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[Review] Defiance: Can Fun Overcome Mediocrity?

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

Now that we have finished our multi-week series of review in progress articles for Trion Worlds' Defiance, it's time to render the final verdict. See how Defiance fared in our exclusive review, then leave your thoughts in the comments.

Trion Worlds’ Defiance is a game that fights with its players to be loved, when there are likely plenty of reasons to be frustrated and demoralized. You see, the core of the game is hectic, pulse-pounding, explosive, and fun. But for every one thing that Defiance does right, several other bits are broken or half-wrought.  It’s clearly the sort of game that will grow in time, given enough support from its fans and the studio.  The show on SyFy is doing well in the ratings, which gives this gamer hope that some of those revenue dollars will flow the game’s direction. Because I want to keep playing and loving Defiance while watching the show.  But whether I will or not largely depends on how quickly Trion can fix some major issues, and how quickly they can add more layers to the game and its systems.

Read more of Bill Murphy's Defiance: Can Fun Overcome Mediocrity?

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Arkfalls are one of Defiance’s best bits.


¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 


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Comments

  • gwei1984gwei1984 Member UncommonPosts: 413

    The review is correct imho. Defiance has some good ideas but  also lacks in some serious parts of the game.

     

    Edit: But compared to a normal single player shooter you get more hours of fun for your money. Therefore those 50 bucks are a good investment.


     

    Hodor!

  • Lazarus71Lazarus71 Member UncommonPosts: 1,081

    On a 1-10 scale wouldn't 6.6 be above average as in not exactly mediocre, just saying :P 

    While I agree with the review for the most part, this should be interesting. Wonder who some of the posters will be on this one lol

    No signature, I don't have a pen

  • gwei1984gwei1984 Member UncommonPosts: 413

    Originally posted by Lazarus71

    On a 1-10 scale wouldn't 6.6 be above average as in not exactly mediocre, just saying :P 

    While I agree with the review for the most part, this should be interesting. Wonder who some of the posters will be on this one lol

    See it from the point of a school grade system.

    Below 50%: You shall not pass!

    100%: Get a life, geek!

    66%: Pure mediocrity!

    Hodor!

  • Lazarus71Lazarus71 Member UncommonPosts: 1,081
    Originally posted by gwei1984

    Originally posted by Lazarus71

    On a 1-10 scale wouldn't 6.6 be above average as in not exactly mediocre, just saying :P 

    While I agree with the review for the most part, this should be interesting. Wonder who some of the posters will be on this one lol

    See it from the point of a school grade system.

    Below 50%: You shall not pass!

    100%: Get a life, geek!

    66%: Pure mediocrity!

    I was pretty much just poking fun, hence the stick out tongue at the end.

    No signature, I don't have a pen

  • BillMurphyBillMurphy Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
    Re: School Grade system - YEP, exactly how we approached the 1-10 scale.  Like the US grading scale.  A 6.6 would then be a D.  Passing, but barely.

    Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.

    My Review Manifesto
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  • Lazarus71Lazarus71 Member UncommonPosts: 1,081
    Originally posted by BillMurphy
    Re: School Grade system - YEP, exactly how we approached the 1-10 scale.  Like the US grading scale.  A 6.6 would then be a D.  Passing, but barely.

    I completely understand the score folks lol. Been playing games and reading reviews most of my life, It was a light hearted jab. Been here for years, I know the review system and what you guys mean with your scores :P

    P.S. I agree DMKano,the game might not be the best thing since sliced bread but I do have fun everytime I log in and play.

    No signature, I don't have a pen

  • dotdotdashdotdotdash Member UncommonPosts: 488

    Personally I spent the whole time I was playing Defiance thinking "if this was more like Borderlands 2, and less like it is, it would be a good game."

    The setting is quite compelling. The environment itself is fairly entertaining, and certainly quite refreshing. The gameplay is, however, somewhat lacking; it is in most ways a cheap rip off of Borderlands. There isn't enough gear. Monster AI is lame. The dialogue is not interesting, and neither is the story. There is also a distinct lack of compelling content there.

    It should, and I hate to say this, have been a sandbox game with quest episodes to follow the series.

  • GroovyFlowerGroovyFlower Member Posts: 1,245

    Then there’s the UI. It works, but it’s really obviously built from the ground up for the PS3 and Xbox users.  It’s just clunky as can be.

     

    When i read this i stay far away from this kind of games made for consoles and badly ported to PC and graphics dumbdown becouse for consoles no thx.

  • MikeJezZMikeJezZ Member UncommonPosts: 1,268

    6.6? Really that high?

     

    I would give it 4.5 at best.

  • Lazarus71Lazarus71 Member UncommonPosts: 1,081
    Originally posted by GroovyFlower

    Then there’s the UI. It works, but it’s really obviously built from the ground up for the PS3 and Xbox users.  It’s just clunky as can be.

     

    When i read this i stay far away from this kind of games made for consoles and badly ported to PC and graphics dumbdown becouse of PC's no thx.

    You know I actually consider myself very picky when it comes to graphics and in my opinion Defiances graphics are very nice.  However you know what they say about opinions though lol

    No signature, I don't have a pen

  • MyriaMyria Member UncommonPosts: 699

    Originally posted by Lazarus71

    You know I actually consider myself very picky when it comes to graphics and in my opinion Defiances graphics are very nice.  However you know what they say about opinions though lol

    Personally I don't think the graphics are bad, per se, not great but nothing really to bitch about in and of themselves. They do, however, suffer from two severe problems:

     

    The first is model re-use. Rift was rather (in)famous for this, Defiance takes it to whole new levels. There is very little variety in what you'll see from beginning to end.

     

    The second is a draw distance that would be more at home on an N64 than a modern PC. The lack of any real graphics settings is bad enough -- especially the lack of an FoV slider, but the draw distance is just... Sad.

  • theniffrigtheniffrig Member UncommonPosts: 351

    Got it on Xbox & tried out the first few minutes so far. I'm a PC gamer for sure & I really struggle with aiming with a control pad in console games. Having said that, it isnt too bad as it auto aims when your pointing close enough to an enemy.

    Hearing good things about the show, but I don't have Syfy so i'll have to try find it online.

  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    It is a fun game, but definitely needs more MMO and social features to keep me interested. Right now it's just a fun shooter that happens to be online. No real sense of community.

    image
  • elockeelocke Member UncommonPosts: 4,335
    It's working for Neverwinter and I think it works for Defiance.  Fun can overcome mediocrity BUT there is a caviat with MMOs.  They can't stay in mediocrity too long or the fun ends up not holding people for the long run.  This is where post development needs to really shine and grow the game.  So far the TV show is impressing me and is growing, now the game needs to follow suit.
  • CaldrinCaldrin Member UncommonPosts: 4,505

    I dont think i would have listed the arkfalls as a pro really.. i dont think they have done enough with them..

     

    Still not a bad review..

  • TsumoroTsumoro Member UncommonPosts: 435
    I really enjoy Defiance, however its a game that is still rough around the edges with a lot of fine tuning to be had. Although, I am positive that the direction they take the game and the changes to be made will be nothing but positive and with 1 million accounts and with no subscription I imagine many will keep up to date with the changes to come. 

  • BurntvetBurntvet Member RarePosts: 3,465
    This game has no social tools or options (as it is a shooter) lousy guild functionality (and no real reason for guilds, regardless) and chat that barely works. The social score should be about 2. As for value, 8? Not at a $60 box price, with paid DLCs on the way. Maybe when the game sells for $20 or less. How can you score 8 for value when the game is average and yet they want a full box price?
  • udonudon Member UncommonPosts: 1,803

    The first 12 months for Rift was an amazing amount of improvements.  If Trion can put the same effort into Defiance in a year this might be a pretty good game.

    The down side of that is many people will have moved on by than and getting them back isn't a easy task.

  • DexijiDexiji Member Posts: 3

    For me, the real saving grace for this game is the value. B2P for me takes away the guilt of not playing if it were subscription. I will feel OK walking away from Defiance for a month or so and picking back up just before an expansion to gear up and then play the expansion. I did not buy the "Season Pass" since I really want to see what the include in the first expansion.

    I do like to believe that Trion is still figuring out where their main player base is. If the console group drops off and the PC folks keep playing, they will begin to cater more towards that crowd. Money talks...

    Overall, I'm really enjoying the game. It's got something fun about it. DMKano was right in that it can be almost instant gratification. You can get in close with one of the several types of shotguns, or sit back and snipe.

    PvP battlegrounds, with the exception of Shadow War is essentially a mix of cloak and shotguns or bug infectors. They are making some advances in stopping the hackers, but I wish they had built a better client. Now if they would only make the bunny hoppers' feet take 400% more damage...

  • orbitxoorbitxo Member RarePosts: 1,956

    nice review.

     

    I agree with all the ratings, except.

    social.

     

    the ui social needs a haul redesign or should i say copy over from anysucessful  MMO or game shooter.

    Also i see there is no mention of a Borderlands2 take Defiance has borrowed, I expected trion todo it justice considering Borderlands2 is already available for play!!!they really could of taken note from gearbox!

     

    anyhoot- good review and fair.

    my rating for the game overall= Fun.

     

     



     

  • augustgraceaugustgrace Member UncommonPosts: 628
    Overall a fair review, but I am surprised that at no stage in the reviewing process was putting damage and other modifiers client side, mentioned.  While "hacking" seems to have slowed a bit, Trion made an extremely big mistake there, and you can still commonly see people setting their damage to 999,999 and running about one shotting things in arkfalls.
  • UnshraUnshra Member UncommonPosts: 381
    For me Defiance is a perfect example of mindless fun, there is nothing deep or complex about the game but it's a nice brake from other MMO's. Honestly I could just drive around and run stuff over all day, the weapons are nice as well, not high end FPS but good enough for TPS. It's not something that wil notl be a main MMO for me but it will be there when I want to get away from the MMO grind and blow shtako up!

    image
    Because flying a Minmatar ship is like going down a flight of stairs on an office chair while firing an Uzi.

  • BadOrbBadOrb Member UncommonPosts: 791

    So the review score doesn't take into account that it's the only TPSMMO on the 360 and PS3 ? Also the fact that it's 1 of only 2 MMO's on the 360 and is it 1 of 3 MMO's on the PS3 ? I would have scored it differently for all 3 platforms personally. Obviously that would probably bump the score down a little for PC ( a vast choice of MMO's on there ) and the score would bump up for 360 and PS3. Otherwise keep up the great work guys!

    Cheers,

    BadOrb.

    PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
    "SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
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  • BillMurphyBillMurphy Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565

    Originally posted by augustgrace

    Overall a fair review, but I am surprised that at no stage in the reviewing process was putting damage and other modifiers client side, mentioned.  While "hacking" seems to have slowed a bit, Trion made an extremely big mistake there, and you can still commonly see people setting their damage to 999,999 and running about one shotting things in arkfalls.

    Psst: 

    "Then there’s the notion that the damage might be handled on the client side of things... yeah, it’s a thing.  But without a fix, the PVP will wind up useless and frustrating forever, as opposed to the incredible fun it can be when it’s rolling on all cylinders."

    :)

    Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.

    My Review Manifesto
    Follow me on Twitter if you dare.

  • ThomasN7ThomasN7 87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690
    This game is poorly done on most aspects. When I was in beta it wasn't even that fun to play. Combat is horrible, art work is horrible and again it is another hold-you-by-the-hand mmo. Too many technical issues at launch for this game to be even remotely successful. 
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