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Junkie
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I came across this Q&A Session about Champions of Norrath and thought it would be nice to share here.
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February 05, 2004 - It's just a few more days until Champions of Norrath starts arriving in stores and around the ign.com offices we're pretty excited about it. It's a dungeon crawl, but what a dungeon crawl it is. It looks fantastic, has a ton of gameplay, and plenty more features. With online co-op play for four players with voice chat, five classes, tons of art, and, well ... like I said, we can't wait. Since there's still a weekend to get past before the game comes out, we figured that there were plenty of questions that needed to be answered.
After sending off questions to Snowblind Studios and playing through some of the game, we've compiled a pile of information about this fantastic piece of hack and slash. Without further ado, we present the Champions of Norrath FAQ.
Can I play online with two people on my PS2?
Only one person can play online on a PS2 at once. Every player has to have his or her own copy and online PS2. Playing with two people on one PS2 online isn't available.
Is it possible to finish the game solo with all of the characters?
Yes it is. According to Brian Despain at Snowblind Studios, effort was made to balance out the game so that even with the magic heavy cleric, a solo game is possible.
Can I duel with my friends?
It's only co-operative play.
Do the weapons have level requirements?
Yes they do. Items have their own level requirements. Thee are a couple of class restrictions that prevent some characters from ever picking up a specific weapon. Clerics can only use blunt weapons and so the swords are off-limits to them.
Are there different quests for the different classes?
There is one story to rule them all. There are different ways to play through the game, but there is only one storyline.
How far can players move away from each other during a co-operative game?
In an offline game, everyone has to stay on the same screen. There's no split-screen action here. The online game is another story. In an online game, players can move anywhere they want on the same level. The group cannot be split up between different levels. When one member decides to go to a new level, everyone goes to the new level.
A similar thing happens with merchants. Once one member of the group talks to a merchant, everyone goes into the store menu screen. This helps to cut down on the time it takes to regroup and restock items between fighting sessions. After that, different players can leave the store separately.
Once any part of a group, online or offline, enters a new area everyone else in the group will go to the new area at the same time. Everyone is in the same area, but in an online game it is possible to move about independently within the area.
Is there any place to store items while going on a quest? I don't want to have to sell stuff in order to make room for new treasure.
There's no place to store items or leave it for later. Your options are to take it or leave it.
Why is it broadband only? What if I want to play without the headset?
The broadband requirement is not there because of the headset. Up until recently, Snowblind had planned to include modem support, but it wasn't quite fast enough and Sony Online Entertainment required that it be broadband only.
What secrets are there in the game? Any secret classes or quests?
There are secret areas within levels, but no secret quests or classes. For the most part, what you see is what you get.
How long do the dead monsters stay there?
The monsters stay right where you left them indefinitely. Similarly, all the items will stay there as well. That way you can make round trips in order to bring back as much as you can hold. If you're especially messy and leave too many items, some of them will get cleaned up and bring the total number of items down to a more manageable level.
How can I upgrade my items?
Each weapon or piece of armor has four slots for upgrades. A variety of items exist in the Champions of Norrath world which can be used to enhance the weapons and armor. Items can be slotted at any time and can't be removed later. These items can be found in the world or be bought from a merchant. The items also ahve five different levels of quality and, thus, effectiveness. Here is a list of a few of the 18 different items in Champions of Norrath:
Firebeetle eye - adds fire damage (weapon) or resistance (armor)
Storm shards - adds lightning damage (weapon) or resistance (armor)
Bone chips - adds cold damage (weapon) or resistance (armor)
Poison gland - adds poison damage and a possibility of a poison cloud on impact (weapon) or resistance (armor)
Venom sac - adds poison damage (weapon) or resistance (armor)
Blood stone - increases total HP
Misty globe - increases attack speed
Mana stone - adds to max mana
How do the spells work? With so many spells per character, how do you cycle through them?
There are two buttons assigned for spells, the triangle and the circle. Pushing on the d-pad brings up an image of eight brown circles in a circle. One circle for each of the eight directions, as it were. As you acquire spells, these circles will fill with icons for each of the spells. There will be a triangle and a circle next to the two spells that those buttons are currently assigned to. Pushing in one of the eight directions will highlight one of the small circles. With one spell highlighted, pushing on the triangle or circle button will assign that button to that spell. Let go of the d-pad and it will disappear so that the two buttons will now activate the two spells you chose.
It sounds messy in the explanation, but actually doing it is very easy. This way, two spells are easily accessible for your favorite two spells and they're easily changed.
How much detail is in Champions of Norrath?
A lot. A ton. So much that the original review version was two full DVDs. Champions of Norrath is now a dual-layered DVD and it's maxed out. All the art and textures used here are very high resolution. There's also a lot of diversity in textures for the different environments which means that fewer textures get recycled for different levels.
One of the biggest factors here is that there are hundreds of different armor sets. There are five different classes and two genders for each class and there is a different armor set for each class and gender. That's 10 different sets in all.
Combine those two factors together and you get a very detailed world to explore.
There are lots of little touches that stand out in the game as well. When enemies get hit with arrows, the arrows will stay in them even after they die, which is a long time. Instead of fading away, dead bodies remain in a level until the players leave.
How long does it take to get through the game?
This is a tough question, but from what we can see so far, it takes roughly 20 hours to finish the game all the way through on single-player. Of course, that's only one way through the game. There are three different skill levels and the second two require the previous difficulty level to be completed before they're unlocked. There are also five different classes with distinct abilities and will provide a different experience.
Except for the hub stages of the game, cities and such, the maps are randomly generated. That means that there's no way to memorize which is the right way to go and this provides a little variety for replay value.
Is there a buddy list?
Unfortunately, there is no buddy list. All of the setup for online games will have to happen prior to getting online.
Will the servers prevent cheaters?
There's no way for the servers to tell if anyone is cheating. Since there is no "peer vs. peer" combat, if someone is cheating it will only affect his or her game. As such, there has been nothing put in place to prevent people from duplicating characters or items or hacking into their character to give themselves huge amounts of experience or gold.
For anyone who doesn't want to cheat and plans on playing with friends, this is not a concern. When going online, the best method is trial and error for choosing playing partners. If people have unusually high levels and walk through levels like a hot knife through butter, then what's the point? Connect with other honest gamers who want to play for real.
How well does the voice work?
With our experience with the review build the voice worked pretty well. There is no talk button as there is on other games, like SOCOM II, so there were some occasional speakerphone-type effects. Sometimes the first half-second of the voice would get cut off. Occasionally, this happened at the end of a voice clip as well. In our own experience, this led to a bit of confusion that required players repeating themselves, but it was not a major issue. Again, this relates to the preview build that we played and does not necessarily reflect the final version.
Is there an online capability like the lobbies or online rankings?
Sadly, no.
Are there any server side saves?
All of the character saves are on memory cards. The servers are only there to connect gamers together. Server side saves are for the persistent world games where a character is tied in with an account. This way, it's possible to develop a character in a single-player game and bring it to an online game and continue playing from there.
How does the camera work?
In the single-player game there are three different camera angles: top-down, angled, and close-up and angled. The first view is good for battles in order to see the whole area around the character. The second view gives a better perspective and allows for a little better view of what's in front of the character. The third view is close-up and shows off the detail in the game. While not much of a tactical advantage, the third view is more dramatic and is better for fighting characters at close range. The close-up view makes it easier to see the enemies and be able to time the action so that blocking and attacking is more effective.
Looking closely at the different views, the second view shows about 85% of the view that the first one did. Zooming into the third view shows about 40% of the second view.
While the second view will hold its position, the third view will sometimes move into a top-down mode during combat. This helps from running along in the close-up view and getting stuck in it after an ambush.
Do I need to play a game with someone else the whole way through?
Characters can be imported at any time in the offline game. While pausing the game, players can be imported into the game from a save on a memory card or removed from the game in progress. If your friend can't play for a weekend, it's still possible to beef up your own character in the meantime.
How do the group spells work?
Group spells work on everyone who is within range of the caster. The warrior can cast Critical Strike which will enable everyone within range to do more damage in melee battle. When the spell is cast an aura will show up to show the effected area.
Can I play with people in other countries?
The servers will not allow for play with other countries. That means that the dream of hitting on European gamers over some dungeon hacking is out of the question.
Can I mix up the races and classes?
No, this isn't possible. There are five different classes, each with a set race assigned to it. The nshadow knights are dark elfs, the barbarians are humans, and the clerics are high elfs, etc. There is no mixing and matching of races and classes as there is in EverQuest Online Adventures. The characters aren't as rigid as Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance either. The characters are customizable with different skin tones, hair styles, colors, and names.
Is it possible for two players of the same class fight together?
Yes it is. Unlike Dark Alliance, the characters here are customized and not a set character. This way it's possible to create a group with two rangers firing off arrows in the back and a couple of warriors in the front.
Is there a fee for playing online?
Nope. If you have a network adapter and a broadband connection, you're all set. This is not a massively multiplayer world or a persistent universe like Final Fantasy XI or EQOA which requires much more server maintenance.
How does the spell system work?
Champions of Norrath uses a skill tree. The skills here are both non-mana enhancements to a characters as well as new spells. Skills that are further down the tree require a higher experience level as well as all of the prerequisite skills that lead up to it. Sometimes two branches of the skill tree will come back together so that there are two different paths leading up to one skill. Instead of needing both prerequisites, only one is necessary so that there are two ways of getting to the same skill.
While each skill has a minimum experience level to get the first level of that skill. Within each skill, there are 20 different levels in which to advance. As the skill levels get higher, the required experience level will rise as well. Stronger skills lead to greater effectiveness. For example, the ranger can begin to shoot multiple arrows. At first, this is only two arrows, but as the skill develops, up to six arrows at a time can be shot. For other spells, the higher levels can give a longer duration, increased damage, or greater range.
How does the experience get divided up in a multiplayer game?
First of all, the experience that players get depends on the number of people who are playing. While we didn't get a precise number, the experience for killing each monster will increase by about 100% for each gamer beyond the first one. In other words, with two players the experience double and with three it triples. This way, the sum experience is the same as if each player had been playing a single-player game.
After that, the experience gets divided up evenly between all of the players in the game. The one who actually makes the kill will get a small bonus percentage. Once again, we didn't get a precise number, but it's less than 10%. In other words, it's more productive all around to play through a level with others than to do it by yourself.
Of course, as more players are in the game, the monsters get stronger and require more cooperation between players. With four people playing, three can't just relax and slack off as a warrior goes out and does all the killing.
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Article can be found HERE.
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"Yes, I rather like this God fellow. He's very theatrical, you know, a pestilence here, a plague there. Omnipotence. Gotta get me some of that." -Stewie
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