I am glad to see FE  having at least some success post-launch. I took part in the early testing of FE but  could never get into it despite wanting too. There was just something about the overall "feel" of the game I didn't like.

Spot on review IMO.

Fair and honest.

Well done MMORPG.

My experience was that FE starts out strong - the crafting is interesting and varied, scavenging is kinda fun,  it's a different kind of world - but that it wears off. Long travel times aren't fun, combat animations are weak (especially melee when you are trying to work out if you hit the target or not) and being able to easily gimp your character shouldn't be a design feature.

FE is for a certain kind of player and I'm not it. Of the players I've known who have started playing post-launch, very few hung on past their first month after the whole, 'I've got to craft HOW much more stuff?' or 'I'm doing this next bit why?' set in (or even 'I've gimped my character, haven't I?').

As for the review: it really seems that MMORPG.com went for the safe option and said, "the game is okay but it's got potential! Look at the potential!". I'm all for indie MMOs succeeding but I think FE is going to find it hard to keep growing its player base.

Given the inherent complexities involved with any MMO, I see the OP review as shallow and uninformative. I am subscribed to Fallen Earth and I play it for a short time most nights, but it does not scratch any kind of adventure or challenge itch for me. In fact, I usually enjoy it before bed like a cup of warm camomile tea.

It takes more than a bunch of sand on the ground to designate a game as being a sand box. Although the surface looks apocolyptic enough, waiting just under that fake patina is a game driven by linear systems and devoid of risk or challenge - odd in any game perhaps, but it seems conspicously absent in a world that styles itself to be something dangerous and unforgiving. The game is largely, if not completely soloable and although I have multiple bars of abilities and self buffs, I rarely need to do more than hold down both mouse buttons while pointing the big aiming circle at the mob. The mob dies, I almost never do (except when lag-sliding head first down a steep decline while exlporing). Although quests are generally well written (kudos due here), they are predictable and yes, there is the little quest indicator over everyone's head for those who just don't have time for games.

This is an MMO, and the review mentioned little if anything about the social aspect of it. And really, one would be remiss without mentioning that the game plays like a single player RPG. Having played since pre-release, I have "spoken" to only one person in the game and I have yet to group (no need, no desire). For a variety of reasons, this is the first game where I do not feel compelled to even consider joining a guild/clan.

And yet I play...almost every night. It's good enough for that, to be sure, but I think the score of 7.5 is a bit generous when measured as an MMO. Whether the game has a bright future is anyone's guess. But with some type of fast travel and player cities promised sometime in the future, I'll say this: if you want an interesting single player post-apocolyptic experience, Fallen Earth will likely satisfy your need, but hurry, it probably won't be that way for long. And as we're all looking to stretch that dollar nowadays, Fallen Earth is a bargain at twice the price.

Perhaps one of the game's most puzzling flaws, however, is its lack of identity. The dichotomy of character between the gritty desert in a post-apocolyptic landscape juxtaposed against an overforgiving game with little to no fear or challenge from its PVE makes for a schizophrenic experience that could cause many players to leave without ever knowing why.

Lastly, I cannot leave without a positive comment regarding the development and design staff. Their committment to project and process methodology is readily apparent in both their interaction with the fans/media and the relative quality of their code releases.

Fallen Earth is a good game; nothing more, nothing less.

 i won't play this game cause of it's ugly graphics 

Originally posted by GetViolated

 i won't play this game cause of it's ugly graphics 

Usually i would make some kind of witty response to this because i always believe gameplay takes precedence over graphics any day. This time I agree.

I really want to play a post apocalyptic MMO, but if I'm to do that I need great visuals. I just can't immerse myself in a post apocalyptic future unless I feel I'm actually in one. Fallout 3 did a great job on the graphics that I were enabled to feel part of the world. After watching gameplay videos of Fallen Earth and screen shots I just can't see myself getting that feeling with this game.

The gameplay may be stellar but as a post apocalyptic MMO I need visuals to go with it. The "Feel" you get being involved from an imaginary online world has to match up graphics wise otherwise it's just another game

Fairly good review but there is one factual mistake.

Your combat skills do not in any way determine hit or miss, that is entirely based on your manual aiming. What the skills do is they modify how much base damage you do.

The game looks at the difference between the attack skill and the defense skill once an attack hits and that difference cause an increase or decrease in the base damage. First ten point give a +/- 1% per point, the next 20 give +/-1 per 2 points and so on until the cap of +/- 40%.

Such a shame this is not a game yet launched in Europe or I would have jumped on board. As for the graphics it is an apocalyptic world, do you really need to see rust and hand crafted hand me downs in that much detail?

A review without engaging in PvP which, supposedly, is one of the biggest features? Why didnt the reviewer spend some more time and actually do some PvP before writing a review?

People who wont try and game cause it looks bad are just dumb and retarded. I will try any game out there no matter how bad it looks it matters how well it play's.

Originally posted by Deien

People who wont try and game cause it looks bad are just dumb and retarded. I will try any game out there no matter how bad it looks it matters how well it play's.

I heard Free Realms and Toon Town plays very well. You might want to give them a try.

Seriously though, to completely dismiss graphics as a factor is equally moronic. Because if it weren't for graphics then there's no reason to play any other game than UO.

Originally posted by Scot

Such a shame this is not a game yet launched in Europe or I would have jumped on board. As for the graphics it is an apocalyptic world, do you really need to see rust and hand crafted hand me downs in that much detail?

I need to see more than there currently is so yes. For immersion purposes.

I have played a ton of games in my lifetime and i can honestly say that only 4 or 5 of them have i been able to fully immerse myself in just like when you read a book. I have never been able to fully Immerse myself in a MMO for several reasons.

Having said that after playing Fallout 3 and thinking of the endless possibilities of a post apocalyptic game i realize that 1. I want to play one badly 2. I want to feel like I'm in a post apocalyptic world. I can't feel that way if the graphics suck. I can have fun and run around shooting things up all day long but what it comes down to it is I want to see and feel I'm a part of a destroyed world. Graphics plays a major part in that. A post apocalyptic MMO is a mmo i would WANT to immerse myself in and not just play like any other game IE focus on leveling up and getting phat loot. If that was the case I might as well keep on playing Diablo 2 which from the looks of it I will have to.

---

Originally posted by describable
it's weird why dated visuals are always a bad point, if it had up to date visuals then the 1 server thing would not be a viable option due to the increased lag on all ends. it'd be less of an MMO and more of a shard/server fest.
I mean if WoW didn't have cross realm Bgs and Dungeons, it wouldn't even be high on my list.. the visuals are hardly stunning but to fit so many on a server is pretty good and it is the most successful MMO.
Unlike some others with high visuals, what did happen to Vanguard, and i hear AoC is widely popular now.. *cough* then there's tabula rasa... oh wait.... no there isn;t ;)
an MMO MUST have dated visuals as gameplay must come first, it's an MMO (object to get as many people to SUBSCRIBE to it) not a single player game (object to get as many people to buy and play it, complete it in 5 hours and trade in) :-p
not that i think fallen earths visuals are that bad, but reviewers and fanboys (not gamers) from other games have to bitch about something.

---

LAG has in most cases nothing to do with high graphics. See lag can either be server side or your side. your side means your PC cant handle it, but that is normally not the case. The problem is, that once you mention one server games they need to put all of their people on one server (well thers more servers, but lets not get into details), and normally servers cant handle it which cases lag. it has nothing to do with high visuals, its server side.

funny thing if it is your side, high visuals can actually help. eve had a really old graphics engine based on CPU which was not really able to use your graphics card the way it should. so even if people went and bought high end graphics cards it didn't help, because the engine was unable to use the resources, cause it was so heavy CPU based. CCP then released a new engine which had higher quality graphics, and was also able to use the fancy graphics cards that we have nowdays, and the game ran better and faster, with higher quality graphics.

WoW should do the same, they certainly have the resources for it. see wows graphics engine suffers from the same problem. its not effective. it cant make good use of the resources in your computer, most importantly your graphics card. so when you get to dalaran and it lags on high graphic settings, you go and buy a better graphics card, but it wont help. the game wont be able to use it properly. so they need to make a new graphics engine, which will be able to take good use of your machine, and will then actually run better on higher graphics settings.

Originally posted by Deien

People who wont try and game cause it looks bad are just dumb and retarded. I will try any game out there no matter how bad it looks it matters how well it play's.

Heh. What is retarted is to buy the latest GFX card, CPU and memory and play games that does not take advantage of that.

If you dont want to spend money on your computer to make games look better than that is your choice. Alot of other gamers do spend alot of money on their rigs and want to see some results of that.

I have no problem playing, and I'm in Sweden. Lot's of  europeans are  playing.

According the Developers of Fallen Earth the maximum level going 150 with over 10 sectors including Las Vegas.

Originally posted by Yamota

Heh. What is retarted is to buy the latest GFX card, CPU and memory and play games that does not take advantage of that.

If you dont want to spend money on your computer to make games look better than that is your choice. Alot of other gamers do spend alot of money on their rigs and want to see some results of that.

High end graphics is quite a double edged sword in an mmo. You could end up limiting your player base.

Depends on what crowd you are playing to as well. To get a big non-instanced world, the trade off was high end graphics. If everything was compartmentalized (heavily zoned and instanced) than that's a whole different scenario.

Originally posted by Player_420

I enjoyed the part where the reviewer admitted he couldnt "get into the town based pvp conflict"...which starts at sector 2 which is level 16-18+.....so your admitting you really didnt get very far in the game?

another joke review in my opinion from a guy who couldnt even experiance endgame content which I find very enjoyable 3 months in.

So maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but we have to wait 3 months before the game gets fun?

Maybe some aren't willing to do that.

 I agree, I think, right now, the game that has the most room to improve and become better, is this game. It has the fun sandbox type of gameplay lots of people will like. If only our stereotype for MMO's weren't so high when it comes to graphics and combat. I think they could use revamping. The graphics compare as in to SWG graphics. Very, old. Combat on the other hand is, not as hardcore as expected. If they could improve the FPS combat, and animations. The game would be Irriestiable. Maybe use the combat system alittle more along the lines of borderlands. 

Originally posted by Scot

Such a shame this is not a game yet launched in Europe or I would have jumped on board. As for the graphics it is an apocalyptic world, do you really need to see rust and hand crafted hand me downs in that much detail?

Eh? The game is download only and is a world release. A recent survery showed that around 40% of the people who play it are from Europe.