The Secret World Review

[lumenadducere]

I'm definitely enjoying the game, and it's rapidly become one of my favorites. If you blow through everything then yeah, you might get bored, but there's a freaking ton of stuff to do if you take the time to look around you. TSW is a game where you have to pay attention to little details to really get the full experience - and I'm not just talking about the investigation missions, but there's a bunch of hidden stuff out there as well.

And they have monthly updates with new missions, plus their first raid coming out next month as well. If they can actually hold up the monthly update scheme then I really think this is going to be the superior MMO. Especially since it requires actual thought. Combat does feel a little slow, but that's something they've been working on and there's already been lots of improvement. For anyone on the fence I'd encourage you to give it a shot.

 

[Rad Party God]

I'm seriously interested in this game and I've considered buying it, but in my region (Mexico) they want to shove "euros" down my throat, with the game costing me 49 euros + subscription.

I mean, I seriously loved Age of Conan and, along with Guild Wars, Lotro and DDO, it became one of my favorite MMOs I've ever played, but c'mon, euros?.

Until they change it to USD or becomes F2P (you know it'll happen), I think I won't be playing this any time soon.

 

[Berenzen]

I'll probably pick it up then put it down until it goes subscriptionless (It'll happen eventually, it'll probably end up being B2P, I'm not seeing EA going full F2P here).

 

[Rad Party God]

I'm seriously interested in this game and I've considered buying it, but in my region (Mexico) they want to shove "euros" down my throat, with the game costing me 49 euros + subscription.

I mean, I seriously loved Age of Conan and, along with Guild Wars, Lotro and DDO, it became one of my favorite MMOs I've ever played, but c'mon, euros?.

Until they change it to USD or becomes F2P (you know it'll happen), I think I won't be playing this any time soon.

Register with a US address and you can pay in USD.

The thing is, I kinda already did that with AoC, you see, they charge me in euros in that game too, so I changed my address to a fake US one and I proceeded to subscribe for a month in USD, later they banned me, I contacted them (they have an amazing customer service) and they told me that they banned me because they didn't recognized my payment as an US resident, but they were kind enough to remove my ban status, refund me my money AND give me a free month.

Since then, I haven't done anything similar with Funcom, but maybe I'll try some other time.

 

[Li Mu]

This could be the MMO for me, with that leveling system and al. And I really want to support funcom, but EA publisher... That explains the ridiculous starting price...

Actually, the huge cost of making this game and the fact that designers tend to want to get paid in some way explains the price tag. Is $50 really that much? (as someone has pointed out, the price is actually $50, not $60)

I don't live in the US, so I don't know how much games usually cost, but $50 works out as around ?40 which is pretty cheap compared to Europe. Some games here cost ?60 on release ($70)

 

[Tanis]

I'm not much into MMOs, at least not since the EQ days, but if there's a 'free for 15 days' or something I'd be more willing to check it out.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Mmmm an MMMORPG that take place in the modern setting? That's rare.
If I weren't going to be preoccupy with another MMO soon (GW2 and maybe PSO2) and this game was free to play I would of give it a go.

 

[Meight08]

This could be the MMO for me, with that leveling system and al. And I really want to support funcom, but EA publisher... That explains the ridiculous starting price...

Ea is not the owner of funcom all funcom did is pay ea to make the boxes and ship them.

 

[Riobux]

I don't know about this review. I'll admit I did only try the BETA, but after my severe interest in TSW pre-release since I loved the idea of a Lovecraftian game, the BETA didn't just disappoint me but actually annoyed me out right. I felt the combat was tacky, with what was meant to be diabolical creatures were treated like run-of-the-mill monsters to kill by mashing one of six abilities which killed the atmosphere of the game dead. I also felt the writing was terrible, with less of a "okay, time to investigate something secret" feel and more of a "go to X location, pick up quests, kill Y amount of Z creatures" feel. The fact that the police station was how it was (as in, with massive holes in the fences, with zombies just standing outside bored) just killed it. Not to mention, the story of "there JUST SO HAPPENS to be a bee that stings you" is so accidental it's irritating.

The final crunch point was, as said in the review, how the game seems to shove character back-story onto you to full pelt in monologue rather than SHOWING personality, back-story and character. I had spent at least three hours, probably closer to five hours, doing quests and I was still no closer to finding out why things were the way they were, instead with a feeling of being swamped with things that really did not matter. I had been lectured for about five to ten minutes about a police officer's back-story about his father dying in the most apathetic generally happy tone, while there was a zombie apocalypse going on and after I'd only met him about five minutes prior. Why would someone get their priorities so confused? Why is he spilling his guts out in such a happy-go-lucky manner about his father while there's zombies? Even if there's relevance, it should only end up being brought up once shit hits the fan hard and it's revealed things like that have some importance.

I'll admit, this is no Fallen Earth (which is one of the worst major MMORPGs I've ever played personally), but the idea of offering what it does and expecting a subscription is, to me, laughable at best and insulting at worst. I think this is one of those games I don't think I'll see what people see in it, since to me it's just naff. That there's nothing particularly good here (e.g. graphics) and the important parts are either bland (e.g. gameplay) or just down-right terrible (e.g. the writing). I really expected so much more than what it delivered and I feel let down and disappointed I really could not enjoy it.

 

[Archibald]

There's one, and one thing that kept me from buying the game. 15 dollar a month sub + cash shop + 60 dollar game purchase.

 

[Filiecs]

The final crunch point was, as said in the review, how the game seems to shove character back-story onto you to full pelt in monologue rather than SHOWING personality, back-story and character. I had spent at least three hours, probably closer to five hours, doing quests and I was still no closer to finding out why things were the way they were, instead with a feeling of being swamped with things that really did not matter. I had been lectured for about five to ten minutes about a police officer's back-story about his father dying in the most apathetic generally happy tone, while there was a zombie apocalypse going on and after I'd only met him about five minutes prior. Why would someone get their priorities so confused? Why is he spilling his guts out in such a happy-go-lucky manner about his father while there's zombies? Even if there's relevance, it should only end up being brought up once shit hits the fan hard and it's revealed things like that have some importance.

Something tells me you have an incredibly hard time understanding well written novels.
Those simple things that "really did not matter"? They DO matter if you want to understand the story. EVERYTHING in this game holds a part of this story and, no, it is NOT shown to you.
A bad story tells. A good story shows. A great story implies, and makes the reader think for himself.
That is exactly what you were failing to do. This game is a like a puzzle that has had its pieces scattered all across the world. You looked at those pieces and said "This is garbage."
You failed to even attempt to put those pieces together into a way that made sense.

 

[Riobux]

The final crunch point was, as said in the review, how the game seems to shove character back-story onto you to full pelt in monologue rather than SHOWING personality, back-story and character.

Something tells me you have an incredibly hard time understanding well written novels.
Those simple things that "really did not matter"? They DO matter if you want to understand the story. EVERYTHING in this game holds a part of this story and, no, it is NOT shown to you.
A bad story tells. A good story shows. A great story implies, and makes the reader think for himself.
That is exactly what you were failing to do. This game is a like a puzzle that has had its pieces scattered all across the world. You looked at those pieces and said "This is garbage."
You failed to even attempt to put those pieces together into a way that made sense.

Reread my first sentence in the paragraph you quoted. They didn't show that the deputy had family issues nor do it imply, it told you flat out in a monologue that had such an inappropriate tone that it was more annoying than anything else. If to solve the puzzles I have to be handed the pieces, instead of me noticing them, and then told "go solve it" like this, then I don't care for the puzzle at all.

 

[Spartan212]

There's one, and one thing that kept me from buying the game. 15 dollar a month sub + cash shop + 60 dollar game purchase.

Your post is summarized thusly: "I don't want optional item stores because I don't use them and therefore no one else can have them."

You make me sick.

Aren't there character slots and gear management slots on the store as well? Seems like charging to store abilities in a game with over 500 of them is towing a thin line

 

[Sartan0]

This could be the MMO for me, with that leveling system and al. And I really want to support funcom, but EA publisher... That explains the ridiculous starting price...

Actually EA is just handling the box sales. You can order it directly from Funcom as a Digital copy.

http://www.funcom.com/index.php/home

 

[sonofliber]

i give it 4 months until it becomes f2p

really with wow? and kotor you go with monthly fees? wow.

 

[WaysideMaze]

I really am tempted to give this a try, I'm just currently bored of a lot games, even ones I've just bought, so I may leave it a while. Still, I'll keep my eye on it, may come back to it later.

As a side note,

There's one, and one thing that kept me from buying the game. 15 dollar a month sub + cash shop + 60 dollar game purchase.

Has anyone else noticed how all 4 of this guys posts on the forums (so far at least) have just been copy/pastes of another users from earlier in the thread? With some faulty .gifs thrown in for good measure.

I can't tell if he's trolling, a really bad spambot or just really confused.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Huh, this game isn't listed in Russ' IMDB profile - either they've slipped up or that's a good impression.

 

[Filiecs]

The final crunch point was, as said in the review, how the game seems to shove character back-story onto you to full pelt in monologue rather than SHOWING personality, back-story and character.

Reread my first sentence in the paragraph you quoted. They didn't show that the deputy had family issues nor do it imply, it told you flat out in a monologue that had such an inappropriate tone that it was more annoying than anything else. If to solve the puzzles I have to be handed the pieces, instead of me noticing them, and then told "go solve it" like this, then I don't care for the puzzle at all.

Well you've obviously missed the puzzle pieces.
You were complaining as to why you weren't being shown what was happening in the world. What you were missing was the answer right in front of you.
You were wondering what gave you those superpowers and why? All you had to do was analyze the seemingly insane lore of "The Buzzing" that is one piece of the puzzle.

Yes, Andy told you about how his father took a bunch of bunch of kittens out to see and drowned them, while he was still alive, that it. At the end of the story he remarks how he still misses those kittens.
If you want to know why he wasn't all sad and depressed over losing his father it's because he obviously cares less about his cruel father than kittens.
You want to know something else about the world? Why no one is freaking out about zombies?
Andy also tells you. He says that Kingsmouth has had it's share of witchburnings. This, when compared to what some of the other residents tell you about occult happenings in the past, leads you to believe that Kingsmouth has had its share of occult disasters and strange murders in the past. To them, zombies is just another strange happening that's going to blow over. Just with a lot more people dead.

 

[arcade109]

MMO's just are never what I am hoping for. The only one I ever got into for a while was World of Warcraft and then it was only because my girlfriend played at the time. I keep trying different ones but now they are all just WoW clones and it doesn't do it for me. This is something with unlimited potential but no company wants to risk losing that kind of money.

 

[Sartan0]

MMO's just are never what I am hoping for. The only one I ever got into for a while was World of Warcraft and then it was only because my girlfriend played at the time. I keep trying different ones but now they are all just WoW clones and it doesn't do it for me. This is something with unlimited potential but no company wants to risk losing that kind of money.

I can understand that point of view and TSW is still an MMO. It's PvP does have issues but luckily I am not much into PvP. However, it is pushing the genre forward in my opinion.

I like the lack of levels and the skill based system. I like the more coherent world where the quests make sense and don't feel tacked on. I like the more interesting characters and the fact that this is not just yet another high fantasy game. (Hello lovecraft) I like the less flashy but fitting art style. I like the fact that the second instance in the game was much more challenging then the first one. I like the quests that actually make me think and the fun of working out a build. I like the more hard edged more adult setting and world.

This is the game for me and I will happily keep paying a subscription if they can add the content to keep it rolling. (And the signs are good in that they already have stuff in the pipe line.)

If that at all sounds interesting I say give it a shot. That said, mileage will vary.