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biggest vaporware EVAR?
It seems that countless people have grown quite weary hearing about the Darkfall mmorpg project year after year that touts innovative features and gameplay that is supposed to accompany its launch. The problem seems to be that the project in question does not appear to have produced anything much of actual significance over a span of some 7 odd years to back up any of the claims it makes but yet seems to expect the general public and possible future consumers to accept what some might consider to be string-along tactics coupled with suppressive like control practices all in a effort to seemingly keep the following strong and the questions to a minimum.
I enjoy good player vs player titles as much as the next avid gamer does but no amount of lust for good player vs player action will make the developers of this darkfall project look like anything other than something comical at this point after 6 plus years of -development- and nothing to show for it other than the same monotonous "We have the Holy Grail of Player vs Player MMOG" promises.
Do the forthcoming titles within the same genre such as Age of Conan and Warhammer Online with their multi million dollar development budgets and large professional teams shake in their proverbial boots over the greatness that this Darkfall project continuously touts, or do they simply poke fun at it behind closed doors?
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=1466
Unfortunately (??or fortunately??) sometimes those doors swing open showing what others really think.
And so without further ado some 10 red flag reasons will be listed as to why I feel darkfall is nothing more than an ill conceived project that never had (and probably never will have) the proper resources to be successfully pulled off and is caught in a slow downward spiral brought on by many different factors.
Red Flag 1. Development cycles?
Most people understand that creating something as complex as a MMORPG title requires massive amounts of resources in the form of both money and man power , as well as past experience or you simply end up in a seemingly never-ending development cycle of which this darkfall project has been caught in for the last 6-7 years. A tell tale sign to some of improper management , insufficient manpower , insufficient monetary support and insufficient experience and planning.
Red Flag 2. Intended features vs man power?
The features list of this project seems to be on par with something that you would expect to see coming out of a studio such as Blizzard and World of Warcraft which had a budget that was in the tens of millions of dollars and the support of some of the most talented and experienced developers in the industry. Even with the proper tools and experience at their disposal, it still took Blizzard some 4 years to complete. Yet a small group of amateurs who seemingly have never produced anything even remotely near the scale of a world of warcraft type project seem to be attempting to pull off the same.
Red Flag 3. Missed deadlines and broken promises?
To the best of my knowledge this Darkfall project has missed almost every publically announced development milestone to date. For example making announcements of "beta testing" than continuously pushing it back or not delivering or simply waving it off.
Red Flag 4. Uncertainties and lack of precise information
It would appear that some years back the announcement was made that this Darkfall project had secured a publisher by the name of "Aventurine" in Greece but unfortunately there does not seem to be any information about this company anywhere. Many believe that Aventurine = Razorwax = Aventurine and that there is no seperate publishing entity or fundee pumping the money and support that would be needed to bring a project like this to fruition. A recent 2007 update has stated that they are displaying the title to various parties in an attempt to secure publishing support "etc" etc" at this point in time.
What than is the purpose of this Aventurine company that they are supposadely supported and published by? Why do they need to look at other options now?
Red Flag 5. Sporatic updates
There are periods when nothing new is reported for months on end and when finally something new is provided - it really is nothing more than the same information released months back. A perfect example of this would be the Jan 2007 video displaying some basic combat. This video brings with it absolutely nothing new and what is displayed in it can have easily been seen in still screenshots released months beforehand.
Red Flag 6. Gestapo-like run official forums & poor PR
To the best of my knowledge this project does not have any official PR person who handles the release of new information and community activities. This is essentially left up to "volunteers" or "fans" who, for the most part, are allowed to moderate forums with a Gestapo-like mentality , effectively rubbing out anyone who brings up any valid questions or concerns surrounding the project.
Red Flag 7. misc lose ends and problems?
It appears that back in 2003 the term "Darkfall" was requested to be trademarked. Some concerns were brought up that there might be issues with it which were than effectively squashed with a general "That was taken care of already".
http://www.geocities.com/myth0rreality/app.jpg
Unfortunately if you check the latest status on this - it doesn't appear to have been taken care of at all.
Red Flag 8. little to no concrete information even after many years in production
While a general understanding exists of the intended gameplay, for the most part , the bulk of its features remain shrouded in mystery which may point to a lack of direction and understanding of goals.
Many of the touted features such as siege systems , city building , hundreds of skills and spells , quests and bulk of the general gameplay has yet to be explained or seen in any type of functioning manner. To date, all that has been shown is that there is in fact a quite basic and rudimentary looking combat system after 6-7 years of production.
Red Flag 9. Unproven code and technology
To the best of my knowledge this project does not use any proven , licensed technology behind it and is built upon completely proprietary and yet-to-be-proven code. One of the touted features is the ability for this technology to support up to 10,000 or so people in massive battles online at the same time which has never been successfully implemented anywhere else to date nor even attempted by some of the most experienced development studios out there for the problems it would cause associated with internet connectivity and latency issues.
Red Flag 10. launch dates vs current reality?
The project had an official launch date of 2003 making it essentially 4 years overdue and possibly showing that the developers had no clear understanding of what they were getting into and could now very likely be floundering with the unexpected loads or unforseen developmental problems.
An update posted in Jan of 2007 had suggested that they have in fact reached a "beta" status with the project but in the same breath stated that they do not have any ETA on when beta would actually be available and that the current build was being shown to potential partners , publishers "etc". This announcement lead many who read between the lines to believe that the project was looking for ways out or seeking a typical "exit strategy".
It would appear that at this point in time from a logical business point of view that this darkfall project has most likely missed any window of opportunity for success it may have had by some 2-3 years. It is visually outdated compared to similar upcoming titles and still does not appear to be anywhere near completion or have the support structure in place for a 2007 launch which might have been its last hope and which many of its competitors such as Warhammer Online and Age of Conan will achieve with almost certainty.
The success of any project includes having the understanding that you cannot develop forever and that deadlines , or the act of sticking to them, are in fact very important things in achieving success and when they are missed by years than the odds of ever reaching that success becomes slim to none.
I enjoy good player vs player titles as much as the next avid gamer does but no amount of lust for good player vs player action will make the developers of this darkfall project look like anything other than something comical at this point after 6 plus years of -development- and nothing to show for it other than the same monotonous "We have the Holy Grail of Player vs Player MMOG" promises.
Do the forthcoming titles within the same genre such as Age of Conan and Warhammer Online with their multi million dollar development budgets and large professional teams shake in their proverbial boots over the greatness that this Darkfall project continuously touts, or do they simply poke fun at it behind closed doors?
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=1466
Unfortunately (??or fortunately??) sometimes those doors swing open showing what others really think.
And so without further ado some 10 red flag reasons will be listed as to why I feel darkfall is nothing more than an ill conceived project that never had (and probably never will have) the proper resources to be successfully pulled off and is caught in a slow downward spiral brought on by many different factors.
Red Flag 1. Development cycles?
Most people understand that creating something as complex as a MMORPG title requires massive amounts of resources in the form of both money and man power , as well as past experience or you simply end up in a seemingly never-ending development cycle of which this darkfall project has been caught in for the last 6-7 years. A tell tale sign to some of improper management , insufficient manpower , insufficient monetary support and insufficient experience and planning.
Red Flag 2. Intended features vs man power?
The features list of this project seems to be on par with something that you would expect to see coming out of a studio such as Blizzard and World of Warcraft which had a budget that was in the tens of millions of dollars and the support of some of the most talented and experienced developers in the industry. Even with the proper tools and experience at their disposal, it still took Blizzard some 4 years to complete. Yet a small group of amateurs who seemingly have never produced anything even remotely near the scale of a world of warcraft type project seem to be attempting to pull off the same.
Red Flag 3. Missed deadlines and broken promises?
To the best of my knowledge this Darkfall project has missed almost every publically announced development milestone to date. For example making announcements of "beta testing" than continuously pushing it back or not delivering or simply waving it off.
Red Flag 4. Uncertainties and lack of precise information
It would appear that some years back the announcement was made that this Darkfall project had secured a publisher by the name of "Aventurine" in Greece but unfortunately there does not seem to be any information about this company anywhere. Many believe that Aventurine = Razorwax = Aventurine and that there is no seperate publishing entity or fundee pumping the money and support that would be needed to bring a project like this to fruition. A recent 2007 update has stated that they are displaying the title to various parties in an attempt to secure publishing support "etc" etc" at this point in time.
What than is the purpose of this Aventurine company that they are supposadely supported and published by? Why do they need to look at other options now?
Red Flag 5. Sporatic updates
There are periods when nothing new is reported for months on end and when finally something new is provided - it really is nothing more than the same information released months back. A perfect example of this would be the Jan 2007 video displaying some basic combat. This video brings with it absolutely nothing new and what is displayed in it can have easily been seen in still screenshots released months beforehand.
Red Flag 6. Gestapo-like run official forums & poor PR
To the best of my knowledge this project does not have any official PR person who handles the release of new information and community activities. This is essentially left up to "volunteers" or "fans" who, for the most part, are allowed to moderate forums with a Gestapo-like mentality , effectively rubbing out anyone who brings up any valid questions or concerns surrounding the project.
Red Flag 7. misc lose ends and problems?
It appears that back in 2003 the term "Darkfall" was requested to be trademarked. Some concerns were brought up that there might be issues with it which were than effectively squashed with a general "That was taken care of already".
http://www.geocities.com/myth0rreality/app.jpg
Unfortunately if you check the latest status on this - it doesn't appear to have been taken care of at all.
Red Flag 8. little to no concrete information even after many years in production
While a general understanding exists of the intended gameplay, for the most part , the bulk of its features remain shrouded in mystery which may point to a lack of direction and understanding of goals.
Many of the touted features such as siege systems , city building , hundreds of skills and spells , quests and bulk of the general gameplay has yet to be explained or seen in any type of functioning manner. To date, all that has been shown is that there is in fact a quite basic and rudimentary looking combat system after 6-7 years of production.
Red Flag 9. Unproven code and technology
To the best of my knowledge this project does not use any proven , licensed technology behind it and is built upon completely proprietary and yet-to-be-proven code. One of the touted features is the ability for this technology to support up to 10,000 or so people in massive battles online at the same time which has never been successfully implemented anywhere else to date nor even attempted by some of the most experienced development studios out there for the problems it would cause associated with internet connectivity and latency issues.
Red Flag 10. launch dates vs current reality?
The project had an official launch date of 2003 making it essentially 4 years overdue and possibly showing that the developers had no clear understanding of what they were getting into and could now very likely be floundering with the unexpected loads or unforseen developmental problems.
An update posted in Jan of 2007 had suggested that they have in fact reached a "beta" status with the project but in the same breath stated that they do not have any ETA on when beta would actually be available and that the current build was being shown to potential partners , publishers "etc". This announcement lead many who read between the lines to believe that the project was looking for ways out or seeking a typical "exit strategy".
It would appear that at this point in time from a logical business point of view that this darkfall project has most likely missed any window of opportunity for success it may have had by some 2-3 years. It is visually outdated compared to similar upcoming titles and still does not appear to be anywhere near completion or have the support structure in place for a 2007 launch which might have been its last hope and which many of its competitors such as Warhammer Online and Age of Conan will achieve with almost certainty.
The success of any project includes having the understanding that you cannot develop forever and that deadlines , or the act of sticking to them, are in fact very important things in achieving success and when they are missed by years than the odds of ever reaching that success becomes slim to none.
Comments
Exactly.
And who do you think want the game the most? The devs or the players?
Yeah, complex is the right word.
You can compare it to movies. WoW is like "Eragon" and DF will be more like "Braveheart".
In Eragon you know what will happen from the first minute, its carebear and the Star Wars clone feeling is massive.
Braveheart is gritty, body parts is flying, the hero is backstabbed and cut into pieces....high risk involved if you begin to act as you were important.
Or complex as the movie "Oldboy".
What have this to do with MMO vaporware? Nothing! But you understand what i mean.
wait... Bwhahahahahahahahahaha
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Ok ok im done, sorry about that.
------------------------------
You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
------------------------------
You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
I've followed regular games where this exact situation resulted in the abandoning of the project. In fact, there was MORE info available than Darkfall and it was even on the EBgames website for a bit.
What's equally annoying as people screaming DOOOOOOM!!! are people who scream LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!
No, it's not vaporware due to the fact ingame videos have been released.
I did mean Braveheart is reaching for a mature audience, not the historical facts.
This is what im looking for in a MMO. I want a cool game that is not made for little children. Since MMO been out for 10 years, many gamers isnt 14 anymore and want something more complex/hardcore/brutal kind of game
And as it sounds of it now, only the DF devs dare to promise me that. Even if they dont make the game....they still can say they will do it. And noother MMO developer dares to even say it
EXACTLY... they are making a game that THEY want to play. They know how publishers try to tweak the shit ouf of a game into making it more broad. How do you avoid this? Simple, you just dont get a publisher until ur game is done. And anybody who has the cash to do so will look at the game and if its complete, they would have to be a complete fool to not buy it because they would get 100% guarantee profit cuz all they gotta do is sell it! No wasted funding on production. The reason they dont have a publisher is probably because they haven't tried to get one yet. I know they said that they are trying to get one, but who knows whats really going on. Devs never tell much info until their game is about to release anyhow.
I just don't understand how people can say this is vaporware when they've seen in-game footage. And don't even compare this to Dark and Light. That game had about 10% of information released about how its gonna be compared to Darkfall. I never even played the game and I knew it was gonna be shit. Never even hyped over it because there wasnt enough mention about it to get a person excited. If you nay-sayers were let down by this game, than I don't even know why im bothering arguing against you. The only let down was the fact that you dreamed up in your own head the missing explainations instead of just reading the text for what it was. Shit.
And it would be fun if DF is relesed, what would all people that have been running around and screamed vaporware do?
I remember when the CD or DVD player was vaporware
. And the ones that screamed the harders become the ones to use it the most.
So i wonders that if it will be the same with DF? The haters will be ones to play the most and put up fansites and guides?
Or would they just crawl away in shame?
Otherwise I am not sure why anyone would say that...unless they just like petty arguements with people they have never even met...lol.
Some silly kids seems to have urge to command on games they will never play becouse then they cry and whine how hard it is.
Guys who make topics like this just wanne advertise for there favorites games.
There just casuals who are never play games like DFO becouse there to carebear.
Hope to build full AMD system RYZEN/VEGA/AM4!!!
MB:Asus V De Luxe z77
CPU:Intell Icore7 3770k
GPU: AMD Fury X(waiting for BIG VEGA 10 or 11 HBM2?(bit unclear now))
MEMORY:Corsair PLAT.DDR3 1866MHZ 16GB
PSU:Corsair AX1200i
OS:Windows 10 64bit
Uhm, none understands you...
I CREATED MYSELF!
"<Claus|Dev> i r pk"
SW:TOR|War40K:DMO|GW2
It seems to me OP that you spend more time and energy on Darkfall then just about anyone, why do you care so much?
people should stay updated.
Secondly I can easily tell you that there is much much more information out about Darkfall now then there was about WoW 2 months prior to release. I had almost no idea what kind of game WoW was when I got into the beta, hardly and screenshots and you could forget about videos.
Anyone that has been following Darkfall over the last 3 months know that new information is being put out all the time.
Tasos just a week ago said they are aiming for a summer beta release, which is within 2 months, this is the first time that they have ever said any sort of date to beta. The beta you talked about 4 years ago was a clan beta sign up, nothing about when it would take place.
Also Darkfall is actually only on its 4th year of production, like you yourself said a team of around 200 took blizzard 4 years to make WoW which is a much lesser game then Darkfall. So by all right it should take them another 3-4 years.
Also I would like to add that Duke Nuken Forever is going to be released soon actually
As for what one poster meant with second rated pvp games like AoC and WAR I believe he is talking about how the pvp is very limited and tightly controlled in those games, they tell you who you can attack and where, with rather limited character creation and combat systems. This makes then second rated and the fact that Darkfall has so much freedom etc makes it first rated, and I don't agree with people that think UO was a first rated pvp it wasn't, this is the first first rated mmo ever to enter production.
Also, when DFO first built their site and the community began, the game was being developed part time by a few guys.
I cant wait for beta to start this year so I can laugh at all you nay-sayers.
(Uzik ibnYaraq in game. Always willing to help.)
http://www.youtube.com/user/UzikAlJhamin
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Heh yeah, except after saying that for 4 years, I stopped doing it last year. But if it does happen, I will be one happy peekay.
Khael[SUN]
SUN - peekayin since pong
Webdeveloper on:
http://www.guildofsun.com
http://www.bloodmonarchy.com
Hey!
Those elitiest players are the ones you will gank everyday when you play
This is the diffrence from all other forumd i think. If you are a asshole on the official DF forum, you sure will have to back that up ingame later. So everyone "speaks" with that in mind all the time.
So this way its the best forum. Noone is untouchable in DF.
Nothing you could say in a WoW forum
Well.....if its only vaporware....then i can tell everyone to *¤#" off.....and they cant to anything about it
I guess you found the sacasm in my post
But that's not what I want to post about. I want to post about why people think Darkfall is vaporware and why they would post about it for others to see.
If you go look at the official Darkfall forums, one thing you will notice is that there are very few members who post with accounts older than a year, two years tops. But that forum started in 2001. Even in 2004 there were still plenty of posters from 2001, and tons from 2002 when the forums really began to take off. Where did all those people go? Well, most of the regulars got banned. I used to be one of the top posters over there, I followed the game closely since 2001, it was one of the best places on the web to discuss MMORPG game mechanics, and especially the mechanics of PvP and how to deal with real player freedom in an online environment. But I got banned there because I continued to post about the history of the game's development, and so did everyone else like me.
There was a HARD beta date set back in 2003, if I remember it was for September. There were beta sign-ups. Most of us got all our friends to come join the forums, get signed up, do the things that would help to get our online groups into the beta, etc. But that date came and went with a sudden silence from the developers. A couple months later, when everyone in the community (which up until then had great communication with the developers, that is what made the community so strong early in the game's existence and got word about the game out to every corner of the MMORPG realm) when everyone in the community was up in arms upset about the silence and wondering what went wrong and what was happening with the game, suddenly there was a new message from the devs which basically said this, and yes it was flippant,
"Sorry if you guys got confused and thought there was going to be a beta test. We meant internal beta. And it did start back in September just like we said it would. Things are going great."
So as far as I recall that wasn't the first projection that was missed, but it was the most peculiar. That's when the banning of forum regulars began, and it continued for the next couple years as more and more bullshit was put out for the "community" and people who had been following the game closely posted about what was going on. So if you go check out the forums, how many people do you see registered from 2001, 2002, 2003? I remember when most of the current moderators were forum noobs over there, and they took away their forum registration dates because 1) the main forum moderator made his r/l girlfriend an admin (or some peculiar girl who appeared out of nowhere and knew literally nothing about the game, who for some reason he wanted to do favors for) and it pissed a lot of people off, and 2... nm, #1 is the main reason, tbh, it stirred up a big hornets nest back then. Few of the senior members of the community were made moderators because most of them were pissed off about the way things were going and wanted some real information about what stag the game was at, etc. (which would have saved them a lot of wasted time in retrospect, if they would have known development of the game would still be in the same place 4 years later). So the point being that even many of the moderators only got to the forums in 2004 or later. Many of the original regular posters were banned, and the rest of the original community that supported and rooted for that game took leave of it when they realised development was going nowhere and their kind were no longer welcome. You will see one or two exceptions, I noticed Porthios still posts an occasional bit over there, usually sober, pessimistic stuff, and you should realise that he was once THE MOST hardcore, enthusiastic fanboy of the game that that community has ever seen.
So the whole reason I'm posting this is because I enjoy writing it all out, and because hopefully other people will not waste their time following the development of this game when they understand the game's real history.
It is true what people have said, no projection, date, prediction, or forecast of any sort has been met over there at Darkfall.
If you checked out the website four years ago, you would find that just as much real information, or more, about the game existed at that time as does now. The screenshots are different, the "gameplay" video is different, but there were screenshots back then, and there was a gameplay video back then, and there was a beat sign up back then, and there has been a clan beta sign up in the in between time, and several projected beta dates in between then, and at the end of the day the game is in the exact same place it started, for all that anyone knows, and the only thing that is known is that the developers have consistently bullshitted anyone who would listen to them about their game.
They have bullshitted the status of the game.
They have bullshitted the content of the game [it's changed many times, needless to say].
They have bullshitted the mechanics of the game, which as far as anyone knows have only ever existed on paper anyway.
The whole project has been one big pile of bullshit,, if you followed it from 2001 you would know that.
WHY DO YOU THINK NO MAINSTREAM VIDEO GAME WEBSITE OR PUBLICATION FOLLOWS DARKFALL? DID YOU KNOW THAT THEY USED TO? They did. IGN, Game magazines, every kind of publication that dealt with MMORPGs used to follow Darkfall. And now only one or two obscure websites follow it, and MMORPG.com because they try to be comprehensive.
They don't follow the game anymore because the whole so-called development process has been a sham. People got sick of it after a while, ESPECIALLY people in the industry who don't follow the status of the game anymore as everyone can see. Heck, I used to have the old promotional press kit from 2002, it was pretty cool, pretty close to what they have now if you search the web for info about Darkfall.
So consider the possibility that the OP here, not to mention the several other long time followers of the game who have posted, might have simply been trying to warn people away from this sham, so that they don't waste too much of their time on it, because the concept is great and it is a game many of us would LOVE to see happen, so it is easy to get caught up in all that bullshit. Don't.
Look over at the Darkfall forums and see how many pathetic suckers have "Darkfall Clans" for a game that has never existed, and is still in the same place in terms of development that it was four years ago, except back then there as actually a date set for beta and sign ups. Look at all those thousands of saps, and they are going to end up being pissed off about it, just like I was, and obviously the original poster really, really was.
Want to know how many years I was telling all my gamer friends that Darkfall was going to be the next big thing? Sad. Made a mockery of me, made it so that others in the clan wouldn't take me seriously after two, three, four years AND NOT EVEN A CLOSED BETA. It's six years later, that is a joke now, I used to tell people that Darkfall was going to be this awesome game...
So don't get your hopes up too much, guys, this game is as much vaporware as any software ever has been. Of course with vaporware there is always the magical possibility that really contrary to every single possible indicator, really there is that software, really it does exist. There is always that possibility that you will win the lottery, but you won't. Same thing with vaporware, there is always that possibility that it will come out, but it won't, so go get excited about games that might actually happen.
One last question before I sign off:
Have you seen a real video of Darkfall, that shows actual gameplay, that shows the game interface in action, interaction between multiple characters, item slots, changing of weapons and armor, the process of creating a character, logging into the server, or anything of the sort? No, you haven't. Of course you haven't, because that kind of stuff doesn't actually exist. That's why no one who has really followed it can take this game seriously, because guess what... four years ago there were screenshots of the inventory system, but you won't find that kind of concrete indication of a real game anymore. Is the development still stalled in the exact same place, or has it actually REGRESSED? Enquiring minds want to know.
[Note: I just typed this all out without any editing, so get over it. I've wasted enough time on this bullshit game before now, so while I enjoy making a long post to fill in the noobs, gomers, and lamers, and for the enjoyment of those similarly situated to myself vis a vis having followed this vaporware, I'm not putting in any extra efforts here. And good day to you.
The one and only.
But that's not what I want to post about. I want to post about why people think Darkfall is vaporware and why they would post about it for others to see.
If you go look at the official Darkfall forums, one thing you will notice is that there are very few members who post with accounts older than a year, two years tops. But that forum started in 2001. Even in 2004 there were still plenty of posters from 2001, and tons from 2002 when the forums really began to take off. Where did all those people go? Well, most of the regulars got banned. I used to be one of the top posters over there, I followed the game closely since 2001, it was one of the best places on the web to discuss MMORPG game mechanics, and especially the mechanics of PvP and how to deal with real player freedom in an online environment. But I got banned there because I continued to post about the history of the game's development, and so did everyone else like me.
There was a HARD beta date set back in 2003, if I remember it was for September. There were beta sign-ups. Most of us got all our friends to come join the forums, get signed up, do the things that would help to get our online groups into the beta, etc. But that date came and went with a sudden silence from the developers. A couple months later, when everyone in the community (which up until then had great communication with the developers, that is what made the community so strong early in the game's existence and got word about the game out to every corner of the MMORPG realm) when everyone in the community was up in arms upset about the silence and wondering what went wrong and what was happening with the game, suddenly there was a new message from the devs which basically said this, and yes it was flippant,
"Sorry if you guys got confused and thought there was going to be a beta test. We meant internal beta. And it did start back in September just like we said it would. Things are going great."
So as far as I recall that wasn't the first projection that was missed, but it was the most peculiar. That's when the banning of forum regulars began, and it continued for the next couple years as more and more bullshit was put out for the "community" and people who had been following the game closely posted about what was going on. So if you go check out the forums, how many people do you see registered from 2001, 2002, 2003? I remember when most of the current moderators were forum noobs over there, and they took away their forum registration dates because 1) the main forum moderator made his r/l girlfriend an admin (or some peculiar girl who appeared out of nowhere and knew literally nothing about the game, who for some reason he wanted to do favors for) and it pissed a lot of people off, and 2... nm, #1 is the main reason, tbh, it stirred up a big hornets nest back then. Few of the senior members of the community were made moderators because most of them were pissed off about the way things were going and wanted some real information about what stag the game was at, etc. (which would have saved them a lot of wasted time in retrospect, if they would have known development of the game would still be in the same place 4 years later). So the point being that even many of the moderators only got to the forums in 2004 or later. Many of the original regular posters were banned, and the rest of the original community that supported and rooted for that game took leave of it when they realised development was going nowhere and their kind were no longer welcome. You will see one or two exceptions, I noticed Porthios still posts an occasional bit over there, usually sober, pessimistic stuff, and you should realise that he was once THE MOST hardcore, enthusiastic fanboy of the game that that community has ever seen.
So the whole reason I'm posting this is because I enjoy writing it all out, and because hopefully other people will not waste their time following the development of this game when they understand the game's real history.
It is true what people have said, no projection, date, prediction, or forecast of any sort has been met over there at Darkfall.
If you checked out the website four years ago, you would find that just as much real information, or more, about the game existed at that time as does now. The screenshots are different, the "gameplay" video is different, but there were screenshots back then, and there was a gameplay video back then, and there was a beat sign up back then, and there has been a clan beta sign up in the in between time, and several projected beta dates in between then, and at the end of the day the game is in the exact same place it started, for all that anyone knows, and the only thing that is known is that the developers have consistently bullshitted anyone who would listen to them about their game.
They have bullshitted the status of the game.
They have bullshitted the content of the game [it's changed many times, needless to say].
They have bullshitted the mechanics of the game, which as far as anyone knows have only ever existed on paper anyway.
The whole project has been one big pile of bullshit,, if you followed it from 2001 you would know that.
WHY DO YOU THINK NO MAINSTREAM VIDEO GAME WEBSITE OR PUBLICATION FOLLOWS DARKFALL? DID YOU KNOW THAT THEY USED TO? They did. IGN, Game magazines, every kind of publication that dealt with MMORPGs used to follow Darkfall. And now only one or two obscure websites follow it, and MMORPG.com because they try to be comprehensive.
They don't follow the game anymore because the whole so-called development process has been a sham. People got sick of it after a while, ESPECIALLY people in the industry who don't follow the status of the game anymore as everyone can see. Heck, I used to have the old promotional press kit from 2002, it was pretty cool, pretty close to what they have now if you search the web for info about Darkfall.
So consider the possibility that the OP here, not to mention the several other long time followers of the game who have posted, might have simply been trying to warn people away from this sham, so that they don't waste too much of their time on it, because the concept is great and it is a game many of us would LOVE to see happen, so it is easy to get caught up in all that bullshit. Don't.
Look over at the Darkfall forums and see how many pathetic suckers have "Darkfall Clans" for a game that has never existed, and is still in the same place in terms of development that it was four years ago, except back then there as actually a date set for beta and sign ups. Look at all those thousands of saps, and they are going to end up being pissed off about it, just like I was, and obviously the original poster really, really was.
Want to know how many years I was telling all my gamer friends that Darkfall was going to be the next big thing? Sad. Made a mockery of me, made it so that others in the clan wouldn't take me seriously after two, three, four years AND NOT EVEN A CLOSED BETA. It's six years later, that is a joke now, I used to tell people that Darkfall was going to be this awesome game...
So don't get your hopes up too much, guys, this game is as much vaporware as any software ever has been. Of course with vaporware there is always the magical possibility that really contrary to every single possible indicator, really there is that software, really it does exist. There is always that possibility that you will win the lottery, but you won't. Same thing with vaporware, there is always that possibility that it will come out, but it won't, so go get excited about games that might actually happen.
One last question before I sign off:
Have you seen a real video of Darkfall, that shows actual gameplay, that shows the game interface in action, interaction between multiple characters, item slots, changing of weapons and armor, the process of creating a character, logging into the server, or anything of the sort? No, you haven't. Of course you haven't, because that kind of stuff doesn't actually exist. That's why no one who has really followed it can take this game seriously, because guess what... four years ago there were screenshots of the inventory system, but you won't find that kind of concrete indication of a real game anymore. Is the development still stalled in the exact same place, or has it actually REGRESSED? Enquiring minds want to know.
[Note: I just typed this all out without any editing, so get over it. I've wasted enough time on this bullshit game before now, so while I enjoy making a long post to fill in the noobs, gomers, and lamers, and for the enjoyment of those similarly situated to myself vis a vis having followed this vaporware, I'm not putting in any extra efforts here. And good day to you.
Ahem, the interface:
http://www.darkfallonline.com/gallery/visuals/javaw_2006_12_15_16_56_03_36?full=1
They do need to put out a video of them actually playing it and describing things as devs in their office though...