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Fallen Earth: Fallen Earth Review
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy takes a critical look at the post-apocalyptic virtual world MMORPG, Fallen Earth.
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Fallen Earth is the type of game fans of MMOs should love to see hit the scene. From a small group of talented developers without coffers the size of Fort Knox, comes a game that hearkens back to the days of MMO-yore while giving the genre a much needed dose of originality. The game is buggy, a bit antiquated in terms of visuals, and has some rough edges that need smoothing, but in a gaming scene populated by products that are all trying to copy one another while spending the budget of a small country, it is certainly refreshing to see the little guy shine.
In a lot of ways Fallen Earth reminds me very much of EVE Online. Both are from unknown developers, had little to no fanfare at launch, and yet both managed to score a small but dedicated fan-base from day one. The latter, as we now know, grew exponentially over the years almost entirely by word of mouth, and I would not be surprised if with time and polish Fallen Earth sees the same trend. But before you start to think this game is my own personal messiah, let's get into the parts I found a little tough to swallow.
Read the Fallen Earth Review.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
A fair review,much better than the 1st review on this site.
If someone had came up to me in 1980 when I was on my Atari 2600 and said we will be playing games with thousands of people at the same time.I guess my response would have been,"but I only have 2 joysticks"
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/235780/page/8
Overall, I agree with your "daunting yet promising" review.
In fact, I just started the trial last night. I'm 90% sure already that I'll sub at the end of the trial.
As much as I've defended STO in these forums, I have come to realize that it is too one-dimensional for my tastes. And the more I read about TOR, the less I like what I'm hearing.
So, here I go, in to the apocolypse to live the life!
Agreed. Fair review.
The part about rolling the die to see if you hit has always confused me. I've never missed anything I was aiming at (level 38 atm.)
I've heard this comment before and believe that people are experiencing it, it just doesn't happen to me
Trevor Goodchild - Traveler - Crafing/Pistols
Sapo Loco - Rifle/Melee
"open sandbox world" lolwut ? u can have open world or a sandbox world
FE cant be a sandbox is a theme park
BestSigEver :P
Another clueless poster who does not know what a sandbox is. Please understand what you are talking about before making silly posts.
Good review, I think it is right on. The game has potential, I hope this game sticks around and improves.
Another clueless poster who does not know what a sandbox is. Please understand what you are talking about before making silly posts.
if u are so good post here on how many different ways you can acquire the skills needed to craft a ATV if FE is a sandbox u have options if is not a sandbox u only have on way to get said skill
i wait for your post
BestSigEver :P
Another clueless poster who does not know what a sandbox is. Please understand what you are talking about before making silly posts.
if u are so good post here on how many different ways you can acquire the skills needed to craft a ATV if FE is a sandbox u have options if is not a sandbox u only have on way to get said skill
i wait for your post
You play EVE so you must know it all. OKKKK!!!!
FE is not a very good mmo.. i played it for two months, most people after a month find out that there really isn't much to do besides ap grind, and everything feels like it's done for nothing. .. boo FE you could have been so good
After a month play? oreally, I am sure everyone will take your word for it. There is nothing else to do except for AP grind, right!!
The replies are getting interesting already and we are still on page 1. I am excited !!
Patch notes of today: http://forums.fallenearth.com/fallenearth/showthread.php?t=31584 with lots of graphics improvements. Yay!
New interview with Lee Hammock: http://www.massively.com/2010/01/06/massively-speaking-episode-83-fallen-earths-lee-hammock/
Cheers
it's weird why dated visuals are always a bad point, if it had up to date visuals then the 1 server thing would not be a viable option due to the increased lag on all ends. it'd be less of an MMO and more of a shard/server fest.
I mean if WoW didn't have cross realm Bgs and Dungeons, it wouldn't even be high on my list.. the visuals are hardly stunning but to fit so many on a server is pretty good and it is the most successful MMO.
Unlike some others with high visuals, what did happen to Vanguard, and i hear AoC is widely popular now.. *cough* then there's tabula rasa... oh wait.... no there isn;t
an MMO MUST have dated visuals as gameplay must come first, it's an MMO (object to get as many people to SUBSCRIBE to it) not a single player game (object to get as many people to buy and play it, complete it in 5 hours and trade in) :-p
not that i think fallen earths visuals are that bad, but reviewers and fanboys (not gamers) from other games have to bitch about something.
"nothing actually matters, we're just slightly evolved monkeys clinging to a dying piece of rock hurtling through space waiting for our eventual death." - Frankie Boyle, Mock The Week
FE is a mix of Sandbox and Theme Park.
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
Reviewers and Gamers alike have been fed with shiny graphics for too long and since most games are just the same old same old, only graphic quality is what makes the game better than another. It's the reason why I believe players have forgotten that Gameplay > Graphics. DarkFall had similar comments that the graphics are outdated and all that crap (and quite frankly, the environment looks great but that's out of subject).
Either way, had players not been served clones with better graphics, perhaps reviewers woulld not even mention anything about "dated visuals".
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As for Fallen Earth, the reviewer hasn't mentionned anything about Fallen Earth's story, which is pretty good in my opinion, so I'm left wondering if the reviewer skipped the quest text or not...
Looks like a pretty fair review.
After a month play? oreally, I am sure everyone will take your word for it. There is nothing else to do except for AP grind, right!!
The replies are getting interesting already and we are still on page 1. I am excited !!
Yes really, i believe that it is not a very good mmo.... and anyone who enjoys it, good for them!
On the other hand, i did see the are working on alot of my complaints (not because of them, lol) as others disliked things too, like adding item degradation..
But..
There is still very little challanging PvE content (and no i'm not talking about instanced raids) and take some time, all the 45's are feeling like nothing to do.. it's obvious it's more a "enjoy slowly" then a "rush through" type game (nothing wrong with that)
A very fair review in my opinion. More in line with what I felt should be the case when the first one was done. Additionally having known the reviewer from when I spent some time on another MMO site I have confidence in the integrity of the review.
MMORPG.com will benefit in having Murph conduct reviews in my estimation. Heck, I wanna work for the site now, lol!
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Is there a non-member link so I can read the notes? Are they posted elsewhere? When I check the forum link it says I need to be a registered member to view them.
Arioc Murkwood
Environment Artist
Sad but true.
Thanks for the review. I've shared a simmilar experience in the game during my 14 day trial. I found the tutorial helpful but information planly stated by players was far more informative then the info delivered by the NPC's. I found that to be an annoyance as I wanted to grasp the basic mechanics of the game via the tutorials and not just be given a platform to Q&A the community (which I found to be extremly helpful and delightful).
I found I had a hard time getting past the visuals and with max settings things looked decent but chugged massivly in towns and dense areas. So I had to turn things down a bit and the visual loss was significant. Animation and the puppet factor also kept drawing me out of the game. Perhaps I picked a bad starting town but nature is full of color, I don't understand why the apocolypse has to be "brown-town". Even 100 years from now plants will be green in the desert, not a muted-olive ontop of brown/grey dirt.
Visuals aside, I really did find the game exciting. One thing I'd like to comment on is the lack of rolemodels. Weather as an NPC or player, I lacked any carrot to grow. Perhaps town guards with some cool looking gear would incentivize me a bit, but everyone around town was in noobie gear (the NPC"s) and the few players I saw looked just as lack-luster.
I know there exists advanced gear which players strive for and makes your road-warrior character look more like a brotherhood of steel character, but all that is hidden from you initally and maybe I've just grown to desire that carrot to lead me twards higher aspirations from the get-go.
Just my 2 cents.
Arioc Murkwood
Environment Artist
Sad but true.
My type of game...
This review makes it look worth a try to me.
Getting old is mandatory...growing up is optional.
I played for a couple of months at release and enjoyed the first 6 weeks. After that it felt like I was gathering to craft bullets to kill things for no real reason behind it. I'm not saying it was a bad game, it just wasn't for me, or maybe nothing holds my interest fo long anymore.
I have been looking at this game for a bit now. Just don't know if it would be my cup of Tea. I guess i will have to breakdown and try it out and see if it really will be a game i could enjoy like Eve has been for so many years now.
Tenbwen
Very fair review.
95% of the reviews here are total crap (IE, by fanboys or people who play the game for 4 hours and think they can critique it). This one is good.
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I enjoyed the part where the reviewer admitted he couldnt "get into the town based pvp conflict"...which starts at sector 2 which is level 16-18+.....so your admitting you really didnt get very far in the game?
another joke review in my opinion from a guy who couldnt even experiance endgame content which I find very enjoyable 3 months in.
I play all ghame
FALLEN EARTH a failing grade for me but not a total lost cause.
graphics yes there plain and the apocoliptic world is not aparent enough but with some polish the graphics level is satisfactory to get the job done I liken it to star wars galaxies level graphics.
animations: yepper prety crude and stiff need some work here.
customizations: this is a two faced monster,,, yes there are plenty of customizations "possible" but they use "stat clothing" and they have no costume clothing slots or even clothing toggles so in as little as the first 15 minutes of the game 90% of your clothing "choices" are obsolete sure you can wear a baseball cap if you want to sacrafice head armor or you can wear sunglasses instead of a gasmask but few actually do ultimatly most players tend to wear the standard armor of their level as they can get it. your first real clothing is gonna be a duster and chaps....its really not a choice.
TRAVEL: one of the most anoying and negative things about FE is the lack of stratigic travel travel just between one village and another can be 10-15 minutes long even by ATV (on foot is even worse!!) this has the crippling effect of isolating players from each other this means that if your in zone 3 you most likely wont pick up and head back to help a buddy out in zone 2 as this is a MAJOR move it can take you an hour to go from one zone to the next let alone towns in the same zone. Ive sugested a steam like train way back in beta with coresponding quests support maintence and security as a train would make a great plot device, not to menton the quests for access at the different stops.
BIKES AND ATV: no vehicle physics engine!!! no customization !!! these crafted vehicles are lame ground huggers and all bikes and and atvs of a given type all look the same sure bikes are a bit faster than a horse but horses are far superior in most other respects.
CRAFT SYSTEM for the most part i was impressed with their craft system and the way they distributed the resources though some recipies did leave me scraching my head like ammo they have normal heavy rifle ammo,, effecient heavy rifle ammo,, and economic rifle ammo,,,, yet these are all the exact same ammo! heavy rifle,, yet its still 3 different stack slots in your inventory (or at least two crafted and looted) and thats true for every single ammo type !!!
FACTONS yes they have excelent definitions for their factions but they are in name only there is no real differences between a tech facton player and a vista facton player both use the same tech level gear and both ride the same gasoline driven bikes,, you would think vistas would shun bikes and have advanced horses and techs have hover bikes my sugestion is go either tech or the military facton they have better locations and better combat books. and resources near their outposts.
no shotgun physics engine shotguns are slow big bullet guns and a poor allaround gun even against zombies and the like (FE you suck)
no grenade physics engine: grenades are the ultimate in lame in FE if you dont hit your target with a slow moving lob they they miss totally as in no splash damage or AOE this includes poisons bios and acids.
crafting QUE they fix this yet? you still cant move things around your que so if you start building a long project and need to make some quick ammo or a subcomponent your screwed. (most requested BETA item)
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BEGINNERS GUIDE:
as soon as you step out of your pod and into the real world you have points you can spend (this is beta knowlage so possibly outdated now) you should spend points into armor use to get it to 15 (15 allows you to wear the first armor duster and chaps) also i sugest leveling your melee to 15 and the next 2h melee weapon above the stick (i cant remember what it was but its far more effective i usually prefer a weapon that ballances damage and speed , speed being near 1 second delays) you should endever to at least aquire or buy all the basic first level (11$ books) as its a real pain to get some of them later or make a multi hour trip to get them and it fills in your craft register. get yourself a horse as soon as you can,, learn to make ammo,, you can do all of the quests in all of the towns in zone 1
there is also a first aid skill/power that everyone should get asap though i cant quite remember it i think you can get it at 20-21 skill? it is effectivly a 1 hour regen buff get it,,, live it.
skills have sweet spots every 15 levels 15,30,45 ect and its better to push one skill to 15 than 3 skills to 14 as 14 gets you nothing dont bother with a gun till at 60 rifle because a 70m rifle without a scope is next to useless.
you should be crafting ALL THE TIME as combat and crafting exp both combine in the total exp pool ! if you only fight your loosing out on half the possible exp gain and definatly try to load up your que before you log even if its just ammo.
get a pad of paper and make note of where you find resources and what trainers are in which towns also not the type of mobs near a given town and their difficulty and specials this will save you mucho time later on.
while fallen earth didnt impress me enough to bother to stay past beta it might be worth another look in a year or so and see if they fixed the fatal flaws ive listed here oh and stay away from their LAMEASS death boarder as you will be walking along and fall over dead in the middle of the desert even though the map shows you are nowhere near the boarder
make a world, not a game, we dont want another game.
Very nice review and probably one of the most fair ones Ive read on this site so far.
Ill admit I was pretty critical of FE during its beta phase and didnt really give it much of a shot before I passed judgment on it. However after a stream of updates, developer love and my own time playing the trial and meeting some great people, I quickly changed my mind. Cant wait to see where this game goes in the future.
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