Darkspore

[Xeneth]

...Darkspore is EA Maxis' new project.

It's an "action-RPG with the DNA of Spore". Sounds like they invested so much tech into the dynamic animation and user-customization systems that they'd be fools not to stick them into some other genres. No idea if Will Wright's new thinktank is involved in any way, but I'm guessing NOT.

Here's hoping the infusion of gameplay systems makes it hold gamers attention for a bit longer than Spore seemed to.

Preview on 1up - http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3180462

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[mikemariano]

"Don't expect to fight a planet of penis monsters."

-- IGN.com 1up.com

[Forbin]

That video was basically 1/2 StarCraft2 teaser and 1/2 Mass Effect 2 intro.

[spindrift]

I guess I'm in favour of more diablo-like games, but, 'Darkspore' ... really?

[JonCole]

I literally have no interest in this.

[juv3nal]

There's some funny title riffing at #darkerspore

American McGee's Spore

[Murdoc]

So much of that reminded me of the Fade to Black intro...

(I have no sound, so maybe there was more context)

[pabosher]

Is anybody still interested in this? I have a chance to check out the game soon, and chat with some of the guys behind it, if you have anything specific you want me to check out.

[Irishjohn]

Is anybody still interested in this? I have a chance to check out the game soon, and chat with some of the guys behind it, if you have anything specific you want me to check out.

Nothing specific man, but I am curious about the gameplay. I found Spore pretty rough and the videos for Darkspore make it look like they changed approximately nothing.

[pabosher]

I never played Spore, but aren't they supposed to be entirely different? Darkspore is a Diablo-esque sort of game, whereas Spore was... Well, I don't know, but it wasn't that.

[CaptainFish]

There's an open beta on steam for the next few days. I tried it out and it seems pretty fun.

I didn't catch a lot of the back story because computer voice lady doesn't have subtitles, but it seems some creatures are posessed with darkspore energy and you have to fight them. The really cool thing is the ability to switch heroes on the fly, where each hero has their own (preset I think) abilities and health/energy bars. It makes matchmaking a breeze if you just have a rogue, tank and healer type in your squad. You can switch to whatever role is missing, as well as being able to switch on the fly to drop attacks. In the games I played ppl basically stuck to one hero, but I can see higher level play incorporating more hero changing to really maximize your combat ability.

It's got some color choices and placement choices for armor parts, but I think each hero is predesigned. To some extent they need to be for it to read easily when joining up with dudes. In terms of skills the customization comes from what you equip and what your 3 hero squad is, it seems like abilities just unlock in a set order. Matchmaking was quick, fighting things is a pretty much latency free diablo style experience.

I would highly recommend trying this out while it's still free.

[miffy495]

I played it for a bit at PAX and came away impressed. I may have to check this out.

[CaptainFish]

I just checked and you can highlight and move/resize cosmetic parts on the heroes' bodies. I never played spore so I can't comment on how it compares though.

It seems there are a ton of different heroes to unlock, which kinda makes the game like Pokemon. They even have specific element types associated with them, and enemies of the same type deal double damage to your hero. You can also unlock multiple squads to fill, although I'm not sure to what end. You could use it to avoid elemental match-ups since they tell you what the enemies are up front. You'll probably get at least one poor one though. Also every mission has a double or nothing style second half, where you can try to get better items at the risk of failure. Perhaps you can choose between squads then.

I actually looked at the stats stuff this time. It's really simple. You have Mind, Strength and Dexterity and each one corresponds to a class. I forget the names but it's basically wizard, warrior and rogue. The "rogue" I'm using right now is time based, and he can:

• create a bubble that slows down enemies and projectiles
  

• teleport to deal area damage and a time stop effect
  

• perform a proximity area attack that hurts nearby enemies and redeals the damage they took over the last 10 seconds, up to a stat based limit
  

Clearly he has some battle control and area stuff, but the lightning rogue is more one on one, so there's some flexibility within each class.

[Gwardinen]

Tried to play the beta yesterday but kept getting network connection failed messages, I'll try again today and see if it'll actually work. Is there any decent possibility for Thumbs multiplayer?