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Intrigued as I was by all the videos, praise of improvements, and discussions around the pros and cons of Darkfall, I downloaded it Friday and managed to grab about 7-8 hours of gameplay. So I created Mattigan Blacke, buccaneer-to-be, and ventured out into Sandbrook. For a pirate hopeful, Sandbrook's proximity to the river seemed a natural place to start.
Herein lies a review of the details as well as the overarching impression I was left with.
Download: Simple, had no problems, took about an hour and I was ready to go. The load times to get in game seemed a little long to me, but when I switched zones in WAR the wait was frustrating. Also, the sound of squelching blood whenever you log in/res disconcerted me the first time. I thought I had been ganked before I could even draw in.
Graphics: I went in thinking they'd be bare-bones, a little Duke Nukem-ish in quality. This was not the case. While the graphics will never win any awards at the moment, I found both my character and the world around to be of decent, competitive quality. I had shadows on, full screen and 1280 resolution and rarely, if ever, lagged. When it did lag it was an extremely brief stutter. I did notice that the contrasts were very powerful. Dusk and dawn had long, pitch black shadows playing over richly-hued golds and umbers. It made spotting mobs difficult. And when it got dark, forget about it. Night is pitch black if you aren't out in the open where the moon can illuminate.
Controls: This is where the frustration set in. It was so alien to me that it put me off and colored my first 2-3 hours in Darkfall with perhaps an unfair light. I died more than once to goblins because I forgot to right-click out, and then fumble for my sword, and then orient myself as to the attacker's position. I will admit, at around the end of my second play session I was feeling much more accomplished, and could smoothly sheathe, F, loot, and unsheathe. I'm no pro, but it stopped feeling unnatural to me altogether by my third session.
UI: Had no problems with it. Not sure what the big fuss is over when people decry the interface. Maybe I haven't filled my slot bars up and had to deal with flipping bars. Who knows.
Combat: It's fun. It's different, but fun. Very visceral and bloody like AoC . I keep losing my stuff, but that's ok. I don't get upset at being killed in a game designed for killing. Adventurine did a smart thing by making weapons realtively easy to gather (though I wish there was a mob in Sandbrook that dropped greatswords). Archery is interesting and fun, as is magic.
Crafting: I played UO, so sitting in front of a tree or boulder for long periods of time doesn't discourage me. I have decided not to seek a guild just yet (though a strong RP Pirate guild would catch my immediate attention) as I want that full novice experience. As such, I had to learn how to craft somethign useful in combat, and Tailoring my own cloth armor works for now (though at 20g for a roll of cloth, I could deplete my newbie funds quickly).
Community: Racial chat for me (as a human) was very helpful. I received some good advice, answers to my questions, and didn't notice anything worse than very harmless juvenile behavior. This far into the game, this aspect gets two thumbs up from me. Heck, while dying to goblins I even had a blue revive me. I promptly thanked him (name was Nate).
Stat gain: Wow, this is slow. I mean, sloooow. That or I am not doing something right. I have chopped a metric ton of lumber, done combat with a polearm, and I think my Strength is like 20.35. My highest stat is Wisdom (from cooking/fishing) at 20.90. I don't mind a slow climb to stat progression, but is this the correct rate? I just want to know I am not missing something blindingly obvious. Again, if this si typical, I am fine with it. By contrast, skill gain seemed spot on to me.
PvP: You know how it is said that you don't really understand riding a horse until you fall off? Darkfall's version is you haven't been introduced to the game until you've been ganked. My first 2 hours playing this game, while looting a goblin, I was summarily executed by a red. A red human. But here's the kicker. He didn't loot my stuff (or looted very little, at that point I had next to nothing). However, a blue player happily looted my corpse. The red was more decent a person than the blue. I am not shocked or upset anything, just mildly amused.
Ok, so I got sharp edge of the welcome wagon, not a problem. I got more goblin loot, and even scored a quest reward glaive. This is when my second PvP encounter happened, and it went oddly at the time, but after thinking about I think I know what happened. Me and lady Tok were killing goblins. We both chased one around a boulder when I got hit by her mana missle. I think she went gray (though I didn't check). She cautiously backed off. I did the same. It was a mistake and I certainly wasn't in a position to kill anyone, not with my gear and stats.
After a little time, she fires a mana missle in my direction. Deliberately. She did not hit (later on I figured she was baiting me after the 10 seconds rogue status wore off). Well, like a fool I defended myself without there really being an attack. I put an arrow in her face (I went rogue!) and closed to melee range. I even did pretty well, since I can circle strafe/attack from past mmorps. I won't say I was winning, but I was doing well considering. Then a goblin or three joined in on her side and one of them got the finishing blow. I was looted clean, and I hope Lady Tok is enjoying the glaive. She earned it.
So, I guess what happened is she waited for her rogue status to wear off, then baited me with an attack that came close. I flagged myself by actually hitting her, and that left her free to attack me without worry. Let me know if that makes sense. it is not a mistake I will make again.
My third session consisted mostly of Logging because I wanted to see if my stats would boost a little. I expored a few mountain ranges, hunted some deer, and worked my magic a small bit. Some of my favorite moments have been me just stalking deer through the shadowy underbrush of dawn, and chasing them around the rubble of crumbling towers.
Overall impression: I don't love it out of the gate, but I do like it very much, and every time I log in I like it more and more as I discover what the world and game are all about. I think a lot of this has to do with me getting more familiar with the controls, faster and more comfortable with responding to surprise situations. It is a rather solitary game for me at this point as well. Very little talking/greeting, and I suspect most of the social aspect resides within a guild. I will search for one that will accept me in a little while, I suppose. Also, since I am a planner at heart, I am taking care to have back-up gear. I only wish there was a cheap source of greatweapons from a nearby mob. Then I could stockpile without a 90g pricetag.
If you see Mattigan Blacke, give a wave. Once I figure out the emotes I'll even return it.
-tal
Comments
Good job. First few days are always the hardest in the game, just gets better after.
Keep at it.
Nice read. DF is definitely a bit strange at first. I think that you will either get to a point where you don't login soon, or you start to crave it and get that sandbox addiction. Good luck either way.
Go up to a miner and use /air_guitar, /taunt_01, /taunt_02, /taunt_03 and see if you can get them to turn and sprint to the bank aha. Always fun.
Welcome to DFO !
well balanced first impression..
Vendor gives you 10 pieces of cloth, don't be scared about the price of 20g.
Hitting a blue once gets you a 10 sec flag of being grey, if you then hit someone a second time while he is still blue and within those 10 sec you become flagged for an additional 2 minutes of being grey.. So if you don't want to fight the alignment.. don't hit some blue more then once...
-----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)
Buy weaponsmithing (500 gold), Hammer(100-200 gold, dont remember :P) and craft greatswords for yourself.
Check it out:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=r4w-x_H4FZM-80qjt1Sv5Bw&gid=6
I was about to post the same thing. Making your own will not only save you alot of gold it will also raise your stats while doing all the steps in crafting (Mining, Logging, Cutting, Smelting, weaponcrafting)
Another good one to pick up is armorsmithing. At 25 Skill you will be able to make full suits of Banded
I prefer to gather all the mats and let a crafter craft my items. One of my complains about this game is that everyone and their mom crafts their own stuff. The only reason you really need merchants is for the racial stuff that isn't in your race and that takes rare ore which is way too damn rare.
Kobolds also drop greatswords...and they're only slightly harder than goblins.
In the most recent patch, more Kobold spawns were added to the game near starting cities...might want to search out a camp and use /annotation_add to mark it on your map.
Very fun read : )
And AV will do something about the aligement system in 2010.
It's a new experience, so ask plenty of questions, bank a lot, and most important... Have Fun!
^ Truth. It only gets better too.
Darkfall. Learn it. Live it. Love it.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
To OP
Yeah, it's ok pace for stats. They are slow. But skills should be fast enough (I mean you didn't play DF 10 months ago).
That red person wasn't better than blue guys around you. He just wasn't a noob so he didn't need your crap. But blues (who were noobs I assume) did.
Indeed, I had lots of good times with DF (Who could forget being eaten by the Kraken?) I just wish I had more time, but school takes priority right now.
Keep it up...bind ur keys to mouse side keys, and shift+ mouse keys and other random easy acess keys, if you play some days you will get used to it and become as easy as playing any easymode mmo like wow, well not quite..but you know what i mean..
Even wow so easy to play and learn is hard if a person never played a game like that...
And because Darkfall controls are so different from other mmos it takes a bit to get used to it..if people come from other games with wowish controls...
The more you play darkfall the more you know how awsome it is..and how bad and lack of freedom and challenge all other games are...
Play in an active clan and its a blast.
Just started last weekend myself..
Have to say my experience is pretty much the same.. its kinda gritty and somehow takes me back to earlier days.. even the smallest thing feels like an accomplishment.. it grows on ya..
I have to say I really enjoyed this read. And all the feedback from everyone who was playing as well. I think that just helped me finalize my decision on giving this game a try. I was so hesitant on it, because of the different views from soo many people on mmorpg.com, you always seem to have people who like, and people who hate, and it always seems so back and forth that it is really hard to find anything objective or very well thought out.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
This, exactly! You may or may not have seen me posting requests for exactly this type of reports recently, but this is an amazing source of information for me and finally made me cross the line of buying DFO
Thank you for the advice, everyone. I am putting it to good use. I am still hunting near Sandbrook but things have gone much more smoothly (i.i no dying to goblins any more). Skills are chugging along at a good clip, in my opinion. I've decided to not worry about stats as I will drive myself insane watching them slowly move up. Also, I am within one or two game sessions of acquiring Weaponsmithing so I'll soon be crafting my own weapons.
Sadeisinsane and Haggis13, I am very glad my thread led to you making a decision on Darkfall (buying it or not). It was similar threads and videos that prompted my own musing into action. Hope you enjoy it.
-tal
No, the first full suit is scale at 50.
this guys spent less time in game than the Euro Gamer guy did, burt his review gets a pass because its positive.. lol
I don't see factual wrong descriptions here despite this review consists of more words then Eddy boys "review". Also OP has the mental capability to understand the mechanic of how to sheath a weapon .. Eddy boy showed shortfalling even on that , also he is honest enough to state his playtime (8 hours in the topic subject) again unlike Eddy boy (who didn't wish Zitron would have been honest and choosen his headline like "Was out got drunk and then played for 3 hours i know i am shit but thats how i am"...well wait he started his review with 'i don't want really to do the job of reviewing Darkfall ... but the money from Eurogamer ofcourse i will take..looks good in my pocket nad it makes woman assume wrong things about the size too' in his own words "a job is a job, and play I must."). And its NOT less time then Eddy boy.
-----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 $OE)
Spot-on review.
That's how I felt and decided to buy the game after the free 10-day trial.
Granted, this initial feeling of accomplishment from small tasks will begin to wane after some time. But still, the PvE is rather challenging with a group once you get to the harder mobs, enough to entertain you.
PvP is another story. Although I'm not a fan of PvP, it appears that you can't compete against older players when you are new to the game. And most Reds are old players, with high stats/skills so fighting back usually is to no avail.
I'm really looking forward to the changes in DF 2010, and hope more playstyle options will be made possible.
All in all, I'd say DF, in it's current state, is well worth the 50$
Huh?
Huh?
maybe he lives in Greece?? They have a trial CD in some game magazine there.
buddy i aint even gonna read what you say here. 8 hours in review? are you freeking 10 years old? to review darkfall you need 8 month in lol.
This is the Greater Internet D-Wad Theory in full effect.
The guy took his time to write an opinion which you didn't even bother reading, then you call him a 10 year old? The irony here is delicious..