Quick Look: The Secret World

This looked cool at PAX East.

You shall not pass!

Been waiting for this one!

mmo

Made by norwegians, it has to be good right?

Meh

@idoublespy: Man. Beat by mere moments!

Even if I agree with some of the points Jeff makes about this game, I really love it.

EDIT: Jeff REALLY seems to have a problem with the fact that this game is not F2P :'O Just because I'm paying a monthly fee does not mean I should be playing the game 24/7.

Sup earlybirds?

Finally a Quick Look. probably gonna be lots of negativity, or maybe not. 
In the end I'm really enjoying the game. 

It's surprisingly good, the marketing isn't there to let people know that!

Yeah, yeah, Brad got them loosest lips all right.

I love the way Brad says yeah, when he says something and someone else turns into sounding a bit... wrong.

A friend is really pushing for us to play this. He absolutely loves it. Will be interesting to watch this to see the positives and negatives from Jeff's point of view.

Is it just me or are Jeff's character's pistols backwards?

@BBAlpert It's a cross draw set up, left draws right pistol, etc. I agree it looks silly though

The structure of the quests, and how they limit the number of different types you can take on is not to "slow you down". Each quest is in effect 3-6 typical MMO quests if you break them down. The quest structure is one of the things I love about the game, it vectors you around the world in an interesting way, notice how each major quest brings you to a new major quest giver and passes you by a series of smaller side quests. This setup also forces you to pay attention to the story of each quest. It quest is given it's own unique narrative arc and provides the player a sense of adventure. Where as loading up on all the quests in a hub then running out and chipping away at them in bulk is more of a bland and mindless approach. This game puts story telling well above things like "forced player grind".

In the screenshot they chose, Jeff's character looks exactly like Thomas from Deadly Premonition

This is the kind of game that makes me wish I played MMOs.

Also, Giant Bomb inception.

he looks just like harry potter

@gjedwards said:

he looks just like harry potter

that's what I thought immediately

The game has a lifetime sub! Jeff is losing money by not buying one!

A cool looking MMO... Wait, you have to buy this game? It costs 50 Euro? It has a monhly subscription?! Right, no thanks.

EDIT: And it has micro transactions?! What?

Man this game looks dope

I really want to get into an MMO and I thought this was gonna be it, but I want a F2P one (Am I the only one who got a F2P vibe from the pre-release stuff?). Gonna hang on for PSO2 because it looks nice.

@Morningstar said:

Made by norwegians, it has to be good right?

I think Funcom moved most of its development to Canada after Conan flopped, and I think they've also a studio in China for grunt work.

Fist Trees!

Wait, what?

Thanks god I kept watching this QL. I was ready to buy it from the first half, was even tempted to get that life time sub, but seeing the in game store on top of the monthly sub is a big no thank you. Micro transactions are ruining games, and I want no part of a game that uses them let alone double dips with a monthly sub on top of it. Will wait a year or two when it goes f2p and try it then. Such a shame. Looked fun.

Great atmosphere and setting, but the general gameplay and combat are a deal-breaker for me personally. I'll get Guild Wars 2 when it launches in August. I mean it doesn't have monthly fees and the combat looks tight and fun, so why the hell not.

@crusader8463: The in-game store is all cosmetic stuff, and it has less options than what you can buy within the game world itself. The RMTs are purely optional, just like WoW sells mounts and pets for real money. I really don't understand how totally optional RMTs that in no way make the game easier or give anyone an edge can be so loathed. Were it a "pay to win" situation I would be right there with you, but it is not.

*edited to calm someone's jangled nerves

I'll wait for Guild Wars 2.

I might consider giving this some time, at a later date of course.

I just have to say that yes Maine is part of New England.

AAAH Stop saying "micro transaction"! There's nothing micro about me spending my money. RMT or GTFO... .....

I'm genuinely curious to see how long it takes before this game goes f2p...

@Schnarf: Yeah, It's really weird how people hate RMT that much. I mean, in this game it's purely cosmetic and there already are a ton of clothes you can buy with the game currency, earn with achievements or as quest rewards. I do agree though that it is kind of a dick move to open the real money store immediately (they could have waited at least a week or two) but it's not like you HAVE TO buy something. Some people like having the option to buy more stuff with money, I'm perfectly fine with what I can buy with the game currency.

Kingsmouth (Maine, New England), fog, fish people, crazed local population and Brad goes: "That's totally Stephen King". Not, I don't know... Lovecraft?

No thanks. The combat looks dumb, the premise that this stuff is "secret" when its happening right in everybody's face is dumb, and in general the thing just seems pretentious.

Then again MMO's are just plain over for me.

I usually hate MMORPG's,but this actually looks pretty good.

@JamesJeux007: Exactly. I am enjoying the game so much, that I spent 5 bucks on the store as a way of saying "Thanks" and to show my support. Granted I am already doing that by purchasing the game and with the monthly fee that I will be paying eventually, but I like that I had the option.

So you buy the game, pay monthly (or lifetime) and buy in-game items. We need to add a new concept page: Triple-dipping.

Is it just me or does Jeff's character look a LOT like Thomas? It was bothering me trying to figure out why this guy looked so familiar.

This looks pretty cool, I've never played an MMO before though, so I don't really see this being my first.

@JamesJeux007: My issue with it is that it's a constant reminder that the game intends to go free-to-play as soon as they've sucked as much money as they can out of early adopters. Really if one of the three payments wasn't there, I doubt people would have as much of a problem with it.

"In a modern style MMO without thee's or thou's, how do you roleplay" You talk about chemtrails and 9/11 ofcourse

@JamesJeux007: @Schnarf: Because for me being able to make my guy look a certain way is just as important as powers and abilities. If I don't like the way he looks I can never get into playing as him or become attached. Just because you don't think so doesn't make it ok. Knowing that there is some item out there that would complete a look or idea that I have for a guy, and knowing that I have to pay an extra fee on top of what I'm already paying, is not acceptable to me. For what I enjoy about these type of games that is just as bad as locking away the end power in some skill tree behind a pay wall.

If there was some reasonable way of unlocking it in game that didn't require days of grinding for some special points then it would be ok, but having content locked behind a paywall is never ok with me and I have a personal rule of not playing games that do so. I think it's a terrible business practice and one that ruins my enjoyment of games. It always takes me out of the game the second I see a window pop up asking me if I want to buy some special points for only $10, $25 or $50 dollars! every time I go to look at something. So I refuse to support games that do it.

Does anybody else think this looks terrible, especially for an MMO?

I played the beta, loved the world and some of the quests, absolutely hated the combat. Doesn't seem like they did anything with the combat so it's really not worth the monthly fee for me. I'll wait until it goes F2P, which I have a feeling will be fairly soon.

@TwoLines: My thoughts exactly, i'll give it a try when it eventually goes f2p

The game looks fun. I like the web searching for certain quests because it falls in line with the initial marketing of the game. Some years back when they were first announcing the game they created a massive ARG for everyone to play and to find out more information. My friends got really into it and it caused us to explore lots of areas of NYC we never went to before, it was a lot of fun. We also did research on paintings and such, so it's nice to see that carry into the real game as well.

I do not, however, like micro transactions in addition to pay subscriptions. I am totally fine with one or the other, not both.

The game seems interesting & liking the setting though every time Jeff mentions the Illuminati I keep thinking of the Illuminati Card game (fun & recommended though I'd love the INWO trading card version of it to show up on PC/XBLA/PSN instead of just Magic the Gathering). Still surprised that there's just about no marketing around launch about this game.