InkofDeath

Writings on the walls are epic in this game. They are the icing on the top, only to be competed by the voice overs of the characters. =P I finally got it today though. Freaking epic. I thought I was gonna be a total newb the first time around but seriously you learn the game quickly enough to understand the basics and how to use the pipe bombs appropriately with gasoline. =P

HDDVD & Blu-Ray won't be existing in the next 5-10 years. Things like Netflix and other digital downloads & storages will overtake the entire TV thing, especially in North America with the new FCC rules of digital signals instead of analog. I'd just get a TV tuner for your comp & set up your digital cable/programming to the tuner so you can have all the features that your cable provider gives you, like VoD or the ability to hook up the netflix box. But that's only if you're wanting to look into the future. As for now it doesn't matter which way you go. Both DVD's and BR's are producing the same quantity, just BR is a tad more expensive. And they won't kill one or the other off anyways, with the DVD/BR double sided CD concept that has come into play. Regardless new format is digital downloading, hardware to watch things is so 2005/2006/2007.

Are you able to play in either of the two other RS detail modes?

It won't ever work with humans. We're to smart to realize the effects it has on others and ourselves, and how it undermines the work and potential we carry. Now lower communism onto less intelligent species and it works out great. There's far too many species living and abiding by the same principles of communism and they get by fine. Then again they do need to survive, and their main goal is to reproduce and continue on the species, thus everyone contributes in their population in hopes of it expanding. Most humans aren't leaders, or don't have the responsibility levels to be one. This is why most of us would rather someone make and think out the decisions and we just say yes or no to them without really giving it a thought.

I just spent 3 hours playing the free version and dang, the time went fast!

Unless it was totally redundant and off-topic like some people can get, I really don't mind, but really don't post for others, post for your opinion more so than anything else. I think I'm beginning to get what you're saying, but in a game like Darkfall the emphasis wasn't on the elements or certain elements and how they'd interact with you. Stuff like this feels like it's made for the main 'plot' of the game. Which would be the elements and a large storyline or main storyline revolving around such effects from elements. I'm saying putting something like this in DF isn't an option because it's not what the developers think or want us to think of DF as. They want us to think of the game as skill based. Meaning pvp is won by skill, not weapons, or field bonuses., but by how you attack and how well you can attack the opponents. I love the idea, but it's not something Darkfall was made around, so really it would be a hinderance to the game in my mind, and cause arguments in pvp about 'you had homefield advantage, so it was unfair'. There are probably going to be debuffs/buffs in the game, but we've already been told there will be few 'buffs', but I don't think they'll leave out debuffs. Anyways these could weaker your defense to the 10+ types of magic skills (or trees) in the game. This game is based on skills. Skills which you train by using. There's 10x more skills than there was in UO. Meaning your character will be shaped by what you do. So forfeit the elements with skills, and you probably are on the right track, jsut elements isn't the right word for it, in my opinion. Nothing can hide or go invisible in the game, so no. Unless they added an item or specific skill for a quest or item in a dungeon than perhaps, but even then I doubt it, unless it's for a puzzle in a dungeon. I see. I would imagine there could be spells that temporarily increase your sense of sound, smell, or perhaps let you see a bit further, or even items with such capabilities to make sure no one is following. In DF when you walk around, you have to turn around manually, there's no camera for you. Thus you have to rely on sound pretty much to hear someone coming. As mentioned by the developers there won't be a skill that lasts more than 30 seconds as a buff to you. Thus meaning you'd have to hear the person coming, then activite the spell to see for their attacks/movement, and for only 30 seconds. Then again if I heard something moving behind me, I wouldn't waste the time getting a spell ready, when they can see me getting ready they could flee, or attack me too. Anyways if I did do the spell, and I did it somehow right before they casted theirs, then sure it would be nice to dodge out of the way of the spell to. But the chances of this is so slim, and there won't be a spell that shows you someone casting, or that enhances your senses for more than 30 seconds, so it'll prove more useless than anything, unless you're expecting an ambush. The developers have said there won't be buffs and nothing lasts longer than 30 seconds except certain potions for heal over time and such. Hopefully that shows why it's not practical in DF, it's real time combat based on skill, not having buffs to protect you or make you able to win a fight based on the first few steps of battle. Nope. The map takes 8-12 hours to cross by walking/running. 3-5 hours for mounts. This excludes dungeons, floor levels and is only going in one direction. This means the surface area is incredibly large. 10k players are barely going to crowd such a huge world. I'd expect the servers to increase to 50k at some point, regardless of expenses. There's clan battle grounds, with city hotspots close together, which of course will encourage people to fight. There'll be spots close to resources, causing fights, and other encouraging things. Then there's places where there's only 2-3 spots and some resources, but only enough that 10 or so players could 'live' in the area, and any more would be hectic and not worth the time. This is all speculation supported by development journals and posts, actually 290 pages of development journals.

To completely quit the game and not care for updates, friends, or certain forums related to the game. Killing a 5 year addiction is one of the most troublesome and annoying things to do, even when you don't play anymore.

Merry Holidays! Yea, seriously that still doesn't work or sound right. Merry Christmas people.

The servers are high grade, with high grade connection speeds to all of the world. It's been stated by Tasos that ping in B.C. Canada is on average 80-90 ms, and UK gets 70-85 ms to European servers. So I wouldn't sweat it. I'll answer the best I can, but the game isn't out so who knows: There's no elements per say, but there are magic related skills, which may or may not increase/decrease or buff other players depending on their attacks. I have no idea. In my general opinion this won't be an issue, or happen. You don't become adhered to an element and become weak to it as you increase a certain skill (skills are everything, running, swimming, swinging, archery, spells, everything). Nothing can hide or go invisible in the game, so no. Unless they added an item or specific skill for a quest or item in a dungeon than perhaps, but even then I doubt it, unless it's for a puzzle in a dungeon. there's over 500 spells or something? Each one can be increased for more power through use. I don't think you can make new spells, but the possibility of combining spells to advance in a skill or magic tree perhaps. Everything can be player made from a large range of crafting skills. So really anything in the game, you can make. I don't think you can make your own designs & styles. I really don't think you'll be able to manipulate landscape at will, but certain areas may provide the opportunity to alter it in some fashion for some purpose like sieges, or trenches...etc. Thanks for the post and questions, made me think too.

New interview article @ curse.com with Tasos & Claus (game producers): Source: http://www.curse.com/articles/darkfall- ... 72269.aspx [hide=Article] [/hide] That clarifies a lot of the confusion that has been circulating around lately. I don't think there's much left to discuss about the game or speculate about except for the release date of OBT, or the final release. Everything else has been answered, or cannot be answered. Well in my opinion.

I found leaks of the CBT: Source: http://darkfall-mmorpg.blogspot.com/200 ... leaks.html [hide=Pics] [/hide] This suggest you'll be fighting enemies in the air, while they fly and such...Pretty interesting as well to see the interface & shops.

Microsoft isn't going to lose this case, or any other about faulty parts in the darn game box (lol). Especially when they may not have known that the products they bought and installed in their product could potentially malfunction. :lol:

You guys can ignore the above post, I was just rambling about nothing, lol. ---- Part 6 of 'The Noob' review by Gianna is up: Source: http://beta.thenoobcomic.com/df_preview/part6.html [hide=The Article - Part 6]6 - Impressions about combat Sorry for almost a week of silence, but I had a friend visiting. Ive been playing daily since the weekend, however, trying different races (mahirims are awesome), exploring, and helping a clan of alfars with town construction. Id like to make it clear that writing these updates isnt a ten minute job where I talk breezily about whatever crosses my mind at that moment. Actually it takes a while as I check them again and again for accuracy, feeling just about as relaxed as if a cop had just read me my rights. Usually I finish at 3 am. I could recite all the things that you would like me to confirm, describe, etc., and if I dont talk about them the reason is not that I dont care about what youd like to know, but that I didnt get clearance to do so - I am not free to disclose all kinds of information about the game. On top of this, I have been very concerned every time that my comments were misunderstood, twisted, taken out of context and seen as a sign of the apocalypse. Please dont draw general conclusions from specific snippets of information that may be out of date by the time you get the game - e.g., if I say that it requires gold to craft arrows, I have no idea if thatll be the case in release, if it will be more or less expensive, if its the same for other crafted weapons, etc. Ive seen several requests to talk about PVP. I am not sure in which sense the basic mechanics of magic and combat are those that Ive already described in previous updates (how you are required to aim when you strike, load up a spell before you cast it, etc.), so that leaves my impressions, which are purely subjective. Ill mention them here in no particular order but please take them with the benefit of doubt they are purely personal impressions. Speed of combat and twitch factor are more Oblivion than FPS: * Attacks have either animations or a short load time (or both) which bring combat speed down to a relatively slow pace, certainly slower than an FPS. * The one direct damage spell that Ive seen, mana missile, takes a second or so to cast (even if you can then hold its release indefinitely by keeping the left mouse button pressed same with arrows and keep moving both while loading it/holding it and while firing it) and travels to its destination i.e. the point in your crosshairs at the moment in which you release it - slowly enough to be dodged with ease. At a distance you stand more chance to anticipate someone whos aware of you by shooting a bit wide and hoping that hell dodge in that direction and run into it (almost like trying to predict where the goalie will jump during a penalty kick) than by aiming at him or at where hes running, because thatd give him time to move out of the way. * Whether its because our newbie melee weapons are weak, or our newbie skill levels and lack of special attacks (which must be unlocked and bought) are weak, or both, but right now we arent hurting each other dramatically when we land a hit. * There isnt a way to strafe quickly while still facing your target or maybe there is and I havent found it. You can strafe while facing ahead (and aiming, and shooting) but you do it slowly. * The hit area for successful ranged attacks is rather generous at medium distance, certainly more than in FPS games. Things where personal skill, or at least using your brain, come into play are using cover and terrain to your advantage, hitting your target while trying not to decimate any friends with splash damage, managing your stamina So, is it fun? I enjoy it, especially because the ability to fully loot each other makes it much more personal. When Id just started playing I fought a guy in a field of tall wheat, where Id noticed how hed just crouched to ambush me (it was tall enough to cover him when he crouched). At one point he ran off to recover, so I went looking for him in and out of some huts expecting him to jump me at any time I couldnt hit tab to see if I could acquire his target because theres no such thing, I couldnt mouselook to see if he was sneaking behind me while I looked into the houses, so it felt like a game of cat and mouse - where you dont know whos the mouse until the end, I guess and I realised that for the first time in many years my heart was actually beating faster while pvping in an MMO. I wanted to kill that guy dead! I wanted his stuff! I was inordinately pleased when he died, even if a river in which he fell gave me a helping hand (my PVP stories are a bit lame, sorry). Finally, some more game info. It currently takes two same (and friend?) race kills to be flagged red (i.e. a murderer). Once you are red you cannot bind in a starter town or capital any longer or use their services because youre KOS to them. You must bind at either your clanstone if you have a clan who owns one, a neutral or chaos city (where you can use their services), or at a bindstone in the wilderness. Whether youre red or not you can use small trader camps that can be found here and there outside cities and that usually have a couple of vendors, a bank, and in some cases a crafting table of some sort. Thats it for now. I plan to write about player cities in the next update. --- Additional: They're patching the beta server right now so while I wait I'll answer a few things that I've read on the general forum. "Does going red last ten minutes?" - No. It's actually an alignment hit, you can see your alignment as a bar under your stats. It's permanent until you raise your alignment again, for example by killing racial enemies. There is a temporary change when you HIT someone of your race (as opposed to kill him), i.e. you go rogue (grey) and you are KOS to the towns etc like a red, and if anyone kills you and they are the same race they get no alignment hit, but it's a brief, temporary status. - "I wonder what happens right after you become red and are no longer bound in your starter town... Are you bound nowhere?" - I don't know where you get re-bound. Until very recently you stayed bound at your starter town and had to get the hell out of there as fast as you could upon respawning. Now it's been changed but I don't know how, sorry. - "I'm hoping they have abilities that you can trigger that perform special melee attacks." - There are lots of power attacks and abilities that have to be unlocked and bought. I haven't tried any personally but I saw someone rave in chat of how much he loved knockback, which he had just bought. - "If this is the first time he heart was racing while PvPing in an MMO for years, I must ask what kids of MMOs she's used to PvPing in." - Games where my heart was racing were mostly UO and AC1, for two reasons - because of guild and personal rivalries and because you dropped everything when you died. At the other end of the spectrum, I have almost fallen asleep a few times in instanced pvp areas in a very popular MMO. I actually decided to quit that game for good when I fell asleep in 1v1 against a guy and killed him, because my pet owned him while I zzz'd. - Finally, I have been told by a friend who's in beta as well and who just read the update that he's seen a better direct damage spell than Mana Missile in action, and that it travelled much faster, almost as fast as arrows. WOOT! - "This obviously was made by the reds of old days to fill the niche void that Trammel left them with. [...] Good luck in getting regular players that want to stay because I don't see that happening." - I am not sure if this was posted as a joke (it's a bit like going crazy at Blizzard about too much endgame PVE in WOW or at Turbine about the prevalence of lore in LOTRO, when those are the things that define the games). Hasn't there been a lot of information about the game's vision posted over the years by the Dread Lord Clau... ahem... by the devs! I mean by the devs! Anyway, if it's anything like past games, there'll be some clans that only kill their enemies, so if they are strong enough to protect their areas there will be places where new players are relatively safe. I don't like to look into an imaginary crystal ball and make predictions, but I'd imagine that it's how it would work out in practice, at least after the dust has settled. - < Home < Darkfall website[/hide] *Just to note, Gianna may add more to this part, because of the patch to the beta servers, so may want to re-check every so often...etc. --- I personally am happy to hear that it is possible to 'hide' or 'take cover' in or behind objects strategically to gain an advantage over others, or to ambush. There was doubt through-out the forums about such tactics being viable, but with this, it gives it more viable light. Also glad to hear that her heart was pumping in such a scenario. Also says that it'll be fun even if the rest of the game sucks. =P

Didn't know them but sad to see any game developer/publisher close.

It just feels like it's turn based. It takes X amount of time to swing your axe, x amount of time to cast, x amount of time to load and shoot the arrow, and it will always hit (well..99% of the time...yes there are exceptions but LoS is laughable imo). Thus because of these variables, it's not real time, it's pre-determined. The part about missing your opponent isn't based on skill, it's based on armour or a hidden skill or something like 'Evade'. I just don't like sitting around knowing my spell, arrow or sword will hit, so there's no point in trying to do anything tactical. This is why those that could use spells in AoC were called 'overpowered'. Everyone else had to aim, while they only needed LoS, which isn't hard in the immense open land there is in AoC. It's also why there's so many limited tactics in PvP, like attacking only one person or the highest priority target first like a healer. With aiming or RTC there's still the 'kill the high priority target' or the attacking only one person, but these aren't the limits of tactics that are able to be used. I don't know, I think I just contradicted myself a couple of times in there, but perhaps it's even the realism isn't there. Then again another way to explain it is that you aren't in control of your swings, spells or arrows. They'll go here on target, no matter what. Thus you aren't controlling the combat, just selecting the best combos or skills to use in a fight. It makes it easier as well. Not that it will be superbly easy, but it's easier than in RTC. Or because RTC, like being in control of the right swing, left swing, upper swing...etc is just 10x more fun than watching the same animation over and over again, without any brain power being used as you've memorized what to do in any situation anyways. Same for spells & arrows. I think that's it, being in control. In turn based combat, you have limited control. In RTC you have full control. Though I don't know if time to cast, or time to shoot, or the variety of weapon speeds can come into account for that either. You just said you don't want to be annihilated by levels in PvP, because they spent more time on them, yet you want it to be based on levels anyways? That's contradicting? RTC doesn't mean there won't be a level based system in the game. Cause that would just get boring far to quick with limited variety of hits and everyone having the same hp...strength...accuracy...it would be too much skill-based with no progression in the game. Even though the ratios of hits per hp 'should' stay somewhat the same from level 1 to level 120 (because of max hits and hp increasing), you are progressing up, and in MMO's progression is a needed attritube for some reason. Sure it'll probably be the same amount of hits in percentage wise to kill the person, but it'll appear different to us, and look much better, and we'll have longer fights as well, which can allow for the other person to screw up and we take the advantage, or vise-versa, and this is how Yomi layers come into play as well...and many other mental battles. --- Just one thing though, why should someone who spends 10 hours a day on their account out-do someone who only spends 2 hours on the game, but the 2 hour person has much more skill than the 10 hour a day person has. Why should the person who is naturally gifted be punished for not working as hard as others? You can't punish people for being good and not having time to play to those that are horrible and have tons of time to play. I'll say it now, but skill > levels anyday. If you were to be recruited to a guild, your skill would be more important than levels. If you're totally downing people in PvP because you're higher level than everyone else, you're not on a fair playing field at all. Sure PvP there is no fairness at all, but there are lines where you can say 'Ok, that guy is +10 levels higher than everyone else, so he really isn't that good, just owns us because of his stats'. Sure that's a big gap, 10 levels. Even if it was attribute points being distributed through-out a skill tree, every class/player would have an equal number of points if they were the same level. Thus whoever picked the better path in the skill tree would have a slight advantage. This is my point though, as soon as you put levels into the game, you're taking out a chunk of skill that the players have, and reducing it to levels, and items. I agree you should have 'some' kind of experience system so that you aren't weilding the best weapon in the game in your first 3 months of playing, but not so much it'll affect the outcome of a PvP fight. As if it does, the game is simply unbalanced, with or without classes, or free weapon choice, or whatever. I think we're both discussing the same issue/point just wording it differently than each other that we're confusing each other with it.

I played RoM but seriously I don't know how Nadril plays WAR with the non-RTC system. Every game I play that is turn-based just becomes such a boring thing to do...It's a curse. No skill involved at aiming the spells, arrows, or your melee weapons...it's just boring after you've experienced the awesomeness of RTC in any MMO, or FPS (ok more for range and not melee). Anyways the three gathering & the multiple producing skills do share a strong resemblance to Runescape's crafting system. The grind in RoM is much larger than in Rs, due to the fact that resource gathering takes longer than in Rs. I'd be playing it more if it had RTC, like I enjoy the stories from the quests and the theme of it, but I can't bare to play it more than 30 minutes.

Emergent gameplay. Probably one of the best features to have ever have been created alongside games in general, naturally, and not forced upon by developers/the game.

There's just some things that make me believe it more than not: - Independant, group of 30 or so developers/team - That same group, was in development for 7-10 years (it's estimated/sketchy) - They've refused North American publishers because of their marketing plans for the game (hence why our release is later than Europeans) - The Noob Preview - It's a nicely described visual of how the gameplay will be - The 1005 17 minute long in-game only video footage Unlike games that have given us a CGI movie, or have had the backings of these multi-billion dollar companies pouring money into the marketing, this game hasn't been corrupted by sleezy Americans/Canadians (lol). Not saying that the Italians aren't any better or anything, but the Americans are known for bullcrap marketing (AoC yet again, who dragged us on, believing in features that still aren't in the game). Sure the game could be completely awful, and Adventurine is giving us in-game footage that isn't true. But in reality this looks like actual game content and not edited gameplay by developers to make a movie. It's just where you stand on how much you'll take from the developers and the communities general feel towards the company. Still, same things were being said for AoC, and that failed miserably, lol.

If you're outclassed in skill with RTC, you're in for a world of hurt unless you're like 10-15+ levels than the other guy is at. I know skills in general will be have an influence in combat, but compared to skill & experience they'll have little or nothing to do, except for fine tuning DPS and such. -- Also, I'm gonna ask the question: What race are you guys going to be playing as? Inspired by this topic on the forums: http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=9266 I'll be playing as a human though, since it only makes sense that we are good at literally everything besides magic. But even then...=P Though hybriding in PvP will be the bomb. Sure, others might be awesome at Bows & Arrows, but we'll be able to use them with enough damage, and then use melee attire as well in close quarters. Just my philosophy.

If you're or others, are going to use the computer for: 1. Surfing the web 2. Perhaps using Microsoft Office programs & internet-based programs for business/data recording/using for universities...etc. Then get a >$600 netbook. Then spend money on a proper, long lasting, performance great desktop. With todays software & technology, putting information from one HDD to another is so easy, that you won't feel like the two are separate, but much rather bring each other closer together, and you have little to no cons at all, except for maybe spending $2000 for both. To be honest, anyone who has a job nowadays, needs some form of a portable computer. Netbooks are awesome for business, and online personal use. They're cheap, and do their job well. You can even get ones with webcams now, that are still under 600 dollars. You won't be gaming, or running more than 3 programs at a time, but when you're on the move, you won't need to. The internet + any office program, will get anything done. Getting some media editing software like Flash or PS though is probably doable, but not sure. Then you can go home, take all of the stuff you've done on your netbook, put it onto your PC, or a usb drive. Now you still have space for tomorrow on that netbook. Then use the PC for gaming, and more luxurious stuff like watching TV/Video, editing larger files ad just getting stuff done faster as well. Netbooks + PC's are the future.

Well that was a bad list of nominees, and winners. SSBB won nothing, and wasn't included in two categories it should have been in. Yea, nice. The major winning titles were all the large hyped up, big marketed games...good fight TV, but I'll stick to the various gaming sites for honest awards. >.>

I might have to be disagreeing with that sentence about your teammates coming there immediately. The world is large for the first thing. There's probably going to be some form of teleports, but really, unless 100 of those 500 spells are teleport specific spells, people are going to be relying on mounts to get around. And even then a developer estimated 8 hours to cross the map. Sure mounts could drastically increase this for sure, but really, if you're in a remote area, you're screwed. Perhaps the good pkers will stray from such areas, or when they need to go to such areas, they'll form a party with whoever. But even then that just opens the opportunity for guild/team hunting and spying for locations. I know PvP skill is going to have a lot to do with the outcome of battles, as several CBT's have hinted towards that one person will be able to take out 2 or 3 other people. And Nadril we saw this was possible in AoC, with the Assassin class, virtually one of the most underpowered classes due to knockbacks & cooldowns at the time, was able to take on 3-4 other classes at the same time, because of the RTC & skill. But still it's an extreme example, and in AoC you had a full 360 degree view, in DF, it's FPS style, so you won't be able to see people who you aren't quite paying attention to who go into a blind spot, and sweep around behind you, or follow your move pattern to get behind you and by then you have someone else doing the same thing to get around you and pwn your back, with arrows, spells, or they manage to get up close. Lol, I get excited about thinking of the possibilities.

That's the first part in a series of 6 videos of a 17 minute gameplay only trailer. You should though download the originalk 700mb file from the main site, under News, much better quality, and there's extra in the original.

Or download Gadwin, and then change the settings so it's instant taken, and saved with a pre-determined name...: http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/ The quality of pics is at least 5x better than those with the normal built-in function of the os.

World Peace. Oh wait...DarkFall OBT to come live before the 24th.