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Darkfall Beta Leaker.
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02-01-2009 8:28am#1
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Leprachaun wrote: »You shouldn't. He's legit.
Yeh seems allright now but it was iffy to me in the beginning.
Does it for meQuote:
Originally Posted by Milk Fox
Sounds like you're not entirely impressed by the game, i mean we all knew it looked **** from the screenshots etc but we thought maybe there was some magic we hadn't seen yet that would bring back the years of UO.
I will be honest. I was a bit let down when I first logged in, because I thought the game would have been farther along. After I adjusted the settings and spent some time exploring and testing it, I found I was impressed by many of the elements. Mostly being like UO in a more modern game.
Ultima Online is exactly what this game is the most like. If you loved UO I can't imagine you wouldn't like this game. Assuming they get it all worked out and ready.
New UO with some old UO in it. Wonder how long it takes before the freedoms in the game are patched out.0 -
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Leprachaun wrote: »I received an email with some good news today. I wonder what it could be.
PM me if you wanna 'chat'. :pac:
Lucky ****er!!
Btw when have you been signed up for the site since?? Seems to have the biggest impact on who gets the "good news"!!0 -
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NDA hasnt been lifted as far as I'm aware, but it's not my beta account I'm using so I find it hard to imagine they'll track down whose it is from my boards info
First impression is really bad.
Let that sink in for a good minute before you move on, because I was as disappointed as you are just now.
The graphics are not what you'd expect from a modern day MMO, if you've seen the videos chances are you have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. The architecture is really great though. The buildings look majestic and threatening at the same times but the textures seem kinda shoddy in most places. Most commonly noticed are walls and ground textures that look almost like a port from Quake 1.
The sunsets are stunning though as are the twin moons but you need to accept the fact that the graphics are average at best. I'm using default graphic settings at the moment and an 8800 GT with a 2.6ghz Dual Core and 2gb Ram.
The UI is like a hello world VB program I once wrote in college, seemingly using some kind of html link to a database for your quests info and other character stats. Honestly, its dirt poor and I have no idea if its ever intended to be changed. Probably not this late to launch.
The sounds are awful too; though I'm reliably informed on the beta forums that sounds are expected to be updated before it launches. As it is it sounds like midi sounds playing everytime a spell is cast or an NPC goblin grunts as he charges you.
BUT thankfully I found none of that mattered. About 20 minutes into the game I started to feel like I was in a matrix. I stopped seeing badly textured walls and instead started to see avenues of attack from marauding gank squads.
Generic looking trees became cover I could run to, to hide from REDS bulldozing all life in that area.
Sounds were still less detailed than I would have liked; but were no less emotive nonetheless. The slightest sound of combat, of which there are many, became an instant notification of potentially impending doom.
Foot steps were significant clues as to whether I was being followed or not - if I could only make my heart stop thumping quite so loudly.
Darkfall is full of these types of compromises. Things that appear rubbish at face value are full of layers, and in most cases; reasons for appearing rubbish. There are exceptions to this rule at least in so far as what I have experienced, but in enough of a way that you find that you enjoy the game - you are willing to compromise.
Leveling skills is a monumental task, when you look at it through the eyes of a newbie just logged into the game for the first time. I was mostly prepared for this, as adventurine announced they had over 500 skills and 500 spells for the game. In reality that turns into a run skill, a sprint skill, a mining skill, a smelting skill, an armour crafting skill, a weapon crafting skill - essentially what is commonly a single skill is broken up into 2 or 3 different skills in Darkfall.
But personally that was fine. I was happy to do double or treble the work on one character, compared to "rerolling" a 2nd and a 3rd character, just to explore those other avenues of gameplay.
My general combat technique consists of casting ranged spells to get some extra damage until my target gets close enough to make running into melee worthwhile. Follow up with some light sword+board melee and swiftly change to bow and arrow should the target make the mistake of turning tail and running; something NPC and player character tend to do equally often and equally well, again with some exceptions.
The day and night cycle is fantastic. There was recently a patch to reduce the duration of both and I think it works brilliantly.
Daytime is exactly how you would expect a traditional MMO to work. It's bright and cheery and sunny, there could be an NPC or a potential enemy player behind every boulder, but at least you know you will see your target clearly and without greatly reduced risk of an enemy appearing out of nowhere and jumping you.
Night time is a whole different story. Honestly, it's so dark I feel like I should be equipped with a shotgun and a flash-light hunting zombies, though perhaps thats too much Left 4 Dead.
The two nights I wandered around outside the city walls, I came across enemy gank squads just blitzing the few rare NPC spawns that are turned on.
The first night a RED/Murderer (the same faction member whose alignment has gone below 0 and is considered an enemy of the state) and an Alfar (I was playing Human) appeared and started killing 2 farming players, while I was just approaching from the hill. I ran alongside the fleeing farmers sprinting to the protection of the guard towers. One of them lagged behind (obviously ran out of stamina) and was caught up with. He made it to the guard tower but shortly afterwards died to the combination of their melee and spell-casting. The Alfar caster, however, took significant damage from the guard towers (they hurt) and paniced. He ran for the treeline away from his red friend and I gave chase. Launching about 4-5 arrows in his back before he got behind a tree. This being night time and the guy having nothing shiny to draw attention to himself, he just disappeared.
I ran around the tree, swinging my sword unable to see him at all, until he made a bolt for another tree. I did manage to catch up with him and incapacitate him and quickly ganked him. This gave me some bonus alignment and some nice loot to boot.
I raced back to the town, in fear of reprisal from his red friend.
The second night I went out, I just came across a lone soul killing goblins. He accidentally hit me and went grey, this means he can be killed by same faction members without an alignment penalty and the guard towers will automatically attack him. The grey/rogue status lasts about 2 minutes from what I can tell, but the few times I went rogue; well, it felt alot longer than that
But anyways, the moment he went rogue he ran off away from me, drew his sword and crouched. I watched him run so was able to make out his silhouette but I wasnt interested in fighting so I warily watched him but made it clear I wasnt interested in a fight.
Shortly afterwards he went back blue (friendly/non-rogue) and he continued to kill goblins, as did I. He saw one first and attacked, I accidentally hit him in the back with an arrow but thought nothing of it and continued to kill the goblin.
When it died my "friend" turned and proceeded to attack me. With some circle strafing and jousting, he was getting low and made a break for the guard tower. I gave chase and launched a few arrows into his back, but he made it to the guard towers so I gave up and ran away. He chased me for quite a bit, launching magic missiles into my back before I could get over a nearby hill.
I managed to lose him in the darkness and a bush almost instantly however and he gave up and ran off.
I sat down and rested until my rogue status wore off and went back to the camp.
I saw him just after killing a goblin and with ~50% hp so I shot 3-4 arrows into him while crouching behind a tree. He clearly had no idea where I was shooting from, or hell, who or what was shooting him and started to make a break for it... right towards me. I just jumped out of my cover and managed to finish him with some melee. Causing him to drop just at my feet. Fully looted him and laughed evilly, as my previous nights Alfar kill combined with a red from that day, meant I still had +2 alignment and got my revenge.
My 4 days playing Darkfall for about 3-5 hours a day or as much as the repeated downtime will allow for, has been full of similar experiences. PvP is rampant and while it might be the fact that its "just beta", the fact is its so easy to go grey or to force someone grey by jumping in front of them, and there is never any reason not to gank a grey; means as soon as you or someone else does go rogue, there will be piranha's waiting nearby to kill you and loot your things. Myself included
With this mentality, combined with the added factor of 2-3 red kills means you can cover the random killing of anyone you can get away with - makes for constant PvP on the brain. You are looking out for it all the time whether you want to avoid or embrace it, simply because it is there, all the time. At the back of your mind, screaming wildly that that random guy on the horizon with his sword drawn, heading towards you, is about to take your stuff - and likewise that that kind chap who farmed mobs alongside you for 2 hours and maybe even helped you when a pull got nasty, and is now like a ripe fruit - full to the brim of 2 hours worth of loot; makes for a compelling target. Kill him, loot his corpse (leaving a weapon or two being optional) then sprint to some nice trees and wait for your rogue status to wear off. Then hit up the town and bank your ill-gotten gains. Albeit, all the while waiting for that inevitable betrayal from some random guy who you ganked 3 hours ago to jump you while you mine some metal from a rock, totally oblivious as he sneaks in for a surprise attack.
So, for the TL;DR and to summarise: if its got what you want from an MMO; a fully skill based MMO both class system wise and player skill wise combined with a sandbox world then you will probably enjoy the game as much as I currently am.
Throughout my years as a gamer, I have always judged my overall enthusiasm for a game based on one thing, my sleep pattern. Its not uncommon for me to stay up for 36 hours on a trot while enjoying a good game. But not since I first started playing WoW 4 years ago and again now with Darkfall Online, have I actually woken up after less than 5 hours sleep - excitedly plotting my next adventures in-game.
And I havent even gotten to build my boat yet! o/
So yeah, I've been foaming at the mouth for every little detail I could find online about Darkfall and now that I've gotten a chance to get a taste of it first-hand, I feel obliged to pay it forward. This is just my personal opinions about the game. I've not really been keeping up much with the proposed changes but I always read the most recent patch-notes and while they are often small patches, they are coming in 1-2 patches a day. Admittedly, sometimes bringing the server to its knees for 6+ hours but they generally get a handle on whatever they break fairly rapidly.
Pingwise I'm at 46 so often that I actually thought the Ping Meter was just set to <50. When I tried playing while grabbing a torrent at 90% of my line speed I quickly dispelled that theory. FPSwise I've had no issues except for the change between "zones" is noticeable and the recent patch has given rise to some stuttering, but I read on the recent patch notes they've included some fixes for that that I've yet to try. I'll let ye know how it goes.
As it is I'm just wandering around randomly, trying to experience as much as I can, so if you've questions I'll try answer them or try them out if I get in-game again 0 -
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