Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

There is a storm on the horizon, clouds roiling on whipping winds, driving rain before it down over the mountains and into the valley. If the weather dips, that rain may turn to snow.

Much more than merely a visual effect, in some regards the storm itself is emblematic of the hopes that Sigil Studios places on its massively multiplayer online title, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Oh, the storm itself will likely have several in-game iterations, just as weather as well as the cycle of the moon can play a part. (More on the moon in just a moment.)

Slated for release in 2006, “when it is ready to be released” (as Zack Karlsson, Director of Business Development stated – this depending on the game’s completion while taking into account the release dates of competing products), Vanguard is a title set in high fantasy, but exploring many of the concepts that other games merely hinted at.

Take that storm, for example. A druid’s fire spells may be less effective in the rain a storm brings to the land. And while the weather may not have a cumulative or tactical effect when the game is first released, plans call for it to have in-game consequences as the world evolves. As for the moon … well, there apparently is a family that reacts to a full moon (can you say werewolves? … knew you could), and it is advised that the players get their business done and out of the area before a full moon pops.

Sigil Games Online (the developer of Vanguard; Microsoft is the publisher) held a small event for a handful of journalists at its Carlsbad studios, conducted by Zack as well as CEO/Executive Producer Brad McQuaid and Executive Producer/President Jeff Butler. A studio tour was the first order of business and the troupe was able to see the work in progress, as well as talk to key members of the dev team. What was revealed was certainly enough to get any MMO fan drooling over the prospects of the game.

Brad and Jeff then demonstrated some of the higher-level combat available for groups in a dungeon with a team of 40-plus beta testers (many of them within the building that houses Sigil), and finally, with the prospect of lunch hovering nearby, it was time to play.

Food? Who needs food?!? Food is for the weak! There is a game to play.

Those who have played MMOs before will recognize some of the elements and control schemes used in Vanguard. There are differences in hotkeys, granted, but the general flavor is there. The mouse is used for looking about; the keyboard (W, A, S, D) controls movement; combat is initiated by a hotkey stroke; and you can consider mobs prior to engaging and loot them afterwards for profit and weapon/armor drops. Non-playing characters (NPCs) give quests that result in XP (experience) that will result in leveling an avatar, and trainers will enable players to skill up as they level.

But while all that is well and good, the differences are what will make this game shine. Some of the initially noticeable ones come from the user interface (UI), which is loaded with information and continues to give more as you progress. There are two “chat” style windows, one for actually chatting and one for combat information. Mob bars and team member bars appear, but rather than just bars displaying HP (hit points), they also show spells and skills being used. Knowing what the mob is loading up to attack you with is important because there is a chance you can interrupt that attack or exploit a weakness while your opponent is preparing that attack.

For example, when one sees an archer draw back the bow, in that moment, they are more vulnerable to attack and will may take greater damage.

Players can select two targets in combat – an offensive target and a defensive target. For the latter, you can intercept attacks (healers will love ya for it!), and you can also start bridges for combo attacks that create much more damage. And that is the simple explanation.

There is no deleveling although death will incur either experience loss or experience debt. But players will be able to have different sets of armor available to wear during recovery expeditions (and yes, you can be summoned back to your gravestone).

The game has three continents, with a variety of races available per continent. Typically, if one were to run from one side of the land mass to the other, unhindered by mob encounters, it would take about 45 minutes, according to the dev team. The starting land masses are Thestra (with seven races), Qalia (with six races) and the Kojani Archipelago (six races are available there as well). Each land mass has a human race available, and there are human-animal hybrids (the Vulmane – human/wolf – on Thestra; the Kurashasa – human/feline – on Qalia; and the Raki – human/fox – on the Archipelago.

The world is based on the artwork of Keith Parkinson, who is still listed as Art Director of the Vanguard project. Parkinson, the renowned fantasy artist, died October 26, 2005 from leukemia, but his style and look is prevalent in Vanguard. This is a fantastic world, blending different styles across three land masses.

Vanguard is a deep game, with a combat system that will have a bit of a learning curve, but this is a game that is rapidly beginning to look like an MMO that will raise the bar and perhaps change the way we look at the genre. Vanguard will certainly have the eye candy, but it will also have involving content as well.