Now i'm going to be brave inough to this dark part of the forums to ask a question. I don't know if i will leave here alive but i must know.

What is so great about Darkfall?

The fans of this game seems very hostile and quite frakly scares the crap out of me. But i am brave enough to ask; why do you like the game? Let's start with my backround and what i think is a good MMORPG. Now Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games is a huge genre. Like sports games. You might like American Football games but hate golf games.

Now I've played around 40 MMOs in my time my first was Final Fantasy XI and i'm now waiting for Warhammer Online. And yes i have played World Of Warcraft but didn't like it (only played to lv39).  And a lot of free asian games. And what i've learned is that you should not compare these games with each other. You don't go from Final Fantasy XI to Guild Wars thinking "Man this is not like FFXI at all and that is bad because it is not in FFXI". It's like sports games you don't go from a golf game to a Football (soccer) game thinking you're going to play a golf game.

But i just don't see anything i like about Darkfall! I'm don't like the graphics, i don't like the animations, i don't like the sound and the gameplay just doesn't seem fun for me. There is nothing i like about this game. And there seems to be so many people defending it (mostly in a hostile way).

So i'm asking you: What is so great about Darkfall?

Gameplay. If you did try star wars (pre NGE), you will know that you can be anyone, any trade you like. Its basically an open world with players making the game with endless possibilities.

I don't think the fans here are hostile though, this is what happens when love and hate collide.

And this kind of arguments is norm in mmo forums... just that you see more in this forum

For me it's the freedom this game offers, instead of being funneled down a particular path (like in level / gear based games) you do whatever ever the hell you want.

I could write several pages about this, but I'm in a bit of a hurry so here's just some that comes to mind (in no particular order).

Economy is player driven, which means that there are no AI vendors (with endless supply of money) that buy every crap you carry to them. You mostly sell to other people, which makes professions like merchants, crafters, miners etc. actually interesting to roleplay (competition, markets and so on). And people will always be interested to buy all sorts of things because of item degradation and full loot.

No auto-aim, you actually have to aim your ranged/spell/melee. Combat is mostly about player skill, not about what level your toon is or what items he/she is carrying (skill levels and items still do have an effect, they're just not the main points).

Huge open world without invisible barriers and NO INSTANCING.

Piracy. You trying to tell me you never dreamed about being a pirate?

Epic PvE. For example, there's a whole continent being (more or less) ruled by a celestial dragon, and since the devs have mentioned that you can kill anything you want (if you are able to of course) in the game... sounds epic to me. And mobs are not static, when you kill a goblin or whatever, it spawns somewhere else, when you slay a dragon to its cave it's gone and the cave is empty until something else crawls in there.

500 spells and 500 skills. Sounds ridiculous? I agree, and I don't believe it, but we'll see.

Open PvP of course, no silly magical areas where no harm can fall on you. I want to be on my toes when I'm playing damn it. It's supposed to be MMO and you telling me it's a good idea to prevent player interaction? Bullshit I say.

+million other things.

Edit. About the hostility. It's mostly just fooling around or testing newcomers, don't take it seriously.

A few of the points that distinguish DF from other mmorpgs.

1) No instances! This is of utmost importance. Lets you actually control areas of the world - ressources, lvl'ing spots and such. You can have an impact on the world. Your enemies cant hide in instances. With all the instances in other mmorpgs you might as well play a lan game, it totally breaks the immersion of a virtual world, when everyone are doing the same in parallel worlds.

2) Free for all with full loot. FUCK honor points, fuck blood money, fuck whatever lame point system pussy devs come up with, this is the only meaningful way to do it. When you kill someone, they fall to the ground and lie there dying, unless you get a fatality in which case they are dead. You have to finish such dying people off, before their healer revives them, and before you can loot them.

3) Player skill based pvp (level/char-ski­lls/equipment is toned down compared to other mmorpgs), 3 newbs fresh out of the char generator can kill 1 veteran. So it is not like wow and other games where the guy who has most time to grind endlessly automatically wins.

4) No auto target. Collision detection with friendly fire. You aim your spells, fireballs will hurt your friends also if you hit them, your healing spells will heal your enemies if they run into the area your friends are in when you are healing them. This again means that a small well coordinated group of people can win vs a much larger group of unorganised players - player skill is the keyword here again. Also no radar and no names over peoples heads.

5) 500+ spells, 500+ skills, thousands of different equipment, all is player made. No one looks alike, and noone has the same template.

6) Low poly / low textures, optimized for large battles, they have tested serveral hundreds players fighting with 50fps+. Not like AoC or wow, where server freezes up, and your fps drops below 5, as soon as 50 people get together in the same spot.

7) No pets - no stupid pet that chase you all over the world, while the owner sits back and takes a nap.

8) No stealth - people cant just go invisible on your. You can hide in the shadows from a distance wearing dark clothing though. And you can sneak up on people from behind, since its first person view for casters, and tight 3rd person view for melees. Cant zoom out.

9) NPC ai far exceeds current mmorpgs, these monsters are more like counterstrike bots.

Originally posted by ZalKin

Now i'm going to be brave inough to this dark part of the forums to ask a question. I don't know if i will leave here alive but i must know.

What is so great about Darkfall?

The fans of this game seems very hostile and quite frakly scares the crap out of me. But i am brave enough to ask; why do you like the game? Let's start with my backround and what i think is a good MMORPG. Now Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games is a huge genre. Like sports games. You might like American Football games but hate golf games.

Now I've played around 40 MMOs in my time my first was Final Fantasy XI and i'm now waiting for Warhammer Online. And yes i have played World Of Warcraft but didn't like it (only played to lv39).  And a lot of free asian games. And what i've learned is that you should not compare these games with each other. You don't go from Final Fantasy XI to Guild Wars thinking "Man this is not like FFXI at all and that is bad because it is not in FFXI". It's like sports games you don't go from a golf game to a Football (soccer) game thinking you're going to play a golf game.

But i just don't see anything i like about Darkfall! I'm don't like the graphics, i don't like the animations, i don't like the sound and the gameplay just doesn't seem fun for me. There is nothing i like about this game. And there seems to be so many people defending it (mostly in a hostile way).

So i'm asking you: What is so great about Darkfall?

 

Us old guys love sandbox games, sounds like you didn't get a chance to try one yet.

I'm not sure why you don't like the graphics but I think they're great. The animations need work but those will be worked out I'm sure.

What's great about Darkfall? It's a sandbox full of life and the people that are so vocal about this game is because we've been waiting a LONG time to have another awesome sandbox game like UO or SWG.

If graphics are what you need, I suggest AoC. We're going sandbox and VERY happy to get the chance to start digging once again.

Last few posts have said it all. A game without a grind. A game based on skill, not based on how mush time you devote your real life to in terms of gear. I could write a lot more but I think the last few posts have really covered it. Be who you want, do what you want, make what you want and take what you want. The game is played by you how you want to play it!

Originally posted by ZalKin

Now i'm going to be brave inough to this dark part of the forums to ask a question. I don't know if i will leave here alive but i must know.

What is so great about Darkfall?

The fans of this game seems very hostile and quite frakly scares the crap out of me. But i am brave enough to ask; why do you like the game? Let's start with my backround and what i think is a good MMORPG. Now Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games is a huge genre. Like sports games. You might like American Football games but hate golf games.

Now I've played around 40 MMOs in my time my first was Final Fantasy XI and i'm now waiting for Warhammer Online. And yes i have played World Of Warcraft but didn't like it (only played to lv39).  And a lot of free asian games. And what i've learned is that you should not compare these games with each other. You don't go from Final Fantasy XI to Guild Wars thinking "Man this is not like FFXI at all and that is bad because it is not in FFXI". It's like sports games you don't go from a golf game to a Football (soccer) game thinking you're going to play a golf game.

But i just don't see anything i like about Darkfall! I'm don't like the graphics, i don't like the animations, i don't like the sound and the gameplay just doesn't seem fun for me. There is nothing i like about this game. And there seems to be so many people defending it (mostly in a hostile way).

So i'm asking you: What is so great about Darkfall?

 

Good thread OP.

Im kinda lazy but will give you a link that answers abit of the question you asked.

Its a long one but all who havent read it before should actually do just that, read it. =)

http://www.gamerdna.com/Vox/04073-Smith-Dynamic-Worlds.html

Really like this part from link above -

[QUOTE] Aaron Smith: Along with the economic and social motivations discussed earlier, there lies another immersion factor: the threat of violence (PvP). Without the threat of violence the dynamic world's politics and economics will seem pointless in many respects. The threat of PvP combat will cause organizations to form, people to cooperate, and player guilds to take each other seriously so that politics and economics will maintain realism. This spice causes players to want to log on every day just as the hope of attaining wealth and property within the game world will do the same on the other side of the "hedonistic spectrum" Player ownership is more important if there is a chance of loss. This doesn't necessarily mean loss of assets or items. It can mean loss of face, loss of prestige or honor as well. This conflict creates an intriguing storyline and gives meaning to what the players do in our world. However, our dynamic world is still meant to please the player. And while many players are willing to risk their ownership in the dynamic world in exchange for more political and economic immersion, other players see the gaming world from a different perspective. Some gamers desire a world in which there is no true loss. Even if an attempt against monsters in an epic PvE encounter is lost, the players will walk away with everything they own still in tact and they'll just have to try again later. For many players gaming is an escape from the risk that accompanies any action in real life and they would like their work in the game to be preserved indefinitely whether it be assets or items. [/QUOTE]

Have a nice one

Originally posted by KhaelSan

A few of the points that distinguish DF from other mmorpgs.

1) No instances!
2) Free for all with full loot.
3) Player skill based pvp
4) No auto target. Collision detection with friendly fire.
5) 500+ spells, 500+ skills, thousands of different equipment, all is player made. No one looks alike, and noone has the same template.
6) Low poly / low textures, optimized for large battles, they have tested serveral hundreds players fighting with 50fps+. Not like AoC or wow, where server freezes up, and your fps drops below 5, as soon as 50 people get together in the same spot.
7) No pets - no stupid pet that chase you all over the world, while the owner sits back and takes a nap.
8) No stealth - people cant just go invisible on your. You can hide in the shadows from a distance wearing dark clothing though.
9) NPC ai far exceeds current mmorpgs, these monsters are more like counterstrike bots.

There are a couple good things being mentioned about Darkfall that can't be ignored. However there are many other aspects that I find quite unappealing.

The good, the skill based system is interesting, as well as the active combat. No one having the same template is also really cool, better NPC AI is something that has been lacking a lot in games as well.

Now we come to the other aspects.  Free for all with full loot? Friendly Fire? No NPC Merchants?

So basically are people really supposed to gather at markets to sell and exchange stuff like the real world? Why would anyone play a game to mimic the annoying real world exactly?

Say there is some sort of Auction House system or Market interface that you can access from anywhere that everyone can list their items for sale in. But..anything other than that sounds extremely tedious.

Free for all with full loot...so after investing a month of playtime you make one wrong move and lose everything (just like in real life medieval battlefield of course)  who would want to play in a world like that?

That's brutal.

I'd rather play a few rounds of Counterstrike, Halo or Quake than play something where hours and hours of my invested time could be tossed down the drain so easily.

From what I am reading, and from the expletive ridden responses, I am getting the impression that this game is meant to appeal to an elitist segment who consider themselves 'hardcore'. 

As such it reminds me of FURY, which had the same "YEAH!F*** YOU ALL MAN! F*** YOU! You Snooze..YOU LOSE! IT's ALL about Skill baby! RAARRRR" testosterone laden attitudes on its message forums during Beta.

And as such I don't have much hope for Darkfall being around for a long time.

Now, if they made split servers, a 'Hardcore' server for all the "F*** YOU MAAN!! You DIE You lose EVERYTHING! PUSSY!" players, and a normal server where death isn't as harsh, PVE is present with consensual PVP, and the systems not as unforgiving the game with its customisation, AI, and skill based concepts may be different enough to draw a crowd. In fact, I can't really see any reason why they could not do this and appeal to a broader market.

But I don't see any hope of that happening.

just my 2c, I'm in agreement with the first poster. But I haven't played in the Beta, so it could be really fantastic,we'll have to wait and see beyond just what is on message forums and trailers.Let some Industry reviewers get their hands on it and tell us what its really all about :-)

There are NPC merchants in game. There are also NPC vendors you can hire to sell your wares. Sounds like you've never played UO.

Darkall isn't going to be for everyone but a lot of people want to play an open sandbox like UO again. There's plenty people who want this game and although you don't understand the concepts behind it, people who have been around and played the older sandbox games are going to flock to Darkfall.

It's ok though, there's plenty of MMOs out there to cater to all needs.

Yes, I think there are more than enough MMOs out there to cater to most tastes.

But it would be nice to have a dynamic, skill based MMO, with great potential for user customisation, Action oriented combat, and improved 'bot' like AI within the framework of a PvE styled server with no unsanctioned player killing ^_^.

There don't seem to be anything on the horizon like that though, perhaps the closest thing might be Warhammer Online??