Initial Review of DnL: SOG

Kilim

This is going to be my short and to the point review from hat I have experienced from D&L: SoG.
I know it is only been a few days since the server went "LIVE" but wanted to share my points.
Of course I shall post another review again in a week’s time or so as the Game progresses depending on how much of a difference Farlan and its Dev team develop the game some more.

Please note that I have been only able to play the game approximately 5-8 hours out of the 96 hours it has been released.




Graphics: 3

Some would say that graphics is not what makes a good game. Sure it helps and Farlan initially have stated to the public that their priority is the game 1st and graphics second. At this time the graphics of D&L: SoG is sub-par and feels outdated. It can look ‘Decent’ if you have a good graphics card & PC. You will however notice the roughness of the game if you have a lower end graphics card & PC. Reminds me of playing EQ2 on a low end machine with everything on low settings or SWG.

Sound: 5

I gave this a slightly above average grade as it is actually good in a certain point. The background music they have is actually cool. This is actually the best part of the game I liked. This is of course until I realize the flaw in the system. The flaw in the system that I have found so far is that there is absolutely NO SOUND when you are in combat! No huffing, clacking of metal or anything! There is just NO COMBAT Sound! ALL You hear is the background music, that is it! So even though the background music is decent it made its grade lower due to certain features that should have been there and currently is not.

Quests/RP/NPCs/Community: 0

There is absolutely no quest that I can find at this time. To be honest I ONLY seen 1 NPC in the game and he has somehow disappeared! Another feature that may not have been implemented yet that needs to be up ASAP! And of course the problem of not having ANY NPCs around gets even worst. There is still NO NPC Merchants that have been sighted at this time as well. So at this time there is no way to Buy/Sell and simply start an economy!

Performance/Lag/Connectivity: 1

This is my most major gripe in the game so far. This game is supposed to be NOT a Beta but also not a Release version. But the game itself is supposed to be released in April, 4 months from now. I stated earlier that I have ONLY been able to play 5-8 hours out of the 96 or so hours since the release of D&L: SoG. This is due to the fact that the server was ONLY UP around 10-12 hours out of that 96 hours its been released! This damn server is worst than a drunken Prom date that is high on ecstasy! Then there are of course various bugs and glitches that can cause you to not be able to login the game to begin with. When you do manage to enter the game, there are also some bugs in the game that can cause you to Crash to Desktop (CTD)! Lag is horrible at the starting areas but seems to get better when you manage to get out of that spot. But there was actually sometime that the lag and environment seems to be in harmony and actually ran decent enough until I had to log out and take care of my 3 yr old.

Customer Service: 0

There is absolutely NO Communication being passed for this game. Most of the info I get are from a 3rd party, let it be another website or the IRC. Everything is just Delays on top of delays on top of delays! Lack of good communication coupled by delays just does not sit well in my stomach.

UI: 4

The UI itself feels out-dated compared to the MMOs that are being released at this time. You can move some of the UI Parts around and it even has Radar for you to use. I really do not like how the Hotkeys are made at this time. Very flimsy on how to use those via mouse and still haven not figured out an easy way to set them up via keyboard. I said flimsy as you may be trying to click on 1 hotkey and get the results from the key next to it! Guild window, maps and other various options just feels outdated and clunky.

Combat: 3

I have not been able to do any PvP at this time so this judgment is via PvE only. Combat is very DAoC-like. There is a way to stick, but it doesn’t stick as Good as DAoC … you can lose the /stick ‘somehow’. You can gain new abilities to use besides your default melee/range attacks after spending Fighting XP (FXP) on the specific skills. Starting and stopping an attack feels like a hit or miss at this time, takes a bit of getting used to. 1 thing that really bugged me is the inability to backup when I was in combat mode! I was able to strafe and move side ways but I was not able to back-up. Not sure if its suppose to be like that or a bug at this time.

Customization: 2

There is absolutely not much Customization available at this time when you start your character. You can select Race, Sex, and I believe a couple of Hair selection. Other options were not available at this time but it was not much to begin with. One thing that you can do is that you can switch around your skill points! You CANNOT Switch classes (i.e.: Fighter  Healer) BUT you can switch the points you have distributed in your skills to something else.

Overall: 3

I am VERY Disappointed at this time with this game. So many bugs and server issues for something that is being planned to be released in 4 months! They will need to do MAJOR improvements in the next few months if they would like to succeed in this. Of course there will always be some fanbois that would stick around and defend it no matter what Farlan does BUT many will leave and have this game fade from memory if no drastic improvements are made ASAP! For God’s sake they are supposed to have 1 Server to handle worldwide subscription (minus China who supposes to have their own Server). They cannot even keep the server up long enough for the pass few days. It has stayed down longer than it has been up and this is ONLY with the 18,881 people that are available to test it at this time. How can they handle the load when it is released world wide?!? I really want Farlan to be able to succeed and deliver, I really honestly do! But this unstable PoS they gave us called SoG is just not a good 1st impression fo the public. I am a realist and have been disappointed many times trying to find a decent MMO. And liek I said before, they will NEED to make drastic improvements to actually make this successful.

About me:

1st to some that do not know, I have been playing games for sometime. I have beta tested various games and also tried some of their release versions. My love has always been RPG 1st then RTS until I discovered MUDs and then MMORPG. Some of the MMORPG I have played in either beta or release versions are: Dark Age of Camelot, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Anarchy Online, Saga of Ryzom, Mourning (aka: Realms of Krel, Biggest Scam MMO in History!), Irth Online, RYL, City of Heroes, EQ1, EQ2, Guild Wars, Lineage 2, Runescape, World of Warcraft, and an old MUD from AOL called Dragonsomething. So with that said, I am sure it shows that I have seen the ups and downs of the MMORPG industry. This is my 1st Initial Review of D&L: SoG and can possibly change depending on how the Dev team in Farlan works the kinks out of their game. They have 4 months until their announced release date. Let us see if they can deliver their promises....

tsr57

so what are you trying to say.

Phoenixs

Good review. I have a similar impression.

DuraheLL

Hm ok this review tells me little

Fade

nice to see a well thought out post among the senseless flames.

kjfett

I'm not a fan of SWG right now, but I have to say that even SWG on the lowest graphic settings is better than SoG right now.  I don't think they would be on par.  Overall, I do think you are voicing many of the same things we are all seeing though...I'm glad I am not the only one.

I had high hopes for this game.  Perhaps when they finally reach launch they can meet those hopes.  Personally, I don't see how in that short a time span.  This game is going to need to go though 1 or 2 versions before it is up to par with an MMO that can hold the numbers of players they would like to have...or think they will have. 

I am sure I am not alone in my continued search for a new MMO. 

Pulsar7

A good honest appraisal of the situation. I agree with the OP

Only managed about 4 hours in total in the game (through various disconnections) but it is enough to see all these terrible shortcomings. Some call it a beta, some call it a mini-game of DnL (prelude)....the truth is, its a very rough alpha. An alpha that has taken 4-5 years to make, lol

No way in hell this 'game' if you can call it that will even be a decent beta by April.

A pity, because the potential was there, but incompetance ruined it totally....

Spoonthieve

I'm quite shocked. I haven't played DnL but I didn't think it was that bad.

jimmyman99

Graphics are bad? Are you saying all those pretty pretty landscapes ive seen posted are not in par with SOG gfx?

All the silence and hush hush before the preorder rang so many bells in my head, and yet when I looked at those screenies, they were so beautifull. I realy thought long and hard before I decided id rather not risk my bloody money on a cat-in-a-box. I just hope all those people who did preorder get something more then what they seem to be getting at the moment. Seems that this game is way in early alpha stage, and if they have a preorder at this time, im guessing that means only one thing - they want to milk suckers... i mean players on buying it before going poof. Thats how I feel right now, becuase even thought I havent played it, seen it in person or preordered it, I still feel very bad for all those players who got scammed (I cant call it in other words) on preordering it and denied most of promised things.

I still have hopes for this game, because I realy did like those screenshots and the idea behind DnL. I just think the way they are implementing it is way out of touch with reality. Good luck to you all, pioneers.

Darkchronic

I'd have to agree with you completely, the graphics are horible, and I can't turn them up, because then I get huge amounts of system lag. My system isn't great (2GHZ Athlon XP, 1GB DDR333 and a Radeon 9200se) but I can run other stuff on a lot higher settings. And Farlan have admitted there is a memory leak. I've played for about 2 hours, I can't actually talk to the only NPC I've found because clicking on the thing to say just doesn't do anything.

Everyone else gets crashes to desktop, but I get crashes that restart my whole system. And it crashes every few minutes, so I can't play basically.

I'm hoping Farlan will fix some of these many issues, because unless they improve SoG, I, and possibly many other people won't be buying DnL.

Korko

I agree on everything but 1 thing.

How can anyone like the music in this game ? Its absolutely horrible and cheap. It's got nothing to do with fantasy, why not just use the lateste 50 Cent Album while wer at it.

They better rework that, ambient = 0 as it is now.

Beside that, this game is going nowhere, SOG has probably signed DNL's testament p

tsr57

I was in irc chat for age of mourning two days ago and get this.... someone said that snailgame is talking to them.. and looking to invest in a new mmo. maybe they've given up too..

Kilim

Here are some SS I got when I was able to login for 10-15mins until Server got funky again:
(FYI: This is with ALL Options MAX and '/enginesetquality high'enabled on my Home PC.)

My pet and I figting a wolf as a Wizard soon to be Sorcerer.
http://www.sinvida.net/nuke/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/Shot004.jpg

Closeup of a Wolf mob at starter isle.
http://www.sinvida.net/nuke/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/Shot012.jpg

Scenic View from a mount flying.
http://www.sinvida.net/nuke/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/Shot001.jpg

I heard of Mourning and unfortunately Beta Tested it.
I so hope this don't become another game like it.
But playing SOG atm on its current state, I do NOT see it being released w/ all teh features they promise going to be available by April.
It will take a MAJOR Miracle for it to happen.
I have yet to Beta Test a Game that is in this same state as SOG that is ready for release in 4 months time.

tsr57

"I heard of Mourning and unfortunately Beta Tested it.
I so hope this don't become another game like it."

Like it? It's already worse than it.  Mourning was more stable and more complete than sog..  mourning didn't take 8,000 orders at $60...  they only took a hanful (around 700) before stopping and taking refunds.. DnL set a new standard of low with this POS...

if they had the $$$ that farlan/np3 had gotten they would of finished an awesome mmo..MOST anyone out there would..  these guys are just plain hopeless..

-Inferno-

*gasp*
Who would of thunk it?
Your review is almost exactly as I would have done it - just that yours is a little more positive. DnL will fail because NP3 will not get their act together in the next 4 months and fix/create all the stuff that needs to be in DnL for it to succeed. If SoG is all they can come up with in 4-5 years of development time, then 4 months is a blink of an eye.

Kilim

NT