Darkfall-day 1.

jimsmith08 · March 2009

Today I was lucky enough to purchase darkfall from the shop when it came up around 4pm GMT.

I paid my £37 for it,and then began installing as id already downloaded the client.The patch itself wsnt too bad and I was getting over 200kbps the whole time. Whilst i was waiting I was listening to the commodore amiga elevator music AV had kindly put on over the queue and patch process (owners will know what I mean :P).

Once I was patched,It was time to log in.Or well,it wasnt as there was a queue.So I watied for the little red bar to fill up and let me in game.After about 20 mins I got in and created an orc with a pre generated name.

Character creation isnt too bad,you get a large choice of hairstyles,earrings,forehead mods etc as well as a decent slider system for hair and skin tones. Unfortunately,all faces look the same but with different skins over them;for example,one version might have warpaint and scars on it,another will have heavy bags under the eyes and stubble,that kind of thing. the jewellry looks a bit gaudy and out of place,but I liked the various bones you can use on the orcs like having a bone sticking out of your hair. No body changes or sliders either btw.I chose some facepaint,a dark skin tone and an orange mohawk,and I was off.

Once I logged in,I was stood in a starter area close to some NPCs and other new players. I visited the councillor person and got the 2 quests,one for killing 4 goblins and another to collect 4? goblin axes. Nothing too difficult,and it gave a nice reward of a tunic and some gold.(quests are the same in each starter zone,I tested an Alfar too,more on that in a sec).

So,off to the goblins I went,swinging my green leaf blade happliy as i went. I pressed R mouse to open up the Ui (dont ask) and had a quick peek around.I found my skills tab with an archery button,mana missile and heal self so put them in the little hotbar you get in the top left corner.

Then I innocently pressed journal,and the game crashed.Crap was the first thing that came to mind,what about If I get requeed? And yes,I did.

So I restarted the game and found a second little patch to download,so I let it run and then logged in. This time,I deleted the orc as it was just too massive ,and instead tried the alien looking Alfar,on which i chose a top knot hairstyle,an earring and a skull face pattern. In we go! after a very long queue,I was back in the game..for 5 minutes as the servers went down.

Fast forward past me eating and then having a shower,I was able to get back in the game to my brand new alfar. I quickly came to the conclusion that this must be the race chosen by the mouth breathers,as in front of me stood some other guy attacking people logging, in including myself. After standing still and looking at him scornfully with my facepaint,he got the message and f*cked off elsewhere.I had keys to rebind and didnt need him wacking me.

I put parry onto mouse 3,and then collected the quests agin and set off. This was the first time i got a look at the world.

In all its development time people were sceptical of Darkfalls world,but wow,its stunning.The graphics themselves arent too bad,but the art direction and shadows are excellently done.I cant describe the shadows too well,but they look hyper realistic and move around with your view.Top notch stuff,really. The world itself is fairly varied with lots of hills,rocks and unusual trees for you to look at as you run. Running-youll be doing a lot of this,simply for the reason that the world is totally desolate.

To find the goblins I was told to head EAST so i ran along using sprint and getting the PING sound of my run and sprint going up.I knew where the goblin spawns were as the word GOBLINS was placed on the minimap in a green font right out of 1998. I ran towards GOBLINS to begin my epic journey.

Getting to GOBLINS, I noticed a few things,namely that there werent really any goblins but a lot of other players.So i stood back and watched a GOBLIN (just like on the minimap) spawn and then stand still until some player smacked it with a big spikey axe. It then fought back and did a nice chicken dance near its death. once it died,it slid along the floor followed by a gaggle of Alfar,all trying to find the headstone spawn first.

After a minute or so,another appeard right next to me and started to attack! Like the brave elf/alien thing i am,i fought back and let me tell you i was brave and valiant. This was my first intro to the combat system,which would have been nice if not for some idiot using the 'jump in front so you hit me' tactic. I stopped fighting so i wouldnt accidently hit him,but then his 3 mates joined in as well. Screw this I thought,and attacked back,striking 2 of them as they circled around me.Of course i died and got a nice cinemtaic death sequence looking at the sky.No drops as i only had a leafblade.

So not only had i experienced both pve and pvp in one fell swoop,I was also introduced to quite possibly the worst combat system ive ever seen.It really is mind boggling how a team can create one of the,if not the best world ive ever seen with beautiful art direction and varied scenery everywhere you look and then produce combat thats like hitting manequins with a dog turd.

You attack with left click after using R button to unsheath;once you unsheath you go in a TP view point from FP.left click swings,V (or mouse 3 in my case) for parry.Spells are used with hotkeys 1-9 and 0. Combat is a case of left clicking whilst aiming at your opponent,and thats it. Its clunky as hell and feels totally unconnected to your target with no real sense of impact bar a bright red blood splatter.The parrying is worthless as the animations are so clunky its hard to tell when your opponent is swinging like an idiot.So along with being very slow in general,the combat is horrible.

The mob AI is also pretty strange. PVE when you begin is a case of running to GOBLINS and spawn camping along with 30 or so other people. once a goblin spawns,you have 2 choices:

1.Attack it with your left click until its dead

2.Let someone else kill it and then rush in and steal the grave.

Most people choose 2 unfortunately.What happens when a mob dies is that it goes through a death animation,and then slides along the floor like its a snake.The tombstone seems to appear where the mob is killed,not where its corpse is so you have to wait for it to sloowwwllyyy appear before you loot it. To loot,you have to press R to sheath,then press F to use when the little hand icon appears.This sounds simple,but is horribly clunky and frustrating.Its so clunky that people can just loot the grave whilst youre pressing 8 keys to put your weapon away,wipe your arse etc.I managed to get most of my stuff with a deft keysmash combo but more often than not id lose the quest item to the 7 or so other players surrounding the grave.

Mob Ai is flat out strange,they stand still on respawn and can be attacked a few times before they fight back. Other times,theyll choose some random guy stood 15 feet away even though youre right in front of them. The scouts will use their bows to attack,and do a sort of weird little run in a circle for no apparent reason before engaging you in melee. The AI is either completely crap or broken. Along with robotically clunky animations,zig zag circle running and glitches,combat with them is bizarre. Early game is a case of standing in one of several goblin spawn points and then watching a pack of wolves dive onto anything that happens to spawn,and this being the most barren gaming world ever seen,means theres not much to go around. then you play the loot game where everyone smashes RRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFF to open the grave first and prays their bag window has actually stayed open this time.

Other than the horrible combat and mob AI,its a really nice world. The sounds travel around you and you can sometimes tell their directiom,though it seems broken right now as often they come from nowhere. The draw distance is huge and you can see people from a good way off,even if everyone looks essentially the same bar hair and skin colour. The shadows and lighting as I said are brilliant,as is the interesting and varied scenery with its multilevelled terrain,differing landscapes and beautiful skies. My only gripes are what appear to be chunk loading at periods of the map and complete lack of life.

Night one was interesting to say the lest,and ill update it over the next few days.

EDIT

BTW,My ping never went above 70 the entire time I was playing.Im in the UK.

mach789 · March 2009

Originally posted by jimsmith08

Today I was lucky enough to purchase darkfall from the shop when it came up around 4pm GMT.
I paid my £37 for it,and then began installing as id already downloaded the client.The patch itself wsnt too bad and I was getting over 200kbps the whole time. Whilst i was waiting I was listening to the commodore amiga elevator music AV had kindly put on over the queue and patch process (owners will know what I mean :P).
Once I was patched,It was time to log in.Or well,it wasnt as there was a queue.So I watied for the little red bar to fill up and let me in game.After about 20 mins I got in and created an orc with a pre generated name.
Character creation isnt too bad,you get a large choice of hairstyles,earrings,forehead mods etc as well as a decent slider system for hair and skin tones. Unfortunately,all faces look the same but with different skins over them;for example,one version might have warpaint and scars on it,another will have heavy bags under the eyes and stubble,that kind of thing. the jewellry looks a bit gaudy and out of place,but I liked the various bones you can use on the orcs like having a bone sticking out of your hair. No body changes or sliders either btw.I chose some facepaint,a dark skin tone and an orange mohawk,and I was off.
Once I logged in,I was stood in a starter area close to some NPCs and other new players. I visited the councillor person and got the 2 quests,one for killing 4 goblins and another to collect 4? goblin axes. Nothing too difficult,and it gave a nice reward of a tunic and some gold.(quests are the same in each starter zone,I tested an Alfar too,more on that in a sec).
So,off to the goblins I went,swinging my green leaf blade happliy as i went. I pressed R mouse to open up the Ui (dont ask) and had a quick peek around.I found my skills tab with an archery button,mana missile and heal self so put them in the little hotbar you get in the top left corner.
Then I innocently pressed journal,and the game crashed.Crap was the first thing that came to mind,what about If I get requeed? And yes,I did.
So I restarted the game and found a second little patch to download,so I let it run and then logged in. This time,I deleted the orc as it was just too massive ,and instead tried the alien looking Alfar,on which i chose a top knot hairstyle,an earring and a skull face pattern. In we go! after a very long queue,I was back in the game..for 5 minutes as the servers went down.
Fast forward past me eating and then having a shower,I was able to get back in the game to my brand new alfar. I quickly came to the conclusion that this must be the race chosen by the mouth breathers,as in front of me stood some other guy attacking people logging, in including myself. After standing still and looking at him scornfully with my facepaint,he got the message and f*cked off elsewhere.I had keys to rebind and didnt need him wacking me.
I put parry onto mouse 3,and then collected the quests agin and set off. This was the first time i got a look at the world.
In all its development time people were sceptical of Darkfalls world,but wow,its stunning.The graphics themselves arent too bad,but the art direction and shadows are excellently done.I cant describe the shadows too well,but they look hyper realistic and move around with your view.Top notch stuff,really. The world itself is fairly varied with lots of hills,rocks and unusual trees for you to look at as you run. Running-youll be doing a lot of this,simply for the reason that the world is totally desolate.
To find the goblins I was told to head EAST so i ran along using sprint and getting the PING sound of my run and sprint going up.I knew where the goblin spawns were as the word GOBLINS was placed on the minimap in a green font right out of 1998. I ran towards GOBLINS to begin my epic journey.
Getting to GOBLINS, I noticed a few things,namely that there werent really any goblins but a lot of other players.So i stood back and watched a GOBLIN (just like on the minimap) spawn and then stand still until some player smacked it with a big spikey axe. It then fought back and did a nice chicken dance near its death. once it died,it slid along the floor followed by a gaggle of Alfar,all trying to find the headstone spawn first.
After a minute or so,another appeard right next to me and started to attack! Like the brave elf/alien thing i am,i fought back and let me tell you i was brave and valiant. This was my first intro to the combat system,which would have been nice if not for some idiot using the 'jump in front so you hit me' tactic. I stopped fighting so i wouldnt accidently hit him,but then his 3 mates joined in as well. Screw this I thought,and attacked back,striking 2 of them as they circled around me.Of course i died and got a nice cinemtaic death sequence looking at the sky.No drops as i only had a leafblade.
So not only had i experienced both pve and pvp in one fell swoop,I was also introduced to quite possibly the worst combat system ive ever seen.It really is mind boggling how a team can create one of the,if not the best world ive ever seen with beautiful art direction and varied scenery everywhere you look and then produce combat thats like hitting manequins with a dog turd.
You attack with left click after using R button to unsheath;once you unsheath you go in a TP view point from FP.left click swings,V (or mouse 3 in my case) for parry.Spells are used with hotkeys 1-9 and 0. Combat is a case of left clicking whilst aiming at your opponent,and thats it. Its clunky as hell and feels totally unconnected to your target with no real sense of impact bar a bright red blood splatter.The parrying is worthless as the animations are so clunky its hard to tell when your opponent is swinging like an idiot.So along with being very slow in general,the combat is horrible.
The mob AI is also pretty strange. PVE when you begin is a case of running to GOBLINS and spawn camping along with 30 or so other people. once a goblin spawns,you have 2 choices:
1.Attack it with your left click until its dead
2.Let someone else kill it and then rush in and steal the grave.
Most people choose 2 unfortunately.What happens when a mob dies is that it goes through a death animation,and then slides along the floor like its a snake.The tombstone seems to appear where the mob is killed,not where its corpse is so you have to wait for it to sloowwwllyyy appear before you loot it. To loot,you have to press R to sheath,then press F to use when the little hand icon appears.This sounds simple,but is horribly clunky and frustrating.Its so clunky that people can just loot the grave whilst youre pressing 8 keys to put your weapon away,wipe your arse etc.I managed to get most of my stuff with a deft keysmash combo but more often than not id lose the quest item to the 7 or so other players surrounding the grave.
Mob Ai is flat out strange,they stand still on respawn and can be attacked a few times before they fight back. Other times,theyll choose some random guy stood 15 feet away even though youre right in front of them. The scouts will use their bows to attack,and do a sort of weird little run in a circle for no apparent reason before engaging you in melee. The AI is either completely crap or broken. Along with robotically clunky animations,zig zag circle running and glitches,combat with them is bizarre. Early game is a case of standing in one of several goblin spawn points and then watching a pack of wolves dive onto anything that happens to spawn,and this being the most barren gaming world ever seen,means theres not much to go around. then you play the loot game where everyone smashes RRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFF to open the grave first and prays their bag window has actually stayed open this time.
Other than the horrible combat and mob AI,its a really nice world. The sounds travel around you and you can sometimes tell their directiom,though it seems broken right now as often they come from nowhere. The draw distance is huge and you can see people from a good way off,even if everyone looks essentially the same bar hair and skin colour. The shadows and lighting as I said are brilliant,as is the interesting and varied scenery with its multilevelled terrain,differing landscapes and beautiful skies. My only gripes are what appear to be chunk loading at periods of the map and complete lack of life.
Night one was interesting to say the lest,and ill update it over the next few days.

This is pure gold.

lornj · March 2009

the more i read peoples reviews of this game the more im swayed to not getting it and trying it. if the OP's experience at the beginning of the game is a reoccuring experience, then i want nothing to do with that annoying crap.

0k21 · March 2009

Thank you for being one of the few who have posted reviews that aren't blatantly biased to one end of the spectrum, once you get over the omgwtfwowsandbox! factor of the game When it gets down to it this is either a game for UO fanbois and people who are starved for something not WoW.

I was one of the few who got into beta when they started pouring out the invites and I have to say as a beta tester I have never felt more useless and treated like crap hopefully they will listen to the advice given to them but I doubt it now. They've found their little fanboi squad and more than likely will continue to cater to them instead of the actual playerbase they were originally going for.

I have not seen a game abandon its original design so fast since Star Wars Galaxies and yes I'm bloody comparing this to that, while its nice that they didn't copy WoW they blatantly turned the game into a grindfest with PvP.

daylight01 · March 2009

Thanks jimsmith,pretty much what I expected and the reason I wont play,I cant help but think you will come across these jumping players everywhere you go,I guess it is maybe fun for some but I will give it a miss.

Some people would like to call me a carebear,thats ok but for me logging in and have 3 or 4 guys camping me basically from the off set for no reason other than I am alone,yeah I dont call that fun.....or maybe I am wrong and that is not why we pay to play these games..

jimsmith08 · March 2009

Ill sum up as i keep remembering different stuff..like where do the screenshots go? I was busy shotting loads of the great world including a giant mushroom,and now I cant find them. Any clues players? id like people to see them as the world really is something to behold.

World: A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ nice art style and direction,very varied scenery,cliffs,lakes,swamps,dirty roads,unusual trees and sign post thingies,big rocks and trees to gather on.Sky looks great and the time of day changes from nice dusky oranges to very dark and grey. Shadows are indescribable even on DX9. Totally empty though which is a shame.

PVE: would be ok if there were actually mobs in the world.Skilling up would be a lot better,too.

Sound: great how it changes direction and you can follow it. Bad how it seems slightly broken,mana missile sounds like someone hitting a metal pipe with a spoon. A+

Character creation: Ok,but not really anything beyond the usual wow clone.No facial variation per each race,jewellry is weird.Hair styles are good,face paint,scars are good.No sliders or body changes.Hair and skin tone colouring rivals TCoS.

Combat: ---- ........movement is also very sluggish and clunky,but sprint is alright. Archery is jittery but works as well as the usual FPS fair.

UI: good and bad.Steals/borrows shadowbanes moveable-resizable windows and interface but does away with the CTRL click. Just drag and drop like its your desktop. Clunky looting methods,bag doesnt always stay open,drag and drop is annoying to do fast. Rest is a case of unsheath (R) then press the hotkey for your rest skill (0 for me) then left click to sit which is plain ridiculous. Sometimes the rest skill bugs and youre still stood up,but the ZZZ icon appears. Theres also a rest skill which is...unusual.

Mob AI: Bi polar.Might be broken,I dunno.jury is still out.Gobliny.

asdar · March 2009

That's pretty much how my first day went too, a little better, but not much. I think that's most people's first day experience.

Once the number of new players thins out I expect it to be a much better first day experience.

The click the left mouse till it's dead part is just a starter NPC thing. You'll want better tactics than that when you get rolling, and grouping with other players.

I'm not going to try to convince anyone to buy the game, but goblins don't really tell the story. The game slowly builds, and right now new player areas are crowded with new players and the punks that want to kill them.

If you can get a group and go to other areas you'll have a much different experience. The crashing thing is very strange, I've never had a problem. I heard they did the first day of release, but not since.

Lhex · March 2009

I particulary loved this quote from the OP: "combat thats like hitting manequins with a dog turd"

I haven't posted in a long time here on these forums but this made me log in just to quote it.

Borkotron · March 2009

Wow. You played for one day and fought goblins and come away with this turd of a review? Right. Maybe you have forgotten that this is a PvP game. Learn to fight more complicated mobs and other players and I guarantee you that the way you describe combat is anything but.....

What is even more silly are the robotic responses to your thread. Basically it says "If you say it's this way then I'll believe you."

Since when are people so willing to give up their own direction in life and succumb to somebody else's point of view?

I will say this. If you judge the game based on the starter towns and closest goblin camps, you will probably not like the game. The problem is that there are too many idiots who claim to be "hardcore" but are really carebears who are too afraid to leave the confines of the guard towers. You need to get with a guild and you need to do some serious PvP. This is the only way to judge the game. You can solo in this game but this game is not about PvE solo. It's about guild vs. guild PvP i.e. attacking and defending cities and hamlets.

PvE is SECONDARY. It is simply a way to get people going in the game but it is NOT the point of the game. So many people find the first goblin spawn and assume it is the only camp while there are many goblin spots and often you will come across roaming bands of goblins...that is if you bother to explore.

The world is not desolate. Maybe you like the unrealistic nature of older MMOs which think they need to put mobs spaced out 10-20 feet apart. This is not what Darkfall is about. While I admit, they need to add wildlife and more mob spawns, the way mobs work in this game is that they are location based. They exist in their own ruins, castles, forts, homes, etc. You will sometimes find roaming bands of mobs too. You have to EXPLORE the world in order to find spots to grind mobs. But, once again, THIS IS NOT A PVE GAME! Get it? Fighting mobs is something you do on your off time when you are not warring against other players.

MOB A.I is not perfect but, my god, would you rather mobs just stand in one place like all other MMOs? I always imagine mobs talking amongst themselves when I've played other MMOs. "Geez, I would like to attack that guy but he is not within my predefined radius so I must wait." And the othe mob says, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't this suck?"

I have travel the world and I have had countless mob spawns dectect my presence (even when I thought I was crouched and hiding) and come barreling down on me to take me out. If one mob spots me, it'll alert the rest of the group. If a mob is getting beat down, it'll run away and get the rest of it's group. There are some slight syncing issues (especially if you are not living close to where the servers are...but this is a technical issue) but mob A.I is the best I've ever seen in any MMO.

OP needs to {Mod Edit} play the game with a guild and get into PvP warfare. Otherwise, you review is pointless. Hanging out in starter cities and starter spawns is NOTHING like the rest of the game. Ah well...back to playing.

ghoul31 · March 2009

Originally posted by Borkotron

The world is not desolate.

You are wrong. You can run around for an hour and not see one living thing. Thats the biggest flaw in this game. Its an empty lifeless world.

lornj · March 2009

Originally posted by Borkotron

Wow. You played for one day and fought goblins and come away with this turd of a review? Right. Maybe you have forgotten that this is a PvP game. Learn to fight more complicated mobs and other players and I guarantee you that the way you describe combat is anything but.....
What is even more silly are the robotic responses to your thread. Basically it says "If you say it's this way then I'll believe you."
Since when are people so willing to give up their own direction in life and succumb to somebody else's point of view?
I will say this. If you judge the game based on the starter towns and closest goblin camps, you will probably not like the game. The problem is that there are too many idiots who claim to be "hardcore" but are really carebears who are too afraid to leave the confines of the guard towers. You need to get with a guild and you need to do some serious PvP. This is the only way to judge the game. You can solo in this game but this game is not about PvE solo. It's about guild vs. guild PvP i.e. attacking and defending cities and hamlets.
PvE is SECONDARY. It is simply a way to get people going in the game but it is NOT the point of the game. So many people find the first goblin spawn and assume it is the only camp while there are many goblin spots and often you will come across roaming bands of goblins...that is if you bother to explore.
The world is not desolate. Maybe you like the unrealistic nature of older MMOs which think they need to put mobs spaced out 10-20 feet apart. This is not what Darkfall is about. While I admit, they need to add wildlife and more mob spawns, the way mobs work in this game is that they are location based. They exist in their own ruins, castles, forts, homes, etc. You will sometimes find roaming bands of mobs too. You have to EXPLORE the world in order to find spots to grind mobs. But, once again, THIS IS NOT A PVE GAME! Get it? Fighting mobs is something you do on your off time when you are not warring against other players.
MOB A.I is not perfect but, my god, would you rather mobs just stand in one place like all other MMOs? I always imagine mobs talking amongst themselves when I've played other MMOs. "Geez, I would like to attack that guy but he is not within my predefined radius so I must wait." And the othe mob says, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't this suck?"
I have travel the world and I have had countless mob spawns dectect my presence (even when I thought I was crouched and hiding) and come barreling down on me to take me out. If one mob spots me, it'll alert the rest of the group. If a mob is getting beat down, it'll run away and get the rest of it's group. There are some slight syncing issues (especially if you are not living close to where the servers are...but this is a technical issue) but mob A.I is the best I've ever seen in any MMO.
OP needs to {Mod Edit} play the game with a guild and get into PvP warfare. Otherwise, you review is pointless. Hanging out in starter cities and starter spawns is NOTHING like the rest of the game. Ah well...back to playing.

you obvioulsy missed the title of the thread. in case you forgot, its says darkfall-day 1. which the purpose of this review is of the OP's FIRST DAY in darkfall. this wasnt designed to be a review of the entire game. only someones perception of their first experiences. unfortunately due to your igornance and narrowmindedness you failed to read into that.

thinktank001 · March 2009

I was beaten to the sarcasm remark

Borkotron · March 2009

Originally posted by lornj

Originally posted by Borkotron

Wow. You played for one day and fought goblins and come away with this turd of a review? Right. Maybe you have forgotten that this is a PvP game. Learn to fight more complicated mobs and other players and I guarantee you that the way you describe combat is anything but.....
What is even more silly are the robotic responses to your thread. Basically it says "If you say it's this way then I'll believe you."
Since when are people so willing to give up their own direction in life and succumb to somebody else's point of view?
I will say this. If you judge the game based on the starter towns and closest goblin camps, you will probably not like the game. The problem is that there are too many idiots who claim to be "hardcore" but are really carebears who are too afraid to leave the confines of the guard towers. You need to get with a guild and you need to do some serious PvP. This is the only way to judge the game. You can solo in this game but this game is not about PvE solo. It's about guild vs. guild PvP i.e. attacking and defending cities and hamlets.
PvE is SECONDARY. It is simply a way to get people going in the game but it is NOT the point of the game. So many people find the first goblin spawn and assume it is the only camp while there are many goblin spots and often you will come across roaming bands of goblins...that is if you bother to explore.
The world is not desolate. Maybe you like the unrealistic nature of older MMOs which think they need to put mobs spaced out 10-20 feet apart. This is not what Darkfall is about. While I admit, they need to add wildlife and more mob spawns, the way mobs work in this game is that they are location based. They exist in their own ruins, castles, forts, homes, etc. You will sometimes find roaming bands of mobs too. You have to EXPLORE the world in order to find spots to grind mobs. But, once again, THIS IS NOT A PVE GAME! Get it? Fighting mobs is something you do on your off time when you are not warring against other players.
MOB A.I is not perfect but, my god, would you rather mobs just stand in one place like all other MMOs? I always imagine mobs talking amongst themselves when I've played other MMOs. "Geez, I would like to attack that guy but he is not within my predefined radius so I must wait." And the othe mob says, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't this suck?"
I have travel the world and I have had countless mob spawns dectect my presence (even when I thought I was crouched and hiding) and come barreling down on me to take me out. If one mob spots me, it'll alert the rest of the group. If a mob is getting beat down, it'll run away and get the rest of it's group. There are some slight syncing issues (especially if you are not living close to where the servers are...but this is a technical issue) but mob A.I is the best I've ever seen in any MMO.
OP needs to {Mod Edit} play the game with a guild and get into PvP warfare. Otherwise, you review is pointless. Hanging out in starter cities and starter spawns is NOTHING like the rest of the game. Ah well...back to playing.

you obvioulsy missed the title of the thread. in case you forgot, its says darkfall-day 1. which the purpose of this review is of the OP's FIRST DAY in darkfall. this wasnt designed to be a review of the entire game. only someones perception of their first experiences. unfortunately due to your igornance and narrowmindedness you failed to read into that.

A day one review of ANY MMO is stupid. I LOL so hard when I see morons post day one reviews of EVE Online. Some games are not meant to be fully realized or understood on DAY ONE. Day One is like saying, I was born and I learned to pee but I can't walk. Life sucks.

LAME.

thinktank001 · March 2009

Originally posted by Borkotron

A day one review of ANY MMO is stupid. I LOL so hard when I see morons post day one reviews of EVE Online. Some games are not meant to be fully realized or understood on DAY ONE. Day One is like saying, I was born and I learned to pee but I can't walk. Life sucks.
LAME.

Its funny I hit ctrl + F, type "review" w/o the quotes, and it takes me to post 3. His post is about what happened to him on his first day and is nothing more than a

FIRST IMPRESSION.

If you don't want ppl to get that kind of impression then get your arse to the starter area and start helping ppl to learn the game.

lornj · March 2009

Originally posted by Borkotron

Originally posted by lornj

Originally posted by Borkotron

Wow. You played for one day and fought goblins and come away with this turd of a review? Right. Maybe you have forgotten that this is a PvP game. Learn to fight more complicated mobs and other players and I guarantee you that the way you describe combat is anything but.....
What is even more silly are the robotic responses to your thread. Basically it says "If you say it's this way then I'll believe you."
Since when are people so willing to give up their own direction in life and succumb to somebody else's point of view?
I will say this. If you judge the game based on the starter towns and closest goblin camps, you will probably not like the game. The problem is that there are too many idiots who claim to be "hardcore" but are really carebears who are too afraid to leave the confines of the guard towers. You need to get with a guild and you need to do some serious PvP. This is the only way to judge the game. You can solo in this game but this game is not about PvE solo. It's about guild vs. guild PvP i.e. attacking and defending cities and hamlets.
PvE is SECONDARY. It is simply a way to get people going in the game but it is NOT the point of the game. So many people find the first goblin spawn and assume it is the only camp while there are many goblin spots and often you will come across roaming bands of goblins...that is if you bother to explore.
The world is not desolate. Maybe you like the unrealistic nature of older MMOs which think they need to put mobs spaced out 10-20 feet apart. This is not what Darkfall is about. While I admit, they need to add wildlife and more mob spawns, the way mobs work in this game is that they are location based. They exist in their own ruins, castles, forts, homes, etc. You will sometimes find roaming bands of mobs too. You have to EXPLORE the world in order to find spots to grind mobs. But, once again, THIS IS NOT A PVE GAME! Get it? Fighting mobs is something you do on your off time when you are not warring against other players.
MOB A.I is not perfect but, my god, would you rather mobs just stand in one place like all other MMOs? I always imagine mobs talking amongst themselves when I've played other MMOs. "Geez, I would like to attack that guy but he is not within my predefined radius so I must wait." And the othe mob says, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't this suck?"
I have travel the world and I have had countless mob spawns dectect my presence (even when I thought I was crouched and hiding) and come barreling down on me to take me out. If one mob spots me, it'll alert the rest of the group. If a mob is getting beat down, it'll run away and get the rest of it's group. There are some slight syncing issues (especially if you are not living close to where the servers are...but this is a technical issue) but mob A.I is the best I've ever seen in any MMO.
OP needs to {Mod Edit} play the game with a guild and get into PvP warfare. Otherwise, you review is pointless. Hanging out in starter cities and starter spawns is NOTHING like the rest of the game. Ah well...back to playing.

you obvioulsy missed the title of the thread. in case you forgot, its says darkfall-day 1. which the purpose of this review is of the OP's FIRST DAY in darkfall. this wasnt designed to be a review of the entire game. only someones perception of their first experiences. unfortunately due to your igornance and narrowmindedness you failed to read into that.

A day one review of ANY MMO is stupid. I LOL so hard when I see morons post day one reviews of EVE Online. Some games are not meant to be fully realized or understood on DAY ONE. Day One is like saying, I was born and I learned to pee but I can't walk. Life sucks.

LAME.

again epic fail on your part. refer to my igonarnce and narrowmindedness statement in my original post.

Lazarus71 · March 2009

Originally posted by Borkotron

Originally posted by lornj

Originally posted by Borkotron

Wow. You played for one day and fought goblins and come away with this turd of a review? Right. Maybe you have forgotten that this is a PvP game. Learn to fight more complicated mobs and other players and I guarantee you that the way you describe combat is anything but.....
What is even more silly are the robotic responses to your thread. Basically it says "If you say it's this way then I'll believe you."
Since when are people so willing to give up their own direction in life and succumb to somebody else's point of view?
I will say this. If you judge the game based on the starter towns and closest goblin camps, you will probably not like the game. The problem is that there are too many idiots who claim to be "hardcore" but are really carebears who are too afraid to leave the confines of the guard towers. You need to get with a guild and you need to do some serious PvP. This is the only way to judge the game. You can solo in this game but this game is not about PvE solo. It's about guild vs. guild PvP i.e. attacking and defending cities and hamlets.
PvE is SECONDARY. It is simply a way to get people going in the game but it is NOT the point of the game. So many people find the first goblin spawn and assume it is the only camp while there are many goblin spots and often you will come across roaming bands of goblins...that is if you bother to explore.
The world is not desolate. Maybe you like the unrealistic nature of older MMOs which think they need to put mobs spaced out 10-20 feet apart. This is not what Darkfall is about. While I admit, they need to add wildlife and more mob spawns, the way mobs work in this game is that they are location based. They exist in their own ruins, castles, forts, homes, etc. You will sometimes find roaming bands of mobs too. You have to EXPLORE the world in order to find spots to grind mobs. But, once again, THIS IS NOT A PVE GAME! Get it? Fighting mobs is something you do on your off time when you are not warring against other players.
MOB A.I is not perfect but, my god, would you rather mobs just stand in one place like all other MMOs? I always imagine mobs talking amongst themselves when I've played other MMOs. "Geez, I would like to attack that guy but he is not within my predefined radius so I must wait." And the othe mob says, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't this suck?"
I have travel the world and I have had countless mob spawns dectect my presence (even when I thought I was crouched and hiding) and come barreling down on me to take me out. If one mob spots me, it'll alert the rest of the group. If a mob is getting beat down, it'll run away and get the rest of it's group. There are some slight syncing issues (especially if you are not living close to where the servers are...but this is a technical issue) but mob A.I is the best I've ever seen in any MMO.
OP needs to {Mod Edit} play the game with a guild and get into PvP warfare. Otherwise, you review is pointless. Hanging out in starter cities and starter spawns is NOTHING like the rest of the game. Ah well...back to playing.

you obvioulsy missed the title of the thread. in case you forgot, its says darkfall-day 1. which the purpose of this review is of the OP's FIRST DAY in darkfall. this wasnt designed to be a review of the entire game. only someones perception of their first experiences. unfortunately due to your igornance and narrowmindedness you failed to read into that.

A day one review of ANY MMO is stupid. I LOL so hard when I see morons post day one reviews of EVE Online. Some games are not meant to be fully realized or understood on DAY ONE. Day One is like saying, I was born and I learned to pee but I can't walk. Life sucks.

LAME.

Its not a review......where in his post or the title did you see him say it was. A little reading comprehension goes a long way.

rhinok · March 2009

Originally posted by Lazarus71

Originally posted by Borkotron

Originally posted by lornj

Originally posted by Borkotron

Wow. You played for one day and fought goblins and come away with this turd of a review? Right. Maybe you have forgotten that this is a PvP game. Learn to fight more complicated mobs and other players and I guarantee you that the way you describe combat is anything but.....
What is even more silly are the robotic responses to your thread. Basically it says "If you say it's this way then I'll believe you."
Since when are people so willing to give up their own direction in life and succumb to somebody else's point of view?
I will say this. If you judge the game based on the starter towns and closest goblin camps, you will probably not like the game. The problem is that there are too many idiots who claim to be "hardcore" but are really carebears who are too afraid to leave the confines of the guard towers. You need to get with a guild and you need to do some serious PvP. This is the only way to judge the game. You can solo in this game but this game is not about PvE solo. It's about guild vs. guild PvP i.e. attacking and defending cities and hamlets.
PvE is SECONDARY. It is simply a way to get people going in the game but it is NOT the point of the game. So many people find the first goblin spawn and assume it is the only camp while there are many goblin spots and often you will come across roaming bands of goblins...that is if you bother to explore.
The world is not desolate. Maybe you like the unrealistic nature of older MMOs which think they need to put mobs spaced out 10-20 feet apart. This is not what Darkfall is about. While I admit, they need to add wildlife and more mob spawns, the way mobs work in this game is that they are location based. They exist in their own ruins, castles, forts, homes, etc. You will sometimes find roaming bands of mobs too. You have to EXPLORE the world in order to find spots to grind mobs. But, once again, THIS IS NOT A PVE GAME! Get it? Fighting mobs is something you do on your off time when you are not warring against other players.
MOB A.I is not perfect but, my god, would you rather mobs just stand in one place like all other MMOs? I always imagine mobs talking amongst themselves when I've played other MMOs. "Geez, I would like to attack that guy but he is not within my predefined radius so I must wait." And the othe mob says, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't this suck?"
I have travel the world and I have had countless mob spawns dectect my presence (even when I thought I was crouched and hiding) and come barreling down on me to take me out. If one mob spots me, it'll alert the rest of the group. If a mob is getting beat down, it'll run away and get the rest of it's group. There are some slight syncing issues (especially if you are not living close to where the servers are...but this is a technical issue) but mob A.I is the best I've ever seen in any MMO.
OP needs to {Mod Edit} play the game with a guild and get into PvP warfare. Otherwise, you review is pointless. . Ah well...back to playing.

you obvioulsy missed the title of the thread. in case you forgot, its says darkfall-day 1. which the purpose of this review is of the OP's FIRST DAY in darkfall. this wasnt designed to be a review of the entire game. only someones perception of their first experiences. unfortunately due to your igornance and narrowmindedness you failed to read into that.

A day one review of ANY MMO is stupid. I LOL so hard when I see morons post day one reviews of EVE Online. Some games are not meant to be fully realized or understood on DAY ONE. Day One is like saying, I was born and I learned to pee but I can't walk. Life sucks.

LAME.

Its not a review......where in his post or the title did you see him say it was. A little reading comprehension goes a long way.

Right - he's just chronicling his experiences and thoughts. Get over yourself, Bork. As to your comments "Hanging out in starter cities and starter spawns is NOTHING like the rest of the game", where do you expect brand new players to be, but in the starter citiies? That content is there for a reason, which is to welcome new players and help them get used to Darkfall.

~Ripper

tro44_1 · March 2009

nice review

jimsmith08 · March 2009

Originally posted by Borkotron

Wow. You played for one day and fought goblins and come away with this turd of a review? Right. Maybe you have forgotten that this is a PvP game. Learn to fight more complicated mobs and other players and I guarantee you that the way you describe combat is anything but.....
What is even more silly are the robotic responses to your thread. Basically it says "If you say it's this way then I'll believe you."
Since when are people so willing to give up their own direction in life and succumb to somebody else's point of view?
I will say this. If you judge the game based on the starter towns and closest goblin camps, you will probably not like the game. The problem is that there are too many idiots who claim to be "hardcore" but are really carebears who are too afraid to leave the confines of the guard towers. You need to get with a guild and you need to do some serious PvP. This is the only way to judge the game. You can solo in this game but this game is not about PvE solo. It's about guild vs. guild PvP i.e. attacking and defending cities and hamlets.
PvE is SECONDARY. It is simply a way to get people going in the game but it is NOT the point of the game. So many people find the first goblin spawn and assume it is the only camp while there are many goblin spots and often you will come across roaming bands of goblins...that is if you bother to explore.
The world is not desolate. Maybe you like the unrealistic nature of older MMOs which think they need to put mobs spaced out 10-20 feet apart. This is not what Darkfall is about. While I admit, they need to add wildlife and more mob spawns, the way mobs work in this game is that they are location based. They exist in their own ruins, castles, forts, homes, etc. You will sometimes find roaming bands of mobs too. You have to EXPLORE the world in order to find spots to grind mobs. But, once again, THIS IS NOT A PVE GAME! Get it? Fighting mobs is something you do on your off time when you are not warring against other players.
MOB A.I is not perfect but, my god, would you rather mobs just stand in one place like all other MMOs? I always imagine mobs talking amongst themselves when I've played other MMOs. "Geez, I would like to attack that guy but he is not within my predefined radius so I must wait." And the othe mob says, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't this suck?"
I have travel the world and I have had countless mob spawns dectect my presence (even when I thought I was crouched and hiding) and come barreling down on me to take me out. If one mob spots me, it'll alert the rest of the group. If a mob is getting beat down, it'll run away and get the rest of it's group. There are some slight syncing issues (especially if you are not living close to where the servers are...but this is a technical issue) but mob A.I is the best I've ever seen in any MMO.
OP needs to {Mod Edit} play the game with a guild and get into PvP warfare. Otherwise, you review is pointless. Hanging out in starter cities and starter spawns is NOTHING like the rest of the game. Ah well...back to playing.

"Darkfall-day 1" congratulations,youve just wasted time slating me for reviewing a game I havent reviewed.

Now see,the point of my post is to give players -that be,anyone whos thinking of buying this game,anyone whos been a big fan but hasnt been able to buy a copy of the game yet,or just someone who hates darkfall but would like to read up on it an insight into what to expect from Darkfall from the second they log in. Simply stating "lol u sould have gone and pvped" (I did) or that "its not a pve game" (never said it was) isnt really giving people an insight,is it?

ive taken the piss out of this game in the past,yet im able to admit where my mockery was unfounded,such as Darkfall having an absolutely brilliantly done world and having good graphics (yes,theyre actually pretty good!). Seeing as im not a fanboi,I can also show potential players the bad parts of the game which right now on march the 12th 2009,is combat,spawning and AI.

Im going to add more as well! Off to get my asbestos suit of dexterity on to repel the flames!

ougarit · March 2009

Thx to the OP for this honest and serious review.

The only interesting thing this mmo has is the world. not the gameplay. So I'll wait for a lower price and a serious billing and account system (Paypal) and I 'll take 1 month (enough) to discover Agon then I'll stop the game. I expect nothing else from this game.

"A day one review of ANY MMO is stupid. "

NO: had a blast immediatly with DAOC, VG, Lotro, Eve and WWIIONLINE. Played POTBS, TR maybe 3/4H and canceled my preorders. Stopped TCOS past level 9. It was enough. You don't need 1 month of gaming to know if the game is good or bad, polished or unfinished. You only need some hours , maybe 1 day, no more.

At MO's launch, i'll try the game some hours. If it seems unfinished of bugged, i'll stop it, even if "ex-dfo fanboys" says it's the best mmo ever. The only real mistake i made was with AOC: very nice and polished at tortage, unfinished and boring past tortage. But i had a CE for few bucks so i don't care.

Draklon · March 2009

Originally posted by jimsmith08

"Darkfall-day 1" congratulations,youve just wasted time slating me for reviewing a game I havent reviewed.
Now see,the point of my post is to give players -that be,anyone whos thinking of buying this game,anyone whos been a big fan but hasnt been able to buy a copy of the game yet,or just someone who hates darkfall but would like to read up on it an insight into what to expect from Darkfall from the second they log in. Simply stating "lol u sould have gone and pvped" (I did) or that "its not a pve game" (never said it was) isnt really giving people an insight,is it?
ive taken the piss out of this game in the past,yet im able to admit where my mockery was unfounded,such as Darkfall having an absolutely brilliantly done world and having good graphics (yes,theyre actually pretty good!). Seeing as im not a fanboi,I can also show potential players the bad parts of the game which right now on march the 12th 2009,is combat,spawning and AI.
Im going to add more as well! Off to get my asbestos suit of dexterity on to repel the flames!

I'm looking forward to your next write-up

Orthedos · March 2009

Originally posted by Borkotron

Wow. You played for one day and fought goblins and come away with this turd of a review? Right. Maybe you have forgotten that this is a PvP game. Learn to fight more complicated mobs and other players and I guarantee you that the way you describe combat is anything but.....
What is even more silly are the robotic responses to your thread. Basically it says "If you say it's this way then I'll believe you."
Since when are people so willing to give up their own direction in life and succumb to somebody else's point of view? If you are correct, the first thing I should do is not to trust you b/c you do not want ppl to listen and read.
I will say this. If you judge the game based on the starter towns and closest goblin camps, you will probably not like the game. The problem is that there are too many idiots who claim to be "hardcore" but are really carebears who are too afraid to leave the confines of the guard towers. You need to get with a guild and you need to do some serious PvP. This is the only way to judge the game. You can solo in this game but this game is not about PvE solo. It's about guild vs. guild PvP i.e. attacking and defending cities and hamlets. He said it is his day 1 experience in his title, should he talk about day 2?
PvE is SECONDARY. It is simply a way to get people going in the game but it is NOT the point of the game. So many people find the first goblin spawn and assume it is the only camp while there are many goblin spots and often you will come across roaming bands of goblins...that is if you bother to explore. That is what he found in day 1, that is what he wants to share with us. You found something after playing a lot more, but that does not disqualify his day 1 story. What are you trying to defend in a hurry?
The world is not desolate. Maybe you like the unrealistic nature of older MMOs which think they need to put mobs spaced out 10-20 feet apart. This is not what Darkfall is about. While I admit, they need to add wildlife and more mob spawns, the way mobs work in this game is that they are location based. They exist in their own ruins, castles, forts, homes, etc. You will sometimes find roaming bands of mobs too. You have to EXPLORE the world in order to find spots to grind mobs. But, once again, THIS IS NOT A PVE GAME! Get it? Fighting mobs is something you do on your off time when you are not warring against other players. Ok he dislike the idea of not enough mobs, what about it? You applaud the developer in bringing an empty world for you to PVP, the OP thinks otherwise, Get it? Learn to respect others.
MOB A.I is not perfect but, my god, would you rather mobs just stand in one place like all other MMOs? I always imagine mobs talking amongst themselves when I've played other MMOs. "Geez, I would like to attack that guy but he is not within my predefined radius so I must wait." And the othe mob says, "Yeah, I know. Doesn't this suck?"
I have travel the world and I have had countless mob spawns dectect my presence (even when I thought I was crouched and hiding) and come barreling down on me to take me out. If one mob spots me, it'll alert the rest of the group. If a mob is getting beat down, it'll run away and get the rest of it's group. There are some slight syncing issues (especially if you are not living close to where the servers are...but this is a technical issue) but mob A.I is the best I've ever seen in any MMO.
OP needs to {Mod Edit} play the game with a guild and get into PvP warfare. Otherwise, you review is pointless. Hanging out in starter cities and starter spawns is NOTHING like the rest of the game. Ah well...back to playing. Why must he follow your playstyle, he pays for his account and plays it the way he likes. He ends up giving us his view about his day 1 experience. That is all he is trying to discuss. Stopping assuming the rest for him and stop pretending you speak for any one of us. NO you do not.

robertb · March 2009

Originally posted by ghoul31

Originally posted by Borkotron

The world is not desolate.

You are wrong. You can run around for an hour and not see one living thing. Thats the biggest flaw in this game. Its an empty lifeless world.

Actually, if you happen to run by almost every set of ruins in game, just hang around a few seconds.

You might be surprised.

qbangy32 · March 2009

Nice player Diary of your experiences so far in Darkfall, I look forward to reading more.

TalRasha · March 2009

Thanks for the first impressions writeup.

It doesn't sound so great so far (except for the world environment).

Maybe it will improve when you group with more players or start to do some gathering and crafting. But from what I have read from others, that would probably be a Darkfall-day 100.

robertb · March 2009

Originally posted by TalRasha

Thanks for the first impressions writeup.
It doesn't sound so great so far (except for the world environment).
Maybe it will improve when you group with more players or start to do some gathering and crafting. But from what I have read from others, that would probably be a Darkfall-day 100.

For me that was Darkfall day 3, when I got into a clan and helped to build our city.

I cannot stress enough that mob spawns work a bit differently in Darkfall, from other games I have played.

They do not simply hang around waiting to be farmed. You have to actively look for them. Once you find them, if you do indeed farm them too much, they may leave for a while.

Anyway, I look forward to more impressions from the OP.

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