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Thoughts on Firefall...
I've played around five hours of the game, here are my inital thoughts.
I remember reading somewhere that this is a lobby based game, or it's not really a real MMO, or something along those lines. So I was very surprised when I logged on and found players all over my map. This isn't a lobby based game. It's an instanced based game (I think) but feels very open world.
Graphics 8/10 - They are amazing. Very Team Fortress 2, which can only be a good thing. Cel shaded graphics have always been my favorite (Windwaker, Okami etc.) My computer couldn't run the game on full graphics because I have Windows 32bit and the game won't allow me to play on full (Not sure why?) That said there are some dodgy graphics and textures, I hope these are fixed before release.
Animations 7/10 - You've seen most of them in other shooters before, a few totally orignal ones, but mostly nothing new. But I don't think that's really a bad thing, as they are great animations! I really liked my classes ability where he jumps really high in the air and then crashes down to cause AoE damage.
Combat 8/10 - Nothing overly new here, but still very fun, pretty similar to almost every sci-fi shooter you've played (Near identical to Global Adgenda's combat system.) But I liked it, it's very fast, and with a large number of enemies it can get very hectic. I can see this keeping me interested for a while (I do like FPS games.)
Mob/Enemy AI 5/10 - Not much to say here other than you can probably go the entire game without ever being hit by an enemy (excluding players obviously) the mob AI isn't that great. For example I was fighting a group of crab like creatures and they just started jumping in random directions, some at me, most away from me. Also they pause a lot and stare at you, or just generally don't move very fast. So far all mobs are very easily avoidable.
Class/ability system 8/10 - The initial classes are what you would expect from a shooter MMO - Healer, Tank, DPS, Rogue, Engineer, nothing new, but like I said above new doesn't always mean better. The easiest way to describe the ability system would be to imagine WoW's system, now take away trainers and abilities all together, you're just left with a talent tree. This is how Firefall works. You choose one of three abilities from one tier, and then move on to the next. This makes for creating some very unique classes. I think this game would have benefited more from a classless system though.
Questing/Story 7/10 - I know exactly what's going on all the time with the game being fully voiced over, very similar to DC Universe Online's system where a little screen pops up in the top corner of the screen and someone tells you what to do. The quests aren't overly unique, mostly kill x amount of things, defend something or press something etc, but they're fun. Nothing too original, but good. They engage you in the story and flow well, a great mix.
Community 5/10 - This is a beta community, so probably not best to judge on the community yet, but so far it's been very mixed. You have the immature people arguing over pointless stuff, or spamming stupid things, then you have the nice people who are really friendly and help with any questions asked.
Overall 8/10 - This game was never on my radar really, but I got into the beta and was very pleasantly surprised! I might stop playing now, don't want to ruin too much for myself (and have to do it again when the game launches!) I'll definitely be purchasing this game when it's released. Everyone should apply for beta and try it out, hopefully you'll all like it too. This is what Global Agenda should have been!
Comments
Mob/Enemy AI 5/10
there is a memeory leak issue so the AI seems low. Once the bug fixed, it will be really difficult to fight.
Glad to hear the game is looking good. I'm looking forward to trying it out but haven't received a key yet, even though "keys being everywhere" (according to a gamer podcast I listen to).
And Valua, the game is free to play! No purchase necessary, although there may be cool things to buy in the cash shop.
Class/ability system 8/10
This is where the game falls short to me.
Way it works is you get EXP for kills pve and PVP i guess but i have not tried PVP yet. BUT the EXP goes ONLY into the battle frame you are using.
You can not use it for any other frames. And once you buy the next tier..well you start over at 0 exp., and have to unlock the tech tree's all over again. And the tiers over lvl 1 you need to craft AND have exp to get a better weapon or other gear.
Makes a strange situation. You get an "upgraded" battle frame that is weaker than the lvl 1 frame you were just playing with.
Your DPS drops..you are easier to kill..all of it..till you get a lot more exp again and learn to craft the recipes to build gear.
Still BETA.. so something here may change. Or not ,no idea. It is just very strange system to me. They say that they will have pvp "Tiers" so tier 1 frames will fight other tier 1's. Again i do not do PVP so can not talk about that part of game.
Dont get me wrong.. i am having fun in tier 1 frames..i have tried them all, and they are all mostly fun. But there are some issues that would need to change for me to play this and spend any cash for sure.
That is actually the way it SHOULD be.Just because you consider the next tier an upgrade doesn't mean you should be considered already experienced with it,what made you think you should be?
I think games have been rather lazy and shallow in their design when you just buy new gear and autromatically it is better.This game is not really treating it as gear anyhow,it is a battleframe.Consider like you were using a small handgun then bought yourself a super heavy duty repeating gun weighing about 120 lbs.You would not pick that new gun up and be as proficient as you were with that hand gun you had become accustomed to.
Make no mistake Wow does not do game design justice,so don't think of gaming in terms of Wow armour tiers.
I would be more worried about cash shop in a f2p game,they say it won't involve pay to win,but that can be easily misleading,have to wait and see.I heard possibly buying new techniques through cash shop,how that plays out for importance is again a wait and see.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Why bring WOW into this?:P
If i go out for 5 hours fight earn exp and unlock weapons gear and armor..etc...then get an higher tier battle frame, and can not use any of the exp OR gear/weps i have bought.. that is a bad game design:P Does not matter WHAT game you are in.
Start over from 0 exp and 0 unlocks that you can use to get back to a place you were damage/survival wise is just bad design to me. Why could you not use that defense plating or gun you have unlocked? Same class of battle frame. Just makes no sense.
You need to unlock the recpes and new tier wepaons/gear..all great.. if you can use what you have worked for allready. i would say i DO have quite a bit of experience with gear and weps i have been fighting with for a few hours right? So why make me weaker? Like i said bad design to me.
If this is true and actually gets fixed then this game will be awesome! Definitely a contender for "best MMO" in 2013
Yes, it actually happed once in the pre-milestone, and they had to reboot the sever from time to time until the bug fixed.
will see
Why bring WOW into this?:P
If i go out for 5 hours fight earn exp and unlock weapons gear and armor..etc...then get an higher tier battle frame, and can not use any of the exp OR gear/weps i have bought.. that is a bad game design:P Does not matter WHAT game you are in.
Start over from 0 exp and 0 unlocks that you can use to get back to a place you were damage/survival wise is just bad design to me. Why could you not use that defense plating or gun you have unlocked? Same class of battle frame. Just makes no sense.
You need to unlock the recpes and new tier wepaons/gear..all great.. if you can use what you have worked for allready. i would say i DO have quite a bit of experience with gear and weps i have been fighting with for a few hours right? So why make me weaker? Like i said bad design to me.
Can you wear the Tier 1 battle frame and earn stuff for the Tier 2 battle frame? I'm playing right now and haven't even looked in my inventory.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
They foccused their pvp way to hard on esports while it still is not fun to watch at all.
so they failed in that area.