that there might as well be a thread to post news on the game. Here you go.

Also, recently I have decided that I can answer many questions that anyone has. Just post and I will get to them fairly quickly, when I am online.

Also, I am proud to say that Buck has decided to put up a site dedicated to Hellgate:London. Thanks Buck!

A direct link to the interview between GB and Bill. Oh, yes, and of course, Part 2, with Max.

Publisher: Namco
Developer: Flagship Studios

Type: Highly Randomized Action RPG
Preorder Price: $49.99 (Presuming American)
Platform: PC
Release Date: 12/31/06 (They say, when it is finished... not before. This date is a date only.)
Origin: US
ESRB Rating: TBA. Guessing Teen or Mature.
Views in Game: 1st and 3rd person views.

Minimum System Requirements:

Judging by the cinematics I'd say:

Recommended

1.8 Ghz or above
512 MB RAM
ATi 9000 series or above
Nvidia 5000 series or above

A link or two:

Gamespot
Club Skill
GamesRadar (UK)
Total Video Games
RPG Vault
CGN-Cyber Gaming Network
GameZone
IGN
GamersMark
GameSpy
Jolt (UK)
GotNext
Gaming Age
ActionTrip
RPG Codex (rec.)
Total Video Games
Worthplaying
Gamona
Computer and Video Games

HG:L Sites:

Hellgate RPG Planet
Hellgate Guru
Hellgate London Homepage

Lately, Buck has been beating me out no matter how fast I find things, so I decided that I might as well link things directly to the best source I can find, Gamebanshee News.

Gamebanshee News:

Hellgate: London Q&A
Hellgate:London Preview
Hellgate:London Screenshots
Hellgate: London Gamebanshee Coverage
Hellgate: London Preview
Hellgate: London Video Podcast
Hellgate: London Screenshots
Hellgate: London Preview
Hellgate: London Screenshots & Concept Art

Xandax, I know you have been looking for the interface. I have found the interface in the third movie down on this page, as well as how the layout is going to be for equiping your charcter... and an in game battle. Site is here.

Found a movie worth watching on the game here... a trailer for the plot, pretty much... and an action sequence.

It is also located on the link above it... the second link is only for people with widescreens.

An E3 report on HG:L on Gamespot, here.

Even though it is listed in the links, Gamespot also has some pretty good movies currently avaiable, including some informative movies about whether or not this game actually fits the term RPG or not. Also, it goes through basic gameplay, and charcter developent, including how the equip screen works. Very interesting. Click here to view the movie page.

1st HG:L site useful. I recomend looking through it... as well as the second. The second is actually even more informative and useful.

Some quick items on HG:L below.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gamestats Description of Hellgate: London

Hellgate: London combines the depth of role-playing games and action of first-person titles, while offering infinite playability with randomly created levels, items and events. The player creates a heroic character, completes quests and battles through innumerable hordes of demons to advance through experience levels and branching skill paths. A robust, flexible skill and spell system, highly customizable appearances and a massive variety of randomly generated equipment allow players to create their own unique hero.

Quote:

Originally Posted by -- Richard Aihoshi; RPGVault

May 27, 2005 - With developer Flagship Studios having been co-founded by five former Blizzard principals, Hellgate: London was one of the most highly anticipated titles to debut at this year's edition of the annual trade show. On the exhibition floor, publisher Namco had it on prominent display, with a partial build running on perhaps a dozen systems. Invited guests also had the chance for private demo sessions with key team members; in my case, this meant about 20 minutes one on one with Erich Schaefer.

The game takes place in the near future. The world has been torn apart by an onslaught of demons, so the above-ground area I saw was full of broken buildings and heaps of scorched rubble. The latter was also true of the underground location Erich visited, which had once been an area of subway tunnels. Naturally, both had monsters aplenty, on foot and flying. They often came at him from nooks, crannies and side angles, which meant he had to watch his flanks as he moved and led to instances of being caught unaware that definitely enhanced the overall action feel.

That doesn't mean the first-person title will be uni-dimensional. Although the demo showcased combat, Schaefer noted that the team is very cognizant of the need to incorporate a strong RPG layer with a solid story, character development and quest systems et al. Players who enjoy collecting items will be pleased to know that there's a random loot generation scheme designed to provide vast scope for character customization. An interesting aspect is the ability to modify weapons so they do additional damage, which can be of different types. The pistol I saw had one such slot, but I thought I heard other arms can have more. As for your avatar, you'll be able to choose among "several" classes, although no specific number was stated.

As you can tell from the screenshots below, Hellgate's graphics are undeniably of high quality. Not surprisingly, the game looked even better in action, and considering it isn't likely to ship until at least late 2006, it appeared to run very smoothly. Also of note, one of the key features is random map generation. This might cause you to wonder how they will look and how varied they will be. I can't speak to the latter based on what I saw, but neither locale shown during my meeting gave any obvious indication it hadn't been crafted by hand. In terms of specific visual elements, there was a cool selection of monsters to fight, and some eye-catching weapon effects.

Hellgate: London didn't disappoint, and may well have exceeded my pre-show expectations. While it didn't look like a title that will revolutionize the industry, there's plenty of room in the industry for games to thrive and even to become monstrous hits based on being evolutionary, exceptionally crafted, highly polished or all three. Flagship's project just might be one that will do so.

If you have a new link or news that you want posted... or you are having problems with one, please post.

Post your opinions, people.

Xandax · #2 (**permalink**) 10-02-2005, 12:55 AM

The more I read and view of this game, the more I'm sure it is simply a FPS game which have adopted some RPG elements.... it does certanily not look to be a RGP regardless of what they say. But then again - thanks to for instance Diablo, which also was called a RPG

by Blizzard, so no doubt this would be as well, but it looks to be nothing more then running around and shooting. Fast paced hack n' slash I think it said in one of the E3 articles - is just FPS.

I didn't even see the guy reload his weapon in the gameplay movie.

*sigh* another potential seemingly destroyed by the lust for graphics and action.

I guess we'll see when it is released, but my hopes are low. Just another nail in the RPG coffin for me.

Hill-Shatar · #3 (**permalink**) 10-02-2005, 11:23 AM

Quote:

The more I read and view of this game, the more I'm sure it is simply a FPS game which have adopted some RPG elements.... it does certanily not look to be a RGP regardless of what they say. But then again - thanks to for instance Diablo, which also was called a RPG by Blizzard, so no doubt this would be as well, but it looks to be nothing more then running around and shooting. Fast paced hack n' slash I think it said in one of the E3 articles - is just FPS.

I have actually read in other forums, that people ar calling this Diablo 3.

Im going to have to agree with you. Apparently what makes it different, is that instead of having weapons that only work at certain ranges, eg. Sniper Vs M16, it has weapons that have different effects. Spraying the ground with sticky cubstances, diffeeent effects such as poisioning and electroctuion, things like that. Also, it has an item system. FPS item system is based around weapons and add ons, things like that.

In this game, or so I have read, there are a variety of different non combat related items. Also, there are different scenerios, admittedly from both Action RPGs and FPS, that are based around protection some people, finding someting that will help with the deployment of the Syberis, stuff like that.

I think that when they gave us the first person view, it made most people, including myself, yell FPS. It did not help when the major scenes were action flicks. But in KotOR, which was an RPG, the game also had action sequences, things like that, just not in as close of views as an FPS.

What RPG elements they have make it an Action RPG... actually, this forum may be better placed in the Action RPG section. If not for first person and hand directed fire, it would most likely fit the bill. As it stands, the difference bewteen RPGs and Action RPGs is expanding. The major difference is you control how your character does damage. It adds on some Hack and Slash elements.

So this is not actually an RPG, by the conventional sense. It is an Action RPG. Which is a totally different genre of games, IMO.

Quote:

*sigh* another potential seemingly destroyed by the lust for graphics and action.

I think I am going to have to agree with you here. The one thing that made me optimistic about this game was when the CEO said that they are not going to try and release it early. They will finish it when the sort out all the levels, bugs, and werrors that they made. They want it to be a finsihed product instead of an unfinished product.

Finally.

Xandax · #4 (**permalink**) 10-02-2005, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hill1

<snip>
I think I am going to have to agree with you here. The one thing that made me optimistic about this game was when the CEO said that they are not going to try and release it early. They will finish it when the sort out all the levels, bugs, and werrors that they made. They want it to be a finsihed product instead of an unfinished product.

Finally.

Every developer and publisher says that and it rarely holds water.
I think the only game I've followed/am following where it indeed seems to hold true so far, is the english version of "The Fall".
Otherwise - that is just another thing said like superiour AI and deep gameplay and other such empty phrases which are used to hype games.

Hill-Shatar · #5 (**permalink**) 10-02-2005, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Otherwise - that is just another thing said like superiour AI and deep gameplay and other such empty phrases which are used to hype games.

I actually havent listened to that phrase in ten years. Anyways, the game isnt due to be released until at least the end of next year. Still longer than some other games I know, such as KotOR, which released its sequel about a year after the go ahead.

The later the release, the better, typically. It gives them more time to get things done so that we dont have to rely on patches to make the game worthwhile.

I follow most of the RPGs that are around... just some more than others. At the moment I can truthfully say I am not really following any.

Your probably right about it not holding water, still, they have chosen not to release it for at least another year and a little, not including the work they have already done on the game. Even though I am not really keeping a vigilant eye on the subject, it appears to be doing better than other games that are about to be released.

The above was a demo. I hope that the actual game is a little bit better than the demo was.

Hill-Shatar · #6 (**permalink**) 10-06-2005, 09:36 PM

Some extra news to be placed.

-3 new female Templar screenshots avaialable.
-The female and male templar featured in the movie will both be available for play.

Update today.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/hellg...35649&mode=top

And another preview added from Worthplaying, above. thanks, once again, to Buck and Gamebanshee news, who will always beat me.

Hill-Shatar · #7 (**permalink**) 10-14-2005, 05:05 PM

Well, this news definitely deserves its own post.

Gamebanshee has dedicated a sub-site for Hellgate:London! The pages are here.

A good sign for the game! Thank you buck and assosiates.

Well, a small edit, but I am going to put direct links to the interview conducted by GB about Hellgate: London. It has some pretty good information available, so perhaps you should all take a look.

As of the beginning of november, two Hellgate: London Gamebanshee News features added.

Hill-Shatar · #8 (**permalink**) 01-18-2006, 11:02 PM

Hey all, while going through some of the older links, I found that one of the sites had indeed been updated.

Actiontrip has, somehow, gotten a hold on a release date, although I pretty much believe that this one is an estimate. Link.

It has the date as May 01, 06, but we'll see.

Reaper XIII · #9 (**permalink**) 04-10-2006, 05:59 PM

Recent-ish news for Hellgate London.
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The Cabalist was announced as the latest class to join the Templar, more information and screenshots in a press release that will come out 11/04/2006.

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Hellgate set to use Havok and Nvidia's new Havok FX technology.

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Flagship's Podcasts can be found here.

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Couple of Wallpapers

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Also if it's ok with the mods I can post the latest Hellgate news here as I get it.

Hill-Shatar · #10 (**permalink**) 04-10-2006, 06:53 PM

Go right ahead. As I said on the other thread, I'm a bit busy trying to get all caught up, but if you find some news to compliment GB's sub site, go right ahead.

Hill-Shatar · #11 (**permalink**) 04-10-2006, 06:56 PM

The official website has also had some articles on identical topics put up above, if interested, go and check it out here!

-----

The guys at Hooked Gamers have put together a two-page preview of Flagship Studios' upcoming action RPG, Hellgate: London. A bit of what they had to say about the game:

So far, the only multiplayer mode that is certain to make an appearance in the game is co-op. You can team up with your friends and go demon slaying together in the same fashion as Diablo. The game adjusts itself based on the size and level of your party, offering a fitting challenge every time you start a new game. Other multiplayer modes are being considered but nothing is definite yet.

Chances are that none of your fellow adventurers will have weapons and armor quite like yours. Weapons can be modified with all kinds of items to enhance or alter their effectiveness. Some modifications will increase the power, others will add another 'type' of damage so that you can affect a wider range of enemies. The cool thing about these mods is that they will not only change the way the weapons work, they will change the way they look, and even produce different effects. Picture adding a spectral damage mod to an electrical damage weapon and suddenly it pumps out a two colored ray instead of its original one colored one.

GameBanshee News.

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1Up has posted a two-page Q&A with Flagship Studios chief visionary officer Dave Brevik and art director Phil Shenk about their diabolic action RPG, Hellgate: London. Here's a quick teaser:

Q: I think there are a lot of people who are really interested in understanding how the process of making a game works. From your perspective, can you give us a little walkthrough...for this game in particular, take it back to when you first started working on Hellgate. You left Blizzard, you guys were all sort of working out of...was it Bill's apartment or something?

A: It was Tyler [Thompson]'s house, and luckily his wife was in grad school so she was gone most of the day. The artists were in the basement, and the programmers were in the kitchen, and Ken [Williams] and Bill [Roper] were kind of around the dining room table, and those were good times. There was mariachi music playing next door and it was hot in the middle of the summer, but it was fun. Even at the time, we were saying we were going to look back and say, "These were our garage years and we're going to be able to wear that as a badge of honor and say how proud it was to work back then." But back then, the idea we had basically was we wanted a first-person shooter with RPG elements, basically Diablo from a first-person perspective -- or, that changed into a sort of third-person over the [shoulder] perspective -- but we wanted to bring the camera in and get that close-up feel, but have the random levels and the random items and the character advancement and all that stuff that we did in Diablo.

We started basically with a pretty simple premise. We did make a thick design doc, but we don't hold to that very rigorously. It's sort of like, "Here are some ideas," and we go off and make a game and it evolves organically.

GameBanshee News.