Musing/Rant on the future

[Deadguy118]

Warning: Rant ahead.

Does the might and magic community make fan projects because Ubisoft will never bring the franchise back to its former glory?

Are we a stagnating fan base? Must we be constantly dissapointed by whatever fan projects look promising, yet never finished? (coughMMTcough) Sure, BDJ's mod is amazing but, in the end it's still an updated form of a 9 year old game.

Where is the future? Will Ubisoft suck it up and make a MMX? Will it make Heroes VI (which is assuredly coming out because of Heroes V's sales.) an evolution or a dissapointment?

Please note that this post is as much my opinion as it is a way to provoke discussion on these somewhat dead boards. Also, I need some sleep.

[vladimir-maestro]

I'm not sure couse Ubisoft do not answer yes\no but give some "foggy" answer.

Something like that: "It is hard to do playable, good RPG with multi-charecters. Also in modern world it is hard to surprize plaer with usual graphics\ usual worlds. When we will ready to do something outstanding - you will know it!"

bla-bla-bla.

I think Ubi's are planing MMX but do not want to open all their cards now.

[darknessfood]

Well, on some ways youi are right. I also believe we are a stagnating group of people, but nonetheless is this a big community, and as you can see, people still join this forum, so it's far from dead.
Other thing about ubisoft is that they eventualy will make a MMX, but they will just make it because they hear from a lot of sides that they want it. I do believe it will not be a great game, simply because they let i develop by some kind of programmers that are nog THAT smart when it comes to making a good and fresh rpg (not an original studio like the Montreal one). Ubisoft is just investing more to the new franchises they have because more dollar bills can be gained there...
As for the new MMX, i'm looking quite forward to the new project that is in developmend, i truly think that this will be a great one, and don't forget about the MM Warlords project...

In conclusion, there will be enough to look forward to, we just need to wait up a little...

[motter28218]

Warning: Rant ahead.

Does the might and magic community make fan projects because Ubisoft will never bring the franchise back to its former glory?

Are we a stagnating fan base? Must we be constantly dissapointed by whatever fan projects look promising, yet never finished? (coughMMTcough) Sure, BDJ's mod is amazing but, in the end it's still an updated form of a 9 year old game.

Where is the future? Will Ubisoft suck it up and make a MMX? Will it make Heroes VI (which is assuredly coming out because of Heroes V's sales.) an evolution or a dissapointment?

Please note that this post is as much my opinion as it is a way to provoke discussion on these somewhat dead boards. Also, I need some sleep.

Actually there are alot of us on here working pretty hard to come up with new material, it's just hard to do all by yourself, I've been working on a MM6 mod for months and most people just don't realize how long it takes to decode the game, re-write it, troubleshoot, etc, etc, add to that the fact that I'm pretty much learning from scratch and you can appreciate why it is so hard and so few people do it.

My goal is to not just make a mod but make a modding guide that can be applied to MM6-8 so people can make up their own versions of how they think the game should be. If you are interested in helping let me know, I always have a standing offer to anyone interested in modding to teach them how but not to many people take me up on it.

[DaveO]

Here are the primary challenges for Ubi making a MMX...

1. Game development takes $20 million or more just to release a title
2. Single player RPGs are a dead genre that no company has released a title for in a LONG time. Action RPGs do NOT count
3. Fan base is practically nonexistent and has long ago moved on to other things
4. Timing is everything. Ubi can't afford to release MMX at about the same time Diablo3 would be released. They'd be smart to wait for D3 release before even announcing MMX
5. Few people want to play long games any more. There have been questions given to players to confirm this
6. A generic plot would pretty much ruin any comeback attempt. Can anybody honestly give the plots of MM6-MM9 from memory and not use the Internet? Very likely not.
7. Given the piracy accusation by now-defunct Iron Lore/THQ(makers of Titan's Quest), can Ubi afford the inevitable losses from torrent sites posting the game for free? Not likely. Given all the risks for minimal reward, I'd be very surprised if there ever is a MMX.

[Zubbus]

Stagnating, or stagnant, is not the right word. We're not here because we haven't done anything else. I have played at least 20 new games this year. We bother to come back here because some of the MMs have been awesome.

To be honest I haven't got all the exact ideas on when MM was under New World Computing and when it was 3DO and when it was Ubi-soft, but yes, they have released tons and tons of Rip-offs of Might & Magic. Rip-offs of Might & Magic titles have actually out-numbered genuine playable Might & Magic titles.
So frankly, I have more confident in fan-productions than whoever "owns the franchise".

And I appreciate fan efforts even I hardly ever touch them. Generally speaking, I want to see a bit more than just new monster colors and spell damage tweaks.

The studio that made Fallouts have "died" a while ago, but through no effort of its own, someone decided there should be a Fallout 3 and at least it looks right for now.

MMX can happen, but I only care if it's going to be good.

[GrayFace]

2. Single player RPGs are a dead genre that no company has released a title for in a LONG time. Action RPGs do NOT count

Well, the fact that games of this genre haven't been released in a long time is good for the game.

6. A generic plot would pretty much ruin any comeback attempt. Can anybody honestly give the plots of MM6-MM9 from memory and not use the Internet? Very likely not.

Ubi creates a new storyline of MM with DMOMM and HOMM5, so there's no problem with plot.

7. Given the piracy accusation by now-defunct Iron Lore/THQ(makers of Titan's Quest), can Ubi afford the inevitable losses from torrent sites posting the game for free? Not likely.

I haven't heard about the accusation. What was it? And torrents loses are true for every game.

[Kareeah Indaga]

Can anybody honestly give the plots of MM6-MM9 from memory and not use the Internet? Very likely not.

You're kidding me, right? Do you want them in order chronologically or alphabetically?

[jeff4815]

I'm optimistic guy, so I won't say there won't be a Might and Magic X

[Corlagon]

You're kidding me, right? Do you want them in order chronologically or alphabetically?

Second that.

[Hambone]

Where is the future? Will Ubisoft suck it up and make a MMX?

I hear what you are saying, but it seems to me that a modern MMX would basically amount to another Elder Scrolls: Oblivion set in similarly high-fantasy circumstances. I don't see how Ubi could justify the huge investment of money into a brand-new property like that when a strong competitor already dominates the market, and when your product would be fairly similar to theirs. There just wouldn't be enough to pull in new customers, especially with other titles looming on the horizon like Fallout 3, Dragon Age, or even other good stuff like The Witcher.

What does seem like a good idea to me, and which relates to your concern for "stagnancy", is the direction Ubi is taking by launching a pervasive and casual game like HOMM:Kingdoms. That is a great way to draw 1000's of new fans to the HOMM universe. Once you've got people interested in your intellectual property, then you can start thinking about making an expensive open-world RPG.

[DaveO]

The first rule of any game studio is to establish your brand first, and then start taking risks. Both Ironlore and especially Flagship Studios forgot this lesson and look at the results: both are out of business. The risks of the RPG market is EXACTLY why everything is pretty much action RPG with few differences between games. Still there are independent studios willing to take leap of faith like the folks behind The Witcher, but there are no guarantees against a software 'sophomore' jinx.

[darknessfood]

Euhm. last time i checked (that is ten seconds ago), Flagship studios is doing great. They even launched Hellgate London in Korea, with succes. And at their own website, they still are active, with some cut in the employment staff ...