Anti-Aliased: The Darkfall prophecies
by Seraphina Brennan 
Jan 21st 2009 at 5:00PM
Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Darkfall, Opinion, Anti-Aliased
So, let me paint a giant target on my back, cover myself in delicious meat, and walk right into the lion's den of MMOs. This column is dedicated to Darkfall's gameplay mechanics; presenting an analysis of what we know so far from released beta tester announcements and gameplay footage. This is, by no means, a comprehensive analysis of everything Darkfall has to offer. This is just one man's opinion column at work, looking at the ups and downs of what Darkfall might bring to the table.
I'm doing all of this to answer one eerily simple yet dastardly complex question: Can Darkfall live up to the hype around it?
Let's do this in a nice orderly fashion and work our way from the things that might go horribly wrong to the things that might just blow your socks through your eyeballs and leave you breathless. This way, we get to end on a good note for once in this column's print life!
All right then, enough stalling, let's get on with it.
That's nice, that's great, but what does it do? Why should I do it?
We've already gotten eyefuls of Darkfall's PvP and combat, and it looks really interesting. But what I'm interested in are the things that aren't being said. Quests, dungeons, city building benefits aren't really mentioned in all of the pre-release content. We know they're there, but what do they do?
Even in a sandbox world, you need some sort of direction for the players. You need things that will get them out to explore your world and bring them into combat situations. You need to offer the player tangible benefits to go out, explore, build cities, and do what you want them to do.I don't want to see Darkfall turn into another Age of Conan, where city building means nothing and grinding is the best way to get anywhere. Just because the content is present doesn't mean it's good. It needs to have some sort of incentive backing it so players feel justified in using it.
When a player builds a city, it needs to give back to the player. When a player sails a ship, it needs to do something more than just fire cannons. It needs to provide access to some other types of content or it needs to provide viable transportation. What we need to know is that Darkfall is more than just PvP, or just PvP over content that doesn't provide kickbacks.
Aventurine says that Darkfall isn't just a PvP game, but "the focus of the game is kingdom building, clan warfare, and conquest." Which, if anyone didn't notice, are all just different terms for PvP.
Pretty cities are great, and dynamic combat is great, but if there's no reason driving the whole thing then you have no game. You just have people smacking each other in the head until they get bored and leave. I hope the devs don't sell themselves short. Incentive drives conflict -- just ask any EVE Online player about incentives versus risk.
Risk has finally been reintroduced
This is something I'm really interested in seeing in action. Darkfall has a very viable chance of bringing risk back to the table. Beta testers talk about being paranoid in open fields, eager to explore new lands, and a sense of accomplishment that they haven't felt in a long time. The reason they're feeling that accomplishment is because they are risking everything with each step in the game.Our games today have minimized risk and penalties to the point where accomplishment is being minimized. Because Darkfall is providing such high risks in their open world, they're also providing very high feelings of accomplishment. This is a good thing -- a very good thing -- to anyone who's willing to take the time and learn the ropes.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gleb 70 Draka [A] said on 5:22PM 1-21-2009
Great Post! Just posted it in Darkfall Forums (Name there is gmoneyslim12), you are getting great reviews! :)
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Holgar said on 5:29PM 1-21-2009
OMG you got first AND gave your clan and its website a shout out!
Feel proud knowing your amazing acomplishment! No really!
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Harker said on 1:16AM 1-22-2009
Can't wait to try this game out, got a big clan of people at http://www.tempestguild.org also excited.
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Mr Angry said on 2:18AM 1-22-2009
At massively.com, it's not being first that counts, it's having the last word that does....
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Totum said on 5:39AM 1-22-2009
This game is a shitty failure.
Why you would even bother writing an article about this joke is beyond me
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Iokthemonkey said on 6:33AM 1-22-2009
I think it's interesting to see a sandbox-style MMO but I think this one seems to be attracting the wrong kind of players... I dunno, but to me, logging into a world that seems to be populated with 12-year old gankers just doesn't sound like fun.
As for the one-off event quests, I call BS on that UNLESS their definition of "unique" is "generated randomly for each player based on three or four elements." SWG used to do that and CoH does it too in that manner, but to claim they're in some way "unique" is a bit much. It's simply impossible - and frankly stupid - for a developer to allocate so many resources to a single event for a small group of players. Development is all about bang for buck.
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Angrakhan said on 9:24AM 1-22-2009
I think Darkfall is making the same mistake that WAR made: overestimating the interest in a pvp-centric MMO. Darkfall caters to the same demographic that UO and Shadowbane did which is the hardest of hardcore no-holds-barred full-loot open pvp crowd. That segment is VERY small.
All I can say is I really hope the Darkfall dev's are self-funded and have budgeted around having a tiny niche MMO that has at its hay day a low 6-figure subscription number because they are quite simply targeting a game at the absolute smallest demographic of gamers.
It's like building a car for right-side lateral paraplegics. Yes, the market segment is there, but you're really limiting your growth potential.
That being said the hardest of hardcore full-loot open pvp guys would be very loyal to a new MMO that actually delivers on its promises considering their limited options. Hope this game works out for them. I won't be playing it though.
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Ripper McGee said on 10:56AM 1-22-2009
Self-funded? Not exactly. Aventurine secured a 20 million Euro Bond in 2007 and AudioVisual/Aventurine secured a 25 million Euro bond in 2008. Per the conversion rate at the time of the bone procurements, they were valued at 66 million USD. Keep in mind, that's just since 2007. Obviously, they had some funding prior to that, too.
~Ripper
Angrakhan said on 11:13AM 1-22-2009
If you're telling me it's taken them $66 million USD to build Darkfall, then the chances of them ever turning a profit are very slim.
Iokthemonkey said on 10:53AM 1-22-2009
The other thing is, I'm no touchy-feely namby-pamby pink police sort but in a world where online bullying is supposedly so rife, is having a game that essentially encourages you to group up against weaker opponents and exploit them as part of a large group before they do it to you really such a good move?
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C7488 said on 11:44AM 1-22-2009
This game is going to bomb soooooo hard.
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The Claw said on 6:40PM 1-22-2009
Ask the average Darkfall fan "what's the biggest difference between Darkfall and WoW?" or "what's the biggest difference between Darkfall and WAR?" and they'll give you an answer that has something to do with sandbox gameplay, or open PvP, or full looting, or player-built cities, or the skill-based character progression system.
They'll never give the correct answer, which is that WoW and WAR were developed by successful established companies which large teams of experienced developers and a proven record of success, whilst Darkfall is being developed by a bunch of hobbyists and amateurs in a Greek basement who have promised the universe but never demonstrated any ability to produce anything at all.
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