Mercredi de BioWare du 20/04/05

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Jade Empire a déjà commence à recevoir les éloges de la presse anglophone et il ne reste nous reste plus que quelques jours à patienter pour avoir des échos concernant sa version française. D'ailleurs pour ce Mercredi BioWare nous révèle de nouveaux secrets sur ce jeu et nous propose aussi un nouveau fond d'écran. Cependant, tout cela ne doit pas nous faire oublier Neverwinter Nights et c'est pourquoi nous allons aujourd'hui visiter le monde d'Amon.

Plusieurs concepteurs de modules persistants avaient choisi de transposer dans NWN leur campagne D&D sur table. Parmis ceux-ci nous pouvons trouver Craig Suter, le créateur du module World of Amon. Ce monde débuta il y a 10 000 ans par un récit tragique, celui de Amon et Alise, qui furent contraint de se séparer malgré leur amour. Et dès lors, l'Histoire a poursuivit inlassablement son cours, parfois régie par les décisions des 'Maisons de Joueurs'. Pour en savoir plus, n'hésitez pas à lire l'interview réalisée par Jay Watamaniuk.

Si vous possédez déjà Jade Empire et que vous vous êtes enregistrés sur le site de BioWare, vous pourrez visionner 3 vidéos humoristiques supplémentaires par rapport à la semaine dernière et aussi découvrir 2 nouveaux secrets. Tout ceci se trouve sur cette page.
En plus de cela, les admirateurs de Wu la Fleur de Lotus (Wu the Lotus Blossom) pourront télécharger un nouveau fond d'écran la mettant en scène.

Bonne lecture.
Ils auraient pu mettre plus d'infos facilement accessibles sur l'histoire de World of Amon. Moi qui me sentait une âme de barde aujourd'hui, j'aurais bien écrit un peu plus... Tant pis

[Edit] : Je me suis trompé de raccourci à un endroit, alors je pique celui du message juste en dessous
Intéressant, c'est vite dit .
'fin bon, c'est vrai que l'interview est sympa. Cela me fait penser que j'attends une nouvelle Rencontre de Padhiver avec impatience ! (je sais pas si vous recevez bcp de retour pour ce boulot, mais les RdP sont vraiment super)
En espérant qu'il y en ait une sous peu ^_^.
Pis pour les mercredi, les choses vont aller en s'arrangeant.
Avec Jade Empire qui sort, cela va laisser plus de place à d'autres actualités maintenant (du moins je le suppose, un jeu console -pour l'instant en tout cas- se prêtera peut-être moins à une actualité abondante après sa sortie --> pas de patch, de multi etc...). Peut-être un peu plus de NWN, voire un peu de Dragon Age (on sait s'il va y avoir des news à l'E3 ?).
@Coursier & Simkim

Pour la trame générale, je me contenterai de citer Ren ( désolé, c'est en anglais, mais comme vous pouvez le voir, le background est assez riche avec beaucoup de pesonnages, beaucoup de factions, et beaucoup d'interactions )

La carte du monde :http://www.worldofamon.com/modules/M..._world_map.jpg

Citation :
The First Age- This age of the world finds ancient beasts living off a land of plenty. Dragons are the premier species of the land, though dark and powerful creatures dwell in many corners of the land.

The Second Age- The second age is ushered in by the arrival of a great freighter to the world that has come seeking Mithral.. which the world has shown to contain in unbelievable quantities... unseen throughout the universe. The pilots of the freighter are of a race whose name is unknown to anyone in the world. A very few lordly creatures dwelled in the enormous ship, and they had humans to serve them.

They had arrived to mine the mithral but the quantities found on the planet staggered the occupants of the ship. Whereas they intended to use remote machines to mine the ore quickly and depart richer then they had ever dreamed, they found enough Mithral to mine and fill their entire freighters hold. However they lacked the means to effectively obtain and process this material.

The masters of the vessel turned to cloning, and sent one of their number to the planet to oversee a massive mining operation that would occur in what is now the Seing river source. The youngest officer was chosen to go to the surface. His name was Amon.

Amon suffered at the hands of his companions in the ship, driving the workers to produce more then they were capable of, and enduring the anxiousness of his comrades to depart which manifested itself in unreasonable schedules, and beratement when those deadlines were not met.

Two years passed, and never once was Amon allowed to return to the ship, or was relieved by one of his companions. In desperate loneliness Amon turned to the slaves as the only companions he had. After watching several of the slave girls dance one night Amon was overcome by passion and took one of the girls to be his own knowing that his commander aboard the ship would punish him for such an act severely.

His lady became pregnant which plunged Amon into a dark mood. Amon was quite different then the humans that served him. In fact in the entire galaxy only 100,000 of Amon's kind existed. Long ago they had conquered death, and were able to move from their dying bodies to bodies prepared for their souls at special ceremonies. They long ago mandated their numbers, and used humans and other creatures to serve them providing them with what they considered an enlightened life of luxury.

Now however Amon had broken that rule, and a being was growing in his lady's womb that would be a half-breed.. and would most likely bring heinous punishments down upon his head. The worse and more looming fact though was that the freighters hull was nearing full, and soon he would be ordered to leave the mining colony, and though he denied it to himself, he had fallen deeply in love with his lady, and the thought of their child.

On the ship it became obvious that Amon was actually slowing production to delay departure, and the Commander sent a ship to collect Amon and summon him before him. There the Commander admonished Amon for his poor performance on the planet, and told him that he would not be returning. Ships were as of right now gathering all heavy mining equipment, and returning it to the vessel. When all ships were aboard they would destroy the mining camp and all of the workers.

Amon's heart fell into his stomach, and he plead for more time to finish filling the holds.. and when that failed to his commanders surprise Amon began to beg for the lives of the workers. To his kind Humans and other workers were an expendable renewable resource.. not equals or worthy of any consideration. However the crew had broken several of their races taboos on worker utilization, and Amon threatened that if the Commander destroyed the colony, that he would make a full report upon their return to their homeworld.

The commander was incensed and ordered Amon removed from the ship, and returned to the colony to die beside his beloved humans. Several human officers took Amon and began escorting him off the ship. Upon arrival at the planet though Amon with two words to his Colony Guard 'Take them' ordered the killing of his human escorts from the ship.

Quickly Amon ordered all available mining explosives to be loaded back onto the shuttle, and he programmed it to return to the ship on its own. In his hand he cradled a small device as he watched the ship return.

The great vessel had come full into view of the colony and was prepared for firing. Sweat dripped down Amon's face as he wondered if the ship would return before they fired on the colony.

Aboard the ship the commander had gathered his crew in the main viewing room where he gave a speech about loyalty and to make the crew watch the fate of Amon who had transgressed his trust so greatly. His first in Command though was not sold on his decisions and quietly pressed him if the Commander believed killing Amon was the right choice.

Quietly the Commander replied.. 'I could not kill Amon here, and any action I took would not be the end of this issue. Someday we all would have to face Amon again be it thousands of years in the future. He will see our ship above.. and he will regret his decision, and when I send a ship to collect him he will fall on his knees begging my forgiveness.'

The subordinate was not convinced though and pressed the commander further.. 'His actions were not sane sir.. I cannot comprehend his course of action.. Sir I fear Love may be involved.'

The commander shot a hard glance back.. then stuttered.. 'The shuttle!.. Stop the shuttle!..'

The shuttle however was gliding into the landing bay of the vessel, and Amon pressed the button on the device in his hand that set off an explosion that filled the sky with falling burning debris. The vessel separated into two parts, and careened into the mountains of Keltria where it struck the planet like a massive mithral bullet.

Amon tossed the device aside, and turned to the humans.. a long struggle to survive was ahead of them.

The majority of the colony perished in the first years of 'freedom' including Amon's wife whose passing plunged Amon into a darkness he never climbed out of. She did bear him two sons however who grew quickly, and showed ever sign of being far superior to any of their human counterparts.

The Third Age.

Amon did not age, nor did his sons as the humans around them cycled through generations. Amon's heart was never mended though, and his mind was always on bringing his love back to him, even though her passing had faded into lore and memory.

Amon decided to lead an expedition to try to find the remains of the great vessel that brought him here, hoping that he might find the cloning equipment.. where he would attempt to bring his wife back.

So leaving his eldest son behind Amon departed on a journey to find the great ship's remains. Deep in the frigid regions of Keltria's Mountainous north they found the ship, and Amon recovered the cloning equipment. There it is rumored Amon sacrificed his youngest son in a bid to recreate his mother.

Miserable failed attempts to use the equipment brought forth horrors, but in need the creations were kept alive and driven by the whip to work for the colony. Over time many of these creatures escaped.

Amon never learned to use the equipment correctly, though he would not stop trying. Desperation over the loss of his wife, and the murder of his comrades drove Amon to summon his eldest son to him where it is rumored he intended to risk his life as well to bring back his fallen wife.

Amon's eldest son however had his suspicions about his brother's passing, and decided that his welcome in the colony had run out. He took a small following, and fled Amon's colony on ships arriving in what is today known as Aikolund. These pilgrims would become known as the Hraski, and others as the Hur.

This angered Amon beyond reason, and he ordered his son captured, and brought to him plunging the colony into the darkest days they had seen. Amon's rule was blood-soaked, and misery filled.. something had to give, and it did.

A group living in exile from the colony had founded a city known as Inchyre. There they rallied an army to drive Amon from power. Fueled by recruits from Amon's own colony the army of Inchyre began winning massive victories over Amon's forces that lacked any will to fight. Seeing the end was neigh, Amon took his closest loyal followers, known as the Hafireen, and escaped Keltria on boats, and fled to the desert continent of Osiria.

Inchyre came to rule all of Keltria, but when the leaders of Inchyre ordered their armies to halt pursuit of Amon, one leader, Nadril, was incredulous and disobeyed the order taking the majority of the Inchyre army with him in pursuit of Amon.

The leaders of Inchyre were aghast.. instead of being able to reign in the entire continent of Keltria by strategically deploying their forces, they found themselves retreating their remaining forces to the city as Nadril led the main body across the oceans in chase of Amon.

On Osiria Amon used the last of his technology to cause massive teeth to arise around all of Osiria to protect it's few harbors from landing. Nadril's forces arrived to find no safe harbor to land their vessels. Nadril fueled by hate refused even now to give up the chase, and decided create his own landing ground at the base of a great cliff.. There workers hollowed out a landing area, and dug a cave that Nadril envisioned turning into a tunnel to the surface of Osiria.

The project took an incredibly long time, and all sane hope of their secrecy had long been forgone. Nadril's lieutenants begged him to abandon the project and return in haste to Inchyre, but Nadril pressed on. When he finally did reach the surface he found Amon and the Hafireen waiting for him. There they were killed to the man, and Nadril was cursed to remain among his undying men in retribution for his disloyalty to Amon.

The Fourth Age

On Keltria the age of enlightenment began. Under the leadership of Inchyre the whole of Keltria eventually fell to the Iceni who ruled in Inchyre. On Osiria Amon built a new city of Hafir, and he ruled there. On Aikolund the Hraski and the Hur lived in primitively in a land of plenty.

The Fifth Age

The fifth age begins with the arrival of the Ratharians. The Ratharians were another space faring society that was attracted to the world by the copious amounts of Mithral found there. The Ratharians were not however motivated by greed, and when they found the planet inhabited they decided not to intervene on the world, and actually took up a position near the world to watch and study it, and it's inhabitants whom they thought were native.

However the high ideals of the Ratharians were not shared among all in their society, and in a highly secret meeting it was set in motion to behind the militaries back to send a small research ship to the planet. A small research vessel homed in on the strongest source of mithral on the planet, and made a landing deep in the frozen mountains of Keltria.

There the research team found something they wholly did not expect.. The remains of an ancient freighter.. which they entered. Deep in the recesses of the ship the team found the souls of the dead comrades of Amon who possessed the team one by one as they tried to flee in terror. One of the six scientists emerged from the wreckage, and hid behind a snow bank. From there he watched as the other five scientists emerged from the wreckage, and bloodily killed the remainder of the crew. Then stranded on the planet he watched the five scientists pilot the ship off the planet leaving him wholly alone.

The scientists protected by his gear stumbled out of the mountains of Keltria weeks later to be found by the members of an obscure cult known as the brotherhood of Wrynn. An order that secretly worshipped an ancient demon that dwelt deep in the mountains, and had existed far before Amon's arrival.

The scientist however brought with him diseases that the residents of Amon had not yet seen, and the plague spread like a firestorm across all of Keltria. The Brotherhood of Wrynn spread lies and rumors that the Iceni in Inchyre, which was untouched by the plague, were the cause and cancer that brought this horror upon them.

The Governor of the southern lands who ruled in proxy for the recluses of Inchyre had his ears poisoned by the words of the Brotherhood, and soon driven by the ire of his people quietly raised an army to support the Brotherhood's bid to overthrow Inchyre.

Inchyre was caught wholly unaware when the forces of the south crested the hills around Inchyre to lay siege upon them. The city of Inchyre no longer had a standing army; instead they had relied on powerful warriors known as the Dryw to maintain order. The Dryw were unmatched in ability but stared out from the walls of Inchyre at an army that outnumbered them twenty to one.

The majority of the Dryw fell valiantly defending the port of Inchyre as the last of the Iceni fled the city sailing for the hoped safety of Aikolund. The Brotherhood of Wrynn's flag was raised over Inchyre, and Keltria was plunged into a dark rule that it has not to this day toppled.

The ship that the scientists brought to Amon carried away from the planet the five souls of the crew Amon had so bloodily murdered. However these entities were without memory, and had found new meaning as part Ratharians. Within years the five had instigated a civil war within the Ratharians, and were well on their way to overthrowing the Ratharian government across the galaxy.

The Ratharian military was stretched to the breaking point, and Admiral Woshani who commanded the battle group assigned to Amon was ordered to make use of all resources in his sector to fund the war effort. It was a hard break with military tradition, but Woshani ordered the landing of Dwarves on the planet to start mining Mithral for the Empire. However before the mining operation became profitable it caught the eyes of the rebellion, which had become known as the Pent Empire, named for the five possessed scientists who formed it.

The Pent boarded five of their command ships, and planned to return to the planet themselves to discover more about their past. The Ratharian Admiral Woshani however who maintained his significantly inferior force above the planet refused his commander's orders to abandon his post and rejoin the main fleet.

Woshani had long been embittered about the plan to mine the planet, and abandon long-standing codes of non-intervention with primitives. He felt an obligation that he could not abandon, and he called together his commanders and told them of his decision. Knowing that his plan was a death sentence his commanders boldly stood and pledged their lives to saving the planet from the Pent, and their loyalty to Woshani.

Woshani's plan was simple.. he had wired his flag ship to explode, and bade his sister ships to buy them enough time to get close enough to the Pent when they arrived to destroy them as he destroyed himself. From the ground the Hraski watched as the Pent arrived, and the battle in the sky commenced. Woshani watched all of his command destroyed as he drove his ship deeply into the Pent's formation. Then from the destroyed bridge of his ship he personally detonated his vessel sending his and the Pent vessels plummeting to the planet below.

No one that fought in the battle survived, however bit and pieces of the vessels smashed into the deserts of Osiria scattering about thousands of hibernation pods carrying the servants of both the Pent and the Ratharians. The Pent vessels spilled their Elvish servants, and the Ratharian vessels spilled predominately human servants, but also a wide litany of Dwarves, Gnomes, Half-Orcs, and Halflings. Some awoke confused in very harsh and foreign land, but many pods remained unopened and their contents remained in hibernation.

A great dragon known as Solomak who had long watched and interacted with the various colonies around the world took to gathering and stockpiling the pods deep in his lair in the mountains of Mehitapeth.

The survivors that awoke began to try and survive. In the north of Osiria the Elves predominantly fell under the command of Sameref, a bold elf that would at first look to the Hafireen for help, and after several bloody encounters, he would join with exiles known as the A'Tsunamu to overthrow Amon's city of Hafir. Amon had long ago disappeared though, it is said that he built for himself a great tomb, and layed to rest there a decade before. Without understanding what the Hafireen were referring to when they constantly called upon Amon's name, they began to refer to the planet as Amon.

To the south human Ratharian servants awoke, and found the same trouble as the elves. A great leader named Rould though rose to power, and enticed by A'Tsunamus he led his people off of Osiria to Aikolund where Leistra was founded.

Series of wars..
Rould's attack north to secure more land above Leistra from the Hur. There in defiance to Hur boundaries he founded Fehn. Hraski and Hur fight against the Rould's in this war, only to suffer a humiliating defeat.

Rould attacks west to secure land from two Dwarvish splinter groups (the dwarves were the remnants of the Ratharian miners). Rould loses the battle at what becomes the cursed fortress of Rall, but a General named Kryx lays a curse on the fortress that eliminates it as a threat to Leistra.

A refugee sect of Elves led by Elluvian arrives in Leistra from Osiria. King Rould is too strapped to repel them so he allows them to land and grants them the land of the Hraski. Setting the two up for a bloody war that almost wipes out the Hraski. However an Elvish General named Nortuos realizes the deception only at the last moment plunging the Elves into a civil war. Nortuos wins the war, and then turns his forces on Leistra. King Rould again through treachery wins the day ending the series of wars leaving him firmly in control of Eastern Aikolund.

A young Hraski named Coros departs his defeated people, and leads a group of followers west where he founds Heija in hopes of obtaining peace. However after heavy import tax laws are levied in Leistra several Leistran businessmen approach Heija in hopes of using their port to circumvent the Leistran tax. Coros accedes to the request, and the city of Heija was born.

The Six Age

This is the age just beginning right now on our world. Heija has come into it's own and war with Leistra has already broken out. Heija has joined in a loose alliance with the Elves in Sallen and others, and bloodshed now to determine the future of the planet seems unavoidable.

Coros departs Heija and travels with Tris'la, head of the Iceni Order, to seek the aid of Solomak. After much pleading the great dragon agrees to attempt to revive many of the hibernation pods he had stockpiled in his lair, and deliver the survivors to Heija.. where they would have the free will to decide whether they helped the upstart city against the Roulds.


Si vous avez eu le courage de tout lire , une petite description plus succinte :
World of Amon est constitué de 3 continents.




Le continent principal, Aikolund est constitué de plusieurs villes peuplées de differentes races. Le joueur démarre à Heija, ville qui a proclamé son autonomie vis à vis du royaume du roi raould de Leistra. Le continent est litteralement truffé de quêtes diverses qui mênent le joueur à connaitre le continent ainsi que les differentes factions oeuvrant au sein de chaque ville. En terme de jeu pur, aikolund permet de monter jusqu'au niveau 30. En plus des quetes, il y a un systeme de primes ( chasse aux orcs, aux gobelins,..) qui permet de vite démarrer. Il y a un systeme de guildes plutot varié, ainsi qu'un systeme d'artisanat qui permet au noob, heu au nouvel arrivant d'acquerir du materiel convenable pour poursuivre ses quetes, voire d'apprendre la forge, le tissage ou le travail du bois ( mais c'est extremement long ).

Le 2ème continent, Osiria permet au joueur de poursuivre les quetes principales, et d'en entamer d'autres beaucoup plus épiques avec une difficulté accrue. le continent est plus petit, mais c'est à mon sens le meilleur en terme de game play. Osiria est un petit bijou ^^. Evidemment, Osiria est pour groupe de joueurs niveau 35-40.


Le 3ème et dernier continent, Keltria, est entierement consacré à la quête principale, trouver Amon. Evidemment, la difficulté est maximale. Il n'y a personne qui a réussi à faire cette quete en solo, voire à arriver à n'en serait-ce que la moitié. C'est un continent pour groupes de joueurs niveaux 40 ++.


Au niveau difficulté, Amon est immense et difficile ( un lanceur de sorts qui a moins de 40 au jr peut tout de suite se reconvertir au corps à corps ). C'est un serveur action, où grosso modo, le materiel ne depasse pas le +5, excepté à Keltria, où même avec du +8 voire du +10, un groupe de gros bill niveaux 40 suréquipés s'en prend plein la tête. Tout le materiel en provenance de Keltria n'est pas transferable afin d'eviter de tuer le gameplay.


Le jeu en groupe est très fortement encouragé ( d'où la prédominance des guildes de joueurs ) et de tte façon indispensable vu la difficulté; il y a de nombreux dms qui font régulierement ou des events ou en improvisent à la volée, ou qui s'amusent à casser la routine des joueurs qui campent un peu trop pour du materiel. Bien que ce soit un serveur action, le rp y est encouragé, et de temps en temps, il y a des campagnes de pvp. Ma guilde sort juste d'une guerre avec une guilde de haflelins pour la possession d'une ville

Au niveau des joueurs, il y a dominance US, evidemment, mais également beaucoup d'européens, et pas mal d'asiatiques; très peu de français par contre. Il y a une tres bonne ambiance. La moyenne d'age y est assez élévée ( la trentaine ), chose qui a un avantage par rapport à d'autres serveurs: les joueurs ne passent pas leur temps à s'insulter comme des putois comme j'ai pu le constater sur pas mal de serveurs fr. Au niveau réglages du jeu, le critique devastateur est desactivé, et les sorts épiques sont largement boostés ( orbe infernal fait dans les 600hps de dommages )

Pour pouvoir y jouer, pas de hackpack, juste le CEP en version 1.51. Evidemment, le principal hic qui en decourage plus d'un :ça discute en anglais, et le décalage horaire ne facilite pas la participation aux events...
Très honnêtement, ça doit faire 1 an 1/2 que j'y squatte, et pour moi, c'est mon record absolu de fidélité à un jeu.

Si vous voulez essayer, vous me trouverez souvent dessus; mon log y est également anglashell ( à moins bien sur que vous ne craigniez de parler avec un disciple de Bane )
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