Hellgate: London
 

I've been reading some stuff on this game recently, and a lot of the development crew apparently comes from Blizzard, many of whom worked on Diablo 2.

It's pretty obvious they want to do the same thing with this new game, with randomized item drops, random levels, and so on.

I really don't want to jump the gun and buy it, though, because I'm not totally sold on the world or backstory they've created, and that contributes a lot to the fun factor of the game, for me.

Has anyone played the beta? Is this game worth picking up right out of the gate, or should I wait? (I'm also interested in the collector's edition for the soundtrack, if anyone could talk about the music heard in-game.)

I heard about the pricing plan that they want to implement and decided I'd wait this one out until the actual retail price went down.

It's so gay, it's ridiculous gay.

Isn't there some sort of online payment method to this game, as opposed to the free-play earlier?

That said, while I am greatly interested in the game, seems that those who pay for online have more than those who won't. Not like it's a bad thing though but I wish the single story mode would have some tweaks to it.

I want to get this game so bad since I loved Diablo 2, but I don't think my current computer would run it and I know I won't have time to play until the summer hits. :( :( :(

From what I understand, there's going to be two ways to play. Free play will allow you to play the game continually, but you'll be stuck with the items and such that come straight out of the box. (Dunno how many or how much variety, so we're SOL on that one)

Pay to play (which I think is still being hammered out, but rumors are that it will be $10 a month) will net you new updates and added items and enemies, as well as a few other extras, like being able to be the headmaster of a guild, as opposed to just a member. It looks like it will be for the diehards Koreans instead of the casual gamers. I don't know how how much content there will be each month, which is the real problem.

Really I just haven't seen enough of the game to know if I like it, which is why I was hoping someone might have played the beta.

I sure hope it can do what its claimed to be capable of doing. Recapturing the addictive magic of Diablo II is no easy feat. If I understand correctly, its an FPS. So it already has some ground to make up as far as I'm concerned.

I think there's supposed to be one class which plays similar to an FPS. Like, there's lock-on and stuff, but it's meant to be played from first person while the other classes are more traditional styled (unfortunately).

I just went to DL the demo on FP and saw this intro:

Randomly generated levels? Give me a break. That means they were too cheap to hire designers to make real levels. Level design is the #1 thing I enjoy in FPS games; in fact thinking back I miss the levels with environmental hazards in UT99 vs. UT2k4. Needless to say, this is one less title I'll have to be spending my hard-earned cash on.

Well the game is supposed to be an apocalyptic RPG played in FPS perspective if I remember the developer interview correctly. It's also supposed to be played online with friends mainly which combined with the RPG element kind of explains the use of the randonly generated dungeons.

I don't think I would have bought this game anyway, not knowing what the hell it's really supposed to be due to so many changes in direction during development. There's just better, more safe investments of games coming out right now to justify spending $$ on Hellgate.

P.S.
Wasn't this game going to be free or something at one ppoint?

So true Slayer

i've always felt the developers of this particular game were pushing their luck with all the weird things they add (and remove)

I was really psyched about this game initially, but I don't know if I really am anymore. If I were going to pay to play any game I'd just go back to playing WoW, because it's the only game that has ever truly warranted a subscription fee (and even that's debatable anymore). I think if I'm going to try out any new P2Play game, it'd be Tabula Rasa.

Yeah, I was really PSYCHED for this game... but to be honest, the news of the subscription BS turned me off it completely. =\

I just got a email today saying that i was allowed to join the beta... I'll let you guys know what I think after i finish downloading the 4 GBs of files... :\

Yeah, only one class is supposed to be a FPS style play. (The Hunter) Then there's a melee and a spell class.

I still see it working for the people that do free play, but I actually heard from a couple of people that Tabula Rasa kinda blows Hellgate out of the water.

Speaking personally, I really enjoy TR, and I wouldn't mind paying per month for it.

They advertised it as being free to play, in the same vein as Guild Wars, and I think that's a fair comparison. I just love the art style and setting so much more in Guild Wars that I feel okay about plopping down $50 for an expansion. (Not great, but okay.)

Additional Spam:
Aaaaannnnd, man, I'm glad I didn't preorder that.
Played the demo, and my shoulders are all stiff from shrugging so much. Let me be the first to confirm that the level design really is what kills this game, both on an aesthetic level, because everything looks the same, and on a functional level, because even with a minimap it can be hard to find your way around when everything fucking looks the same.

I didn't want to say anything without playing, but it's just so uninspired that I can't see anyone that would want to play this right away. It's just not compelling on any level, whatsoever.

As a comparative game to Diablo 2, I guess it works okay. But with Diablo 2, even if you didn't like the setting and story, (which I did) it was still such a fast-paced game that you could forget about it and just grind mobs all day and night. It might be a part of transitioning from 2d to 3d, but Hellgate seems slow and ponderous in comparison.

So anyway, one guy's opinion.

I played the demo and while I'll admit I only played it for about 30-40 min. my overall impression is pretty "meh". Granted I got burnt out on Diablo II a long time ago, and all it felt like I was playing was DII in 3d this time around, which makes sense due to the dev team being ex-Blizz DII employees.

I agree how it feels slower than DII as well. On the plus side it doesn't look too poly intensive, so a large range of PCs should be able to run this without a problem. Otherwise, I definitely don't think I'll be getting this right away if at all, it just doesn't have much to distinguish itself from the other games that are out or coming out soon.

I agree with the general feeling. I played the demo and was getting deja va of Diablo-ness. I was hoping for some haunting music like in the village in Diablo I but nada. Really disappointed.

Alright, I've played a couple hours of the multiplayer beta, so here's a short review.

Graphics aren't the greatest, at least not on my pc. The game play is Diablo in 3d set in London. Don't get me wrong, the game is fun, but I played this a long time ago. I was hoping for something a little bit different..

The levels are all random, but they are so cookie cutter, and they repeat, over and over. I ran through the same "room" more than 4 times in one "instance".

when the beta's over all go a little more in-depth if anyone wants to know...

Yeah the game is definitly "alright". The music is horrendous...if there even was any, and the setting was terribly repetitive. The streets of London had about three "walkable" building templates that were repeated throughout the level. One is an alley, another is a gutted out house, sometimes containing a zombie. The concept is great, but from the Demo I wasn't that impressed. Gameplay was smooth and nice, as was fighting, although a bit repetitive, especially the monsters.

The Idea was great, the concept is awesome, but something was missing from the overall experience. I'm stealing this from old school gamespot, but the game lacked "tilt".

My biggest problem with the beta was honestly the music, or lack thereof. What little I heard wasn't all that bad, but most of the game seemed silent (and I had the volume set so that sounds effects were really soft and music quite loud). I didn't really play enough for the repetitive settings to become a huge issue. Considering that point though, it's hardly the case that the settings in Diablo 2 were not repetitive. Basically each act had three tilesets - indoors, outside, and underground.

Def a good game

Well, I guess I should try it out, for all those reasons you just described!

(?)

Well, there is a good reason this is much akin to Diablo.

It's the same development team from Diablo II. :p

So if you have played Diablo II or WoW (World of Warcraft), you should recognize many aspects of the game. When I played the demo, it didn't take long to get the hang of most of the stuff. It has a basic 3rd Person setup, aside from a few things they threw in there as to not make it so generic.

Heh, it really is? I constantly kept thinking how much it reminded me of Diablo 2. I mean sure the graphics are 3D and totally different scenario, but the gameplay was so similiar. I admit when I saw that quest with the peg leg, I was even more surprised. Now it all makes sense.

Only played the demo. Seemed, ok, but not great. It was missing something. I might try the full game one day. Just hope by then there will be more then 2 classes.