All indications are that SOE is going down the same path as every other publisher for the last 10 years, taking no risks (with regards to mechanics being different to WoW) outside of the voxel-destruction
wows a everquest 1 clone
soe has a good market curently with ever quest 1. and 2 still gone on strong planetside 2 bring in high numbers ( runes of magic )( Dragon prophet ) also going on verry strong
theres a lot of mmos out there that are not a eq1 clone some are in non english some are if waiting for next is not your hype go try some other game and when next come out try it
they showed us next just a few taste bits the game not due out any time soon
and remeber this blizzard pulled titan after they anonced next so just a thought :P
Consider that no large publisher, SOE included, has created a unique MMO in 10 years (since WoW)
Um.. hate to break it to you, but WoW was far from original, I mean hell, it took a massive majority of its queues from Everquest 1... you know that right?
I didn't say that WoW was original. I was just using it as a indication of time-frame.
Originally posted by Mattatron Yes, I'm saying you don't have enough substantive content in that argument to warrant a "big brother" speech.
Get over yourself - some people might want to know. The post wasn't hostile towards anyone else's opinion on the game, it simply cautions those that might be casually looking into it or might not have checked in for a while not to start fantasizing about it. Just wait it out and see what it looks like at launch.
You seem to be filling in some gaps yourself. Multi classing like GW2? How did you get to that?
It's been revealed in a panel. I'll find a link and post below in a short bit. It's an interesting concept, but looks almost identical to Guild Wars 2 on it's face.
Edit: Here's a link to an article about the reveal on VG247. There's also a youtube video, but I don't have it handy.
"Players will be able tell what class another player is by the way the character stands and holds their weapon. With 40 classes to choose form when multi-classing, it’s going to be pretty easy to hit on an uncommon combination, but builds can also be customised with items."
Eeh I'm still not seeing the GW2 connection. You have hard classes in GW2. A hunter will never learn Necro skills.
Originally posted by Mattatron Yes, I'm saying you don't have enough substantive content in that argument to warrant a "big brother" speech.
Get over yourself - some people might want to know. The post wasn't hostile towards anyone else's opinion on the game, it simply cautions those that might be casually looking into it or might not have checked into for a while.
Get over "my" self? What do you think you're teaching people with this profound wisdom?
Don't get excited. Things can go wrong. Things have not gone well before. I'm warning you. Bad things happened before and they can happen again. Achtung.
I really like what they've revealed so far honestly. Not to where I think it's the perfect MMO, but it looks a fair bit better than what I've played in recent years.
I think there's a market for a game like this. I'm glad you like what's been revealed. I don't think there's anything inherently "wrong" with the way the game is developing - I just think that for many people, their expectations are misplaced and far overreaching. At least with regards to my circle of friends. It's been hard convincing them that this isn't going to be an immersive, adult PvE experience like they seem to think.
and see, you do it again here. you can't have expectations misplaced unless you are expecting something wholly unrelated to what has been revealed.
for instance, if you are expecting an FFA PvP game, then ya, you have misplaced expectations.
Those who misplace their expectations because they have not been keeping themselves totally informed on what's been revealed of the game.
Those who have inserted a fantasy that fills the void of information regarding the game
and, honestly, i couldn't agree with you more.
so much so that i think this is generally a good idea when dealing with any kind of game. sadly, i agree as well, that too many gamers like to fill in the blanks with their own desires rather than dealing with what is actually known, or not, concerning an upcoming game.
"There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play." Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Originally posted by salaciouscrumbs Originally posted by MattatronYes, I'm saying you don't have enough substantive content in that argument to warrant a "big brother" speech.
Get over yourself - some people might want to know. The post wasn't hostile towards anyone else's opinion on the game, it simply cautions those that might be casually looking into it or might not have checked in for a while not to start fantasizing about it.
Some people might want to know what? The details about a game which isn't even close to launch? Unfinished features and mechanics that you can only speculate on based on what little info is out there?
Mattatron is completely correct.
Threads like these serve no informative purpose and are only good for forum pvp.
Originally posted by MattatronYes, I'm saying you don't have enough substantive content in that argument to warrant a "big brother" speech.
Get over yourself - some people might want to know. The post wasn't hostile towards anyone else's opinion on the game, it simply cautions those that might be casually looking into it or might not have checked in for a while not to start fantasizing about it.
Some people might want to know what? The details about a game which isn't even close to launch? Unfinished features and mechanics that you can only speculate on based on what little info is out there?
Mattatron is completely correct.
Threads like these serve no informative purpose and are only good for forum pvp.
People who don't like the purpose of the thread (because it deflates some of the hype-game surrounding EQN) will find any reason necessary to suite their purpose of trying to sabotage it. It's a game in itself, on these forums.
There wouldn't be forum PvP here if people didn't behave in such a combative manner.
I didn't attack anyone on the forum .
I didn't attempt to discredit anyone on the forum.
I didn't even disagree with anyone on the forum.
All I did was create a thread that cautioned people about getting their hopes up too high by inserting a fantasy into the void of information and (also) not keeping themselves informed on current events. It's a crime to you that this occured, isn't it? Because if it's not, you and your buddy sure as hell are good at feigning offense and victimization.
Originally posted by salaciouscrumbs Originally posted by pierthOriginally posted by salaciouscrumbsOriginally posted by MattatronYes, I'm saying you don't have enough substantive content in that argument to warrant a "big brother" speech.
Get over yourself - some people might want to know. The post wasn't hostile towards anyone else's opinion on the game, it simply cautions those that might be casually looking into it or might not have checked in for a while not to start fantasizing about it.Some people might want to know what? The details about a game which isn't even close to launch? Unfinished features and mechanics that you can only speculate on based on what little info is out there?Mattatron is completely correct. Threads like these serve no informative purpose and are only good for forum pvp.
People who don't like the purpose of the thread (because it deflates some of the hype-game surrounding EQN) will find any reason necessary to suite their purpose of trying to sabotage it. It's a game in itself, on these forums.
There wouldn't be forum PvP here if people didn't behave in such a combative manner.
I didn't attack anyone on the forum .
I didn't attempt to discredit anyone on the forum.
I didn't even disagree with anyone on the forum.
All I did was create a thread that cautioned people about getting their hopes up too high by inserting a fantasy into the void of information and (also) not keeping themselves informed on current events. It's a crime to you that this occured, isn't it? Because if it's not, you and your buddy sure as hell are good at feigning offense and victimization.
Pretty sure the other posters in this thread know exactly what your intention was, but what is being pointed out is there isn't enough evidence out to truly make claims about how good or bad the game will be so your message is unwarranted. On top of this, what is or isn't a game to get "hyped" about is completely subjective, so again your message and speculation are unreliable at best.
What was being shown by replacing EQN with any other subject is that your message was nothing more than common sense and the fact that it could be given about any number of subjects shows how uninformative and unhelpful it really is; I don't think anyonme is doubting your intentions, it's the message itself that is without value.
No different than cautioning someone that they could be cut if they use knives, or drown while swimming.
Originally posted by MattatronYes, I'm saying you don't have enough substantive content in that argument to warrant a "big brother" speech.
Get over yourself - some people might want to know. The post wasn't hostile towards anyone else's opinion on the game, it simply cautions those that might be casually looking into it or might not have checked in for a while not to start fantasizing about it.
Some people might want to know what? The details about a game which isn't even close to launch? Unfinished features and mechanics that you can only speculate on based on what little info is out there?Mattatron is completely correct. Threads like these serve no informative purpose and are only good for forum pvp.
People who don't like the purpose of the thread (because it deflates some of the hype-game surrounding EQN) will find any reason necessary to suite their purpose of trying to sabotage it. It's a game in itself, on these forums.
There wouldn't be forum PvP here if people didn't behave in such a combative manner.
I didn't attack anyone on the forum .
I didn't attempt to discredit anyone on the forum.
I didn't even disagree with anyone on the forum.
All I did was create a thread that cautioned people about getting their hopes up too high by inserting a fantasy into the void of information and (also) not keeping themselves informed on current events. It's a crime to you that this occured, isn't it? Because if it's not, you and your buddy sure as hell are good at feigning offense and victimization.
Pretty sure the other posters in this thread know exactly what your intention was, but what is being pointed out is there isn't enough evidence out to truly make claims about how good or bad the game will be so your message is unwarranted. On top of this, what is or isn't a game to get "hyped" about is completely subjective, so again your message and speculation are unreliable at best.
What was being shown by replacing EQN with any other subject is that your message was nothing more than common sense and the fact that it could be given about any number of subjects shows how uninformative and unhelpful it really is; I don't think anyonme is doubting your intentions, it's the message itself that is without value.
No different than cautioning someone that they could be cut if they use knives, or drown while swimming.
This is the Everquest Next Forum. Not "Kitchen Knives". Not "Cars". Not "Marriage". This post belongs in this forum.
The OP has more informative than 90% of the posts in this sub forum which list no information at all, just conjecture.
The OP does list information about the game.
The OP specifically addresses a phenom that is surrounding this game, not kitchen knives, not marriage and not cars. That phenom being: excessive hype form inserting *blank* fantasy in the void of information surrounding the game.
Get over yourself and stop posting in this thread, if it's so "irrelevant" and "generic" to you
If there's any advice I can give to my fellow MMO aficionados, I would first say beware putting too much hope into this game in particular. For anyone who is expecting something different than the MMO's of the last decade, guard against hoping to the point of fantasy.
Beware for the following reasons:
Lack of information about how the game will function - don't fill in the gaps with your fantasy
Consider that no large publisher, SOE included, has created a unique MMO in 10 years (since WoW)
The game appears from the demo, art-style, recently unveiled mechanics (fast travel) to be catering to very young people
There will be a cash shop and it will be free-to-play, not a subscription model - people seem to be forgetting this
Special effects and zerg-fest shown in the demo looks very similar to SWTOR's (failed) attempt at making everyone "heroic"
No evidence shown that multi-classing will be any different than Guild Wars 2 (failed) attempt at improving groups
Complete re-working of the EQ lore to the point where it's not the same lore whatsoever - not even remotely similar
All indications are that SOE is going down the same path as every other publisher for the last 10 years, taking no risks (with regards to mechanics being different to WoW) outside of the voxel-destruction.
I don't mention these points to bash the game. I mention them because of the many friends I have who seem to think this game is going to be something that (by all indications) it will not be. Many people also seem to be filling in the blank areas of information with wishful thinking - fantasies of what they believe the game should be rather than realistic speculation as to what it will be.
I'm only stating this because I was in the SWTOR community from the very beginning - I realize how much my own imagination of what "could have been" blinded me as to what ended up being reality in the end. I honestly wish I hadn't spent so much time involved in that community before the game even launched, because the final product was a slap in the face of what we all thought it would be.
Just be careful here - wait until most of the information is out before blindly believing that this is going to the next "big one", as many articles seem to have stated recently. I would hate to see the hopes of decent people crushed.
First of all it is true for every game to avoid "people also seem to be filling in the blank areas of information with wishful thinking - fantasies of what they believe the game should be rather than realistic speculation as to what it will be"
Because everyone does it to some extent and it always creates hype and expectations noone can ever fullfil.. and for EQN it is true we don't know a lot, there are a lot of blank areas as for most games in pre public beta development cycle.
But at the same time you do the same with negativity.. you fill blank areas with disappointments from recent games (your points 5-8) and nothing indicates that in any way.. those are blank areas which you fill with your negative fantasie.
The best advice as always is to wait and see what we really get, and what EQN and EQNL will really be. Now we more or less only know that they try to introduce a few new techniques like destructable voxel terrain and a somewhat new apporach to Mob/NPC behaivor/AI with the Storybricks technologie.. but how that will turn out specifically is more or less unknown.
I will carry my sandwich board "The End is Near" sign around today. Heaven forbid a company in the business of making a profit develop a product geared towards younger folks. I believe it's called trying to establish brand loyalty so these folks keep coming back in the future.
Sounds like no game or game design is ok for the OP.
Fine , go try to rain on someone else's day.
I'm just warning people not to be excited about something that has not even come out yet, because I know it will suck already and not meet anyone's expectations or hopes.
And I will stomp my feet if anyone isn't as distressed about this shitty game as I am.
I am a die hard EQ fan and really want EQN. Yet deep in my heart i ask myself the same questions as the OP. It just does not look like something that caters to EQ fans, but to a very young generation of new player.
Don't get me wrong, this is not all bad. It is just going to piss off alot of EQ fans that hoped for a sequel, including me. I just think they forgot that their most loyal fans have aged by almost 15 years now and are NOT 15 years old.
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
Originally posted by trash656 Actually the OP is right. He's done his research and knows what he's talking about. He obviously knows EQ and has played it along time like myself. I was really hyped for EQNext as well. I love EQ2, but as soon as my Guild Leader told me about the game and what they plan on doing with it. I later realized it will be more like playing an action rpg with a lot of housing options then an actual MMORPG. I hope this post dosnt get removed by the mods on this site, or people posting their thoughts get suspended for having an opinion on EQNext. Negative or positive its all good for gamers to share their thoughts. There is way to much fanboism on this site and not enough Factual information. I ended up having too do my own research and talking to other people then listening to some of the people on this site.
No idea why this post would get locked - it's not negative at all. Just pointing out my mistake of getting unrealistically hyped for a game like SWTOR and the reasons to be cautious for this game.
Hell, EQN could end up being the next "big" thing for all of us. We don't know what's going to happen. But from the information we have thus far (and lack thereof) I think it is actually unhealthy to become obsessed the way we are capable of at this point in time.
You must be new to the site. Yes negative posts sometimes get removed. Don't worry I'm on your side I'm not looking to argue with you. I don't do that. I like you're post. Very informative. I agree with you for the most part, but I don't think this game will be the next best thing. People get too overly hyped over games on this site though. Lots of fanboi'ism you will find here. I don't visit this site much anymore because of it. The community here is depressing.
A lot people do tend to agree with this, but we've also learned to never believe everything we see or hear from the World Wide Web. Companies tend to keep quiet about game mechanics for many reasons, mostly it's to stops ppl from stealing the idea from their mmo's coming up. How would you like someone out there to steal all your secrets and you end up alone and dead in the water because someone read everything your doing, making, designing and turn it to their ideas. Despite secrets companies are protecting their future and the future of the players that come to end playing a game they love or hate. You'll also find the one person to complain a lot, they degrade the product so much they end up playing it themselves, it's a laugh.
All I can say is, Try the Game when it comes out, if you don't like it well that's your opinion, however please don't ruin a game that is not to your taste for other players looking for something to play it's degrading and makes you look the fool.
I would just say "have realistic expectations" and take the game for what it is not for what you read about and then supplied your own images of what you read meant.
So if a developers says it will have "epic sieges where players can make a difference in the world", take that for "will have sieges/some mechanic that claims to resonate in the world beyond that particular siege" and then when the time comes evaluate that siege/mechanic on its own merits.
I think too many gamers are like kids on christmas morning and run down with expecation of "what could be under the tree" and then realize they got the wooden toys.
Well, your parents might not have been able to afford much, wooden toys can be fun, and there is a certain class to them.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Almost nothing the OP said makes any sense. Like the failed multiple class based game that is GW2? What?
The fast travel system they suggested was very minimal, not catering to young people. The graphics are less childish than Wildstar or WoW and look about equal to GW2 in that respect (though not as good as GW2).
EQ2's lore is completely different than EQ so how is this a big deal?
Cash shops aren't a bad thing and you should expect them in like 75% of the games you play in the future, it isn't like they are magically going away anytime soon.
What on earth makes you think they are taking no risks?
You obviously haven't spent even 5 minutes following this game.
My hopes for this game are built around the fact that they are trying a lot of new things. Even if the game itself flops some of those things will filter into future games and that is nothing but a good thing.
The genre has to move away from the WoW clone and not the way GW2 did by just hiding that it is a WoW clone. This is one of a few titles coming out that appear to be going in a completely different direction and that is nothing but good.
Comments
All indications are that SOE is going down the same path as every other publisher for the last 10 years, taking no risks (with regards to mechanics being different to WoW) outside of the voxel-destruction
wows a everquest 1 clone
soe has a good market curently with ever quest 1. and 2 still gone on strong planetside 2 bring in high numbers ( runes of magic )( Dragon prophet ) also going on verry strong
theres a lot of mmos out there that are not a eq1 clone some are in non english some are if waiting for next is not your hype go try some other game and when next come out try it
they showed us next just a few taste bits the game not due out any time soon
and remeber this blizzard pulled titan after they anonced next so just a thought :P
moo all
I didn't say that WoW was original. I was just using it as a indication of time-frame.
Get over yourself - some people might want to know. The post wasn't hostile towards anyone else's opinion on the game, it simply cautions those that might be casually looking into it or might not have checked in for a while not to start fantasizing about it. Just wait it out and see what it looks like at launch.
"Players will be able tell what class another player is by the way the character stands and holds their weapon. With 40 classes to choose form when multi-classing, it’s going to be pretty easy to hit on an uncommon combination, but builds can also be customised with items."
Eeh I'm still not seeing the GW2 connection. You have hard classes in GW2. A hunter will never learn Necro skills.
Get over "my" self? What do you think you're teaching people with this profound wisdom?
Don't get excited. Things can go wrong. Things have not gone well before. I'm warning you. Bad things happened before and they can happen again. Achtung.
and, honestly, i couldn't agree with you more.
so much so that i think this is generally a good idea when dealing with any kind of game. sadly, i agree as well, that too many gamers like to fill in the blanks with their own desires rather than dealing with what is actually known, or not, concerning an upcoming game.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Some people might want to know what? The details about a game which isn't even close to launch? Unfinished features and mechanics that you can only speculate on based on what little info is out there?
Mattatron is completely correct.
Threads like these serve no informative purpose and are only good for forum pvp.
People who don't like the purpose of the thread (because it deflates some of the hype-game surrounding EQN) will find any reason necessary to suite their purpose of trying to sabotage it. It's a game in itself, on these forums.
There wouldn't be forum PvP here if people didn't behave in such a combative manner.
I didn't attack anyone on the forum .
I didn't attempt to discredit anyone on the forum.
I didn't even disagree with anyone on the forum.
All I did was create a thread that cautioned people about getting their hopes up too high by inserting a fantasy into the void of information and (also) not keeping themselves informed on current events. It's a crime to you that this occured, isn't it? Because if it's not, you and your buddy sure as hell are good at feigning offense and victimization.
Pot, meet kettle
Some people might want to know what? The details about a game which isn't even close to launch? Unfinished features and mechanics that you can only speculate on based on what little info is out there? Mattatron is completely correct. Threads like these serve no informative purpose and are only good for forum pvp.
People who don't like the purpose of the thread (because it deflates some of the hype-game surrounding EQN) will find any reason necessary to suite their purpose of trying to sabotage it. It's a game in itself, on these forums.
There wouldn't be forum PvP here if people didn't behave in such a combative manner.
I didn't attack anyone on the forum .
I didn't attempt to discredit anyone on the forum.
I didn't even disagree with anyone on the forum.
All I did was create a thread that cautioned people about getting their hopes up too high by inserting a fantasy into the void of information and (also) not keeping themselves informed on current events. It's a crime to you that this occured, isn't it? Because if it's not, you and your buddy sure as hell are good at feigning offense and victimization.
Pretty sure the other posters in this thread know exactly what your intention was, but what is being pointed out is there isn't enough evidence out to truly make claims about how good or bad the game will be so your message is unwarranted. On top of this, what is or isn't a game to get "hyped" about is completely subjective, so again your message and speculation are unreliable at best.
What was being shown by replacing EQN with any other subject is that your message was nothing more than common sense and the fact that it could be given about any number of subjects shows how uninformative and unhelpful it really is; I don't think anyonme is doubting your intentions, it's the message itself that is without value.
No different than cautioning someone that they could be cut if they use knives, or drown while swimming.
First of all it is true for every game to avoid "people also seem to be filling in the blank areas of information with wishful thinking - fantasies of what they believe the game should be rather than realistic speculation as to what it will be"
Because everyone does it to some extent and it always creates hype and expectations noone can ever fullfil.. and for EQN it is true we don't know a lot, there are a lot of blank areas as for most games in pre public beta development cycle.
But at the same time you do the same with negativity.. you fill blank areas with disappointments from recent games (your points 5-8) and nothing indicates that in any way.. those are blank areas which you fill with your negative fantasie.
The best advice as always is to wait and see what we really get, and what EQN and EQNL will really be. Now we more or less only know that they try to introduce a few new techniques like destructable voxel terrain and a somewhat new apporach to Mob/NPC behaivor/AI with the Storybricks technologie.. but how that will turn out specifically is more or less unknown.
I will carry my sandwich board "The End is Near" sign around today. Heaven forbid a company in the business of making a profit develop a product geared towards younger folks. I believe it's called trying to establish brand loyalty so these folks keep coming back in the future.
Sounds like no game or game design is ok for the OP.
Fine , go try to rain on someone else's day.
I'm just warning people not to be excited about something that has not even come out yet, because I know it will suck already and not meet anyone's expectations or hopes.
And I will stomp my feet if anyone isn't as distressed about this shitty game as I am.
Amen brotha
The sad part about this is:
I am a die hard EQ fan and really want EQN. Yet deep in my heart i ask myself the same questions as the OP. It just does not look like something that caters to EQ fans, but to a very young generation of new player.
Don't get me wrong, this is not all bad. It is just going to piss off alot of EQ fans that hoped for a sequel, including me. I just think they forgot that their most loyal fans have aged by almost 15 years now and are NOT 15 years old.
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
Great post. Take no notice of the forum dweller trouble makers, they have forgot all meaning of what forums are about:)
I kinda think the new WoW models look alot like EQN models also
A lot people do tend to agree with this, but we've also learned to never believe everything we see or hear from the World Wide Web. Companies tend to keep quiet about game mechanics for many reasons, mostly it's to stops ppl from stealing the idea from their mmo's coming up. How would you like someone out there to steal all your secrets and you end up alone and dead in the water because someone read everything your doing, making, designing and turn it to their ideas. Despite secrets companies are protecting their future and the future of the players that come to end playing a game they love or hate. You'll also find the one person to complain a lot, they degrade the product so much they end up playing it themselves, it's a laugh.
All I can say is, Try the Game when it comes out, if you don't like it well that's your opinion, however please don't ruin a game that is not to your taste for other players looking for something to play it's degrading and makes you look the fool.
Thanks for Reading This and Keep and Open Mind.
agree - the game is ftp
the business model alone is a turnoff to some gamers
try it, if you don't like it - move on
EQ2 fan sites
I would just say "have realistic expectations" and take the game for what it is not for what you read about and then supplied your own images of what you read meant.
So if a developers says it will have "epic sieges where players can make a difference in the world", take that for "will have sieges/some mechanic that claims to resonate in the world beyond that particular siege" and then when the time comes evaluate that siege/mechanic on its own merits.
I think too many gamers are like kids on christmas morning and run down with expecation of "what could be under the tree" and then realize they got the wooden toys.
Well, your parents might not have been able to afford much, wooden toys can be fun, and there is a certain class to them.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
My expectations are extremely low for this.
I can't lose really. If it's crap I won't care, if it's good.. nice surprise.
Almost nothing the OP said makes any sense. Like the failed multiple class based game that is GW2? What?
The fast travel system they suggested was very minimal, not catering to young people. The graphics are less childish than Wildstar or WoW and look about equal to GW2 in that respect (though not as good as GW2).
EQ2's lore is completely different than EQ so how is this a big deal?
Cash shops aren't a bad thing and you should expect them in like 75% of the games you play in the future, it isn't like they are magically going away anytime soon.
What on earth makes you think they are taking no risks?
You obviously haven't spent even 5 minutes following this game.
My hopes for this game are built around the fact that they are trying a lot of new things. Even if the game itself flops some of those things will filter into future games and that is nothing but a good thing.
The genre has to move away from the WoW clone and not the way GW2 did by just hiding that it is a WoW clone. This is one of a few titles coming out that appear to be going in a completely different direction and that is nothing but good.