I have recently been toying around with a PS3 and it is online. Love teh hub - I went and watched a movie ..in a movie theater ..on the playstation network! It was kwel.
The PS3 Hub system ( while purty keen ) is not what I came here today to talk to you about. I am here to tell you about DC Universe Online. WOOOT! I am looking about the PS3 store for something updates, demos, or freewarze and what do I come accross? Only one of the most engaging super hero video games I have in my life played to date. The story is nice and Elder Scrollsy - ya know? Because you make your own character and the missions based scenarios are pretty flexible. You can start in Metropolis working with Superman and then decided 'screw Gorilla Grod' and teleport to Gotham to work with Batman. They do force you to choose an alignment tho - good or evil aka 'Hero or Villain' in the character creation screen - and this provides you with a Mentor.
For Heroes you can be a 'meta' ( the DC version of Mutant ) with Superman as your mentor. You can be magical - and have Wonder Woman as your mentor ( for those of you not aware Wonder Woman is a homonculous created out of dirt in a cave by the queen of the amazons that was brought to life by the goddess Athena ), and if you choose to be a technological hero you get The Batman as your mentor. Your choice of mentor/power type defines your starting location, mission, and a few other things. The Villain mentors are Lex Luthor for metas, Circe for magicals, and The Joker for techs. I was annoyed that Lex Luthor was set as teh meta mentor for villains considering he has no powers, but when you consider that they have pulled a hardly known villain like Circe into the game they are simply using the arch villains of the hero mentors.
If I was to suggest them one thing - it would be to up the villain game to more than a shadow of the the Hero game. I am hover going to suggest far more than one thing~!#
Before I get to that a word on the pricing of this wondergasm of awesome. The base account is free and comes with two character slots. You can buy a green lantern ring ( or yellow lantern ring if you are a villain, but no blue, purple, sapphire, or red rings ..yet ). You can buy extra characters individually, or you can pay seven ninety nine a month to have unlimited access to stuff and things. Makes you wonder what will happen if you pay for a month create twenty characters and then not pay the next month.. do they delete the characters? Or could I spend 8 dollars to seed a small Legion of Super Heroes and then actually get to keep them... hmm.. anyway! There are lots of incidentals ( like green lantern powers, or lightning bolt powers, or a flying robot that is your sidekick, a dog that can fly to be your side kick ) all of which are great and cool ways of getting people to pay into an other wise free game. They also give you the option to buy expanded backpack, vault space, extra characters, and that kind of keen jazz. I think it is a great model.
So the game - first off - Lex Luthor from the the future is the hero of this game. Sometime in the not too distant future Lex Luthor killed superman with the help of Circe and the Joker. Soon after Superman was killed Braniac attacked and conquered Earth. So, using a last technological wish Lex Luthor went back in time - warned Superman and brought with him 'Exobites' - strange Braniac technology that grants normal human beings super powers. Future Lex Luthor then vanished as his existence was erased from the time stream - leaving only the Exobites and a world full of super humans - and then Braniac detected the temporal anomaly and stepped up his time table. Braniac started collecting the humans effected by the Exobites - and this is where you story starts - you awaken in a Braniac assault ship holding cell.
As a hero you are guided by Oracle. A member of the Justice League with no powers, but phenomenal computer hacking abilities. She is able to transmit a signal to the Braniac ship and guide you to safety - only instead of guiding you to safety she decides to have you destroy the enemy invading force - with Superman - you are a Hero after all - right? If you choose the villain path you meet a new villain. The Calculator. I am fairly certain that the Calculator was created for DC Universe Online specifically. Correction! The Calculator is an old corny villain that wasnt being used anymore ( he had a green lantern hat ..basically ), and got revamped to be a villainous analog to Oracle. Neat - learn something new every day :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Calculator
Whichever path you choose you end up destroying one of the Braniac assault ships, yeah humanity! and then being teleported to one of several ( ok in this case three ) locations that serve as the main base for your characters Mentor. For heroes these locations are Police Departments, and for the villain character I made I ended up in a nightclub.. I am not certain if that is the case for all the villain mentors of simply The Joker. Each of the base locations has a teleporter in it that leads you either to the lair of the society of evil or the justice league satellite. You can buy epic level equipment at these locations and you can also access the banks - which is a place you can store stuff that you dont use in play like Exobites. Here you can also use Exobites in constructing item enhancements that you can use to continue increasing your power level after you reach lv 30 and buy your epic outfit. To use the crafting tables you have to comb through the streets of the cities looking for Exobites - they spawn randomly throughout the city constantly.
Another kewl element of DCU Online is the scavanger hunt deal. Basically there are little green and blue markers all over the place ( the villain markers might be different colors I have been playing the hero ). You collect those markers to get pieces of multipart collections. Like 'Lois Lanes report on Gorilla Grod' or 'Vicky Vales report on Bane' all sorts of stuff. One of the collections I am in the middle of is the Lex Luthor meta human research collection. I most recently collected 'some research on a meta heart' its cool - but ya know what would be cooler!?
If the collections were more than a list item,
- I want to be able to interact with them somehow :)
One of the great things about playing a game like DCU Online is you can feel the unfinishedness of it. There is no reason it cannot, and every reason DCU Online *should* continue to grow and expand. They have already added a new city! You have to pay to get there ( for now ) but Central City exits. I imagine after they make their desired revenue goal ( or after x time ) the lightning power will become available on the standard options. I think that super pets should stay purchase only, and I am certain they are going to keep the lantern rings on the purchase only list, but I bet that the lightning powers are pay only because they were new - and they are waiting for a major update to the system ( ya know the kind that makes you uninstall and reinstall teh software because the primary menu has changed ). One thing that I am surprised about is that while there is a complete line up of Cat, Dog, Lion, Tiger, and even Fox furry body styles - they dont have the aliens!?
Whats with that? There is an entire lineup of alien races out there in the DCU - why are they not standard body type options in the game? Are they waiting for a deployment? Like DCU Online Invasion! or something? Hmm.. not a bad idea actually..
Now for some suggestions - more mentors. More locations other than the Police Stations and the Night Clubs. Actually - the reason I want more mentors is that there are plenty of heroes to go around. Why cant my character study with Dr Fate at his tower? Why cant I join the Teen Titans? I think - that underneath your 'primary mentor' you should be assigned to one of the super hero teams ( like young justice, teen titans, birds of prey, the strangers, all star squadron, justice society, or even Super Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! ..wait.. Super Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! isnt a DC Title.. ) anyway - by assigning the new hero to a team you can add additional storytelling elements to the starting narrative - give the new player a sense of belonging that they may or may not get immediately from other players ( I was invited to be on True Justice 'one of the oldest leagues on the DCU Online - right about lv 10 ). You would also be increasing the diversity and replay value of creating new characters. OOOOOhhh! Money making scheme!
So you make it 'random' ( not random, but not a wittingly selectable item ) the choice of what team you are assigned to is determined by your character model and costuming choices. Are you a small spark? Young Justice. Are you wearing 'cool' clothes and a medium sized character? Teen Titans. Are you wearing the funky spandex outfit? Doom patrol - did you choose the 'old person skin' Justice Society. You could tailor the humor to match up with the 'personality quiz' that is the character creation process. Do allot of keen meta jokes in the Young Justice path, make hip Gen X comments with the Teen Titans, and make crass old people gaffs with the Justice Society. Seems like you would want to give the teams an extra name.. like Justice Society Auxiliary.. Teen Titans Vanguard? Young Justice Elite? Hmm.. great idea - and because you dont know 'exactly' how to get onto any particular team - and there is no switching teams after you get assigned you might just sell extra profiles to the people that dont like to delete their characters - but *really* really REALLY want to be on the Doom Patrol - ya know?
What else - oh! Yeah - I want a watching TV version.
Not joking. I was working on some stuff and I couldnt play - and I was flipping through the channels for some background noise and I said to myself.. ya know? If I could just watch league play and ring war, and all those PvP match things.. I totaly would. It intriguing to me - because it is like sports. You would want it to basically rotate around the active characters in an instance, or ( with the players permission ) follow a specific player throughout the game ( me PR here would *gladly* sign up for that gig ( can..I haz lightning powerz!? ) I would watch it. I really would - and - think on this thunk - what if your girlfriend/child was playing and you had no real interest in playing, but you would rather watch what that person is doing that watch 'idk cheers reruns' or something like that.
Last bit of aduhvise, green skin.. cmon now! Green skin isnt an option!?
I saw Captain Kirk at one of the Police Stations, and I didnt get a chance to talk to him, but I am certain that he is disappointed in the lack of green skin. You can be a lizard person - but you cant be a Brainiac? Yeesh :smirk:
