Saga (2008 video game)

Last updated

SAGA
Developer(s) Silverlode Interactive
Designer(s) Jason Faller
Engine Wraith
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release4 March 2008 (2008-03-04)
Genre(s) Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy, collectible card game
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Saga is a massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game. Saga is touted as the world's first collectible online real-time strategy game. Saga was released on March 4, 2008 after a brief open Beta which began February 26, 2008. [1] Developed by American studios Wahoo Studios and Silverlode Interactive, [2] the game ran a closed Beta starting July 5, 2007. The title has no subscription fees, instead being supported by the release of booster or expansion packs. It's possible to play a free version of the game, with certain features locked, at the Saga official site. [3]

Contents

Saga launched into hobby stores around the United States and Canada following GAMA 2008. SAGA has partnered with Alliance Game Distributors, GTS Distribution, Diamond Comics and ACD Distribution, with an emphasis to focus on game and card stores to sell the booster packs. [4]

Plot

Saga is set in a fantasy world where an age-old strife exists between five competing Gods. Each God heads up a faction with unique races and abilities. The factions are Magic (Dark Elves), Machines (Dwarves), Nature (Elves), War (Orcs and Ogres), Undead (Undead) and Light (Giants and Humans). Each faction is diametrically opposed to two other factions. For example, Machines hates Magic (they are naturally opposite, technology vs. mysticism), and Machines also hates Nature (machines vs. living things). Nature also despises War, for their tendency to destroy nature. Light faction are champions of order and justice, while Magic faction delve deep into the black arts, and the circle completes itself. Each faction has an ethos and a strategic quality that sets it apart, giving players a spectrum of play styles to identify with. The system is designed to create a balanced tension between the factions, giving each faction two archenemies and two neutrals to war with or form alliances with. The result is a world where endless war is inevitable. [5]

However, the Machine (Dwarf) and Nature (Elf) factions have put aside their differences to join the Order (Machine, Nature, Light), and the remaining factions have joined the Brotherhood (War, Magic, Undead). The Undead faction is a recent (2008) addition and not part of the original five races.

Gameplay

Saga combines the trading card game (TCG) sensibilities of Magic: The Gathering, the MMO persistency of RPGs, and the kingdom management and mass battles of RTS titles such as Rome: Total War. [6]

Gameplay in Saga is best described in two states: kingdom management and battle.

Kingdom Management

In keeping with the RTS genre, gameplay in Saga revolves around managing a persistent, online kingdom. Each player is given a plot of land by their faction God, which they must develop and improve. These improvements include building defensive walls and towers, researching new technology at the university, and harvesting the available resources. [7]

Players, at the time of nation creation, choose which layout their nation will have. Then, as their resources grow (by questing or by peasant workforce) they can build buildings. Building spots are chosen by a system called "Free Build". Free build lets the user place buildings wherever they want, although there is a limit to how many of each building a player can build. Resources can be played on colored squares (brown = wood, gray = stone, gold = gold, purple = mana). There are an excess of these squares though, so one is not limited.

Additionally, players maintain a population of peasants, which rises and falls depending on the popularity of the player as a leader. Unpopular leaders can suffer riots, leading to extensive damage to structures and mass desertions by peasants. A player will gain peasants by capturing houses in quests or in PvP. At 74 happiness one's peasants will riot and at 90 one gains production bonuses. Any happiness above this is excess and should be used to tax the peasants. Normally, if your happiness is above 74 you gain 4 peasants a day. However, after the happiness system was patched in 2008, peasant happiness is no longer displayed as a numerical value. Happiness is gained by winning battles (PvP or quests), bribery and by having sufficient food and housing. Generally, having happiness in 'jubilant' is considered ideal.

Battle

Troops

Saga employs a booster pack system to amass troops. Each player receives an initial starter pack, as one would with a TCG, featuring a collection of various individual troops. These troops must be placed into like units to create an army. When more troops are needed, players buy "booster packs", which are a random selection of 10 troops ranging from common to rare. These troops can then be drafted into existing units, or traded off to other players. Through the trading system, players can customize their armies and trade for exactly what they are looking for. Trading takes place in the market, which also allows for resources to be traded, and troops to be bought and sold. There are also third party sites that sell individual cards.

Units grow in experience, increasing their base efficacy. Additionally, units can be further upgraded through collecting special armor and weapons. Each unit can equip one armor and one weapon. This gear is obtained through Questing against computer-controlled opponents. Armor and weapons are subdivided into numerous types. For example, dragons use wards and charms, while mechanical (sometimes called 'machine', not to be confused with Machine faction) units mostly use siege gears and plates.

Combat

Combat in Saga is real-time, in keeping with the RTS genre, and consists of maneuvering units around the field to fight and gain an advantage over the enemy. Spells, special abilities and reinforcements add to the various strategies that can be employed to gain an advantage. Battles can be fought against computer-controlled opponents through the Quest system, or against other players in PvP battles. While quests largely take place on neutral battlefields across the world of Saga, PvP battles are city-to-city conflicts between the competing players. PvP battles can be fought between two or four players, either on teams or as a free-for-all. In PvP combat, the two (or four) players have their kingdoms stitched together so that battles take place upon their lands. Being a persistent world, damage inflicted during PvP battles in 'hardcore' mode carries over, including the pillaging and destruction of opponent's buildings, and the death of troops. Dead troops can be resurrected in temples using God-favor, a combat-based resource. PvP battles can be fought in "scrimmage" mode, which allows for players to compete without any permanent damage being done to their kingdoms or troops; no experience or resource rewards are accumulated through "scrimmage" games. Battles fought in 'normal' mode will result in death of troops but building damage will not carry over. However, rewards are less than in 'hardcore' mode. It is common practice among friendly matches to have an agreement not to excessively damage buildings during a 'hardcore' battle. Therefore, both parties receive battle rewards as in 'hardcore' mode while damage inflicted is kept to a minimum.

SAGA Online in Europe

On 8 October 2009, Deep Silver announced SAGA Online for Europe and set up the pre-registration for the closed beta test in December 2009. The closed beta test started on 16 March 2010 16 March 2010 and official Website of SAGA Online EU official Website of SAGA Online EU launched one week after the closed beta start.

Related Research Articles

<i>Total Annihilation: Kingdoms</i> 1999 video game

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, or shortened to Kingdoms, is a real-time strategy game developed and released by Cavedog Entertainment on June 25, 1999. It was the last major title from Cavedog. An expansion pack, The Iron Plague, was released in 2000.

Guild Wars is an online role-playing game franchise developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSOFT. The games were critically well received and won many editor's choice awards, as well as awards such as Best Value, Best Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), and Best Game. Guild Wars was noted for being the "first major MMO to adopt a business model not based on monthly subscription fees", its instanced approach to gameplay, and the quality of the graphics and play for computers with low specifications. In April 2009, NCSoft announced that 6 million units of games in the Guild Wars series had been sold. The sequel and fourth major entry into the series, Guild Wars 2, was announced in March 2007 and released on August 28, 2012. It features updated graphics and gameplay mechanics, and continues the original Guild Wars tradition of no subscription fees. The Guild Wars series had sold 11.5 million copies by August 2015

Several video games based on the Magic: The Gathering franchise exist for multiple systems. Some have attempted to translate the card game to electronic play nearly exactly; others have taken more liberties and drawn more from the setting than the actual rules of the card game. Benefits of successful video game versions of the card game include convenience, practice, and challenge. However, artificial intelligence for a game such as Magic is an extremely hard problem, and such software usually must be continuously updated to stay current with recently released card sets. Video game versions often expand on artwork, and may include unique cards that rely on randomness, effects which would be difficult or annoying to duplicate in real life.

MechWarrior: Dark Age was a tabletop wargame by WizKids set in the BattleTech universe that uses the Clix system. The game's miniatures are pre-painted models of infantry squads, vehicles, and giant walking war machines known as BattleMechs or more simply "'mechs".

<i>Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard</i> 2005 video game

Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard is a real-time strategy role-playing video game, developed for Microsoft Windows by Liquid Entertainment, and published by Atari in September 2005. It takes place in Eberron, one of the official Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings. The game combines elements of traditional real-time strategy gameplay with role-playing elements such as hero units, and questing. Dragonshard includes two single-player campaigns, single-player skirmish maps, and multiplayer support. The single-player campaign follows the struggles of three competing factions to gain control of a magical artifact known as the Heart of Siberys.

<i>The Secret World</i> 2012 video game

The Secret World is a massively multiplayer online role-playing video game set in a modern-day real world under attack from occult forces. Ragnar Tørnquist led development of the initial game for Funcom. The Secret World uses a subscription-optional, buy-to-play business model, requiring players only to buy the game with no additional subscription fees, with additional benefits to those members still paying a subscription.

<i>American Conquest</i> 2002 video game

American Conquest is a real-time strategy video game developed by GSC Game World and published by CDV Software Entertainment. It is set between the 15th and the early 19th centuries in the American continents. There is also an expansion pack produced for American Conquest, called American Conquest: Fight Back and a gold edition, which has both the original and expansion pack bundled together. The latest installment in the series is American Conquest: Divided Nation. All three titles are available together as the American Conquest Chronicles.

<i>World of Warcraft Trading Card Game</i> Collectible card game

The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on Blizzard Entertainment's MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The game was announced by Upper Deck Entertainment on August 18, 2005 and released on October 25, 2006. Players can play against each other one-on-one, or can join others in order to defeat dungeon/raid "bosses" based on those in the MMORPG. In March 2010, Upper Deck lost the license from Blizzard Entertainment. The license was acquired by Cryptozoic Entertainment later in the month, with the company announcing that planned card sets would be released.

<i>Heroes of Annihilated Empires</i> 2006 video game

Heroes of Annihilated Empires is a real-time strategy role-playing video game developed by GSC Game World and released in October 2006.

<i>Guild Wars</i> (video game) 2005 video game

Guild Wars is a multiplayer online action role-playing game developed by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of South Korean game publisher NCSOFT, and released in 2005. As the original installment of the Guild Wars series, its campaign was retroactively titled Prophecies to differentiate it from the content of subsequent releases. The game contains a co-operative role-playing portion and a competitive Player versus Player (PvP) portion. In PvP, players may use either their co-operative characters or PvP-exclusive characters who are inherently maximum level and have account-based access to unlocked content.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade</i> 2006 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the second expansion to the real-time strategy video game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dark Crusade was released on October 9, 2006. The expansion features two new races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons. Including the Imperial Guard from Dawn of War's first expansion pack Winter Assault, a total of seven playable races in this expansion.

<i>Cabal Online</i> 2005 video game

Cabal Online is a free-to-play, 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by South Korean company ESTsoft. Different localizations of the game exist for various countries and regions. Although free-to-play, the game makes use of the freemium business model by implementing an "Item Shop", both in-game and via web, allowing players to purchase special premium coins using real currency, in order to acquire exclusive game enhancements and features, useful items and assorted vanity content.

<i>BattleForge</i> 2009 video game

BattleForge is a discontinued video game that was developed by EA Phenomic and published by Electronic Arts in 2009. BattleForge is an online card-based real-time strategy (RTS) game. The game's servers were shut down on October 31, 2013. An unofficial full-revival of the game was released on December 18, 2020, under the name of Skylords Reborn.

<i>Age of Empires Online</i> 2011 video game

Age of Empires Online is a multiplayer online real-time strategy game developed by Robot Entertainment and Gas Powered Games that was released on August 16, 2011. Based upon the gameplay of the Age of Empires series, it was originally developed by Robot Entertainment, but on February 24, 2011, Gas Powered Games, took over production. The game was published by Microsoft.

Illyriad is a free to play massively multiplayer online persistent browser-based strategy game developed by the UK software company Illyriad Games Ltd, the company's first full online strategy game, first released in beta in 2010, and launched in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warhammer: Invasion</span> Card game

Warhammer: Invasion is a Living Card Game (LCG) designed by Eric M. Lang and produced by Fantasy Flight Games in 2009, set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. Like Fantasy Flight's other LCGs, Invasion is sold as a core set, which can be played on its own, or built upon with expansion packs. Each pack has a fixed set of 3 copies each of 20 cards. There are six factions in Invasion: Dwarves, Empire, Orcs, Chaos, High Elves, and Dark Elves. The first four have decks in the core set, while the elves' decks are available in the Assault on Ulthuan expansion.

<i>Prime World</i> Multiplayer online video game

Prime World was a freemium massively multiplayer online role-playing game and multiplayer online battle arena hybrid game, internally developed by Nival and available for PC and Mac with companion apps for Android and iOS platforms.

<i>Grey Goo</i> Science fiction RTS video game

Grey Goo is a science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Petroglyph Games, produced by Six Foot, and published by Grey Box on January 23, 2015 exclusively for PC Microsoft Windows. It features a playable faction based on the grey goo scenario.

<i>Magic: The Gathering – Puzzle Quest</i> 2015 mobile puzzle video game

Magic: The Gathering – Puzzle Quest is a puzzle video game that combines the gem-matching concept in Puzzle Quest and its sequels, with the collectible card game aspects of Magic: The Gathering. It was released for mobile systems in December 2015.

<i>Eternal</i> (video game) 2016 video game

Eternal is a free-to-play online collectible card video game developed and published by Dire Wolf Digital. Eternal is available for iOS, Android, Xbox One, PCs using Steam and Nintendo Switch. The game features cross-platform play, allowing players to use any of the supported platforms to compete against each other. The game takes place in a Weird West fantasy setting. The game was in Steam early access in November 2016 and then had its official wide release in November 2018 that included support for the Xbox One. Eternal was released for the Switch on October 8, 2019.

References

  1. ↑ "SAGA release date". www.PlaySaga.com/saga_index.php. 14 February 2008.
  2. ↑ "A Kingdom for Keflings Revealed". www.ign.com. 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008.
  3. ↑ "Home". playsaga.com.
  4. ↑ "Saga Announces Booster Pack Distributers and States Shipping Date". www.MMORTSGamers.com. 4 February 2008. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  5. ↑ iTZKooPA (29 June 2007). "Producer Jason Faller talks about the persistent-world RTS, Saga". www.GameZone.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  6. ↑ iTZKooPA (25 June 2007). "Interviewtoid:Saga Producer Jason Faller". www.Destructoid.com.
  7. ↑ iTZKooPA (19 January 2007). "Wahoo Studios Announces MMORTS". Totalgaming.net. Retrieved 6 March 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.