I’m still making my way through Kingsmouth, it feels like I’ve been there forever now. I’ve actually been having issues with the ‘feeling’ of The Secret World, and no I don’t mean the game play but of course once again, the genre. I decided that the best way for me to play it would be to turn off as many sounds as I could, leaving combat on because it’s really difficult (I find) to battle if you can’t hear anything and are used to. Thankfully there are usually visual clues on what you should be doing for each encounter if it requires it.
With most of my gear upgraded to quality 3 (a few pieces still at 2) and a decent supply of AP under my belt, I decided I was ready for my first run through Polaris. Ogur provided me with a pretty handy guide about Fist healing – while I am working towards the Exorcist deck, let me mention that it’s because of the outfit, and not because it’s the ‘greatest heal spec’ or anything like that.
The path I’ve been taking for healing so far was written up by Escalith on the TSW forums, and it’s very clear and easy to follow. The instance itself was a lot of fun and thanks to Ogur having already run it a few times before he was able to explain to the group what was going to happen. Actually I think I was the only person who had not been there before.
[Early Game – 69 Points] – Able to heal Polaris
Actives1. (Fist Tier 1) – Nurture
2. (Fist Tier 2) – Surgical Steel
3. (Fist Tier 2) – Empathy
4 ?
5 ?
6 ?
7 ?Passives
1. (Fist Tier 1) – Nurturing Gift
2. (Fist Tier 1) – Out of the Woods {E}
3. (Hammer Tier 1) – Brawler
4 ?
5 ?
6 ?
7 ?Very basic; that’s all you really need to keep your team alive in the first Dungeon.
I still enjoy the game play and the world as much as ever, but just can’t seem to wrap my head around the genre. I suppose being afraid of my own shadow doesn’t exactly help in this case. Because I’m reluctant to give up on a game that I do enjoy (at least the basics of) I’ve been trying this and that to get ‘comfortable’. So far it only works for brief stints. There’s just too much of a heavy feeling to the game for me to feel light and care free as I play it, which is how I tend to play. Turning off the gnashing of zombie teeth and the slurps as they devoured a meal certainly helped briefly, but it doesn’t take away the shadow of “something is out there.. waiting.. FOR YOU!” I understand that it’s the entire point of The Secret World, but I find it hard to see the game as anything but niche because of that fact.
So will I keep playing after my 30 days is up? Undecided. Unless I can find a way to be ‘comfortable’ with the genre, I don’t think I will. I’ve been known to change my mind (many times) before, so we’ll just have to see. After all, I didn’t think I’d even play the game or enjoy it either, and here I am.
On the brighter side of things, Guild Wars 2 does release this week, and MOP is not that far away. I’m also still playing EVE Online, so it’s not like I don’t have a nice round selection of games to choose from. What a great time to be a gamer.
I’m not a fan of the horror genre either. I don’t watch those types of movies or read those types of books. That said. . . . I’m loving TSW. Sure it’s dark and moody with all the fog and such, but there are monsters other than zombies — even robots to fight at times. There’ve only been 2 quests that were so dark that they bugged me, but even they had ways of lighting things up a bit.
Of course I’m also not big into “immersion” so I always keep myself aware that I’m playing a game, and I’m sure that helps me a lot in that aspect also.
But I totally agree with Dril’s last sentence: I’d much prefer a “secret” world to a “twisted” one.
I’m really surprised you find the atmosphere to be that…dominant.
I don’t know, but the fact that everything was scripted and all the NPC monsters was pretty much a bullet to the head in terms of ever really feeling like it was a horror game; I get where Funcom were coming from, but I don’t think they really pulled off the horror much at all. The only thing that really got to me was The Black House (the blood on the walls, the slamming doors and stuff were all very well done) but every other time they tried to really drive home the atmosphere either the aforementioned knowledge that nothing was really going to happen to my character was a real bummer, and/or the missions were bugged and frustrating to the point where I stopped caring about anything other than getting the damned XP.
I honestly think they’d’ve done a lot better if they really had gone for a “secret” rather than a “twisted” world, but that’s just me.