MMORPG.com's Phil James kicks off a new "survivor" series of articles, this time focusing on the post-apocalyptic vistas of Fallen Earth.

It's good to be in on the ground floor. I have to admit I'm pretty jealous of those who buy a game on the day of release and then play for years. While it can be good to come in later, once all the polish has been added, there's something to be said for being a veteran. I like hearing gamers tell stories of how things used to be: How long it took to travel around before transport was added; how they kept a broken quest in their journal for years until it was fixed; how tough the old bosses were before the great nerfing of '05. I have few memories like this as I played a couple of games at launch, but then took a massive break from MMOs and came back to my main two after they had a few expansions under their belts.

Most of us have games on our radar that we plan to play one day. 'Fallen Earth' sat at the top of my to do list. I'm a sucker for post apocalyptic stories and games, even going as far as enjoying 'Auto Assault'. The good thing is that the game is still pretty new, with patch 1.4 only just gone live. So while I'm not quite in on the ground floor, I've got out of the lift at the first or second floor. I've missed a few flights of stairs, but there's still a long journey to go. So this is definitely a good time to get in.

Read Fallen Earth Survivor, Part One.

  the funny thing is the tutorial is the best part of the game when you are a lvl 40 player, smooth and fun game play (later it becomes clunky) smooth animations, (yup later it becomes clunky), the use of your guns and shooting is as smooth as butter (who could have guessed, it becomes clunky) , it reminded me of Half life 2. Once you begin your extended turtorial in the open world everthing becomes different , it goes from being like half life 2 to Fallout 3 on a bad computer. The begining tutorial fools you into believing this is a fast paced shoote em up smooth as silk game and then turns into a very slow crafting game and if you like that it is fantastic, if not you will feel chated.

Woah, the screenshots look like you have the gamma turned up way too high.

Yeah, the game does not look anything like that washed out on my system. Lower your gamma, and use F to light your flashlight if it's too dark for you.

Combat's a lot less clunky than it used to be since 1.4, to be fair. That revamp really made a difference.

The revamp was a HUGE difference.  I recently went back and I'm loving it.

And, yeah - turn down the gamma and use your flashlight when needed.  Looks much better and gives a better mood.

yah 1.4 is the patch to start playing f/e imo after playing for a few months in closed beta and the first 2 months of launch after a break since then i have to say this game has improved so much.. it has its downsides(random glitches here and there) but overall is fantastic.. i find it so fun just randomly roaming around and finding things that i see off in the distance gives the game a sense of exploration and mystery..(mind you i am not one who would do or enjoy doing this in other mmos) I have finally found the true non grind mmo that i have been looking for hopfully icaras stops having finacial/restructuring problems and more ppl come to the game cause is one hell of a game(ps.. im a wow fanboy for 5 years and still am so dont call me a fe fanboy the game is just fun)

revamp? so they finally raise the combat speed? I played it on closed beta and one of the reasons I said for me not playing was the combat is too slow for my taste, its also with the AI mobs but you can't always make then that good

Originally posted by Xondar123

Woah, the screenshots look like you have the gamma turned up way too high.

The gamma wasn't turned up, it was just my old laptop.  I'm now the proud owner of a new VAIO, and the next batch of screenshots should look a lot more lush.

Great game, you should have some fun if you like scavenging and vast open spaces. Lots and lots to do :)

Originally posted by phil_james

The gamma wasn't turned up, it was just my old laptop.  I'm now the proud owner of a new VAIO, and the next batch of screenshots should look a lot more lush.

NIce article Phil.  I'm glad you are reading and responding to comments on the forums.  Not like that other guy doing to Eve survivor series. :P

Fallen Earth is a pretty cool game.  I was in the beta and I bought it at launch.  Right around level 15 it got really hard to solo level and I didn't have a clan to assist me.  I have pretty oddball play hours so it is difficult to find people to group with.  If not for that I would have continued.  From reading your article and reading up on patch 1.4 I'm going to plunk down another fifteen bucks and give it a shot for another month.  Like you I've always been a fan of post-apocalyptic games starting with Wasteland. Yes I know that comment just dated me. :)

I loved the intro for FE one of my favorites in any mmo by far.

Scot, as a fellow UK player (Hampshire, with Virgin Media 20mbs) I played the game at the end of beta on a middle of the range computer and the performance was pretty dire. Chances are they had debugging code still in of course and that always slows things down.

By launch I had a spanking new top of the range machine and FE played incredibly smoothly on maximum settings. I went back to other things because as with most MMO's I felt it was a game that was worth looking at on launch and then returning to more seriously a few months down the line. I'm about to try it again as they have seemingly fixed/improved so much, and I'm hoping the performance is still good - my understanding is that they've improved it since launch anyway but I'm guessing that it will still depend on your computer's specs.

Originally posted by OldBiker

I was in the beta and I bought it at launch.  Right around level 15 it got really hard to solo level and I didn't have a clan to assist me.  I have pretty oddball play hours so it is difficult to find people to group with.  If not for that I would have continued.  

I don't mean to sound like an ass or anything, but you were doing something wrong.  The game is incredibly easy to solo all the way to level cap.  In fact, there is very little reason short of PvP to bother grouping with anyone at all.

Originally posted by Draemos

Originally posted by OldBiker

I was in the beta and I bought it at launch.  Right around level 15 it got really hard to solo level and I didn't have a clan to assist me.  I have pretty oddball play hours so it is difficult to find people to group with.  If not for that I would have continued.  

I don't mean to sound like an ass or anything, but you were doing something wrong.  The game is incredibly easy to solo all the way to level cap.  In fact, there is very little reason short of PvP to bother grouping with anyone at all.

@Draemos: Well, maybe he went up to S2 straight at level 15, and maybe he wasn't playing melee?

Maybe he didn't hit all the starter towns and do all the bonus AP missions in S1?

Or maybe he couldn't get a group together for Kingman Prison and couldn't get past the Master Clone Executioner? Or the Doctor in Watchtower? Or got munched by boss spiders repeatedly in the cave in Spider Hill.... these are all possibilities, and they wouldn't mean he was doing anything "wrong".

I wouldn't be so quick to judge. I've seen people tell new players to go to S2 at level 15, but there are very few players who will have built their first toon well enough to survive that. Most people are better off leaving it til level 20. There is, of course, no rule that says you can't skip content and come back to solo it when you've outlevelled it, and no rule that says you can't  go back into S1 if S2 is handing you your butt repeatedly....just most players (rightly or wrongly) would see that as regression rather than progression.

@OldBiker Oddball play hours shouldn't matter too much, there should be players from the EU and Australia on at hours that are odd for the US, and vice versa. I play a lot in the mornings, EU time, (time of this post for example) and there are always people around. I'm starting to think I've been mega-lucky when it comes to grouping, since I managed to for all the tough spots mentioned above, and I'm not clanned either. Running a melee alt yesterday and there were bunches of people looking to group in Kingman. I didn't have the missions yet so I could be SOL looking for a group today.

There are indeed vistas on the tutorial as well. These are the environmentalists, so to speak. You should bump into them in the tutorial just before you meet face to face with Elena Winters.

Don't be hatin' on Auto Assault!

I bought Fallen Earth a month ago, and I'm enjoying it.  It's not a cookie-cutter game, and has a very nice style.

Originally posted by Hopscotch73

Originally posted by Draemos

Originally posted by OldBiker

I was in the beta and I bought it at launch.  Right around level 15 it got really hard to solo level and I didn't have a clan to assist me.  I have pretty oddball play hours so it is difficult to find people to group with.  If not for that I would have continued.  

I don't mean to sound like an ass or anything, but you were doing something wrong.  The game is incredibly easy to solo all the way to level cap.  In fact, there is very little reason short of PvP to bother grouping with anyone at all.

@Draemos: Well, maybe he went up to S2 straight at level 15, and maybe he wasn't playing melee?

 

Maybe he didn't hit all the starter towns and do all the bonus AP missions in S1?

 

Or maybe he couldn't get a group together for Kingman Prison and couldn't get past the Master Clone Executioner? Or the Doctor in Watchtower? Or got munched by boss spiders repeatedly in the cave in Spider Hill.... these are all possibilities, and they wouldn't mean he was doing anything "wrong".

 

I wouldn't be so quick to judge.

 I played a rifle to cap, you don't have to be melee to cruise through the game.  And if your stopping at certain quests because you can't get a group and not just moving on to the other soloable quests... well your doing something wrong.

Basically, you listed a bunch of things he might have done wrong, and then you prattle at me about not judging him for doing something wrong....

I went back to FE recently having played it at launch, and very briefly in beta, and the performance and graphics have definitely been improved. I disagree about the tutorial being the best part of the game though. I thought it was weak and unconvincing. I haven't played the tutorial since launch though.

I quit fe all together.  I log on I hardly see anybody playing maybee 20 or so folks.

It is a shame the decided to nerf crafting, Then upped the level to 50.