These last days…

Categories:

a. MMORPG, b. Console

October 27, 2009

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Windows 7 Vista

Windows 7 > Vista

Delightfully ominous, isn’t it? Tee hee. Well, there’s no foreshadowing here. It’s been a few days since I last checked in, so I thought it was about time for an update.

So, where have I been? As always, plugging away at Fallen Earth but at a much slower pace than I’d like. I’ve been talking to Syp from Biobreak, so I should have a clan soon, though. Once things settle down with college (with any luck, tonight) I should be able to put some more time in.

I’ve also upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. I’m happy to report that the upgrade process went flawlessly and everything, peripherals included, worked like a charm without any driver upgrades needed.

More importantly, your MMOs like Windows 7. Well, except for Aion, but I’ll get there in a moment. One of the neat things 7 does better than Vista is allocate video memory. Vista would use your video memory for programs that you weren’t even working with. If they were running, even off screen, your video card was under strain. Windows 7 works like you’d think it should: your video memory only goes towards what you’re seeing.

FPS-wise, that means nothing. I’ve noticed absolutely no change in my framerate; however, what I have noticed is far less hiccups as I’m running around. Since it now has a bunch of extra memory, the game’s rendering is far smoother than Vista’s ever was. Between the OS upgrade and FE’s last patch, I’m noticing a ~5FPS increase just about everywhere now too. From what I’ve heard, this is probably because of the patch more than the upgrade.

I mentioned Aion, so I’ll get this out there. For some reason, Aion CTD’s more often under 7. Some people have reported BSODs but I haven’t encountered any of those yet. I would imagine a future patch will fix these issues though, and I can usually go a couple of hours in between crashes, so it’s not a big deal.

Finally, I picked up a copy of Borderlands. I’m a level 6 soldier, at the moment, and having a ball. The game is fun and has a great sense of humor. I LOL’d when I ran into the first boss, Nine Toes. When he comes out, a brief cut scene occurs and gives him an introduction screen. The text went something like this: Nine Toes (also, he has three balls) I wasn’t expecting that kind of humor, so I hope it continues.

Loot upgrades roll in, especially when you’re playing co-op. Single player, not so much. You get a lot of guns. So much so, I’ve actually heard people complain about it. Now, come on. The first good upgrade I picked up was a machine gun pistol with a chance to set your enemies on fire. And it’s a good chance too because I was burning monsters left and right… and enjoying every minute of it.

The jury is still out on the longevity of the game. I believe you can get up to level 50 and, honestly, I could see the game getting old (repetitive) before then. Still, it’s a blast right now so I’m taking it for what it is.

That’s about it for the moment. With any luck, I’ll be back to my usual gaming routine again tomorrow. Until next time!


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9 comments

Two Fallen Earth trial keys to give away

Categories:

a. MMORPG

October 24, 2009

by

Massively opened up their free trial giveaway yesterday for players interested in trying Fallen Earth. These things tend to go quick, and I know some of our readers here are dying to try the game, so I reserved two (the maximum per IP address) for any readers of this site interested in receiving one. Before you request one of these keys, please try to claim one directly from their site first, that way Massively gets the props for running the giveaway and as many people as possible get into the trial.

If you’d like a 15-day trial key, send an email to Chris -at- gamebynight.com and I’ll send your code back to you. Since there’s only two, it’s first come first serve.

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2 comments

[Guide] Practical tips for the Fallen Earth newbie

Categories:

a. MMORPG, g. Guides

October 23, 2009

by

Hi Everyone,Into the Sunset

The weekend is upon us again and hopefully you’ve picked up your copy of Fallen Earth and are settling in for a productive trip into the waste land. As I’ve played, I’ve noticed a lot of questions pop up again and again on the help channel so I thought it’d be good to send us out of the work week with some basic information for players new to the game.

This list is a work in progress as, to be honest, there’s still a lot I don’t know myself. If you’ve got a tip, share it in the comments and I’ll add it to the list.

By the way, for the moment, these are presented in no particular order. I wrote them up as I was playing.

Enjoy!

—

  1. Craft. Life is expensive for a non-crafter and gathering materials is easy. You can also craft while you’re adventuring and even while you’re offline. It’s not a “sit here, stay here” activity in Fallen Earth.

  2. Gathering and Crafting are learned from “kits” sold by vendors. Pick all of these up when you first start. My advice is to sell all of your food drops until you have enough chips to pick these up. Level your gathering as you level your character and life will be easier for you.

  3. Gather evertything even if you don’t plan on using what you collect. Sell these items for money towards materials you WILL need to craft for your particular tradeskill. Some drops are rarer than others and the RNG can hate you. Be prepared to buy if you want to level you craft quickly.

  4. Crafting skills are capped based on your intelligence and perception. Put AP into intelligence to immediately raise your potential gathering cap.

  5. Wondering what stats to focus on for the path you want to take? See what the game suggests by opening your attributes panel (press ‘V’) and select your focus from the drop down menu in the upper right. The game will highlight what attributes you should focus on. Another guide I read suggests focusing on your primary attack attribute first and then putting AP into the attributes that support that skill. That’s what I’m doing and it’s working well. Be careful though and don’t spend all of your points too quickly. You’ll have to save some for intelligence and perception too if you’re planning on crafting.Career Suggestions

  6. And don’t forget armor use. I couldn’t figure out how to wear a glove until I tossed a couple of points into it.Syeric in 3D

  7. Inventory cluttered? Click the icon in the upper right hand and make a new tab. Or three. I have mine set to sort weapons, armor, trade items, and quest items into their own tabs. MUCH more manageable.Inventory Management

  8. If you’re not sure where a trade item drops, don’t bother with help chat. Head to the tutorial mob outside your cloning dock. Clicking through his dialogue will tell you where to collect basic items for every trade.

  9. Taking forever to get to your quest waypoint (the red ‘x’ on your minimap? Hit ‘M’ to open your map and then uncheck “overhead” to get a better perspective on things.Map

  10. There’s virtually no difference before Anisotropy 2 and 16 but a huge difference between 1 and 2.  Stick with 2 and save your performance.

  11. There’s virtually no difference between dynamic lights 9 and 16. Stick with 9 and save your performance.

  12. Crossbows count as rifles early on. Zip Guns count as pistols. Both fall under the “Ballistics” tradeskill. To quickly gain points, focus on making zip gun ammo. It’s cheap to buy and you need less of it than crossbow bolts.

  13. Crafting nodes and mobs are logical with the loot they drop. That pile of tires will probably get you rubber. The old muffler or broken down car will probably get you metal, or some leather. Killing raiders may just get you some sweet, sweet, beer. Or some boring cotton cloth. Can I drink cotton? No. Lazy raider.

  14. Use your bow to pull mobs, then “Ctrl + Mousewheel Backwards” to your heavy melee weapon to finish them off.

  15. Zip Gun ammo goes quick. Aim for the head.

  16. Crafting a horse should be an early goal. ATVs eat gas and cost a lot to make/run. Horses replenish their own fuel and are cheap to craft. You’ll also need to know how to make them when you do later crafting in the game.

    My Horse

    My new horse!

  17. Horse merchants are usually at garages. Garages, from what I’m told, are typically found by following the road out of town. This is also where you’ll find the NPC that will “tow” your mount back to you should you die in the wilderness.

  18. When you do make your first “horse bridle” splurge on the extra horse feed and turn it into a “riding horse bridle.” I’m doing this right now as I’m told the riding horses have more stamina and last longer.

  19. Try to do crafting when you logout and make sure to quit in a training facility. Your items will finish quicker.

That’s all for now. I hope they help you enjoy your new stay in Desolation. Remember to add me to your friends list if you’re feeling lonely. You and me and a mutant chicken make three.

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45 comments

So long, Common Sense Gamer

Categories:

a. MMORPG

October 22, 2009

by

I just wanted to direct everyone over to Darren’s blog, where he announced yesterday that he’s retiring from blogging. He’s been at it a long time and has done a lot to support the MMO community, it’s sad to see him go. Head on over and say goodbye, if you haven’t already. Thanks Darren!

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34 comments

Smaller zones, please

Categories:

a. MMORPG

October 22, 2009

by

As I play more MMOs, I feel like I’m widening my horizons and discovering more about myself as a player. One of the things that I’ve found out is that I really prefer smaller and quicker to finish zones. I like to feel like I’m moving forward with my character, not only in gear, but also on that eternal trek toward whatever ultimate evil I’m battling against. It seems like in almost every game, however, there’s some zone that just wants to trap you.

Take LotRO for example. The North Downs and Lone Lands are two examples of zones that just last way too long. They try to break the zones into parts that are of a different setting, so it looks a little different, but you’re still in the same place for level after level after level.

Aion takes a similar approach to their zone design. On the Asmodian side, you level 1-25 in Ishalgen, Altgard, Morheim, and Brusthonin. From 25-50, you level through most of those zones again, just on the other side you couldn’t get to before. The difference between the sides is a lot more striking, however, than the east and west sides of the North Downs in LotRO. You’re adventuring in the same zone but they look almost totally different.

So what’s the problem? It’s a psychological block. I much prefer WoW’s philosophy of “ever moving forward” rather than “stop here, stay here” or “stop here and come back later.” As long as my zones are moving forward, there’s movement. I’m going somewhere and you can look around to prove it.

Ironically, games that are one, big zone don’t suffer from this issue. The difference, I believe, is that games like Fallen Earth and Darkfall are open worlds rather than stitched together zones. There’s no expectation of it being any more. Everything is there, accessible from the start, with no artificial barriers to stop you.

I like that I’m finding out more about myself. I feel like I’m gaining perspective, as I go forward. Things like this probably won’t stop me from trying a new game but I think I can step in with more wisdom than I had a year ago. And that’s a good thing.

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9 comments

Do we have a right to our characters?

Categories:

a. MMORPG

October 21, 2009

by

I listened to the latest episode of Shut Up, We’re Talking last night and an interesting topic came up that’s too intriguing to pass on discussing. Generalizing will oversimplify the topic, so here’s a piece of the question that was asked, “is that effort [you put into your character] yours in any concrete way” and, branching off from that, does an MMO company have the right to delete your data whenever they want?

Opinions on the show were varied but the essential feeling seemed to boil down to this: your character represents all of the time, effort, and emotion you’ve put into a game; the last thing a player wants to see is that effort wiped away. One of the hosts, Karen, went so far as to say she’d pay a dollar a month to make sure her characters on a previous game weren’t deleted. Ferrel, of Epic Slant, admitted that he’d be upset if his original Everquest characters were deleted, even though he has no plans to returning to the game.

I empathize with these feelings. Even though I don’t plan on returning to the MUD I used to play, I’d be upset if my character there were deleted. Yet, I wouldn’t be angry. More than anything, I’d feel like I lost something, a piece of my history and the virtual me for a good chunk of my teenage years. I identified with that character, it would sadden me to know I could never step back into his shoes again, even if I wanted to.

But, to answer the first question, I don’t think we have any concrete right to our characters as long as we’re paying. MMOs are a service and characters are rented tools. As players, we might project more onto them than that, and I don’t think we’d be wrong for doing so, but, at the end of the day, they’re vehicles to get we the player from point A to point B. That’s certainly how a company will see it. We don’t own our characters, so, if I tried to eBay my old Fury warrior on WoW, I’d be breaking Blizzard’s EULA.

So, what about when we’re not paying? I’m not subscribed to WoW right now but I’d be upset if they deleted my old main character. The difference is between player entitlements and good business practices. If I’m not paying for the service of the game, I’m not entitled to anything within it. Yet, it’d still be a bad idea for them to delete my data because, in my mind, it would eliminate the option of going back in the future. I have no interest in re-leveling from the beginning. I might do it on my own at some point but if I’m going to be made to do it, that’s another story. It’s in a company’s best interest to hold onto that data for as long as they can and try to bait back the players who’ve left.

But, to answer the second question, the company has the right to delete what they want, when they want. It might not be a good idea if they want to keep their players happy but, in truth, the sum of our efforts is in tables of numbers on someone else’s computer. We add and remove numbers in the form of weapons and armor and levels but, so long as they hold the file, they can delete it when they choose; they are the owner of the computer and the owner of that file. All that legal speak we have to agree to to play gives them that right and leaves us with only server access… and even that’s not guaranteed.

Maybe I’m off base here but that’s my opinion. We’re not really entitled to anything, as long as we’re paying. But, if I’m handing them a monthly payment, I expect upkeep the same way I expect it from my cable company. I don’t think I’d pay extra to keep my old characters around. Right now, I hold out good faith that they will. Otherwise, it’s just one more game dropping of my list and that’d be a shame.


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4 comments

And the winner is…

Categories:

a. MMORPG

October 19, 2009

by

Kleosi, who submitted his entry via email! Thank you to all who entered. I have an email out to the LAN to see about getting a couple more of these. We’ll run another giveaway if any more come in. Congratulations Kleosi!

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3 comments

My new main game and plans for break

Categories:

a. MMORPG

October 19, 2009

by

And the winner is… Fallen Earth with forty-two percent of the vote! Aion came in a close second with thirty-six percent and LotRO in last with only twenty-one percent. That settles it. From here on out, I’ll prioritizing my game play in that order. Thank you to everyone who submitted your vote.

I also had another pleasant surprise yesterday, today and tomorrow are mid-term break! Don’t ask me how I missed that little bit of information last week because I don’t know. But I did. On top of that, it looks like I don’t have anything assigned over break either, so I have today and tomorrow to dive into FE!

And dive I will. I’ve been listening to the LifeNet podcast over at Lagwar and they’ve been getting me excited to dig further into the game. My main goal for the next two days is to level my crafting enough to get a horse. It doesn’t seem like it will be that hard and, as I highlighted in my last FE post, they just look cool. Not to mention, their energy slowly replenishes itself, unlike the ATV, making it the most economical choice for someone new to the game. Somewhere down the line, I’ll probably craft the four-wheeler but, from what I’ve heard, they’re costly to fuel. My ultimate aim is to get a motorcycle.

a bike with bite

a bike with bite

I did decide to delete my old character and start anew, however. I made the mistake of using AP before I really knew what path I wanted to go. Not to mention, now that I’ve been through the early quests once, I should be able to go through a little quicker and a little wiser with my ammunition. My plan for this version of Syeric (Syeric 2.0) is to focus on rifles and crafting with tradeskills of ballistics and science, with maybe a little dabbling in armorsmithing for fun. Rifles seem like he natural choice for PvP since they allow you to sniper off your enemies from afar. Ballistics and science compliment that by allowing you to make your own ammunition and scopes. Since my goal is to do ranged DPS, I’ll be focusing more on mastering my crossbow rather than my zipguns.

I’ll keep you posted on how things go.

Apart from Fallen Earth, I also think I’ll spend a little time working on my Assassin in Aion. I’m about a quarter of the way through level 24, so in another level I’ll be able to go into the Abyss and experience some real PvP. On top of that, the first real Asmodian dungeon, the Training Grounds, opens up at 25 too and I’m interested to see what Aion’s version of dungeon running looks like. I’d heard most encounters were pretty much tank and spank but I’m hoping there’s a little more complexity than that.

Time will tell, but without devoting most of my playtime to Aion, I doubt I’ll get there before the end of Tuesday. I’m currently using KFGuides leveling guide, to help me keep pace with the faster levelers despite my more casual playstyle, but the formula for “speed leveling” at this point consists of doing 10 quests and then grinding out a million or so XP.

That’s the plan, though! Thanks again for the votes and advice. I’m glad to have a clear path again and, with Fallen Earth being the winner, hopefully I can help support this awesome indie title.

We’ll see you again tonight with the winner of the Aion free trial!


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11 comments

Support for a cool new webcomic

Categories:

a. MMORPG, d. Everything Else

October 17, 2009

by

Courtesy of the a href=

Courtesy of the Dungeons and Draeni blog

Hey guys,

I just wanted to take a minute and point you all over to Dungeons and Draeni. It’s Kromus’ new blog and webcomic. He just started up this month but he has some funny stuff up over there. My favorite so far is “You Know You’re Addicted” but they’re all worth a look. Go check it out and lend him your support!

– Chris

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5 comments

My second night in Fallen Earth

Categories:

a. MMORPG

October 17, 2009

by

image005

The Zanesville airport is now overrun by raiders

I got the chance to spend some more time in the wasteland last night and I’m glad I did. When I last left off, I had done a couple of quests and some exploring but was getting a little frustrated at the fact that I couldn’t scavenge anything. Since scavenging is one of the biggest ways you get materials for crafting, I was feeling road blocked from progressing my character. My goal is to keep my crafting skills in line with my level so they remain useful.

image006

With horses like this, who needs cars

So, when I logged in last night, I resolved to figure out why I couldn’t scavenge and get my crafting career rolling. I started in Zanesville, a combat town, and nowhere could I find a scavenging trainer, or anyone who sold anything in reference to scavenging. After some asking around, I found out that I had to visit the “Tradeskill Trainer” inside a building labeled “Nature Training.” From there, I had to buy different nature kits that unlocked the ability to scavenge. I found this to be somewhat obtuse (if your skill is called “scavenging,” you should probably reference “scavenging” somewhere in the training books) but it worked.

After that, the game cracked wide open for me; some artificial barrier was lifted and I felt free to do whatever I wanted. More importantly, I could prioritize what materials I needed to collect. Now, I only need to figure out where all of these materials come from and I’ll be set.

As I played, I noticed quite a few things I didn’t talk about in my “First Impressions” post, some good and some not so good.

We’ll start with the main negative to get that out of the way: I find it very jarring that I can aim my gun at a mob’s head, at point blank range, and miss. They calculate hits/misses and damage on random dice rolls behind the scenes but, if you’re trying to emulate an FPS, shooting something’s head from 10 inches away, should probably result in a hit.

image009

Do you want a thigh or a drumstick?

Apart from that, it’s small, quirky things, such as your inability to do a /who for a particular person or guild. Hello 1999, long time no see.  And, for the life of me, I couldn’t manage to send a tell to a player with a first and last name. I’m a noob. So maybe someone could help me here.

That aside, I noticed a lot of good too.

First off, the community here is top notch. The help channel is always running fluid with questions and veteran players answering them. It does get a little spammy at times but you see very little drama and other annoying stuff (*cough* Well, WoW does this… *cough*) that you see in many other games. When I asked a question, I could usually get an answer. Granted, I had people tell me the wrong answer to my questions on scavenging more often than not, but people are trying and that’s saying something

Second, I definitely felt immersed like the other bloggers have talked about. I started playing and, this isn’t an exaggeration, before I realized it two and a half hours had gone by. I don’t know whether it’s because I was so actively trying to figure everything out or because the first person lends itself towards “being there” more than third person. Probably both and more. The setting and detail of everything is all so right that it really makes you feel like you’re there. The aftermath is a place easy to get lost in.

image011

I love the sense of humor the modern setting allows

I also love how crafting works. The fact that you can set something up to craft, close the window, and go about your business is neat in itself but I think the depth of it lends the whole system more weight than I’ve ever seen before (sans EVE). In Fallen Earth, you don’t just make the thing. You make the thing that’s a part of making the bigger thing. And sometimes it goes further than that. Each part takes a decent amount of time, too. When I logged out, I had myself making two extra stacks of zipgun ammo (80 pieces each) and something from the Science tradeskill as well. My timer was set for seven minutes and twenty two seconds to get the job done. Nothing is instant in FE’s crafting system, at least so far, and it all wraps into a package I can only call “deep.”

Oh, and a word to the wise. Don’t use up all of your zipgun ammo right off the bat. It’s probably the easiest and quickest way to kill things but you’ll be missing it when it’s gone.

I won’t go too much further with last night’s experiences but I will say this, after you understand the basics of the game, Fallen Earth can be a lot of fun. The quests a fresh and funny and worth your time to read them. I went into this game knowing virtually nothing about its systems or mechanics and you’ll probably know little more when you do. Don’t give up or get frustrated. When it comes, the whole of Arizona will open up before you.

It’ll probably raise more questions but, hey, the fun is in the learning, right?

image008

Not my horse.

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