Darkfall panned - Flame war begins!

Devlish · 7 May 2009 at 20:17

As I know there are quite a few darkfall fans on the forums this is quite an interesting thread in the official forums -

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=185060

Apparently Eurogamer gave darkfall 2/10, Anenturine then alleged the reviewer only spent 2 hours playing etc ad nauseam. Intersting discussion on how long do you actually need to play a mmorpg before you are competent enough to review it? I know I hated WoW the first time I played it but loved it the second time round. Anyway, enjoy the 420 or so comments fully exploring both sides to the Eurogamers response defending their reviewer:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/editors-blog-darkfall-aftermath-blog-entry

spirity · 7 May 2009 at 20:53

They gave Vanguard, one of the most broken-assed and incomplete MMO's ever, with a development history of ineptitude and bungling the likes of which 3drealms and John Romero are envious of, a score far higher than 2/10. They went so far as to call Vanguard "a disaster" (and I wouldn't disagree - it really was the Big Rigs of the MMO genre).

They scored that disaster 6/10.

Now, I haven't actually played Darkfall. But a score of 2/10? That's pretty much saying it has absolutely -no- redeming qualities whatsoever. If they gave VANGUARD 2/10, I'd take issue with it.

Somethings not right here. Consistency seems way off whack.

chimaera · 7 May 2009 at 21:06

neoseeker news said:
As he (Adventurine) points out, even the harshest reviews out there commend Darkfall for its potential.

Now this i don't agree with, just because a game has potential does not mean it should be given a more favourable review, the developers chose to release an unfinished game to reviewers...what do they expect? thats exactly why we have previews and reviews, and why only reviews are given solid scores.

Potential means it's not in the game yet, and you can only review whats in front of you at the time, no one can guarantee that the potential will ever be realised so it shouldn't be taken into account during a review.

Personally i think that whilst the eurogamer score may be a tad harsh, the problems stated in the review sound perfectly valid and don't sound like they would be changed through increased playtime.

afraser2k · 7 May 2009 at 21:17

I think the reviewer was looking for a lot of PvE content which just wasn't there, probably due to the game being released far too early. He also seems to have had a lot of problems getting used to the user interface for the game so decided to call it poor, along with getting ganked at the starter area goblins (apparently very common).

Giving the game 2/10 after nine hours is just asking for a flame war from the games player base when most of the current action is PvP/ganking.

Raumarik · 7 May 2009 at 21:17

2 hours in an MMO is nothing, you'd need at least 10x that to write a review that was even vaguely fair, otherwise the reviewer would have to take random info from other reviews, official site and fan sites to get enough material together to form the review.

I write for an online MMO site, I'd be fired for pulling something like that.

Rroff · 7 May 2009 at 21:56

I dunno - a bad game is a bad game, if the central mechanics are intrinsically flawed you might not even need 2 hours to realise that...

That said tho if the game itself is actually ok then yes you need far more than 2 hours to really judge a game with the depth of your average MMO.

Sinny · 7 May 2009 at 22:14

Rroff said:
I dunno - a bad game is a bad game, if the central mechanics are intrinsically flawed you might not even need 2 hours to realise that...

That said tho if the game itself is actually ok then yes you need far more than 2 hours to really judge a game with the depth of your average MMO.

The game mechanics are not flawed, he just couldn't find out how to launch a spell or even fight a mob properly.

You cant review a game by spending 2 odd hours creating characters and saving screenshots, you'd need atleast a week to get into it properly or even get into a guild and sample some of it's content.

The review did a very poor job indeed of reviewing the game, there are problems but the ones he explained were jsut his inability to perform basic tasks in the game.

Matmulder · 7 May 2009 at 23:54

Its well known that any publicity is good publicity, its certainly getting people talking about the game since its gone quiet after launch.

Hell, I'm tempted to try it to see if its as bad as they say it is

Trox · 8 May 2009 at 00:15

The reviewer compared it to EQ and WoW... He also had a lot of his review wrong and it was based on a total of 2 hours play time.

nuff said

Spektor · 8 May 2009 at 00:19

They're bringing the K man himself in to sort this one out, can't wait ^^

mart981 · 8 May 2009 at 00:32

afraser2k said:
I think the reviewer was looking for a lot of PvE content which just wasn't there,

He obviously scared them off with his gameplaying prowess

14 minutes before the reviewer stopped playing Darkfall altogether he said in global chat: “how do I cast spells…..help”. During his entire time in the game he repeatedly asks: “what do I do?” in public chat.

source

Sounds like the sort of noob that gets avoided and shunned in most mmo's by all but the most saintlike

v0n · 8 May 2009 at 01:28

Sounds more like publisher desperately trying to cover their four letters. Isn't the reviewer full time journo working for, among others, PC Zone?

Tombstone · 8 May 2009 at 08:45

A couple of hours is in no way a sufficient length of time to review an MMO. The very nature of MMO requires that a greater timespan than that is required to discern the quality of a product.

For instance, if you were to review Eve Online, WW2 Online, or even the mighty UO in its heyday based on a few hours play there is no way that it would be an accurate review.

MMOs are not , and never have been, about short term impressions and impact. It is a genre designed very much for long term play, with depths and features which most certainly do not become apparent in such a short length of play. Places would do well to use reviewers who at least understand the genre.

arknor · 8 May 2009 at 09:59

lets face it the first few hours of any mmo should be what draw you in and keep you playing.

if those few hours are boring then you have failed because people wont want to continue playing regardless of how brillant the game may be after weeks of grinding to get there.

mart981 · 8 May 2009 at 11:52

That only means the introduction is bad not the game itself. Sort of the opposite to AoC.

Tombstone · 8 May 2009 at 13:05

arknor said:
lets face it the first few hours of any mmo should be what draw you in and keep you playing.

if those few hours are boring then you have failed because people wont want to continue playing regardless of how brillant the game may be after weeks of grinding to get there.

Thats all good and well, but a review of a game should be a review of a game. Not an introduction.

As I say, for many people the first few hours of Eve Online would be considered boring, but that doesnt mean that Eve Online is worth a score of 2 out of 10. Equally the greatest MMO of them all (imo) UO would have had many people thinking that the first few hours were boring, yet it was in no way worth 2 out of 10.

The sheer scope of an MMO simply means that it cannot be faithfully judged based on a couple of hours of review. It would be like reading the first chapter of Lord of the Rings and then declaring that its a rubbish book because the first chapter is boring.

EDIT : I should add that imo Darkfall isnt a particular great MMO currently, but regardless of that, I do take issue with a "professional" reviewer taking a couple of hours to review an MMO.

Chronictank · 8 May 2009 at 13:59

arknor said:
lets face it the first few hours of any mmo should be what draw you in and keep you playing.

if those few hours are boring then you have failed because people wont want to continue playing regardless of how brillant the game may be after weeks of grinding to get there.

Problem is he didnt even bother to work out the controls nor did he seem to understand the concept of open pvp

You would have thought after the first couple of deaths he would have thought to himself, hm i dont think i can work this out on my own and looked it up in the manual
(Although MMO veterans will pick the game up pretty quick as it is the usual affair for the most part)

Ethics · 8 May 2009 at 14:52

People shouldn't be moronic and blindly follow a 2 hour review by SOMEONE ELSE. I've not played the game ( i tried, but couldnt buy it due to launch probs). You can't expect the review of an mmorpg to be in-depth and cover everything, even if it did, it would be one persons perspective. It reviews things like starter areas, UI, basic combat, low lvl crafting etc. Therefore the review is of the first 2 hours of an mmorpg, again, people must use judgement and analytical skills to delve any deeper, or numerous free trials.

Unfortunatly, the world is plagued by retards.

VeNT · 8 May 2009 at 15:00

lol if he'd spent that long in EVE he'd still have only just finished the tutorial missions!!

Le_Petit_Lapin · 8 May 2009 at 15:04

VeNT said:
lol if he'd spent that long in EVE he'd still have only just finished the tutorial missions!!

My first few hours in in mostly consisted of me hitting the monitor becasue the tarty **** was demanding I warp somewhere, and I couldnt figure out how as I'd closed the overview.