Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
My new love
Heyitschris
Member Posts: 49
For about half a year now, I've started loosing more and more love for the genre "MMO" because I was pretty much tired of doing the same thing over and over again. Just as I was about to leave the genre, I came across Face of Mankind.
What Face of Mankind is (for me)...
Face of Mankind (FoM) is a MMO where the economy and politics is in 100% control of the players. There are 8 factions in the game where they all have their own way of "being" and behaving.
For instance,
LED (Law enforcement department) upholds the law and is very much like the police in the real world.
FDC (Freedom Defence Corps) serves as a military, fighting in zones where LEDs cant.
GoM (Guardians of Mankind) fights for people's rights in the game, and acts when corruption and policemen does wrong. They also offer their home planet as a haven for people in trouble, protecting anyone who comes for their help (except Most Wanteds). They perfer using diplomatic reason, before violence.
BoS (Mercenaries of the Blood) are by many considered to be a bunch of criminals due to their drug production and trade of it. The police and military are almost constantly in a war with BoS, as though drugs is the way BoS makes a living, they just kill eachother for no reason as well, which leads to blood-revenge. BoS also blame LED for so-called ninja-arresting BoS members, which tends to piss many people off because they have to go to jail. Sometimes, a group of BoS members gather to bust fellow BoS members out.
Mercs (Mercenaries) kills people for you. When you make a contract, mercs can claim the contracts and assassinate the ones they have to, for a pay. Other than that, they offen go around and cause mayham wherever they can.
CMG (Colonization and Mining Guild), Eurocore and VI (Vortex Inc) are all in the market business. VIs are happy to take transportation jobs for you if you want to send around mining materials or equipment for a small fee.
For me, and as I'm playing a GoM, my purpose in this game is to make a safe, friendly environment and a rich market for anyone who desides to come to the planet Aurelia. In every faction, there are user-made departments. Some departments specialize in combat, some in economics. Personally, I'm into economics, and what I'm mainly doing now is to produce and get our combat departments medkits, armor and weapons. Keeping their supplies full, in other words.
What's really nice about this world is that it really is just a world by players. You will not find a NPC in this game, and it's really fun seeing new player going around all confused because they expect at least SOME of the people walking around or standing in a location to be NPCs they can talk to and get information from, but they thing is, that would not work in this game because it is constantly changing the politics and wars in it. So if you want information about the game, or something to do, you have to refer to your department, or faction if you are not in a department. Also, since the world is so big and always changing, the forum is used by many for a source to get updated on the world around you, so they don't miss out on anything.
The fact that there is no NPCs really gives you a feeling of "purpose" to your own planet and the world as a whole. It's a feeling I've never really gotten in a MMO before. The world is really a pulsing world, living and always changing.
About levels, there isn't any. But there are ranks. Many newbies focus a bit too much on ranks, because they believe ranks means a lot in this game, but it really doesn't matter that much. After you've gotten your first rank (which you get through XP by doing objectives in a group or on your own), you won't rank up anymore unless a high rank in your department does so, and that can take a while. You have to earn your rank in your faction. I now have the XP to be rank 4, but I'm still rank 1. And you know what? I really don't mind. Due to the fact that there's no rush in getting a rank up, I actually go around helping people purely by good will, which is what my faction is about.
The game has done a amazing job at sorting out different kinds of people. GoM contains a lot of people who are there to help, who want justice, - and BoS and Mercs has A L O T of gankers (people who are killing you for your inventory). People who has different goals in the game, goes to the faction that they feel suits them in reaching that goal, and the result is 6 different factions with 6 different ways of handling situations.
When I started...
When I started the game for the first time, I chose LED (Law Enforcement Department). What they basicly do is to uphold the law in the game, they should want piece in the society. But what I found out, was that these authorities was extremely strict. They would actually start shooting people for no good reason, and it wasn't really a feeling of being a "good" cop. It was not taking care of the society, - it was suppress them, spying on them..
Due to this, I was just pissed off that they went around performing violence that they actually should be trying to stop. In response to this, I joined the completely opposite of LED, the Mercs. But what I found there was a planet completely out of control! Mercs were killing mercs, no system, no law, no honor or respect. Merc ganking merc. Nowhere was safe at all. And I couldn't leave the planet either because the rest of the world already hated all of us because of what trigger happy mercs had been doing on other planets.
So I then changed to GoM, where I still am today.
It's been a fun month. Instead of going around killing monster after monster, like in other MMOs I've played, this game is about building friendship with people all around the game world, and exchange your services for their services. It's a place where there really is politics and a world the players have full control of and can lead the story further.
My summery...
The game can be very serious, but there's always someone who's out there looking for a laugh. Like a couple of days a go, when my faction had a meeting, discussing the plans futher and where we are now. Suddenly, 10-15 mercs desided to raid our conference hall, and many others from other factions ran in and started dancing in the middle of the discussions. When they didn't leave, they got the bullet. 
This game obviously isn't for everyone. Many people might find the game too confusing at start and will quit before day #2, and I can understand that, because you really are completely lost when you start. But that is what I really liked about this game. Due to this, I started talking to random people, seeking help, gaining friendships and slowly but surely understanding more and more. After a while, I found my way of playing the game. I'm the guy trying to keep the peace in the world. I'm the guy helping anyone who needs help. I'm the guy who supplies the "guardians" of our planet with all the supplies they need. My story in the game is not scripted, I chose my own path. Maybe tomorrow, I'll deside to be something completely different.
Comments
I completely agree OP. The only things I'm not with you on is the naming of BoS as the "Mercenaries of Blood" is incorrect. BoS stands for Brotherhood of Shadows, while the Mercs are, of course, the Mercenaries of the Blood. Also, the Mercs can be pretty chaotic at times because the Mercs don't have a lot of government, but we mostly police ourselves. Meaning that if you start ganking somebody, most of the time, everyone will start shooting at you. Being a Merc myself, I find that our home world can be very exciting, as well as lawless and ruthless. The difference between the mercs' homeworld (Titan Station) and other homeworlds is that we almost always welcome people of other factions (Except LED and FDC), whereas in most places such as NYC, Tokyo, and Keplar's Dome, most other factions are KoS.
I do not recommend this game to everyone, because it's not a game for casual players. I will, however, say that it has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in an MMO.
Oops, haha, sorry, I screwed up.
-OMG this sounds like a really intresting game, i just might give it a go......MMO without leveling and standard boring same paths.....now thats something worth playing.
Spent about 2 hours downloading and installing ...... logged into game was shot dead before I even had a chance to look around and try and learn how to play ..... logged out ..... uninstalled.
Guess you picked the wrong planet then
Anyways, the game isn`t just about ganking and politics through words.
Yesterday, right after I made this thread, we had to help our allies, due to they had recently been attacked by Mercs. So I recorded. I havent bothered counting the amount of people but I suppose you can try.
TITAN RAID VIDEO
I suppose we all were over way over 100 people fighting through the corridors. The most funnest moment I`ve had in a MMO in years
After viewing the video, it reminds me of Neocron... only the gameplay looks much slower and the graphics are a bit worse. Not sure if I would leave Neocron for something that looks a bit inferior, and seems to move slower during gameplay.
MY EYES, MY EYES... Not sure what was worse, the crappy graphics or the really really bad combat.
You should not post a link to such a bad game video (my opinion) just scared the hell out of me seeing it.
Stick to words and you may sucker more people into a game that is still trying to recover from the first time it was out.
As a poster above me said, make a toon, log in, get ganked b4 you even see the world or your newly created toon, uninstall.
Even better, do not install in the first place /Rant off
I don`t think the graphics in the game is bad really. The quality on the video doesn`t represent the true graphics in game. In the video, the black colors appear kinda washed everywhere and colors in general isn`t their true color, so excuse that if you will. details on the ground, walls, armor are very sharp etc.
About the slow gameplay, well it kinda depends on how much you carry. If you don`t wear much armor and stuff in your inventory, I`d say gameplay has a suiting speed to it. Since we all were going into a warzone, we all carried alot of weapons and medkits in our inventory which slows us down a lot. But throughout the video you might see some people running twice as fast as me. It all depends on the weight. Also it might seem slower due to the low FPS, it can cheat the eye. I just don`t have the hardware to render over hundreds of character modells at ones. Sorry.
Face of Mankind is a brilliant game once you get passed its very steep learning curve.
I'm also in the Guardians of Mankind and i can say, we are probably the most noob friendly faction. All factions behave differently and have different goals. For instance, Mercs will do anything for a sufficient price and the Brotherhood of Shadows deals in drugs. But GoM is kind of like the UN if you will. We fight corruption and run a free trade zone.
I'm Rank 4 (there are 7 ranks from 0-7, 7 being the faction leader.) and i am a member of the Guardian Ambassadorial Order, the political and diplomatic department of GoM. Politics and Diplomacy in this game is complex, with relations between factions shifting every day and laws being passed by the player run senate. I'm Senior Ambassador to the GD (GD = FDC and LED respectively) and it's my job to keep the **** from hitting the fan. It's an exciting position and i reccomend this game for everyone. It still is a breath of fresh air in a stale MMO market.
There is something from everyone, from policing/being the military force of a faction to diplomacy, to economics and production to internal affairs of a faction like internal discipline and helping new members learn how to play the game.
Word to the wise, if you start this game, go to a planet owned by your faction or go to Aurelia- GoM's haven. Getting ganked repeatedly when you start can put you off so make sure you go to a safe planet when you start
hey OP, can u help me out?
because i have been wondering on this game for freakin 1hour, and im still clueless, i met some people, i dont know what faction they are, but it was in green suit, and i get knifed.. like .. ok.... why the fuck would you stab a newbie, jeez
but im trying to like this game as this is aactually what i was looking for all these time, but the gankers are a bit harsh to the new players imo
So What Now?
Made an account over the weekend, downloaded, tried to log in and was blocked. Contacted a gm who replyed prity prompltly to tell me I had multiple accounts. I don't have multiple accounts and have never tried to play before. On further discusion I was told I would not be unblocked and would not be allowed to play on any of my numerouse accounts from my ip and considerd the matter closed. Honestly I never even heard of this game before the weekend. Not trying to troll here, just saying what my experiance of trying to sign up was like. Sounds like a good game. Hope you all have fun:)
@TweFoju
Sounds like you met someone from the VI-faction.
Which faction are you? VIs are pretty much always in a conflict with someone so it could be that you are in a faction who is at war or temporarily Kill On Sight.
I know how you feel about not knowing what to do. I remember going around just asking, and I got a lot of help but that was in closed beta and the people who helped me out was veterans all the way back from 2006. Now that it's open beta/released there aught to be alot of new players.
I think every faction has a so called 101 course. I know LED and GoM has it. That's where you will take a course on what your faction does and how they do it. It's a nice way to catch up on things. The 101 courses are strictly for their own factions though. You can't be BoS and get a 101 course with LED.
I'm in GoM personally. Havent had the time to play much for the time being (with Bad Company 2 beta and all). Not sure what the situation is atm.
@spookydom
yikes, that sucks
yeah i must say that after playing FoM for 1 and a half day straight, i finally notice that this game is actually way more fun then the 1st minute when you just stepped into the game, especially after you passed the 101 training, at that point, you should pretty much understand the overall gameplay of that game
i was in BoS for a couple of hours with 4x killed before i finally joined FDC, wow FDC ppl are imo, very very friendly and they are all very deep in RPing, really, i never played a game where the officers type "Atten Hut" and everyone would just line up and very very supporting, i never really give a damn about RP in MMO, but after FoM, i think i might change my thoughts about RPing in an MMO
the only thing that i regret that FoM is not having is population, you can try and to to Tokyo and Paris, there will be almost no people at all,
looks like NYC is the favorite place to be for all the users
So What Now?
I have NEVER been more sold on a game... DLing as I type this.
great timing! There is a world war going on atm. It might be over in the next couple of days though. Or weeks. Or who knows.
This war will probably last at least 3-4 more days. It will probably be down to the FA/Senate to decide on the terms of peace.
-NullZero
Faction Leader of GoM (R7)
Got into FoM yesterday and the graphics ain't all that but it's very interesting and unique. And the complete break from leveling and skilling up is a nice break from tradition as well.
And the whole "no quests, no NPCs" is just too cool.
It's a very unique game and I'm having a very good time.
Best factions for new players are FDC and GoM. Absolutely worst faction for new players is MotB - they really should had disabled rolling that faction for new accounts.
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
whats the population like in this game?
www.facebook.com/themarksmovierules
Currently playing:
FFXIV on Behemoth, FFXI on Eden, and Gloria Victis on NA.
It's fine. If it had more you wouldn't be able to find a quiet place to reload your gun or hide somewhere... If it had less it would be hard finding people to interact. Some areas are totally deserted but that's cause of the area that is not popular. Some other areas are overpopulated. People usually hang out near terminals and/or vortex gates, so if you are alone somewhere case is that you are in an area that isn't populated as a whole, or you are at some random spot that doesn't make sense to hang out.
"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars combat, exploration and character progression. In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation: Copy & Paste."
One month into it, i think this is a decent time to update my views.
When i started, there were no NPC's that was awesome, what the game was known for, now there are the cheesiest NPC's and quests you could imagine tossed in half-assedly. no real purpose, but also no real impact positive or negative on the game, as they are not required for anything in any way.. just something a lot of players on their forum felt they wanted for a long time so the game would feel like every other MMO apparently.. the positive of this addition, it shows that the developers are still willing to listen to the players (for better or worse) and work their asses off to continue updating the game.
The player political system and senate legislations of the game are actually pretty deep and that is highly commendable.
The only absolute negative i feel in this game, although it greatly wishes to be full of role play.. about 99.5% of items in the game are based on combat, therefore the economy is also dependant on people constantly killing/warring.. also, 80% of the space in the game is useless, although very nice to explore and look at, you will only find people on areas that they can sit at terminals to mine/produce, buy/sell... the rest of the place is relatively abandoned, except by people hiding from random killers and members of enemy factions raiding, while they sit AFK mining/producing.
But, beyond that, this is an excellent game, amazing amount of potential with a hard working dev team that's willing to try and work with the players to find the right formula. What is in the game, is done decently.. Definately worth a try, if you try, give it at least a week because it is not friendly to new players, and because it is (at least when i joined) completely dependant upon the players currently online to help/train and get you educated.. it's a roll of the dice of whether you'll understand what's going on the first couple of days or not.. and if you're not educated, it will appear to be nothing but a confusing, punishing random gankfest.. when you are edcuated, you'll see it as a highly developed political semi-gankfest with constant struggles for money, power, respect.