The new game Magic: Legends was announced in 2017 as a next-gen MMORPG. However, the gameplay now showed an action RPG in isometric perspective. This disappointed many MMORPG fans. The developers explain what led to the change in the plan.
This is how the game was announced: In June 2017, Cryptic Studios (Neverwinter, Star Trek Online) together with Perfect World announced an “MMORPG” set in the world of Magic: The Gathering. The online role-playing game was supposed to be released for PC and consoles.
The genre term MMORPG was emphasized, the announcement left no doubt: It was a “new free-to-play action MMORPG.” There was even talk of a “Next Generation MMORPG.”
Magic: Legends had a special status after the announcement
That’s why this is a big deal: The last “MMORPGs” published by established companies in the West came out in 2014: The Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar.
In the years that followed, the development of Everquest Next and Titan was canceled. They were actually intended as the next big MMORPGs from the West.
Therefore, Magic: Legends was the “first MMORPG from a major Western studio” in 5 years: A big deal.
This is how it was: Just a few days ago, a gameplay trailer showing Magic: Legends was released. However, it was not an MMORPG in the usual “3rd person perspective”, but looked more like an action RPG in isometric perspective. Commentators compared the visuals to a “mobile MMO.”
The game is now described not as an “action MMORPG,” but as an “online action RPG,” thus leaning more towards Diablo.
Decision between MMORPG and Action RPG went back and forth
How did this come about? The developers gave a long interview to the print magazine Game Informer.
It is said that Cryptic Studios had a lot of freedom in designing the game. The team sought a way to best implement the “Magic” experience in a playable form. They changed their minds multiple times between:
- a classic, proven traditional MMO camera, the MMORPG design
- and a traditional isometric action/RPG format
Ultimately, Cryptic Studios opted for the “action/RPG” format as it would connect players with Magic, allowing them to summon many creatures. Through the isometric perspective, players would have a better way to maintain overview when many creatures were running around.
The executive producer Stephen Ricossa Jr. is quoted:
Because you summon so many things, and especially large exciting monsters, you often looked at the backs of earth elementals and such while running around, looking for things to fight against.
Stephen Ricossa Jr., Executive Producer, to Game Informer
This is what’s behind it: The MMORPG term is inseparably linked among players in the West with the “3rd person” perspective. Virtually all successful MMORPGs have this perspective: WoW, Final Fantasy XIV, ESO, Black Desert, Guild Wars 2.
While some MMORPGs in isometric perspective (Project TL and Lost Ark) are expected from Asia, it will likely take a while before they are truly considered MMORPGs.
For the developers, the question of perspective may be just one of many decisions made for rational reasons, but for many MMORPG fans, the difference between “MMORPG” and “Action RPG” is felt to be much larger.
Through the decision, the status of Magic: Legends changed:
- from the “first Western MMORPG in 5 years”
- to another “action RPG”, especially since so many new ones are coming out
