Mytheon Preview

G4 continues their GDC coverage by publishing a hands-on preview of Petroglyph's Mytheon, the massively multiplayer strategy/RPG that's currently scheduled for a summer release. This one seemed like it was going in the right direction, but the absence of skills seems like a deal-breaker to me:
Mytheon is steeped heavily in mythology, the first of which includes Greek myths and legends, but with expansions to follow around Egyptian and Asian lore. Like Diablo, players create a character of different classes: the tank Warcaster who can control many different types of creatures, the wizard-like Elementalist who wields more elemental magic-based attacks, and the supporting Eidolon, which acts as a priest, healing and resurrecting players. These classes start with power stones, which act as the various powers players can wield in game and as the game is purely point and click, it's quite simple: Click the Fireball power stone, and you'll shoot a Fireball, or the Cyclops power stone and you'll summon a controllable Cyclops unit. Ah, there's my RTS. While the creatures you summon will act on auto-pilot, they can be controlled to scout, flank and attack the roaming baddies on the map by selecting them and clicking a target. It's all very simple; maybe too simple for fans of Petroglyph's deeper RTS titles, but for a fan of strategy-lite, it might just be enough.

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Absent from the game at launch will be any type of skill tree, but the goal is to integrate that type of character customization down the road. Levels instead affect general stats such as health and mana, and make your power stones more powerful, making your 20th level Minotaur a much more lethal version than the 10th level Minotaur. The lack of customizable skills is an oversight that seems major for any RPG fan, but right now the company is on track to deliver the game in the summer so it is something being looked at afterwards.