A little bit of speculation . . .

[Graeme]

There's really not much to know about what's going on in regard to FlagShip's game development. We have some artwork, an awesome E3 video (which I recommend all of you check out here: http://flagshipstudios.org/files/flagship_e3_2004.mov ), and a bunch of interviews to contemplate over. But seriously though, what type of game does everyone think this is going to be?

Looking at a recent interview, Roper stated:

FS-Fr: Can you supply us with information about it, such as story, when and where will the action take place, etc.?

BR: Because we are at such an early in the development of the game, we're not saying much right now. We know how frustrating this can be - we want to talk about our ideas, too - but we have to make sure that when we do announce the game and share our vision and world with people, we have something that we can all really grasp onto. What I can say is that we're creating a game that is easy to learn and has a huge amount of replayability . In terms of the game's design, we don't want to do the same thing again, but for people that have played any of the games we made in the past will be excited about the direction we're heading and will find many of those elements within our design.

The last bit of the final line in Roper's reply makes me think that they're leaning to a Diablo II-style gameplay. However, on the same note, he outright says they won't be doing the same thing again. Since Diablo II has been played to death, overplayed some more and then played to death a few more times, I can agree with them on this point - they need something new.

With this in mind, I think they'll stick with the base, RPG-online idea and work with that. I doubt they'll go MMO because they lack the funding and employee base.

Judging from the pictures and video we can at least make the assumption that the game is going to be horror-esque, attempting to throw the players off at every turn. I hope that they don't try to do a Resident Evil thing though X_x.

Well, I'm kind of rambling on. What does everyone here think? What does everyone want the game to be?

[AJ]

Indeed, Roper has reiterated many times that MMO is not where he really sees this game going.
That could just be my interpretation of things, but still..

I'd like to see some of the environment and experience of Diablo I put into a more expanded control system similar to Diablo II, but with more of a focus on gameplay and story development.

I think people lose the storyline in Diablo II and just get stuck in doing Baal Runs, etc. I'd love to see a RPG find a way to setup a multiplayer system where the storyline is preserved, not in the same way MMO's do, but still.

[Neo]

I seriously think they are going to stay as far away from Diablo(or II) as possible. Most likely theyll incorporate some of the general things that you see in Diablo and Diablo II. But then again maybe not. To bad they didnt help with WoW, that game is so complicated for a complete newbie.

I think theyll try to stay away from anny MMO like game (what with WoW and everyhting) I am sure they want to define themselves away from Blizzard.

I do think theyll be making an RPG/Action type game like D2 was, but prolly set entirely different. Preserving a storyline in an online RPG is probably not going to happen, not everyone cares about storylines, some play for the gameplay, some play for the characters, others play for the multiplayer aspect (pvp) and some play for the storyline xP.

Actually I think D2 did pretty well, since the game is set in a storyline and you can follow it and even watch movies if you want.

-Neo

[Dark_Soul74]

Pretty much sounds like Guild Wars to me.

[BSTRhino]

Yeah, I actually agree somehow. Guild Wars isn't really an MMO. It has a lot of instancing and closely-knit team games, and that seems to make it just Diablo with a Battle.net chatroom that you can walk around.

[Jeff]

Yeah we really don't know much. It's going to be an RPG, but not an MMORPG, although it should have some sort of online play. It will be kind of like Diablo but different. Bill Roper's been quite vague :P

[AJ]

I think more important than what we think it will be -- is what do you want the game to be?

I don't want Diablo 3.. don't get me wrong, I love the Diablo series, but I do want a game with its own unique, original feel to it. I think Flagship while not having all of the resources of a mutli-million dollar company -- does have a distinct advantage in the creative forces working there.

I'd like to see their game evolve the RPG genre.. I think the genre as a whole has kind of become more stagnant lately and needs something to both revive but also change it for the better.

At least, that's my take. What do you all think?

[Jeff]

I agree. Let Blizzard make a Diablo 3. FS should go in its own direction.

[hammocksleeper]

I think Diablo 3 would be great! D2 was a great game. I have the perfect name for the sequel. D3: The Mighty Ducks. Did you know that they've decided to make a fourth Mighty Ducks movie? It's been eight years since the release of the last movie and, yes, Emilio Estevez will be in the movie. :)

Anyways, I've actually never played D2 but I have played Diablo, a little bit. I also don't really know anything about how MMOs work. So what I am about to say is coming purely from my own imagination. As far as the problem of creating a multiplayer-oriented RPG that's not MMO and still retains strong loyalty to a storyline, I think one possibility is to have each player be an individual character, and parties are formed by the conjuction of these characters. You would have the traditional party of no more than five people. There would be a general forum for the forming of these parties, basically like Bnet. You log on, find four of your friends or random people, and then look in the list of available games to join (Bnet-style). If you have a party of four, you find someone else hosting a game with a party of four. You wouldn't be playing against any other real people, besides your party and this one other party. So you start the game and start on your quest, according to the (non-linear) storyline. The party can break off into factions and rejoin at various points in the game. But no more than ten people would ever be playing in the same "game."

It'd be a bit like a normal Starcraft game, except with more people and in an RPG environment. You can stop playing at any time and resume later. When you resume you don't necessarily have to play with the same people again, as that would prove difficult in many cases, but the characters would have the same stats, etc.

I've done my best to explain this. I hope you understand what I'm saying.

[Whiteknight]

I think Diablo 3 would be great! D2 was a great game. I have the perfect name for the sequel. D3: The Mighty Ducks. Did you know that they've decided to make a fourth Mighty Ducks movie? It's been eight years since the release of the last movie and, yes, Emilio Estevez will be in the movie. :)

Anyways, I've actually never played D2 but I have played Diablo, a little bit. I also don't really know anything about how MMOs work. So what I am about to say is coming purely from my own imagination. As far as the problem of creating a multiplayer-oriented RPG that's not MMO and still retains strong loyalty to a storyline, I think one possibility is to have each player be an individual character, and parties are formed by the conjuction of these characters. You would have the traditional party of no more than five people. There would be a general forum for the forming of these parties, basically like Bnet. You log on, find four of your friends or random people, and then look in the list of available games to join (Bnet-style). If you have a party of four, you find someone else hosting a game with a party of four. You wouldn't be playing against any other real people, besides your party and this one other party. So you start the game and start on your quest, according to the (non-linear) storyline. The party can break off into factions and rejoin at various points in the game. But no more than ten people would ever be playing in the same "game."

It'd be a bit like a normal Starcraft game, except with more people and in an RPG environment. You can stop playing at any time and resume later. When you resume you don't necessarily have to play with the same people again, as that would prove difficult in many cases, but the characters would have the same stats, etc.

I've done my best to explain this. I hope you understand what I'm saying.

You pretty much just described Guild Wars, except that it uses a selection like Diablo and you are not in a graphical place with many other players.

[demonmauler]

Well lets wait and see what starship is going to to i hope they have a open beta weekend like guildwars make it easy to like or hate and get better ideals from hard core gammers. I think the diablo game is supper all 3 of them but it time for a change and who better that the team that made it happen to make a other super game Good Luck Flagship :)

Well lets wait and see what Flagship is going to to i hope they have a open beta weekend like guildwars make it easy to like or hate and get better ideals from hard core gammers. I think the diablo game is supper all 3 of them but it time for a change and who better that the team that made it happen to make a other super game Good Luck Flagship :)