IGN has an article up looking at Mythos. They go into a lot of detail about the game’s features and some upcoming things for the game. There is also a whole bunch of videos to go with the article on their website.
The game itself fuses elements of Diablo and Fate (an action-RPG released in 2005) and will feel familiar to anyone who experienced Iron Lore’s Titan Quest. In case you haven’t been following along, Flagship Studios was responsible for last year’s much-hyped Hellgate: London, an action-RPG dungeon crawler title that met with mixed reactions from the gaming community and media after a wonky launch and, in general, didn’t quite live up to the expectations of fans waiting for the “next big thing” from a studio founded by ex-Blizzard North executives (responsible for the previous Diablo games).
Will more classes eventually be included in the game? Schaefer says yes, but “we are not at liberty to discuss what they are yet, but it’s a safe bet that some will specialize in some of the weapon types that currently exist but don’t have a class that is optimal for them.”
Once players hit the level 50 cap, there’ll be special end-game content to act as an incentive to keep playing. According to Schaefer, Flaship will be adding, “things like a retirement/legacy system so new characters get a benefit of old retired characters…very specific rare collectibles and set-items to find, some requiring groups…rankings,…ladders, and that sort of thing.”
The game is currently in a closed beta phase and should move to open beta within a few weeks. As for a hard release date, here’s what Schaefer had to say: “We refer to [it as] our ‘commercialization’ date, which is when we turn the money on. Right now we’re aiming towards early fall, but will make the final decision when the game is ready. Development will continue as long as people keep playing, however.”
Head over to IGN to check out the rest of the article and the videos.
The 1Up Show reported on yesterday is actually a video show, and there is a video to go along with it. The official Mythos website has a small preview of it, but I also watched it and my notes that summarise the whole video follow.
The guys from 1up.com took a trip to Flagship Studios to meet with Mythos’ Executive Producer Max Schaefer. Interview covers some brief history of the game and some good old Q&A. Check it out!
Notes:
- Origins of Mythos - Originated from Hellgate. Was done to try out the new technology in a free game with same structure, but was easy to make
- Got Travis Baldree to help out on it as a one man project
- Realised shortly after that the game was fun and good enough to turn into a real project
- Easy to jump straight into for many gamers
- Many people say it’s just diablo II - but the new asthetic makes it a lot more social, many social features, lighter tones
- Marketplace, Guilds, PVP modes, Emails, Group areas
- New model of PC gaming
- Speculative things, new ways about doing work - No publisher, can set own schedule. New busoness model, going to commercialise it this year, means they are going to turn on money gains - for Mythos this means item shopping, but it won’t be for best items, but more things that help you do things faster, it’s a lot more of an Asian model, but FSS is going about it in a way that means that free play will not be gimped over the pay mode
- Game has both dark dungeons, as well as more “pretty areas” outside
- Comfortable tone of the game, people send an average of 2.5 hrs per gaming session based on data from beta
- Item system is per individual, you see your own items, based on what people wanted to see and didn’t like in other MMOs
- Social setting of being able to show off to friends - lifts the fun
- Mythos seems to fit the market a lot better than Hellgate seems to, the sort of model used for Mythos makes it easier - take expertise and technology of the big games like Hellgate and then add them to the more casual games like Mythos - fairly accessible to people and more variety of titles - makes sense for developers, publishers and gamers (Triple A Casual space)
- The three different classes are all fun
- Game using a proven formula, hard to not like it (Free, fun, accessible, great art)
The weekly 1UP internet radio/chat show has been broadcast again this Friday, and one of the topics discussed was Mythos.
Shawn, Anthony, and Jay Frechette discussing their experiences in the new MMO Mythos, including an impromptu chat with Flagship Studios lead producer Max Schaefer.
While I don’t have the time to download it and find out what they talk about, if any of you guys do let us know if it’s of any use. Thanks.
The download links for the show are on the website.
The official Mythos website has been updated with news of a new build coming later tonight.
Mythos will be coming down tonight at 5:30pm PDT (GMT-7) for about 2 hours. Included in the patch will be various PvP and Crafting fixes that a lot of people have been waiting for.
We are proud to announce the launch of the Mythos Calculator.
The Mythos Calculator is packed with all the skills available in the latest build of Mythos (Zone 3). You can even save your personalized build and share it with friends through our calculator’s dynamic linking feature!
Thanks to Matt Hall, Vincent Viau and Tim Fevens for all your diligence and hard work in making this possible.
Mythos Guru was founded early in 2007 as the first fansite and forum ever dedicated to Flagship Studios' online game, Mythos. It caters to an international base of players and guilds. Following in the footsteps of its predecessor Hellgate Guru, Mythos Guru shares a proud tradition of sponsoring and organizing community backed projects and events, and a powerful skill calculator. More
