OK, I don't get a chance to post on here all too often, but there has been so much garbage , lies, fanboi, haterism out there that I just thought I would drop my 2 cents in. A few people have claimed to be looking for reviews from people with "no vested interest". Well, that's me. Quite frankly I dont give a dang if the game is good, bad, or otherwise. I work for a major videocard developer, and I test new games and how compatible they are with our current line of products. I try a game. We work out the bugs, I move on to another game. I played WoW more than any other MMO, and quit a few months ago due to work taking so much of my time. Being a hardware tester, I test ALL games and their compatibility. Not just ones I like or dislike. In this particular case, for the sole sake of being unbiased, I will divulge that I have absolutely no intent to buy this game whatsoever. That being said, as stated above, it is because of my busy schedule these days, not for any other reason. Also please note that EVERYONES EXPERIENCE IS DIFFERENT. I do not use perfect grammar, I am a tester not an English teacher. Upon loading the game and making it to character select, I did notice that things were slightly slugish. To put this in perspective you can imagine what kind of rig I have. Think of the best gaming machine you can imagine, then double it. I have more than 2 gigs of dedicated video, 8 gigs of ddr3 1066 ram, and an octa-core processor. My rig cost my company more than 10,000.00. I'm guessing it was sluggish because textures and shaders hadnt been optimized yet, but thats for another time. Comparing this games character creation seemed to me to be a lot like WoW, with a few additional bells ans whistles, and yet nowhere near that of say.. Age of Conan. From a review standpoint, I guess you could say its sort of what I expected. Going into the game world I noticed a lot of good and an equally number of bad points. As you all know Free for all loot is in effect. There seems to be quite a pause when looting other players. I once looted someone with many items and because there is no auto loot or loot al functionality, it took me more than 15 seconds to decide on loot etc. In that time, I was ganked, killed, and had to start over. That is the nature of the game. I have no quim with it in general. Had I known what the symbols were, etc, or not cared what I looted and left, I could have probably done it in 3 seconds or less. So this portion that many people will list as bad, is more on the user side. It can be as quick and painless (pun intended) or slow and painful (hehe) as you want it to be. The human side of us likes to see the object and mouse over them, look at them, etc. Just keep this in mind when playing. I will be upfront an honest in the fact that I did not have the opportunity to try out bow/arrow type gameplay yet. I was mor concerned with framerates in melee, and lag and leak errors with magic bursts and such being cast. On the magic side, things were pretty nice actually. My spells almost (95%+) of the time landed within a fraction of a centimeter of where I told them to. Aiming was fairly uncomplex, and didnt take much to get used to. Unfortunately, countering this, is the fact that it takes so long to level up magic that it can get insane. Some will love this. Some wont. Its all playstyle. Dont let anyone tell you its a good or bad thing. If I were playing it full time, I would say it seemed very tedious to me. But I do believe it is acting as intended. On the melee side.. I could never in a million years do it. Now keep in mind.. I'm just a tester. With the exception of a few MMO's I have played personally, I dont get too attached , and thus too experienced, with many playstyles. But melee for me was.. pun intended again.. a drag. It was slow. EXTREMELY slow. If I picked up a two handed sword I guarantee my 3 year old daughter could swing it faster than my character did. It was totally unacceptable in my opinion. The only consolation I will give it is that movement is equally as slow, so I dont think it necessarily changes the outcome of battles in general. They do seem very long and drawn out however. Although I did not get a chance to personally play archery style, some of my co workers have, and said that they found the aiming to be quite tha same as magic, but much faster. Arrows , although they dont fly in a straight line, did hit theirs targets at the appropriate location most of the time, and were very quick. It seems this is a faster type of gameplay and would likely suite a larger audience. I would like to dig deeply into the skill based system but unfortunately ... theres not much to say. If you have played final fantasy online you will notice that much like you earn skill points by using a certain school of magic or weapon, the same applies here. Only in DF, its each individual spell, not school, of magic. This can make casters extremely difficult to level up. While wandering around it was almost impossible to find a caster who didnt appear to have a macro setup to do the work for him/her. to me, that sort of takes the fun out of the game. Every 25 points, up to 100, your spells get stronger, and more schools unlock to you. Unlike Final fantasy, where if your enfeebling magic is 10, thats still much better than 1, in DF it is the same. Only at point 25 will you notice any change. And so forth and so on. Other than that.. theres nothing else to say about the skill system. They say its not level based, but I dont really see how thats possible. you have 1/25/50/75/100 levels of skillups. Isnt this the same as level 1/2/3/4/5 in any other modern type mmorpg? I could be missing something here, thats entirely possible. But to me, it just seemed like a level based system in a shell. Final Fantasys system, comparatively, was truely skill based. If I used my enfeebling magic more than you, it would be more effective. Here, I can be 24 and you can be a newb, and it wont matter. Keep that in mind. thats 24% of the total available skill of that weapon or magic better than you, and yet we are the same. To compare this to a car, its like saying a stock 6cyl camaro is the same as a Z06 Corvette... 24% is a lot. In wow thats the difference between what, a lvl 1 and and a lvl 20? Thats unheard of. Its ridiculous. However, it is their system, and who am I to judge for that. The gameplay was actually very good. Although it was slow for melee, medium for magic, and apparently quick for archers, everything worked. If I wanted to swing, it swung where I told it to. My magic hit where I told it to. The spell I selected is the spell that cast. The implementation of the system I feel was actually done very well. It is at teh conceptual level for me where it doesnt work. Its just too slow. But since I am unbiased I will say that what they were trying to go for, they most definately hit it on the mark. Within their concept, the system works amazingly well. In fact with that in mind, as a tester, I have no problem with it. They put out rules before me that state "when this happens, this happens. When you do this, this happens" That all worked. Whatever I told the game to do, it did, within the context of what its designed for.
The gameworld is massive. When I say massive, I really mean massive. I was reading something about somewhere that people were over exaggerating it. No. They arent. Its huge. I ran for 15 minutes in 1 direction looking for graphics problems. I went about 20-25% of the way across the map. It is ver possible that depending on where you are, where your going, and howyou intend to get there, that it take you hours to do so. For me personally as a player this would be a problem. As stated at the beginning, I just dont have that kind of time. If you do, man, I wish I had your job. That being said there was always something for me to do. Somewhere to go, or a place to explore. I have to be honest here and I know this is gonna tick a lot of ppl off, I shoulda put this earlier so I didnt waste time, so I am sorry in advance. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to test questing beyond the first few starter ones. As I said, I wasnt testing it to review it, I was testing for graphics purposes, and questing doesnt help me in my endeavor there whatsoever. What I did do, once again, was correct and appeared to work as it was designed to do. You will see no huge golden question marks or exclamation points as you may be used to in various other games. With the exception of actually talking to an NPC, you will have no idea you are at the correct person to complete a quest. Which brings me to a living breathing world. MMO's, which I test more than any others, and play more than any others personally, are supposed to feel alive. Running water. crackling branches over a fire, laughter, pain. Monsters around every corner. I didnt personally feel any of this. Granted, a lot of that is because a large portion of the player base was missing. But I could travel for sometimes dozens of minutes at a time and not find a monster. WTF Truthfully, mayb I just didnt know where to go /shrug. But the world didnt seem living and breathing to me. It seemed dead. True, the branches on the trees swayed from side to side. water flowed freely. But there was no real feel to it. It was there, but it wasnt "alive" I wish I knew how to explain this. Its sorta like when you love your wife but you realize the time has come to call it quits lol. The love is still there, but you realize its all for naught. Thats how it felt to me. The world was breathing, but it certainly wasnt alive. Hopefully, the playerbase will help with that. As avid as someof you are about the game, I'm sure it wil lin fact. OK.. I promised I wouldnt use the context of carebear of hardcore here, because quite frankly I view all people as
"players". So I will use a different approach. Like most MMO;s, DFO is a huge timesink. Thats the bottom line, and there is no way around it. If you play under an hour or 2 per day however, I dont see you as being at a huge disadvantage. Since there is no traditional XP grinding, it doesnt put you at a large delay. I do believe that deeper into the game it could be a problem if you are someone who wants to classify yourself as casual. You will have to be careful, and choosy as to where to spend your time and how wisely to spend it. Plan ahead. To me though that doesnt make u casual, it makes u smart. Bravo to you. If you consider yourself "hardcore" (hey not me, you guys decided this stuff lol) then I think you'll be equally well off until the later "levles". Unfortunately for this crowd, from my perspective, there doesnt appear to be anything out there to spend 12 hours a day DOING. Maybe there is and I havent seen it yet, maybe there isnt and the point is to just kill kill kill. If thats the case, grats to the developers they seemed to do a good job. From one gamer to another, I'll tell you this much. Don't let popular culture or someone else tell you whats right for you. You're the on paying the money, and its your time that your spending on the game. Whether it is 5 minutes a day, or hours, just enjoy it. If you dont, then dont bring others down with you and start telling them what they should or shouldnt enjoy. From a feature perspective, and from a technical perspective, this game ran wonderfully for me. It did what it was suppposed to do, when it was supposed to do it, and in teh manner expected. Whether that is something I like as a player, or dont like, is of no consequence. As consumers, it is our job to know what the company is saying it will provide. As developers, it is their job to deliver. In the overall aspect of what DFO is CURRENTLY (I am not a long time follower and I really dont give a crap what they said would be in the game 3 years ago, I care about today) I think they deliver. I also think they deliver within the realm of quality as to what they said they would. If you are well versed on DFO and have followed it, and you know what they are and arent offering, I think that this should be enough for you to make an informed decision. In the end, I do believe in my heart of hearts that they did the best they could given the circumstances, and portrayed, at least at THIS time, an honest attempt to deliver as expected. If you think its going to be something other than what they said it would, your wrong. If you like pve and think it will be a nice change to play this, it wont be enjoyable. It is what it is. A hack and slash, fireball throwing, arrow flinging PvP game that the entire object is to kill you opponent or pay a hefty price. It is not gear based. It is not level based. It is not what I would classify as hardcore or casual.. it is what it is. Its a differnt type of playstyle that you may or may not enjoy. It's honestly not the playstyle for me. BUT.. if I were into that playstyle, I can honestly say that I think I would owe it to myself, and to them, to give them a chance to deliver in the future. At release although everything may not be perfect, I do think they gave me what they said they would. As a consumer I definately wasnt "wowed" and I wasnt disappointed either. It was like buying a bag of Fritos out of the vending machine down the hall. I knew what was in the bag, and low and behold, its what was in the bag. speaking of which.. I better go get one before Ron here next to me gets a sweet tooth for the last bag.
Your post is implausible at best. Why would you say "they did the best they could under the circumstances" if you have not been following the game? I honestly believe you are a shill that is misrepresenting your identity to promote the game. No flame, just the impression I have from your post. I don't believe you test graphics cards at all, sorry. Nice try.
Good review. I like the fact that you say your not biased and I can actually believe you. To all the doubters and haters of this guy... Just because he doesn't love your precious DF doesn't mean he's lying lol.
And whats more he did offer some good things to say about the game as well. He didn't bash it, he gave an opinion, and because it is against what a lot of fans want to hear, they will rail against it.
Trying to discredit what he says by saying the rig he is on is a outright lie, is kinda stupid and desperate.
And seriously why do fanbois get butt hurt when someone offers any kind of dissent of Darkfall. I mean it is like they all die a little inside when someone talks bad about darkfall.
What do you have to gain from positive responsives and what do you have to lose fron negative??
Two complaints here.. 1. To the people replying.. The post was fine.. the attempts to be clever and witty about the format, are a waste of time. The format was fine. 2. To the OP, you over paid for that computer..
# 2 seems like an attempt at being "clever" and "witty" to me : P
Again, I didn't mean to stir up trouble. I didn't get into the Darkfall beta myself because a friend of mine down the hall did, and when he first did (around 2 months ago) I spent a few hours there until he uninstalled it because he just didn't enjoy testing or playing the game.
I hadn't had a chance to see what has changed so I come to this forum now that the NDA has been released to look at opinions because somewhere between opinions usually is truth.
Nehalem isn't still in development at all, it's the Core i7 series and none of them come in an Octo-core flavour. If you're talking about the next generation of processors then they wouldn't actually be called Nehalem because that's how Intel work.
And if he is testing using a CPU that isn't out yet, I'd assume he was working for Intel as Intel do not send out CPU's to Nvidia/ATi to test with. And if he is testing graphics -cards- then why did he mention his so called uber-build? That doesn't make sense at all.
Every shred of evidence just points to this story being a fabrication. If you worked in this field yourself then you know he should be fired since he goes to forums posting what he does for what purpose? He wouldn't be able to prove it so there's no need in telling us.
I'm asking him basic questions that don't tell more than he already has. Mainly why would you use not even -nearly- finished cards, with an unfinished game, using unfinished drivers. I'm sure any graphics card company would tell you that it's more or less pointless to do so.
This is a little bit of the problem with this site, whenever anyone posts any kind of review or preview on anything, those who feel it backs up their opinion will just relentlessly call other people fanboys and desperate etc without actually considering what they said. Look at it from a logical angle. Can you imagine someone telling you to take this prototype car and drive it over an unfinished bridge with a prototype engine?
Even if it is true that you fabricated something about your job (I would have no idea what could be the motives behind doing so) then your review about the DF product still seems valid to me.
Darkfall sounds like a candidate for botting. The company probably won't have the resources to combat it and with a bot, you can level up all those skills while you're at work.
But then what?
If you would do that, there would be nothing left to do in the game for yourself.
I never understoon why people use a program to play the game for them unattended meanwhile paying for the game they will never even see (cause bots will run with monitor turned off too).
A dual quad core, which I assume is his Octo-core is not uncommon with workstations. Thats what I use at work. With 8 Gigs ram and a mid-high end Quadro card it didn't run COD4 any better than my modest gamer rig at home. I think COD4 ran better at home to be honest. High end workstations just don't jive with games, mostly due to specialized drivers NOT tweaked for gaming.
If you have nothing but a clinical interest in DFO as a gpu tester, why would you post a review based on information you derived while on the job? Does your company allow discussion of in house tests of non released software with the public?
You say that you would never buy DFO. Why not? You're not a gamer? You're a member of the mmorpg.com community but don't play mmos during personal time? Do you use that time to just help people "on the fence" make up their minds about games?
For someone who is just testing compatibility of graphics cards with games, it seems you have a lot of personal interest in the game. You are testing game mechanics, verifying "things you read" about the size of the map, making mental notes on mob populations, and various other things that don't seem to be a part of your job. Yet you imply that you're not a gamer.
All right: where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right and who is dead.
VIZZINI
But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet, or his enemy's?
He studies the Man In Black now.
VIZZINI
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I'm not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK
(And now there's a trace of nervousness beginning)
You've made your decision then7
VIZZINI
Not remotely. Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
MAN IN BLACK
Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
VIZZINI
Wait till I get going! Where was I?
MAN IN BLACK
Australia.
VIZZINI
Yes -- Australia, and you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK
(very nervous)
You're just stalling now.
VIZZINI
(cackling)
You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?
(stares at the Man in Black)
You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong. So, you could have put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard which means you must have studied. And in studying, you must have learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
As Vizzini's pleasure has been growing throughout, the Man In Black's has been fast disappearing.
MAN IN BLACK
You're trying to trick me into giving away something -- it won't work --
VIZZINI
(triumphant)
It has worked -- you've given everything away -- I know where the poison is.
MAN IN BLACK
(fool's courage)
Then make your choice.
VIZZINI
I will. And I choose --
And suddenly he stops, points at something behind the Man In Black.
VIZZINI
-- what in the world can that be?
CUT TO:
THE MAN IN BLACK,
turning around, looking.
MAN IN BLACK
What? Where? I don't see anything.
CUT TO:
VIZZINI,
busily switching the goblets while the Man In Black has his head turned.
VIZZINI
Oh, well, I-I could have sworn I saw something. No matter.
The Man In Black turns to face him again. Vizzini starts to laugh.
MAN IN BLACK
What's so funny?
VIZZINI
I'll tell you in a minute. First, let's drink -- me from my glass, and you from yours.
And he picks up his goblet. The Man In Black picks up the one in front of him. As they both start to drink, Vizzini hesitates a moment.
Then, allowing the Man In Black to drink first, he swallows his wine.
MAN IN BLACK
You guessed wrong.
VIZZINI
(roaring with laughter)
You only think I guessed wrong --
(louder now)
-- that's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned. You fool.
CUT TO:
THE MAN IN BLACK.
There's nothing he can say. He just sits there.
CUT TO:
VIZZINI,
watching him.
VIZZINI
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line."
He laughs and roars and cackles and whoops and is in all ways quite cheery until he falls over dead.
All right: where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right and who is dead.
VIZZINI
But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet, or his enemy's?
He studies the Man In Black now. VIZZINI
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I'm not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK
(And now there's a trace of nervousness beginning)
You've made your decision then7
VIZZINI
Not remotely. Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
MAN IN BLACK
Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
VIZZINI
Wait till I get going! Where was I?
MAN IN BLACK
Australia.
VIZZINI
Yes -- Australia, and you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK
(very nervous)
You're just stalling now.
VIZZINI
(cackling)
You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?
(stares at the Man in Black)
You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong. So, you could have put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard which means you must have studied. And in studying, you must have learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
As Vizzini's pleasure has been growing throughout, the Man In Black's has been fast disappearing. MAN IN BLACK
You're trying to trick me into giving away something -- it won't work --
VIZZINI
(triumphant)
It has worked -- you've given everything away -- I know where the poison is.
MAN IN BLACK
(fool's courage)
Then make your choice.
VIZZINI
I will. And I choose --
And suddenly he stops, points at something behind the Man In Black. VIZZINI
-- what in the world can that be?
CUT TO: THE MAN IN BLACK,
turning around, looking. MAN IN BLACK
What? Where? I don't see anything.
CUT TO: VIZZINI,
busily switching the goblets while the Man In Black has his head turned. VIZZINI
Oh, well, I-I could have sworn I saw something. No matter.
The Man In Black turns to face him again. Vizzini starts to laugh. MAN IN BLACK
What's so funny?
VIZZINI
I'll tell you in a minute. First, let's drink -- me from my glass, and you from yours.
And he picks up his goblet. The Man In Black picks up the one in front of him. As they both start to drink, Vizzini hesitates a moment. Then, allowing the Man In Black to drink first, he swallows his wine. MAN IN BLACK
You guessed wrong.
VIZZINI
(roaring with laughter)
You only think I guessed wrong --
(louder now)
-- that's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned. You fool.
CUT TO:
THE MAN IN BLACK.
There's nothing he can say. He just sits there. CUT TO: VIZZINI,
watching him. VIZZINI
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line."
He laughs and roars and cackles and whoops and is in all ways quite cheery until he falls over dead.
To me it sounds like the OP wants everything to be more like WoW, which is exactly what the people who designed this game don't want.
I for one am glad that the skill levels don't make a huge difference. This makes the game more even for everybody and doesn't give people with more time an automatic massive advantage.
Secondly, the lack of mobs and complex questing is a good thing because the content is supposed to be player driven. If I want loot, it pushes me to actually fight other people rather than just farm a mob spawn for 200 hours.
The game isn't about playing in pve for 200000000 hours getting uber gear and skills, then going to the pvp zones. I can log in, get a lucky kill or loot and be competitive very quickly which is much more fun for pvp players.
Its a game where you can do what you want. You don't follow a script that the devs believe equals fun for you. It is for this reason that there is so much anticipation. Honestly, if you think an mmorpg is about levels meaning everything, and questing and pve should consume most of your playtime then go back to a cookie cutter like WoW.
I don't mean to stir up trouble but your claims are a little ludicrous. Octo-core processor? I'm pretty sure they don't actually exist unless you're talking about a board with two CPU slots both filled with Quads. And even then that's not an Octo-core processor. He already answered earlier, its Intel's Nehalem, still in development. Read before you criticise. A graphics card like you're talking about sounds more like either a new offering just around the corner (which is barely plausible for reasons I am to explain) or a high end rendering GPU, which isn't to be used for playing games anyway. If we were 'close' when someone suggested FireGL/Quattro then why would you test a video game on an unreleased rendering card? The performance would be awful considering that newly released cards rarely have good drivers let alone unreleased cards? Come on now that's triple the potential for failure. Rendering Card. Unfinished Drivers. Unfinished Game. He is testing video cards, Cards not a card. I used to work on a similar job myself, and I begin to feel he is telling too much already. Sealed lips is part of the job. Don't push him for more answers. You test each and every game yes? Or would at least have a broad spectrum of which to compare to? Then why would you put AoC's character customisation at the higher end of the scale? Surely with games such as EQ2 on the market AoC isn't even on the scale? (That said, I do own AoC and I do like it in its current state, I am just aware that it's character customisation is fairly weak.) If you do have to bug test I'm sure that means extensive writing and documentation on performance yes? I don't mean this as a personal insult mind- but your presentation isn't perfect (I'm sure mine isn't either) It presents itself a little unkempt and something of a wall of text, let alone it being devoid of punctuation in many places. You seem to digress alot for no real reason and draw questionable comparisons. Why would you run for an hour in one direction 'looking for graphics problems'? That doesn't make any sense at all, If you're looking for artifacting then you'll find it without having to run for an hour. Any other problems in the landscape or models or rendering etc wouldn't be your problem as you're looking for compatibility issues, am I right? If you truly are in the beta, there's no actual reason for us to know what your job is. In the case of providing us of what the game actually is- I think telling us you were there for work purposes actually subtracts from your opinion considering you would be there less for pleasure and more for business. You didn't mention anything at all about what would particularly cause the game to stutter, you mentioned no other rendering issues which others who are not in the field you claim to be in have mentioned. I'd like to believe you, I really would- but most of it doesn't add up. I'm usually partial to a little blind faith but I'd have to wear an eyepatch and squint for me to believe this.
You hate him b/c he tells a lot more about his perspective, his motivation, and give a lot of details you do not want to read? Or that he is on the fence?
You need not believe in him, you should not, this is internet. Read and judge.
I need not believe in you too. Maybe you are from Mars.
Exactly what does he said that makes him worse than the majority of the drama-queens in DF boards. His english? his presentation? his lengthy details (you call digressions)? What do you want from him? Just 3 simple words "DF is godly"?
To the OP: interesting review. Just 1 odd question, do you got any idea how well DF makes use of the hardware and platform? Its a game that is supposed to be built years ago, and I do not know how well the dev keeps upgrading the engine. Does it scales well with the latest technology? I know you only test the display cards, but the performance of a card is not totally insulated from the rest of the hardware, I suppose.
As for your suggestion, yes I got to that conclusion long ago. I will watch this game with full skeptism, and not consider it unless I really run out of games and other things to do with my limited free hours. The immaturity shown by some of the supporters adds to the worry. In many games like WoW I can ignore them and go play my own game. The community for CoX and Lotro is so warm, its nice just getting in touch to kill some odd hours. In DF, with no content and nothing to do, I have to live with the community, and if they sux, the game sux in exact proportion.
Thank you. Finally someone who gets it. Wow, this site gets less credible as time goes on, unfortunately. The above poster, who obviously has experience in my line of work, hit the nail on the head. All I was doing was trying to be polite, as all I saw on this site were either fanboys or haters, but I never found anything constructive from anyone. Unfortunately, decent reviewers like myself only get called liars and cheats by the majority of the population, and thus we dont post nearly as much as we normally would. Such a shame. To all those that had kind words, thanks and you're welcome.
Thanks for the review mahierl2005. Even if it is true that you fabricated something about your job (I would have no idea what could be the motives behind doing so) then your review about the DF product still seems valid to me.
Trust me, Being a hardware tester is an amazing job! I make about 40k a year, work 60 hour weeks, rarely have time for myse... wait who am I kidding, nobody would ever in a million years want to brag about having my job lol. And by what you hear in this forum, you'd think I was President or something!! ROFLROFL you guys crack me up. No seriously, you do. Thanks!
I don't understand. If you have nothing but a clinical interest in DFO as a gpu tester, why would you post a review based on information you derived while on the job? Does your company allow discussion of in house tests of non released software with the public? You say that you would never buy DFO. Why not? You're not a gamer? You're a member of the mmorpg.com community but don't play mmos during personal time? Do you use that time to just help people "on the fence" make up their minds about games? For someone who is just testing compatibility of graphics cards with games, it seems you have a lot of personal interest in the game. You are testing game mechanics, verifying "things you read" about the size of the map, making mental notes on mob populations, and various other things that don't seem to be a part of your job. Yet you imply that you're not a gamer. Hmmmm...
OK, I tried to be nice I apologize to everyone who had something constructive to say {ModEdit} If you read my post.. at all.. you would realize that I AM a gamer, and have been for a very long time. You will also notice that I did not say I liked OR DID NOT LIKE Darkfall. I simply dont have the time for it. Far be it for us adults that dont live in our parents basements to have the need to work everyday and put food on our childrens tables, and a roof over their heads. I , as already stated many times, was simply giving an OBJECTIVE, UNBIASED viewpoint, because some people were looking for one. I had both good and bad to say about the game. I even told you to judge it for yourself and not to let me tell you otherwise... and yet you still want to argue? {ModEdit}
To me it sounds like the OP wants everything to be more like WoW, which is exactly what the people who designed this game don't want. I for one am glad that the skill levels don't make a huge difference. This makes the game more even for everybody and doesn't give people with more time an automatic massive advantage. Secondly, the lack of mobs and complex questing is a good thing because the content is supposed to be player driven. If I want loot, it pushes me to actually fight other people rather than just farm a mob spawn for 200 hours. The game isn't about playing in pve for 200000000 hours getting uber gear and skills, then going to the pvp zones. I can log in, get a lucky kill or loot and be competitive very quickly which is much more fun for pvp players. Its a game where you can do what you want. You don't follow a script that the devs believe equals fun for you. It is for this reason that there is so much anticipation. Honestly, if you think an mmorpg is about levels meaning everything, and questing and pve should consume most of your playtime then go back to a cookie cutter like WoW.
OK, for the last time, nobody gives a damn what you THINK the game is or why it is or isn't the way it is. I gave facts. Its empty. The people reading this? they dont care why its empty, especially if they dont like their games to play the same way you do. Get it? Good. We know its a game where you can do what you want. Yay! Wow, took a brain surgeon to figure that out. Oh and its not about PvE? Really? Wow, I dont think anyone here realized that!!! Idiot....
And I want it to be more like WoW, huh? Hmm... I vaguely.. hold on and let me doublecheck.. YEP! I very specifically stated that I didnt really give a damn what the game was like. I have no time to play it, and its my job to test hardware with it, otherwise I would have never cared to begin with. Another game like WoW? No, no thanks. I mean, I have WoW if I want another game like WoW. Thats like saying "I have a Ferrari... I think I need another car like a Ferari". Not saying that WoW is the ferrari of MMO's, but I think you get the point. If I want a WoW type game, I'll play WoW. No thanks, I'll take the original. You, sir, have a nice day.. oh, and get your head out of your ass. K thx.
Thanks for the info mate. You seem to know what your talking about which is a good change from some of the garbage on these forums. just a quick question to you or to any1 who has played this game as i have not, is the pvp addictive and rewarding? I used to play WoW and got heavily into arena for a year and it was the best and most intense gaming experience ive ever had and its what i like. So is it anything like that but on a bigger scale? I need somthing to compare it to as i have the imagination of a 40 year old.
p.s plz dnt flame or bait me for likeing WoW......i only liked arena.
Comments
Your post is implausible at best. Why would you say "they did the best they could under the circumstances" if you have not been following the game? I honestly believe you are a shill that is misrepresenting your identity to promote the game. No flame, just the impression I have from your post. I don't believe you test graphics cards at all, sorry. Nice try.
The one and only.
Good review. I like the fact that you say your not biased and I can actually believe you.
To all the doubters and haters of this guy... Just because he doesn't love your precious DF doesn't mean he's lying lol.
-Almerel
Hello my old friend.
And whats more he did offer some good things to say about the game as well. He didn't bash it, he gave an opinion, and because it is against what a lot of fans want to hear, they will rail against it.
Trying to discredit what he says by saying the rig he is on is a outright lie, is kinda stupid and desperate.
And seriously why do fanbois get butt hurt when someone offers any kind of dissent of Darkfall. I mean it is like they all die a little inside when someone talks bad about darkfall.
What do you have to gain from positive responsives and what do you have to lose fron negative??
# 2 seems like an attempt at being "clever" and "witty" to me : P
playing: darkfall
waiting: earthrise
Again, I didn't mean to stir up trouble. I didn't get into the Darkfall beta myself because a friend of mine down the hall did, and when he first did (around 2 months ago) I spent a few hours there until he uninstalled it because he just didn't enjoy testing or playing the game.
I hadn't had a chance to see what has changed so I come to this forum now that the NDA has been released to look at opinions because somewhere between opinions usually is truth.
Nehalem isn't still in development at all, it's the Core i7 series and none of them come in an Octo-core flavour. If you're talking about the next generation of processors then they wouldn't actually be called Nehalem because that's how Intel work.
And if he is testing using a CPU that isn't out yet, I'd assume he was working for Intel as Intel do not send out CPU's to Nvidia/ATi to test with. And if he is testing graphics -cards- then why did he mention his so called uber-build? That doesn't make sense at all.
Every shred of evidence just points to this story being a fabrication. If you worked in this field yourself then you know he should be fired since he goes to forums posting what he does for what purpose? He wouldn't be able to prove it so there's no need in telling us.
I'm asking him basic questions that don't tell more than he already has. Mainly why would you use not even -nearly- finished cards, with an unfinished game, using unfinished drivers. I'm sure any graphics card company would tell you that it's more or less pointless to do so.
This is a little bit of the problem with this site, whenever anyone posts any kind of review or preview on anything, those who feel it backs up their opinion will just relentlessly call other people fanboys and desperate etc without actually considering what they said. Look at it from a logical angle. Can you imagine someone telling you to take this prototype car and drive it over an unfinished bridge with a prototype engine?
Thanks for the review mahierl2005.
Even if it is true that you fabricated something about your job (I would have no idea what could be the motives behind doing so) then your review about the DF product still seems valid to me.
Darkfall sounds like a candidate for botting.
The company probably won't have the resources to combat it and with a bot, you can level up all those skills while you're at work.
But then what?
If you would do that, there would be nothing left to do in the game for yourself.
I never understoon why people use a program to play the game for them unattended meanwhile paying for the game they will never even see (cause bots will run with monitor turned off too).
A dual quad core, which I assume is his Octo-core is not uncommon with workstations. Thats what I use at work. With 8 Gigs ram and a mid-high end Quadro card it didn't run COD4 any better than my modest gamer rig at home. I think COD4 ran better at home to be honest. High end workstations just don't jive with games, mostly due to specialized drivers NOT tweaked for gaming.
I don't understand.
If you have nothing but a clinical interest in DFO as a gpu tester, why would you post a review based on information you derived while on the job? Does your company allow discussion of in house tests of non released software with the public?
You say that you would never buy DFO. Why not? You're not a gamer? You're a member of the mmorpg.com community but don't play mmos during personal time? Do you use that time to just help people "on the fence" make up their minds about games?
For someone who is just testing compatibility of graphics cards with games, it seems you have a lot of personal interest in the game. You are testing game mechanics, verifying "things you read" about the size of the map, making mental notes on mob populations, and various other things that don't seem to be a part of your job. Yet you imply that you're not a gamer.
Hmmmm...
he is probably just a talking donkey holding a human hostage at gunpoint to type this for him![](http://images.mmorpg.com/images/emoticons/emt_crazy2.gif)
No he did not. He said he had no intention to buy this game because he has a to bussy schedule.
If you had read his post, you would actually have seen him use this phrase:
"From one gamer to another...."
So there goes your whole basis for distrusting him.
Hmmmmmm.....
(note, he might still be a fake, but in my opinion that doesn't make his DF review any less true).
MAN IN BLACK
All right: where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right and who is dead.
VIZZINI
But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet, or his enemy's?
He studies the Man In Black now.
VIZZINI
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I'm not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK
(And now there's a trace of nervousness beginning)
You've made your decision then7
VIZZINI
Not remotely. Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
MAN IN BLACK
Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
VIZZINI
Wait till I get going! Where was I?
MAN IN BLACK
Australia.
VIZZINI
Yes -- Australia, and you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
MAN IN BLACK
(very nervous)
You're just stalling now.
VIZZINI
(cackling)
You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?
(stares at the Man in Black)
You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong. So, you could have put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard which means you must have studied. And in studying, you must have learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
As Vizzini's pleasure has been growing throughout, the Man In Black's has been fast disappearing.
MAN IN BLACK
You're trying to trick me into giving away something -- it won't work --
VIZZINI
(triumphant)
It has worked -- you've given everything away -- I know where the poison is.
MAN IN BLACK
(fool's courage)
Then make your choice.
VIZZINI
I will. And I choose --
And suddenly he stops, points at something behind the Man In Black.
VIZZINI
-- what in the world can that be?
CUT TO:
THE MAN IN BLACK,
turning around, looking.
MAN IN BLACK
What? Where? I don't see anything.
CUT TO:
VIZZINI,
busily switching the goblets while the Man In Black has his head turned.
VIZZINI
Oh, well, I-I could have sworn I saw something. No matter.
The Man In Black turns to face him again. Vizzini starts to laugh.
MAN IN BLACK
What's so funny?
VIZZINI
I'll tell you in a minute. First, let's drink -- me from my glass, and you from yours.
And he picks up his goblet. The Man In Black picks up the one in front of him. As they both start to drink, Vizzini hesitates a moment.
Then, allowing the Man In Black to drink first, he swallows his wine.
MAN IN BLACK
You guessed wrong.
VIZZINI
(roaring with laughter)
You only think I guessed wrong --
(louder now)
-- that's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned. You fool.
CUT TO:
THE MAN IN BLACK.
There's nothing he can say. He just sits there.
CUT TO:
VIZZINI,
watching him.
VIZZINI
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line."
He laughs and roars and cackles and whoops and is in all ways quite cheery until he falls over dead.
sluggish feeling = mouse smoothing enabled.
turn that shit off, what a stupid option to have ON for default.
-Almerel
Hello my old friend.
To me it sounds like the OP wants everything to be more like WoW, which is exactly what the people who designed this game don't want.
I for one am glad that the skill levels don't make a huge difference. This makes the game more even for everybody and doesn't give people with more time an automatic massive advantage.
Secondly, the lack of mobs and complex questing is a good thing because the content is supposed to be player driven. If I want loot, it pushes me to actually fight other people rather than just farm a mob spawn for 200 hours.
The game isn't about playing in pve for 200000000 hours getting uber gear and skills, then going to the pvp zones. I can log in, get a lucky kill or loot and be competitive very quickly which is much more fun for pvp players.
Its a game where you can do what you want. You don't follow a script that the devs believe equals fun for you. It is for this reason that there is so much anticipation. Honestly, if you think an mmorpg is about levels meaning everything, and questing and pve should consume most of your playtime then go back to a cookie cutter like WoW.
You hate him b/c he tells a lot more about his perspective, his motivation, and give a lot of details you do not want to read? Or that he is on the fence?
You need not believe in him, you should not, this is internet. Read and judge.
I need not believe in you too. Maybe you are from Mars.
Exactly what does he said that makes him worse than the majority of the drama-queens in DF boards. His english? his presentation? his lengthy details (you call digressions)? What do you want from him? Just 3 simple words "DF is godly"?
To the OP: interesting review. Just 1 odd question, do you got any idea how well DF makes use of the hardware and platform? Its a game that is supposed to be built years ago, and I do not know how well the dev keeps upgrading the engine. Does it scales well with the latest technology? I know you only test the display cards, but the performance of a card is not totally insulated from the rest of the hardware, I suppose.
As for your suggestion, yes I got to that conclusion long ago. I will watch this game with full skeptism, and not consider it unless I really run out of games and other things to do with my limited free hours. The immaturity shown by some of the supporters adds to the worry. In many games like WoW I can ignore them and go play my own game. The community for CoX and Lotro is so warm, its nice just getting in touch to kill some odd hours. In DF, with no content and nothing to do, I have to live with the community, and if they sux, the game sux in exact proportion.
Thank you. Finally someone who gets it. Wow, this site gets less credible as time goes on, unfortunately. The above poster, who obviously has experience in my line of work, hit the nail on the head. All I was doing was trying to be polite, as all I saw on this site were either fanboys or haters, but I never found anything constructive from anyone. Unfortunately, decent reviewers like myself only get called liars and cheats by the majority of the population, and thus we dont post nearly as much as we normally would. Such a shame. To all those that had kind words, thanks and you're welcome.
Trust me, Being a hardware tester is an amazing job! I make about 40k a year, work 60 hour weeks, rarely have time for myse... wait who am I kidding, nobody would ever in a million years want to brag about having my job lol. And by what you hear in this forum, you'd think I was President or something!! ROFLROFL you guys crack me up. No seriously, you do. Thanks!
OK, I tried to be nice
I apologize to everyone who had something constructive to say {ModEdit} If you read my post.. at all.. you would realize that I AM a gamer, and have been for a very long time. You will also notice that I did not say I liked OR DID NOT LIKE Darkfall. I simply dont have the time for it. Far be it for us adults that dont live in our parents basements to have the need to work everyday and put food on our childrens tables, and a roof over their heads. I , as already stated many times, was simply giving an OBJECTIVE, UNBIASED viewpoint, because some people were looking for one. I had both good and bad to say about the game. I even told you to judge it for yourself and not to let me tell you otherwise... and yet you still want to argue? {ModEdit}
OK, for the last time, nobody gives a damn what you THINK the game is or why it is or isn't the way it is. I gave facts. Its empty. The people reading this? they dont care why its empty, especially if they dont like their games to play the same way you do. Get it? Good. We know its a game where you can do what you want. Yay! Wow, took a brain surgeon to figure that out. Oh and its not about PvE? Really? Wow, I dont think anyone here realized that!!! Idiot....
And I want it to be more like WoW, huh? Hmm... I vaguely.. hold on and let me doublecheck.. YEP! I very specifically stated that I didnt really give a damn what the game was like. I have no time to play it, and its my job to test hardware with it, otherwise I would have never cared to begin with. Another game like WoW? No, no thanks. I mean, I have WoW if I want another game like WoW. Thats like saying "I have a Ferrari... I think I need another car like a Ferari". Not saying that WoW is the ferrari of MMO's, but I think you get the point. If I want a WoW type game, I'll play WoW. No thanks, I'll take the original. You, sir, have a nice day.. oh, and get your head out of your ass. K thx.
After playing the beta for a few weeks I have to say that the OP hit the nail directly on the head.
Good post.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
very nice and refreshing review![](http://images.mmorpg.com/images/emoticons/emt_bow.gif)
thanks
Sapphire and Diamond both make 2GB Radeon 4670's. He most likeley works for one of those two companies.
Eh, the game isn't at all rosy. Can't say I'm surprised, really.
I didn't expect it to be the absolute worst in the world, but this game sounds like not even on par with Tabula Rasa and soforth.
I'll pass....in this economy releasing a game like this, yadda yadda.
/rant
Thanks for the info mate. You seem to know what your talking about which is a good change from some of the garbage on these forums. just a quick question to you or to any1 who has played this game as i have not, is the pvp addictive and rewarding? I used to play WoW and got heavily into arena for a year and it was the best and most intense gaming experience ive ever had and its what i like. So is it anything like that but on a bigger scale? I need somthing to compare it to as i have the imagination of a 40 year old.
p.s plz dnt flame or bait me for likeing WoW......i only liked arena.