Tranlation from MMORPG Hipano

I was going to post this in the other thread, but think it would be better in the first post of a thread. Ill try to do a accurate translation, but, not too good translating spanish to english, and their spanish is very bad,

 

Darkfall Online have been int he mouth of all that are interested in MMORPGs since it was released four months ago.

When Aventurine start developing it 8 years ago, few gave any credit to this small group of developers, and many say it was vaporware, renaming it as Darkfail u other nasty names, casi siempre biased comments or done from not knowing it

I was not going to enter the clasic discussion between the fans of the pre-wow and post-wow worlds, but its a factor to kake into account

Aventurine stated clearly was they want

- A MMORPG based on older MMORPGs like UO, with their clasic functionalities

--Crafting> Drop, so all items that players could craft, always would be better that the items dropped by mobs in Agon

--High Risk vs Reward, so you would gain more if you risk more. In this concept they put many functionalities of the game, like the full loot, the city sieges or the peril to travel through Agon, where you could find another player or NPC hidden in any place ready to kill you or stolen you mount when  you unmount to pack it

--Uninstanced game. A seamless world without a place in which you could hide or place unattanaible by a player

--Innovative combat system, without autotargeting. Aventurine created their own graphic engine that have a FPS combat system for melee and ranged combat, where the players skill is better than the equip, and where, between players with similar character always would win the better one at the keyboard, and where in group warfare always would win the better organized instead of the better equiped. In the ranged part, mages would need to target to the ground or to the character to deliver at their tatger, and the archers take into account the distance or the parabole of the trayectory

--A big innovation, Mounted combat, very well done, that allow a great superiority to the cavalry charges, and that a good force of archers could win in few moments

-In the loot department, Aventurine want a system in which even pick the object from the dead were real, needing to pick them one by one, after you seathed you weapon, open you bag and then drag & drop them

--PVP FFA, whit alignment system

--3 faction system, althoug big clans are ARAC

--The transport is limited to Mount or on foot, or to recall to you bindplace. Also you have transport routes you need to select before you could use them

--If you die you better run fast to you body or you would loose all you items, unless you have been victim from a ganker

 

After this been said, ¿how is the game health?

The Worls of Agon had suffer an evolution similar to any civilization. Thousand of players enter the game in the first weeks, creating clans, that were organized in Alliances, to control the cities and hamlets of the game

The cities and hamlets are places needed to control farming zones, and offer playersof the alliance semisafe places and buildings like mines, farms and sawmills, that give the resouorces needed for magic reagents, weapons, armors or mounts. So the clans that control more cities will have more advantages to make more equip and raise their skills in magic or combat, which make the city sieges the primary factor, or the high end, of the game

The first two months of the game saw how the bigs clasic guild of the world of pvp, like Goons, The Mercs, The Duchy of Wessex, Lord of Death, Grief, Blood, Shadow Syndicate, SUN and many more war for supremacy. Organized in big alliances that group hundred or thousands ofplayers, they fight every day for the cities

That lead to what was called World War I in Agon, in wich the alliance called Hyperion, leaded by Wessex group more than 4000 players, the Big Zerg and acomplish to control dozens of cities and hamlets, and in their avarice their make that the rest of alliances group against them, attack them from many places

After a war that last some weeks, Hyperion gave up and dissapear, in part because to the fight gaven by the Goons, called The Awfull Company in Darkfall, and their allies, that created the second big Zerg of the server, who is fighting, and loosing, from a month ago to now, against the alliances of Afghanisntan, Cairn and the SB, in the WW II

This have been the primary history of Agon. But there is another hundred of small clans formed by pure PKs that roaming around the world, ganking farmers, small hamlets o fighting between them, and fighting in the capitals of the 3 factions: the Alfar faction, the Mahrim-Orc faction and the clasic Human-elf-dwarf faction

The game had suffer a big evolution in only 4 months, with Aventurine patching continuously, trying to fix many exploits and bugs, and adjusting the alignment system, that allow players to kill their own faction members at the cost of became PKs, which prevent them to enter their cities, and forcing them to kill players from oposite factions to recover alignment

In this moment, the game plays primary in the big cities of the big alliances. You rarely found players in faction capitals or in the zones not in conflict. The players reserve their strengh for the big battles

 

Graphic system, sound and perfomance

DFO only have one server, currently, where around 20k players fight every day. A wining strategy by part of Aventurine, knowing that only around a 20% of players trying the game like it, because Carebears, o players that didnt like risk, a not going to subscribe. Said that, its clear that in the big battles fight hundred of players, and although at release the servers (yes, he said servers in the original article) crash a lot and the perfomance was low, in this moment the server is able to manage various sieges simutaneously in diferents parts of the world with thousand of players involved.

The graphics are not the best part of the game, but its necesary to say that the shadow system is enough decent for a game of this characteristics, because a better system would not be able to handle that epic battles

And if you play, one thing you could no miss are the player cities. Everyone hand-designed, in caves, islands, mountains, ports, barracs, .. a delight of graphical desing

The sound is adaptes to this philosophy too, and althoug been very basic, it acomplish its funtion, because the sound, like in many other FPS, is crucial in combat, so you could know from where the enemy attack, hear the mounts before see them, hear farmers mining or woodchoping, or hear as you enemy buff before attacking you, and its able to manage a battle with hundred or thousand of simultaneous sounds

 

PVE

By far, the worst of the game for the lovers of this aspect. First, because the NPC are easy exploitable, and although they seem to have a good AI, running, avoiding and calling for help when in danger they are not a big challenge, primary because any object done by the players is better

Some NPCand mobs have been the primary problem in the game, because they allow back in the past, to be exploited for many clans, that get enormous resources from them, getting a big advantage respect the new players or the clans that didnt exploit them

Some guild had tried to kill the supermobs of the game, like the dragons, that need dozens of players using thousands of arrows and spells to kill them, but the loot is so poor that is not profitable, as the  spent of the weapond, thar degrade and could not be repaired, nor the armors. Also, any middle-high mob always would win in damage  to the best healers of the game

 

The Worse

Unfortunately for Aventurine, the worse have coming in the form of hacks. We have in DFO all the thing that happens in online games from the begining: Aimbots, wallhacks, teleports, etc. In one of the main reasons that many players have left the game. Dying to a hack with speedhack +aimbot, after many hours farming is very frustrating, and enough reason to unsubscribe. It seems that Aventurine have started to ban this hackers, but the problem is far away to be fixed

Other good reason is the lack of a softcap for the skills and stats. The more hardcore players have skillsets with all maxed, defenses, bow dmg, with melee weapons, magic, heals, buffs, that practically allow them to play in "god mode". The posibility that a player could learn all skills, and that all skills cost the same is a problem, because generate to big disadvantages

 

Our Score

The game is Superb. Its the biggest impact in the MMORPG world since many years ago. Obviously different, aimed to epic pvp fights between big alliances, conquest, where the real players make a big impact in the persistent world of Agon. With a combat system absolutely different, where organization, coordination, tactics and player skills have a biggest impact than in any other game, and where politics have a big impact to control battles and sieges

The big pvp guild of the world are centered in the game, spending unlimited hours and resiurces, and remaking the big fight that exist years ago in UO or SB. Its a game for old school players, that necer reach the numbers from other games centered in PVE, but, like UO,SB or SWG it will make legend, and in some years many says: " I played DFO the first year, fight with or against Hyperion, Goons, or I fight in the wars to come..."

Despite the hacks, exploits and bugs, it deserve a 9.5 because of its originality, valour, and for the history and legend that the players are making in their epic battles