Darkfall mini review

Tyrant^

Review
after about a weekend and a bit of playing:

Been mostly PvEing and few PvP encounters.

The PvE part of the game is not finished allot of bugged mobs around that dont fight back , some camps that should have mobs have NO mobs at all, and the mobs that seem to be working as intended are difficult which I dont mind but sometimes they act erratically running around in circles, and when they run directly away from you it seems they have eyes in the back of their heads as they sometimes just know you have your bow out and aiming at them .

PvP had about 2 or 3 encounters in 1 of them I had all my best gear on and a lotta loot, allot was at stake ! Was that best buzz I got from gaming since Neocron that was about 5 or 6 years ago. I'm sure there is skill involved but I was panicking a little too much to notice. Im sure the skillful aspect comes from knowing when to run/fight/and aim!

As melee you have 2 basic attacks when you start out Overhead swing ( does more damage ? ) and Side swing ( can hit multiple opponents and is easier to aim ) Also you have a Parry key which you can use to tank and you take less damage. For range you have your mana missile which travels slow and does little AoE damage and you have your Bow travels much faster but you have to arc it the further away the target is. When you level up your skills you can get all types of magic skills, I have seen few melee skills such as Knockback, and Pull forward attack !? pulls your target towards you. Im sure there are more melee but I havnt seen them yet

And finally I have an issue with Macro'ing. I dont think they really enforce this rule I have seen plenty of people sat in a town auto casting mana missiles or people mining near town. But I seen 1 guy taking the mick completely in my own opinion he had a macro so he sprinted forward a little ( to lvl sprinting ), Crouch walked backwards ( to lvl crouch walk ), and fired a mana missle ( magic ) and he kept doing it over and over again in the safety of town.
There was a part in the most recent announcement about this but they are only going to kick and eventually ban people doing this in the Starter towns. I don't have a problem with people being at there PC macroing because you can get a major pain in the butt clicking on a rock for about 2-3 hours.

Verdict

Its not finished but still fun to play. Still allot of bugs and exploits, if AV fix these issues and adds new content and features. And make a rule NO Macroing in any town (even tho it IS possible to kill people in town if you can tank the towers and run away from other players).

This game has amazing potential to be EPIC.

KoKane

when they run directly away from you it seems they have eyes in the back of their heads as they sometimes just know you have your bow out and aiming at them .

Well even though its A.I. the same thing usually happens against players because of Audio and the sound of the bow. So I'd put it down to mimicing that aspect of running and dodging.


Yeah macroing in town was a bit silly in beta, I can only imagine the noise in release now.
Personally I dont care if people macro Mana Missile at all but I'd rather they ****ed off away from wherever it is I end up playing (the sound gets annoying after a while lol)
Besides, their gains wont be as good as those out playing the game and casting it on monsters + getting loot.

I'd also agree that mining etc in town is retarded. There should have been no resource nodes within protection of guard towers but oh well. There might be some less % to get resources from these nodes that we dont realise atm.
Might be usefull to spread a rumor around like that, ha.

WellyJ

Tyrant^ wrote: »

Review


This game has amazing potential to be EPIC.

Your review doesn't really justify this last line. Back it up please!!

I want to know why it could be Epic before I go and spend cash on it

Tyrant^

KoKane wrote:

Well even though its A.I. the same thing usually happens against players because of Audio and the sound of the bow. So I'd put it down to mimicing that aspect of running and dodging.

Thats true. But it just seems the movement is erratic could be sync/lag/bad animations... I dunno maybe I just suck

WellyJ wrote: »

Your review doesn't really justify this last line. Back it up please!!

I want to know why it could be Epic before I go and spend cash on it

I just see endless possibilities if EVERYTHING they said is implemented in later patches. For example dynamic mobs - mobs eventually pack up and leave to a new area if you farm them enough. I dont know if this has been implemented.

From the moment you enter the game you can do anything you want. You can goto the enemys starter town and try gank them as they kill goblins ? Thats just awesome ! :cool:

Only time will tell if it will live up to expectations. Besides you cant even buy the game yet ! They have to limit the amount of orders cause the server cant handle it.

I'll post another review in a few weeks.

Spunge

I agree the game needs some work. Some problems with mobs being bugged or not spawning.

The game world is amazing , all different varied interesting places to explore in a huge area, although a lot of it is empty with no mobs when travelling for quite some time.

The combat is fun and a very fresh experience in an mmo for (being used to auto click etc), having to aim and it needing skill.

The full loot is great. I read a lot of funny stories about different encounters and i tihnk thats what makes t game great, all these different occurences between players out in the wilderness, and the loot you can get from them.

About 10 of us killed some dwarf and he was stocked full of stuff, so everyone got a load of gear and gold. Its a great feeling.

You can pvp from the get-go. Naked with just a starter weapon and still get a kill or ninja loot someones body.

The macroing i know is pretty common simply by the fact it can take a lot of time to level up magic or harvest as all you have to do is continually click.

I probably wont be going back to eve for a while because although the pvp is great and all you can be waiting around for hours for a fight, but here its so easy to just go out and find someone to kill.

Ive still only scratched the surface of the skills and crafting and dont know much about clan warfare yet.

All in all im having a lot of fun.

KoKane

Wait till you get knockback. Fun doubles lol
I knocked a grey guy into guard tower range (he was walking around killing people just out of guard ranges). HE was armed to the teeth and had a full banded armour set + mount (in his pack).

1 knockback sorted him out. Somewhat lame on my part but too ****ing funny not to do it.

I've also had a 2vme, just after I had that guys gear. I was out exploring and mapping the region and encountered two equally armoured enemy guildies. Fight went on quite a bit but through stamina management and some food I could out play them.

Tyrant^

KoKane wrote: »

Wait till you get knockback. Fun doubles lol

Do you know if that other melee attack that pulls people towards you work?
Im kinda sketchy about it because people said the attack that is supposed to do more damage is not working

KoKane

Well I only know of Whirldwinnd attack, knockback, power thrust and then that one you're on about. I havent used Whirlwind or that one. So I'm not sure really but I've heard it pulls them to you. Seems a little ****ty at lower skill level, but most things are.

Ivan

Yeah, it's called sieze weapon. It's dreadful at lower skill levels and even 25-50 it's only about 5-10 yards range. But apparently it gets good enough to make it worthwhile longterm

Unattended macroing is currently against the rules and will get you banned... eventually...


And to be fair, the hype over "There is no grind in DFO" is bull****. It's just as grinding required as many other MMOs, even more so in some respects. But the fact that everything you do, every mundane and boring act within the game can involve so much risk that it makes the small little gains that much more satisfying.

Not to mention the fact that just the simple act of pvping requires you to decide over bringing the best armour and gear and buffs you can bring to the fight and risk losing it, or going naked and having a reduced chance in a fight with anyone who was willing to bring their best

So yeah, I think it's already a great game and one that can only get better with time.

WellyJ

So what is good about the game apart from the risky PVP?

Ivan

WellyJ wrote: »

So what is good about the game apart from the risky PVP?

I think you misunderstand. It isnt risky PvP. It's risky everything. Chopping a tree, farming bears and skinning them, taking a casual stroll through the countryside. You will be attacked if you arent careful, you will be killed and you will be completely looted.

Once you've accepted this fact, everything else from the common place to the exciting becomes infinitely more interesting and enjoyable. With increased risk, the same rewards seem infinitely more satisfying.

But it's the sandbox nature of the game that appeals to me most. At any given time I can join a group farming npcs for money, armour or weapons, chop some trees to make bows and arrows to sell, mine ore for my arrows or give to my blacksmith friends to turn into armour or weapons, duel/spar with guildmates in our clan city, take a group of friends to explore the countryside in search of mobs or players to kill, or just sit at my city for some over-eager clan to come look too hard and get a bloody nose as a result

Again though, I cant stress the rewarding feeling of doing something, anything! - while all the time knowing that at any minute 1-10 times your number of people in similar/better gear could turn up and kill you, loot you, teabag your corpse and not give it a seconds thought.