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Fallen Earth Review: Front-Runner for the Sandbox Crown - Edit
8
| Pros |
 Engrossing content Great crafting system No gated content True sandbox environment |
| Cons |
 Combat sucks the big one Humdrum questing More care needed |
If gaming has taught me anything it's that a catastrophic, apocalyptic event will result in a sepia-toned world, and a few more Mohawk haircuts than usual. Steeped in the afterbirth of Fallout 3 and films such as Mad Max, Fallen Earth is pastiche to all things dystopia, as well as sandbox. Ultima Online has been and gone; Star Wars Galaxies closing its shop for good; the earthbound one-stop site for free form, non-linear gaming is to be found right here. It's brown, it's not exactly a looker, but it's free, and damn if it isn't enjoyable.
Aesthetics 6/10
In case you missed my excellent opening gambit, Fallen Earth is a game largely composed of one palette: brown. Nothing screams "scorched earth" like a dustbowl environment, and an overarching colour chart of "dirt". This indie MMO follows the artistic trends of likewise games, this time transplanting its setting in and around the locales of the Grand Canyon. Mountainous ranges illuminate the distance, faltering settlements depress the landscape, and you and your trusty steed wander amongst it all carving a path of murder and craft.
Fallen Earth's visuals will strike anyone with indecision. On the one hand, the draw distance, scope, and ambition is impressive. The world feels huge, desolate, and as a foreboding as a cataclysmic atmosphere would, but it also lacks in several departments.
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The game feels decisively "indie" in that while there is care and attention, there lacks a certain veneer to the graphics. Everything is serviceable, rather than attractive. Animations are stilted, textures passable, and characters workable. A lot of the game's charm is spoilt when fighting monsters that suffer from the "G.I Joe Syndrome" mentioned in our earlier review. Fallen Earth is what it is, and developed on a shoe-string budget in comparison to its online peers, you get from the title what you may expect: a halfway house between service and a whimpering attempt at beauty.
Gameplay 8/10
Where this game will certainly grab attention, is in its gameplay. Fallen Earth is a Sandbox MMORPG in the grand tradition of Ultima Online. Aside from a brief tutorial, the choice to develop your character, explore the map, and head in whatever direction is entirely your decision. There are no classes within the game, and so the freedom to grow a completely idiosyncratic avatar is yours. The extensive set of skills is selectable from an in-game menu, and attributes can be purchased by using Action Points, which are earned alongside traditional experience.
For anyone not familiar with the complex, and time consuming nature, of "old school" MMO-ing, Fallen Earth may come as something as a system shock. Precious little is explained to the budding newcomer, and while this may send many of you rubbing your hands with glee, anyone fresh out of anything traditional such as World of Warcraft will feel slightly lost.
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But with this said, Fallen Earth is an excellent recreation of a player-driven, sandbox experience. The crafting system is expansive, with almost all items being man-made from the lowest bandage to the grandest vehicle. Like Eve Online, this is one game in which social interaction and teamwork pays off. Asking another human being for help is essential to the ensemble, and echoes the older sentiments of the genre.
Of course one aspect of Fallen Earth, which in the 2 years of its release continues to divide, comes in the form of combat. For those nostalgic players, this title delivers almost everything you need, including a lacklustre shooting mechanic. By shifting into an aggressive stance, you will ping-ping enemies in the head with weapons, only for them to run robotically towards you, swiping whatever firearm or melee item they might have. Everything feels so underpowered that combat becomes a stickler in what is an immensely satisfying experience.
With a little more attention and development, Fallen Earth could boast some of the best time-filtering entertainment around, but even 2 years later, shooting things still, for lack of a better word, sucks.
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Innovation 8/10
Fallen Earth is the best example of cross pollinating the Sandbox aspects of the genre, with the Theme Park style. The free form class/skill system allows for masses of creative freedom, while there are also the more traditional safety nets for those not used to such an open ended experience. Questing is here, albeit in its more "kill X of Y and head to Z" form, and in a way this helps round-out the experience to a wider audience above the core of sandboxers.
The inclusion of first-day mounts is also well-received. You are given a trusty horse to ride very early on in the game, and getting around the world facilitates the necessity of mounts. To add to this however, is the need to feed your animal or later vehicle with fuel, whether this is gas or food. It adds immersion to the game, whilst also being useful.
Fallen Earth builds upon a theme, expanding upon the extensive crafting systems of other likewise titles, bringing in the familiar, as well as adding to this with open world PvP events, and other such objectives. The innovation is more refinement than evolution, but it works, and creating a player-run market is never easy, and the developers have managed to pull off this tight balancing act.
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Polish 7/10
Most of Fallen Earth's various systems and gaming nuances work very well, but there is a lack of dazzle and the desire to really impress within the game. Throughout, the game from the visuals to the UI, there is never anything more than workable, which is fine, but you can't help but wish the developers would go that extra mile aesthetically. The compromise here is an impressively vast and engrossing game, which is a pretty good deal, but tabs such as "repairing" a horse just seem a little ridiculous, as well as enemies that stand around in bulk just waiting to be killed. Polished to the point of function, but not much else.
Longevity 9/10
Post apocalyptic settings are usually brimming with content, and Fallen Earth is no different. From a fairly lengthy process of skill building, masses of crafting, endgame, and PvP, there is a lot to keep you occupied with.
A lot of players will bee-line towards the player versus player content, and this is where the game shines. Factional warfare is available, as well as Conflict Towns in which teams fight for control of certain settlements. By allying yourself to a certain faction within the game, your experience will differ depending on the goals set, but open-PvP can also be attempted in certain areas where it is a free-for-all blood bath. Whether you're into player combat, or just want to craft and skill the night away, there are plenty of reasons to stick around in Fallen Earth.
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Social 9/10
It is always nice to find communities within MMORPGs, and Fallen Earth boasts a helpful and active population. The "Help" chat channel is always buzzing with Q&A, and veteran players will, in my experience, stop and give a helping hand to those in need. The addition of the F2P has also brought with it a bounty of new players, each as confused as the other, so fumbling through those opening stages will never be lonely. With an active YouTube fan base, as well as a number of guides, the community of Fallen Earth is if nothing else, productive, helpful, and engaging.
Value 9/10
Trying to understand the various loop holes and advantages of free-to-play is always hard. In a nutshell, Fallen Earth's subscription model is fairly comprehensive in its approach. There is no gated content, no segregation between the "haves" and "have-nots", but there are cosmetic unlockables and micro transactions. To many this will be a red rag to a bull, but aside from a slower rate of action point/experience gain I found this system to be fairer than most. You get what you expect; free content to an extent with limitations, and a pay-for option which encompasses the core experience; and Fallen Earth is truly a great experience.
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Conclusion
Fallen Earth is an impressive, enjoyable, and engrossing trip through online, post-apocalypse settings. While the game has some fairly glaring downfalls, it is also an entirely recommendable experience. With a few nudges in development towards combat, questing, and a visual lick of paint, this could easily be one of the best MMORPG titles out there; just a few unfortunate things are holding it back. The best post-apocalyptic MMO around, and one of the front-runners for the Sandbox crown, an easily recommendable title.
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Really? Is it going to take it from EvE?
Eve is always considered the sandbox, but sandboxes are about freedom. How many people truly feel they have the freedom to do everything in the confines of a spaceship?
Well, anything is possible. FE is more approachable than Eve, and the cost to start playing it is lower. They could easily get more players than Eve, even if they don't get more paying players.
** edit **
Also, it's only two years old. Add a couple years of polish, compared to the slowing development of Eve, and you get Fallen Earth as King (or Queen).
Let us see it is F2P, easier to get into, a lot more helping and mature community than EVE, players don't quit in frustration after being harrassed, ganked, camped or whatever. You have to take all things into factor and not just how the game plays itself.
Problem with Fallen Earth, it has always faced the question is it really a sandbox. From my point of view, Eve is far more of a sandbox than Fallen Earth, hence you can't take a crown if you really aren't a true sandbox.
I have my doubts, I think it is likelier that WoDO will take over after Eve tha FE.
I might be wrong though, Eve didn't start that well but turned the game around, maybe FE can do it as well.
unless you can terraform and build structures piece by piece in Fallen Earth, I think Xsyon takes lead in 'sandbox'. But thats just my opinion.
This. FE is a true theme-park/sandbox hybrid, but it is far more like WOW than it is UO or even EVE.
I enjoyed the title, but it has longevity issues which had players leaving in droves at end game (because, there isn't one)
Maybe its changed since I played it (about a year after it launched) and since its now free to play I might give it another go.
edit: Thank God there's a thread to post in that isn't about SWTOR
Fallen Earth is not a sandbox MMO. It has some sandbox elements, but it has far more themepark elementals. At best it's a hybrid MMO, but it's by no means a sandbox.
Fallen earth was too Quest stacky and linear for me.
Crafting was good but it doesn't off the freedom of a game like EvE.
Will d/l this now and give it a try. was going to buy it back in the day, but heard bad things.I'm not sure EVE is for certain types of sandbox gamers. it's highly complex. but in truth after a few hours of play i found it lackluster. i think people prefer ground game based sandbox better. Gonna check this out.
I never understood why people keep touting that FE has great crafting.
You take X amount of Elements and make Y Item. How is that any different from any other game out there? The only difference in FE crafting and WoW crafting, is that there are longer manufacturing times on FE's items. You don't get random stats. You can't really upgrade items. You really can't do much, other than just make Y and Y is always Y no matter if Bob made it or Jim made it, it's still the exact same item.
I don't agree that FE was ever a sandbox, not by any stretch. It was too quest-heavy and was level-based. Much too themepark to even call it a hybrid, imo...
Edit: oops, typo.
I agree. I think it just gets called a sandbox because the genre is so lacking in real sandbox games, like UO and SWG used to be. Now, there's just EVE, which is very niche, even for a sandbox.
Now, it has been a long time since I tried out FE but it had some issues that made me favor EVE much more.
As example, in EVE I can mine Tritanium on my first day that, potentially, will be bought by a five years old veteran for his Titan construction. This allows cash flow from veteran players to rookies and allows the smart player to avoid some of the money grind. I did not like that veteran players had zip interest in anything I could produce or acquire in FE.
In EVE the Market binds players together both new and old. Did they even get prober market mechanics besides silly auction houses in FE?
might try this out
Meh, I don't really consider FE a sandbox. The crafting side of it might be, but the leveling side? Nope. It's pretty much, do every quest possible to get max points to spend. The combat is quite lackluster and what else is there to do besides level up, craft and pvp?
I think it's mostly to do with the fact that what you craft in Fallen Earth is actually useful. In many games, you end up crafting stuff just to level up your crafting. In Fallen Earth (which I haven't played for a long time, I might add, might as well check back to see how it's doing!) most of the stuff I was using was crafted by none other than myself.
What is and isn't a sandbox is another debate on to itself.
Ya, the term "sandbox" is pretty subjective. I've always enjoyed FE, but to me, it's no sandbox. A game like Wurm Online is what I define to be a sandbox game. FE is more an open world themepark, because areas essentially have level requirements.
When an MMO that isn't really a sandbox MMO is being discussed as potentially being labeled the "best sandbox", then what is and isn't a sadbox becomes relevant.
At this rate we might as well throw WoW and SWTOR into the race for best sandbox MMO.
None of this is relevant as this has become a pay to win game. To bad really as I think it had potential.
How many people truely feel free doing every thing in the confines of an avatar?
It's a hybrid with good crafting. I.e. it's like SWG. Certainly not a front runner for a "sandbox crown".
UO and EVE are the kings in the genre and that doesn't look like changing for some time. It remains to be seen what happens with Archeage and WoD looks like vaporware at the moment. But these are the only potential "challengers" on the horizon.
I liiked the fact that you got a horse right away, and riding around doing stuff was fun for awhile but than the combat and lack of direction became a chore, but I think this is a game well played in spurts. Dec 20 is the date I am waiting for
Fallen Earth is NOT a sandbox.
It is some kind of myriad. Themepark with some added sandbox elements.
Also having cash shop in sandbox is kinda counter to whole concept of sandbox so :/
Nah don't agree with OP.
FE biggest flaw is absence of economy. Indestructible items are well indestructible. The market overflows with them, the crafting suffers greatly due to this too. Also FE could adapt basicaly eve model to some degree. (highsec-lowsec-nullsec) When in eve someone destroy a ship the economy is very happy about it. also housing and I mean not instanced housing could be great. and last but not least territory control building, not only changing flags in some pre-defined locations.
FE could be a great sandbox yes. nevertheless it is not ATM
1) Can you build structures in the open world or alter the landscape?
2) Does it have a sociopolitical element?
3) Does it have player created content?
If it can atleast hit #1 I'll say it's sandbox.
You missed the part...
"Fallen Earth is the best example of cross pollinating the Sandbox aspects of the genre, with the Theme Park style. "
Actually, I caught that qualifier, however the OP's title is what is really mis-leading.
Change it to "FE is at the forefront of the Sandbox/Themepark hybrid model" and you'd have a whole lot more agreement.
I played Fallen Earth for the 2 week trial they had a year or so back.. I thought the game felt more themepark then sandbox.. I mean it's more quest hubbed then AION or Rift was.. Not a whole lot of features from what I played.. Did they ever add player houseing that they promised for so long?
Also did they make it where you're factions are perm? I remember being picking factions to get bonuses then leaving to join another faction a week later.. Made the pvp community suck imo.
The King of Sandboxes, Eve, is not a pure sandbox game either. There are quests, NPC events, etc. A 'Pure' sandbox MMORPG no longer exists. If Eve is a Sandbox, so is Fallen Earth.
fallen earth is a sand box in the first part when you can choose where you start and you can go to others towns to do the same kind of quests you did, but tat is all after that is pretty much a certain path you have to take, plus if you wnat a really strong char you need to do quests, several quests give you atributes points when you finish it.
also this game as a f2p is just a trial, you have a limit on how much recipes you can have on, if you use guns you will learn the most you do is ammo, hell when I played it, was normal I have like 10 recipes running, and anotehr 8 done just waiting for me to take it, and I was getting mats to make even more, no considerating the slow combat
he says 8/10? I say 6/10
stop comparing FE to eve please. EVE is one of the worse games out there. Playing that game is a chore and not very enjoyable. FE is one of the funnest games i ever played. Will play this for a very long time.
About it being themed park? the game does not force you to do the quest. you can always grind. And scrap copper one of the 1st mining nodes you can farm is still used even with the maxed leveled toons for ammo crafting etc.
"If Eve is a Sandbox, so is Fallen Earth." truth.
I find myself no more limited in EVE than fallen Earth. Both great games. FE is a little easier for me to RP in since I have a human avatar.
Do you know what "sandbox" game means? Sandbox or open world is a game that you can roam freely and have no rail-roading effect. Have you played Fallen Earth? or you cant get pass the tutorial why you are concluding its a theme park game? lol.
The author of this article however played both FE and EVE. Why he knows what he is talking about. Do you?
By that rationale, then WoW is also a sandbox because it's a free roaming world. Oh wait, different zones are different levels in WoW and you'd get killed quickly? Yeah... exact same issue in FE if you've ever actually played the game past sector 1.
Does FE hit any of these marks? I've looked at the game features and it doesn't look like it hits #1. I don't think it's a sandbox at all from the looks of it.
G1 must being paying www.mmorpg.com to write this article. I play Fallen Earth but it has HUGE flaws and is not even as close as satisfying as EVE in terms of sandbox.
i've been playing fallen earth for a long time now. it has undergone many, many changes in the last year. many comments made here no longer apply at all. you don't need to do any quests at all. action points are granted just for playing.
i knew when i saw this column that there was going to be a huge backlash on whether it is a sandbox or not. for me, it is certainly a game that has more freedom than any so-called theme park game (many of which i enjoy as well).
as the game stands now: grab your first horse, and take off. you don't have to do any quests. you don't have to be a certain class of player (dual-wielding pistoleer with mutant powers? check). if you want to carve out an existence as a post-apocolypse survivalist, then by all means do that however you might want to. gather materials and craft your armor, weapons, and whatever means of transportation you desire. kill mutated prairie chickens or other beasties. you don't need that shotgun or pistol anymore? sell it to someone who does.
join a faction and clan and cross your swords, (or whatever) with opposing players vying for territory, crafting nodes, and the thrill of it.
fallen earth does indeed have a fairly good built-in system for those players that want direction and structure in their play, but it has absolutely no impact on how effective your character might be, or how you choose to live in the grand canyon. personally, i enjoy picking up quests every now and then, but i find most of my fun is derived from the deep and rewarding crafting system and the ever evolving faction warfare and PVP. it is certainly unique.
someone complained you couldn't mod anything. well, did you want a cargo motorcycle, electric powered one, or maybe a biodiesel bike? would you like a normal semi-automatic pistol, or one with an extended clip? special forces armor, or advanced light-weight?
the F2P model is one of the fairest in the business. there is no need to buy a single item. there is absolutely nothing offered in the store that will make you more powerful than anyone else in the wasteland. any money spent grants expediency, convenience, or vanity items. anyone who claims this is a play-to-win game is trolling or lying.
no one claimed this was king of the sandbox, merely a front-runner in the race. it's an open, free world if you choose to play it that way. even EVE has agent missions. is it as unstructured as xyson? good lord, no. but it does allow a lot more freedom to do whatever you want more than any "themepark".
why people have to respond with such vitriol when talking about a game is beyond me. maybe they need to grab a horse and watch one of the (spectacular) sunsets in the grand canyon. you won't find one more beautiful in any game anywhere.
FE is a hybrid, but leans more toward the "themepark" than towards the "sandbox".
However, I've always said that it's the ideal game to play if you've never known anything but WoW. It will at least allow the player to get an idea of what a true sandbox game could be like.
FE's strongest "sandbox" element is the character development, and that causes new players the most heartache. The most popular type of question in the Help channel (after "where can I buy horsefeed ?") is probably "Should I put points in skill X or skill Y ?"
The vast majority of MMO players seem to prefer games where the only really important decision they have to make is which class to play (WoW and SWTOR). Everything else is on rails from that point onward. Hence themeparks will always rule the MMO industry.
I follwed FE from when it was first announced, and couldn't wait to play it. I bought the game the day it came out and played for about 2 months. I could forgive the flaws it has, and was willing to overlook everything that was wrong with it. But I couldn't forgive one aspect that anoyed me to no end. The inclusion of mutations. To me this was to much like magic, and I personally felt it did not belong in the setting, at least in the way it was implemented. If you didn't use them, you were pretty much usless in combat, pvp and pve. That one feature was what caused me to drop the game and never look back.
I really did not like the odd controls for this game. It seems to want to be a cross between first person shooter and tab targeting....and it fails at both. I didn't get too far into the game as the controls were still irritating even after a couple days played.
The skill selection uncertainty is one of the main issues the game has had. Honestly I don't think players would get so held up on it if there was a reasonable method of respeccing. Originally there was absolutely no way to respec, so you had to completely rerollwhich is very painful... and a lot of players ended up having to, others ended up just quitting. They did add the option to respec using vendor bought injectors, but it's prohibatively expensive to do so. Granted that yes, players shouldn't be able to easily and quickly turn over their entire build... but at the same time the system was and still does severely punish players who don't break out the spreadsheet and spend hours of reading up how to build a character.
At least in a game like Ultima Online, if you not longer wanted a particular skill, you just let your other skill gains force it down when you hit the skill cap. Or with Eve, there's no limit aside from the time it takes to learn the other skills. Either way, FE's method is in my opinion too prohibative, considerably so since it's very easy to screw your character up early in the game, and not find out until later.
Did you notice that when your camera was in third person, your aim/accuracy was based on whatever your crosshair was aimed at from the 3rd person camera, regardless of which way your character faced? It made for some pretty glitchy combat, and was pretty exploitable in both PvE and even moreso in PvP.
They never did, and I doubt ever will fix that.
I played for about a month and the game play was more like Wow. You do quests hubs in one area then move on to the next wash and repeat.
What killed the game for me though was the crafting / economy. Everyone was self sufficient for the most part so I had a very hard time selling anything. This game was so close but so far from what I look for in a true sandbox. :(
Yep crafting is another glaringly huge issue for FE
The only limitation to crafting was having a high Int and Perception attributes. If you maxed these out, you could max out any and all crafting skills at once. This worked great for certain character builds, such as my medic gun slinger build that I used, but it sucked for character builds like melee characters who don't otherwise use perception at all.
If there even was a player economy in the game, I never once had to actually had to buy anything from another player, because I could do it all myself. My main character could make everything I needed. I made all my best armor, all my weapons, ammo, and even the top tier vehicle (at the time) all on my own, and I was still extremely viable in combat roles. But for my melee character, it was impossible for them to get in a position where they could get max crafting skills and not be handicapped in combat.
longvity 9/10? endgame? im sorry, i really like this game, its a long and fun ride to the max level and max crafting - but it does not have any endgame. once you learned all crafting recipes, theres nothing left to do. nothing with purpose that is.
sure, you can keep fighting in pvp over, uhm, nothing. or you can keep crafting stuff you dont need anymore. you can keep getting richer and richer for no reason.
but theres really no endgame CONTENT.
as i said, i loved this game and i encourage anyone looking for something new and different to play fallen earth. its a great experience until the end.
but there inevitably is an end. no endgame.
FE is a very good game, so fun. Most people hate S1 but personally I loved it and as a native Arizonan they did pretty well nail it as far as how it looks ;)
I like the review, agree with most of it but like many others I have to say FE is NOT a sandbox, not at all. It "feels" like one at times but more of the gameplay is themepark than not. But as said it does have many sandbox-like features, you do get freeform character development at least. You can technically wander where you want and do what you want. However that pretty much means going from town to town doing the quests *cough cough* hehe
As someone who was in FE day one, I haven't much liked the directions they have taken. I would rather they made things more difficult than easier. Also would have rather they made it less easy to be an omni-crafter and made more interdependency and specialization. As a note my main is a level 50 melee/crafter who is maxed out on, I think 7 of the trees you can max out for crafting. So I did do and see a lot of the game.
I'd still recommend FE to anyone though who has not played it. At the very worst you can get 2-3 months of a very good solo experience. :)
Well to be a sandbox you can't have a class/level system. That is basically where FE fails the sandbox test.
So Eve has nothing to worry about from FE because of that.
FE's problem as so many of you have pointed out, it really has no end game at all.
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Combat sucks the big one"
Totally disagree! What in the combat system suxx exactly? And plz show me a game with better combat system (no, mark the target and push 1,2,3,4 doesn't count).
Combat system is fun. The graphic thingy gets better when you leave S1
Combat system sucks? It's better than any theme park system, where you hit 1, 1, 1, 2, over and over, while watching TV at the same time because you don't even have to aim.
No it's not.
The only thing subjective is what people 'consider' a sandbox; their opinions. Most of the people here have some strange idea that a sandbox means no developer created content, the ability to alter the world, and only player created content.
If it has quests people think it's not a sandbox, that's wrong.
If it's not ffa pvp people think its not a sandbox, that's wrong.
If it doesn't have territory control people think it's not a sandbox, that's wrong.
The author told everyone in the article exactly what a sandbox is. Open-ended, non-linear, free-form gameplay. That's all a sandbox is.
You only need to have indipendant systems that aren't impacted by other aspects of the game, and the ability to progress in a fashion that isn't dictated by the game. IE: if you're steared from one zone to the next to do quests and level, and gameplay options are dictated by whatever your characters level is, if you can't craft without killing things and advancing character level, it's not a sandbox.
Sandbox does not mean there are no levels, quests, or even classes; that's only what some people THINK a sandbox isn't.
Baldurs gate was considered a sandbox sRPG; it's a D&D game.
Every game has areas with level requirements because every area is going to be populated with stuff that is going to require a certian level of advancement to kill, because MMO's aren't dynamically generating content within an area to match the characters in the zones. Saga of Ryzom is a sandbox, and it has zones with level specific mobs. Eve is a sandbox, and it has zones with level specific mobs; the lower the security rating of the system, the more SP's you need to kill the mobs in that zone.
I could never get past the animations, combat, and mob AI for the kind of combat in FE enough to actually enjoy the game.
The funny thing is, there's no such thing as an RPG with no classes or levels.
Only, an RPG with or without predefined classes.
FE has no predefined classes, just like EVE, and both games have levels.
Doesn't EVE have a skillpoint curve? Doesn't EVE have Teired items that require you to obtain specific amounts of SP to use? If I want to use a T2 fitting I have to learn prerequesite skills, each skill has to be leveled/ learned to a specific LEVEL; all of which equates to having a specifc number of skillpoints learned. To do some things in EVE you need 5 mil. skillpoints, that's no different then saying you need to be level 40 in another game. The only change here is that I got to choose what I wanted to learn and BUILD MY OWN CLASS.
Either you create the class yourself, IE: Ultima Online, I learn the skills needed to be a mage, who can also make chickens fight for me, or the game has a class I can select at level one that lets me hurl fireballs and tame chickens to fight for me. In the end, both games have a class that lets me use magic and tame a chicken.
It's a little strange that you would say a game isn't a sandbox if it has classes and levels, but then mention end-game. Sandboxes don't usually have endgame, because you can't put END game in an OPEN-ENDED game. It defetes the point of an open-ended system.
Regardless, FE doesn't have any level based classes; not sure why you think it does.
That is not a good definition. If it were then WoW and just about every theme park mmo out there could be considered sandbox.
How?
WoW is by no stretch open-ended, non-linear, or free-form.
What's the point of max level? Rading.
Can you craft without ever leveling you character? No.
Is there anything beyond combat in WoW? No.
WoW revolves around a single gameplay element, killing things.
Not to mention, it's impossible for it to not be a good definition, when it IS THE DEFINITION. Sandbox means open-ended, free-form, and non-linear gameplay. Baldurs gate, wich was quest, and level based, is a sandbox sRPG because it was considered an open-ended RPG for it's time.
Grand theft auto is classified as a sandbox game because it to is open-ended, yet it's also quest, level, and class based; because a sandbox game has nothing to do with classes, level, or quests. They neither make a game a sandbox, nor do they not make a game a sandbox.
Sandbox only indicates the way a game is played, not what is or isn't in it, and that's were people keep getting it wrong. You're designating gameplay elements as being gametype elements and that's not what makes a sandbox.
Hybrid is just a marketting blurb. It's what companies are saying now to try and get more people to take an interest in the game. They don't want to deny potential players based on the style of play they prefer; so they've come up with this nifty little way of saying well the game is a hybrid sandbox/ themepark game. Threre's no such thing, it's not possible. Either the game is a sandbox or it's not. EQ2 would fall into the "hybrid" catagory that some developers want to push thier game as, but people still call it a themepark. I personally feel it's more of a sandbox game then it is a themepark game. I don't need to be an X level Berzerker to be an X level weaponsmith, or to have X level mining. I don't need to kill anything to own a house or to furnish it. The game doesn't make me go out and quest and kill stuff to andvance in something other then my character class. <<<That sounds an awful lot like a sandbox game to me.
FFXIV Crafting is it's own class and no combat is required to do it. By your definition it's sandbox when it most certainly is not and neither is EQ.
FE is probably the best Free 2 Play MMO around right now IMHO and certainly the best free to play sandbox MMO available.
I tried FE a few weeks ago, but I couldn't even patch it because my internet kept getting disconnected during the patch. After reading through some google links, I found that it happens to some folks. When I contacted FE tech support, they tried to get me to do a bunch of file renaming, ant-virus disabling and other workarounds to get it to work. I told them no thanks. I checked it again a couple of days ago and it still isn't fixed. I guess they aren't too concerned about gaining/retaining customers.
I agree with this. It's not a bad hybrid, though, and the community is fantastic compared to most MMO communities. It also no longer requires players to quest, you can get your mount and from there just go around gathering and killing if you really want to.
Fallen Earth is a fun game. But we should revisit the list of contenders once ArcheAge, Salem, The Repopulation, and Prime: Battle for Dominus come out just to name a few. It seems alittle premature to dole out the award when there are quite a few Sandpark games onthe horizon.
Besides the open-ended skill system, classless design etc, I never felt that FE was a 'true' sandbox. It's basically a ton of quets, hubbed together much like a themepark game.
Not that there is anyting wrong with that, it can be a fun game. I played it for a few months at the beginning of this year, and a week or so recently during the F2P conversion. Always get bored though. I don't think FE should be crowned for anything though, especially a 'sandbox crown' IMO.
I started playing FE again now thats its free to play. Recovered my old characters and am having a decent amount of fun wondering about. The F2P limitations are not readily apparent and do not interefere with the actual gameplay. In all they FE has made a very smooth transition into the F2P market.
Much Kudos.
Anyone mentioned already that FE is not sandbox?
This argument is about as useful as arguing over how wet water is.
Really only people that feel they need to use terms like "theme park" (always as a pejorative) and "sandbox" (always as some elusive nirvana state) even care about these terms and the great irony is those people can never agree and are in eternal conflict over it; happiest when at each others throats.
For normal humans, the game is either *fun* to them, or *not fun* to them. Most normal people dont validate their self worth by defining how "hardcore" or not the videogames they play are. EVE, for me, was *not* fun. FE for me, *is* fun. I agree that the presentation and setting are pretty drab, and Im not a big post apocalypse fan, so I dont spend a ton of time there. It's very very impressive as an achievement considering the budget that went into it, however.
I actually like both Theme Park and Sandbox mmorpgs. However some people like to think that the definitions are up for debate or subjective when they are not. There are people that know what a sandbox is and there are people that don't. That's all there is to it.
Another review that does us little to no good. 8/10? This game is TWO steps away from perfect? Really?
Giving this game an 8/10 means you gave WoW and EQ2 style games a 10/10...
I read the review and I agree with much of what you said, but then you ruin it with the horrible X of 10 scores. I can't figure out why everyone is stuck on this idea that all games are 7+ it seems.
Good writeup, bad numbering!
LOL dude, you can roam free in wow if you like. Nobody force you to do quests.
I tried FE for some 2 weeks and i don't think it is true sandbox.Only true sandbox games for me are Mortal Online and Eve, ok DF to. It is good game and .... nothing more nothing less :)
Some people automatically draw equation mark(or however it is called in english) between character customization and sandbox. FE has great character customization options, but nothing more.
It was already mentioned here, that you cannot talk about term endgame in the context of a game with open ending. The true sandbox game is, where the game starts from day one, you aren't left out of anything. Of course you are weak and ineffective, so you are encouraged to grow and train, but the "endgame" starts from day one.
In themepark games, you do the mandatory leveling part to experience the prewritten story and then you are stuck with various hamsterwheels, which the developers have put down for you(so called endgame). Until developers throw out next chunk of the story which you can consume.
Say what you want, but FE falls into the latter category. Only thing is, that it also lacks the hamsterwheels, which makes people leave once they get to levelcap.
so in your opinion, EVE at day one is already end game content? no leveling? no skill restriction? really?
I agree with review and i think people are getting too technical about definition when the line between sandbox and open world MMOS are getting blurred over the years. I wouldn't even care what pure sandbox is now days when there has not been one for many years now and probably never will be.
Don't mix up dev made barriers and the barriers you make yourself. Nothing stops you to get into the action from day one in EVE. You would be on the lower end of the foodchain, but when you think you have to have certain ship or skills, then it is you, who has put up those limitations, not the devs. Skilling and leveling only widens your options.
Same thing I saw in darkfall, where everyone was crying, that they need x amount of skills surging and certain amount of stats to be able to PvP. When I joined the game, I went to a clan, they gave me gear and the action started. Of course, I was far from top and being solo I would've been losing probably to everyone.
Skills and levels in sandboxes don't determine what you can do, but how well you can do it.
What a depressingly silly article. It can not even get the fact that Fallen Earth is a theme park level based quest game and certainly NOT a sandbox.
Perhaps the author should look up the correct terms of reference before writing again?
Umm.. Shouldn't that title go to EVE Online? Really, please think before you post.
If Fallen Earth is just a themepark then so is Ryzom. However, fallen earth is neither themepark nor sandbox. it is a hybrid.
I'll agree, anyone calling Ryzom a sandbox is delusional. So what if it has "seasons" and "migrating mobs" . I've played it to death, it is not a sandbox. There is ONE sandbox and it is called EVE online.
Edited to fix a slight spelling error, >.>.
Why are all the sandboxes sci-fi? EVE, SWG, FE...
UO is just too old for me... I might put up with a sci-fi if the graphics are decent but EVE doesn't even have real graphics (cool spaceships of course) and FE looks like trash, honestly.
I hope it does well, despite calling its graphics trash...
nothing stops you from doing this in FE as well. So whats your point?
Just here to point out that SWG is closed (that means it's not a sandbox) and FE is a quest grind themepark. Can UO even be called a sandbox anymore, really? Also, there is a post a cpl up that states EVE does not have real graphics. What does that even mean? It has the best character creation of any mmo, and just got a very large graphical over-haul on the 29th. I mean, I guess it would be safe to say that it actually does have "real" graphics. I would even venture to say they are more immersive than most mmorpgs on the market. If you can't get into spaceships, that's fine, I had issues w/ it at first too. But, just because you can't get into EVE does not mean it's graphics aren't "real". Think before you post.
I stopped reading after that line.
I know, and you know, that you did indeed read my full post. Pretend if you must, but we both know the truth. I stand by what I posted, I doubt you could do the same.
I played the game for a couple months at release but I really didn't get the sandbox feel from it at all. I didn't get very far into the game but at the start at least, it's very linear and quest oriented like any other themepark: with the usual quest chains leading to instanced bosses at the end of each zone.
Yeah the economy is player run but the crafting system itself is no better than WoW's (ie: no variable ressources or difference in quality of crafted items).
At the time there was litterally no PvP going on in low level zones so your only 2 options for advancement were questing and crafting...not very sandboxish either.
All this might have changed though or perhaps the sandbox feel stands out more later on in the game.
Sure, go at level 1 to... well, even sector 2 would do, and tell me what you can do there.. Even when you have higher level friend with you, the hardcoded limits apply to you, you get no exp from mobs, you can't harvest anything, no quests are open for you. And these are all boundaries, that have been put around you by devs. In FE at level 1 you are supposed to be in the beginning of sector one and that's it, there is no way around it.
I played FE for 2 years, and I've always maintained it's not a sandbox.
It is a prime example of a themepark/sandbox hybrid for sure, but 70/30 more than 50/50.
Haven't played in a few months, but when I last played you could make buildings for the progress towns, and that's allegedly the basis for player housing further down the line.
The article is right about the skills system confusing the heck out of new players, and during my time playing there were regular "revamps" of skills, that often left veterans just as confused - unless you goofed around a bit on the PTS before the skills went live.
I loved FE, for all its faults, but I've decided to step back a bit and see how it develops over the next while. Even with a small team behind it, it always seemed to be inching towards its potential, but very slooooowly. I still have all my characters, so I can jump back in whenever I feel like it.
Incorrect. Same limitations apply to sandbox like EVE too. Granted there are no levels but the moment you log in there are so many things you can not do right off the bat. the limitation of low skills stops you.
FE is definitely more themepark than sandbox. Not that I'm knocking the game, but it is what it is. Hardly can even call it a hybrid, with as little of sandbox elements it actually has.
I love the fact that it has become F2P, it allows me to venture in and out, and I can overlook the clunky combat(personal opinion).
Zalmon I see your poitn, but it really is not the same between the two games you list which are EVE and FE. Yes, there are some limitations in EVE, but they are not nearly as constricting as Fallen Earth. Tell me this, if you logged in Fallen Earth could you be involved in a full out war in minutes? Nope, you couldn't. Can you go anywhere on the entire map the second you log into Fallen Earth? Hmm, can you? Nope, that's right, you can't. I could go on and on. Like i said, of couse there are some limitations but it is not anything even NEAR the same. Think before you post.
Edit to just point out that when I say log in in referance to EVE I mean log in for your first time after character creation.
EVE's graphics is not the issue for me. its the boring gameplay. Everything about eve is boring...
and in eve this limitation is not there? lol...
The moment you log in FE you can go to FFA pvp zones and start PVP at level 1 guaranteed you won't survive and same goes for EVE. You can go pretty much everywhere in FE nothign is stopping you after character creation but again you have to be careful just like you have to be careful in EVE. Anything else?
1. Go through the tutorial.
2. Work your way to Embry.
3. Head North to Oilville and then into S2.
4. Pick a faction at level 15.
5. Learn PvP via the Gallows.
6. Stand around New Flagstaff.
7. Head to S3.
8. Do all the faction missions in S2 and S3 (yes, there is a grind in this "sandbox")
9. Head to DF.
10. Head to AC.
11. Quit.
Doesn't sound like much of a Sandbox to me and this reviewer is simply on crack. IMHO.
OK I guess nobody here knows what "sandbox" truly means! FE is pretty close to sandbox, so shut up! And about the grind - I grinded in Ultima Online too (and grinded a lot), and plz don't tell me UO isnt sandbox too! If u wanna real sandbox - shut down your computers and go out!
Problem is that even if FE is a sandbox, which it's not regardless of what you think, it doesn't matter. There's no one to play with and the servers are crap. Period.
Oh, and shutting down the computer and going outside is exactly what I did the day I quit FE. So refreshing.
Sure am. Just as any FE Vet should be.
If this game is going to beat Eve as the best all-round sandbox game out there. I need to hear about how the players have shaped the story. How the battles have been epic. Don't tell me about the stuff you can do solo, that's not what makes a sandbox great.
Zalmon, yes there is something else. I would like you to answer the first two questions I asked. I'm assuming this post is in response to that, but you fail to answer two simple questios. Instead, you go and describe Fallen Earth's completely linear gameplay path. aren't really all that descriptive. Thank god I've played it. I am having issues understanding first, why you would post this in Fallen Earth's defense is beyond me. Also, your statement isn't true. you gauranteed that you would not survive pvp at lvl one (just pointing out, AGAIN, since you don't seem to understand that there is no level one in EVE). This just isn't true, if you think and join a fleet you can and will survive in EVE. I don't know, why do I even respond to these, seems like most just want to prove they're right w/ one sentance rants rather than actually discuss things w/ you know, facts and maybe some logical stuffz. Sigh, I guess I'll just reiterate. Fallen Earth is a quest grind themepark, perhaps it has sandbox elements but it is, under no circumstances a sandbox.
I love FE (been a subscriber since launch) and even I would never call it a sandbox? Are we so desperate for a genuine sandbox entry into the genre that we are willing to include a game just because it has a half decent crafting system?
The fact remains that FE is firmly a themepark game in structure. If you don't PVP then only content you have is quest content. The economy is nowhere near EVEs, in any way really. (I have a 55 million skillpoint character in EVE too, so I can make the comparison).
The only vaguely sandbox attempts I have seen lately were Perpetuem and Earthrise (although in the case of Earthrise I rather feat that is simply because they couldn't afford to make any content :p). Fallen Earth would barely be a hybrid for my tastes, but maybe that is just because I dont partake in their PVP.
It's a great themepark game, and that shouldn't be a bad thing. It is a perfect antidote to the heavy fantasy menus we get served by most every other game.
This is true, and I played the game again recently trying to get back into it. It's not really a sandbox. I *might* be called a hybrid, but it's more like a skill-based themepark. It's too bad, because if it was more of a sandbox, I would be playing it.
Does anyone heard of Entropia Universe, cause it's the only true sandbox in these days!
good game, crappy combat...:\
How in the world can you call a gambling casino a sandbox?
I wish they'd hurry up already with the actual player housing. Been waiting for that for a long time, and it would renew my interest in the game if it were available.
Wait... at what point did Fallen Earth become a Sandbox? The game I played a bit over a year ago forced players down a certain path to certain areas as they "outgrew" their inital zones. Why stay if there was 0 chance of you to find anything to do there?
PvP was also zone-restricted. Now... if you're going to sit there and actually compare a game to UO, you better make sure you're including the ability to kill anyone, anywhere for any reason, including attacking NPCs and guards in town, corpse retrieval and full-loot. That's a Sandbox. The Fallen Earth I played prevented people from doing that, so unless they changed their limitations, you may want to reclassify it as a "Semi-Free-Roaming Themepark" or a "Restrictive Sandbox".
Yeah, I didn't see anything in Fallen Earth to consider it a sandbox despite the setting (desert around the Grand Canyon).
Furthermore, it means little to come in first in a race where everyone else is dead and/or almost gone.
The crafting system was ok IMO but honestly it was more of a loot system than an integral element of the environment.
The free roam was redundant and not even technically free roam since the zones had level ranges and PvP rule set differences & some had invisible barriers (though I'm not sure exactly if that was short term technical fix or not). Basically, its more of an old school themepark than a sandbox as there is no community defined aspects/changes/effect to the game world other than the presence of active players which every MMOG have.
Glad the reviewer likes it, do continue to play it if you do so especially with it being F2P now but myself and a significant number of other posters (based on what I've read them post about it - not necessarily on this site) would definately disagree with your review.
Yeah, I actually love Fallen Earth but it's not a themepark and those NPCs are fucking retarded. There's a few things I hate about the game... mostly the combat. If they were to revamp their game mechnics like add a little WURM ONLINE to their FE..then I would sub and everything. Eve is still the best sandbox right now and there' sno denying that. I do love the post apcolyptic setting and thats why I'm drawn to FE. If Fallout Online were a andbox I would run to that though,
I have to laugh at folks who call this game a sandbox. It is not a sandbox other than your not restricted in exploring. If you want to level up, and you dont want to pvp then you must quest. Yes the questing is not linear but this game is theme park/sandbox hybrid at best. If you don't quest then your stuck grinding monsters forever.
I not played since October 2010, I went back shortly after they went free to play so called free. First thing I noticed was yet a 4th combat revamp, this time requiring me to relearn all my skills, and that was going to cost just about all the red and blue chips I had.
One thing that FE exceeds at is total failure. The game really was made to sale the engine that the studio was working on. One that has many flaws. Giving this title an 8 is laughable at best. Somebody obviously never made it to 50, because when you get there the only thing to do is pvp as there is no end game.
Oh well it is free to play, but I only logged in for 2 hours since it went that route.
Not a sandbox but a crafting simulation game. None-the-less, was entertaining for a few weeks.
I never got to play UO sadly in the glory days so i never really experienced a real sandbox game. I did play some EVE online but the learning curve was just way to high for me. Also i got rather bored with all the traveling from jumpgate to jumpgate. Watching for an hour how your ship made its way to another space station just to deliver a package..whooohooo *yawn*. Never got into pvp either and to be honest, knowing i could lose my ship entirely scared me off as well since i was the obviouse noob there. I also tried Darkfall and Mortal Online..both shouting they are sandbox games as well but i found them nothing more then boring pvp games.
FE isn't really a sandbox game like UO (i do know the game and the stories about how it once was so i think i can compare a bit atleast). As some said its more a hybrid and thats good for people like me who didn't got into sandbox in the glory days (i blame my parents for no internet and later on slow internet back then). Iam used to WoW and such..i want more freedom, i want players to be in control of the world, but i also want the option to do fun quests. Why shouldn't a sandbox game be able to provide that? Darkfall online says they are a true sandbox game but when i played it, it was nothing more then a shameless pvp only game where older players made it a living hell for the new ones who needed the rare quests that where aviable to even get started.
I hope for a game like SWG again. One that provided all the experience they where looking for. Quests to do, pvp, freedom, etc.
There is nothing sandbox about this game. To compare it to EvE is almost laughable.
In this game you start out grinding quests in one area, then move to the next area etc. Sure your not told what to do, but it's about as linear as I have played to be honest.
The crafting is pretty cool (crafting motocycles etc), but since you lose nothing when you die, crafting is pointless in the end (as it is in all other mmorpgs like this). Noone buys or sells anthing outside of consumables because you make it once and that's it.
If this game had open pvp areas where players could create/attack/defend their own custom (not static like it is now) structures, then it might have something to keep a hardcore playerbase around. Also how about some real death consequences??
In the end this game is no different than WoW, but with a post apoc theme. It is however worth a month's worth of play. I dropped 240 hours into it, then hit the boredom wall and quit.
:(
Steal Xsyon's idea and create some open spaces in the world where you can terraform, construct your own structures. Make these areas open pvp.
Attack/Defend etc.
Then you might have one of the best sandboxes ever.
:D
Those who are looking for the true "Koster" version of sandbox should take a look at Dawntide. It's in "
open beta" but developers are listening and has most of the charistics of the old SWG. Player housing, citys, skillbox, deco, crafting only rivaled by SWG, large open worlds, etc etc etc right on down the line.
Don't forget its also Free to play now.
I really want to like this game. I try it over and over again, but the combat just kills it for me.
I've played this game for about 2 weeks now and I have to say this is by far the best f2p format I've ever seen. The entire game is open to everyone. All items are open to everyone. The 10r money limit is no big deal and goes away with any purchase in shop. The shop items are cosmetic only and some are really cheap. Global chat access is also granted with any purchase and once again isn't need because the help chat is so good. Great staff, helpful comunity. Overall great sandbox game.