Darkfall?

A gameplay video of Darkfall has been released. Darkfall? I can faintly remember reading about that game like 4 years ago. The stuff in the video doesn’t look horrible but it doesn’t look particularly good either. Animations appear wonky, kinda like a mid-1990s first person shooter. The creepy Spandex-armor thing is forgivable, considering that most MMORPGs do that. I don’t care much for the wilderness enviroment visuals, the trees look like crap. Buildings, on the other hand, are OK. The game seems to be be at least two generations behind in graphics technology but the artwork is acceptable.

The feature list is impressive:

  • real-time clicky combat
  • free PvP, no restrictions
  • entirely free-form skill system; skills are raised by usage; no levels
  • player housing
  • up to 500 skills and spells each
  • NPC hirelings
  • huge, seamless world – five continents, hundreds of islands
  • up to 10k simultaneous players per server
  • entirely crafting-driven economy with item decay
  • alignment system, character actions directly affect alignment
  • spell casting time depending on armor type (heavier armor -> longer casting time)
  • dynamic spawn system

Gameplay seems to be based on massive PvP battles and conquest, including sieges, as well as mounted and naval combat. Guilds will supposedly be able to establish their own kingdoms, engage in diplomatic relations with other kingdoms and even set up a legal system by instructing NPC guards to kill players of certain races and alignments or in response to certain actions.

Darkfall looks like a game that will be heavy on game mechanics and devoid of content. That means the game mechanics have to work perfectly because no one gives a shit about a gigantic game world populated with random dynamic mob spawns.

Chances are that we’re looking at yet another turd. The game has been in developement for about 5 years and they don’t have much to show for it. Conceptually, Darkfall reminds me of Age of Conan, sans the great visuals and the developer credibility. I’m not gonna claim BS just yet because the goals seem to be achievable, albeit ambitious. At least the developers aren’t going all batshit insane with their promises, like Artifact Entertainment did with Horizons. I’m not holding my breath, though.

One Comment zu “Darkfall?”

  1. Khael

    hmm actually the whole world is handcrafted, so there will be alot of content – and sir, df turd =P. Graphics are quite nice actually, i seriously prefer them to other games upcoming or already running.

    http://files.darkfallonline.com/deathpig.avi



Leave a Reply