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Eurogamer finally posts Darkfall re-review, game now 4/10
Hands up who remembers the Darkfall/Eurogamer scuffle about a certain low score? If you didn't and just to recap: reviewer Ed Zitron gave the game 2/10 and dev Tasos let forth his unhappiness with a vengeance. He accused Zitron of only having played the game for a few hours, most of which were spent designing characters or screenshotting. Eurogamer's editor-in-chief, Tom Bramwell, then promised to re-review the game, this time entrusting journalist Kieron Gillen with what had to be a very unenviable task. I admit to taking a personal interest in this since the story broke; like many other British games journalists I've done a stint writing reviews for Eurogamer and I know both Ed and Kieron both professionally and personally. Indeed within the British games industry, Kieron Gillen is something of a minor celebrity whose opinion is trusted and respected.
Anti-Aliased: The Daze of Darkfall
I'm still not exactly sure what I've done. I remember pressing a few buttons on the Darkfall website, a really long download, and then a very large splash screen appearing on my desktop with the Darkfall logo emblazoned across it.I think I downloaded and installed Darkfall. The North American version, in fact. I thought it was just going to be a one night stand between the two of us, but I guess I was wrong. Looks like I'm back in with the game and I'm going in-depth. This time around though, I'm going to do some things differently. There's going to be no reviewing and less critiquing. It's just going to be a straight up re-telling of my experience in the "PvP experience of a lifetime" with a little snark added in, of course. You guys be the judges of Darkfall this time.This week's events include jumping in with a brand new clan, getting the newbie experience all over again, and the capturing of a city. Exciting stuff, right? Come with me, I'll tell ya all about it.
Anti-Aliased: The Daze of Darkfall pt. 2
Capturing the city After running halfway across the main continent, I finally found myself in my new home. Albeit my new home is a broken wasteland of stone and rocks at the moment. My clan was very successful in grinding out the 10,000 gold to capture a city in under six hours, leaving us with a brand new piece of real estate in a suitable location. This is the part where things in my Darkfall experience began to get dicey. A city does not just fall into one's hands and just magically work. Construction needs to occur and buildings need to be built. Things like keeps and houses allow more clan members to bind their souls to the citystone, our new respawn point. But to get those, we need stone, and wood to start constructing. And to get stone and wood, you need resource harvesters. Or as I like to call us -- peons. No, honestly, I'm not tripping out and recalling a game of Warcraft or any other real-time strategy game. This is all still very much Darkfall. My job for a few play sessions was going out with a pick axe or wood axe and working to harvest resources for construction. You wouldn't believe how ungodly boring hitting a rock is. Or, well, maybe you could. And, commenters, I know what you're saying. You're saying that I should be out getting some PvP l33tsauce right now. Well, guess what, PvP l33tsauce does not build a city. Sure, I could go shoot and kill other people harvesting. But stone and harvest materials weigh you down and people to kill aren't exactly close to where I am. No, you can just go right outside the darn walls and start hitting trees/rocks. It's faster, it's more productive, you can move resources quickly, and it's not PvP. Sorry. Clan's current plans are to do some more harvesting and production as a group, then we're going to begin "training for PvP." Right now, training consists of beating the crap out of one another to raise defenses and attack skill. Not exactly what I think Aventurine had in mind to raise combat skills, but I don't see them stepping in to stop my entire clan. Beyond that though, I really am looking forward to raiding and doing some real combat. The thought of raiding another city is exciting, although it will take some time. End of part one Well, those are my experiences so far. More of my Darkfall experiences are coming next week, during week two of this month long in-depth look. Personally, Darkfall is a mixed bag right now. The menus still annoy me, the combat still intrigues me, the questing still sucks, the city building feels like a giant real-time strategy game (I enjoy being a commander more than a peon, but I think that's something everyone would agree on), but nothing's really happening. Darkfall's billed as one of the great PvP games, and so far I've seen one instance of PvP in the three days I've been playing. Granted, I could throw myself into PvP, but that just seems like a waste of my money, armor, and weapons at this point. Why PvP when it will cost you more than it will let you gain? Maybe things will turn around. Tune in next time, dear readers, to find out if they do.Hey, want to do the time warp? Check out week 2 and week 3 of The Daze of Darkfall! Colin Seraphina Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who thinks three hours of third-person harvesting is the bomb. When she's not writing here for Massively, she's rambling on her personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message her, send her an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow her on Twitter through Massively, or through her personal feed, @sera_brennan.
Redefining MMOs: Massively Singleplayer?
Last month when members of the Massively team were tossing around ideas for a new series called, "Redefining MMOs," I jumped all over the more solo direction MMOs have taken lately. I wanted to point out that today's MMOs are less about we and more about me. I wanted to list off a dozen or so features I felt were responsible for killing social gaming. I wanted to rekindle the debate over whether or not this is a good or bad thing.It seems I'm a bit late to the party because two bloggers, Ryan Shwayder and Keen, beat me to it by a few days. Wolfshead also put together a fascinating post on MMO communities, which is only slightly related to what I planned to talk about but still well worth the read.So, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel here, I'm going to add on to the discussion already taking place. It should be said up front that I'm a heavy solo and casual player, which is a bit strange given my stance on the issue. I'm slightly bothered by the recent trend toward individual content and individual rewards. It seems the line is blurring between singeplayer RPGs and MMORPGs every day. Luckily, a few titles are keeping the dream alive.Please share your thoughts on page three.
The Daily Grind: Have you re-rolled on Darkfall's NA server?
Fifty bucks isn't chump change in this economy, but it's what Aventurine is asking as the price of admission to their new North American Darkfall server. If you want in you need to purchase a brand new account, and that brand new account is the price of a brand new game.But, you get to play in a server that's starting from scratch. Everyone is once again on the same level, the cities were open for capture (briefly, then they all got taken,) and the mystery of the world has been re-opened. Aventurine has thrown down many fixes since the original launch, leading some people to call the EU server the "paid beta" while the NA server is the "true launch."What we want to know is what are your feelings, Massively readers? If you play Darkfall, have you gone over to the new server? Why or why not? Are you waiting for the transfer after three months? Even if you don't play, would you switch servers if the new server came with a 50 dollar price tag? Or would you jump onto Darkfall just to be in the new NA server?Comment away!
Darkfall's US server to launch today
Darkfall's first North American server, NA1, is due to launch today. The stage is set for the new server with the release of Darkfall's expansion, and July 13th is the date declared by both the website and the game's associate producer, Tasos Flambouras.However, beyond a single thread regarding how to download the new US client, the launch has been very quiet. The account page is now online, ready to take your payments of 49.98 for the brand new NA client. Edit: While the account management is working and you can create an account, the shop is currently offline and unable to take new purchases of the game.EU users interested in playing on the NA servers with their EU characters will still have to wait, however, as EU players will only be able to transfer to NA three months after the launch. Even then, EU characters will not be allowed to bring their possessions with them, transferring onto the server as a naked player. However, on the bright side, those who wait will not have to pay for a brand new account to play on the NA server.Update: The shop is now online. Have fun!
Darkfall gets a free expansion, adds new weapons, weather, and player housing
Exciting news comes out of the Darkfall camp today as they unveil a brand new set of enhancements to the game, bundled together to form Darkfall's first free expansion. The update unleashes some massive changes, including the addition of weather, character specialization, new fancy weapons, PvE changes, and the big kahuna of additions, player housing.Of course when Darkfall adds player housing it's not your average, cuddly player housing. Houses, in addition to being able to be built on all sorts of land outsides of cities, can be formed into small villages that can be owned by clans. Villages will generate taxes for the owning clan, making them quite lucrative. Every six hours these villages go into a free-for-all status, allowing enemy clans to come in and take ownership with requisite bloodshed.You want to know more? Of course you do! Check out the full patch notes over at Darkfall's main website.
One Shots: Darkfall fireworks
With good PvP, it's all about taking advantage of anything legit that you can - skill, tactics, or things as simple as paying attention to and using the terrain around you. In a game like Darkfall where death means more than a quick run back from the nearest graveyard, scenes like the one above must be scary if you get caught in the middle. Today's Darkfall One Shots comes to us from fellow MMO blogger and Co-leader of the Darkfall guild Inquisition, Paragus, who writes in to explain. A narrow hallway can make for a tight place for a fight. Mercenary forces battle against the Death Alliance in the tunnels of Aradoth in an attempt to force them out of the city. Both sides [decided] to employ the use of various advanced magics which made for quite a firework show.One Shots needs your screens, dear readers! So while you're out playing, or digging through your hard drive, grab some screenshots for us. Send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, server, and a brief description of what's in the screenshot. In turn we'll give your screenshot and tale a moment to shine, right here on Massively. How cool is that?%Gallery-9798%
American server and free expansion coming to Darkfall early July
Tasos Flambouras of Darkfall has posted details on the game's forums of some big events that are just around the corner. The US server launch has been scheduled for the 7th of July, but as we learned previously, players from the European server won't be able to transfer their characters over straight away: "Characters from the European server can be cloned and moved without their possessions 3 months after the American launch. Certain restrictions and charges will apply, to be announced at a later date." The only way to play on the US server from launch is to buy the American Darkfall client. Tasos later added that American players currently on the European server would not need to buy the new client in order to transfer over when the time comes, to help the US early adopters -- any others jumping ship will need to purchase the US version of the game.In addition to this, during the first week of July players can expect a free expansion to roll out, which will include new content and updates to PvE and PvP. A new website is also in the works, with forums that the public will be able to read, but only Darkfall subscribers will be able to post to.[Via MMORPG]
One Shots: Bubble of DOOOOOOM
Normally we don't get large descriptions, such as the one we got for today's Darkfall One Shots that was sent in to us by Ninogan Swiftstep. That said, when we do get them, we're glad to cede the floor as the players are often one of the best resources on learning more about a game, for better or worse. As such, here's today's note from Ninogan: Darkfall has been running for a few months now and with the latest patch you can no longer jump while charging a spell or nocking an arrow. This has changed pvp quite a bit and it seems like a lot of people hate it and a lot of people love it. I still haven't decided how I feel about it but I was a lot better at PvP before this change. Right now it seems like the guy with the highest magic skills will usually win most of the fights and that's a big problem considering the changes to how you can skill up magic now (long story short: it's a lot more annoying now).So when you see someone conjure up huge AoE's and bubbles like the one in the picture then you probably should turn around if you don't have any of those mean spells yourself or accept that you will mostly likely lose your gear. Darkfall is still a lot of fun, win or lose.Want to tell us why your favorite game is cool? We're glad to hear from you - just send your thought along with a wicked-cool screenshot to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Add your name and the name of the game as well! We'll post it here and give you credit - and the floor.%Gallery-9798%
One Shots: None shall pass
The major reason we started One Shots was to see what the community out there was playing. As a bonus, we occasionally get screens from other writers, which gives us an insight into what they're up to as well! Today's Darkfall One Shots comes to us from Paragus, Co-leader of Inquisition, and well-known ranty Darkfall blogger, who writes: The mercenary forces brace for the incoming Coalition mounted charge by making a makeshift wall out of their mounts. Immediately after this screenshot was taken, an 80 man bloodbath ensued that left the area littered with mounts, bodies, and of course loot!We're still on the lookout for more One Shots, so if you get a chance to snap a few, send some our way! We're looking for all games - from Aion (if you're not under NDA) to Zu Online, and everything in between. Just send them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. Show off your favorite game(s)! %Gallery-9798%
Siege jeopardy in Darkfall
Nobody likes server crashes. They always seem to come at the most inopportune times. However, there is no greater inopportune time than during a city siege in Darkfall.Sadly, an ill-timed server crash right after a city siege finalized in Darkfall. This lead to data not being properly saved inside all of the systems, putting the siege result into jeopardy.Tasos Flambouras, Darkfall's producer, took a moment to relate the announcement to the community, and outline that the siege results will be corrected during the server maintenance. As a result, the city ownership will be finalized during the maintenance, and the game will move forward from that point.For Tasos's full remarks, check out his post on the official Darkfall forums.[Via MMORPG.com]
Darkfall details their plans for the future and North American servers
Developer Tasos Flambouras of the Darkfall team stopped by the official Darkfall forums again with a lengthy update concerning pretty much everything under the sun for Darkfall -- from cheating to future updates -- all in one large swoop.One of the big notes of the post is the acknowledgement of a North American server coming down the pipes, but coming with restrictions to character transfers. Original plans detailed that characters from the European server could transfer off onto the American server (as North American players are certainly playing the European version right now) but this transfer will now be delayed by several months. So, if you're itching to get off of EU-1, looks like you might be waiting for a while unless you wish to create a new character on NA-1.Past the new server, Tasos has outlined some of the priorities for the Darkfall team, including an enhanced newbie experience, improvements to the economy, upcoming improvements to the solo and group experience, and improvements to the game's PvE system to name a few. While exact details haven't been given, it's nice to know that things like this are on the developer's "to do" list for future updates.The full post containing all of the juicy details can be read over at the official Darkfall forums.[Via Hardcore Casual]
Infiltrating SOE to get a sneak peek of The Agency
Eurogamer's Oli Welsh had a chance to visit SOE headquarters and chat with Hal Milton, Lead Designer of The Agency. We think it's fair to say this is the most we've heard about the spy-MMO in a long time and it has us excited about what we might find out at E3 2009.We have known for a while that SOE was aiming to release The Agency on both the PC and PS3, but we weren't sure if they could pull it off. Apparently, development for the console is going well because Oli got a chance to watch two developers play a mission together on both platforms and says it looked pretty good. When asked about whether or not the game would use the subscription or F2P/RMT model, Hal responded by saying that they are aiming for the lowest barrier of entry for PS3 players, which probably lends itself to the latter.The interview uncovers many details on planned methods of progression, including a mashup of reputation, influence, skill/item usage (à la Darkfall?), operatives, and XP unlocks. Operatives are one of the more difficult concepts to understand and the author explains them in an interesting way: "...operatives are loot, and hopelessly irresistible loot at at that. Pursuing and sorting an ideal roster will be akin to assembling a perfect gear set in an RPG - if your gear argued with itself, made more gear for you while you were offline, and you could equip 100 pieces at once at max level."To learn more about the game including their plans for missions, the environment, PvP, and even gambling mini-games, check out the monster three-page interview.
Anti-Aliased: A few reasons to cage the nerdrage pt. 2
3. Because almost every game has a silver lining This is a sentence that I abide by in almost everything I do. Even in games I don't like, I can usually find something that really wows me and makes me appreciate the developer's work. I know Darkfall is one of those games that many people just really don't like. I'm the same way -- I don't care for the way the game handles itself. But where it failed in game design, it didn't fail on unique vistas and sharp combat. Sure, the graphics aren't top notch, but there are still areas in the game where you just have to go, "Wow, that's an incredible sight." Plus, it's real time combat in a MMO. That's really, really hard to do and kudos to an independent developer for pulling it off. "You've heard that everyone's a critic, yes? Well everyone's also apparently a game designer." Even when you completely hate a game, I urge you to look back at it and consider your experiences. You wouldn't have played it for a while unless there was something that made you enjoy the experience even a little bit. Then again, maybe you hate it all. But if you do, see the piece of advice above before you begin nerd vomiting all over forum threads.Although... there certainly are gaming exceptions to this rule...2. Because it doesn't help anybodyThis is the part where people seem to totally and completely miss the boat. And when I say miss the boat I mean that the boat as totally pulled away from the dock, is 500 feet away, and people still run off the dock and jump into the sea holding their suitcases.Nobody benefits from aimless criticism that amounts of nothing more than the screaming of biased opinions. You get to look like an inconsiderate idiot, the community gets irritated at your groundless claims, and the developers learn nothing about how to improve their game. Bad criticism isn't bad as long as it's appropriately constructive. It's actually some of the best stuff you can possibly get in regards to your product. Positive feedback means you're going the right way, but constructive feedback shows exactly what's going wrong with your current design and where you can improve. "If you think making any game is easy, then I challenge you to sit down and start making your own pen and paper roleplaying game, or a board game, or a card game." My favorite comment in this regard was made by a Bungie developer during the Halo 3 multiplayer beta. A journalist asked him, "What did you learn from this beta test?" and I recall the developer responding that all he got from the bug reports was that the level sucked. He didn't know why the levels sucked because everyone just wrote that they sucked.1. Because you may not know what it's like to make a gameYou've heard that everyone's a critic, yes? Well everyone's also apparently a game designer. Everyone knows what's best for a game, how to balance the design, and how to make it so "X class doesn't suck."I think that many people think it's super easy to make a game. Slap some abilities in, render a few areas, get a server, and you have an MMO, right? Heck no! You have programming bugs, design bugs, art asset bugs, pathing to worry about, scripts to run, a whole set of connections between servers to worry about, and much, much more. So here's my challenge. If you think making any game is easy, then I challenge you to sit down and start making your own pen and paper roleplaying game, or a board game, or a card game. Share it with your friends and see what they say. But, above all, see how long it takes you to make a "simple" game. Include with that the testing you do with your friends, the fine tuning you may make to the rules. You'll find it's more work than you probably through it was. Believe me, I know, I'm doing it. So next time before you rocket fire your hate mail out onto the intarwebz, think about a couple of these things before you trash someone's game. You might just find yourself holding back, just because you understand a little bit more about gaming and a little bit more about how frivolous it is to hold such pointless grudges. Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who hates aimless hate. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's rambling on his personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow him on Twitter through Massively, or through his personal feed.
One Shots: Waiting to strike
Despite (or perhaps thanks to?) recent controversy, Darkfall continues its savage, unforgiving ways as a sandbox PvP game full of danger and reward for those daring enough to take up the fight. Today's One Shots shows off a group of players, ready to strike, according to our regular contributor, Paragus. He writes in: A squad from Inquisition and other clans assume a defensive position on top of some rocks while observing the battle raging down below. We'd can only imagine their opponent's faces as they headed down off that rock towards the fray. Have you captured a fun moment from your recent adventures - alone or with friends? If so, we want to see that screenshot. Just send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and a brief description. We'll post it here and give you the credit for sending it in!%Gallery-9798%
How exactly do you review an MMO?
Reviewing MMOs is a tricky business, as Eurogamer learnt this week when they published a review of Darkfall and gave it 2/10. Developer Tasos Flambouras wasn't happy about this and published a scathing forum post in retaliation at the low score. They accused reviewer Ed Zitron of playing for a mere two hours (he asserts he played the game for over nine) and most of that time was -- according to Tasos -- spent screenshotting or creating characters. This prompted Eurogamer to respond and promise to do a re-review, which in turn prompted Tasos to respond to the response. This begs the question: how do you review an MMO? It's not like any other kind of game; there's no beginning, middle and end, just a beginning and an endless middle. Added to that, while video games are without a doubt mainstream, MMOs are a lot more niche. But Lesley, I hear you cry, how can games like Guild Wars and World of Warcraft with seventeen million players between them, be called niche?
Darkfall's Tasos calls out Eurogamer on 2/10 review
Tasos Flambouras, Lead Developer for Darkfall, is not a happy bunny after seeing how low Eurogamer scored Aventurine SA's latest game. They gave it 2 out of 10, which according to their scoring policy, rates the game as 'less entertaining than burning a ten pound note'. Nice.Quick to respond, Tasos posted a lengthy forum post. It's fascinating not for the ire and vitriol, of which there's quite a bit, but for the breakdown of how the process works. Basically he alleges that EG's reviewer Ed Zitron (formally a staffer on the UK edition of PC Zone magazine), played the game for a total of 2 hours spread across 13 sessions.
A "carebear" perspective on embracing Darkfall
Darkfall Online has a deserved reputation for being a hardcore PvP-centric massively multiplayer online game. The aggressive nature of Darkfall tends to make some gamers shy away from the title, particularly those whose comfort zone is in the PvE that other titles on the market offer. So then, is Darkfall a game that only appeals to the established hardcore PvP'er or can it hold some allure for a wider MMO audience? We came across an article at MMORPG.com today that may help answer this question, written by their Darkfall Correspondent Kelly Price titled "Darkfall: The Conversion of a Self Proclaimed Carebear" that we feel is definitely worth pointing out. Price caught our attention since much of what's written been written about the game on various MMO sites tends to be somewhat negative (or outright slagging) from the standpoint of people into more PvE-centric massively multiplayer online games, while PvP'ers have taken to Darkfall like fish to water. It's refreshing to see Price's perspective on the game, that of a (self-described) 'carebear' embracing the play experience that Darkfall offers.
The Daily Grind: To banhammer or not to banhammer
One of the things that many people absolutely can't stand about many different MMOs is how slow to respond - and generally how light the punishment - for people getting caught exploiting/botting/or generally being a flaming @#(hat. Botting might nab you only a couple of weeks off for bad behavior - if they even bother to ban you at all. Scamming other players? Smack on the wrist. Of course, on the other side of the road, you have Aventurine who, with Darkfall, have been aggressively ban-hammering anyone who appears to be doing anything fishy. No excuses, no second, third, or fourth chances. If you cheat there and they can verify it, your account gets nuked from orbit. Some players hate this, and claim that due to potential for error, it's way too dangerous. Other players think this is quite possibly one of the best things Aventurine is doing in regards to Darkfall - trying to keep it completely level and dealing with anyone who exploits, macros, etc. harshly. This morning we thought we'd ask what you feel is better - the more hands-off approach, giving people multiple chances to screw up before they're banned more common to many MMOs, or the hard-line Darkfall approach of ban first time, ban often?
