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Fallen Earth...a Sandbox?
Salenger
Member UncommonPosts: 554
in Fallen Earth
Thinking of trying this game, just wanted to know if it is a sandbox or..the opposite, thanks.
Comments
It has a free trial.
.
Sandbox and theme park are ambiguous terms.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
I wouldn't call it a sandbox.
There's a free trial, but I personally wouldn't bother. It's honestly a terrible game in pretty much every aspect. I usually root for the indie dev, but the game is awful.
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It's not really sand box or theme park. You can't affect the world enough to be sand box, and there are not enough goals and content for a theme park game.
The PvP options which are being added should help make it more sand box.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Ok mate heres how to view this game. Take this little quiz.
1) Do you want a seamless world(and by seamless i mean seamless there are instances but you do not hit a load screen you simply open a door.) ?
2)Are you a thinker, that is to say do you research things like character builds and paths and pre-plan out your character?
3) Do you enjoy first person shooter combat that is spliced with RPG elements?
4) Do you like item decay and crafting systems that matter?
5)Do you analyze what went wrong when you die with a calm and level head?
6) Are you a Roleplayer?
7) Do you believe in the axiom, " It is the journey that matters."
8) Do you believe that there are other approaches to good game design than that which was popularized by WoW?
if you answered yes to 6 of these questions, then you should give fallen earth a free trial and decide for youself.
if you answered yes to 4 of these questions you may like it but you might not.
if you answered no to all questions, then you will not like the game.
played the beta. one thing for sure, i really enjoyed crafting in this game.
I get yelled at by other players for saying this, but no, it's not a sandbox, and it's not a FPS either.
It's a hybrid themepark/sandbox and a hybrid FPS/RPG. You have a lot more freedom than in your usual themepark, but there are a lot of missions you'll need to do to amass the all-important APs which makes it a tad more confining than what people usually consider a sand-box to be. Also, there's no FFA PvP which seems to be a prerequisite for sandboxes these days.
To my mind, the hybrid works very well, but if you go into the game expecting it to be a pure sandbox you'll only be disappointed. Try it for what it is and see if you like it.
It was a big mistake to link missions to everything.
Gives the game this illusion of being a themepark with a god damn endgame.
The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
It has some sandbox elements but it is not a sandbox. Progression, missions, exploration is linear, pvp is restricted.
I tend to agree, it's not a sandbox. It's a mixture of different elements. It's fun if you like different which is about the only way I could describe it.
No - FE is NOT sandbox.
It is theme park MMO with quests and such. Pretty much only difference with WoW and other theme parks is that it is apocalyptic future, it doesn't have holy trinity combat mechanism and loot gear is (not yet) super - you can actually craft okay gear.
"I know I said this was my last post, but you my friend are a idiotic moron." -Shadow4482
its a cleverly disguised themepark
Sandbox......................l.........................themepark
FE
The following statement is false
The previous statement is true
I hope that you realise that you described some pretty game altering differences:
Non fantasy setting, quite a change from the the numerous fantasy games (low and high fantasy)
No tank/healer/dps mechanic
No raids
Elaborate crafting system. Pretty much everything is craftable through an elaborate crafting system. The vast majority of people are using crafted gear. Crafting plays a main role in the game.
Targetting is through FPS combat (within the MMO limitations on range).
So, pretty much is nothing like WoW. Can you imagine WoW without:
Tanks/healer/dps trinity?
No raids?
Group bosses dropping insignificant rewards, thus it's pointless to farm them?
Need to craft everything you equip and consume, your vehicles and rides, because buying them from NPCs cost ten times more?
Manual target and try to aim for the head for maximum damage?
We are talking about a different gameplay here, although FE does have strong theme park elements. It also has it's own share of unique problems.
Theme park for the most part with some strong sandbox elements like meaningful crafting.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
It is themepark in that you have to be in certain areas for your level to a degree
It is sandbox in that that area is large and there are so many misisons to do and things to explore that you get the feeling that you are free to go where you please. You can head out in "almost" any direction and find things to do.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
I agree here. Dont get me wrong I like this game its just that when you peel off the covers you notice it really isnt that radically different structure wise from most MMO.
The main test for me in sandbox is a simple one. Can I realistically progress just as fast and with just as much stuff if I never do any quests other than the intro quests.
Not doing quests in this game is possible, just not very realistic making it disqualify as a sandbox in my mind. but still the best crafting engine anywhere I have been exposed to.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
I wasn't comparing FE directly to WoW or difference between fantasy/scifi games - WoW was just example from typical theme park.
Theme park: Developers create quests and world. Players play in world and do quests - but don't actually change anything. Players don't leave their marks to world. Player's don't effect to other players by completing quests. Players powers to change to world is limited to their character.
Sandbox: Developers might create somekind initial world, populate it with NPCs and quests - or world could be completly empty. When players complete quests, kill NPCs or interact otherway with world - it will effect to every player in same server. Players might control important resources and block other players access to it. Players might have killed that evil dragon and other players can't kill it anymore - because it is dead.
Most of games have some sandbox features - like Anarchy Online Notum Wars, SWG housing/mining or Horizons community quests / housing. But still in those games - majority of the gameplay involves developer created content and players really can't block other players access to developer created content. In sandboxed worlds like EvE online - players can block access to content and most of interactions with game world are created/caused by other players.
"I know I said this was my last post, but you my friend are a idiotic moron." -Shadow4482
I think Fallen Earth is mostly a sandbox however given that your progress in the game by not doing quests is considerably slower than it would be doing them it doesnt qualify in my mind as being a sandbox. Granted everyones rules are different but for me, quests should not be nearly required for something to be a sandbox which I know leaves very few games, Darkfall being one of them.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
Fallen Earth is really a themepark with sandboxy elements. So,I'm speaking from stepping in-game from start. It took way too long to grind levels, about a month, to make it out of the first map.
1. All the towns are in-place; there's absolutely no player influence over town construction and diplomacy.
2. factions were meaningless, it was essentially a label that had nothing to do with player interactivity, trading or conflict.
3. Quests galore and extremely pve quest-heavy. The mechanics of this game is your typical pve quests of fedex, kill x, find x.
4. Quests provide the big red 'x' marks the spot to run here, right here, and do this, right here and then run over here.
5. Radar map shows mob and player dots, and quest x's.
6. player v player conflict and community/faction building; there is none. pvp is nothing more than a meaningless interaction in a very isolated and small non-instanced arena area.
7. multiple characters per account, so everyone can be everything, and demeans socialization and community support and networking.
8. crafting is rich, but everyone can do it. No needs to buy off the auction house because every can be self-reliant, self, self, self.
9. Any one person from any one faction orientation can buy and sell cross-faction off the auction house, though no one really uses the auction house, with makes interest in being an artisan crafter for a community pretty meaningless.
10. This is a solo game, solo everything, particularly with multiple character slots. Nothing requires community cooperation, participation or coordination.
I have others, but the experience on map one and after a month of grinding solo content and being so self-reliant out of necessity, because everyone else was, and the AH was so quiet or over-priced that I had a crafter character and combat character, that I just got bored, as I would after a month of playing a single-player game.
I think FE is smack dab in the middle between sandbox and themepark. Players do have limited effect on the larger game as a whole. conflict towns being an example
I agree with your 10 points, pretty much. PvP might have some bearing in conflict towns if you need/want to salvage and mine nodes there. Other than that, you can't affect the game world in any way, which is how I would define a "sandbox". For me, FE is definitely a themepark, but less linear than many other mmos. I like the game because it is so easy to solo. I dislike the game because it is pretty much mandatory to do all the AP quests, at least for your main.
To sum it up, I was looking for a large scale single-player online game and FE fills that ticket. I do use the AH as I don't have the interest or patience to roll a crafter toon. I also like chatting ingame with folks just for advise or just for the fun of it, but I rarely need to group. Is this going to be a long-term game for me.... noop, I'll play through the content once and drop my sub, probably picking it back up again if/when they open a new sector.
Just to make one thing clear.
When others say "crafting is meaningful" don't get the wrong idea that it means a healthy economy. In FE everyone can craft and those willing to spend some extra AP on crafting skills will be able to craft high end equipment and weapons.
Now you may think there is at least a market running for high end equipment BUT in most cases players give required mats to a clanmate crafter who does the job for them instead of spending money in Auction House.
In general crafting serves your own needs like new set of armor, ammo etc. Only in that sense you can say it is meaningful.
As others have pointed out, FE is a themepark featured in seamless world and seamless world and graphics are the only thing I really liked in FE. Everything else failed.
I would say it is a themepark mmo basicallly, with some sandbox elements. There are a lot of quests that you do, and some of them give you AP. Throughout the course of the game, there are a significant number of AP to aquire in this manner, so questing can not be ignored if you plan on being competitive in end game. This is my perception anyway, as I did not make it to end game.
They should have tied AP to weapons or crafting use or something. Associating it with questing makes it another quest grinder.
DFO is a great game, dont get me wrong, but pve is a must if you hope to be competitive in pvp. I wish AV had increased the skill gains in pvp somehow so that prgressing your character in pvp is also an opition. DFO is a sandbox I'd say but currently its missing alot of sandbox elements... hopefully 2010 is good to it.
"I play Tera for the gameplay"