• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Paragon (Epic's MOBA) gameplay and impression videos. Plus new short vid by Epic.

Epic had a community event last month, and the embargo for the people invited has just lifted. For the people in the Online Test the NDA still stands.

First, new vid by Epic: Paragon - Rush the Core - New Heroes Gameplay Video

--

PC Gamer (impressions by two people)

The detailed character models may facilitate the fantasy of playing as a meathead Cthulhu, a horrifying Jim Henson-esque cat person in a mech, or a swift robotic assassin, but traditional MOBA mechanics are still the priority in Paragon. It’s disappointing because I was hoping to play a MOBA that catered to the character action and shooter audiences, a game that focused on twitch mouse-aim more than meta mastery, something I could hop into a few times a year without reading months of patchnotes and still enjoy, but that’s not what Epic is going for. I love how it looks and I love the character control, but Paragon isn’t trying to be anything other than a pretty MOBA. That’s okay. I’ll just keep my face pressed to the genre glass and wait.

The best thing I can say about Paragon is that I forgot that I was a journalist testing a game when I was playing it. One close-fought game took a full hour (the average is closer to thirty minutes) and drew a crowd; I really wanted to win, and had to dig deep into my Tryhard Dota Brain to get there. It generated stories: base-races and clutch defenses, the Gideon ultimate that turned the game, the time my tanked-up Steel drew the entire enemy team on a long, silly, slow chase across the entire length of the map. This is what I come to MOBAs for, and I’ve tested a lot of MOBAs, and in those moments I forgot where I was and simply enjoyed the game on its own terms. I’d love it if newcomers could see what I see in it, but—somewhat selfishly—it’s nice to feel like somebody is making a game just for you.

Eurogamer

Having been at Blizzcon last year, when the Overwatch team seemed to actively avoid the topic of whether they intended to sell future heroes and maps, I'm disappointed to see a similar misstep from Epic here. Paragon, as a competitive multiplayer game, requires a large and very dedicated community of players if it hopes to stick around for years to come. Every major publisher seems to have their eyes on this extremely popular genre, but if we look at the games that have truly made it, they've all benefited enormously from a healthy relationship with their communities. They keep the money away from the gameplay and talk openly, and honestly with their playerbase. I'm concerned that Paragon might not be doing either of those things right now and that's a shame.

Eurogamer vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0EnsWBHDt0

Gamespot (not really impression but the devs talking about the game)

RPS

So Paragon is nowhere near finished. But there’s enough in place that it has my attention and it feels different enough from the other MOBA options that I can see myself making room for it in my playtime. I have real reservations about planned cross-platform play between PC and PS4 and I honestly don’t know if the cards will open up builds the way Epic seem to think they will. That said, I had fun playing (and felt MOBA-style joy and frustration during the games we won and lost). I really liked how the game looked and want to experiment more with the characters as well as working out how to use the different aspects of the map.

PS Blog

Have you gotten over those cold MOBA sweats now? I hope so, because Paragon has the potential to open the genre up to more players through its clever mix of third-person action and lane-battling goodness. With stunning visuals, complex heroes, and a robust replay editor, Paragon promises to swallow up your free time and ask for seconds.

Mine is live (but needs some fixes - definitely isn't a review!)

Trusted Reviews

IGN

They’re also doing what they can to offer plenty of other ways for people to dive into the world of Paragon when the time comes. They’ve employed assistance from talented film veterans to cultivate a powerful Replay tool with static camera angles that record each and every match for easy sharing. You can also dive into full matches with AI opponents either on your own or with friends. Combined with the fact that Paragon features full cross-play between PC and PS4 platforms ensures a high level of polish for all aspects of the experience.

---

Youtubers/Twitch streamers:

This reddit thread has a collection of vids: https://www.reddit.com/r/paragon/comments/46fwat/collection_of_event_videos_so_far/
 

Moobabe

Member
Epic had a community event last month, and the embargo for the people invited has just lifted. For the people in the Online Test the NDA still stands.

First, new vid by Epic: Paragon - Rush the Core - New Heroes Gameplay Video

--

Paragon Gameplay - Murdock (FULL GAME) (Youtuber)

PC Gamer (impressions by two people)

Chris, the chap who wrote the second, more positive, preview for PCG was on my team for a couple games (including the hour long game that we won) - he seemed to share the same thoughts as me - being well versed in MOBAs definitely helps here.

My impressions should be live soon.
 
RPS

So Paragon is nowhere near finished. But there’s enough in place that it has my attention and it feels different enough from the other MOBA options that I can see myself making room for it in my playtime. I have real reservations about planned cross-platform play between PC and PS4 and I honestly don’t know if the cards will open up builds the way Epic seem to think they will. That said, I had fun playing (and felt MOBA-style joy and frustration during the games we won and lost). I really liked how the game looked and want to experiment more with the characters as well as working out how to use the different aspects of the map.
 
No PS4 impressions?

It seems like Ryan from the PSblog played it

25077481115_b56cc1b64ygujh.jpg


http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/02/18/paragon-will-change-the-way-you-compete-on-ps4/
 
Regarding the first PCG writer, the problem with wanting an aiming and shootnig focused MOBA is it would diminish one of its MOBA aspect. If you can rely on headshots might as well forget about abilites, team fights featuring them or farming. TTK in MOBAs is totally a different thing compared to shooters.
 

Moobabe

Member
Mine is live (but needs some fixes - definitely isn't a review!)

Trusted Reviews

I played four games in my afternoon with Paragon and lost none. Two half an hour games were considered “stomps” by the QA team and our band of 500+ hour MOBA players were quickly split up. The next two games, one against players and the second against QA, were close to (and in one case over) 60 minutes.

I didn’t know Paragon had that capacity; I didn’t know if the game would cater to those sweaty palm, adrenaline pumping, breath holding contests where one mistake can end the game.

It does. That’s the biggest compliment I can pay Paragon. This is a MOBA to the core, and an excellent one at that.
 
IGN

They’re also doing what they can to offer plenty of other ways for people to dive into the world of Paragon when the time comes. They’ve employed assistance from talented film veterans to cultivate a powerful Replay tool with static camera angles that record each and every match for easy sharing. You can also dive into full matches with AI opponents either on your own or with friends. Combined with the fact that Paragon features full cross-play between PC and PS4 platforms ensures a high level of polish for all aspects of the experience.
 
Ctrl-F: Smite.
...

Really looks like Smite.

It is Smite with vertical terrain/aim.

Unless they rework their business model, this game is going to be rightfully labeled as pay 2 win. Booster packs for your Hero, maybe you are going to get a rare card (aka item in LoL terms) that your build requires.
 

Moobabe

Member
Yes it does...a bit boring too, but I will try it anyways.

Im a smite fanboy so I have mixed feelings about this.

Edit: Its gonna bomb, we have smite on consoles and soon on ps4...

I've not played Smite so I can't comment - but Paragon strongly scratches the MOBA itch - I certainly hope it doesn't bomb, because it's really good.
 

Disxo

Member
It worries me that the game looks to good.
What are the minimun requirements on Pc?

Most of the moba community (and me) play with toasters u.u
 

aeolist

Banned
someday someone will make one of these games well and use the dota 2 monetization model and i will be very happy

hoping against hope for paragon, though i'd be very surprised if they don't sell characters and other gameplay shit
 

Moobabe

Member
someday someone will make one of these games well and use the dota 2 monetization model and i will be very happy

hoping against hope for paragon, though i'd be very surprised if they don't sell characters and other gameplay shit

From my preview - they've said they won't sell cards (for loadouts) or anything else they consider "pay to win."

They didn't clarify what MIGHT cost - but my suspicion is that we might see a character rotation (a la HOTS) and a cosmetic shop.
 

aeolist

Banned
From my preview - they've said they won't sell cards (for loadouts) or anything else they consider "pay to win."

They didn't clarify what MIGHT cost - but my suspicion is that we might see a character rotation (a la HOTS) and a cosmetic shop.

selling anything gameplay related instantly turns me off, characters included. that's still pay to win because some people will have more options.
 
Watched one of the full games and it's looking like a lot of fun even at this early state. Hoping to get in to the alpha eventually.
 

Moobabe

Member
Watched one of the full games and it's looking like a lot of fun even at this early state. Hoping to get in to the alpha eventually.

It's very fun - I didn't get a chance to poke around with the replay options myself but I watched someone dicking around in the mode, it's very comprehensive.
 
And last they talked about it, kb&m support for PS4 is also planned. Haven't checked out all the previews, so no idea if that was mentioned here.
 

Xeilyn

Member
Honestly after watching some of the gameplay im more excited than i was before, yes it looks very similar to Smite(Great game!) but i also think that the verticality and card mechanic will make it different enough. I also think that there will be an audience for both games on PS4 without a doubt
 

Moobabe

Member
Honestly after watching some of the gameplay im more excited than i was before, yes it looks very similar to Smite(Great game!) but i also think that the verticality and card mechanic will make it different enough. I also think that there will be an audience for both games on PS4 without a doubt

Agreed - I think this will do well.
 

LiQuid!

I proudly and openly admit to wishing death upon the mothers of people I don't like
The music in that video is just about as bad as music in a video game trailer can possibly get.

Interested in the game tho! Doesn't seem like my crap PC is going to be able to run it, but it looks neat.
 
Smite map is so damn flat. Really reeked of a game that started overhead and switched to third person in search of a gimmick.

From my understanding, they didn't want to complicate skill shots beyond horizontal movement, so there was no need to make it anything other than flat. Paragon does the full range of aiming so it makes sense to take advantage of that with more 3D terrain.
 
Top Bottom