Death of a Game: GunZ: The Duel (& GunZ: the Second Duel)

Death of a Game: GunZ: The Duel (& GunZ: the Second Duel)

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foreign every now and then there comes an online  multiplayer title that just defines or   screams being from a particular age of gaming  or even place a game so iconic and noticeable   that even though it never had massive mainstream  success it still creates discussion in intrigue   today guns The Duel was Prime 2006 gaming backward  nerds on the internet were still emerging from the   deep and dark forums from whence they came new  grounds mmorpg.com and more iconic websites of   our youth all had references whether in montages  gameplays or [ __ ] posts of guns The Duel it was   a rite of passage for many of us guns The Duel  came out of nowhere when it launched in the West   in 2006 from developer mate entertainment out  of South Korea introducing fast-paced movement   in action we hadn't ever seen guns focused more on  what was described as end fighting with guns think   gunslinging but ramped up to the anime levels  it was awesome no peaking Corners endlessly or   camping you could double down Ash buffered Bunny  Hop b-hop Dash wall run wall cancel animation   cancel butterfly which was attacking and blocking  at the same time slash shot and I'm not kidding   that's not even it the sheer movement options  and speed at which they could be executed in   guns made for arguably one of the most fast-paced  multiplayer Shooters we had ever seen But although   guns had quite the legendary status and had  existed for over 15 years at this point and   they even made a sequel guns 2 which would prove  to be an unfortunate massive failure by comparison   the developer who created it faded into a sort  of sad obscurity during that journey and the   license behind guns itself has seemed to shelved  and traded around a few times now guns is still   playable today despite its multiple shutdowns in  more ways than one but not to the same official   capacity it once was in order to find out  why that isn't the case we have to go back   far enough to diagnose the largest contributing  factors that led to either guns failing to catch   massive popularity or why the title was unable  to have a healthier official longevity not all   deaths are abrupt sudden or a full of deep tragedy  some titles just Fade Into Obscurity and those   sorts of episodes like this one will focus more  on the positive life cycle of a game and it's   given Legacy so think of this as a special homage  to guns and Guns players and less of a focus on   what the game was bad at because I personally  like and enjoyed the game flaws and all but   my prefacing aside we still do have a mystery  to solve as much as a story to tell Detectives made entertainment which stands for team  backwards with the eye thrown in there for   Innovation was formed way back in 1998 in Korea  with quite the humble beginnings it was a team   of researchers who banded together to create a  video game development team which was a pretty   cool origin story I might add mate would launch  their first game a semi-successful online RTS   title A Saga now I played a title much like this  called artifact as a kid so I'm quite fond of this   incredibly Niche genre where you can play RTS  games online with other players simultaneously   over different time periods and game lengths  the title they would build themselves up to   next however was Guns The Duel as it was dubbed  which would first see its close beta back in   2003 in just Korea the official launch of guns  The Duel in Korea was sometime in the summer of   2003. there's little information due to it being  an Eastern lunch 20 years old at this point but   the only time you see a title brought from Korea  to the Western Market is if either it shares some   level of success or they put a lot of money into  it and they want the investment back with guns   it looked like the latter but guns at this point  was a mystery and that would all change in 2005.   guns closed beta would hit the West 2005  hitting at just about the peak rise of the   internet rage in age where memes were just funny  images we posted when bored online well before   they were really memes I mean when guns hit  the Western World we had never seen anything   like it before sure fast-paced Arena Shooters  like quake and Halo had existed already but   guns brought more of a focus on end fighting and  gunslinging coupled with insane movement ability   the uniqueness was apparent as soon as it was  playable online it was that distinctive of a title   this closed beta would prove successful as  within the next year November 29th 2006 guns   The Duel would be launched in both the EU and  the us bringing to the West for the first time   a fast-paced movement-based anime shooter guns was  a third person peer-to-peer multiplayer shooter   meaning that they didn't utilize dedicated servers  so one player would serve as the server so to say   the primary game modes ever played were Deathmatch  or Team Deathmatch in the quest mode a PVE based   Cooperative mode where you killed monsters and  eventually a boss let's talk about the actual   gameplay the flagship part of guns the part that  everybody remembers love or hate guns is a third   person shooter but it's like no other infighting  is a focus on the fighting that happens within   your immediate peripheral think of Close Quarters  combat with guns and melee weapons the CQC aspect   of guns combined with the for a Time completely  unique melee weapon mechanics made for incredibly   fast-paced up close in personal combat guns  had standard armor with bonuses that improved   your survivability showcasing gender-specific  armor for Minnie for the first time these armor   pieces included a head hand body hands legs and  feet pieces headgear was obtained from questing   or later on purchasing you could choose between  seven different weapons pistols rifles revolvers   shotguns SMGs MGS and rocket launchers and four  melee weapon though the last one never launched   in the na officially daggers swords dual swords  and large swords you then had grenades rings and   an enchant slot and a recovery slot you had up  to 12 total equipment slots with a total weight   requirement or limit and that made sense because  the whole point of guns was being mobile switching   between all of your weapons and equipment  while maintaining your aim and tracking on your   enemy was more challenging than in most Shooters  because of the movement potential that players had   the bass movement alone was already incredibly  impressive you could wall run jump double jump   change momentum directions Crouch and roll however  by the time that guns came to the West it had   already been out in Korea for some time already  and a style of play had been developing from Korea   that was Finding its way to the Western launch  K style as it was dubbed was the ultimate way to   play guns while early on guns was challenging in  high skilled play Korean style brought in more APM   and the ability to perform multiple inputs and  quick successions through the use of Animation   canceling it's not to say that Koreans invented  animation canceling they didn't we were doing it   in Halo 2 by the way but it's the state that  they mastered it and adopted it to their own   style regarding such some people felt conflicted  about the case style because it was preemptively   firing off mechanics versus reactively and it was  at the end of the day an unintended mechanic being   fully utilized one that required an insanely High  APM to compete against other players with this   would raise the barrier of entry for new players  Gray deeply and changed the way that the game   was played strategically to further explain what  k-style consisted of besides just button mashing   preemptively as in the actual techniques that you  use there are a number of useful videos on YouTube   that you can go watch for example this one by  remix is for X Super Smash Brothers Melee players   who are quite familiar with numerous button inputs  and mechanics the basic movement options are all   ramped up when you add animation canceling in and  the combining of two inputs together this becomes   the new basic movement if you will that means  that the skill floor raises up tremendously on the   more advanced end you have techniques like flash  stepping double butterflies and it doesn't stop   there the skill ceiling for guns really isn't  about aiming it's about movement and reacting   properly so as expected they push the limits even  more with movement with things like triple Dash   double flash stepping and so on and so forth  the movement gets so crazy that when you watch   montage videos it looks like an anime characters  and they're killing players and that was the magic   behind guns it was all about style points and  feeling like a total badass it was like CS 1.6   on scare steroids for some people K style and the  movement that came with it though elevated that   while for others it became the moment that they  knew that they couldn't compete anymore and some   players would just move on to other games guns  was popular but as a niche title there was simply   nothing else like it on the market which made it  incredibly unique and polarizing at the same time   guns would have so much popularity that they  would introduce their cash shop January 8 2007.  

this was quite revolutionary for the time because  many online games didn't even have a cash shop   especially because the Western Market was very  new to microtransactions the microtransactions   and Lobby shooters were actually a thing from Asia  originally that even in games like Battlefield   Heroes a western game I covered on the series as  well would feature as well the problem with such   is no amount of semantics can change this either  by the way is that it's pay to win literally the   only way you can get access to high-end slots is  through buying them they weren't just cosmetic   and actually had values to them this meant that  guns despite its incredibly High skill cap and   floor was a Pay to Win online title which is  just about probably one of the biggest twists   in the story for many people this is arguably  because it's not just a Korean title which is   more familiar with such it's more that it wasn't  designed to be so high skill originally the player   base sort of manifested that on their own might  entertainment effectively accidentally created   a super competitive classic one that by many  account they weren't monetizing very fairly   which would end up hurting the perception of the  game greatly the first and last major update that   would hit guns The Duel would hit February 14  2007 dubbed the quest update this update would   add hard modes to the already present Quest  mode allowing players to get better rewards   and an even better challenge May 2007 and this  would be the last official update that would add   new sounds and voices to the game as well at  least I think Clan Wars comes before or after   I'm not quite sure but it was added sometime post  launch and it would greatly change the focus of   most players and the game itself clan wars were  usually four versus four and consisted of all the   same normal Madness in a guns fight except with  three other teammates against an enemy team not   only were the stakes High well relatively for the  time as the game was so young that Esports didn't   even really exist yet winners would get bragging  rights and on the internet back then that was King   could I did a video on guns as an esport I  recommend checking out because it accurately   captures why people both loved and hated the  competitive scene in that game in retrospect   the reason guns The Duel would see such few major  updates is that developer might entertainment was   following the trend of the time period which  MMOs and online multiplayer games were doing   which is kind of getting Lightning Fast sequels  in many cases these sequels were quick to fail for   a number of reasons find out more about some of  these examples like Asheron's Call and EverQuest   and their respective death of a game videos guns  to the second duel and no I'm not kidding about   the name would begin development as early as  October 2007. but guns choosing to transition   a mere one year after launching in the West  Was going to be taken quite negatively by that   audience because although they didn't know for  sure yet like we do with the beauty of hindsight   the shifting of resources to the sequel would  Doom guns from receiving any more future content   sure guns would receive some updates but very  little in the way of new maps or new PVE content   especially when guns 2 was proving to be quite  the undertaking it was utilizing a more powerful   version of the original guns engine dubbed real  space 3.0 now and was all together a brand new   game according to might entertainment what  was most shocking or alarming about guns too   was that it wasn't necessarily looking to be a  spiritual successor to guns or the exact style   that guns patented compared to guns one we are  developing guns to Inner Direction which combines   out fighting with infighting properly according  to devs guns 2 would be combining both in and   out fighting unlike guns one this sounds like a  cool idea in theory but the difficulty would be   in execution if they did a bad job then you might  just have another generic feeling shooter versus   the unique identity that was Guns the guns team  would also discuss their desire to break up the   K style that dominated their game although this  is a super old translation how I read it is that   they wanted to provide some elements of the case  style but not just the case style is the best way   or only way to play the game while I can see why  the fan base would not be happy with such changes   I can all also see the developer's perspective  because ultimately they never intended to create   the game that guns became so it was kind of like  them trying to recapture or retake ownership of   what guns was and failing to do such worst of all  throughout this time and dedication to create an   all-new guns experience the game was originally  set to launch in 2009 and would then be delayed   to 2010 and then 2011. delays are a natural part  of project management I should know I used to do   it but the issue with guns 2 being delayed so  heavily was my entertainment was trying to cash   in on the success and momentum of guns with  a sequel every year delayed was going to make   that more difficult not to mention in the case of  online games especially one to two years can make   a world of difference think about the games that  came out in just one to two years before World of   Warcraft and how outdated they were made to look  and feel guns one's popularity was still quite   rampant at this time however as the game was a  cult classic in many online circles but once guns   2 would launch the fate of Mayan entertainment  and guns 1 would certainly become apparent   the floodgates would be opened and guns would live  forever in 2011 when the source code would become   available for the 1.5 version of the game this was  a super crucial move in the preservation of online   games period but in the case of guns this would  allow other players to run servers of their own   considering that the game is peer-to-peer this  was great news the source code being released   however it ended up happening means that guns  would continue to be played for the next decade   or decades it was absolutely a huge moment for  guns fans and today has still led to multiple more   private servers in existence guns 2 would launch  in Korea in 2011 as well the same year the source   code for the original game would leak how long  the game would take to be brought to the West Was   a serious concern for guns fans especially when  the game was already delayed by two years by the   time the West got the sequel would they even care  anymore plus how successful was Guns 2 in Korea   anyway that success would also dictate if the game  would ever be brought over or in what capacity   guns one would shift from EG platform to area  games March 2012. as far as I understand it  

this was more akin to an acquisition not a  shifting EG will report a lackluster profit   and the hassle of dealing with constant hackers  as the reason for the switch hackers had plagued   guns since the beginning as being a peer-to-peer  game made it quite easy to hack and modify hackers   could ESP hack see you through walls aim lock  or just do certain things faster or quicker   than you should actually be able to do to make  matters worse because guns was a peer-to-peer   game this made the game incredibly ping Reliant  anything higher than 30 ping for most players and   you weren't really competitive peer-to-peer  games suffer from this often which makes the   hitboxes of your opponents lag to an extent which  you have to account for when playing the game   this combined with a sometimes toxic elitist  player mentality kept new players from joining in   and greatly burnt out many current players I was  sent multiple emails concerning the guns community   and how toxic it could be I heard stories that  uh yeah I'm probably not gonna recount but there   are a bunch of bad stories about corruption and  private servers being ran by well not so Savory   people this is common in games that are kind of  left to their own device that have high skill caps   and have a bunch of hackers Darkfall game that I  cut my teeth on much like guns suffered from this   exact problem area games a free-to-play online  RPG publisher based out of Germany would now be   in charge of guns one and guns would be playable  on areas platform with characters reportedly   remaining from the EG server area games running  guns however was warring for me even at the time   and still of course in hindsight I've never seen  area motivated by anything other than porting   Korean games and making money from them long  past their time in the sun according to previous   players before the switch guns was in the decline  but still managing a 4 000 plus player count   following the switch as in the same day even all  only a few hundred players would be seen online   Mayan entertainment was a big player in  the world of online RPG development now   with two guns titles now under their belt they  would create a new title a hardcore PVE based   title dubbed Raider Z or Raiders that would  be maligned throughout its entire career and   never properly launched or supported for various  reasons Raiders would launch November 2012 with   basically no advertisement through perfect world  entertainment as the publisher I got to play and   see Raiders at PAX East and it wasn't a half bad  game it however had rather poor explanations for   what kind of game it was and it had an overall  rather low presence now Raiders is deserving of   its own video so we're not going to get into too  much detail about it here but made entertainment   had built a brand new MMO after launching a  sequel to guns the same year they offloaded   the game to somebody else seemed like they were  ready to move on from guns to bigger and better   more ambitious titles but with how fast they  seem to transition off of their successful   title to start how many fans of guns were left  supporting my entertainment in the first place   and how many had moved on playing Guns on their  own on private servers it must be frustrating   for a developer trying to make a bigger and  more ambitious game to feel like people still   want to play your first game but that's how  game development works sometimes and you're   better served satisfying an existing Demand  versus creating an all-new one in my opinion foreign the original guns would be shut down  officially May 31st 2013 the numbers would   continue to decrease since pre-area games  levels an area had seen enough they decided   to discontinue the game but luckily there  were numerous resources and websites that   were already in existence at the time to where  you could go read more about guns how to run the   server and how to join in and play on one too  freestylers world as a resource has his guns   duels where you can find out how to play guns  even in 2023 there's also a plethora of YouTube   videos to go check out so while the game would  be officially shut down at this time before it   had even shut down there were already servers  up and running guns wasn't going anywhere yet   the sequel to guns would launch in mere months  after the shutdown of the original in the west   this would make it three years since the game  had launched in Korea by the time guns 2 hit the   West nobody was looking for it anymore whatever  fans were left was just playing classic guns or   moved on to other titles and when guns 2 came  out in the west thanks to the internet it was   already quite well known to fans that it wasn't a  gun's title for the rabbit original fans instead   guns 2 was an attempt to shy away from their  iconic infighting and movement-based gameplay   and transition to more of what most fans would  describe as a clunky generic third-person shooter   with not much to show for it guns 2 would not  only fail in Korea it would fail in the west   by the summer of 2015. guns 2 would achieve an  impressive 10 000 player Peak count on Steam   before in just under a few months dropping to just  down to a thousand players or so resulting in a   shift towards maintenance mode guns 2 certainly  greatly affected guns the duel and its Legacy   going forward guns to the sequel would likely be  a forgotten final meanwhile guns one remains to be   played today and that we have a lesson of entering  too far outside of your own audience in the end   satisfying none guns too wouldn't even have a  preservation effort it would just be forgotten   guns 2 would fail to revive the guns franchise  but news would hit the web March 2016 that the   original guns would be reportedly revived in Korea  the song soft would express interest in bringing   the iconic classic anime shooter back the song  soft who originally merged with Maya entertainment   following guns one's launch would buy the  rights to guns one and two in June of 2016.   with the plans of bringing the title back they  would also purchase Raiders with the same idea   unfortunately though a remarkable five years  would pass and no update from a song soft   would be published there was an initial movement  with guns in Korea like some basic updates being   conducted but now the websites were writing  articles about what happened on the song soft   leaving their whereabouts their future plan for  the guns franchise unknown masongsoft does own the   rights so if they or anyone wants to do anything  in an official capacity with guns they would have   to square that away with them the last update was  concerning Raiders and that was a resurrection but   alas no details further this update was as recent  as December 2022 the guns Revival project seemed   to be all but put on the Shelf at this point  I even heard from one of my contacts that they   reached out to the song soft and found out that  they weren't indeed doing anything and in response   the song soft enacted a bunch of dmca takedowns  of guns content on YouTube truly a bizarre happens   now before I get to my final deduction I want  to reiterate that this video was a special one   and although there's certainly failures of my  entertainment including from themselves in their   first serious title guns that led to the game  not getting broader appeal and being shut down   sooner there is still so much positive about the  game that must be stated I'll go ahead and say it   I'd put guns The Duel up there with Jedi Academy  as one of the best power fantasy shooter action   games you can play where you truly feel super  powerful as your skill increases in the game   the sheer amount of movement options combined  with the need to constantly track your target   using their movement options contributed to a  fast-paced shooter really like no other I think   it's important to talk about the legacy of a  title like guns because although it's still   played today and fondly remembered by some  I think there is still so much to learn from   it for future titles not to mention for some  people they didn't watch this video all they   remembered guns for was being paid to win and  hackers interesting thing about guns for me was   that super specific movement based Tech seemed  to actually be highly desired in the game even   when it wasn't there originally which contradicts  many popular perspectives in fact the second game   failed due to a lack of such finally much  like games like Super Smash Bros melee and   Halo 2 glitches and bugs in the case of guns  actually contributed to the game and its skill   ceiling increasing devs keeping those bugs and  glitches in would cement those particular games I   referenced much like guns as being one-of-a-kind  competitive experiences where glitches suddenly   became the actual game while there might be an  argument to remove such things as they were not   intended features doing such would remove what  made those particular games unique it'd be like   removing bxring or double shotting from Halo 2 a  removing animation canceling from guns or removing   wave dashing or L canceling from Super Smash  Brothers Melee guns The Duel is still playable   today so you have the chance to go experience  what I'm discussing here as words don't really   do it justice just a fair warning though some of  the players can be dicks to new players so try to   find a community of players to join up with and  if not watch a few frag videos and just be amazed that music means that this mystery has come to  an end and unlike most cases guns The Duel has   been long gone and this was more of a trip down  memory lane for many of us nostalgic Gamers our   case study for those who missed out on it  the first time we've gathered enough Clues   and progressed the timeline detectives which  means that it's time for the final deduction   developer had shifted their focus multiple times   rampant hacking the original developer perished  a failed sequel hastened the original's downfall   the area games acquisition a  niche title age waits for nobody guns will remain in the history books as one of  the most unique online Shooters to come from Korea   or really anywhere and one of my favorite games to  see make the rounds as it really is as I've been   saying over and over again if you didn't start  the drinking game you're late one of a kind unlike   some retrospective episodes however which are not  really about failures we were able to determine   that my entertainment did make some mistakes in  their handling of guns which makes you think even   with all of that guns still was able to have the  reputation and Legacy that it had what would have   been the True full potential of the game we won't  know but what we do know is how guns ended up and   can still luckily go enjoy that experience  right now to an extent thanks for watching

2023-03-17 23:59

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