Author Topic: A COH reboot hypothetical.  (Read 6623 times)

impiousimp

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A COH reboot hypothetical.
« on: August 30, 2014, 11:40:35 PM »
My initial excitement from thursday and yesterday has faded, but I'm now cautiously optimistic of the possibility of the game being brought back.

But my main concern is the fact that the character models, overall, are severely dated.  I think everyone would agree on that point.   I think they look better and worse than what Champions has to offer but overall, Champions does have the superior character costume options over all. 

So in the end I think the character models would have to be remeshed/textured at the very least if to compete in today's market.

That's just my two cents.

Kistulot

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2014, 12:03:14 AM »
Personally I prefer the look of CoH so much that the graphical fidelity is less of a concern. I flew around in Milennium hoping to scratch the itch (because flying in Icon is fun, but feels SO lonely) and I couldn't escape how fake the buildings look, and how plasticy all of the characters feel.

While another Ultra upgrade wouldn't be bad, I don't really feel the game NEEDs it. It's old. It shows. But the gameplay is unique. There is no game quite like CoH. It'll never have the fanbase of WoW, and that's fine. But it had a loyal fanbase, and a bunch of people who every time they hear about it bemoan they never knew it was still around  until the shutdown notice hit.

I firmly believe it can succeed, that is maintain itself and help development on CoH2, without any graphical improvements.

But we need to get it going, first before we worry about that.
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Baja

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2014, 01:03:05 AM »
In my opinion gfx upgrades are not even on the top 100 of things CoX needs. If I wanted fancy texturing etc I'd play skyrim, not trying to be rude but to put it bluntly that's the truth. I mean Minecraft does amazingly well and look at the character models for that game, obviously a terrible comparison but the point I'm trying to make is sometimes looks aren't everything. This, once again, is just my opinion though, to say gfx aren't a huge staple in the average gamers wants would be a lie.

I think if CoX is released, CoH2 would be the place to look for major graphical improvements. I'd imagine unreal 4 would be a contender for the engine. Where as the engine behind the coh world we know is extremely limited by today's standards. I watched an interview with the fella who handled the sound design for going rogue and he said he couldn't believe how archaic the systems in place were and that the things they achieved with said system were miracles. Now all that being said, the sound design in CoX wasn't exactly the greatest :P so you could imagine how they were trying to make apple pie out of a chunk of cement and a bag of sugar ;).

impiousimp

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2014, 01:38:45 AM »
Okay, fair points both of you.  But I probably went with the graphics first as I am visually oriented.  It could probably use a general overhaul with everything, as long as they maintain the general look of everything because the world is very unique.

But what's broken shoud pprobably be fixed.

Codewalker

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2014, 01:46:50 AM »
Plus you'd immediately alienate all of the veterans super attached to how their character looks, and given that COH's strength is all the long-time players who will subscribe forever, you probably don't want to irritate them too much.

Just look at how many complaints Paragon got when they added real-time reflections to the Metallic costume parts with Ultra Mode, and it made the colors no longer match. A complete model replacement would be 10 times worse, at least.

impiousimp

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #5 on: August 31, 2014, 03:02:57 AM »
I'm talking about metallic nonsense although I wouldn't object to having the option.

I'm talking more about updating the textures to smooth everything out a little bit.  And fingers?  The feet could be fixed too.  I always thought they looked funny.

Ankhammon

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #6 on: August 31, 2014, 03:15:28 AM »
it seems to me that if the game came back it would be as much for CoH2 development as anything else. It seems logical (I have zero information) to me anyway.

We all know that CoH fit into a completely unique and quite in depth play style that should be able to be enhanced by a new graphic overhaul. It would create a newer game that would be in place to put lots of pressure on the already existing superhero games that are out there.

Personally, I think that's where your best bet for a graphical overhaul is.
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Kistulot

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #7 on: August 31, 2014, 03:25:34 AM »
I remember CoH2 being discussed a lot. What would you want from it, what would you expect from it, how could it measure up to all of those costume pieces, people wouldn't stop CoH1 so what would you do about its place in time, etc etc...

These are questions I am not jealous of a dev having to suss out.

I can definitely say that the combat being both fun, never feeling like it takes too long, but still allowing you to RP during even the hardest of content is what makes it for me. If CO was fun, I could deal with it not having the costume options I want. Supers get new costumes all the time. I don't know how many pieces were missing for Sue Storm's 90's costume to come out, but some costume changes can end up redefining a character.

CoH issue 0 and issue 24 are so insanely different - so much was learned. That is one thing we can definitely give them, there was a long time to learn a great many things, and THeM, MWM, Valiance, etc, are definitely at an advantage Cryptic wasn't when CoH first launched :)
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impiousimp

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2014, 03:54:59 AM »
Who is MWM and Valiance?

Personally?  I don't suppose anyone would complain ff there were texture options as in CO.

I would probably just improve on what is already there and then add additional features.

HEATSTROKE

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #9 on: August 31, 2014, 05:10:17 AM »
I dont play a game because its shiny.. I play it because its good..

Shifter

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2014, 05:36:47 AM »
But my main concern is the fact that the character models, overall, are severely dated.  I think everyone would agree on that point...
...So in the end I think the character models would have to be remeshed/textured at the very least if to compete in today's market.

If CoH had more graphics upgrades, I would likely just disable them to be honest. I prefer it quick and lean, but I do understand the point you are going for here, getting new people into the game as well. I don't think a graphics revamp would make much of a difference though to be honest. Enjoying the game is more important than graphics. Minecraft comes to mind as an example of this. It was released within a year of the shutdown, has laughable graphics by today's standards, and yet is one of the top 10 best selling games of all time.
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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #12 on: August 31, 2014, 12:13:55 PM »
The only graphics update I would really be interested in seeing would be independently mobile fingers. Otherwise, I frankly loved the game as it was. Were there times where I though "hey this game could use a bit of a graphics update?" Shoor. But it never really bugged me; if it were to come back right now with no changes at all, it still wouldn't bug me.

I also just remembered that today marks 2 years since the shut down was announced. And I still miss this game. I had a dream about it the other night.
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Lava-Lad

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #13 on: August 31, 2014, 04:55:03 PM »
I couldn't are less for a graphical update!  I'd be fine with CoH in maintain acne mode while a 2 is worked on.  I just want to get back to playing and teaming!

Blackout

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #14 on: August 31, 2014, 05:01:20 PM »
Whilst I'm open to the possibility of being given a few more options for customization I don't think that City of Heroes needs any kind of graphical update, I've always felt it had a timeless and somewhat mature visual style. One that you didn't get with Champions (way too cartoony and the cellshading could have used some work) or with DCUO (Unusual proportions on the characters that clash a bit with the rest of its art style).

I can understand why some people would like changes in terms of city of heroes visuals though, however i feel any kind of radical changes should be left to a future project like CoH 2 rather than changing the game that we've all been clamoring to get back unchanged. Sorry if I've been a bit all over the place with this, just thought I'd share my thoughts. :)

LadyVamp

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #15 on: August 31, 2014, 11:09:55 PM »
one of the things that made coh so great was the 60s era comic book look.  nothing super fancy.  I would prefer, if they did bring coh back, to return to the comic book look.  fix the broken stuff of course but don't make it too fancy or even real life feeling.
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erich

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #16 on: September 01, 2014, 05:03:06 PM »
one of the things that made coh so great was the 60s era comic book look.  nothing super fancy.  I would prefer, if they did bring coh back, to return to the comic book look.  fix the broken stuff of course but don't make it too fancy or even real life feeling.

One of the things that made COH great, was the community. The ability to play with people. Other MMO's seem to lack that. Champions Online, for example, a player never needs to join up in a group to level. They can do those "Alerts" and get to the cap level with literally no help from another player. It's the loneliest mmo I've ever played. But worse than Champions was the much hyped ESO.....*barf* <---wish that was an emote!
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LadyVamp

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #17 on: September 01, 2014, 05:49:37 PM »
One of the things that made COH great, was the community. The ability to play with people. Other MMO's seem to lack that. Champions Online, for example, a player never needs to join up in a group to level. They can do those "Alerts" and get to the cap level with literally no help from another player. It's the loneliest mmo I've ever played. But worse than Champions was the much hyped ESO.....*barf* <---wish that was an emote!

My usual harp is the community (or the lack of it in pretty much all the other mmos I've tried), but felt given the prior posts about the graphics I would put my 2 cents there.  There are many aspects of coh that made it great.  The feel of the game itself, the comic looks, the sound effects, the zones with the appropriate names like kings row having that run down feeling, etc.

The one element that I think ncsoft never truly understood is the community that grew up around it.  No other mmo I've played even comes close.  The others seem to be based around the idea that solo'ing is what everyone wants.  If I want to solo, I'd save my money and buy a single player game.  The hell with subscription fees.  To date, I still don't believe anyone who's produced an MMO gets that concept.

OK, game publishers.  You want the info on what will make your game #1 with the paying customers (aka where the money is)?  Well here's the secret.  Make a game that encourages people to want to team up.  Want to work together.  Want to form cohesive groups.  And doesn't look like another fantasy knock off.  The hell with fantasy.  I want comic book heroism.  Are you listening NCSoft?  EA?  SOE?  Blizzard?  You boys want to win with us?  There's the secret.  NCSoft?  You had the formula.  You shot it in the head.  The others don't have it...yet.  Maybe they'll figure it out.   Maybe they'll read my damned post and a light bulb will light up in their heads.  But you had it, and you lost when you killed it.  You threw it into the garbage can (/dev/null) and all of us right along with it.

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erich

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #18 on: September 01, 2014, 05:56:41 PM »
My usual harp is the community (or the lack of it in pretty much all the other mmos I've tried), but felt given the prior posts about the graphics I would put my 2 cents there.  There are many aspects of coh that made it great.  The feel of the game itself, the comic looks, the sound effects, the zones with the appropriate names like kings row having that run down feeling, etc.

The one element that I think ncsoft never truly understood is the community that grew up around it.  No other mmo I've played even comes close.  The others seem to be based around the idea that solo'ing is what everyone wants.  If I want to solo, I'd save my money and buy a single player game.  The hell with subscription fees.  To date, I still don't believe anyone who's produced an MMO gets that concept.

OK, game publishers.  You want the info on what will make your game #1 with the paying customers (aka where the money is)?  Well here's the secret.  Make a game that encourages people to want to team up.  Want to work together.  Want to form cohesive groups.  And doesn't look like another fantasy knock off.  The hell with fantasy.  I want comic book heroism.  Are you listening NCSoft?  EA?  SOE?  Blizzard?  You boys want to win with us?  There's the secret.  NCSoft?  You had the formula.  You shot it in the head.  The others don't have it...yet.  Maybe they'll figure it out.   Maybe they'll read my damned post and a light bulb will light up in their heads.  But you had it, and you lost when you killed it.  You threw it into the garbage can (/dev/null) and all of us right along with it.

Well put. I've been playing alpha of the game ArcheAge and while I think the game has massive potential (aka Star Wars Galaxies feel to it) it's going to fall short due to the labor restrictions put in place. It does have a more collaborative feeling to it. I see more people spamming in chat to team up to do dungeons than other MMO's, but just doesn't feel the same.

Two MMO games I can't find anything like - 1) Star Wars Galaxies   2.) City of Heroes
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MaidMercury

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Re: A COH reboot hypothetical.
« Reply #19 on: September 06, 2014, 07:08:10 PM »
I suppose improved graphics is a factor. As long as the images are still original Paragon design, I can live with it.
I do like the samples shown here.

Sometimes comicbook to TV transition provides the reverse effect and the characters look goofy in real life.
It's a risk....all depends on the CGI team.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2014, 04:58:55 PM by MaidMercury »