All Posts by SignusM

Originally posted by DeaconX

Originally posted by SignusM

KotoR 3 won't be a full fledged MMORPG. It'll have MMO elements, but when you think about it, KotOR, while being an awesome single player game, wouldn't make a great MMO.

 

I don't understand these people who think that if a game is fun singleplayer, then it must have a multiplayer to make it even more awesome! They use the same logic with Elder Scrolls, which would suck as an MMO.

As for the next Star Wars MMO, its supposed to be set in the Old Republic, yes, but by Old Republic, they mean Clone Wars era. That's not to say this KotOR MMO isn't coming out, but its not the SWG successor.

I totally agree, but one minor correction.  The term "Old Republic" isn't JUST the Clone Wars.  The Old Republic lasted for many thousands of years.  The Clone Wars were actually near the decline and eventual downfall of the Old Republic era - when Palpatine became 'the Emperor', turning it into the Galactic Empire.

The NEW REPUBLIC happened after the Empire is overthrown by the REBEL ALLIANCE which was started by old Republic loyalists.

Useless info hurra, hehe

Nah, this I know. What I meant to point out was that the game that will take over for SWG will be set during the Clone Wars era, if not specifically the clone wars, then at least the Prequel movies.

Originally posted by ghoul31

Originally posted by Shadowoak

Originally posted by ghoul31

So you enjoy being a sheep? And you enjoy being ganked constantly? Then yes, you will enjoy this game.

 

 

So, you haven't read his post at all?

 

He said he is content being prey. And he will be prey a lot.

You seem to be under the false assumption that this game will be nothing but a nonstop gank fest. Reality makes this fact of yours seem false. Neither of us know how much ganking there will be in Darkfall, and no one seriously following the game (as the OP surely is) pretends they won't die. But to be prey a lot? Do you realize how difficult the life of an outlaw is going to be? Or do you just assume you'll be freely killing everyone you see and no one will ever stop you?

If this was a PvE scentric game like WoW, I could see your point. In Vanguard, leveling speed was slow slow slow, in line with the old style MMOs, but it has since been increased to make it easier. The normal fanbase does not like this and wanted it slow, so yes its a bit of a joke.

Warhammer however, is the spiritual successor to Dark Age of Camelot. In DAoC, leveling was long and painful, one of the hardest grinds in memory for me. The problem with this was PvE wasn't the focus of the game, so you forced people down this grueling grind treadmill before they could get to the fun part of the game, level 50 RvR. Mythic has learned from their mistakes and made it so that not only is leveling not a huge chore, but you can do it while RvRing (an addition they made to Camelot that proved quite popular).

This is an RvR game, your argument has no weight.

KotoR 3 won't be a full fledged MMORPG. It'll have MMO elements, but when you think about it, KotOR, while being an awesome single player game, wouldn't make a great MMO.

I don't understand these people who think that if a game is fun singleplayer, then it must have a multiplayer to make it even more awesome! They use the same logic with Elder Scrolls, which would suck as an MMO.

As for the next Star Wars MMO, its supposed to be set in the Old Republic, yes, but by Old Republic, they mean Clone Wars era. That's not to say this KotOR MMO isn't coming out, but its not the SWG successor.

The game is dead. Fundamentally flawed in so many ways. So much of the game that was promised still isn't even there. Not to mention its still overinstanced, and still a theme park game. Patches to fix performance won't fix it. Performance didn't kill the game, develop lies did. And so they have fallen from 1,000,000 to under 150,000

Originally posted by happyclappy

I like deewe's points too especially

• puzzles,
• traps, random
• underwater exploration

I don't understand why more random stuff doesn't happen, random = fun and must be fairly easy to do even if the randomness has a negative effect on your character. (correct me if I'm wrong but even Asheron's Call had this).

Only game I know of with great underwater content are Dark Age of Camelot and EverQuest, not sure about EQ. GRRR why have MMOs REGRESSED?!

Originally posted by erandur

Originally posted by SignusM

Honestly, only game out there right now that really fits that is Vanguard.

 

Darkfall and GW2 aren't released yet... :)

A fact I know all too well. Though GWs isn't even an MMO, I don't have high hopes at all for GW2. Darkfall is really the only quality product on the horizon. If it can deliver.

Honestly, only game out there right now that really fits that is Vanguard.

Originally posted by fugue14

lineage 2:
human, dwarf, dark elf, high elf, orc
vanguard:
human, dwarf, dark elf, high elf, orc
warhammer:
human, dwarf, dark elf, high elf, orc
darkfall:
human, dwarf, dark elf, high elf, orc

 

For the record, Vanguard has like... hmm 16+ races? You mentioned none of the others. Good job at being a troll.

Also, this is just typical of fantasy, like others said, blame Tolkien for being such a genius and trend setter.

Originally posted by Suvroc

lol great post!

I'd even pay a higher sub fee for a higher quality and premium product like you described. 

Whats really sad is that games just 4 years ago used to cover almost all of these points. MMOs have fallen so so far. Keep your eyes on Darkfall, its essentially one of the last quality MMOs of the old style to be coming out.

Originally posted by TenSpotting

Forget about the fact that this game is no where even remotely near the 40 million dollar products like WoW or War currently dominating the industry are, forget about the fact that based on all known info to date it looks like nothing more than a generic functioning combat system with dated graphics and poor animations, forget about the fact that it doesn't even have any solid dates for a Beta or a launch less than 3 months before the end of the year... and you still end up with the fact that it will be trying to succeed and make $ in one of the worste world economies ever...  surely one of the worste ever in the United States where basically all of it's player based would come from.

So much wrong with that one little block of text. The U.S. represents only about half of their fans, a little more than half actually, based on several polls, and the worst econemy ever? Give me a break, come back to me when we are at Great Depression level.

The "generic combat system" is lighyears ahead of any current combat system in an MMO, and the "dated graphics" you're talking about was one raw footage video at medium low settings. Fail more troll. I guess the vaportrolls that haven't coverted have just turned into "Well... it exists... but... it'll suck!"

Originally posted by Death1942

i'm sorry but 10,000 at once is just plain rediculous.  i dont care how friggen good your programming is there is far too many variables that interfere with the game to make a lag free game with that many players.  Battles with hundreds?  thats achievable but some cuts needs to be made (graphics and effects mainly).

 

 

you can argue all you want but until we get decent connections, better servers and even better programming we wont see lag free games.

 

good luck to Darkfall and i can see maybe up to 100 at once (damn big fight) could be lag free (with those graphics and sparse landscape)

EVE has 300,000 players on one server. You...are an idiot.

Originally posted by jadan2000

where did you read that combos were being dumbed down. i dont see that in the notes. Are you adding stuff?

Haha the combos can hardly go down any further. Just more and more influence from WoW kiddies on the market. The game when it hit closed beta had 8 directional attacks, but the l33t WoW kiddie raider guilds couldn't handle game mechanics that actually had you think about something, so they nerfed it to 3. 

Originally posted by Pontifus

Originally posted by SignusM

 Its because the game is an extremely shallow rip off of all the games that came before it. Not a single unique features on its list, not a single innovation. It did extremely well because it was extremely simple and marketed at people who had never played (better/harder) MMOs before. Some people just want a casual game, thats fine, but it created a wave of blathering idiots that thought everything should be like WoW and that it was the Second Coming in game form, when in reality, it is nothing special. Just a well polished game of simplified tried and true methods. And its success caused all other MMOs (save maybe one or two) to copy it directly, and thus we have mass stagnation and dumbing down of the market, resulting in crappy games. 

 

I hear this often, so I'm going to take a moment to respond to this opinion in general. In his most famous critical essay, T. S. Eliot hit the nail on the head when he described new works of literature as new takes on what came before. Eliot was a smart man. Most art works like this; you can't make something out of nothing. WoW being a descendant of the Everquest school doesn't mean it's a ripoff. It's simply the logical next step in a natural process of artistic development. EQ being the popular Western MMO of the time, it's no surprise that Blizzard chose it as a source of inspiration.

WoW is also called "extremely shallow" in the quoted post. I submit that any work of art is only as shallow or as deep as people allow it to be; there's no such thing as inherent depth. If you take the time to invesitage a narrative, it becomes deep for your investigation. If even one person finds depth in WoW, then, by God, there's depth in WoW. And if you feel the urge to argue, at this point, that video games aren't art, then what are you doing here?

Also, I'll ask that you all don't brand me a "fanboi" for two reasons: 1. I don't play WoW (though I used to), and 2. in standard written English, "boy" is spelled with a Y, not an I, so if you have to call me something, call me a "fanboy," if you don't mind. A pretentious literature student I may be, but I'm no mindless fan; I'm too wary of value judgments for that.

While what you say is valid, that is literature. All stories have already been told, so they say, its just how you spin it and dress it up, what the characters are like. That's literature. In literature you can create depth where none was ever intended. You can take a childrens novel and fill it with hidden meanings. You can take J.R.R Tolkien's works, and pretend it is filled with alegory and Hitler references, despite direct statements from the author proving that false. 

In games... you cannot take a shallow game and "create" features. You can roleplay, and make the world have more depth, inside your head. But the game itself will not become any more complex.

WoW was not an evolution in the genre, it was a streamlining of it. Most games that came out after EverQuest mirrored it in a way, taking popular game mechanics that had been around since pen and paper games of the past, but there are usually new draws. In DAoC, the PvE was almost exactly like EverQuest, though a little simpler. The RvR on the other hand (that it invented) was nothing before seen in a game. WoW doesn't have that. WoW does not have a single feature that is new or unique. All it has are features from other games made easy and simple for the Myspace and Xbox generation of gamers. 

No challenge, no depth, no difficulty, no risk vs reward, no real community, no penalty for messing up. Its just instant gratification. Most old gamers don't like that. The new gamers that WoW attracted (many of which, don't even know the MMO genre exists outside of WoW) don't care that they are missing out on deeper and potentially more rewarding experiences. Ignorance is bliss. They are happy with their WoW.

The rest of us are not. I played WoW for 4 hours before never logging in again because I had done it all before, and better, in older games.

WoW was old when it came out 4 years ago. What makes anyone think I will enjoy a game that is exactly like it (IE, every major MMO WoW, with some exceptions like WAR(though it is very similar in some regards) and EVE) I want something different, or at least something deep. 

 Its because the game is an extremely shallow rip off of all the games that came before it. Not a single unique features on its list, not a single innovation. It did extremely well because it was extremely simple and marketed at people who had never played (better/harder) MMOs before. Some people just want a casual game, thats fine, but it created a wave of blathering idiots that thought everything should be like WoW and that it was the Second Coming in game form, when in reality, it is nothing special. Just a well polished game of simplified tried and true methods. And its success caused all other MMOs (save maybe one or two) to copy it directly, and thus we have mass stagnation and dumbing down of the market, resulting in crappy games. 

Originally posted by Blodpls

Most interesting bit of this interview is that the finance guy says that they have been getting government funding, probably EU funding to help boost the tech industry in Greece I would imagine.

If this is the case then it makes more sense on why it's taken such a long time to produce this game.  If they are getting a grant then it would greatly reduce the pressure to release as EU money will keep flowing as long as they are employing people. 

Investors are getting a really good deal cause they aren't paying the whole tab but will get most of the benefit if it's successful.

Hopeful this will result in a better game in the long run, it does raise some competition issues though as it makes it much harder to compete for companies not getting tax payers Euro's to support the production of their games.

Also it may shine some light on why they refuse to hand over control of the game to a US publisher, that might result in the tap being turned off. 

Why would you want to sign the rights to a company like EA, have the extra publisher pressure and lose control when the EU will keep delivering trucks full of cash to you anyway without harassing you?

 

Aventurine has always claimed that while funds weren't limitless, they had deep pockets, and nothing was forcing them out the door.

Originally posted by Polarization

What exactly is their to gloat about, its yet another Greek article from a virtually unknown publication, that community members had to find and translate before any of us new it even existed. 

Where is the coverage from the “various mainstream media” Tasos was talking about happening 4 months ago?, this is certainly not it.

Well, actually, its a major Greek newspaper, which is why it was found so quickly. This is the third or fourth Darkfall article to appear in the media recently.

Good to see they got those new computers Tasos was talking about earlier this year.

The article is actually quite objective which makes a nice change though.

Notice he says they have been working on Darkfall for 7 years, so much for the “they started from scratch” crap.

Notice he says it’s a “small team” so much for the “they have 30, 40, 50+ people working on the game” crap.

 

30-40 people is a very small team these days

Originally posted by Xris375

Aye Natascha and Henning are both very good artists in their own right. I believe N. has retired somewhat because of her illness.

Interesting to see that they have gotten over 100k beta application with hardly any advertising.

Word of mouth. Were you unaware that when the video came out the number of members on the forum almost doubled? Now its even higher. Its gone from 60k to about 120k, and how many do you think registered for beta? :)

Originally posted by zymurgeist

 

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Originally posted by SignusM
And yet MMOs managed just fine before instancing came along. Games have gotten simpler over the years, not harder. People are under the false impression that stuff like this is impossible just because companies haven't done it in a while.  

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 No they really didn't. Don't believe me? Read this excerpt from the original 1997 UO review on Gamespot.

"Ultima Online is, of course, an Internet-only game, but to date it has done largely a poor job at handling the finicky nature of the Internet. As a result, lag seriously limits the game's enjoyment and, at times, renders the game virtually unplayable. During peak hours (6-12pm), lag is often so bad that your character will be unable to walk more than a few steps without pausing, even if you have relatively speedy Internet access. Simple tasks, such as moving inventory items or talking with other characters, become tedious exercises in frustration, and combat occasionally becomes an uncontrollable nightmare. Origin can't be held responsible for the nature of the Internet, but Ultima Online was designed from its outset to be played exclusively over the Internet and it should do a better job of coping with lag. Other online games handle lag more effectively, and Ultima Online's inability to provide a consistently playable experience is its greatest flaw. Obviously some players feel that the lag is tolerable, otherwise the game wouldn't be so crowded during peak hours, but you'll be doing yourself a favor if you play during off hours whenever possible. (Bump up this review's "Gameplay" and "Reviewer's Tilt" ratings by three points if Ultima Online ever manages to sort out the problem.)"

The other games who can handle lag he refers to aren't MMOs. They are multiplayer games that break things up into what are in effect instances.

WoW is technically a far more complicated game than UO on both the client and server sides. The original UO server code could be put on a single CD. The WoW client can no longer fit on a single DvD. It's more demanding of hardware, software, memory, processor, network, storage and video resources than UO ever dreamed of being. Most current MMOs are actually more demanding than WoW. Even with the rapid pace of improvement over the past decade hardware has not been able to keep up with the requirements.

How Darkfall deals with all this remains to be seen.

You realize that is all poorly managed network lag, yes? That doesn't really have much to do with instancing. Most of the "unique" features mentioned that have "never before" been in MMOs would not harm the game network wise, they'd harm the game while people try to process on their own personal computers. Seeing as massives worlds like EQ, DAoC, and, even better example, Vanguard manage fine without instancing and the numerous other gameplay limiting "features" implemented over the years.

The real network killer that I can see coming along would be the twitch combat, no idea how they're going to pull that off.

Originally posted by roodbwoy

I am very curious about their technology and game-engine. I have been following this game for a year or 5 and grew very curious to it. But, I really start to notice different features they promise which are in my eyes not doable with the common technology we have.

Flying monsters who fly at different heights, massive A.I., Mobs trying to take over city's/lairs, mobs who raid, mobs who "think"/"remember" you...

Dark Age of Camelot was out in 2000, and it had flying monsters that swooped in and blew your raid to hell. The AI is nothing spectacular in the game market, its just something new to the MMO market, because companies want their games to be easy so more people will play them, so they don't want their AI to be as skilled as Quake bots, or run away before they die, because you need to actually kill the mob to get exp! Not in Darkfall.

Raiding lairs has been around since 1998, and has been in a few games. Mobs remembering you, that I'm not sure about, most likely just a reputation thing.

I mean, stop daydreaming and take a look at the promised content, they need a fucking Gibson to process all that data, no instances means a shitload of constant data need to being processed.

And yet MMOs managed just fine before instancing came along. Games have gotten simpler over the years, not harder. People are under the false impression that stuff like this is impossible just because companies haven't done it in a while.

A.I. is not easy, A.I. is very very hardware demaning, specially when you have a land which is not instanced filled with mobs who have that kind of A.I. and players running around who interacted which those mobs on a different way so the mobs react to each player on a different way, thats a shitload of data to be remembered/processed.

Even MMOs today have this tech, alginment.

 

I think when the game hits the shelf and the people enter the game they are amazed about the raiding mobs but soon discover that it is the same kind of A.I. they used in SWG. You build a player city and *pop* random mob lairs spawn around the city, "raiding the city", happens every so hours/days, different kind of mobs, different difficulty, nothing new, nothing special, in the end it will be a pest and an annoyance.

The game sounds to good to be true, and trust me, I am no fanboi/hater/other moronic nu-internet slang who just bashes the game, if this game is for real, I quit my job, murder my girlfriend and play play play

But to save myself from any dissapointments, I have to be realistic and look at the past, look at what other game companys promised and delivered, look at singleplayer games with "massive A.I.", eveything is scripted in a way, and yes, I know about the PvP and it sounds hawt, but the developers are also very keen on their PvE and mention it alot...