Dark Days Are Coming - New Funcom Project

[Soukyan]

So I finally tried this again. I wasn't able to make a Dragon character because my slots are filled, but I went back into my Illuminati character which is in the first instance. The game has improved GREATLY. The models all look better, though the animations, especially combat animations, are still crappy. The voice acting is still really bad. I've gone from definitely not pre-ordering to not pre-ordering at this time, but maybe I should look at it more. The most innovative thing it does do is having a defensive target. Whenever you enter combat, you pick an offensive target and a defensive one. If you aren't in a party, you are always the defensive target. Certain abilities will heal or give other positive effects to your defensive target.

Just a little helpful hint. If you want to delete a character to free up a slot, select the character and press the "Delete" key on your keyboard as they do not provide a delete button on the character select screen.

[HaemishM]

I was looking for that shit yesterday. Fucking muppets in their UI department need a swift kicking in the balls.

[blackwulf]

There's a 40 minute gameplay video on Betacake leaked by some Russian guy.  I won't put the link, cause I don't know how you guys feel about that site...

Anyway, the guy is pretty terrible at playing, and you can see some bugs, but I still thought it looked more interesting than SWTOR - bad animations and all.

[Mrbloodworth]

There's a 40 minute gameplay video on Betacake leaked by some Russian guy.  I won't put the link, cause I don't know how you guys feel about that site...

Anyway, the guy is pretty terrible at playing, and you can see some bugs, but I still thought it looked more interesting than SWTOR - bad animations and all.

That looked rather dam cool, IMO.

[Tyrnan]

FunCom got that pulled from Youtube rather sharpish. Anyone would think they have something to hide 

[blackwulf]

FunCom got that pulled from Youtube rather sharpish. Anyone would think they have something to hide  

Yeah - there were clearly some bugs - like a lady standing on the sidewalk talking to another guy and she had bare breasts (in the middle of New York.. maybe this was by design! :)  Some network latency was evident, and the animations weren't too awesome.  Otherwise it seemed pretty good, to me.  Maybe it was an old beta build?  I dunno.  The character custimization seemed decent.  Not as much as some games, but more than others.  I've heard them say they are adding a lot more before release, but we've all heard that before.

I can see why they wouldn't want this out there representing their product, though.  I hope they have a lot of polish and animations lined up in the next few patches ... June 19th is approaching :D

[blackwulf]

PAX East gameplay footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw9rQI17j7k

Phone camera, and not much action, but it does show a city that actually looks alive, and pretty nice graphics.  Also, the animation of the guy running looks very fluid.  I wish it had some combat.  I'm sure more vids will be popping up over the weekend.

[Draegan]

I just filmed a quick 5min play session here at paxx.   UI is pretty, game play is standard.  Combat animations are realty uninspiring.  I also don't pimp my wares everywhere!

[blackwulf]

I just filmed a quick 5min play session here at paxx.   UI is pretty, game play is standard.  Combat animations are realty uninspiring.  I also don't pimp my wares everywhere!

Where you gonna post your vid, Draegan?  Is there a generic Junkies page or you have a blog or something?

[Shatter]

Looks like shit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA46fwHNvq4

[blackwulf]

Looks like shit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA46fwHNvq4

Yeah, the video above from PAX shows a game that looks a hell of a lot better.  Either that Russian dude is post old beta builds, or his computer is really bad.  I can kinda see why Funcom is taking them down when they find em.

[Venkman]

Played two different classes for about 45 minutes at Pax. Meh. Some interesting combat abilities. But the demo was purely combat based. No quests, no cutscenes, no establishing premise, nadda. Or maybe it was just my two sessions. The only thing this game has going for it is their conspiracy theory setting. But the demo was just your generic hero-vs-monster mash, albeit with a wider assortment of weapons than the typical fantasy setting.

Graphics were ok. AoC looked hella better all around. There's a lot of detail to the environments. But when the real world itself is boring, so will the simulation of it.

[Draegan]

Looks like shit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA46fwHNvq4

I'll have it included  in a video cast hopefully real soon.

[blackwulf]

Nice compilation of vids from PAX East.  http://www.darkdemonscrygaia.com/showthread.php?t=26305

The Wahoozerman ones show a lot of gameplay.

[SnakeCharmer]

Too bad that's not actually indicative of the starting gameplay.  There's no telling how many skill points he's got in his character.  My starting experience with a shotgun or assault rife was shoot x 100 to kill a couple mobs then rest.  Terrible, terrible gameplay.

[HaemishM]

Lol whut? This video is EXACTLY the starting gameplay segment (once you get past the tutorial).

[SnakeCharmer]

What I mean is, when I went through the same newbie areas with a shotgun or assault rifle and it was like playing an MMO from about 2000 or so:  Barely making it out alive with lots (relative to todays MMOs) of rest time in between.  That dude in the video was blowing groups of zombies up in a couple seconds.  If I went with a magic user, it went pretty fast, but shotguns and rifles are weaksauce at the beginning.  Or I was doing something wrong (entirely possible).  That said, even as a magic user it was tab, 1, 3, 2, tab, 1, 3, 2, tab, 1, 3, 2 done.

:yawn:

[HaemishM]

I don't remember there being a lot of rest time in between (less than 30 seconds) but yes, the combat is mostly circa 2001 era MMO. And why hit tab? Just hit another attack button and it auto-targets one of the group.

[blackwulf]

What I mean is, when I went through the same newbie areas with a shotgun or assault rifle and it was like playing an MMO from about 2000 or so:  Barely making it out alive with lots (relative to todays MMOs) of rest time in between.  That dude in the video was blowing groups of zombies up in a couple seconds.  If I went with a magic user, it went pretty fast, but shotguns and rifles are weaksauce at the beginning.  Or I was doing something wrong (entirely possible).  That said, even as a magic user it was tab, 1, 3, 2, tab, 1, 3, 2, tab, 1, 3, 2 done.

:yawn:

So, what you are saying is that newbies don't have a lot of skills to use.  Seems pretty standard to me.  I mean, even TERA with it's purported 'awesome combat' is just point at monster and spam left mouse button when you are a newbie.  Granted, I have not played TSW, and maybe it never gets better, but I'm just guessing with 500+ skills and custom builds, you can get to the point where combat isn't a *yawn* fest.

[Ghambit]

I'm not seeing enough negativity people.  Cmon, you can do better.

[trias_e]

I want to love this.

Skill based instead of class based.

Awesome setting.

Ragnar, whom I have to be a bit of a fanboy towards.


But not going to lie, the gameplay videos look...meh. 

[Falconeer]

Honestly, the first few levels can be really boring, but the combat system can get pretty complicated and while they could have found ways to make it more appealing in the first levels, the point is to slowly introduce MMORPG players to what is not-your-conventional-auto-attack thingie. I think they have been too cautious, resulting in a dull start, but it picks up some pace (way) later.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, it starts off REALLY REALLY boring combat wise. I played a shotgun/assault rifle guy. The stuff they showed in that video with the gas cans and the fire and jumping on cars to set off the alarms was interesting environmental stuff, but once you get past that first area into the town proper is where it gets boring. I haven't put enough time into it to really get to the interesting parts of combat yet, after probably 2-3 hours worth? And there are some ANNOYING trap puzzles in one area of the first town that made me quit beta earlier.

[Falconeer]

No, see, that's the problem. It doesn't get interesting after a few hours. It gets interesting after many DAYS of /played.

[Shatter]

No, see, that's the problem. It doesn't get interesting after a few hours. It gets interesting after many DAYS of /played.

You have to earn enjoyment, it shouldnt just be handed to you

[luckton]

No, see, that's the problem. It doesn't get interesting after a few hours. It gets interesting after many DAYS of /played.

You have to earn enjoyment, it shouldnt just be handed to you

My money and I would disagree with you to a point. 

[Rasix]

No, see, that's the problem. It doesn't get interesting after a few hours. It gets interesting after many DAYS of /played.

 

Deal breaker. 

[DraconianOne]

Lol whut? This video is EXACTLY the starting gameplay segment (once you get past the tutorial).

Christ. Once again, long arse winded dialogue scenes. From 7:15, an NPC talking for over a minute without interuption. That's terrible writing. 

[Falconeer]

I disagree with that. Some like it a lot. There's never enough "story" in MMORPGs, and as long as you can skip it, what's the problem?

[HaemishM]

You can skip it but that kind of reduces the game to what it is... a somewhat boilerplate MMO with great atmosphere and sub-single-player-level gameplay. Of course, the voice acting in the cutscenes is fuckawful.

[schild]

I have split off the posts with NDA breaking information while I deal with Funcom. They contacted me and wanted me to remove any infringing post. I have a gripe with this, and I want it dealt with - and I want some fucking answers - so I've moved the thread out of the way and will merge things back if need be and unlock this.

Game drops on June 19th. We'll see what happens here, and elsewhere, between now and the NDA dropping.

[schild]

As you can see. I have unlocked this topic. I have re-merged all previous information.

I made a mild (MILD) deal with Funcom on this one (SO READ THESE NUMBERED THINGS):

1. You can keep writing about the game (because Jews control the media).
2. You can not post screenshots/movies. Why? Well, I kinda agree that even Age of Conan had some good changes go in at the last second, and arguably it's the only game ever with something CLOSE to a miracle patch. So let's hold off on showing possibly unfinished actual goods.
3. If you post a screenshot or video. I will happily turn your email address over to them for removal from the beta. In addition, I will delete the post.
4. You may SAY in TEXT whatever you want about the game. In my opinion, customers have a fucking right to talk about something they can spend money on - I don't think anyone will fight me on that.

Enjoy.

[Surlyboi]

(because Jews control the media).

I KNEW it!

That said, i'm still not in this beta, so bleh.

[luckton]

I don't blame them for having a problem with us breaking the NDA.  Principle of legal terms, obligations, etc.

The fact that they actually wanted to pursue the censure of what little information we discussed speaks volumes, and reaffirms my choice for keeping this on my "Try it when there's a trial or goes F2P" list.

[Kageru]

I do. I don't see why it is considered a transitive contract. If I promise to not break the NDA then any breaches are between myself and the other side of the contract. And perceptions or discussion of the game are not copyright infringement that extends beyond that. But whatever makes Schild's life easier comes first.

That said my enthusiasm for the game has mostly evaporated. I adore the setting, and the look, but the mechanics are more traditional and don't seem to lead anywhere interesting. And with funcom there's no reason to assume the game is fully fleshed out. The feeling that they have something to hide compares negatively with the GW2 team starting to dump information and gameplay insight.