Posts Tagged ‘Fallen Earth’

[note: This review was reprinted at the request of R.W. Harper. It remains his property and is copyright by the author]

Fallen Earth:  The Review by R.W. Harper
Game Title: Fallen Earth
Developer: Icarus Studios, LLC
Publisher: Self Published
Website: http://www.fallenearth.com
Retail Price: $49.99 (including a 1-month subscription) – Note:  There is currently a special running where you can get the game for $29.99 as well as some other discount.  Check their site for details.
Subscription Price: $14.99 per month

In a time where you can’t swing a dead varmint without hitting a fantasy based MMORPG, Icarus Studios released Fallen Earth a few months ago to a gaming community looking for something new and different. I had the pleasure of playing it post release and pre-release in Beta.  It’s a new and refreshing take on MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) gaming and it holds up quite well as an RPG (Role Playing Game) type game – if not also crossing the boundaries into FPS (First Person Shooter) and social gaming.

I took a good bit of time to play the game before writing a review, since I had some doubts early on as to how I really felt about this title and wanted to give it a fair shakedown.  I think after about three months of playing I can confidently say that I like the game a lot.  The game experience is quite immersive and there is nothing about the game play that I find trivial.

Let’s break it down…

The Setting

The Southwest United States is not exactly the most happening place on the planet currently but it’s a bustling paradise compared to other places in the post-Apocolyptic setting that Fallen Earth drops the player into.  Essentially, the world (at least as we know thus far in the lore) is in shambles following a deadly virus outbreak that wipes out most of Humanity.  The environment is full of mutated folks and fauna that are just plain mean, nasty and out to make your time in their territory less-than-pleasurable.  I don’t want to regurgitate the lore, as I doubt that I will do it much justice, but there is a bountiful overview of this great storyline on their official web site.

The Visuals

There’s not much you can do about making the American Southwest more visually appealing that what’s done by the development team at Icarus Studios in Fallen Earth.  It’s just a hard place to make look cheery with inspirational color palettes.

There has been a good deal of discussion that the graphics are just plain and uninspiring but then again, what would you expect in post apocalyptic Arizona?  When taking a look at the clothing, vehicles, armaments, towns – it all fits in with the story and lore and I think the folks at Icarus did well to make their environment immersive through the visuals.

However, there are a few things that are annoying to me at the moment.  Characters essentially all look the same.  Body structure and shape is pretty much static and everyone has a strong mongoloid, middle linebacker profile (especially the males).  There are most likely technical reasons for this (texture mapping for armor, attachment placements for animations, etc…).  For some player like me, this is not that big of a deal since I think the game compensates quite well with more tattoos and piercings choices than you would find at a Marilyn Manson concert.

Animations, on the other hand, are the things that get to me sometimes.  Now, before I go into a negative mode here, let me prop up the developers a little.  I don’t hate the animation system – I just think there are some things that are annoying.  This game has a hybrid play style that is admirable.  Melding a first person shooter camera with the additional usage of a third person camera system makes for a long day in the animation department.  Those two view perspective brings with it, a truckload of work, both artistic as well as technical.  However, some of the animations are a little sloppy and blending is sometimes choppy and truncated.   Some animations are just too long and some just require some tweaking.

But, and I say BUT; let it be known that I have the utmost confidence that this system will be improved upon and these things will be addressed – or I will just become acclimated and it will not be annoying to me any more.   There are plenty more things in the game that make this observation trivial when compared to gaming goodness that abounds within this title.

The environments look like what I would expect a wasteland to look like and the creature models are very nicely done.  There’s a nice mix of recognizable flora and fauna along with some that looks like I would imagine mutated creatures would look like.

The Audio

One of the keys to creating an immersive experience in any game is creating an environmental soundscape that capture your attention, or set you at ease, to where you recognize sounds on a subliminal level.  Between the soundtrack (which is original and quite good) and the environmental audio, immersiveness is a guarantee if you’re playing with your sound on.  The areas where the sounds are lacking, or not very appealing, are few and far between.

The Features

If you ask anyone that’s currently playing what their favorite feature of Fallen Earth is, 9 times out of 10 they will tell you about the crafting system.  You create (and this quote varies from person to person) about 95% of everything you will use in-game.  You salvage and scavenge for materials and components to do your own cooking, armor creation, ammo and firearm creation, and just about anything else you would use in game – including mounts.  However, this is strictly optional, as you have ample opportunity to purchase or barter with other players’ in-game for the things you need.  Crafting is not for everyone but for those that enjoy it – you will truly enjoy this system found in this game.

There are no classes or archetypes in the game.  You can’t sign up to be a Mage, Ranger or Warrior.  However, you can act like one by learning skills that are open to everyone else in the game.  You can hybridize your skill sets to your heart delight – or you can specialize in anything from Mutatations to Rifles or Melee.  The sky is the limit in defining  you character and just as if it was really you out in the wild of post apocalyptic Arizona – you need to have some sort of way to fend off those mean-ass Prairie Chickens that have just identified you as the “other white meat.”

You earn AP (Advancement Points) as you fight and earn levels. The player earns 20 AP per level that can be used to train in four different areas: Attributes, Active Skills, Mutations, and Tradeskills.  This is explained in great detail on the Fallen Earth web site.  I won’t even attempt it in this review.

There are 6 factions in the game that you have a choice of joining.  Each faction has two allied factions, one arch-enemy faction, and two enemy factions.  However, you don’t have to join a faction.  Being in a faction has benefits and I would refer you to the Fallen Earth web site where they explain it so much better than I ever could.

Combat in the game is a hybrid mix of your familiar FPS and RPG modes.  You can carry out combat in either the first person, or third person, camera perspective. I find myself switching between both a lot, since I like playing in both modes.  Even though the camera views may be different, the combat mechanics still work the same.  There is no target selection (read that:  no click, select and press button to make die).  As the player, you have to use your aiming reticule (which is different between melee and ranged combat) to put your axe or bullets into some poor critters or bandit (or other player’s) face.  The challenge is staying on target as your mark is moving around trying to place his/her weapon in your face at the same time.  It’s all good times.

Again, I refer you to the Fallen Earth web site for detailed information on this great combat mode as well as more features that are contained within this game.

The Community

It’s uncommon to join an online community (an in-game community) these days and not feel annoyed within the first few minutes.  General Chat is usually the bane of any MMO with its usual compliment of clowns and gold spammers.  However, one of the first things that you will notice in Fallen Earth is that these people are pretty decent and somewhat enjoyable to be around.  You can’t go too long in-game without seeing a real GM (Game Manager) or CM (Community Manager) in the chat channels helping out, offering advice, and being friendly and helpful.

There is a Clan system that will allow players to assemble into an in-game organization complete with their own chat channels and Clan Vaults (to share loot and crafting materials).  This system is fairly typical of other MMORPGs.

The Fallen Earth web site has great community forums that are moderated and quite useful.  If you’ve been intimidated by visiting forums from other MMORPG game communities – don’t fret too much on the Fallen Earth forums.  It’s well moderated and quite tame compared to those other sites.  You will find that people are quite friendly and helpful for the most part, and your errant asshat will find a hard row to hoe, should they go to kicking up a fuss.  The GMs monitor the game and community quite effectively.

Summation

Fallen Earth is a solid game.  It has so many good things going for it that the few annoyances I mentioned above are trivial and not major at all.  Yes, there are bugs but the development team is quick to address them when they are discovered and even happy to offer assistance with work-arounds whenever possible or when they are required.

Those reviewers that have panned the game based on graphics and combat mechanics all had valid observations but it’s my feeling that they didn’t give it enough time to find the true rewarding qualities that this game holds.  This is a game that you have to play a while to figure out if it’s really the game for you.  It is not a game for everyone and the learning curve is steep.  However, it suits me, and I find that my casual play style is right at home in this game.

It’s refreshing to find a new idea or two in a game when so many MMORPGs share design philosophy and can be compared almost directly to one another.  With Fallen Earth, their design philosophy is something unique with some minor similarities to the other MMOs — but with just enough commonality to be familiar and enjoyable.

If there’s one final prop I can give this game, it’s going to be for the writing.  The script and dialogs in this game are just great.  The dialog, especially, is well done and entertaining.   The writing style sets the mood for the game in whole.  The designers and writers at Icarus deserve a well earned atta-boy for this effort.

In between breaks from wrapping presents, decorating trees and plowing snow this last weekend, I stopped to ponder some of the virtual Christmases I have experienced.  Everquest 2 regaled me with an instance filled with rainbows, reindeer, frolicking elves and Christmas crafts.  World of Warcraft (WoW) had me unwrapping gnomish toys, baking cookies and rescuing reindeer for an Azerothian Santa.  Eve Online was a bit better – they had snowball launchers to replace missiles (although I always seemed to miss out somehow).

Yes, the saturation of sweetness that fills virtual holidays is enough to sicken a herd of Yak. It puts me in mind of the time that the master of horror fiction, Rod Serling, appeared on the Tonight Show back in the days when it was hosted by Johnny Carson.  Rod Serling spoke of the challenge of creating the proper mood, building up the suspense to a crescendo only to have it ruined by a commercial break with “10 bunny rabbits dancing around with toilet paper.”

And then there’s Fallen Earth…

If there is no place like home for the holidays, there is no place like post-apocalyptic Arizona for the virtual holidays. 

Now our listeners are used to the interaction between my co-host and I…in fact it is one of the strong points of our show.  Our long time listeners have often heard Fran complete my sentences; so often that I have wondered if I have a glass head.  Yet we don’t always agree on everything when it comes to gaming, and World of Warcraft is one of those places where we often hold diametrically opposed viewpoints.  For example, while she may now laud the praises of the new “Looking for group” tool, it is that same tool that has (at least when I use it) become a “Looking for someone else besides you” tool.  It’s bad enough for other players in a pick-up group to tell me I don’t have good enough armor, but when the system itself does as well?  Let’s just say that not only does it feel like Activision/Blizzard has buried my hunter under a ton of dingo dung…now they aren’t even bothering to tell me to try and eat my way back out.  Now it is as if Jeff Kaplan and Rod Pardo have personally teamed up to send me a special delivery telegram that says “We don’t want YOU. Just leave your money on the counter and get the hell out!”

But when World of Warcraft and Activision/Blizzard doesn’t want me, Fallen Earth and Icarus studios welcomes me with open arms. Not only do they welcome me, but they have give me the perfect way to feel better about not being wanted by WoW – a Fallen Earth holiday season.

Yes, there is nothing that says “Happy Holidays” like a shotgun blast in the back of the head to one of the post apocalyptic ELFS (Emissary for leaving free stuff).  Or as I summed up my session of holiday revelry and mayhem

“HO-HO-HO THAT NIGHT ELF!!!”

See you online,

The No Prisoners, No Mercy team.

Artwork credit:  The wonderful montage of images, and accompanying artwork is by our own Fran Kosac…note the shadow the nun casts (the nun and the elf weren’t in the picture to start with). Note the highlighting of the night elf and the oh so appropriate (in our opinion) pool of blood under the night elf!

We do like the new camps that are available to make, and we don’t mind the transient nature of the housing. What we do mind is just how transient they are:  It takes 2 hours to make a pup tent and it only lasts for 30 minutes…and is only good for one use. It was hoped that even if the tent wasn’t designed to be used as often as you want that at least it would be good for multiple uses.

On the positive side, Icarus got rid of the “new and improved” vehicle sounds.  Julie’s cargo motorcycle was starting to sound like the clunking of a broken washing machine when she went over bumps.  We are pleased that Icarus responded to quickly to the communities reaction to the change. As R.W. Harper pointed out on an earlier show, when the company is a smaller independent studio that means they can respond to the needs (and demands) of their player community in a much more expedient fashion (o.k. we will admit he didn’t exactly use the word expedient but you take our meaning).

The No Prisoners, No Mercy team was discussing all this late last night and we feel that Icarus is missing out on a possible income stream however.  In retrospect we feel that not only should Icarus have left the sound in but they should have made it louder. Then they could have sent out a message to the players saying, “Pay us $10.00 and we will make the sound stop.” O.K. – We’re just kidding. But a member of Julie’s clan did have an actual useful suggestion for the use of the one time loud noise – leave loud sound in but only activate it when the vehicle reaches 10% “health.”

See you online,

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team

Tis’ the season for the Seasonal Arctic Network of Toy-based Altruism (S.A.N.T.A.) to band together and reinstate the age old tradition of gift giving in post apocalyptic Arizona.  S.A.N.T.A. have loaded up their all-terrain sleighs at North Poland and travelled across the globe to distribute presents. (I haven’t quite figure out why North Poland yet – except perhaps some dev from Icarus Stuidos “hails” from there as they say).

This, of course, is only possible with the help of the Emissaries Leaving Free Stuff (E.L.F.S.) acting as a “special ops team ensuring proper protocols for supply distribution”.  I know this is all true for I have it all straight from the mouth of Corporal Claus.

While the military faction (The Enforcers) is busy bringing toys in “Operation Nice” the scientific faction (The Techs) have been figuring out how to build a snowman in the middle of an irradiated desert. I must say I like their solution. Icarus studios rocks on… I give you the rock man (see image above)

Now there are plenty of seasonal goodies to be had, but just in time for Christmas the devs at Icarus Studios have brought us all some permanent presents that are now in full swing…camp sites and bunker bars.

My first stop, of course, was the “construction zone” (a street corner in New Flagstaff was the one nearest me) where I learned how to build camping equipment…

  Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the “say it with style” edition. 

Now we are sure, whenever our readers see the “welcome to the (fill in the blank) edition” they say to themselves “oh boy, it must be a slow news day.” Well our contention is that there is simply a lot we wish to write about that day and only so much room in one article. At least that’s our story and we are sticking to it. That said, there are people in the news today who have “said things with style” –  it is merely a matter of WHAT sort of style that is a matter for discussion.

Earlier this week we wrote about one Erik Estavillo, whom you may remember as the player who sued (unsuccessfully) Sony Computer Entertainment of America over his banning from the PlayStation Network.  The latest round of lawsuits are against Activision/Blizzard and Microsoft Corporation. To wit (doesn’t that sound legal? We thought we would throw a “to wit” in there) he has subpoenaed one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates, as well as actress Winona Ryder and a member of the band Depeche Mode. Now Mr. Estavillo has added to his list of subpoenaed celebrities by summoning to the stand “a pair of rappers” (or so Gamepolitics.com reports here ).  Game Politics.com being one of our favorite sites, we will just have to take their word for it that rap artists come in pairs (we heard at one time they came in “murders” as in a “murder of crows” – we are happy to be proven wrong in this case). Added to the list of those subpoenaed are Lady Sovereign, as well as Krayzie Bone of “Bone, Thugs and Harmony”. It appears that the rappers are being subpoenaed to show “how rappers are not censored/banned/or punished for ‘cussing/trash talking’ on private property”. 

Now we aren’t sure what got Mr. Estavillo banned from the PlayStation Network in the first place, but based on the reason for the latest round of summons we have a sneaking suspicion.  And if (and that is a big if) that is the case we will be interested to find out if the words “first amendment” come under discussion.

In the end, no matter what the reason for the lawsuits against Microsoft and Activision/Blizzard we have got to hand it to Mr. Estavillo…having the hutzpa to bring a lawsuit and summon a laundry list of celebrities has style.

[Authors note: for those of you who have never heard of the word “hutzpa” before, the classic definition is a man who kills both his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan]

 

We’re not sure what kind of style this next section consists of, but we will call it the “we don’t like ten bunny rabbits dancing around with toilet paper” style (derived from a quote by the late Rod Serling). There is an interesting interview over at Werit (available here) that comes to us via Bio Break (simply because the letter “B” comes before “W” on our Google Reader). The interview is with Fallen Earth developer Wes Platt. Here is an excerpt from the interview we just loved:

 Werit:  You guys recently had the Days of the Dead event for Halloween which seemed to be a hit among the players.  Can we expect a Christmas Event?  If so, will it involve a mutated Santa Claus?

Wes Platt: Yes, we’ll have a winter holiday event. You might even get to kill some elves.

Elf hunting in Fallen Earth? Sign us up, we will be the first ones in line.  We have our motorcycle and our 357 magnum six shooter all ready.

And all this talk about Fallen Earth reminds us of a quote from script co-authored by Harlan Ellison, based on one of his stories:

“World War 4 lasted just five days  – just long enough for the final missiles to leave their silos on both sides. What’s left where once were homes and families and warm hearths – now only desolation, civilization lies smothered, decaying under an ocean of mud belonging to whoever can dick (we presume the author is referring to Richard Nixon) and fight and keep it for his own. God that’s dramatic. I like that. So spread about us the city of Phoenix, Arizona where in 2006, 18 odd years ago, you managed to come into the world and we became associates…now let’s hear that back” – from a script based on a story by Harlan Ellison

Now we will be the first to admit that the story has some scenes that set our teeth on edge, but it is interesting that the setting of the story is in post apocalyptic Arizona. It is interesting to note that at least Ellison himself said of the last line in the film: “moronic, hateful chauvinist last line, which I despise.”

And before we leave the subject of Fallen Earth entirely, we should point out that in some of the games we play the wait for a gm to respond is sometimes measured in days.  In the case of the latest Fallen Earth GM to help us out the response time was measured in seconds (less than five to be exact). It was a difficult problem (we won’t go in to it here). Suffice it to say that although the programming glitch wasn’t in the patch notes, it was fixed in the next patch less than 24 hours later. We don’t know if GM Daxus is responsible but we are claiming it for him anyway.

 

Say it with Style…

The latest game to make its way around the blogosphere (at least the end we inhabit) is, as we all know, Alganon. Now as of our readers and listeners know, we are big supporters of the restoration of keel hauling as punishment for the application of “WoW clone” to any game (other than WoW itself of course). That being said, our good friend R.W. Harper (a guest on our upcoming anniversary show) has a great review of the game over at www.lorewriter.com entitled “Something New and Totally Out of the Blue” Here is an excerpt:

 I have sensed a ripple in the force amongst you all and know that this usually is a prelude to the mass of trolls that are about to start screaming their unintelligible and uninformed spewage about the following:

Oh great, another WoW (Everquest, Everquest2, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, Runes of Magic, Hello Kitty, Warhammer Online) clone.

You know what?  I see this argument being about as pertinent as a dissertation on the variable textures and viscosity of horse dung.

Now THAT my friends is style. We wish we had written that ourselves.

See you online,

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team

Note to computerandvideogames.com: Wake up and smell the coffee. Why? Read on…

MMO developers trying to copy World of Warcraft is “definitely not the right move,” says Blizzard lead producer, Shane Dabiri.

Speaking in the latest issue of PC Zone magazine, Dabiri argues that trying to emulate the success of his company’s MMO isn’t what gamers are looking for, and devs should try to create “innovative new MMOs”. In other words, stay away from Blizzard’s profits, you thieves.

“There are a lot of people that try to emulate World of Warcraft – and as flattering as that is our end it’s definitely not the right move,” he says.

“I know that World of Warcraft is very successful, and so people think if they were to make another game just like it they could somehow capture that audience. However, I don’t think that’s what players are looking for. –   PCZone Magazine via computerandvideogames.com

There are several thoughts here upon reading the comments by computerandvideogames.com (CVG) and the first would be “would this (Blizzard Entertainment) be the same company that “borrowed” so heavily from Everquest and the Warhammer Tabletop game themselves? Isn’t this a bit like the “pot calling the kettle black” as grandmother used to say?

Beyond our initial impressions, it seems that the author from computerandvideogames.com (not PCZone Magazine) has missed a point or two somewhere along the way.  First, what Shane Dabiri is saying here is obviously not, as the CVG author so erroneously interprets “stay away from Blizzard’s profits, you thieves.”  Now we here at No Prisoners, No Mercy can’t entirely blame the cvg author for their naiveté in the matter – many is the gaming journalist who has the mistaken impression that developers in the video game industry are always at each others throats.  We would humbly suggest that before anyone over at CVG goes about cramming words down anyone else’s throats (using what seems like an incredibly large hydraulic press in this case) that they go back and listen to our shows with Mr. Paul Barnett and Mr. R.W. Harper to get of a more realistic perspective on the inner workings of the video game industry.  Consider the quote from Shane Dabiri taken from the same interview:

“Players that have invested time in WOW don’t just want to do the same thing in other game – they want to try something completely new and different” – Shane Dabiri, Blizzard Lead Producer

This, after all, is the crux of the issue [pay attention now CVG] the issue isn’t who is using who else’s intellectual property – The issue is innovation.  As we discussed on show 49 (and at some length) with JMO from the MMO Voices podcast and Tipa from West Karana, the issue is that players are looking for something different.   As Tipa put it, “I already have a World of Warcraft icon on my desktop.”

However, before we leave the issue lets touch on one last aspect of the cvg article:

“We can see his argument. Even the excellent Warhammer Online – an unashamed and well-built WoW-alike – doesn’t seem to be doing that well these days.” – CVG

Our first thought here is, of course, wake up and smell the coffee CVG; an “unashamed and well built WoW alike”? If anything this is more of a chicken or the egg argument as the artists over at Games Workshop, upon which the Warhammer Online mmo is (obviously) designed, were penning their now famous orcs long before then Blizzard Entertainment even thought about it.

As we discussed with Cryptic’s Bill Roper on No Prisoners, No Mercy show 50 (still in the editing process) we hear at No Prisoners No Mercy believe that the punishment of Keel Hauling should be brought back for any imbecile who insists on dredging up the same tired term “WoW clone” or any other derivative (something which caused our own Julie Whitefeather to coin the phrase “writer clone” not long ago).

That said, only a complete imbecile totally ignores the game mechanics (note here we are not talking about art designs, nor about intellectual properties) which are used by a successful competitor.

See you online,

The No Prisoners No Mercy Team

SIDE NOTE:

Today’s side note is also today’s “tip of the day” from Fallen Earth (reformated to fit your screen as they say)

Only in Fallen Earth!

There are many measures which we apply to games in an effort to determine if we will be a “virtual tourist” or actually take up residence in a given virtual world. In a similar vein, not that long ago, one reviewer for our local paper, upon the presumably embarrassing incident of panning a movie that turned out to be a financial success, explained it away as it being his job to determine what is a quality movie, not successful movie. We here at No Prisoners No Mercy would not try and baffle you with bull hockey, nor inundate you with pseudo intellectual babble. Put another way…

If a game is fun for you than it’s a good game.

The only qualifier we might put on this might be “as long as it doesn’t violate any laws”, but even there you have to be careful in the application of that phrase. After all, there are mmos that can’t be purchased in Australia any more that would leave the average U.S. gamer scratching their head in bewilderment saying things like “you’ve got to be kidding.” 

But there is one standard of gaming that once applied and passed leaves little doubt that the game is a good one.

Playing a game can often become reminiscent of a child at the end of a boring day in school – they keep checking the clock to see if the time has somehow managed to move faster than the time they checked it five minutes ago.

 
Similarly, when I consider going back to World of Warcraft (WoW) and once again leveling up from 59 (where my latest attempt at leveling a death knight stopped) to level 70, the thought gives me the screaming heebee geebees. I have tried to level a death knight three times now and each time I find myself staring at the level meter, hoping beyond hope that it somehow has moved faster than when I checked it the last time I logged on.

So it is a happy and notable day when someone asks me “what level are you?” and I actually have to check.

Yet such it is with Fallen Earth.

Now at this point there may be those of you who are tired of hearing about Fallen Earth, and for those of you who fall into this category, I refer you to the scathing comments published under “side note” below. For the rest of you read on…

Most games have at least some degree of linearity, to a greater or lesser degree.  Even games by companies like Bethesda that are famous for making sandbox games like Fallout 3 at least have a main quest line. Rarely is there a game like Ultima Online in its early days where the answer to “what do I do now” is simply “what do you want to do?”  For this reason, whether a single player sandbox or an mmo, usually we have a clear idea of where we are going with a game when we log on.  If not, there is no shortage of pundits ready to offer their sage advice on how best to play a given game, whether that advice is solicited or no.

The most remarkable aspect of Fallen Earth is not what you might think. The graphics? They are severely underrated. Never mistake a game rendered within a certain range of hues for a game that is bland. This last long weekend I was in an instance and entered what appeared to be a boiler room.  The first thing I noticed was the remarkable interplay of light and texture that left me with one of those “oh wow” moments.

The most remarkable aspect of Fallen Earth is that I set out with the intention of one style of game play, but got so engrossed in another that I wasn’t even aware of it. I set out, as many people do, with a mistaken impression of what the game is all about. Once I played it past the Hoover Dam introduction and well into the next few levels I discovered just how wrong I was. I set about to be a “gun toting, post apocalyptic hell raiser” but that is not where I ended up.

I ended up crafting.

Normally I do not like to craft at all and for the reason why you have no further to look than NC Soft’s Aion Online.  It is so tedious and so expensive that it is no wonder that they just had to ban 16,000 accounts for botting (see “NCsoft Bans 16,000 Aion Cheaters” by Leigh Alexander). The cost of the crafting system alone in Aion is no doubt what was driving the gold sellers.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself not only willing to sort through rubbish tips to salvage parts, but was actually excited to find garbage bags by the side of the road.  After all, bags of garbage meant old salvaged joints, and those were part of a motorcycle I was building. Still, as subtle as Fallen Earth was at drawing me into its game mechanics, it is not a game that attempts to lull you with a siren song of fairies, wizards, fighting dragons and saving the day.  This game is more like a waking up with a strong cup of coffee…thrown in your face.  Icarus Studios put it best in one of their trailers:

Sick of ogres, elves and pixies?

So are we.

Lose the tights.

Bury the crystals.

Quite playing with your wand.

Come get the read deal.

This ain’t daddy’s mmo.

(the side note follows)

Why do we continue to play video games – sometimes long after we have ceased having fun doing so? That is a subject Julie is exploring a bit for a “piece” she is writing for Virgin Worlds. However it did lead us to ponder over a related area… 

For those of you who have not played Fallen Earth (and shame on you for at least not trying it) the game is set in post apocalyptic Arizona, circa 150 years in the future. The game is divided into three sectors (so far).  All of the pundits of conventional Fallen Earth wisdom bid us abjure any thought of  taking anything but  melee skills when we started out in sector 1.  By sector 2 Julie found that this would leave her in a seriously detrimental condition without any sort of balancing factors.

Every game we have ever played has had its share of pundits of pedagogy, those theocrats of theoreticians…those who claim there is one way to play a game and no other.

Many is the time that we here on the No Prisoners, No Mercy team have run up against players in pugs (Something in which no one here ever intends to indulge ourselves again unless it is the four legged kind) who insist they know how to play your class better than we do.  Even in games where there are no classes, the theorists will concentrate on the exact arrangements of skills without which you are told to consider yourself a “Sub-par” player.   These are the same prima donnas of gaming who insist that no one will group with us if we do not play a given game the way they do – to which we have two replies, both of which begin with the phrase “Thank God”.

Thank God…

That we won’t be picked for some anonymous group of pug (pick up group)  participants who will treat us as if we are single handedly at fault for all that is wrong with the game we play and the world; to include the state of the economy, the disappearance of Amelia Erhart, and are, in fact, the third gunman on the grassy knoll.  This is one group that we won’t miss, unless it is to say that our collective aim is off.

Thank God…

Thank God for groups like The Older Gamers (there are 14000 of us) that are the progenitors of guilds, clans, and supergroups that form player communities. These are communities that not only cross the boundries of games but that we can actually (GASP!) trust and with whom we can have fun playing.  And that leads us to the reason why we occassionally abjure the conventional wisdom of gaming pundits and play the way we want to…

Because its fun.

See you online

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team

Welcome to the mark of excellence edition…

What, you may ask yourself, do a wheel chair, video games and excellence all have in common? The answer quite simply is when a video game is accessible to everyone and we mean everyone. Two discussions on making games accessible recently drew our attention to the matter. The first is the source of the logo at the top of this article. The link points to an english language section of a site that is not in english. It is, as you can no doubt tell from the logo, a web site about making video games that really are accessible to everyone.

The second discussion was an article in the local paper entitled “Senior Tour”.   This particular senior tour, however, was not sponsored by any professional golf association. No, this senior tour was part of a game that has caught on in some of the local senior communities – Wii Bowling.  In fact you can find an interesting blog entry on a local Wii Bowling tournament here.  We could tell you all about virtual bowling tournaments but Jack Roche, who apparently was part of one of them, can do a much better job of it than we ever could.  Go read the blog entry, we are nuns and we have rulers…that’s an order!

We have discussed much on accessible games of late on our show, but most of it has been in the area that we discussed with Scott Hartsman; games such as those on Facebook made by Zynga.  Beyond Facebook games there are games that are more accessible for a far different set of reasons…they are accessible to gamers with disabilities.  Game publishers always seem to be looking for ways to expand their market and what better way than this?  Beyond the good karma it brings by benefiting disabled gamers (such as some of the players in the virtual bowling tournament) it is just good business. 

This is also a subject that is near and dear to the hearts of the No Prisoners, No Mercy team as Julie was raised by a mother with cerebral palsy and that both Fran and Julie took care of Fran’s disabled mother for five years.

And while we are on the subject of marks of excellence…

We have all had the chance to interact with gms (those staff members behind any game that unstick those who are stuck in the game in some way).  Some are good, some not so good.  We have played mmos where the GMs have taken several days to answer.

Recently Julie had a chance to interact with a GM that stood out head and shoulders above the rest and that is GM Carlin from Fallen Earth and the Icarus Studios.   When a member of her clan (guild for all you WoW players) paged a GM, the answer was swift: it took about 30 seconds to reach GM Carlin.  The GM solved the issue in less than a minute,  and waited until all players got credit for the quest with a slight glitch. 

But here is the part that stands head and shoulders above the rest…

Several days later when Julie Logged on again, she received a message from GM Carlin who wanted to make sure that all of her questions had been answered.  So here is a big salute to Icarus Studio’s GM Carlin:

 See you online,

The No Prisoners, No Mercy team

Ok…let me go out on a limb here. In fact let me go WAY out on a limb here.

Fallen Earth by Icarus Studios puts more “Virtual” back in the virtual world than any other mmo on the market today – if you dispute me, argue the point. If you don’t believe me, go out there and try the game .

Now while I dangle here on the end of my virtual branch I will begin with a brief explanation for any readers who might be new to our web site, or new to the No Prisoners No Mercy show. When Dr. Richard Bartle was a guest on our show he spoke about the difference between a game world and a virtual world. Now I wouldn’t even consider attempting to speak for Richard Bartle. However, at risk being the reason to recreate the moment in Annie Hall when Woody Allen brings Marshal McLuhan on screen to silence a know-it-all media professor (clip available here ) I will attempt to muddle through.

When I think of the phrase “Game World” the image it engenders is more of a structured adventure. A place where the invisible hand of the developer guides the player along a linear (or relatively so) adventure toward the ultimate goal of reaching what we have all come to know (and sometimes hate) as “End Game.”

A virtual world, on the other hand, is a place where residents of said environment live and operate within what we have come to call a “sandbox” environment.  The examples that always leaps to mind are my first forays into the world of Ultima Online when I asked “What do I do now?” and was greeted with “What do you want to do?”  In other words there is no developer pushing to go do a particular task.  What is more there is more “reality” in the Virtual reality. A more vivid example of my meaning might be found in the conversation I might have had, if I had thought to ask the question below when it arose:

Fallen Earth GM: Hi there, may I help you?

Me: Yes. Where is my recall button?

Fallen Earth GM: Your what?

Me: You know, my hearth stone – the thingy that you click on to automatically return somewhere.

Fallen Earth GM: There is a small problem with that.

Me: Another bug in the game, I knew it.

Fallen Earth GM: No, it’s not that. It’s just that first, this isn’t World of Warcraft and we don’t have “hearth stones” and this isn’t Star Trek so there is no way to teleport anywhere.

Me: So now what?

Fallen Earth GM: Well, you want a return button right?

Me: Yes

Fallen Earth GM: I have one for you.

Me: Great. Where is it?

Fallen Earth GM: You know that little button on the side of the motorcycle you just made?

Me: Yes.

Fallen Earth GM: Press it

Me: O.K. then what?

Fallen Earth GM: Then drive back to where ever you came from. See you have a “return button” after all!

In Fallen Earth there are no disappearing horses. If you get off your horse it stays right where you leave it (See? Aren’t those virtual horses well behaved?) As the Fallen Earth team at Icarus studios has pointed out in a recent tip for players, there are no night elves in Fallen Earth (but there are mutants which is just about the same thing anyway if you miss them – they just aren’t a playable race). However, depending on your outlook on technology, there are “magic wands” (sort of); they come with nice little shells called “12 gauge” and they make really great “magic Missiles”.

I too have asked about player housing when their project manager, Mr. Colin Dwan, was a guest on our show.  Now that I have been playing Fallen Earth for some time I have the perfect answer to my own question.

Auntie Maim: Hey you, out there….the one sitting at the keyboard.

Julie: You mean me?  Aren’t you breaking some sort of rule, or at least concept of reality by talking to me?

Auntie Maim: Ya, so what. Listen I want some player housing – a place to bunk down at night.

Julie: You want player housing?

Auntie Maim: Yes. Please.

Julie: You, being the avatar, should know better than anyone else. This is a post apocalyptic world. See all those ramshackle buildings out there?

Auntie Maim: Ya?

Julie: Pick one.

As I travel through post apocalyptic Arizona, there is always something else to grab and hold my interest. The most interesting thing of all, however, is this: I have never played a game where I have been excited to find garbage by the side of the road, but Fallen Earth is a first. If you play Fallen Earth, believe me, you too will be excited about finding a garbage bag by the side of the road.

THAT GETS MY GOAT!

The prevailing thought about forum trolls seems to be to simply ignore them with the hopes that they will simply go away. However, it isn’t always that easy.  Yes, we all know that most of the people in any given mmo community spend their time actually playing the game rather than surfing the forum.  Still, when threads start with phrases like “Is it just me” they can eventually  begin to do some damage. A recent article over at Gamasutra pointed out that if someone leaves your game you have not only lost a customer, you have gained a detractor.  Yet it seems to me that the worst detractors of all are those players who have not quit the game – instead they hang on like some curse that is nearly impossible to get rid of, trying to convince other players that if the troll doesn’t like the game anymore, that it’s just no good. After all, misery doesn’t just love company, it demands it.

What I dearly wish is that the simplest solution of all would occur to those forum trolls who seem bent on tearing down a game that the rest of us still enjoy playing…if you don’t like the game don’t just quit. Instead, go silently away into that good night and creep back under your rock.