I really don't know where I should begin with this. I had high expectations for this game ever since I started tracking it three years ago. It looked like it'd be the glorious successor to Ultima Online's throne in terms of gameplay and freedom to do whatever the hell you wanted in the game world, but I can't believe how wrong I was in thinking that.
After spending fifty bucks to download a bloated client weighing in at roughly nine gigabytes and eventually patching a few hundred more megabytes I found myself finally logging into the game. It took roughly five minutes to boot up completely which was a bit of a disappointment, but I cast it aside as normal, seeing as how it had to render the entire game world which was supposedly massive.
But then it happened.
As soon as my character materialized into the world, I was greeted by a slipshod tutorial which covered the very basics of gameplay control which spanned an entire six pages which could be easily read through in under five minutes. I finished reading through this, then closed the gump only to see how fucking horrible the world looked.
I don't know, maybe that's why they put the bulky tutorial in the dead center of the screen; maybe they were ashamed of how horrible their game looked, or perhaps the fact that they asked retail cost and subscription fee for an abortion of a game, but as soon as I saw it I knew what was in store for me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means prudish, snobbish, or parvenu about these kinds of things. I still play Ultima Online, and it doesn't have amazing graphics, but it's still an enjoyable experience since the artwork was all well made. Darkfall's cities and outlying stretches of land look primitive even by Dark Age of Camelot's standards. I shit you not.
I quickly disregarded this and thought that perhaps the gameplay would make up for it. So with that in mind, I made my way to the NPC questgiver that stood only a few steps in front of the spawn point and took the two tasks he asked of me.
"Slay four goblins, and collect four axes from their remains." This didn't seem like much of a problem at all. I mean, in most MMORPG's, or even RPG's for that matter, goblins aren't very dangerous at all. Well, that's what I thought until I traveled to one of their camps. If Darkfall has anything going for it, it's definitely the NPC AI. These goblins will team up and rape the shit out of you. I've never seen NPC's use such dirty, underhanded tactics in order to win in any other MMO to date.
Anyway, it took a bit of time using hit-and-run tactics, but I eventually killed one and a... gravestone popped up where it died, which was obviously what I needed to target to loot the creature, and in doing so came the next big problem I had: looting. While looting is handled much like in UO in where you need to target the 'corpse' of the creature you felled and drag everything from it to your backpack. In Darkfall, it's a much slower process, and all the while any creatures or players in the immediate area can, and will, get behind you and commence brutally ass raping you while you're aiming towards the ground to loot the spoils of battle.
I don't know, like I said I really wanted to like this game, and there are several other problems with it, but where it really shines is the PVP aspect. Sadly, though, that isn't by any means the only thing you need to make a good game. Perhaps if this game was designed as an arena-style MMO in which case the only goal was to fight other players, it would have worked wonders. However, the crafting, gathering, and PVM aspects of the game feel clunky, uninspired, and just altogether unfinished. Pass on this game and go play EVE, Warhammer Online, or something else that's worth your time. As is, this game just isn't.
Thanks a lot for the recommendation, Mike, you faggot.
After spending fifty bucks to download a bloated client weighing in at roughly nine gigabytes and eventually patching a few hundred more megabytes I found myself finally logging into the game. It took roughly five minutes to boot up completely which was a bit of a disappointment, but I cast it aside as normal, seeing as how it had to render the entire game world which was supposedly massive.
But then it happened.
As soon as my character materialized into the world, I was greeted by a slipshod tutorial which covered the very basics of gameplay control which spanned an entire six pages which could be easily read through in under five minutes. I finished reading through this, then closed the gump only to see how fucking horrible the world looked.
I don't know, maybe that's why they put the bulky tutorial in the dead center of the screen; maybe they were ashamed of how horrible their game looked, or perhaps the fact that they asked retail cost and subscription fee for an abortion of a game, but as soon as I saw it I knew what was in store for me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means prudish, snobbish, or parvenu about these kinds of things. I still play Ultima Online, and it doesn't have amazing graphics, but it's still an enjoyable experience since the artwork was all well made. Darkfall's cities and outlying stretches of land look primitive even by Dark Age of Camelot's standards. I shit you not.
I quickly disregarded this and thought that perhaps the gameplay would make up for it. So with that in mind, I made my way to the NPC questgiver that stood only a few steps in front of the spawn point and took the two tasks he asked of me.
"Slay four goblins, and collect four axes from their remains." This didn't seem like much of a problem at all. I mean, in most MMORPG's, or even RPG's for that matter, goblins aren't very dangerous at all. Well, that's what I thought until I traveled to one of their camps. If Darkfall has anything going for it, it's definitely the NPC AI. These goblins will team up and rape the shit out of you. I've never seen NPC's use such dirty, underhanded tactics in order to win in any other MMO to date.
Anyway, it took a bit of time using hit-and-run tactics, but I eventually killed one and a... gravestone popped up where it died, which was obviously what I needed to target to loot the creature, and in doing so came the next big problem I had: looting. While looting is handled much like in UO in where you need to target the 'corpse' of the creature you felled and drag everything from it to your backpack. In Darkfall, it's a much slower process, and all the while any creatures or players in the immediate area can, and will, get behind you and commence brutally ass raping you while you're aiming towards the ground to loot the spoils of battle.
I don't know, like I said I really wanted to like this game, and there are several other problems with it, but where it really shines is the PVP aspect. Sadly, though, that isn't by any means the only thing you need to make a good game. Perhaps if this game was designed as an arena-style MMO in which case the only goal was to fight other players, it would have worked wonders. However, the crafting, gathering, and PVM aspects of the game feel clunky, uninspired, and just altogether unfinished. Pass on this game and go play EVE, Warhammer Online, or something else that's worth your time. As is, this game just isn't.
Thanks a lot for the recommendation, Mike, you faggot.
