Mythica Preview
By Ryan "Den" Findley

If you've ever despaired at reaching your goal in an MMOG and finding a queue of players already there then Microsoft's Mythica may be the game for you. In development for two years under a team of 40 at Microsoft Game Studios, the game boasts "private areas" where you - and your select fellows - will not be disturbed by other players as you go about your quest. This is not to say the game is a interconnected series of modules a la Neverwinter Nights though - the rest of the game is of a more traditional nature. At Microsoft's E3 booth last week Joel Manners - Mythica's Lead Designer - talked us through many of the game's features whilst other members of the team played through two of the game's private areas.

Mythica takes its storyline from Norse myths, placing players in the roles of Norse warriors taken by the Valkyries after dying in battle. They are then returned to the land under the patronage of one of the Norse Gods to fight for the three races - Human, Dwarf and Elf - against the Fire and Ice Giants who are attempting to bring Ragnarok.

The particular god a player chooses as their patron will define their class in the game. Players favouring direct combat will want to pick Thor or Tyr, patrons of the Soldier classes of Berserker and Viking respectively. Loki (who has obviously re-appraised the situation since the original story of Ragnarok) and Skald meanwhile look after Stalkers: Tricksters and Hunters, who use stealth and range to fight. The final four gods have not yet been revealed, but will cover the magical side of things under the Seidhr and Sorcerer class families.

The classes are designed to complement each other and work well together. In one of the private areas on show - they are found on the landscape rather than presented as a "dungeon" - the goal was to push back an incursion by fire giants that had over-run a human village. On entering the area, the group was hailed by an NPC asking for help and introduced to the village headman (another NPC) who offered help in the form of a horn that would summon the village's cavalry when needed. Meanwhile the Fire Giant forces needed to be reduced enough so that the cavalry wouldn't be slaughtered out of hand. To do this, the Hunter in the group turned invisible and crept into the area (during this, the Hunter's on screen avatar was shown as an outlined shape which flickered into reality when near the Fire Giant's invisibility detectors) and marked a couple of towers. With this "group target", the group's Pyromancer (presumably one of the Seidhr or Sorcerer classes) was able to launch a devastating fire bolt from over a kilometre away (see this video) and bring down the towers.

Moving in closer, the Pyromancer was able to use a catapult nearer the battle to destroy more of the Fire Giant forces (these were tents which acted rather like monster generators, keeping the invading forces supplied until destroyed - see video). Finally, the main tower had to be destroyed. To do this, the other members of the group had to lend their power to the Pyromancer. Characters are able to draw on some of the four types of energy available and in groups they can combine together to give one character access to all four types. This allows the Pyromancer to power a massive spell that brings down to tower and releases the leader of the Fire Giants (see video). When the boss is defeated, the players are rewarded with experience and the worship of the villagers.

Gaining worship in Mythica is an interesting idea. All characters start off as an "Asgardian Immortal", roughly human and some eight to ten feet tall. Gaining worshippers from any of the three mortal races will give you skills according to those worshippers and, if you so choose, will make you look more like your worshippers. Certain skills will be only available this way - for example, those who want to become professional crafters will need to earn the worship of the Dwarves, as they are the best crafters around. Worship - at least regularly earned - will also bring other benefits too. If you repeatedly perform services for people and earn their worship, they come to regard you as their god and will actually make items for you to use. An example given was that for a Hunter, her worshippers would craft mistletoe arrows that would be amongst the most damaging.

This implies you can repeat private areas and this is, in the main, true. Since they're accessible by two groups at the same time, they obviously cannot be closed by one group's actions. Joel did indicate that they might progress over time though, so that when you return to an area having cleared the Frost Giants before, they situation may be different on another occasion. There will also be one-time events in the life of your character - these will revolve around your patron God, who maybe decides to take you hunting to prove yourself.

The reward for completion can be quite compelling though. The second scenario on display at the E3 booth had the goal of reaching Jotunheim, the home of the Frost Giants and the group trying this was led by a Stormwright, the mirror of the Pyromancer in that he wields cold-based spells. We watched as the Stormwright froze an entire pack of goblinesque creatures in ice and then proceeded to blast frozen chunks of them in all directions. Even without an ice coating, he was able to fling polar bears on near-ballistic trajectories. But sheer destruction is not the Stormwarden's only skill - at one point during the scenario, he possessed one of the gate guardians and turned it against the defenders. Joel indicated this sort of thing would only be available in the private realms as in the rest of the world the possessor would probably have his victim down in the local pub showing off.

From the events played out on screen, we moved onto the things not on display at E3. Some things are "not being talked about", such as are there any plans for Mythica on the Xbox. But Joel was happy to talk about the other staples of massively multiplayer games.

Houses and transport were both described as "important". "Everyone can own a private space", says Joel. Houses will be in the world and players will be able to decorate and invite their friends over. For transportation, Joel gave the example of a magical longship in one of the Norse myths they wanted to make into a quest - the ship, which can be carried in a pocket and comes with it's own source of wind - will be used to reach otherwise inaccessible islands.

Guilds will be another important part of the game ("we love guilds: kind of the bedrock of it all", says Joel) and will be able to own Guildhalls using the private realm feature. Guilds will be allowed to set themselves up in several different ways, with guild officials being granted various powers. To go beyond just social reasons for banding together, guilds will be able to gain items that offer all members of the guild a benefit.

For players looking to test themselves against their fellow players there is a plan to allow some player-versus-player action. One of the prospective servers will be a PvP server, a la Darktide in Asheron's Call or Rallos Zek in Everquest. In addition there will be a duelling system in the game for one-on-one battles and, taking their lead from the Norse myths themselves, players will be able to take part in massive "training" battles where they'll be restored to full health afterwards as if nothing had happened.

For those of a creative nature, there will be effectively two tiers of crafting. One, termed "amateur crafting" will be open to all, and will revolve around the improvement of equipment. "Professional crafting" - which requires the worship of the dwarves - will allow a player to produce items of the highest quality and even unique items.

As with Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2, Microsoft are planning to provide monthly events, including some live GM-run events (though not as many as they'd live most likely). Plus a series of expansion packs roughly every six months. To provide this, they expect to have three teams: Live, Events and Expansions.

Mythica will not be a part of the MSN Gaming Zone, but the use of MS's passport system has not been decided yet. The expected launch date is sometime in 2004, with an open beta some two months before that. Several closed betas are planned leading up to that.

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