What game of 2012 are you most looking forward to?

[Blastinburn]

1) Fortune Summoners [done]
2) Xenoblade [pre-ordered]
2.2) Last Story [waiting to see if there will be a retailer specific bonus/special edition before pre-ordering]
2.3) Pandora's Tower
3) Last Guardian
4/5) Borderlands 2
4/5) Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
6) Dishonored
7) Kingdoms of Amular (while I want it I may not get it on release)
8) I am Alive Edit: Scratch that. Played the demo and found it dull. I am looking forward to The Last of Us instead.
9) Bioshock Infinite (a little)


Would be looking forward to Mass Effect 3 if I had finished 2, would have finished 2 if it didn't need an end game save from 1 to import or I hadn't started a new game+, and I would have beaten 1 again if I hadn't done everything in the game in my first play-through and didn't want to choose which team member to let die again.

Edit: throwing these on the list after being reminded of them by other posts:
Darksiders 2
Stacking (PC)
Dear Esther
Dead State (just learned about it here, sounds very interesting)

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

Something like that, and it will be the same in GW2. Some professions have higher health or sturdier armor than others, etc., but the goal is that every profession can accomplish the same things, just in different ways. For example, a group of five thieves can complete a dungeon just as well as a group of five elementalists or a mixed group of professions, they'd just do it differently.

Basically, the "stand there and take hits" style of gameplay doesn't work. There are no purely attention-grabbing abilities like taunt, and you have to actively dodge or block attacks in order to survive. And while many professions do have healing abilities, it's more efficient to dodge and use preventative techniques (like blinding the enemy or buffing your allies' armor) and then top yourself off with your self-heal when necessary.

But if five thieves can accomplish the same thing, just "differently", doesn't that mean that one thief will have to take on the "tank-role", some the "dps-role" and another the "healing-role", just that they do it differently than for say, 2 Rangers, 1 Warrior, 1 Mage and 1 Priest?
Then you haven't changed the mechanics, just allowed more classes to perform the same roles.

No, not entirely. For one thing, the "tank role" just can't exist in this game, since you can't have someone whose role is to keep the enemy's attention, for the reasons outlined above (you can't use taunt-like abilities, you have to dodge, etc.).

If you have 5 thieves, you'll be handling the boss by weakening it with conditions like blind (next attack will miss) and crippled (can't dodge), all while whittling down its health and dodging every time it looks at you. If you get hit, you use your self-heal. But cooperation still exists in the form of combos (abilities that interact with each other to create different effects) and positioning, and you can also choose who is responsible for applying which conditions, etc.

If you have 5 warriors, you can pretty much just charge in, plant some banners, and bash its face in (or shoot, if you want to be a ranged warrior). Warriors are supposed to be the easiest profession to play, partly since they have more leeway when it comes to taking damage than thieves do, due to their heavier armor. But like everything else, they want it to be easy to pick up but hard to become a true master at your profession.

You can choose to play a pure-support character if you want (guardians and elementalists can do this easier than most, but they can all do it). You'd end up being less versatile, but they understand that some people prefer to help their allies than damage their enemies, and so they're perfectly free to do that if they want (though it's impossible to take 0 offensive abilities). The main difference is that this is no longer a requirement. The whole group can share the support duties.

Additionally, here's [http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/view/forums/thread/336987/The-Tao-of-Arenanet.html] another fan-written article that's pretty good, despite being very long.

 

[Realitycrash]

Something like that, and it will be the same in GW2. Some professions have higher health or sturdier armor than others, etc., but the goal is that every profession can accomplish the same things, just in different ways. For example, a group of five thieves can complete a dungeon just as well as a group of five elementalists or a mixed group of professions, they'd just do it differently.

Basically, the "stand there and take hits" style of gameplay doesn't work. There are no purely attention-grabbing abilities like taunt, and you have to actively dodge or block attacks in order to survive. And while many professions do have healing abilities, it's more efficient to dodge and use preventative techniques (like blinding the enemy or buffing your allies' armor) and then top yourself off with your self-heal when necessary.

But if five thieves can accomplish the same thing, just "differently", doesn't that mean that one thief will have to take on the "tank-role", some the "dps-role" and another the "healing-role", just that they do it differently than for say, 2 Rangers, 1 Warrior, 1 Mage and 1 Priest?
Then you haven't changed the mechanics, just allowed more classes to perform the same roles.

No, not entirely. For one thing, the "tank role" just can't exist in this game, since you can't have someone whose role is to keep the enemy's attention, for the reasons outlined above (you can't use taunt-like abilities, you have to dodge, etc.).

If you have 5 thieves, you'll be handling the boss by weakening it with conditions like blind (next attack will miss) and crippled (can't dodge), all while whittling down its health and dodging every time it looks at you. If you get hit, you use your self-heal. But cooperation still exists in the form of combos (abilities that interact with each other to create different effects) and positioning, and you can also choose who is responsible for applying which conditions, etc.

If you have 5 warriors, you can pretty much just charge in, plant some banners, and bash its face in (or shoot, if you want to be a ranged warrior). Warriors are supposed to be the easiest profession to play, partly since they have more leeway when it comes to taking damage than thieves do, due to their heavier armor. But like everything else, they want it to be easy to pick up but hard to become a true master at your profession.

You can choose to play a pure-support character if you want (guardians and elementalists can do this easier than most, but they can all do it). You'd end up being less versatile, but they understand that some people prefer to help their allies than damage their enemies, and so they're perfectly free to do that if they want (though it's impossible to take 0 offensive abilities). The main difference is that this is no longer a requirement. The whole group can share the support duties.

Additionally, here's [http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/view/forums/thread/336987/The-Tao-of-Arenanet.html] another fan-written article that's pretty good, despite being very long.

Sounds good. One problem, though: How will it handle leveling? Will it be grinding as usual?

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

Mass Effect 3
Borderlands 2
Diablo 3
Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
Maybe Halo 4

 

[Wereduck]

Primarily looking forward to Mass Effect 3 and then catching up on all the good stuff from 2011 I haven't had a chance to play through yet.

I'd be profoundly excited to see the 3rd person X-Com update, Cartel (Syndicate update) and Hawken in 2012 too but I'm not terribly confident they'll happen. Hopefully I'll get at least one pleasant surprise though...

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

Sounds good. One problem, though: How will it handle leveling? Will it be grinding as usual?

imo, this is one of the best parts of the game.

Since it's not subscription-based, they don't have to drag out the leveling process to keep people's sub fees flowing in. You can play when you feel like it, and then stop playing whenever. As long as you bought the game, that's all they care about. But of course they hope they can make it fun enough that you'll buy expansions when they come out. (There will be a cash shop, but they're adamant that it will contain only cosmetic items because they find the idea of pay-to-win to be reprehensible.)

They've said that the leveling curve will plateau somewhere early on (I think in the teens), so that it will take approximately 90 minutes to reach every level from that point on.

Additionally, with the sidekicking system (a player can bump up your level to match theirs), you can play exclusively with your friends and miss a few days without worrying about falling behind.

As for the way you actually gain experience, in PvE that will be through dynamic events and regional "hearts." Dynamic events (of which there will be about 1,500 when the game is first released, with more being added frequently) are sort of like branching quest chains that you can jump into or out of whenever you feel like it. You don't need to talk to an NPC or anything, just participate. If centaurs are attacking a village (their favorite example), you see them literally attacking that village. You have to run in and stop them, and you can also put out any fires that they've set, etc. If you don't stop them, they'll destroy the village and the next step in the chain might be to protect the villagers from raiders while they're rebuilding their homes.

Hearts are similar, but they're continually ongoing. You can read about them in one of the articles I posted. Basically, in a certain region, a farmer might be in constant need of help. You can kill giant worms, water her crops, or do a number of other things. But you can choose what you want to do, rather than picking up 3 separate quests that say "kill 5 worms," "water 10 plants" and "destroy 15 worm holes." You also don't need to talk to her before undertaking your chosen task/s. They really want to reward the players for exploring, rather than just following directions.

You can also level up entirely through PvP in the WvWvW system (three servers that fight against each other in a massive zone, which is this game's equivalent of world PvP), if you choose.

They also like to say "endgame starts at level 1," meaning that it's not going to be a rush to endgame so you can get to the "real" content. The game doesn't suddenly change at level cap. You can do the same things while you level that you would do at endgame (dungeons, big boss battles, etc), though probably the more "epic" content will be at the higher levels. But it will still be fundamentally the same experience.

 

[Sacman]

Dishonored!

It's from Warren Spector the lead designer behind Deus Ex and System Shock 2, two of the greatest FPS' of their generation... how can I not be excited?

Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2... but a console version and development hell has made me skeptical of it's quality..<.<

 

[Omnific One]

ME3 and Bioshock Infinite.

 

[Cooperblack]

A lot of games I'm really looking forward to, But Mass Effect 3 takes the cake, In fact i would say that i expect that game i a totally new way due to the character transfer from ME 1 to Me 2 and now finally into 3, I just gotta know what happens with my Shep... dammit Bioware got me hooked like nobody before... kind of ingenious of them to do it this way if you ask me.

 

[doomspore98]

dishonored, bioshock infinite, and halflife 3.
a guy can dream cant he

 

[feriwan]

Mass Effect 3, duh!
and after that probably prototype 2 or the next assassin's creed...

 

[Zen Toombs]

I'm a fanboy, so obviously Mass Effect 3. What else would I choose?

 

[Rooster893]

Halo 4
Tekken x Street Fighter
Aliens: Colonial Marines

And that's about it. I'll have to look for more games that catch my eye.

 

[Kashrlyyk]

Guild Wars 2

Dragon Commander

 

[DannyJBeckett]

Gotta say, compared to 2011, pickings from 2012 are looking pretty slim for me so far. The only ones I'm really interested in are the Jak & Daxter Trilogy, Twisted Metal, Aliens: Colonial Marines and Bioshock: Infinite.

EDIT: Looking at some of the screens and info posted above, I'm suddenly very hyped for Dishonoured!

 

[Foxpack1]

Assassins Creed 3. Really no eye-catchers besides that for me this year.

 

[The Funslinger]

I'll jump on the ME3 bandwagon

More than that though (due to the potentially epic game mechanics and world) Prey 2.

Why's there no Prey 2 love in this thread!?

 

[Naranja797]

Prey 2, actually. It looks like an underdog surprise. I pray that the freerunning works.

 

[SassleFrass]

I really don't play much Tekken and while I like street fighter but suck HAAARD at it the trailers for Street Fighter X Tekken have got me really hyped. Luckily I will most likely be playing it VERY casually so the whole "Gem System" isn't really much of a problem for me.