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Vanguard: Saga of Heroes


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I don't know if any of you remember Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, which was a game that Sony Online Entertainment decided to close down a few yeras ago. It was a brilliant game that pulled no punches and didn't hold your hand (unless it was to distract you while it plunged a dagger into your back!). A lot of players were very upset when Sony decided it wasn't profitable enough and closed down the servers, because the game was unique for its time and not only was it a very good hardcore MMORPG with 15 different classes, 14 different races (and 6 types of human) most of which had their own distinct starting areas and questlines, but also featued a complicated, indepth crafting system (a bloody frustrating one!) and a very interesting card based, diplomacy minigame.

I was one of the players who really missed it and lamented its loss, well great news, it's back! The VGOEmulater is a fan run project which has got hold of the source code for the game and has got a server up and running and the game is playable again. It's currently in a (sort of) pre-alpha stage in that they are still working on it  and not got everything working properly again yet, but it is playable and some of us are playing it and bug reporting as we find stuff. The new devs are all fans who are devoting their spare time to bringing this game back to life and although they do accept donations, they are purely used to pay for the server.

If you would like to try the game and maybe do a bit of play testing and you don't mind that some small parts may still be broken, then you can find their forum here https://www.vgoemulator.net/phpBB3/index.php

You can check out the wiki here https://vanguard.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page

 

 

Edited by podgie_bear
  • Like! 1
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On 1/19/2020 at 5:40 AM, podgie_bear said:

I don't know if any of you remember Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, which was a game that Sony Online Entertainment decided to close down a few yeras ago. It was a brilliant game that pulled no punches and didn't hold your hand (unless it was to distract you while it plunged a dagger into your back!). A lot of players were very upset when Sony decided it wasn't profitable enough and closed down the servers, because the game was unique for its time and not only was it a very good hardcore MMORPG with 15 different classes, 14 different races (and 6 types of human) most of which had their own distinct starting areas and questlines, but also featued a complicated, indepth crafting system (a bloody frustrating one!) and a very interesting card based, diplomacy minigame.

I was one of the players who really missed it and lamented its loss, well great news, it's back! The VGOEmulater is a fan run project which has got hold of the source code for the game and has got a server up and running and the game is playable again. It's currently in a (sort of) pre-alpha stage in that they are still working on it  and not got everything working properly again yet, but it is playable and some of us are playing it and bug reporting as we find stuff. The new devs are all fans who are devoting their spare time to bringing this game back to life and although they do accept donations, they are purely used to pay for the server.

If you would like to try the game and maybe do a bit of play testing and you don't mind that some small parts may still be broken, then you can find their forum here https://www.vgoemulator.net/phpBB3/index.php

You can check out the wiki here https://vanguard.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page

 

 

Great read Podgie.  I never played this game, but it looks like a fair bit of work went into it and it had some promise... and maybe still does ^^ Looked up some videos online and this youtuber did a great narration of the game's history and how its marketing and production happened... great bit of vgame history!

:)

 

gogo

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Yes I saw this video, but he was concentrating on what went wrong and what might have contributed to its demise. He didn't spend a lot of time showing what was good, how it was ahead of its time and why players are willing to devote their spare time and effort into reviving the game. I know this is only my opinion and may raise a few hackles, but if we were to compare Vanguard against WoW, Vanguard would be the MMO aimed at serious game playing adults, while WoW would look like it was programmed for pre-teen children. Even just the mini-games show the difference between the games. Diplomacy takes patience to learn and skill and tactics to win, it also affects all aspects of the game, faction reputation, merchant responses, guards responses, even how the farmers and peasants view you. Crafting is a fiendishly complicated procedure that rewards you for how well you cope with the complications and problems that arise during the crafting process. If you want to make equipment for your character, you can't just throw materials at a crafting bench and get the item you want, you have to work and struggle to produce it and even then the quality of the item can vary enormously depending on how much effort you put into it and how skilfully you cope with the problems arising.

When you add in the 15 classes, 20 (including 6 nationalities of human) races and backgrounds and the dozen or more starting areas and separate main quest lines, there is enough variety and challenge here to satisfy anyone.

Edited by podgie_bear
  • Like! 1
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2 hours ago, podgie_bear said:

Yes I saw this video, but he was concentrating on what went wrong and what might have contributed to its demise. He didn't spend a lot of time showing what was good, how it was ahead of its time and why players are willing to devote their spare time and effort into reviving the game. I know this is only my opinion and may raise a few hackles, but if we were to compare Vanguard against WoW, Vanguard would be the MMO aimed at serious game playing adults, while WoW would look like it was programmed for pre-teen children. Even just the mini-games show the difference between the games. Diplomacy takes patience to learn and skill and tactics to win, it also affects all aspects of the game, faction reputation, merchant responses, guards responses, even how the farmers and peasants view you. Crafting is a fiendishly complicated procedure that rewards you for how well you cope with the complications and problems that arise during the crafting process. If you want to make equipment for your character, you can't just throw materials at a crafting bench and get the item you want, you have to work and struggle to produce it and even then the quality of the item can vary enormously depending on how much effort you put into it and how skilfully you cope with the problems arising.

When you add in the 15 classes, 20 (including 6 nationalities of human) races and backgrounds and the dozen or more starting areas and separate main quest lines, there is enough variety and challenge here to satisfy anyone.

I've actually never played WoW Podgie, or in fact any MMo o_O ...but I love how you've described crafting in Vanguard... can see how a player would definitely become invested in the creation of a piece of long-wrought craftsmanship

:)

 

gogo

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