Visionary Realms Brings Back the Old School in Pantheon:Rise of the Fallen

Visionary Realms, a fairly new gaming company established only within the past few years, has been brewing up a new game that may be what the MMORPG community needs. Anyone who is anyone in the gaming community knows of the groundbreaking game known as EverQuest, and for those of you who don’t know let me shed a little light on the matter.

EverQuest, boys and girls, is the game that laid most of the foundation of what you call the MMORPG(Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). Back in 1999 Sony brought us what had never truly been done. They gave us an online world that not only was purely based around community, but around friendship and adventure. Not like the wishy washy game of today where the only thing that matters is who has the best DPS rating. No, Everquest brought the world adventure and immersion that has not really been repeated since World of Warcraft pre-Burning Crusade.

It can be very difficult for anyone who wasn’t around in 1999 to understand how Everquest made gamer’s feel and how much community and diversity the game had. Yet the fellows down at Visionary Realms know all about this time and are doing some amazing things to bring back those times long forgotten. Their answer to this? Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is a game currently in “pre-pre-Alpha” phase that is about to rock the MMORPG community, and by rock I mean smash it in the face until it remembers where it came from. Most hardcore MMORPG gamer’s will love the breath of fresh air they will have just by watching the “pre-pre-alpha” footage of this game.(found here) Not only is it extremely detailed and beautiful, especially for “pre-pre-Alpha”, but gives a sense of nostalgia for anyone who traveled the lands of Norrath for more than a few days.

I had to say that even I myself shed a tear when watching some of this footage as it reminds me of so many days and nights I spent with great friends and team mates traveling and adventuring together, the sense of community they are trying to build is amazing and I for one can’t wait.

Pantheon is taking a great big step back to the roots of what made MMORPGs great and bringing back the need to have others to progress. They have stated that there will be solo content but it will be very mild and not a big part of the game. In an age where people just want to play a game for a few weeks, max out their character, and move on to the next big game that comes out, Pantheon is using a formula that will keep the players coming back to enjoy themselves. They have also removed the instanced dungeons that plague the current gaming world. Those who have played instanced dungeons know that they are a big part of every current MMORPG and one of the reasons that the sense of community hasn’t completely died in the MMORPG world. But just as they are good to meet a few good people, they also are terrible for meeting more that the occasional good player. This also is bad as it puts a player in this infinite circle of needing better gear to make them appealing as a player and not their personality.

Pantheon also introduces us to a brand new series of Races, some of which are familiar, such as elves and dwarves, to new races we have never seen. The diverse options and shear number of options given during character creation will have many spending hours of preparation just to decide what they will want to do in this new world. You will have to choose what race and class combination is best for you, and they all bring something different to the table.

Pantheon also brings back the diverse classes that seem to have left more frequent games that have narrowed them down to only a small handful and rely on gear to define their roles.  Specific classes with all their own features to help the group in the infamous Quad Roles of old Tank, Healer, DPS, Control. Not to mention the specific classes that have their own buffs and abilities to help a group out.

Grouping and bringing people together is what Pantheon is all about and this is a truly difficult task in today’s society of gamer’s. But I for one believe that there are many others out there who are looking for a game that brings them back to their roots. And community is very badly needed in a society where everyone is to busy to slow down.

Be prepared though this game is not designed for the feint of heart as long adventures await the bold, who are willing to take the challenge and put forth the effort. But also be prepared to meld some of the best friendships, and stories, that will be with you for a life time. Pantheon aims to relive the best of the best and if your favorite thing about MMORPG’s is how big your DPS score is or a game where challenge is an afterthought, then this is not the game for you.

So much more to tell and say but alas I would spend all day trying to tell you. I instead suggest that you go to their website and check out all that they have designed and perhaps you will become just as enthralled as I did.

RC3ART OUT!

Visit Visionary Realms at http://visionaryrealms.com

Visit the Pantheon website to see more about the game http://pantheonmmo.com