Gold, Silver or Modern?

[p]One aspect that has become increasingly blurred through the announcement of archetypes and personnel changes is talk about the ‘feel’ of CoH. There seem to be different opinions from the dev staff and it looks like it has changed as things have progressed.

[p]What do I mean by ‘feel’? I’m referring to the underlying atmosphere of CoH; of how the heroes are expected to behave. You know, the zeitgeist (spirit of the times) that exists within Paragon City. Are we meant to be heroes of the Golden Age, Silver Age or the Modern Age?

[p]If you look at the early history and materials that surround CoH, it really looks like it is designed to exist within the Modern Age. There’s drugs, racism, sacrifice and lots and lots of death. The villain groups are fairly contempory (ignoring the decades-old Nazi philosophy stink on the Fifth Column) and well separated in bad-guy areas of operation. Things are fairly dark, despite the bright look of Paragon City from the screenshots. Heroes in this world die and can be vilified for even the noblest act. Most telling of all, it appears that citizens and organised government don’t fully trust heroes – a sure sign of Modern Age comics being reflected in CoH.

[p]But there have been some discrepencies. Although I can see the business sense in aiming for an E-rating, in theory some of the darker aspects of CoH will have to be contained if this is the goal (and it is noted that Statesman isn’t expecting to receive that rating). Recent times have seen less information about main villain groups released (Rikti excluded), instead focussing on small gangs (eg the Skulls) that commit minor crimes instead of world-shaking villainry. For me, it looks like CoH is moving away from some of the darkness that permeated the early CoH and more towards a game that has some of that Silver Age luster.

[p]From my viewpoint, it looks like CoH has a feel that spans the gap between the Silver Age of comics, with the associated rules of the genre at that point in time, with the darker Modern Age. I’m not sure how well those two Ages will mesh, if at all.

[p]This perception may be wrong; realistically until players get into the world and start talking to contacts we just won’t know how CoH is going to ‘feel’. Perhaps it won’t matter anyway, given that players will often ignore the official lore laid out in a mmog and just create their own. For many players this will mean reflecting their superhero comic reading experiences / attitudes (95% shaped by DC and / or Marvel comics) onto CoH and complaining about or ignoring the things that don’t fit with that mindset. But it is an issue.

[p]Why? From a personal perspective, I hate the Silver Age. I respect it for what it created the foundations for, but I find it slow and generic and just not interesting to read. A world based on Silver Age attitudes would not be interesting or involving for me to play in (hypocrisy noted – I enjoyed Freedom Force, but thought that managed to avoid the worst of the Silver Age). I’m probably not alone. Now, I certainly don’t expect CoH to rely completely on the Silver Age to dictate the play style, but it does share some genre aspects with it. For example, Statesman is a very Silver Age-character, as are some of the existing hero groups we’ve been told about. It will be interesting to see how well they fit with the Modern Age of hero that most players are familiar with. I certainly doubt that many players will be sticking to Golden or Silver Age ideals when developing their character(s); they are more likely to create a Wolverine clone in attitude if not also in appearance.

[p]This will be a non-issue in time. As soon as the players hit the CoH world, they will start to carve out how the heroes behave in Paragon City. What I won’t enjoying seeing is that behaviour clashing with how the story has been told thus far for CoH.

[p]Wednesday’s update revealed some important information about some key gameplay features for CoH – Inspirations and Enhancements. It’s always good to get an update that tells us about how the game works; it gives us something else to complain about / imagine / discuss / vicariously live through.

[p]For those who haven’t looked at the front page of CoH, go and have a look (but thanks for stopping by here first and be sure to come back). Enhancements were once called Specialisations and it is easy to see behind the name change. ‘Enhancement’ is a solid active term that implies progress, while ‘Specialisation’ is a bit weaker in scope and actually implies a limitation despite improvement. But this is a small change.

[p]Inspirations (giving temporary benefits when applied) and Enhancements (giving permanent benefits when applied) form the basis of CoH’s item system as we know it. Both can be traded which makes it a little bit odd if you take the concepts literally (eg Batman: “I’ve got a death of sidekick for trade… will get you out of a tight spot guaranteed!”) but from a gameplay perspective it makes sense. It has been indicated that certain Inspirations are more likely to be recieved depending on origin which could promote more trading or the development of groups with multiple origins to balance out Inspiration needs. Enhancements will be randomly dropped by mobs (which does raise questions about kill stealing (ks) and ninja looting) and can also be bought from Contacts. Although Statesman has said that you can play without using either Inspirations or Enhancements, it will be a rare hero that does, especially in later levels as their bonuses from advancing decrease – why would you ignore the advantages they could give you?

[p]Again, it will require time in Paragon City to determine how well these systems work. I hope that Inspirations are fairly common while Enhancements are uncommon or even rare. This meets the superhero comic convention of characters often reaching inside themselves to overcome their enemies but not upgrading themselves every week, while still being valid for gameplay. Enhancements certainly shouldn’t take the place of uber-loot that can be camped; it would be terrible to see Shadowbane-style rune camping, with every guild / team camping for the Commander rune (or CoH equivalent).

[p]One issue does pique my interest – will it be possible to use Enhancements to reduce the weaknesses of Archetypes? Could a Blaster gain access to Enhancements that will allow them to overcome their low hitpoints? While this would allow customisation of heroes, it could potentially swing things back to the uber-character problem that led to the introduction of Archetypes. This wouldn’t be possible for all origins (a Scrapper would never be able to gain access to ranged attacks, for instance) but the possibility exists for some exploitation that needs to be kept in check.

[p]The last couple of comics I’ve looked at have been new releases that should be easy to find at your local comic store. This series could require a bit of searching…

[p]1963 was an early Image miniseries written by Alan Moore that recreated a Marvel-esque universe from that era, complete with mock ads of the time. In its six issues (although the final issue ends in a cliff-hanger and may never be finished) it covers versions of the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Dr Strange and several others, managing to avoid the kitsch that so many writers don’t when looking at other decades.

[p]What I love about this series (with my favourite being issue #2, “No One Escapes The Fury!”, with the Spiderman-esque character The Fury) is that under the shiny 1960’s surface, there are some odd things happening. The characters may not see it, but there are definitely dark clouds on the horizon. All the events that go on indicate that something big is happening, but the heroes in question are too self-involved with, well, hero-ing, that they don’t see it until it is perhaps too late.

[p]1963 was never a series in huge demand so picking it up might be cheap and easy if you have access to a well stocked comic shop. If you are a fan of Moore’s work or just getting into his ABC Comics line, 1963 might be a worthwhile step back in time.