City of Heroes

[mumpz]

Never played this. Would it be fun for a first time around? Or is nostalgia the driving force here?

[loramin]

Originally Posted by mumpz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Never played this. Would it be fun for a first time around? Or is nostalgia the driving force here?

I haven't replayed it, but I played it back in the day and I'd say the game definitely has merit on its own. It's basically EverQuest with comic book heroes/villains. If that concept appeals to you, you'll almost certainly enjoy it.

But if a comic book MMOG doesn't sound fun, I wouldn't bother with it. Gameplay itself is relatively standard MMOG stuff: it's nothing super revolutionary or different.

[DinoTriz2]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Gameplay itself is relatively standard MMOG stuff: it's nothing super revolutionary or different.

Mostly true, but CoH was the only game where you could throw a car at a mob with your mind (at least to my knowledge)

[loramin]

Originally Posted by DinoTriz2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Mostly true, but CoH was the only game where you could throw a car at a mob with your mind (at least to my knowledge)

Oh totally. I just meant that what you could do (eg. throwing cars) was what made it a fun game and differentiated it, not how you did it.

The fun didn't come from any truly revolutionary gameplay changes or anything; you still have hotbars with actions and you press keys to trigger those actions (eg. throwing a car), in the same fashion as most other MMOGs. IIRC you also have a life bar and something like a mana bar, you run around beating up on lower-level mobs, and all that.

Maybe being able to manipulate the environment was slightly revolutionary, but it's not like I've ever heard anyone say "CoH is so cool because you can interact with the environment". What makes it cool is that you can use (mostly) standard MMOG mechanics to do stuff in a completely different setting (comic book world) that you can't do in other MMOGs ... like throw cars [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Just don't expect a 2018 Spider Man video game UI or anything is all.

[DinoTriz2]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Oh totally. I just meant that that stuff (eg. throwing cars) was what made it a fun game and differentiated it.

The fun didn't come from any truly revolutionary gameplay changes or anything; you still have hotbars with actions and you press keys to trigger those actions (eg. throwing a car), in the same fashion as most other MMOGs. Maybe being able to manipulate the environment was slightly revolutionary, but it's not like I've ever heard anyone say "CoH is so cool because you can interact with the environment. What makes it cool is that you can use (mostly) standard MMOG mechanics to do stuff that you can't do in other MMOGs ... like throw cars [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

True.

Another thing that I've noticed is how they add items to the environment by adding them to the character models.

Again, nothing revolutionary, but I don't see it used often.

For example, if you look at a mob who hasn't been engaged yet they'll be sitting on a knocked-over refrigerator or something. Granted the item disappears when you attack the mob, but still.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by DinoTriz2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

For example, if you look at a mob who hasn't been engaged yet they'll be sitting on a knocked-over refrigerator or something. Granted the item disappears when you attack the mob, but still.

Originally Posted by Jauna [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Gravity Control has you chucking random things at people. Not always a car.

I forgot about that stuff!

But now that you mention it, I do remember loving all the little details of that game. It's just so obvious how much the people who made it truly loved their work; you can just feel it in the game.

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The fun didn't come from any truly revolutionary gameplay changes or anything

I disagree. I think the way CoH managed to:

1) keep class roles (tank, dps, heal, buff, debuff) a thing,
2) allow enormous customization within your class role, and
3) make whatever combination of classes your group cobbled together feel amazing when everyone was competent,

combined to make for really fantastic gameplay. Add in the way the absolutely huge number of potential builds (which were really hard to make BAD even if not all of them were top notch) contributed to replayability via alts, and the sidekick/exemplar system, and an "achievement" system well-adapted to a hero game and with more to it than bragging rights and I think it was really was a genuinely revolutionary game.


Fundamentals like tab targetting and ability hotkeys and party UI green healthbars and stuff didn't change. And "boss" battles in CoH (at least to my knowledge) are actually pretty lame. But all the other stuff delivered a game that was about having fun making new stuff, leveling them up ("the journey"), seeing how many cool ways you could beat up bad guys with different assortments of heros in your team, all with a faster-paced play than other MMOs at the time? It was wonderful.

[DinoTriz2]

Originally Posted by mumpz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Never played this. Would it be fun for a first time around? Or is nostalgia the driving force here?

Yes, it aged well. Definitely worth a try.

I'd say the only thing that irks me is that the UI windows have tiny exit icons.

But it's very similar to DC Universe Online if you've ever played that.

Granted, it's MUCH better than DCUO, but the style is similar.