Wish Preview

It’s almost like a dream come true. Is this just ‘Wish’ful thinking, or do the folks at Mutable Realms and Themis Group really have the idea that medieval-fantasy massively multiplayer role-playing gamers have been waiting for?

The name of the game is Wish, and it will be wrapping up its first beta stage very shortly. The next phase calls for a limited group of testers joining the developers for a “deep development” phase, testing content. The next beta should launch near the summer and the game is tentatively slated for release at the end of the year.

But from what was seen in the first beta, this is a game that could well come out of nowhere and take the MMP genre by storm.

Let’s backtrack a moment …

Did you ever see a massively multiplayer game that had some very good ideas but just did not seem to pull it all together? Or maybe you have seen an idea here, or one there, and thought that is a piece of this and a piece of that were combined, it might truly make an amazing MMP?

Wish appears to be heading into the latter category. Consider the setting – a medieval fantasy realm in which players can own towns, set tax rates and vie on a political-socio-economic level. Buy low, sell high, establish trade routes and even go to war with neighboring towns, if the mood suits you. The monsters in the game are progressively tougher as one ventures into the countryside surrounding the beginning towns.

The skill tree is based on the fundamental design that by working a particular skill you improve it. Other skills, which are neglected, diminish in time. You take up a mace and shield and begin hammering away at a mob, blocking improves incrementally, hafted weapons improves, strength may improve and so may agility. If you have magic disciplines, and you are going strictly melee, those skills may begin to deteriorate. This is a game that feeds on itself. You can lock out skills to prevent them degrading, but you are limited to the number you can lock. Staying logged in for hours without actively participating in the game will wreak havoc on your skill tree.

As for weapons you qualify to wield, or armor you can wear – each weapon and armor require that you have certain skill traits, otherwise it is akin to a baby trying to wield a sledgehammer. Each has a restriction penalty that can be overcome by having strength or agility built up, or – in the case of armor – having a higher armor usage.

The game begins with players on the verge of rebirth. Players can choose from five character races – human, elf, dwarf, gnome and Cyclops. You answer a basic question, which in turn determines what class of character you will play – fighter, rogue, cleric or mage. After your selections are made, you are reborn into the world.

This is a game that has some of the skill sets that resemble Ultima Online. You mine, and strength and constitution as well as mining, goes up. You become a lumberjack, and your constitution and accuracy improve. Pick berries and spell reagents, and you can improve agility. Spend too much time doing one over the other and your other skills degrade. Why is that important? Well, in mining, ore is marketable. The higher your mining skill, the better your chances of getting ore and not rough stone when you mine. One is valuable; the other is junk.

If you persistently play in an area which does not challenge your skills, they will begin to degrade. This is a game that requires players to progress into the realm, not play on the edges of it.

The game has a banking system, but there are some interesting features to that. You can bank gold and it is available throughout the realm at any banker. However, items placed in one bank strongbox (like armor) will only be available in the city in which you banked it. This is a great touch – and adds a measure of realism to the world.

The game’s control system is a mouse point-and-click movement model, with the control key playing a big role in the free-look camera and accessing windows for inventory, spells, chat and the like.

Now, here are the interesting elements of the game:

Wish will be played with a ‘one server fits all’ mentality. There will only be one server to host all the players who give this a whirl. In the beta, there were some serious lag issues, especially during all the live streaming content. This will likely be a focus for the developers in the coming months.

Wish is also a high-end system game. The recommended minimum system requirements called for a P4 2.4 GHz processor, at least 512 megs of RAM and, at the minimum, a GeForce 4 Ti graphics card. One can get away with a little lower processor, but this game does/did not support the MX Nvidia chipset.

What is the payoff if you have a system like that?

Well, some of the most stunning images seen to date in an MMP. Wish is a beautiful game. The character models are wonderful, and the mobs are amazing. There were unicorns and trolls that inspired gasps of wonder. There are some more creative mobs as well, and the game blends familiar with unfamiliar to create a richly texture world that is a real treat for the eyes.

And the game does not stop there. While Wish has the usual grunts and groans associated with MMP combat, the game also has a musical score that smacks of the medieval era. The game sports sound that is in line with actually walking through the realm. You won’t hear the music, save as a distant sound, until you get close to it.

Many things were not in place during this beta. Not only were certain weapons not available, but also the whole crafting tree was teased at in the form of NPC merchants waiting for inventory, and the skill tree which showed what crafting skills would be possible.

This is indeed a game that seems filled with promise, and could be the medieval-fantasy game fans of the genre are waiting for.

All that said, perhaps another view should be heard. There is a small allegiance with whom I am associated that has a solid background in playing MMPs and has been in a beta or two. Comments were solicited from them for Wish, and Matthew Eberle was kind enough to share his thoughts on the game.

Here they are:

“Graphically Wish is a very good game.  The computer requirements are fairly high, and it shows. The graphics are crisp and clean. The animation is done well, and there is some amazing depth and detail. A good example is the plants.  In most games plants are two-dimensional cutouts.  Trees are just repetitious geometric designs.  The plants in Wish expand in a more three-dimensional way.

“The game uses a click-and-run interface similar to the Diablo series.  I've been told that this is done to cut down on latency to the server, and it seems to work.  The downside is that the controls can be a little clumsy at times.  The camera interface helps get around the problems with a c-n-r interface.  Being able to pan around and change the point of view helps.

“The skill system is set up using a "challenge" base system.  It is similar to the crafting system for EQ.  With any of the combat-oriented skills each creature type seems to have a maximum challenge level.  When you fight a creature that is above your current skills you can watch them rise fast.  As you approach a ‘trivial’ point the skill gain will slow down, and eventually stop.  To continue the increase a player needs to move on to a stronger creature.

“As a standard sword-and-sorcery RPG, Wish has taken the problem of armor and class balance in an entirely new direction.  Any character can wear whatever armor they choose.  Level and class are irrelevant, which might come as a surprise the first time you see a mage sprint by in plate mail with a shield.

“Game balance comes in when you look at the speed penalties for wearing armor.  Heavier armor has longer delays associated with it.  Wearing a full suit of leather armor has a small delay.  A full suit of plate mail has the largest delay in the game.  The delay is reduced based on two things:  the character's agility score and their armor use skill.  The agility and armor use are added together to determine how much of the delay is ignored.  As part of the balance, some Classes and templates cannot get the armor use skill and use it.

“Overall, Wish is already a very good game.  It needs to finish going through the beta development to weed out bugs and make sure the game balance is correct, but unless something drastic changes, this will be a good game.”

…

Balance, incredible graphics and a great deal of promise combine to make Wish a game to really look for. If the strides made in this first beta carry through with added content to the final product, then all fans of medieval-fantasy MMPS will want to put this title on their list of games to play.