Darkfall

[Sedako]

Finding myself unable to log onto AoC to grind off my last 8 levels and realizing that it's not the game I was hoping it would be, I've decided I should probably start looking for a different MMO. Aion is one possibility, as it looks like a very solid entry. Having talked to some Warhammer beta testers, I don't think it will be that great of a game.. not that I was all that interested anyways. Some of you may have heard of Darkfall, an MMO that has been in development since 2001 by indy developer Aventurine SA. Here are some of the main features, ripped from the wiki:

- Unrestricted PvP, with no safe zones, only protection by NPC guards in racially controlled cities. Indiscriminate player killing results in changes in alignment (see alignment section below), which in turn has severe in-game consequences.

- A character advancement system devoid of player levels and classes. The majority of player capabilities are determined by the possession of skills, which improve in response to in-game use. For example, all weapon proficiencies, the ability to swim, cast spells, ride mounts, and climb various obstacles are all skills that can be learned and improved through in-game use.

- A real-time combat system that includes FPS-style manual aiming & blocking. Ranged combat will be viewed from first person perspective. Melee combat will be viewed from third person perspective. There will also be no 'player radar' or floating names with which to identify players or NPCs. Furthermore, friendly fire is always in effect, so missed melee attacks, misfired arrows, as well as area of effect offensive and healing spells affect both friends and enemies.

- Complete looting. All of a player's items become world lootable on death (see looting section below), and virtually all props and items in the game will be player-craftable.

- Cities that can be built, sieged, captured and destroyed by players.

- Naval warfare, with the ability to create, board, capture and sink player controlled ships.

- Real-world physics, including inter-character and projectile-character collision detection. Projectiles (spells, arrows, cannonballs etc.) can be evaded or blocked in real time. Players can be pushed or blocked by other players, NPCs and/or explosions.

- Dynamic, physical weather, including variable, directional winds. For example, foggy or rainy weather can severely limit sight range and high winds greatly influence tidal wave amplitude and ship movement. Day and night cycles are based on a realistic planetary system of 2 orbiting moons.

- Enhanced monster behaviour and AI. Monsters do not simply stand and swing at players until dead; they may employ sophisticated combat tactics based on their capabilities, social behaviour, and intelligence level. For example, intelligent monsters will preferentially target healers, casters, and/or weakened players. Monsters do not have fixed spawn locations or sizes - monsters form their own communities, may construct buildings and/or may relocate to new areas in response to being hunted by players. Monsters may also fight other monsters in their region.

- A zoneless game world capable of supporting over 10,000 concurrent players per game instance.

There is also a good amount of other information on the wiki, which I suggest you read if you're interested so far. According to the latest Developer journal, which can be found here, they are shooting for a 2008 release with the beta beginning a few weeks before.

And now for some media:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiIY8tg2qBs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuLeQkTj074
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlV3iTzAf9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALE91GCgTqo

Spoiler

Vaporware or not, this is quite possibly the most ambitious MMO I've seen. If it really does become a reality, there's no doubt that it will put the corporate developers to shame.

 

[Letters]

Hadn't heard of Aion before... actually looks pretty good. I'll put that down with Champions Online for my hopefuls!

That Darkfall thing looks like crap, though. Wooden graphics, friendly fire, no-safe-zone PvP where you can get your shit looted? Uh huh, okay.

 

[Sedako]

That Darkfall thing looks like crap, though. Wooden graphics, friendly fire, no-safe-zone PvP where you can get your shit looted? Uh huh, okay.

I get the feeling you've never played Ultima Online, Shadowbane, or Eve Online. The games were very PvP intensive and you could lose all your hard earned gear in one death. However, they are often looked upon as having some of the greatest PvP mechanics. Darkfall will not tailor to people who prefer WoW's simplistic and reserved PvP system. Having the best gear possible in Darkfall will supposedly result in only about a 15% advantage over players with basic gear and equal skill. The PvP will emphasize skills/spells far more than gear, and player skill most of all. As for the graphics, I'd imagine it's difficult for an independent developer to allocate a lot of resources to a cutting edge engine, but it looks good enough to serve it's purpose. Hell, compare it to Warhammer Online visuals and you'd be hardpressed to call one superior to the other. Some of the screens I linked were from older builds, but the last 3 are current I believe.

 

[Monique]

Darkfall is vaporware at this point.

It's been in development since 2001 without much to show at all. It was supposed to be released in 2005 originally iirc.

It also promises to be everything except the kitchen sink. I'd love it if it did even a quarter of what it promises, but it won't--or at least I can't fathom it will do so in a timely manner. Still, I remember when I saw the trailer in 2006, and I got so excited.

And then it never came out.

Also since you brought up WAR, I'm in the beta. And it's very bad. BlahblahNDAblahblah

 

[Sedako]

We'll have to wait and see. If the beta does not start this year, I think it's safe to assume it never will.

 

[Qonfused]

I've been following Darkfall for quite some time and I seriously doubt it's going to be released anytime within this decade. It's sad because it seems it's what a lot of us have been looking for.

 

[AiM]

Sounds too ambitious for it's own good. Very few dev teams (if any) could implement a handful of those features well, let alone all of them by such a small company.

 

[PvtRyan]

Darkfall.. more like Darkfail, am I rite?

Nah, it does look good but it's suspiciously ambitious and secondly the PvP could turn out to be very frustrating. Also, the hardcore PvP will mean a smaller player base.

 

[Lucid]

So basically this thread is about a game that will most likely never come out?

Also, wow, you're already tired of AoC?
Never heard of someone tiring of an MMO after only playing for a few weeks.

 

[Sedako]

So basically this thread is about a game that will most likely never come out?

Also, wow, you're already tired of AoC?
Never heard of someone tiring of an MMO after only playing for a few weeks.

I'm not tired, I'm bored and somewhat frustrated. Trust me, I'm not one who tires from playing games. I played Diablo 2 and WoW each for years straight before I quit them, and I still go back to Diablo occasionally. AoC is just a bug fulled and unbalanced mess, and with the huge lack of content at level 50+, it's really put me off to playing it. Not to mention they end up creating more bugs every time they fix some. Many people share my sentiments, as AoC promised a lot but failed to deliver many of those promises, and a lot of people have already quit. Some of my guildies have done so, which adds to my frustration. I made this thread to spread awareness of a potentially great MMO, whether it comes out or not.

 

[Rizzo]

Never heard of someone tiring of an MMO after only playing for a few weeks.

Me + WoW

but i got sick of it in 2 days.

 

[Nid Banikeri]

Wow, what the hell has happened to DarkFall?! The graphics in those recent videos look...pretty dam good, obviously not AoC quality, but tbh, I'd rather that as I don't have the money to dish out on a top notch computer.

They have obviously been working on it quite a lot therefore I would be wary to call it vaporware. However they really do need to announce some form of beta because it's just getting silly now.

Dam if this comes out with what they promise (obviously not everything + they will probs water down the hardcore pvp a bit) it's gonna be a great game.

 

[Raziaar]

Darkfall is entirely vaporware.

 

[Krynn72]

I got sick of WoW after a two months. I only made it to level 15 after forcing myself to play it since I paid for a month.

 

[Sedako]

Beta sign ups went live a few days ago. For any interested, see the following post:

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/announcement.php?f=9&a=26

 

[Sedako]

Well, beta is now in full swing. Impressions have been quite positive, with many stating that the game currently feels more complete than most other MMOs are sometime after release. The good news is that the European release date has been set for January 22nd, 2009, with a NA release proceeding shortly after:

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=87239

 

[Raziaar]

My brother is excited about playing this. I was too... years ago, but it's been so ****ing long and was all but vaporware. I've seen that a lot has changed since then, and I'm hoping it turns out good. Will be playing it with my brother.

 

[B_MAN]

sounds very ambitious and difficult to implement but i will surely keep my eye on this and hopefully have a chance to play the beta

 

[Raziaar]

Man looking at those videos inspires so much hope in me. They get my blood pumping. Especially the first and third one.

 

[Nabobalis]

Plus, with a release date, it might be hope full. But I wonder how they plan to seel the game and how much they will charge.

 

[Raziaar]

Plus, with a release date, it might be hope full. But I wonder how they plan to seel the game and how much they will charge.

Million bucks says they do it the same way all others do. Sell it retail for about 50 bucks and go with the regular subscription price for mmorpgs which last I recall was 14.95 a month or so.

I remember when the average price was like 10 bucks.

 

[Nabobalis]

Million bucks says they do it the same way all others do. Sell it retail for about 50 bucks and go with the regular subscription price for mmorpgs which last I recall was 14.95 a month or so.

I remember when the average price was like 10 bucks.

But I wonder if they have laid down any online system yet or if it will be rushed. They should put it on steam really. Plus I hope there is a trial, don't want to put money down to hate it. Like I did was AoC.

 

[Raziaar]

I don't think putting an MMORPG on steam would be a good idea. It'll distribute it yes, but it'll also have to be used to launch the game and as far as MMORPGS go, they generally have their own launch thing that is distinguished as being their own.

I don't think Steam is a good idea for an MMORPG to be hosted from.

 

[Dr.Freeman]

The videos reminds of World of Warcraft.

 

[Ren.182]

Being a pirate sounds interesting. Gonna keep a close eye on this.

 

[Eejit]

It's not vaporware anymore? wow.

 

[Sedako]

The videos reminds of World of Warcraft.

This is nothing like WoW. The closest comparison would probably Marrowind as an MMO with better AI and combat.

 

[Krynn72]

This is nothing like WoW. The closest comparison would probably Marrowind as an MMO with better AI and combat.

And worse animations and blander environments.


But still it looks fun. I would have probably considered buying it if it didnt require a monthly subscription. Still, I may get it and play the month trial just in case it wows me.

 

[CombineHunter]

Its been in development for 7 years? and this is the first time ive heard about it?

 

[Ravioli]

GOD ****ING damnit is there ANY video out there of Darkfall being actually played?!?! All videos i can find are either just filled with screenshots or small segments of iname footage. I want to see a video that shows the game as it is played with the GUI and everything, enough with all these crappy overhyped videos :/

 

[Sedako]

And worse animations and blander environments.


But still it looks fun. I would have probably considered buying it if it didnt require a monthly subscription. Still, I may get it and play the month trial just in case it wows me.

All the videos and pics I linked are from fairly older builds. I've been trying to find some vids from the beta, but to no avail.

Edit: Here's a more recent vid. The running animations still look a little silly, but everything else seems improved over the earlier vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xu4rBDeZTM&feature=related

 

[Krynn72]

Why do people always have to zoom in and out with their camera while recording a ****ing monitor?

 

[Dr.Freeman]

Why do people always have to zoom in and out with their camera while recording a ****ing monitor?

Seriously, i don't know. :cheese:

 

[Raziaar]

And worse animations and blander environments.


But still it looks fun. I would have probably considered buying it if it didnt require a monthly subscription. Still, I may get it and play the month trial just in case it wows me.

Heh... Shadowbane was one of the ugliest, buggiest games around, but it was also one of the best mmorpgs I've ever played, and by far I've had the most memorable experiences there than any other game.

 

[Bad^Hat]

That actually looks pretty advanced for an MMO, combat-wise... which is probably going to mean it'll be a total lag-fest come launch. Not that I'd even have a chance, playing from over here. Still, looks good.

Why do people always have to zoom in and out with their camera while recording a ****ing monitor?

They're trying to catch the dialog boxes. MMO fan sites have a huge boner for trying to compile spell descriptions and other mundane shit like that before launch. If you catch it on film at a press event or something it doesn't technically break the NDA, I believe.

 

[CombineHunter]

yes it does but i never really play mmorpgs anyway id much rather play singleplayer ones that dont cost a shit load of money every month to play thank you very much.

 

[Acepilotf14]

A shitload?
It costs about as much as a good-sized lunch at Carl's Jr.

 

[CombineHunter]

Well you know what i mean.Anyway theres no way im paying a monthly subsciption for a game i payed for in the first place!

 

[Raziaar]

Well you know what i mean.Anyway theres no way im paying a monthly subsciption for a game i payed for in the first place!

If I took that approach I would have missed out on some of the most amazing gaming experiences in my entire life.

 

[Gargantou]

If I took that approach I would have missed out on some of the most amazing gaming experiences in my entire life.

Not me, I've played several MMOs, none I've ever gotten "amazing gaming experiences" from, several includes Tabula Rasa, Age of Conan, World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Ultima Online, Dark Age Of Camelot, Anarchy Online and more.