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A straight forward, unbiased review for the confused... (long)
First off, I do not love or hate Darkfall. I have played since beta, and looked forward to this game for a long time. I am an avid fan of sandbox MMO's, and have played just about every P2P MMO on the market since UO. I have loved MMO's most people deem as a failure (Vanguard), and I have hated MMO's most people loved (although its hard to list one with all the MMO bashing that goes on today), so I consider myself a fairly unbiased reviewer of the game. I thoroughly enjoy ruthless PvP, but I feel that a game without PvE cannot survive in a healthy fashion either. Also, I can spell Aventurine correctly, and that automatically puts me in the top 10th percentile of Darkfall critics.
A lot of people here seem to be having a hard time sorting through the biased arguments on these forums. My first suggestion is take every opinion with a grain of salt (yes, even mine). You see less and less legit opinions here by the day. Anyways, on to my review.
The thread titled, "The best and worst game ever made" made it pretty clear in my opinion. At a glance, Darkfall gives many MMO enthusiasts what we have been begging for for a long time: skill based, sandbox pvp, with more freedom to play the game how we want to play it. Darkfall does this. Everything you have heard in terms of freedom is true with DF. Some people will bitch about not being able to place houses exactly where you want to, but these sort of things are minimal, and as far as character development and community goes, DF really comes through in the freedom department.
Skill System
I will say this: Yes, there IS a skill based character development system. Is it done correctly? No, in my opinion. Sure, it exists, but is it balanced? No. Does progression feel right? No. Does each skill feel unique in its own right and demand that it be its own skill? No.
Pro: You ARE able to create any type of character you want. You can be a crafter, archer, tank, and nuker all in one. There is a soft cap of course, but for RP concerns there is no limit.
Con: The skill system is actually tiered. What I mean by this is when your skill increases from 8 to 9 it does no improve. The skills improve at skill levels 25, 50, 75, 100. Why they decided to make 100 levels for 4 actual improvements? Thats a question for Tasos, but I can tell you that its not how I would have done things, and it doesnt give the skill system a very solid feel when it comes to progression.
Con: Balance. In Darkfall there is only one type of character: One who wears full plate and a two handed weapon, with some necessary magics like Mana to Stamina, a self heal, and a nuke. Giving us the freedom to create our own class sort of backfired and forced everyone into a single role. I know a lot of people will reply to this and say, "I wear nothing but a robe and cast all day and I pwn everyone!!", but the truth is that they are probably 1% of the server or less. That is not a healthy ratio for magic to melee users.
Con: Progression. If you like to macro, this game is for you. There is little reason not to macro other than its against the rules. Sure, you could sit there and cast Mana Missile at the wall for hours, but thats not fun. Before you scream "EZ MODE!!!!" on me, I actually wouldnt mind this, as I enjoy a grind, but the rest of the populous doesnt agree here, and a more healthy balance of progression vs use is obvious for skills that people get tired of using just to skill up a few times.
Con: Magic. Magic is somewhat pointless. Spells do not vary much at all. There is a few heals, nukes, dots, and buffs. Sure there isnt much more in any other game outside of these, but each nuke is basically the same. One might do more damage or use different regents or look different, but there just doesnt seem to really be a whole lot of variation in magic schools or individual spells to make magic a very interesting path of character development.
Combat
A lot of people compare the melee combat to a knife fight in CSS with little to no strategy involved. This is half correct. While strategy will win a fight, I dont feel its presence is as strong as it could be. Melee combat relies heavily on jousting skill and all the old tricks like circle strafing. Imagine AoC without combos.
Pro: Player skill. The swing anytime, anywhere mechanic is always awesome, and a great feature in any game. Real time combat is where all MMO's need to go. Auto attack is a thing of the past, and percentage based hit rolls are not fun. There is a decent amount of player skill involved. Stamina management is very important, and things like blocking and aiming definitely separate the men from the boys.
Pro: Spell casting. Spells casting is awesome in this game. You can "charge up" a spell, meaning have it ready to cast but hold it as long as you want., then aim it and fire. They actually travel pretty far distance too. You have to have a staff out of course (no casting with a sword out), but this is a necessary challenge in my opinion.
Pro: Seiging. This has come a long way since beta, and its actually enjoyable. It works, and people are actively participating in it. There are several measures that have been taken to make it challenging and useful. Mass world PvP is really cool, and it definitely works the way Aventurine has set it up. Combat on a large scale is cool, and it feels fluid and first hand in Darkfalls setting.
Con: Lack of abilities. I was shocked when the game came out of beta with no new melee abilities. Basically there are five or six for every weapon type: knockback, sieze (opposite of knockback), power attack, etc. I have to say this is the most disappointing thing about Darfkall to me. There is no damage over time, no snares, nothing. If you are used to other MMO's with 20+ unique melee abilities, you are going to be very disappointed in Darkfall.
Con: Balance. Right now, you either use a polearm, a 2h sword, and if you are good a 1h sword + shield. Daggers are useless for PvP. There is just no reason to use anything else other than the weapons I listed. Lack of melee abilities ties in here. Perhaps if dagger got unique effects or abilities, they would shine a little more, but for now, get used to using a 2 hander. I was also sad that you couldnt dual wield a sword and a mace. You can only dual wield daggers, and they come in sets. I found this to be sort of cheap, but some might not care.
Con: Timers. Darkfall uses a swing timer to decide how fast you can swing your weapon. This makes combat much less tactical than it could be. What this means is there is no block + counterattack like in Oblivion. If you block, it resets the swing timer, so you are not able to counter attack any faster than someone is able to attack twice. Stamina management aside, this whole system really cuts out a lot of potential in the sword and board department.
Con: Stamina system. Some will argue against this, but I find the stamina system to be dumb. It gets used up slowly, and regens slowly. I never would have thought this until I experienced Darkfall combat, but there is a reason why no other game is set up like this. Imagine this situation: You are on the battlefield, just took out 5 people by yourself and are barely scratched due to your 1337 skillz, and suddenly you notice you are out of stamina (inevitable). You are done. Mind as well be dead. Any newb can just walk up and start hacking away at you. Potions can remedy this but not well enough. You are out of comission for 3 or 4 minutes which is a lame penalty. A faster regen/use system would fit better here as it would be harsh on people who carelessly swung their weapons like maniacs, and would help people who were intelligent at stamina management shine. Right now, it isnt harsh enough on people who just swing swing swing (as they still last about a minute with no penalty), and only minorly shows true reward to those who manage stamina the right way.
World and Graphics
Darkfalls best feature.
Pro: World. The world is very large. The handcrafted landscapes never get old or feel repetetive. Every area feels original and supports exploration to the fullest. It is truly one of the most immersive worlds I have encountered, and I love in depth worlds and exploration type stuff. Each area is different and unique in its own way, and leaves you wondering whats over the next hill and actually taking the time to find out. The sunsets are beautiful and shadows make the environments really catch your eye and notice how much time was put into this aspect of the game.
Pro: Art style. The unique art style and engine is very refreshing. Sure, the models arent quite as sharp as many games, and a few textures still need some work, but if I had to play one more Unreal Engine rehash I think I would puke. If you like the latest flashy DX10 features, then you might not like this, but I welcome a new change from the old games.
Con: NPC population. Cities feel empty and mobs are somwhat spread out. Its a little disheartening to walk into a capital city and not see any random civilians hustling and bustling about in the town square. Its basically a few merchants and thats it. The world is there, but it doesnt feel alive.
Con: Animations. I think everyone agrees the animations are pretty bad. While you do get used to them, they looks like they were done by a first time animator. I think the graphical feel of the game would improve a lot with some smoother animation.
Con: Sound. Its downright awful. The sound engineer should be fired, hands down. For a professional P2P MMO, its just unacceptable. The sound effects sound like they were ripped out of some 1992 shooter. I have played this game for a while and I still cant get used to the sounds. As important as sound is in a real time combat situation, I think this would make the game feel much more professional.
Other Notable Issues
Hacking. This is a big problem for Darkfall at the moment. Speedhacks run rampant. They need to jump on this asap or lose customers in a hurry.
Customer support. Forget it. Aventurine is a small company, and they simply dont have the means to accomodate any decent size player base. They are, and have always been, terrible with any type of communication to their customer base. While I do not have any type of personal experience with a one on one perspective, I know from Aventurine as a whole to the customers as a whole, Aventurine fails miserably in this department.
Aventurines ability to handle what they have bitten off. They simply cant chew it. They still only have one server open and game copies not for sale. Yes its a small company, but for anyone who expects to compete with the big names of gaming this is laughable.
Crafting is in no way in depth or fun. Its a hard grind, and its very straight forward. You need X of this and Y of that and Z gold to make an item. After so many your skill raises and you can then create better items. Thats about it.
Healers and CC'ers stay far away. There is no place for you here. Do no expect to be able to play this role in any type of pure fashion.
Conclusion
I give Darfkall a 6/10. With all the love/hate argument going on, its hard for me to recommend this game or not. I would say you really have to play it to see. This game was put out by an indie game company, and you can definitely tell. If you are used to very polished features that you might find in LOTRO, WoW, or EQ, dont expect them here. While it is amazing what these guys were able to pull off, that doesnt automatically mean you can compare it with any less scrutiny than any other multimillion dollar gaming company. Aventurine is somewhat of a cindarella story, but if I am paying the same price, I expect the same product.
In my first two weeks, I was loving it. After the newness wears off, you begin to see some pretty glaring flaws. Yes, the real time archery is incredible in an MMO setting, yes there are no class restrictions, yes its full loot and PvP solves everything, but at the end of the day a game cannot exist wihout certain basic necessities that Darfkall is missing.
I do not expect Darkfall to have a very long life or booming population. I think they will maintiain a fair amount of players up until a year or so, and after that competition will be the end of them. With so many games in this genre (MO, Earthrise, etc) coming up, Darkfall is no longer the "controversial" MMO, and will lose the buzz that has surrounded it when its faced with competition, especially with those games having much more funding behind them. After seeing games with millions of dollars and years of development by industry leading companies fall flat on their face, Darkfall really doesnt have a chance in the grand scheme of things. Its biggest strength is that it is 'different', and once it loses that appeal it has little left to market.
I hope to see Darkfall turn into a very political game. I would like to see people really capitalize on the guild vs guild structure and poltics play a large role in player interaction, as this is one thing very strongly supported natively by Darkfalls design.
If you North American player, I say wait for NA launch. Not because of ping or any of that, but just to see how the game turns out in a few months. In a few months we will see how much Aventurine listens to their playerbase (which I think has a decent vision for Darkfall), and how well the game will turn out a year down the road. Unfortunately we might not even get a North American server until a year has passed, but that will say volumes within itself.
I would be happy to answer any questions directly.
Comments
Slightly pink tinted glasses but... Awesome job on the review. very complete, very good pros and cons, it felt like you really gave tings a good hard look, and you pointed out the things you liked and did not like. I am still of the opinion I would rather play UO than Darkfall, they both feel as about the same quality and tech, and UO I at least have fond memories of... But you really aced that review for those that wonder about the game and want something close to unbiased.
Damn good work!
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
Thanks, most reviews get all emotive and its hard to know whats what. That skill thing about 25 50 75 100 shocked me. If this game released when they said it did, I would have bought it. Now I'm glad I didnt.
Who would have thought that "sandbox" character development leads to a single character! Oh, wait, I've though that.
We tend to idealize sandbox character development without classes while conveniently forgetting human nature: People go with what works whether it has an official name like "Paladin" or no name.
Every PvP MMO that has classes has FOTM classes that are simply a reflection of the players choosing what works best given the gaming environment and imbalances inherent in the current development cycle. Why would players without class constraints behave any differently? People are always looking for an edge and often arrive at the same conclusions.
For Darkfall to have different unique character options, someone would have to get in there and seriously test and balance classes--call them "builds" if you want to maintain the classless illusion--against every other possibility. If one way of playing is superior to others everyone except dedicated masochists will choose that one way.
So Darkfall is all about 2-hd Paladins fighting each other? Of course it is. I expected nothing more.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Nice review! And much appreciated for us folks not able to try it out for ourselves. The more I hear these types of reviews (sans hate and rabid fanboism) the more I am glad I am not able to try the game (cause I probably would have tried it at launch) and am forced to wait and see. I think you and a few others are on to something (that the game's biggest asset is that it is, currently, "different").
It's a proven historical fact that beer saved humankind.
Great job.
Just a little suggestion.
Here you say:
Con: Lack of abilities. I was shocked when the game came out of beta with no new melee abilities. Basically there are five or six for every weapon type: knockback, sieze (opposite of knockback), power attack, etc. I have to say this is the most disappointing thing about Darfkall to me. There is no damage over time, no snares, nothing. If you are used to other MMO's with 20+ unique melee abilities, you are going to be very disappointed in Darkfall.
In the game there are a grand total of 4 melee skill (Seize, Knockback, Power Attack, Whirlwind) and they're the same for all the weapons.
It sounds like Darkfall could be great... if the melee combat is improved, among other things, but any improvement probably won't matter as a better MMO with twitch combat will come out.
Its a shame cause Darkfall had so much potential... and a wolf race.
Unfortunately, that's a very true assessment of player behavior. There are, however, a few MMOs where players actually use character skill customization to *gasp* customize their character. EVE Online is the most classic example of that.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
Unfortunately, that's a very true assessment of player behavior. There are, however, a few MMOs where players actually use character skill customization to *gasp* customize their character. EVE Online is the most classic example of that.
I disagree.If there were more viable options i think people would choose it.If for example i had a character with 1hand and shield and it was 2% worst than a character with a 2hand then people who likes shields could use it.But if its like a huge difference ofcourse people would prefer something that kills.Its all up to balance in the end.My personal experience:WoW preTBC i used to play with fists on my rogue even though it was slightly worse than swords due to specialization been better but because of the small difference i prefered to have fists.
We can always quote the exception, DITH. The norm, however, was x build with y button sequence, and to jump back and forth through the guy your fighting. If Collision Detection was ever put into WOW, players of rogues wouldn't know WTF to do with themselves for a month until someone posted the next build/sequence for everyone to follow. Just because you made a silly build doesn't mean everyone else isn't a sheep.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
My point is that if there are multiple builds and solutions to a path that are similar or "almost" similar you will take the path you like and feel more comfortable with and not the one that works better but you dont like.
But if there isnt,you cant really do anything but follow what will give you some kills instead of being a farm for some1 else.
Wait till mages get their high school masters and your current FOTM will be dieing like flies lol
And something about the rate ..
In a poll about how players rate the game
The simaler rating of 6/10 have chosen - 7,6 %
worser then OP's rating - 25,59 % (this includes the "neutral" voting (its not good but also not bad) of 5 / 10)
higher rating then OP have chosen - 66,76 %
-----MY-TERMS-OF-USE--------------------------------------------------
$OE - eternal enemy of online gaming
-We finally WON !!!! 2011 $OE accepted that they have been fired 2005 by the playerbase and closed down ridiculous NGE !!
"There was suppression of speech and all kinds of things between disturbing and fascistic." Raph Koster (parted $OE)
Nice review. It really seems to be 1/2 a groundbreaking game, 1/2 a senior H.S. project. Hopefully someone will see the 1/2 groundbreaking game and either buy it and fix it, or copy it's strong points and build it into a complete game (Funcom, I'm looking at you. You could have really used Adventurines creative game design team.)
Funcom , $OE and other big companies are busy releasing shit games.. don't bet on them..hope for Aventurine they delivered what IMO we wanted..and they will polish it further..
-----MY-TERMS-OF-USE--------------------------------------------------
$OE - eternal enemy of online gaming
-We finally WON !!!! 2011 $OE accepted that they have been fired 2005 by the playerbase and closed down ridiculous NGE !!
"There was suppression of speech and all kinds of things between disturbing and fascistic." Raph Koster (parted $OE)
Nice review, we need more of those!
Don't know if his review is 100% accurate or not. (Yet to play game, no NA server yet) It is a very nice write up though. Points clearly explained, with enough details to see his reasoning for saying "pro" or "con". Very nice OP.
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
Who would have thought that "sandbox" character development leads to a single character! Oh, wait, I've though that.
We tend to idealize sandbox character development without classes while conveniently forgetting human nature: People go with what works whether it has an official name like "Paladin" or no name.
Every PvP MMO that has classes has FOTM classes that are simply a reflection of the players choosing what works best given the gaming environment and imbalances inherent in the current development cycle. Why would players without class constraints behave any differently? People are always looking for an edge and often arrive at the same conclusions.
For Darkfall to have different unique character options, someone would have to get in there and seriously test and balance classes--call them "builds" if you want to maintain the classless illusion--against every other possibility. If one way of playing is superior to others everyone except dedicated masochists will choose that one way.
So Darkfall is all about 2-hd Paladins fighting each other? Of course it is. I expected nothing more.
Reminds me of this poster (text is a bit small :-/):
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
One of the best all round in depth reviews I have read so far, I personally cant see more then a few thousand people subscribing to this game long term, whether or not that will be enough to support the continued development of the game or not, especially considering some of its upcoming competition will remain to be seen.
Game is actually a little bit better then I expected in some areas, but my expectations were incredibly low anyway, I always intended to try the game no matter what and I've played worse in the past, but not at the current premium asking price for just a torrent download (total rip off IMO) and the mainstream subscription cost is a joke considering the state of the game and its abysmal launch not to mention the non existent customer service and the single server to mentione just a few things.
Good review.
I participated on the DFO forums for a few years and I actually played this game for about 5 weeks in beta and stopped right before release. A couple of ridiculous decisions (imo) by Aventurine about the direction and "design" of the game right before release were the last straw for me and I just stopped playing because I couldn't believe my eyes. I recommended to my guild not to buy the game (I was the only one from my guild participating in the forums and the beta testing).
The game needed at least a few more months of development and testing. Many of us on the beta forums were pleading with Aventurine to delay the games release until right before summer vacation (a good time to release) and spend the extra months testing and implementing many crucial game features that are basically non-existant.
Must have been a money thing, but the release of this game in the state it was in, was a joke. Very soon this game will start hemorrhaging players and that is too bad. A six month HONEST beta test of this game might have done wonders for it.
Not exactly sure what your point is here, guessing English is not your first language but analysing this is a bit mute, It's his personal rating based on his opinion and experience, nothing more.
Anywho, back on topic.
Nice review, seems most reviews now have similarities and a lot of interesting views. Personally im still glad i didn't buy this game at release, but it's nice to know there is potential for it's development. I'm sure many others are still watching this game for signs of improvement as well. Pretty sure in 6 months we will have a much better idea of the future of this game.
Expresso gave me a Hearthstone beta key.....I'm so happy
DR, again, you miss the point.
If or when mages begin destroying the current FOTM build, then mages will become the new FOTM, and most players will start building toward that. The original point stands - with skill-based games, unless produced by a very sophisticated developer, most of them devolve into one homogenous build ruling the game at any one time.
That kills the entire "freedom" claim. Sure, you're free to develop a FOTM build and be competitive, or you're free to build a weak character that can't compete. Not much of a decision there, really. So much for freedom.
It's great that you love the game, but being blind and rabid doesn't help. A little objectivity is a good thing.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Who would have thought that "sandbox" character development leads to a single character! Oh, wait, I've though that.
We tend to idealize sandbox character development without classes while conveniently forgetting human nature: People go with what works whether it has an official name like "Paladin" or no name.
Every PvP MMO that has classes has FOTM classes that are simply a reflection of the players choosing what works best given the gaming environment and imbalances inherent in the current development cycle. Why would players without class constraints behave any differently? People are always looking for an edge and often arrive at the same conclusions.
For Darkfall to have different unique character options, someone would have to get in there and seriously test and balance classes--call them "builds" if you want to maintain the classless illusion--against every other possibility. If one way of playing is superior to others everyone except dedicated masochists will choose that one way.
So Darkfall is all about 2-hd Paladins fighting each other? Of course it is. I expected nothing more.
The way you describe a skill based system, you make it sound like that is the only way it will ever be, which is very far from the truth.
The problem with Darkfall right now is that there is no penalty for wearing the heaviest armor. Sure, your magic isnt quite as effective and it might take more time to cast a spell, but magic is not as potent as it should be in the first place for that to matter. When speaking about melee combat, there is absolutely no reason to wear anything less than plate, which automatically rules out any type of lightly armored DPS character that so many people, including myself, have enjoyed in the past.
There will always be a FOTM build, but how much this shows through is the extreme case in Darkfall. In another game you might see a hefty majority of the FOTM class walking around, but that hefty majority is maybe 15% of the players. In Darkfall we are talking like 90% of the players.
Its easy to say that only masochists are the ones not choosing to play FOTM classes, but I have never witnessed any of game population where the imbalance has been this significant. There are always the people in other games who play with a unique build and still kick ass. Darkfall is missing this.
Guys, it's not that Darkfall is missing diversification or specialization, it's that NO ONE except 24/7 macroing powergamers have even begun to tap into magic. That is why I believe that progression in Darkfall is messed up. No one has even had the chance to branch out yet and start specializing in the spells they WANT to specialize in.
A little bit of diversification stems from melee. Of course, the imbalanced nature of a few of the weapons currently retards the potential diversity. I would also like to see weapon specific specials... like 4 or 5 of each.
But the huge diversification comes from magic. That is where everyone will distinguish themselves. There are eight schools of magic, but people don't necessarily specialize in schools of magic, they specialize in individual spells. I made a post on this a week or so ago.
www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2717443#2717443
_______________________________________________
Games looking forward to: Fallen Earth, Mortal Online
The noob formally not known as not being the formally not unkown known APEist; The Stone Cold Killer of Tarq.
PvP MMOs that have skills--and that's all of them--need those skills balanced. The easiest way to do this, although it is by no means easy or ever finished, is to lump together a set of skills in a bundle and call that a "class." A developer can then build in things like penalties for heavy armor or bonuses for light armor into those boundaries...sprinkle in some CC and healing...tweak the values. This is the most common way to do it and we're all familiar with it.
"Sandbox" character development with no class boundaries is just an illusion. If done properly with well-balanced abilities--making some mutually exclusive--it simply results in the players themselves choosing the bundles of abilities resulting in player-designed classes. If it isn't done well you get a single "class." But in any case people will choose whatever works best.
This is especially the case in a "hardcore" PvP game with real penalties for death. Why in the world would someone choose a set of skills that is just going to get them beaten-up 95% of the time? It makes no sense to do anything other than go with the flow and tweak yourself into whatever gives you the best chance to compete.
I just think it's funny that people are surprised to see a world full of 2-hd, heavy-armored players with some healing and a little bit of ranged damage-dealing... don't call it a Paladin if that's just too WOWish for you, but that's pretty well what the players see as the best way to play atm.
It's funny but I have said many times in the class-balancing forums of many PvP games over the years that the only way to stop all the whining about the developers loving "X" class and hating "Y" class was to just give everyone one class to play and let them go at it. I was just being sarcastic, not trying to predict a boring simple future
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
excellent open review, hats off to you sir, was a good read. thnx!
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
Hats off to iluvVG for such a well done review. Certainly the best for Darkfall I've read thus far. That clearly took some real effort and time and was very informative.