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What makes *you* feel heroic?
Yunbei
Member Posts: 898
Ok, in games of course, in MMOs if you want. First: if you prefer to be Uncle Owen, that's entirely fine with me. Just don't come here and fill this thread this "I DON'T want to be a hero.
So, you wanna feel heroic. How? What makes you feel like you were a real hero of sorts?
Ok, I begin. To feel like a hero, first off I need to feel powerful, special beyond what everybody else can. Else = NPCs, Mobs. I need to feel more than a pawn with a pitchfork. So when I surround a boar with 5 or 6 "hero" players, that is NOT heroic. Heroic is when me VS 1 mob would kill that poor pal easy away. So where is the danger, you ask?
Well in masses! Take Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli or whom. They don't fight ONE Uruk-Hai. They fight DOZENS of them, hunddrets, they mow them down in legions, and still it looks like tough work. That's what it feels like to be a heroic adventurer. Or take Dynasty Warrior. You mow down enemies by the thousands, the enitre battle field is loaded with enemies, everyone is running, many things are going on at the same time, and you have to respond fast! General X is in danger, Guard Tower Y is surprise attacked... you have to be fast. When I play DW6, my adrenaline is pumping, and even tho I dash damage to hundrets every moment, it is still difficult. Most levels at least. Now you don't have to like the Asia setting. But that is what makes *me* feel heroic. When I win one of those difficult DW6 battles, I feel like a hero. It's not so much thinking, it's more instinct. Feel, not think. Sounds quite Jedi-ish. 
I want to dive into epic battles, where huge things are at stake at any moment. Always new things happen around me while I am in battle. I mus decide, do I rush back to strengthen the base, or do I press forward to push the advantage? Do I walk with the masses, or take a sideway to make a two-pronge attack?
I do NOT want to stand in front of some nailed down boar/bear/badger and do whack whack whack and then move on to the next one.
Of course a cool looking "costume" helps. I want to look unique. Like in the superhero games CoX or CO. There I felt like a hero because of the looks. I wasn't one of 1000 more or less identical people. Or if you play Guan Yu in DW, you know it's Guan Yu, not someone else.
So, what makes you feel heroic? ^^
Comments
Wearing stretchy pants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc1am3KyYgA
thats all i could think of when i read that...
On topic:
What makes me feel heroic in a game is when I am not being treated as a 'hero' from the start. I guess the way I can put it is like starting in the mail room at a company. People look at you as a simple mail clerk and that's it. You work your way through and gain recognition on your way up the ladder.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
So far every MMO I've played has failed to make me feel heroic. Nothing I did had any impact in the world. Every though mob/boss I have killed (solo or in team) has respawned and has been killed again many times over by other people.
Accomplishing a positive feat that is above and beyond what a normal person could, or would, do.
If everyone is doing the sane heroic act , then it's not heroic. If everyone is obtaining the same epic item, it's not epic. If everyone looks unique and cool, no one does.
Welcome to the site, btw. ^^
Well, yeah, that sorta was a bummer. I too would like to see some impact. Maybe at least in some way, like phasing of WoW. I never saw it myself, but I heard of it, like the landscape does not look the same for everyone. I too found the endless respawn of everything a bit of a letdown, but I tend to be able to make myself believe. The LOTRO book quests, where you are alone, do that to some degree for me.
This is a great topic, and also probably one of the hardest things for a developer to master and understand...
Often times you are playing a game and you come across an epic mobs that just manages to lay waste to you and you ask yourself "well why can't I be epic?", but these are game mechanics put in place to artifically challenge players or force coop play in many cases... all the while you say " how come that lvl 20 mob has 20k HP and I only have 500...
Nothing feels worse than playing a game and for the first 10 levels your killing level variants of bunnies and squirrels that in some cases make get the upper hand on you at times... I think to myself hell I am more heroic in real life... I feel this way in FFXIV which is why I can't seem to get into it all that much, and by all means I am not here to bash the game it just doesn't engage me the way I would like.
The flip side is what seems to be coming... I have seen game play videos for Tera as well as SWTOR and you seem to be very heroic, hell in Tera you appear to just barrel into a bunch of mobs and start steamrolling them, even early on in the game which is awesome, it makes your character feel powerful and you feel a great connection to it as opposed to the bunny basher... SWTOR seems to have some epic moves and fourishes just like what you see in the movies with some pretty spectacular powers... again this is speculation and perhaps part of a hype machine, but hey it looks really good to me!
Games that have such a slow and mundane start tend to push people away as they do not have a strong tie to their character, they have their butter knife equipped with a stabby ability and sent out to quell the local gerbil population along with every other prospective gerbilizers... In many cases you feel no more powerful than the farmer or NPC house keeper that sent you on the mission... I mean hell, I feel like saying "Hey, why do you need me? Your pitchfork is better than my butter knife over here... do it yourself"... NO!!! They asked you to help for a mission! Because they need a hero! someone who can run into a pack of mobs a lay waste like a grenade went off...
I got that impression from this gameplay "hands on" video for TERA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmdsHCGoZlk&feature=related
Right around the 3 minute mark you see a level 12 character just go nuts... I dunno, seems pretty heroic to me... This whole Glipsedog series is actually pretty decent.
What are your other Hobbies?
Gaming is Dirt Cheap compared to this...
I love it how in that game you play as a hot girl whose upskirt panties you get to stare at as she runs and that swings her hips sensually as she casts spells.
After much thought about this question, i realize i did feel sort of heroic in one particular game. The pvp in Dark Age of Camelot
capturing relics on a relic run, taking an enemy realms fort, etc. Being good at your class, whatever it was, in that game i felt a bit heroic. Hard to explain, i'm sure some others who have played DAOC pre TOA, know what i mean.
solo'ing group quests ... I'll always have a go.
LOL! Are you shocked? considering the MMO gaming demograph is composed of mainly 18 to 30 year old guys... I still don't get why guys play chics in games... and the whole "staring at another guys ass" argument seems very homophobic, and they should probably see a shink before the pent up rage causes them to hurt someone... Me? I like to create characters as a projection of myself in that game world (which is also a heroic feeling) so I don't mind staring at my own ass...
What are your other Hobbies?
Gaming is Dirt Cheap compared to this...
I'm not really shocked, but it's a shallow, cheap, braindead trick.
However, as a healthy young male, I'll probably give this game a try. Their shallow, cheap, braindead trick worked on me.
Well, this is not exactly 'I wanna be Uncle Owen!', but I like starting off as a NON-hero. Starting off, mind you. I want to grow in power (levels, skills, whatever) and do great (or horrible) deeds. I then want the world to react as such. I don't want to be nearly at the freaking level-cap with loads of boss kills under my belt and the quest-givers and NPCs are still treating me the same 'clear the ten rats out of my basement' style quests as they did when I first loaded the game.
So, yeah, I don't mind starting off wearing old clothing, wielding a rusty dagger, with a penny to my name and being asked to kill ten rats. But I want my armor to get better and better, I want to kill bigger and nastier things, and I want word of my deeds to spread so that I'm the first one the king thinks about to come to with a request to slay the dragon that's terrorizing the land.
So I don't like starting off feeling incredibly super-heroic. If I do, I feel I have no place to go from there. But I definitely want to end up that way, taking on the Big Bads, or the hordes of baddies, with awesome gear and awesome abilities.
And I would like it if that 'awesome gear' wasn't a platemail bikini. I'm female, I don't mind wearing sexy clothing, but that stuff is just ridiculous.... and I really don't get off on seeing my boobs bounce or my hips sway seductively.
I play based on class/race. For example if I wanted to be a Barbarian warrior, I would likely roll a male toon, if I wanted a Elven priest, I would go female. Some are 50/50 like a Human Cleric could go either way for me.
Usually I want to get the feel of beating other people in games. I can be competitive but really not into sports (unless it is me who is playing . ..). I don't want to play a hero. I usually am a thief or assassin.
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Hackin' and slashin' through hordes of [insert mobs here]. Or perhaps taking down an "elite" group of 4 or 5 [insert command title here]. Either way, I want them to laugh at (underestimate) me as I charge towards 'em and beg for mercy (or bleed out) after I'm done with 'em. NPCs can't really do that, of course, but if they could, I'd feel so sweet.
That's one of the main reasons I liked CoH. You took down mobs of... mobs... rather than one at a time. Plus the ragdoll physics were always fun. A game based on heroes knew how to feel heroic. Go figure, right?
I feel heroic when I am playing as the only healer (or 1 of 2) in a dungeon party. The survival of the party is in our hands and in a way, we control their life and death. The more epic the battles (which strain our abilities to manage health), the more heroic. The most heroic thing is sacrificing oneself by wading into a group of hostiles to resurrect a fallen tank such that the rest of the party can survive the battle (note: only attempt when there is another healer).
Bench pressing Locomotives.
What?
I'm just saying... makes me feel heroic.
Say hello, To the things you've left behind. They are more a part of your life now that you can't touch them.
I feel heroic when I don't die so easily. What I mean is my character does have vulnerablities. But when in combat he gets beaten up, bloodied, knocked into the ground or tossed into a wall but is still able to pick himself back up and land that killer blow. I love the fights where I'm physically sighing in relief after managing to surive against the odds once again. Does that mean the combat has to be easy? No, but it could "let you win" when it sees you are trying so hard to win against reasonble odds. But what like what the OP said there really need to be a lot more movement in combat. Where both you and the mobs are actively shifting around when attacking and defending.
CoH at launch had the "heroic" feel down IMO.
As a scrapper, you could fight off groups of bad guys at the same time. If you were up high, you could send a mob flying off the edge to their demise. Luved the combat system.
If the questing/everything else had been good, probably would of stuck with game. Didnt make it 6 weeks past launch as we got bored.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
Asheron's Call made me feel heroic.. Me in a room deep in a dungeon packed full of Olthoi. My back against the wall with shield and axe in hand cutting through them. If they get behind u, death can be quick.. Managing stam potions, because if your stamina dropped to zero, death would soon follow (no stam = no melee defense).
There was always danger.. You could take on many, but it was always risky. If you do mess up and die, u had to run back down into the swarm to get your body.. Hopefully you still had you weapon or that really important piece of armor...
Using superior tactics and terrain to single handedly defend a keep against 9 enemies. (I was an archer, and to this day I don't know how I did it, never happened again. I was "in the zone")
Also, being in a well coordinated group of people, taking on anywhere from 10-20 monster at once that would normally kill me in 5 shots, and doing it well.
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Being able to keep everyone in the party alife, especially if the situation is grim. Yeah I love playing healers. Tanks are good too.
Having the best equipment and the best skills I can get, and to manage exceptional challenges.
If you look unique and cool, you look 1. unique and 2. cool.
1. Because, you know, unique means nobody else looks like you.
2. And cool means you look cool. And you still look cool even if everyone else looks cool. Just like a beautiful women isnt suddenly ugly when surrounded by a mass of other beautiful women.
And about everyone doing the same thing, thats to me mostly a problem because I hate instances.
I agree about the "epic" item, but if you want to be unique, everyone will get a unique epic item that nobody else gets.
Exactly the opposite for me.
My offensive toons are usually female.
While my defensive ones (healers, buffers and tanks) are usually male.
Mostly because I love strong women.
My MMO mains are always male and healer, though.