[Column] Fallen Earth: Visiting the Wasteland

SBFord

The Tourist is off again on another jaunt through an MMO of note. This time, we take a trip to the Wastelands of the Fallen Earth universe. See what The Tourist discovered and then leave your own remembrances in the comments.

I first came to Fallen Earth when it launched in September of 2009. Back then the game still charged a subscription fee, but it challenged conventions and was quickly relegated to a niche. The game floundered, too unique to support itself, and in late 2011 finally went F2P. A lot has changed since then but the core remains the same: Fallen Earth is one of the most unique MMORPGs out there, offering the genre’s best take on first-person-shooting and one of the most robust crafting systems this side of Star Wars Galaxies. The game also features a freeform character progression letting you specialize each clone. Let’s make no bones about it, if you like Fallout, sandparks, or just want something new, this game is for you.

Read more of Christopher Coke's The Tourist: Visiting the Wasteland.

mCalvert

The game floundered because the combat sucked. And they never listend to their fans.

rodingo

Almost all of the ideas behind the game were great. The crafting was done really well and I love the idea of persistent mounts.  Made you more careful when playing.  Nice big, mostly seamless world.  One of the better hybrid games out except for the PVE part turned out to be lackluster in my opinion.   Another one of those "had potential" games.

RemyVorender

Played this game off and on for years. One of my all time favorites. My only wish was open world player housing. Thanks for a great game Icarus.

Eladi

yup, its a great game but they never got the play controlls and combat anywere decent + alot of startup problems/to soon launched the typical mmo destroyers..

mymmo

great game with a good community. To bad that the devs never really fixed the latency issues and crazy spawn rate some areas had. Also its a shame that the devs once again listened to the vocal and loud pvp crowd that did get some parts what they wanted, but they did their usually thing lulzed and went to another game to complain and moan...

Myria

Originally posted by mCalvert
And they never listend to their fans.

Actually I'd say that Post-Hammock probably their biggest mistake was listening to the fans -- specifically the excruciatingly loud PvP contingent that, as is generally the case, spent more time accumulating forum DT than actually playing the game. In doing so Icarus, and later G1 continued the trend, ended up chasing away most of their base.

Mind, the game was in pretty sad shape well before then. A rough start, bad design decisions, and a host of other issues probably doomed it to forever be a diamond in the rough long before Hammock was shown the door, but FE is a good example of the dangers of listening to the fans.

Or, at least, the dangers of assuming those screaming voices you hear constantly on the forums really are representative of your playerbase.

Still, every time I read someone here bitch about how every MMO that comes out is a WoW clone, I think of FE, how few even gave it a glance (or, hell, have even heard of it), let alone supported it in hopes of its potential being reached, and I shake my head and smile.

Dihoru

I'd play this game whole heartedly if I managed to find a group of people to play with. I played it about 1-2 years ago when it went F2P and I liked it but the place was a ghost town almost, gave up near the end of sector 1... would like to try it again someday though.

Burntvet

Originally posted by mCalvert

The game floundered because the combat sucked. And they never listend to their fans.

 

This ^^. I was in their pre-alpha focus group (yes, they had one) and played the alpha/beta extensively, and many of us listed several of the design decisions we thought needed work, even way back then. And all too few were ever fixed. Too bad. (We also tried to get them to put in some love for the crafting system, by way of custom appearance or items and item naming, and variable stats, but they were not interested.)

cronius77

i tried to play this game about two months ago and loved the setting and theme but absolutely hated the combat and animations. This games setting makes for a perfect sandpark style mmorpg close to the old fallout games , but hence I quickly went back to fallout new vegas to get my post apocalypse fix. If the combat was done better and the crafting didnt just have you sit and wait on long timers to make something , this game would of been enjoyable.

Theocritus

Yeah the crafting timers were a little ridiculous.....I thought I had finally found a home in this game, but once I got to about level 15 it got boring really quick....I have no interest in PVP and it almsot felt like at that point they really wanted to force it.....Also started running into really fast spawn rates where I couldn't even loot a corpse that I just killed without havin immediate spawns....Also a couple of the quest camps had nothing but ranged attackers with huge aggro range and fast respawn timers.

Matticus75

'I first came to Fallen Earth when it launched in September of 2009. Back then the game still charged a subscription fee, but it challenged conventions and was quickly relegated to a niche. The game floundered, too unique to support itself, and in late 2011 finally went F2P'

The game could have been a smash hit IMO, if they had the budget, if the combat, animations, better AI, graphics. ect would have been with a cutting edge world engine, then the game could have made it big.

I dont think the "concepts" of the game is what make it go down hill

Vindicar

It is also one very nice RPing platform.

bugse82

Playing it again for a few days now. I quit few times before, cus the bad combat and AI, but FE is one of the best hybrids on the market! And even when you look at the state of the most sandbox MMOs, FE is the best cure for the sandbox itching (except EVE and UO, of course).

shalissar

Originally posted by mymmo
great game with a good community. To bad that the devs never really fixed the latency issues and crazy spawn rate some areas had. Also its a shame that the devs once again listened to the vocal and loud pvp crowd that did get some parts what they wanted, but they did their usually thing lulzed and went to another game to complain and moan...

It's funny because PvPers in that game will tell you the exact opposite, and that the folks clamoring for better defined roles and group pve lead to the massive skill culling of 2010 (or so) in an effort to create some sort of stupid trinity. I personally don't know which side was responsible for that, but if I could just .. kind of... stick a sharpened spoon into their eye sockets... Anyways, I'm going to dive in and see what's new for myself!

As for the folks saying pvp was forced on them, I can't tell you how many missions I abandoned because they were group missions particularly after the "combat patch" when my solo build was no longer capable of soloing much outside forest rats. Alpha sector is damn near impossible now too. Tit for tat i guess!

Insane_corn

Originally posted by shalissar

Originally posted by mymmo
great game with a good community. To bad that the devs never really fixed the latency issues and crazy spawn rate some areas had. Also its a shame that the devs once again listened to the vocal and loud pvp crowd that did get some parts what they wanted, but they did their usually thing lulzed and went to another game to complain and moan...

It's funny because PvPers in that game will tell you the exact opposite, and that the folks clamoring for better defined roles and group pve lead to the massive skill culling of 2010 (or so) in an effort to create some sort of stupid trinity. I personally don't know which side was responsible for that, but if I could just .. kind of... stick a sharpened spoon into their eye sockets... Anyways, I'm going to dive in and see what's new for myself!

As for the folks saying pvp was forced on them, I can't tell you how many missions I abandoned because they were group missions particularly after the "combat patch" when my solo build was no longer capable of soloing much outside forest rats. Alpha sector is damn near impossible now too. Tit for tat i guess!

 

1.4 - It came about to fix the 20 buff slot exploit and what not.



1.7.4 - Nerfed dodge to remove glancing blows and made it so dodge didn't decide a mobs miss/hit rate. Was to make pve a bit challenging and to change some aspects of pvp(as other changes had shown)...this same patch removed faction requirements from skills/capstones so faction were no longer 'role' focused as they seemed to be before this patch.



1.9 - F2P patch, this patch was for f2p and drastically simplified the game. Removed capstones, faction skills and was an attempt to reduce redundancy amongst lines. This did little but make some lines not worth using in any sort of proper build and put a number of other lines in niches. Still a patch many pvpers have disdain for. Alpha was added in this patch as the start of S4...haven't met too many people whom have a positive view of this area.



2.x - These patches added some interesting things and at the same time skewed and changed a number of things that people didn't want. Gore was added...an addition many dislike as it simplified the game even further and was a pvp/pve hybrid weapon...so pvpers weren't happy as they had to do pve and pvers weren't that happy as they had to do go to pvp zones(a number of people protested this addition to the game due to how imbalancing they were to pvp...pve hadn't changed or required these weapons due to how they were). Stage 3...their new armor and again was a pve/pvp hybrid, although considerably less on the pve side and much heavier on the pvp side than GORE was...this armor is mainly for pvpers at the end of the day. Next addition will be for pvpers as well. Patch 2.6 or so was the most recent combat change which made builds/pvp even more gimmicky, and added a very heavy fotm feel.






I'd add more but it wouldn't be positive. As many people whom played since launch...it had lots of potential and could of been much more, but many things combined to some good and a lot people don't like...people still play and enjoy the game but the 'i wish...' comes up a lot when playing.



At the end of the day it's a game worth trying out and experiencing for yourself, as although I have my own opinion and it isn't shared by many most likely and still is quite unique and fun.

shalissar

Cool beans! thanks for the clarification I haven't played for the longest time but I will definitely get into it again. There has definitely been some short-sighted decision making on behalf of the development but I can't say it's the most terrible thing out there. There are still a lot of elements in the game that I can really appreciate.

falconhand

My dream would be my the movement and fatals of my age of conan char in this game. love the setting, but not my char at fe.

mCalvert

Its too bad, because the game really stood alone in the MMO world.

daltanious

Originally posted by mCalvert
The game floundered because the combat sucked. And they never listend to their fans.

Agree on that. But for me there was also another problem, that is actually not problem. :-) I just hate that targeting cross on screen.

snapfusion

GReat potential, but terrible combat mechanics, and not at its core, the idea of aiming is fantastic, the concept of the melee attacks were great, but the execution was and still is horrid,  Nothing feels right about it.

snapfusion

Originally posted by daltanious

Originally posted by mCalvert
The game floundered because the combat sucked. And they never listend to their fans.

Agree on that. But for me there was also another problem, that is actually not problem. :-) I just hate that targeting cross on screen.

Instead of a cross hair do you want a bunny rabbit?  Can you be more specific, is it that you dont like having to aim in your games or are you seeing you would prefer to be able to change the crosshair to a red dot?

Terranah

I enjoyed it while I played it, but ultimately left due to lack of fluff.  Things like appearance tabs would have made this rp'er happy.  Housing also was something I was waiting for that never materialized.  Even an instanced type of housing would have been welcome.

 

But now so much time has passed since I played it, there's no going back.  It's not a matter of money or cash shops or anything else, but rather a matter of time.  Too many games and too little time.  I would have to be bribed to go back.

mCalvert

Originally posted by snapfusion

Originally posted by daltanious

Originally posted by mCalvert
The game floundered because the combat sucked. And they never listend to their fans.

Agree on that. But for me there was also another problem, that is actually not problem. :-) I just hate that targeting cross on screen.

Instead of a cross hair do you want a bunny rabbit?  Can you be more specific, is it that you dont like having to aim in your games or are you seeing you would prefer to be able to change the crosshair to a red dot?

It didnt bother me, you need some sort of aiming. Maybe iron sights or something appropriate to the weapon would be better.

Darkcrystal

Originally posted by Myria

Originally posted by mCalvert
And they never listend to their fans.

Actually I'd say that Post-Hammock probably their biggest mistake was listening to the fans -- specifically the excruciatingly loud PvP contingent that, as is generally the case, spent more time accumulating forum DT than actually playing the game. In doing so Icarus, and later G1 continued the trend, ended up chasing away most of their base.

Mind, the game was in pretty sad shape well before then. A rough start, bad design decisions, and a host of other issues probably doomed it to forever be a diamond in the rough long before Hammock was shown the door, but FE is a good example of the dangers of listening to the fans.

Or, at least, the dangers of assuming those screaming voices you hear constantly on the forums really are representative of your playerbase.

Still, every time I read someone here bitch about how every MMO that comes out is a WoW clone, I think of FE, how few even gave it a glance (or, hell, have even heard of it), let alone supported it in hopes of its potential being reached, and I shake my head and smile.

Umm  Lee left on his own, he got a better offer and he knew they were doomed, Lee carried FE like his baby to Pax, E3 and everywhere, if anything he was the reason it had good qualitys, so I love to know were you got your info from, I really do...

 

Because your incorrect..

Darkcrystal

Originally posted by Matticus75

'I first came to Fallen Earth when it launched in September of 2009. Back then the game still charged a subscription fee, but it challenged conventions and was quickly relegated to a niche. The game floundered, too unique to support itself, and in late 2011 finally went F2P'

The game could have been a smash hit IMO, if they had the budget, if the combat, animations, better AI, graphics. ect would have been with a cutting edge world engine, then the game could have made it big.

I dont think the "concepts" of the game is what make it go down hill

 

The graphics your joking right??? FE was one of the few games that supported SLI, you know that right??? I could see dust flying in the air, the issue was that you needed to use proper settings to get the game to look proper, and when you did it was amazing,  they had combat issues, lack of PVE grouping were there major issues and launch issues.

 

But graphics, I get tired of gamers saying MMO have bad graphics, I do graphics , there low poly,most of you expect HIGHER poly models, guess what its not going to happen in an MMO, I SEE this comment on every single MMO on the market, to many of you are used to PC games that are single player or match base games were they can have that, I wish PEOPLE would realize the difference.......