Preview: AQ3D Pushes Towards Open Beta

Say what you will about AdventureQuest 3D itself. Maybe you love it, maybe it's a bit "simplistic" for your tastes, hell, maybe you don't even know what it is in the first place. Despite those feelings though, I can tell you from first hand experience that meeting and chatting with Adam "Artix" Bohn, CEO Atrix Entertainment, and team is a pleasure. The team's passion for almost all media, not just games and their game in particular, is refreshing and you'll ALWAYS have something to talk about when you hop on the line. My recent preview this week with the AQ3D team took place just a few months after my previous preview and a lot has changed...but not as much as the team had hoped would have changed by now.

As AQ3D pushes towards open beta this October, players have already been testing out the Steam and Android versions of the title. The iOS version of the game will be made available during the upcoming open beta but hasn't been tested much externally due to the nature of how applications flow through the Apple Store's requirements system.

This recent preview saw Artix, myself, and some other team members traipsing through one of the games approximately 11 new dungeons that will be added when AQ3D rolls into beta, ShadowSkull Tower. This dungeon is unique in that the arrangement, monster spawns, and even the final boss's final form are all randomly generated from a preset list of options. The first time through won't reveal everything there is to see and in fact, since the dungeon length is limited but the options for generation are greater, it may take several trips through ShadowSkull Tower before you've "seen" everything. Don't be disappointed that the final boss is very "Ghost Rider" looking, by the way. He'll change forms later in the fight into one of 3 different forms...you'll have to run this dungeon multiple time JUST to see all of the boss's forms. This is a great way to increase replay-ability a bit, but Artix also mentioned that dungeons as a whole have undergone a bit of an overhaul based on player feedback. Players didn't want just a ton of monsters, they wanted more balance, difficulty, and immersion and Artix Entertainment is focusing on that through rebalance passes and an increased use of all the storytelling options available to them including quest text, talking head cutscenes, and actual cutscenes.

Mogloween is also rolling into AQ3D so long time AQ fans will have something a bit familiar to them to take part in. This seasonal event not only introduces the new craftable Pumpkin Lord armor set (although Artix hinted that this cold actually be a class in the future...maybe) but also the Elder Gourd: Gourdthulu. My reply? That the armor was very Love"craft"ian of them....yeah...at least they appreciated the pun!.

All in all, there's a good bit for AQ fans to look forward to when beta starts. Artix may have wanted to be a bit further along, but the basis of the "Friend Summoning" feature is running, new dungeons are always a plus, the iOS version of the game is getting ready to be available, and the game seems to be being tuned directly as a result of player feedback. Judging by some of the stories rolling around in Artix's brain and in his personally written scripts (no, don't ask, I can't share them as they could spoil certain VERY cool upcoming ideas), players will have a fun ride, particularly those that already know a bit about the AQ world.

My thanks to Artix and team for spending some time previewing the game with us!