Darkfall "Released"

[Bzalthek]

Are there still only a few thousand in game?  I keep hearing from a few people in game saying how fun it is (if you can get in that is.)  But considering it is not only an online game but a game focusing on the competitive interaction between players, wouldn't the lack of all those other people actually change drastically how the game plays?  I mean, I get biblical images of locusts once AV gets their shit together.

[Venkman]

"Thousands" is generally what MMO servers have as max capacity. It's merely a question of how many duplicate servers you need, but the end user experience of that server is entirely based on two to three thousand. Everything else is just press release data points.

[Delmania]

1. Player controlled world-building. 

This point confuses me.  Aren't cities largely static entities people fight over?

[tmp]

Are there still only a few thousand in game?

Supposedly; there was thread on Darkfall forums few days ago, where someone complained the total list of registered characters, something that's possible to access from the game (i.e. total number of accounts due to their 1 char per account thing) was at ~6100 and changed over day by +20 or so. From the course of the thread, reaction of Aventurine was apparently to disable/remove that listing/counter

[Hindenburg]

I'm still waiting for a pvp game where players aren't rewarded for dolphin diving, circle strafing, or jump spamming.

I have a feeling I'm going to be waiting a LONG time. 

You want a mmo with autoface.

WAR does that.

[sidereal]

I think he meant a twitch game that doesn't reward those tactics.  Push-button diku combat doesn't reward them because they're irrelevant to autoattacking (except, I suppose, circle-strafing, which is easily handled and not particularly effective).

One nice side-effect of sci-fi games is that they're primarily ranged combat and at range there's much less incentive to leap around like a chimpanzee.

[Bzalthek]

One day being airborne while in melee will in most cases be tantamount to suicide.  One day.

[Nebu]

I think he meant a twitch game that doesn't reward those tactics. 

That's EXACTLY what I want.  Thank you. 

Too many pvp players rely on cheese to gain an edge.  I want the mechanics to be sound and based on tactics and player skill, not cheese. 

For the record I HATED /stick and /autoface in DAoC.  Too much of a crutch.

[schild]

One day being airborne while in melee will in most cases be tantamount to suicide.  One day.

That day came and went with Bushido Blade.

[sidereal]

Or Virtua Fighter 2.  Really, MMOs should introduce the juggling mechanic.

[Ashamanchill]

Yeah being caught in the air in Virtua Fighter Two was death.  More on thread, my roomate has a DO account, and from what I've seen it's drawn nothing but circle strafers and spasdic jumpers.  It's targeting system makes anyone who doesn't do that gimped.

[Vinadil]

1. Player controlled world-building. 

This point confuses me.  Aren't cities largely static entities people fight over?

They are, compare it to WAR if there were about 80 more T4 "keeps" and they were all rubble at the beginning of the game.  Then guilds could come in and build them up... each one depending on the time/decision of the guild who owned it.  That is kind of how we expected WAR to be when they kept telling us about "claiming and upgrading keeps".  We thought you might at least be able to upgrade a door or guards (like DAoC)... when actually you got to let your money flow out of your bank and see no real change in the keep.

The cities are only static in their placement, other then that it is purely up to the guilds to build and unlock parts of the city (much like an RTS where buildings have trees, certain ones unlock certain other ones).

Of course... all of that is meaningless when siege hammers do Zero damage, a nice bug we found last night with the servers first city siege.  Four hours of sitting and fighting to witness 15 minutes of zero-damage swinging.  This is a huge change from beta where siege hammers were things of god-like power that ripped buildings up in minutes.  We kind of just showed up, and it was still quite disappointing... I have a feeling the people who spent the last few days mining/crafting to make it happen were a bit more upset.

[Mrbloodworth]

Overview, and you have the option of downloading it and playing, its on steam, and from the site, its also, Free to play.

Yeah i looked it up after making reply and did some reading. There is one difference between Darkfall and Savage 2 system -- that is succesful block buffs you and debuffs the opponent, and there's limit to how long/how much damage you can block. Everything else (hit, block, stamina) is exactly the same. I'm not sure really if that one difference takes the combat system from 'meh' to 'awesome', it seems to encourage initial turtling i.e. less incentive to actually be the guy who attempts to smack the other... guess i might give it a try and check it in practice later.

You know what, after reading, that info is old. Please do try it in practice however. Also, there are melee skills as well, activated by the hot bar numbers ETC.. All the elements together make the system awesome. Also yes, directional dodges, and unique attacks from each class.

PRO Tiip: The more skilled players will make a short pause when encountering other players, as each type of move has a unique animation, and small tell. Part of the skill of the system.

I'm still waiting for a pvp game where players aren't rewarded for dolphin diving, circle strafing, or jump spamming.

I have a feeling I'm going to be waiting a LONG time. 

Honestly, try this stuff in savage 2, and you will get creamed. (Circle strafing not withstanding, all "Sword fighting" has this, except for possibly sport fencing).

Nice long HD video of a match.

[Nebu]

(Circle strafing not withstanding, all "Sword fighting" has this, except for possibly sport fencing).

I would love to see someone with a claymore running around in tight circles while jumping like a gazelle.  It takes all of your strength to weild a sword and shield properly.  Moving is a part of it, but nothing like you see in games.  Moving should cause a serious endurance penalty much like it does in boxing.  You can use your energy to swing or move, but using it for both will drain you pretty damn quickly.  I just want this carried into gaming more effectively. 

I guess I'm wanting a sword combat sim more than a sword combat game.  I get your point now... I'm just slow. 

[Mrbloodworth]

Yeah, that's one of those Game play > Reality things.

I know schild said Bushido blade, but while that combat was bad ass in that game, it more often than not was 5 minute cut scenes and one swipe death, followed by a restart.

[Hindenburg]

Bushido blade, but while that combat was bad ass in that game, it more often than not was 5 minute cut scenes and one swipe death, followed by a restart.

And it was awesome.

[Merusk]

It wasn't the cutscenes that killed it for the folks I showed it to, or even the one-hit kills.  Those they agreed were awesome.

It was the horrible, horrible load times between each level.  3 mins to load up the bamboo forest! 

[patience]

Horrible load times? We are talking about the playstation here which had horrible load times for most games. Bushido Blade was awesome but unlike other games punished players with lower skill level than their opponent much more severely.

In other games you had opportunities to recover and put up some type of fight. In Bushido Blade you watched your character get a limp if you are lucky. Usually death was nearly instant.


I'm not sure I'm in favor of jumping tactics not being rewarded in melee combat. But what I want to see is jumping to be more of acrobatic feat of skill like Matrix or Ninja Scrull fighting instead of the lameness that is bunny hopping.

[Merusk]

In other games you had opportunities to recover and put up some type of fight. In Bushido Blade you watched your character get a limp if you are lucky. Usually death was nearly instant.

Welcome to real swordfighting.  It's not a game, it is a swordfighting sim.

Yes, the PS1 had lousy load times, but BB took longer than most between levels.  I think this was mainly because each zone was HUGE, despite most folks never moving more than a few dozen paces from where they loaded.

Jumping should not be rewarded in FPS or melee games. It breaks so much immersion I usually stop playing when I realize that's the way the game's going to go down. "Oh hey, more retarded shit that may as well be coded into the way the character moves and reacts beceause it's the only way to play."

[ashrik]

heh I think a melee MMO that punished circle strafing (and most forms of free movement like that) would have such shockingly low appeal, it might just be constricted to just the old timeys who posted here in support of that idea.

mmm Fencing Simulation: Online. Exciting 

[Mrbloodworth]

Darkfall PvP Hit HQ. 

[tmp]

I don't mind the strafing at all in the melee combat; it is quite logical to try and hit opponent from direction where they cannot protect themselves or have harder time doing so, and so maneuvering was part of the combat too.

Bunnyhopping though i really don't get, it's not like it moves the hitbox out of swing range or anything like that, so it seems extremely pointless. Unless the jumping allows to move sideways faster than regular strafing but then that's oversight that'd be easy to correct...

[ashrik]

oh god I got a copy. May sweet baby jesus have mercy on my soul

[raydeen]

Darkfall PvP Hit HQ. 

Save $50+ and just play Gunz. Looks about the same gameplay wise.

[Hindenburg]

Gunz looks and animates better.

[Hawkbit]

Why does every video look the same?  It's all people circle strafing and leg humping each other. 

Does it get any different than that?  Seems like that would get old in about 3minutes. 

[DLRiley]

heh I think a melee MMO that punished circle strafing (and most forms of free movement like that) would have such shockingly low appeal, it might just be constricted to just the old timeys who posted here in support of that idea.

mmm Fencing Simulation: Online. Exciting 

I too find the bunny hopping while running in circles, while beating ones dick very dumb. And its really prevalent in mmo, and i really find it quite stupid considering that

1. Very unrealistic, i love to see two swordsmen running around in circles. strafing and hacking away is never actually done in a sword fight. Maneuvering in a real sword fight involves stepping in and out of the other guys strike range, not just walking behind them and hoping they don't notice you.

2. That concept (running in circles) is even more retarded because the whole concept of getting behind someone easy is dumb. In fighting games you spend 99% of your time facing your opponent, its really, really hard to get behind someone and it is pretty much that way in real life as well. The only way reason strafing is cool in a fps is because bullets travel faster then players and your really just dodging someones aim, which doesn't always work most of the time. Hell getting out of someones field of vision before getting killed is really hard to do in a fps.  

It just boils down to mmo combat being so archaic that it is laughable, no matter how much mmo developers think their reinventing the wheel.  

Lol people should spam the gunz webpage on darkfall threads.

[Nonentity]

heh I think a melee MMO that punished circle strafing (and most forms of free movement like that) would have such shockingly low appeal, it might just be constricted to just the old timeys who posted here in support of that idea.

mmm Fencing Simulation: Online. Exciting 

You should have seen the melee combat in The Matrix Online.

That's basically what it was - you got 'locked' into a 1v1 with the person, unless you managed to break it and run away. Nothing like jumping onto a rooftop to run away, only to have a guy basically lock you down in melee so you couldn't jump away.

[Nija]

Does it get any different than that?  Seems like that would get old in about 3minutes. 

No, and that's just one of the reasons why the gameplay is shallow. People are having fun with the game in the meantime, and that's fine, but sooner or later they'll figure things like this out.

[ashrik]

oh ho ho ho
Ashrik only pawn in game of life

[patience]

If you are going to make a screen shot like that actually make it amusing by spamming something like that or "Darkfall is vaporware." in local. It would be amusing if you got away with that and no one ganked you.

 

[ashrik]

No one would care, nor have the ability to find me to attempt to kill me. That just happened to be the first thing I said when I actually got into the game.

[Redgiant]

"I have wielded a Leaf Blade in real life. It isn't that hard."

I sense potential for vicarious entertainment courtesy of Ashrik.

How long until AV suspends your logging in as an "accident"?

[Delmania]

Good lord, that UI reminds me of DAoC so much.  Is that the highest resolution the game supports?

[Venkman]

oh ho ho ho
Ashrik only pawn in game of life

Come on, that is totally a 'shop. How much they paying you? 

And I'm with Delmania (and whoever else has said it): that UI reminds me a so much of DAoC. And it's not just the verticle hotbar in the upper left. It's the whole color scheme, framing and layout.