A NEW Noobs DarkFall Review

 This review over its existance has been edited many times and has had many revisions, additions and just rewording or better explanation. It is up to date as of Dec 7/2009. I will most likely edit this over time to make it a true review, up to date and with information regarding the game AS IS. This game has changed alot since its release, and I've only been here since just before this one expansion and we are going to be recieving patches everyday for more balancing.

I know this review is really long. The reason for this is it cover many topics, mainly I try to talk about and explain things that I have found people complaining about.

This is not just a new review, this is my personal best attempt to tell you why this game is worth a chance.

Is the game Perfect? Nope...

Will it change and get better, almost definately...

Will it be tommorow... try weeks/months/years and I'm sure more and more things will change, be added and improve the game overall bit by bit.

In this review I give explanations and use references, I did this as well as I could considering my lack of experiance playing darkfall (I've been online 2 weeks now, with no regrets)

It is thorough, giving references to my experiances in game some before the expansion some after (most from before atm).

Also please note that much of this was written at many different points in time and its not in order of "First to Last" and may jump around a bit in terms of how much experience is under my belt at the time.

As I keep adding to this review I'm sure it will become much more varied and could be harder to follow due to this. (One paragraph I'm describing my first time, next I'm talking about something I did days/weeks or if I keep adding maybe even months later)

Now first of all, I'm gonna tell you the reasons why I wrote this review.

1st. The server was down for the expansion and I had a day off from work

2nd I was actrually told to by other players in game.

3rd I could not find ONE accurate review that was more current and not just really Negative.

Have you ever wondered how a reviewer makes his money?

Hes paid by the amount of words written... yes so a thorough good review will earn as much as a review with alot of text.

Also they averagly play 15-25 hours of gameplay before writing (Some play more I'm sure but this would be the average).

Why? its cost effective, its thier job... More games played, more reviews written... More money coming in....

Playing for 2 months or more won't give you a ton of extra things to talk about, its just not effective and this is a job for them.

As a true gamer and someone highly interested in seeing this game succeed this bothers me deeply.

How can someone who did not even play that much have the right to be the main "Information source" for this game.

I re-read these reviews now, after playing the game myself. I find that alot of things are different, or I can't even relate to what they complain about. I can tell they

A. Don't even bother learning how to play.

B. Have no clue what to do or was Pk'd over and over

(Once I die and respawn, personally I go the other direction... Not to the same place to die again.)

C. Tried crafting and grinded themselves into a closet to cry...

Sure there are other sources of information, but reviews are commonly the first thing someone will find for a game if they want information on it.

Now I'm doing alot of crafting in game, this gives me plenty of time to talk to people and ask things...

It comes up in a conversation, why isn't this game completely overfilled with players? After we all talk about it it usually comes down to 2 things.

Bad reviews and Aggresive PKing and Griefing upon entering the game. (PK Player Killing/Player Killer and Griefing is simply doing things like killing you, only to make you mad...)

Yes Unlike most reviews this is not done with the Intention of being "Objective" and staying "Neutral". I will simply voice my opinion. Some call me a "Fan Boy"... Well I am a fan of this game so cry.

As for the difference in things from what I say compared to other people, well things have changed, we get constant patches and they add new content and change things all the time. Compared to when this game first launched it is almost completely different.

Me:

Before I start I want to say that I'm 23 year old Canadian, I've been playing video games since the original Nintendo was in front of me when I was 3 years old. I've played every game genre out there. I started playing on computers when I was 7 and I continue to use both (Haven't touched my console for over a week now... I bought DarkFall)

My Equipment:

Intel i7 3.07 Ghz

Duel Nvidia Geforce GTX 275's

6GB Ram

300 GB Raptor Drive

Good Motherboard (Forget specs lol)

Good Case

I averagely run this game at 200 FPS and 80 ping on the NA server. I've seen 380 Frames and as low as 62 ping

My Experiance:

I've played Eve, UO, WoW and tried many others that tried to make it in the MMO market and failed.

I even heard about DarkFall years before its released and watched it carefully and unlike most never doubted the fact that the game was being made... I researched the company a little but I was still a little worried about if it would survive to launch. Obviously that worry was laid to rest for me on January 22nd like so many other doubters.

I am not the first guy to run in, I like to gather information.. study and learn... break game mechanics ect. So after its release and all the bad reviews and posts by players ect I threw it away before playing.

(I regret not buying this game upon release so much... If only I had not been scared by people who didn't know how to play, didn't have the patience to let the developers fix anything or by people who simply refused to put any real amount of time into the game and learn it.)

So many complaints that I won't bother to remember as I'm sure anyone can find them on review sites and from people who played and left this game long ago.

Usually the longer/bigger the game the better it gets... but those who don't understand technology seem to not understand that things in a game can be changed... Alot, anyone who has played a single game that was updated regularly online for a few years can tell you that.

This game was made by a very small group (Comparing to almost any other game I can mention really... I don't know everything but I can't recall a game being made by a smaller crew that even compares to the scale of DarkFall) and now they are upgrading, and they will tweak, and change many things... test and add things... and really they can do alot from improving performance to making it better in graphics and changing gameplay so its more realistic or/and better overall gameplay.

They can add places to build stuff and new things to make or build. They can create abilities or skills. Really this game has the most potential I've seen in any game in my life. So if you have not given DarkFall a chance, do so and know what to expect. If you ran away a long time ago, come back its changing... Its not easy, its rough... but its more rewarding and fun than anything I've played before personally.

Before the trolls start saying "PLAY? LMAO, DON'T YOU MEAN TO GRIND?"

Well yeah, in my case at least I want to craft, and yes I'm aware of what that takes in this game and I am willing to do it. Why? I think DarkFall is the best game I've played in long while and I believe it will succeed.

However I'd point out that yes grinding certain skills takes a LONG time, and yes gathering materials for certain crafting skills does take a LONG time. However they have redone it so that its faster to grind your

Strength and Vitality (Main Attributes a Melee would use) from fighting in melee, hitting others and being hit

Quickness being raised by things like running, walking, sprinting, swimming, ect

Dexterity seems to be raised by a few things I saw best results with my bow.

Intelligence can only be raised through Spell casting (That I noticed)

Wisdom it seems is slowly raised by everything and for best results use fishing and herbing.

I have find alot of people tend to think that gathering and crafting will get your attributes further much faster. (While it does tend to be safer, depends on the other players on a day to day basis) That seems incorrect where yes gathering does increase stats, it is slower than fighting. Also note that you get more skill gain from hitting NPCs instead of players, so if you want to fight. Go fight, don't go mining for 3 days straight and complain about a grind.

This Next part is a newer addition to this review. (The player I talked to was on MMORPG.com where I have reposted this review. His account name was MadnessRealm and we discussed this next part. Turns out we agreed and we had just not clarified our points enough to realize it.)

I will say this now, this suggestion to avoid crafting is if you are a "Casual Player" by that I mean someone who cannot spend large amounts of time online playing. (Some say casual players shouldn't play DarkFall, that is lies and/or stupidity in my opinion) Its a great game, but if you have too little time, crafting could slow you down considerably.

Next part Quoted from MadnessRealm but slightly rephrased by myself:

Gathering and Crafting does raise your stats which can greatly affect your combat ablities.

As you fight, you will be able to craft items appropriate for your rank.

Raising wisdom to 30 will allow you to access to very important skills such as maintenance and survivalist (I would make a note, regardless of what you do, you'll get wisdom slowly)

The best thing to do is 50% crafting and 50% Fighting. That way you gain gold and stats and can also finance your material cost.

-Unquote

Where its true a "Casual Player" as it stands is not likely to be found of darkfall "Yet", Really I think this game can be enjoyed by the hardcore and casual players. (Just gonna know where you stand and what to do)

I'm personnally a heavy crafter. I plan to do alot. That however is a bad recommendation especially for a new player.

Where its fine if your hardcore or WANT and I mean really really want to be a crafter and know what its going to take. Many take the crafting path to easily especially in DarkFall... get yourself in a decent clan and I'm sure everything can be made for you. (Of course pick up things after a while)

All you should have to do is learn how to fight with whatever you prefer... melee, archery or magic, I personnaly use a Bow as my main damage attack, and A Sword and Sheild in melee and it also allows me to block large amounts of incoming projectiles and/or attacks and I've got good "Lesser Magic" for the purpose of healing myself, conversion spells such as Mana to Stamina and Mana to Health. So I can adapt and deal with a wide range of situation this way....

This game can be played without ever crafting anything (Its possible), you gather mats off dead creatures and chests or buy items off people selling them.

Of course golden rule of trading is be naked standing at a bank for a trade and only trade one item at a time, so if they betray or others attack, you bank the one stack of items quick so if you die it won't matter and no items lost. I would tell casual players to avoid crafting as the process is long and doing other things will gain your attributes faster. (I've been told I'm paranoid with my trading stratagy, but I don't lose stuff)

Know what your doing and why, if your trying to become the "Master of Everything" that is possible to do in this game (THANK YOU AVENTURINE FOR NO SKILL CAP, THATS AWESOME). Well I can't save you from yourself and your gonna burn yourself out crying in a closet somewhere about how horrible this game is. I'm gonna try for it, but I plan and hope to play for years to come.

Now before I get on even more people nerves I remind you this game "Was" OBVIOUSLY lacking a HUGE amount of polish at launch. So much many claim the game was "Broken and Junk" well I know many veterans now and they all say the same thing "Its nothing like before".

Even now I would not say its anywhere near "Finished" but give Aventurine a break, I don't know about you but I seriously looked into their company long before the game was released, and if you think for a second you could create this game with that amount of people in that amount of time and still create such a great game. Well I'd really go off but its just not polite.

Frankly I'm impressed, and now they got the gears grinding, getting more staff and stepping it up, remember the game can change and they can do it. It hasn't even been released ONE YEAR and we have a 2nd expansion being INSTALLED AS I TYPE. WITHOUT BEING CHARGED THE PRICE OF A NEW GAME. (Some say this is nothing more than a "Patch" in some games, Well maybe but I have yet to see the file size of the download) No one can argue the passion and devotion of this company and if you do, well your ignorant and I just deleted the sentence I said previously... so imagine something really mean.

Now this was the biggest thing for me, it truly made me the biggest fan of this game. The sound, I'll talk about the rest after but the sound is amazing. I use some fairly expensive surround sound headsets and I usually listen to music, not in DarkFall. Why? well if you've turned you audio settings down or you blast music you wouldn't know, but the sound is AMAZING.

Some of you who have never listened or have not played are staring at these words and saying to yourself "You're pretty stupid" well listen young grasshopper.

I can hear you walking from a distance, running and mounts from much further. I can hear fighting from a tremendous distance, so far in fact I thought it was crazy. I can tell which direction thanks to my headset. So as I run around I hear you, mining, herbing or logging and I might scope you out and decide if your a juicy target (If your afk you are dead meat) meanwhile while I gather (CAUSE I DON'T AFK) I can hear you approach, hide and decide on what to do. It allows me to find you, evade you and truly pulls me into the game.

This is a newer addition to my review.

I'm going to talk about the User Interface, or UI as we call it. The UI in this game is different. I read many reviews online about DarkFall.. I read most if not all from the bigger review companies and also alot from gamers and some with opinions that I trusted. Most refer to it as "Clonky" or "Difficult" I even read one say it was "Just stupid" but in general I see negative notes regarding the UI.

I really don't know the UI they played with or if and how much it has changed since when they played until the time I did.

It was not that bad. I've played for a fairly short time (Not even 2 weeks as of Dec 5/2009) and I've got a good control on the UI... I have no issues and can compete with looting and everything else.

Its different, and yes to you at first it will be strange... but its not worthy of beng scared of... Like anything new you learn it and adapt to it and then become a pro with it.

Just because this company did not copy & paste a UI from a game you played before does not mean its bad by any means...

I started my gaming lifestyle with the original Nintendo Controller (now that was a sad controler) and moved on to the Nintendo 64 controller (That was one strange design) and moving onto playstation, xbox I even tried the PS1's Hand Glove style controller (That was pro... if you could train yourself to use it) and to keyboards and joysticks of all different types using games with different types of layouts for the UI and controls....

Really I just don't see the reason for the complaints, I've seen games with hard controls or really bad UI setups.... this games setup does not bother me at all... Different, yes. Difficult, no.

Now I'm gonna talk about Combat

The combat system is more than I had Imagined, being chased by goblins... seriously first time I logged in I got my quests and walked to do my first starter quests and I was relaxed and looking at the scenery.... a minute of combat made me realize... I HAVE TO PLAY... When someone told me you block it blocks, you hit it hits, if you can't aim it misses, I thought of Oblivion or games like that in the past.

Well if you are thinking the same, just hit yourself and realize that each game is different and DarkFall IS VERY different. I can't say it easily in text, or explain it with words. But lets say that it does indeed involve more player skill.

It really is not easy and that is a change from most games. A refreshing change, in this world most of us are too use to the easy way, fast food, delivery for everything, online banking, ect... Many are just to lazy. After some review I find some complaints come from this, cause we just are not use to working for what we get. For those of us who are use to working for what we get, it doesn't bother us and all and in fact is more rewarding in the end.

As anyone who has even started working on it can tell you, Magic is extensive and VERY EXPENSIVE to skill up, depending on the particular spell and type of magic... to be that master mage is going to take a while, but its possible and as any who has done it will tell you, its so worth it.

I've played many FPS games out there, and most nowadays (at least anyone who doesn't live in a cave) can say CoD MW2 is amazing, I played it for 5 days on Xbox live... I bought it a day late (day after release date) and in 5 days I was ranked 50,000th in score worldwide. I do know how to play and I am good. I expected I would be playing that game for a long long time. That is until I played DarkFall... now your thinking, "Why is he talking about that"

Well, its because of archery. It really reminds me of my countless hours shooting people in other games, the arrows move fast, and do good damage. They arc extensively at longer ranges and it does take practice, you have to lead your target and takes more skill & attention than most FPS games I've played. That is simply the best way I could think of to refer archery to those who have not played.

As for combat, you are the largest factor. Know you cant win? HIDE!. Think you got them? Ambush them or just attack...undecided, well DECIDE, and do it fast also friends make the difference, I've see a ridiculously overly done character (Skill and stat wise, although we were lucky he wasn't chaining nukes, which won't be possible after xpac) be killed by 3 really new players... thats awesome

Now to talk more about the game (I can only talk about what I've seen, done or been told and I refuse to use much of what I'm told).

Quests and Questing.

I find this part is mostly fine, in this style of gameplay and game world I can't imagine a whole lot of stuff for the quests, I think some larger rewards would be nice, and some would say "WHY?!" and I respond, equipment hardly matters at the beginning, I've been PK'd over a dozen times, with them almost always stripping my corpse down to nothing.

I don't care, after only a week I have at least 20 swords and shields in my bank about 5-10 of each gathering tool and 1 of each of my crafting tools. Some sets of good armour and some bad stuff. It just doesn't matter, its true I get mad, but I have hidden from many others and even ran away and managed to escape... I'm so new and I've even killed a player 1 on 1, sure I used a bow and the environment and jumped him from behind lol

One of the biggest problems I've seen is the no safe zone design. Now I'm gonna put on some armor cause I'm about to have this forum rip me apart

..............

This next section was redone to include some of my newer experiance and warn newer players or people interested in this game about the "No Safe Zones" in a more thorough way.

Okay I'm ready ... The starter town defenses are effective (As I've watched it put down a noob pker a few times) but I find ITS NOT SAFE...

I'm a Alfar, and I'm in the clan "NEW" on the NA server. Some clans believe that we should be killed over and over again and robbed of all items for the lulz or just because we are new.

These more seriously dedicated PKers (Picking on weakings, reminds me of schoolyard bullies. Childish and Karma will come around.... oh yes it will) have declared war with their clan on the clan "NEW" now they won't dare lay siege to the town. (Due to many powerful clans protecting it... They would rain death upon them, and I THANK YOU for that protection.)

I was in a NPC city (Doing my wisdom achievment quests before I headed off to the clan town... cause I'm serious about crafting) and when in town I saw another player with a "Orange" name. I asked in clan chat and in turns out this color mean that they have declared war on our clan.

Seriously, declaring war on "NEW" is like punching a small child and stealing his candy... its not worth the time or the reward so I don't understand why bothering....

However because of this, it turns out the city defense towers will not attack either player if they belong to clans that are at war and are fighting.

So... I was overwieght carrying swordfish from a massive fishing haul and heading to the oven to cook them... and I get jumped... in town with about 7-10 other players in view... who all heard the battle and gathered to watch....

Well regardless I was pwned and died.

A lesson learned about clan wars and that the "Defense Towers" won't interfere or save you at all from other clans at war with your clan.

Meaning even in towns, any town... Clan city, NPC city or Capital City.. The golden rule "DO NOT CARRY WHAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE" is truly golden....

This can be a little hard... Especially when you are turning in the wisdom/title achievement quest and the mats weighs you down so much that you are dead slow and then you gotta carry it in town to the guy, at this point your the Biggest most Juicy steak anyone has ever seen screaming "EAT ME" in front of the largest population of wolves that gathered online in one game in a while....

I highly suggest doing this at late/early hours and if you can, get some friend or clan mates to help gaurd you as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death.... and you should fear evil, for evil players are everywhere as DarkFall allows them to live thier dreams of being that Evil.

Personally as I play the game I sometimes get almost completely paranoid... as I said I use the sound... and I hear something I respond fast always wondering who it is.

While pulling me into the game is great (Something that has never been done to me so well as this game has, it makes me feel like this character is me, I'm the one fighting, scared... running through woods in this virtual world) as great as that is... I don't want to log out to feel like I can go use the bathroom without wondering if I'll be alive when I get back.

So thats hard to deal with, but just hide, or bank your good stuff and you could even have friends guard you... or yes indeed LOG OUT.

 

Now I'm gonna do a small amount of story telling... Why? Cause it gives you a idea of the gameplay and a true reviewer should be giving examples.

To give you a idea, I officially decided to buy the game after reading about "NEW" the clan on NA1 and seeing a cheap discount of the game I jumped at it deciding I've wasted more on 1 stupid night at the bar, why not?

It was worth every penny and more

So I attempted to join new once I joined the game world and it took about 40 mins for my application to be accepted. Now the tale of a noob.

I first explored my surroundings after some quick modification in the visual settings, set for my max resolution and turned off most shadows (except character shadows ) and I started to explore, the NPCs in the town were few and easy to find...

Each town I went to was unique, each location was indeed different and the game world is vast and varied. I heard people complain that its "Barren" HAVE YOU PLAYED? I couldn't imagine travel if there was creatures everywhere... I get surprised enough as I explore and many times I've ran for my life... and not succeeded...

Even in the barren areas doesn't mean there no eyes of a PKer watching you run as he starts to run toward you on a mount laughing about stomping your head in. I'm happy for the extra room, more area to maneuver and hide not to mention all the tactical choices, shoot arrows from the hills or melee in the forest? spell cast of open plains? if there was stuff everywhere it would be really really bad.....

When I went to do my first quest I was relaxed... not a second thought about strategy or anything... It was marked on my mini map and so off I went... I sprinted the distance (cause I read the beginning instructions, which are actually useful btw... cause these controls are something your not use to I guarantee it) and by the time I got to them I was almost out of stamina ( I didn't know )

So I run in with my sword and start attacking, 3 swings later I can't swing and going (WHAT IS GOIN ON HERE?!) well like a intelligent person I realized real fast the mistake I made... In fact you can't do much of anything without stamina it turns out and it something you should be very aware of, almost more so than you health... almost...

So I run away, break Line of Sight (Most AI in games I've played will break off contact at very set distances and will even pretend you don't exist if out of sight or LOS {Line of Sight} so I thought it could make a difference) with the goblin and hide...

Luckily I did figure out how to rest before I started running around and used it. thinking I was safe, I was surprised to get circled and attacked and I died....

The creature responded more like the AI of a FPS style game, it will search and find you if it hears or sees you. (Yes I've been completely out of sight and ended up getting found and attacked due to the sound of mining/logging ect.)

Coming back at town with a rather surprising feeling that I was a idiot or that was really hard... (for a starting quest I was shocked). I knew I had made such a bad mistake and decided to go at it a little more seriously, so turned off my music and put on my headset (on top of being awesome it blocks outside noise so I concentrate better) and I began again... this time saving stamina as I approached... and what do I hear? fighting the clashing of a sword and the casting of magic? what is this!?... (I started to realize the greatness of in game sound)

I crouch walk and approach (seriously read the beginning instructions) to see another starting character with the very goblins I died against, and he was having much greater success that I did. so with the goblins distracted I attacked from the back, and with stamina I was no longer handicapped and was able to defeat my targets... The story of how I met my first friend in game and entrance to the game.

The enemy will run when injured or to break distance to shoot arrows or magic, it will chase you... It will kite you... I must say its the first time I've been kited by a creature in a game... seriously it still has alot of health and keeps running away... and I chase and attack... all of a sudden more are on the left AND right and others coming up mid... I am being attacked heavily and I run... it dragged me in.. like a fool I was ambushed

Thats the story of my first PvE experiance.

Now I must mention the Clan NEW. I've seen alot of pkers in DarkFall since I started playing many leave me alone, many don't. Some seem to think NEW is too carebear-ish for this game, well let me tell you sir, its not easy

Especially when you got guys that are much more advanced camping you or griefing for no purpose other than for lulz... sure its DarkFall and I for one don't cry when I die, I feel like ripping off your head to get my stuff back

So while I work on that, go kill other decent players and get some real reward for the kills...

Some people take it too far, and that ruins other newer players experience before they have extra gear, or extra gathering equipment. Some are too new to know to bank VERY OFTEN and never carry more than your willing to lose.

Some even carry their best stuff to go gathering, then use all their stamina gathering just to get pk'd after hours of gathering... seriously they need to break it up, deposit it every little bit and not use stuff they are not willing to lose.

Another new Addition:

I recently read a forum topic and I think this is something any player should read. I must admit I laughed really hard when I read this.

But I can feel his pain as I plan to be a major crafter. This is the perfect example of don't carry more than your willing to lose and that darkfall is more dangerous than your average MMO (Easily avoidable mistake btw)

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/sho...d.php?t=223738

It sure doesn't help that they don't know, Its worse when you exploit that. I just want to see this game make it as big as I think it can be, and not undersold or have too many people scared away because the playerbase has so many people who have nothing better to do in a game than pick on the weak. Maybe if we just left NEW alone and let them do what they are trying to do then we can keep our new players.

That way the game will expand and fast, more overall pvp activity for later and greater/larger battles than before. Make this game become king MMO of all time like I know it can.

BTW thank you to the many guilds who helped put NEW together and in doing so convinced me to buy the game.

Thanks again to those in those guilds for responding to PKers camping and donating items or gold to the players and to make the town that NEW occupies...

I'm impressed by the idea, more impressed that it was done... and well I'm kinda in awe.... I can't even thank you enough really...

Another Newer Addition:

It has recently come to my attention that a clan for "New" players has been/is being made on the EU server. I have no connection to them and I know nothing about them. I did find this post on the forum.

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/sho...d.php?t=220744

Now I highly recommend researching it more thoroughly but if its anything like the "NEW" clan on NA then its worth it for new players to join up. Learn the ropes and ask questions.. quest in groups and help each other.

As for the NA clan "NEW" I found the original thread and heres the link if you would like to know more.

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/sho...d.php?t=219187

There is also the official clan "NEW" website:

http://newbornonagon.guildplex.com/

Now This is a late addition cause I remembered it lol :

At one point I was questing with a fellow new player, but he was in a different clan. A PKer approached and we didn't realize due to fighting goblins.

He approached fast, dismounted and killed the other guy, cut off hit head and took all his stuff, remounted then he looked at me and said "I don't kill people in "NEW" and rode away.

The clan tag had saved my gear... and I appreciate it. I'd give you credit for being so cool but I forgot your name.....

In the end, all I can say is DarkFall is worth buying, its obvious it will only get better and its already really good.... Most things I've heard people complain about can be mostly or completely avoided by

1. Knowing what to do

2. Don't be stupid, Bank Often, Hide and play smart

3. If your on NA join NEW and ask questions, those answers help alot.

4.Get friends ASAP and move in groups, saves your life many times over.

5.Do what you want, its a game... go enjoy it.

PS: If something on this is incorrect let me know via PM or a post or something I will check and change if needed.

PSS: Yes I'm a noob, No I don't want to change any major aspects of the game. I am not a carebear and you'll know it in a few months when I stand over your Pking corpse. (or I'll at least go down swinging/shooting/casting).