Fallen Earth: Improvements (Now in beta)

[Ozzu]

I've had absolutely zero issues with aiming. The crosshairs move smoothly and the enemies have hitboxes, so hitting things in the head with a crossbow does more damage than hitting someone in the legs. I dig it.

[Ixxit]

I have been playing the open beta from fileplanet and decided to pre order it.  Game performance has been  very good for me (intel quad core, 9800 GT and 6 gigs of ram). Getting 60 - 70 fps out of town and 30 - 50  in town.  The only stuttering I saw was after is when I emerged from the reanimation tank right after the tutorial and climbed the stairs to the starter town where it appeared it was loading all the new new textures.  This at 1440x900 with the med-high settings.  

Aiming has ranged weapons is smooth here both  in first and third person.  Something seems just a little off in the melee combat, which becomes less noticeable  once you get used to it.   Seems a little clumsy.  I do like though that the mobs bob and weave and try to get out of the way of your attacks instead of just standing there mindlessly.

Love the atmosphere of the game, and the little details they put it like clutter in both the landscape and  buildings (like dishes,  cans, old appliances ruined cars, etc).  Great view distance as well which makes it easy to see points of interest from afar which invites exploration.

The general look and feel of the game is reminiscent of Neocron ( albeit a much more competent Neocron)  which despite its issues, was in its heyday  one of my favourite mmorpgs. Sure the graphics aren't tripe AAA but these guys definately deserve kudos for what they have acheived.  

Bottom line:  an very competant and enjoyable mmorpg that is a  refreshing change from the oh so tired fantasy genre.

[jakonovski]

I've had absolutely zero issues with aiming. The crosshairs move smoothly and the enemies have hitboxes, so hitting things in the head with a crossbow does more damage than hitting someone in the legs. I dig it.

At one point in the beta the mobs zigzagged apparently to make aiming harder, so I think that may have influence people's perceptions.

[schild]

Goddamn your avatar is nasty, change it. No one really likes bats.

[UnSub]

I have huge framerate issues every time I approach a town. The issue is the engine itself - it apparently doesn't load textures very well and when approaching a town it just compounds it. Although I find the crafting system as something of a hook, it just isn't enough to sign on.

I didn't find the aiming smooth at all. It's been about a week since I logged in, but it was still jerky. Melee combat still looks awful.

One thing to keep in mind is that the game changes between S1 and S2. In S2, mobs get ranged attacks and are nasty in using them. If combat characters don't have a good dodge skill, they are toast.

[Signe]

I like bats.  Well, maybe not baseball bats so much.  I love those adorable little golden bats, especially.  I could hug a bat.

[Lantyssa]

It depends on the bat.  Some are so ugly not even their mothers' could love them.  Others I just want to pinch so hard they bite back and give me rabies.

I'm seriously considering pre-ordering for the ATV and just waiting a few months to activate.  I have too much to play right now, however I would like to support their efforts.  And that the game touches me in all the right places.  It's hard to resist that allure.

[Mrbloodworth]

I pre-orderd two copy's.

[jakonovski]

Goddamn your avatar is nasty, change it. No one really likes bats.

I gotta say, this is the first chiropteraphobic forum I've been to.

[UnSub]

Goddamn your avatar is nasty, change it. No one really likes bats.

I gotta say, this is the first chiropteraphobic forum I've been to.

It takes all kinds. We're pro-masturbating duck, however.

[jakonovski]

It takes all kinds. We're pro-masturbating duck, however.

Yes, I briefly wondered if I had bad taste for choosing the bat. Then I saw the masturbating duck.

[jason]

I've had absolutely zero issues with aiming. The crosshairs move smoothly and the enemies have hitboxes, so hitting things in the head with a crossbow does more damage than hitting someone in the legs. I dig it.

At one point in the beta the mobs zigzagged apparently to make aiming harder, so I think that may have influence people's perceptions.

Even now I've seen plenty of mobs strafe to avoid being directly in front of you when you are attacking them.  Especially in melee combat, I find myself having to turn and strafe in order to keep my target on the enemy.

[Falconeer]

Sigh. I am about to cave-in (as a depleted mine) and buy this. Someone stops me.

[Ozzu]

Sigh. I am about to cave-in (as a depleted mine) and buy this. Someone stops me.

Do it. 

[Hoax]

Sigh. I am about to cave-in (as a depleted mine) and buy this. Someone stops me.

Do it. 

Do it + biif + radicalthon?

[schild]

Falconeer, you visited America and then proceeded to complain about going back to Rome after going to places like goddamn Ohio and Maryland. You make bad decisions all the time. How is this even comparable?

[Mrbloodworth]

Falconeer, you visited America and then proceeded to complain about going back to Rome after going to places like goddamn Ohio and Maryland. You make bad decisions all the time. How is this even comparable?

I'm actually gonna play this when it officially launches. Decided that a while ago though. So if there's any interest in bat country - well, just saying.

YAY!

""We accept him! We accept him! One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!""

[Surlyboi]

I'm also in.

[tazelbain]

Umm, what?  I was ignoring this because I thought it was in the same category as seed.  Now it's a "Playable at launch" game?

[Reg]

There's no such thing as a "Playable at launch" game. It does sound interesting though but I'm going to hold off a few months until they patch and it turns into a free download with a 2 week trial like EVE.

[Mrbloodworth]

Umm, what?  I was ignoring this because I thought it was in the same category as seed.  Now it's a "Playable at launch" game?

Seeds state, and this games state, are not comparable. So, yes, quite playable. I won't say its the most polished thing ever.

[schild]

I'm not going to call Fallen Earth "must-play" or even "should-play" but frankly, what this team has done given their resources is nothing short of a miracle when compared to Aion and CO which are nothing short but total letdowns.

[Falconeer]

I played yesterday night for a bit with Mrbloodworth, and after cranking down the visuals (  ) the game plays alright. I agree on the miracle. When I first tried the alpha I remember that I felt like "*groan* this is 2002 back with a vengeance, and sadly unbearable". Yesterday, just 4 months later, I was amazed by countless little things. They probably saved their last wish from the lamp genie, and they obviously asked for miracle patch.

[Signe]

Geez.  I thought this was pretty awful.  I guess it's me!   

[UnSub]

I'm not going to call Fallen Earth "must-play" or even "should-play" but frankly, what this team has done given their resources is nothing short of a miracle when compared to Aion and CO which are nothing short but total letdowns.

I kinda see FE as a better funded and better thought out Darkfall. As a title it has been in production for about 7 years. They've had more money behind them - at least initially - and the game was developed side-by-side with third party tools that Icarus Studios wants to offer / has been offering to other MMO producers.

On one hand, at least FE finally got released and there is actually a third party toolset provider who has released a MMO. On the other, I don't think FE is a great advertisement for that toolset (or it might be the perfect advertisement, in which case I'd question the toolset).

[Khaldun]

I think I'm going to give this a try. I'm curious about the niche catering to crafters and explorers, and I like the genre, plus I'm always interested in following MMOs at their launch to see how things gel.

[Falwell]

I've pre ordered, and quite frankly I'm looking forward to this more than Aion. I just can't get past the art style in Aion, it's not my flavor.

It's very rough around the edges on almost every aspect. It's the very definition of an indie endeavor, albeit a damn good one for the resources they had. Skill based from top to bottom with a whole shitload of angles to build your character on. Being able to level through crafting and gathering is a nice touch as I don't feel like I have to stunt my character progression to pull over and do some crafting, quite the opposite in fact. The long timers on combines eats ass in some respects, but at least they can run while you're out doing other activities. Very reminiscent of the Eve skill system only applied to crafting.

In the end, it's not a game for people with a low bullshit tolerance but I think there might be a decent game buried in here somewhere.

[UnSub]

I'm interested to see what happens to FE as a critical mass of players starts hitting the end-game (or at least leaving S1). The early game is what it is, but everything I've seen about factions and conflict towns seems massively underwhelming.

[Ghambit]

The problem with endgame is (unlike ol' SWG) there's nothing to build really (aside from weapons and mounts).  No housing, no cities.  Conflict areas go back and forth, but that's it.  So I to am interested to see where this goes.  There's going to be serious issues once the higher-ups start inflating costs, since everyone will basically be rich.  A new player will be left with no other choice but to take handouts from clanmates just to do simple purchases.

How can you have a survivalist game when everyone is rich due to lack of things to spend on?  Kinda makes no sense.  Conflict towns are upgradeable but I'm not sure how effective of a time/money sink it is.  Supposedly once people get to a certain point Clans will need conflict towns to mitigate their resource needs... and therein lies the ultimate point of the game:  post-apoc fighting over limited resources.

But since very few folk have even played with these mechanics, no one really knows how it's gonna flesh out.  Much will be player-generated I'm sure.

[Hoax]

That is some of the most fun to be had in MMO's until the gameplay quality they offer becomes at all comparable to their single player counterparts.  Getting in on the ground floor and using a halfassed toolset to go to war with some other group of people and create internet drama over online slights and player fanfic and faction interpretation.  I played fucking Face of Mankind for months just to take part in that sort of shit.  Was totally fun and worth it.  I miss the days I had time to do that but lately the games have just been so horribly bland (Aion, CO) or broken that none of the virtual worlds are even worth checking out.

[Khaldun]

It's a curious thing, isn't it? Virtual world development is really at an utter standstill, or actively going backward.

[Mrbloodworth]

Housing and the like are high priority for them, they just didn't include it in launch because they wanted to work on the foundation of the game first. Is what I read.

[jakonovski]

Oh god, I just bought a new computer in part because I want to play this with everything on full.

[HaemishM]

Is your avatar a Batman crack pipe? 

[jakonovski]

No, it's a water gun. You fill him up from the ass, then squeeze his penis to shoot.