Fallen Earth: Improvements (Now in beta)

[UnSub]

Looks like I'll be writing a review for FE and ChampO on the same day. Assuming the NDA drops.

[Ragnoros]

Pardon my stupid, but is this subscribers only? The FE site seems to indicate no, but I don't see anything on fileplanet not leading to subscribe/pre-order.

[Hawkbit]

It goes Open Beta on the 17th, I think.

[Signe]

The FP site does say "subscriber only" so I assume it's one of those not so open open betas.

[Hawkbit]

Gotcha. 

Although most of them I've seen over the past few years go open to all after a few days.  Keep your eyes open. 

Wish the game was out of NDA.  I want to talk about it. 

[UnSub]

NDA should drop shortly-ish. Whenever open beta starts.

[Malakili]

NDA should drop shortly-ish. Whenever open beta starts.

Yep.  I'll be writing up a smallish review of my experience in alpha/beta.   I'm interested to see on what we agree and disagree unsub.

[UnSub]

Looks like the NDA drop is still a while away. I'll post my thoughts when I wake up in the morning.

[Malakili]

The NDA has been lifted.  Unfortunately I can't link to the source because it was in the beta forum.    The quote is "Yes, the NDA has been lifted.  There will be an official announcement on the site later."

Is it ok to post, or should we wait for the "official announcement."?

[schild]

Official announcement.

[Malakili]

Official announcement.

And here it is: http://forums.fallenearth.com/fallenearth/showthread.php?t=16504

NDA Lifted.

Writing up a review shortly.

[schild]

It's not a great game. I'm not even sure it's a good game.

If I can find the time, I'll be playing.

It's very craft-heavy, undoubtedly grindtastic, and the animations are ass.

But it strokes me in a way I haven't been stroked since launch SW:G.

Fin.

[Modern Angel]

I got into the beta. It ran like ass. Like. Ass. At some point I forgot it existed between the crashes and assiness. I have no idea if it's good or not past an hour's worth of playtime.

[Hawkbit]

It's not a great game. I'm not even sure it's a good game.

If I can find the time, I'll be playing.

It's very craft-heavy, undoubtedly grindtastic, and the animations are ass.

But it strokes me in a way I haven't been stroked since launch SW:G.

Fin.

That sums it up more succinctly than I could do. 

I think it's a good game, but there's no way I'd pay a box fee.  I'd be down with paying like EVE's sub structure. 

I'm not sure where it fits in this MMO environment.  It looks like it was ready for launch in 2001. 

[Malakili]

Alright, I've been in this since the alpha, so I've got a fair amount to say about this.

So, this game is a bit of an oddity to me.  Its a game that WANTS to be like some of the older MMOs that were more open worlds rather than "theme parks," but doesn't seem quite willing to embrace the idea totally, and my opinion is that it ultimately ends up in no mans land.  Its a game I desperately want to love, but in the end, I just can't see it being a game I want to play long term.

The Good:

The game world:  Its huge, its open, and its impressive.  Its pretty well crafted, and I think the screen shots don't quite do it justice.  We currently have three sectors at release only (yes, that is correct, three zones).  The good news is they are each really huge, and even though we are looking at the grand canyon, the terrain manages to be varied by sector a bit to give a little bit of variety instead of just straight desert.  The towns are well crafted, but can can put strain on your system, especially if there are a lot of PCs in the area.

The crafting system:  Pretty much everything in the game can be crafted, from ammunition to cars.  The game has the potential for a pretty good in game economy, but we will see.  Gear has to get replaced as it wears out, so there will always be a market for crafters.  The bigger "end game" type crafted items like vehicles can take a long time to craft, by which I mean, literally days of crafting time not including all the gathering materials and such.  The good news is, stuff crafts even while you are out doing other stuff.  Its a very deep and robust system, though a bit of a steep learning curve.  Definitely appealing to someone like me who enjoys a game now and again that isn't just about combat.

Classless:  The AP system(basically skill points) lets you craft your character just the way want it.  Though beware, there is no respec system.   You can also get AP from some quests, which isn't my favorite thing, because its going to make all those quests in the game "required" but there isn't an easy way to identify which quests will give you AP.  There are "levels" but they aren't terribly meaningful, as they are broken up into about 10 sub levels a pop where you earn a small amount of AP each.   Lots more customization possible than in most MMOs though. Definitely a plus.

The Faction System: With 6 factions, and interesting relationships between each of them, this game has a lot more depth in this regard than most.  I love the idea of it, but it isn't fleshed out as much as I'd like to see.

The Bad:

Combat:  This is the deal breaker for me.  Combat controls are clunky for movement, aiming, and such.  Remember, it has FPS elements, so you can play in first person perspective.  However, neither first or third person makes it very tolerable.  My opinion from the very beginning has been the combat is an absolute chore.  Given the amount of combat you will be doing, even if you choose to go the route of a crafter (harvesting nodes will require you to clear around them), the combat system is really important, and quite frankly, it doesn't feel very fluid at all.

Movement:  This goes with combat a little.  The character animations for movement aren't that great to begin with, and give a little bit of an odd feeling, especially while strafing.  When you jump, you can't change direction in the air, and you stop for a moment when you land.  This is, as the developers say, to prevent bunny hopping, but there needs to be a more elegant solution, because this really interrupts the flow of the game whenever you jump.

Performance:  The game has admittedly made some really impressive strides in this department, but the game is still a beast to run on higher settings.  You'll have to turn a lot of stuff down to get acceptable performance.  Hopefully it'll continue to improve.  Also, tis worth nothing that some people have reported perfectly good performance with not brand new systems.  So, maybe there is some variation that will get worked out.

PvP:  This game screams for more of this.  The faction system sets it all up, but there is no inter-faction PvP aside from Conflict Towns.  Unfortunately, conflict towns have classically been pretty lame.  They end up being more like Warhammer Online zone flips, with factions doing side by side PvE to flip the town ownership.  The coolness factor of people rolling up in a crafted ATV guns blazing and having and old-west style shoot out would have been FANTASTIC, but sadly, this kind of encounter is not encouraged.

Ultimately, I just see this as a game that had a great idea, that just didn't go far enough.  It seems like they were afraid of making a game that would have too small an interested player base.  I understand this concern, but what happened is that will still have only a small interested player base, and they've taken the really cool post apocalyptic setting with warring factions and turned it into a PvE grind.  This would be forgivable if the gameplay was sufficiently fun, but it isn't.  I could forgive somewhat boring gameplay in much the same way I forgive it in EVE Online if the game came through with interesting player driven gameplay, politics, etc, but I just don't see that happening.

I'd suggesting passing on this, as much as it pains me to say so.

[Lantyssa]

Schild gives a very good summary.

It is a game which will require a very specific type of personality to enjoy and is definately not for everyone.  Combat is incredibly clunky.  Crafting and being able to just explore are great though.  It has a mixed Old West and Post-Apoc feel which I really dig.

There are about eight stats, a dozen skills, and a dozen crafting skills.  Your stats help determine your skills and the caps for skills and tradeskills.  On top of that you get the AP to boost stats and skills as you see fit.  Tradeskills are only raised through practice.  You can make almost anything in the game.  Even some "special" items have schematics you can learn.

The graphics are pretty good for an indie game, though animations could use some work.  (I've been out for a month or two, so they may have made progress.)  There are bugs, however they are good about responding to bug reports and patches came regularly.  Every bug I submitted got an "I fixed" or a "we're looking at it" reply.  Every.  One.

No matter which starting town you pick, you can go to the others.  It might be a very long run, but you can do it.  It's great for those who like focusing on crafting since you can learn almost all the low-level skills for free.  It's possible it would be faster to obtain them in other ways, however you get to learn the skills at the same time since you'll have quests to make items.

Crafting goes into a queue.  Some items can take a long time, however it crafts no matter what else you are doing.  Combat and logging out do not affect it.  You can craft about 20% faster at a specialized station though.  If you have the ingredients and the skill, you make it.

With other games to play I am not sure I will pick this up right now.  It's not one to expect a lot from, however, for some of us it does things you simply won't find in most other games.

[HaemishM]

I got in on the alpha of this and the game ran like refried monkey ass. So I put it away for a bit. Came back a few months later and it was much better, but still didn't grab me. A few weeks ago I tried it again and crashed before I got out of the tutorial area.

This game is indie in all its good and bad ways. Great concept, good looking world, amateur animation and character models. The combat is very clunky. It FEELS amateurish. It's also extremely un-user-friendly. I give this game a little more slack than say Champions Online, but really, it's in the same boat. While not being terrible, it just hasn't grabbed me despite the concept of both the world and the mechanics really interesting me. This is not a game I'd pay money for.

[kondratti]

I got into the beta. It ran like ass. Like. Ass. At some point I forgot it existed between the crashes and assiness. I have no idea if it's good or not past an hour's worth of playtime.

This game has everything I'd like in an MMO.... only problem is this ^^^^

Runs like ass.

[UnSub]

Conclusion:

 - An indie MMO through and through that is unlikely to get more than a niche audience.

 - It's sort-of sandboxy and sort-of hardcore (travel times will kill casual play) which might have appeal to certain corners of the market.

 - It isn't the prettiest title nor the most technically proficient title being released either.


Combat:

 - More FPS-ish than most MMOs, but the aiming feels crunchy (rather than smooth) and melee combat is a series of ugly, desyncronised animations that you aren't sure if you've hit or not.

 - You have to watch your ammo since you can run out.

 - Lots of different weapon types, both ranged and melee. Ever wanted to attack someone with a corkscrew? Here's your chance.

Crafting:

 - Your character will scavenge materials from the land, buy books from vendors and can learn to create pretty much anything in the game.

 - Very broad and very deep - large number of different crafting types and different items that you can craft, up to and including vehicles - but the actual crafting aspect is 'click the button, run around for 10 minutes until you hear the BOOUNG sound'. I smile at the thought of bashing post-apoc mutant animals with a 2-by-4 while apparently also mixing up some relish at the same time.

 - Crafting is much cheaper than buying and every player will probably have a crafting mule before too long to supply their main with goods.

Character:

 - Characters earn APs as they level that can be invested in stats (5 APs = 1 stat point increase) or in skills (with a 1 for 1 conversion rate).

 - There currently is no way to retcon AP points and it is extremely easy to gimp a character by trying to make them too versatile.

 - Can have a wide variety of appearances, especially as you start customising your clothes through crafting.

Communication:

 - Apparently fully global chat is going to be turned off and global chat will be limited to sectors.

 - It is functional but not flashy.

 - Didn't try out teaming.

Content:

 - Post-apocalyptic desert is a great setting for a world that is sometimes empty.

 - There are plenty of normal MMO quests that suit a title developed over 8 years.

 - Beta testers had concerns that very few players had tested out endgame content. How well PvP and conflict towns actually work will be seen in open beta / release.

Collectables:

 - There are some for longer-term quest goals.

 - Not sure about collectable loot.

Competition:

 - Apparently a third of the world is for PvP.

 - Higher level characters will pwn hard lower level characters. Gaps in AP level, equipment level and skill level can't be overcome easily.

Community:

 - There are some die-hard Fallen Earth fanbois who often seem to think that "Modern MMO players have it too easy - MMOs used to kick you in the nuts and that's a sign of good game design!".

 - This is a game that will need to grow like EvE in terms of community size if it is going to survive.

Contingencies:

 - MMOdom's most misleading tutorial. It's fun, but you start with a max level character. Guess what happens at the end of the tutorial?

 - Sometimes the graphics look passable, other times it will look like you're back in 1998 and your Voodoo II is about to die.

 - Animations are often very jerky. Syncronisation is a big issue.

 - Major problem: if you enter an area with a lot of new buildings / textures, expect to see a massive drop in frames per second as FE loads them all up. Also expect to see a lot of things 'pop' in your field of view. A huge weakness of Icarus' engine is that it appears to be bad at loading up new models / textures in the background so grinds the PC to a halt every time it hits that situation.

[UnSub]

So I don't bury it above, here's a site run by an FE fanboi with lots of hints, tips and guides for playing: http://www.globaltechatlas.info/

[satael]

Strangely I was most put off by some background graphics ai. shelves filled with all kinds of junk everywhere which you
couldn't interact with while at the same time you needed to scavenge every kind of trash from the proper resource nodes
and corpses. (might be that I was playing Fallout 3 around the same time in which you pretty much could take anything
you saw)

[jakonovski]

The short short version: too much emphasis on clutter like gathering materials, too little emphasis on world building.

I liked the size of the world, perfect for an exploration MMO, but it was too much an empty set with random buildings and mobs scattered about. Where's the artistry and sense of wonder? There could've been a world-wrapping collapsed beanstalk. Ominous-looking set of gigantic buildings in the horizon that you may or may not get to see close up. Bits and pieces falling from the orbit as shooting stars. An Akira-style underground complex that you use a bigass lift to reach.

Edit: still, like Schild, it tickles me the right way and I will play. I'll just try to fill out the gaps of the world in my head.

[UnSub]

FE is a weird mix of the mundane and the fantastic. It's got gritty realism, angry mutant chickens and magical glowing powers all mixed together.

[Mrbloodworth]

I could not get used to the busted combat system that the beta testers violently defended. Even when I was not talking about he basis of the system, jut the technical mechanics such as the dam camera "snapping" when you crouched. It was simply bad as a FPS like system, or a RPG one, and this is purely from how it was implemented and felt to a fan of both types.

That, and the really bad use of textures and texture resolution compared to the size of the object. No amount of post processes will help a bad texture job. The tutorial, where you were a higher level than when you entered "the real world" was also something I warned them about as was having  NPC standing in the middle of the dam you were trying to (quickly, as the text would have you think) escape from that gave a novel worth of lore and faction history. Its was simply stupid and killed all sense of urgency of the situation.

Every ranged NPC moving into Melee range and shooting you also, killed it for me. In the tutorial where the solders need your help, I was looking forward to some kind of cover based shoot out,.... Nope, not going to happen. Stabbing you with bullets is all you get.

[Signe]

I got in this very early but I broke it and couldn't ever play.  Eventually I fixed it, but the combat is so awful I still can't play.  I can't win with games any more!  It might be back to single player Japanese RPGs for me.  I guess that means I should sort out that PlayStation 3 and a Wii, eh?  I'll be like Voodoolily only older and less wise and not hot!

[Jimbo]

How is the vehicles?  I hear you can ride a horse, can you fight from horseback?  Can I build an ATV or Jeep and run over people and mobs?  How is the grind?

[Rasix]

It might be back to single player Japanese RPGs for me.  I guess that means I should sort out that PlayStation 3 and a Wii, eh? 

You're still better off with a PS2 if that's your aim.  :shrugging emoticon:

[Malakili]

How is the vehicles?  I hear you can ride a horse, can you fight from horseback?  Can I build an ATV or Jeep and run over people and mobs?  How is the grind?

Grindtastic.  Seriously though, lots of grind.  Thats not terrible in itself, I've never met an MMO without some.  Unfortunately for me, the grind here isn't all that enjoyable.

[UnSub]

How is the vehicles?  I hear you can ride a horse, can you fight from horseback?  Can I build an ATV or Jeep and run over people and mobs?  How is the grind?

I can't speak for fighting from vehicles / horseback. However, I do know that the vehicles burn through fuel like no tomorrow and can get stuck / blocked by changes in the terrain that you can walk over.

As for grind: lots. Depending on what you want to do, of course. Upping tradeskills involves creating lots of trash craft and at early levels it isn't income generating so you'll have to run missions to earn chips to buy resources or do a lot of scrounging. My inventory was full of crafting resources that I might need.

The depth and breadth of crafting is fantastic, but I pretty much guarantee that players are going to create a battle character (rifle / melee works pretty well) and a crafting mule. Guilds will do the same, just with a few dedicated crafters who put every stat point into intelligence and other craft stats / skills. Because crafting works when the character is logged off, it makes sense to set and forget them.

[Ozzu]

There is definitely something appealing about this game from the bit I've played. You can't beat the atmosphere. I like the way you build a character and I dig crafting. But sweet mother, I didn't mind the combat when I was using a gun, but the moment I made a character to focus on melee, ouch. I won't be doing melee characters anymore.

[Lucas]

There is definitely something appealing about this game from the bit I've played. You can't beat the atmosphere. I like the way you build a character and I dig crafting. But sweet mother, I didn't mind the combat when I was using a gun, but the moment I made a character to focus on melee, ouch. I won't be doing melee characters anymore.

Same, this game is really rubbing me the right way so far. I've only been scratching the surface, but I appreciate the attribute/skill system, crafting and the (maybe only apparent, I'll have to play more) sandbox approach. Plus, all the faction stuff on the website is a nice read, the stage the Dev Team set up is interesting: it has already been mentioned, but it would indeed be great if it leads to some player-driven activities the same way EVE did and still does; maybe there is the potential for a slow but growing fanbase much like CCP's game.

Oh, I think I plan to join either the Lightbearers or the Tree-Huggers Vistas.

By the way, in the Credits I noticed that a certain "Anthony Castoro" is credited as Executive Producer. I thought he was the same "Sunsword" from UO and SWG but looking up on Google there is no apparent link between him and Icarus Studios.

[schild]

Anthony Castoro runs Heatwave Interactive. I really can't imagine he has anything to do with Fallen Earth. Fallen Earth, LLC or whatever they're called this week is too busy making a game, rather than trying to get voiceovers done from the clink.

[jakonovski]

There is definitely something appealing about this game from the bit I've played. You can't beat the atmosphere. I like the way you build a character and I dig crafting. But sweet mother, I didn't mind the combat when I was using a gun, but the moment I made a character to focus on melee, ouch. I won't be doing melee characters anymore.

The key to melee at least for me was to run around holding down both mouse buttons so that your character flails madly at everything. Ridiculous but effective. 

[Ghambit]

Are there any plans to insert any kind of player housing down the road?
To me, this was the biggest flaw.  If it had this, all other flaws wouldnt be so bad.  Give me the Thunderdome.  Give me a tin-hut shack or a cardboard condo.  Something.

[UnSub]

Player towns are planned.

That said, I'm sure the FE devs have lots of plans, but I wonder about the if / when of implementation.