Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

E3 Preview 2005

In 2004 there was a fair amount of buzz surrounding Microsoft and Sigil’s Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, a pending entry into the world of massively multiplayer online gaming. Up the ante a bit – the game is still far away from release, and there is a healthy beta period scheduled, but Vanguard is working hard to live up to that reputation.

The game was on the floor at E3 in Los Angeles this year, but not exactly playable in the hands-on sense. Still, there was a lot of the game in place to give players a good idea of what lies ahead.

All gameplayers will fall into one of three spheres – fighter, crafter or diplomacy. Those classes are further defined – such as the fighter is broken into four archetypes: the protective fighter, the offensive fighter, the healer and the arcane caster. Each subclass has unique gameplay, and it is entirely possible for a player to venture through the game as, say, a crafter and never once have to fight.

Here is how that would work: A crafter lives in the town and gets work orders from local NPCs. One day a shady character asks for particular blade and the crafter agrees, and thus unlocks the recipe for an assassin’s blade. The would-be assassin is pleased and invites the crafter to craft other weapons for a guild of rogues (all NPCs), which may in turn lead to knowledge of an arcane forge deep within the realm of a dungeon that could produce a unique and highly valued weapon. Of course the forge is guarded, and the crafter would have to hire or enlist the aid of fighters to travel there and fend off the spirits and whatever else would seek to stop the crafting process.

As for that crafting process, the game is based on an action-point system in which players have a finite amount of points to expend on processes and to deal with complications that may arise during a crafting session.

Other features include NPC wants and needs, full utilization of assets created for NPC cities, the way to solve problems without killing NPCs, and the “game drives quests other than the other way around,” according to Sigil Games representatives at the show.

There will be multi-harvesting classes and combat success will be contingent upon reacting to the actions of opponents. The game has a reactive combat system that allows players to work sympathetically with others.

The point was driven home that the game is “not a huge story-driven game; we want you to create your own game.”

Graphically this game looks very good, with solid animations and detailed monsters. The representatives intimated that the game will not release for perhaps a year yet simply because they want to make sure it is “right” when it ships to retailers.

Because of the noise at E3, it was difficult to actually hear the sounds of the game.

Vanguard does have some intriguing ideas and may well provide gamers with the next generation of MMO titles. The game looks very good and the controls seem very straightforward.

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