Only one word truly describes this year’s MMO releases: dismal.  It was disappointing and inadequate.  One hopes that each year there will be steps taken in the right direction, ones that will better the industry, but this year saw steps taken in the wrong direction or in a direction that simply makes no sense.  Let’s look at a few of the big ones of 2009.

The year began with Darkfall.  One could say the year ended with Darkfall but that would just be mean.  Darkfall didn’t do anything save for showing what not to do with a game you spend a decade developing.  It looked great at first.  Aventurine painted this picturesque and ideal game where the hardcore pvp’ers wanting a sandbox game could retire in eternal bliss.  What we got was the island of misfit toys.  Let’s just toss the “don’t release a game before it’s finished” lesson out there and be done with it.  What gets me the most with Darkfall is that they didn’t think ahead.  The skill system was a ticking time bomb with people being able to shoot spells at the sky to rank up, zero limitations, and a ’sky’s the limit’ straight vertical progression.   Tossing lots of cool things into the game and hoping it works resulted in a bunch of hodgepodge that crumbled when the time came for it all to hold up.

Next we have Champions Online.  Every so often a MMO comes around that really tingles my Spidey-sense.   C’mon, this coming from the guy who has been burned a dozen times by thinking a game will be fun just to find out it’s not, when I’m negative about a game right out of the gate it’s at least worth thinking about why.   Redundant instancing to the point of having no servers and just a bunch of instances, mundane combat full of all flash and beat-em up with no substance, the feel of a sloppy port, and completely shallow and uninteresting content are but a few of my grievances.  What boggles the mind is how Cryptic thinks this model works.  They’re even going this route with Star Trek Online!   On top of it all, they charged a lifetime subscription, introduced microtransactions after-the-fact to nickel and dime their players, and still don’t have a clue.   I’m not shocked at all to hear that the game has been hemorrhaging players and feels like a ghost town.

Aion hurts the most.  On the outside it’s a gorgeous game with an interesting art direction, great animations and most of the right answers.  The first twenty levels are great.  There is lots of content for the players and most of it is fun.  Then you hit this slow patch.  The Asian market’s love for mindless slaughter of little creatures bleeds through the Westernization.  A year’s worth of patching becomes obvious as you run through a dungeon at level 25 and think “This rocks!” just to run through a dungeon at 30 to think “omg this sucks!”, come to find out the level 25 dungeon was added later.  Then you hit a wall.  There’s no content.  It’s all a grind.  If only the game had content!  I found myself wanting to play badly but I couldn’t bring myself to log in knowing that I had about 50 hours of grinding ahead of me.   Leveling up can take a long time and it can be difficult, but at least give me something fun to do.  The PvP was one of those ideas on paper that sounds like it could work but from what I experienced it ended up just being a clusterfluck of timed fortress flips — a little work on changing some of the mechanics would be nice.  That’s why Aion hurts the most.  It’s fun but needs work.  Showing us a movie of what’s to come just to find out it’s a “vision” and not stuff that’s actually on the way was a slap on the face.

When you simply don’t mind logging off or find yourself thinking that you could be just as happy and occupied by not playing a game as you can by playing it, you know that something is wrong.  Fallen Earth fits this description nicely.  There wasn’t anything pulling me in.  The crafting system is a good start but allowing everyone to craft everything eliminated specialization and a truly functional player economy.  There was never any need to even think about other players because the game catered to and encouraged the individual becoming this self-sufficient and self-sustaining post-apoc worker bee.  People wanted to make their own clothes, their own ammo, do their quests, mine their own stuff… it lacks a social game.  A lack of housing for players to create shops, no guild buildings or other mechanisms of socialization and infrastructure, and overall a lack of that ‘extra mile’ ultimately leave Fallen Earth as a mediocre game when it could have been really great.

If you were asked to name ten new MMO’s that released this year chances are you couldn’t do it.  Would you be shocked to know that somewhere in the ballpark of FIFTY (50) “MMO’s” were released?  If you saw the pile they’re shoveling you too would be saying “You call THAT a MMO?”.  Heck, you call THAT a game?!  Somehow the reigns of this industry have been handed over to a village idiot.   Anything that wants to be a MMO just needs to slap on the MMO tag and if it beeps, toots, or is somehow capable of having more than one person playing in any form of multiplayer it is a MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER game.   I’m not even counting the Facebook games or iPhone craps.  I’m not even harping on the Free-to-Play model.  I’m talking about pure quality.   We’re actually being inundated with shovelware at this point and it’s disgusting to hear that they are profitable.   Do yourselves a favor and simply resist it.  Speak out against it.  Draw a line and take a stand.  The bar has been lowered six feet below and it is slowly killing the industry as we all slide further and further down this slippery slope.

I’m calling for the bar to be raised again.  Let’s think about what we consider quality, what we want in a MMO, and stop settling.   Aside from the shovelware MMO’s, the big names of 2009 were not acceptable.   Developers need to be accountable for what they release to us but we also need to know what we want.  That’s a bit part of my 2009 regrets, not knowing what I want or losing sight of it, and I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow.

There was a definite trend this year of bad games, but many of the titles from years past have shown remarkable improvement.  Even games that have been out for many years are still coming up with ways to ‘wow’ veterans and attract new players.  This type of improvement should be an indication that the industry is moving ‘up’, but when we see the trend of this year it looks more like an attempt to keep their heads above the water.   It would be great if marked improvement could be bolstered by great games releasing alongside.

Let’s hope for 2010 to be a better year.  My predictions post closer to New Year’s Eve will highlight what I expect, but I will tell you now that I’m optimistic that the “quality” will go up.  Whether or not the games end up being what we want or end up being fun remains to be seen.  Here’s hoping that in 2010 I’ll be able to speak highly of the industry’s achievements.

Edit:  I do feel the need to add, although no one has brought it up, that I have no way of knowing whether or not a game was a success in terms of turning a profit.  That’s not really what I’m talking about either.  I’m basing a lot of this on my own opinion of what makes a good game (obviously) but also on popular consensus.  Try as one may, it’s hard to say why or how a game was a failure or a success.  What is the definition of success in these games anyway? Whether or not we, personally, are playing?  It’s easier to describe it as a ‘feeling’ more than putting your finger on any particular reason.  That ‘feeling’ this year was overall a year of letdown.

I’m an easy sell the first time around when it comes to new mmorpgs.  I have to enjoy my first taste and want more, like the direction that the developers say they’re taking the game, and have a position outlook on how it will all unfold.  When it comes to second chances, I’m one of the harder sells out there.  Unless I really liked the game and quit reluctantly or on good terms, it’s next to impossible to get me to try it again.  The people I play with know I’m a tough resell — perhaps a little on the stubborn side even.

I’m reminded of the three stages.  I believe these get credited to Arnold van Gennep:  separation, transition, and incorporation.  That middle stage – transition – is the most dangerous.  That’s when we’re vulnerable and all sorts of bad stuff happens (or we believe it happens).  It holds true for gaming.  When we’re between games we are very susceptable to all sorts of influences we might normally be guarded against.  Some of us get so bored that we will turn to anything for relief.  Some can easily be swayed into trying something they were on the fence about.  Some might even find themselves campaigning for the very game they fought so hard against.

A lot of my close gaming friends, with whom I play games and hang out on vent every day, cornered me last night and told me that they’re going to resubscribe to Darkfall.  My first reply was “You all are bat ____ crazy”.   Okay, so I didn’t come out and say it but that’s what I was thinking.  “Our old buddies we played with have a real successful guild!  They own an island will all sorts of villas, harvesting spots, mobs to fight, two cities, and are part of a big alliance!”.   They went on to tell me about the skill system being what was promised on paper where you get better at one skill and that makes you weaker in another area — IE, better at melee worse at magic.  Skilling up isn’t about shooting spells into the air but using them in PvE now.  Ship battles, new weapon mechanics, revamped this and that.

Sounds fun.  It always ‘sounds’ fun.  I won’t be resold on the idea so quickly though.  What about those people who macro’d to the moon and back?  What about all the vast ways of exploiting hit boxes and other unpolished aspects of the game?  Do I still have to mine *plink plink* rocks all day?  Coming back to the game at this point would mean starting over.  That means being eons behind everyone in their 100 rigor and bloated stats and rank 60 weapons.  When I ask people whether or not it’s possible to come back and compete I get the run-around usual “oh well you’d have help”.  I don’t blame them; I give the same responses to those tough questions.  The reality though is that you can’t compete.  Someone giving you a straight answer will say that you’ll get 3-shot by a high skilled player.  It takes time and effort to build up those numbers on a character; after all, character development in Darkfall is not very disguised — it really is just getting higher numbers on skills.  Can I catch up?  “Everyone maxes out eventually”.  No, that’s not what I asked.  The truth is in there though.  It’s not easy to catch up.  It would be a huge uphill battle with the odds against you.  What no one can answer for me yet is whether or not it’s worth it — whether or not it’s worth hiding behind everyone else in the battle for a few months, losing countless times before coming close to a win, and playing the odds that one day it will pan out for you — it absolutely was not the first time.  Has the game really changed or are people just being optimistic because what was once so bad is now tolerable?

They’ll be the guinea pigs for me.  I’ve told them that I want them to play it and let me know how it is before I give it a another try.  Starting up today or next month won’t matter.  At this rate I can only benefit from waiting because if they stick with it I’ll have all the more help.

It’s a day of WTF’s around here.  If the EA Bioware/Mythic news wasn’t bad enough, Aventurine decided to drop this bomb on us:

“On the American server: The American server will launch on July 7th. Characters from the European server can be cloned and moved without their possessions 3 months after the American launch. Certain restrictions and charges will apply, to be announced at a later date. In the meanwhile if you want to play on the American server at launch you need to buy the American Darkfall client.” – Tasos

Then Tasos clarified with this:

“Clarification: American players wanting to clone and transfer their characters do not have to buy another client. Everyone else needs to buy the American Darkfall client to play on the American server.” – Tasos

Basically, if you want to play on the brand new American servers when they launch then you have to buy a new client.  If you want to TRANSFER (3 months after the servers launch!) then you don’t have to pay.   Sneaky, underhanded, and the end.   I’ll pass.  I’m not going to rebuy this game all over again.  I had plans to try and revive the fun this summer and play with some friends but there is just no way.

Seriously, if anyone is still playing Darkfall this was the best possible way to drive them away.

It actually came as quite a surprise to open up the inbox and see all the emails you guys sent me about the North American Darkfall server announcement.  The K&G Forums were also buzzing with people talking about coming back to the game after being gone for a couple months.  The NA Server is being seen as a “second chance” for the game and a chance for not only everyone to have a fresh start but for Aventurine to get it right this time.  Had Darkfall launched today it would be in way better shape.  It’s a true testament to launching a game when it is “ready” and not a moment before.  It’s the same with Warhammer Online (which would have seen easily 2x the numbers and retention rate) and, well, nearly every other MMORPG ever to launch.  Some just hit closer to the mark than others, and Darkfall was a long shot that missed.

Since this is a huge opportunity to Aventurine to launch successfully in the global market, we need to evaluate how they’re going to go about correcting their previous mistakes and prevent current ones from plaguing a fresh start.  It’s crucial that the tainted exploiters, hackers, and trash from EU-1 stay out of not only NA-1 but additional new servers.

“Character transfer/cloning will become available with a significant delay (months) and possible further restrictions. This concerns only the characters without any of their possessions. More on this at a later date.”

The wording here can be manipulated to mean probably a dozen different things – shocker that MMO devs are spin masters! – but let’s assume that it means server transfers will be available but not for several months after launch and only characters without gear/possessions.  I’m opposed to character transfers at all.  I think it should be a true relaunch and leave everything behind.  But, I’m probably in the minority.  Prohibiting transfers for a significant period of time would allow fresh starts to catch up.  Technically Darkfall has only been out three or so months and I would think that “significant” would be at least this long.  That’s no too bad and given Aventurine’s likely direction (making skilling up easier) it should be even better.

As for Darkfall’s future, Aventurine has a nice long list of things to look forward to.  I’d list them all, but I think I can sum it up by saying:  “We plan to improve the game entirely”.  I’m most interested in how they plan to substantially improve PvE and the economy and add more content.  Darkfall’s sandbox nature suffers from being too much box without enough sand.  You make your own content in a game like Darkfall, but the line is definitely drawn at a point where the player’s hands are tied.  Improve the dungeons.  Improve itemization.   Heck I could go on for pages about how Aventurine could improve the game but I would rather hear it straight from them.

It should be an interesting next few months for Darkfallers.

This week I had the rare (as of late) opportunity to put a good deal of time into both Darkfall and Warhammer Online.  I’ve known it all along and said it a few times before that these two games play very different from eachother.  Playing them at the same time, or rather in the same day for a good deal of time, really reinforced a few things that I want to share.

Last week I asked for your help in deciding where (as in what server) I should play.  My decision came down to Phoenix Throne (where I have an 18 Choppa) or Dark Crag (where I have a 37 Shaman and a 30 Squiggy(Who I thought was ~35 but I mixed up with another char)).  With your help I was able to decide on going with Dark Crag for now because I would be able to enjoy the leveling content of LotD with a Squigherder and the “end-game” content with a Shaman.  I joined up with a great guild on Dark Crag and I’m now working my way towards 40 with my Shaman.  Yesterday alone I made over 20% of a level and an entire realm rank (now rr36).

The majority of my WAR time yesterday was spent defending keeps and fortresses.  On Dark Crag the Order have Destruction completely outnumbered to the point where they can push two zones at once and succeed.  I wasn’t aware of how bad it had gotten in my absence – when I still played on Dark Crag Destruction had Order running away every day.  Order made the first North American “legit” (?) King Kill and now Destruction is in really bad shape; demoralized, outnumbered, without city dungeons, and without strong alliances.  I admit, I’m worried that when Land of the Dead comes out that Destruction will never have the chance to own it.  We were successfully able to defend a Fortress last night and hold the Order zerg back, which should give people confidence that during prime time we’re able to win.

The 1.3 patch coming soon is going to make a ton of changes to the game.  AoE’s are being nerfed across the board for everything from Choppas to Shaman AoE heals.  I think that it will be better for the game overall with these changes, but they have me scared.  Mythic has a track record of doing a scalpel’s work with a hatchet.  This could either turn the game towards a more meaningful pvp experience with balance or send the game into a tailspin that takes months to recover from.   My Shaman’s class mechanic is being completely reworked and all that I can hope for is that he’s fun after the change.

Ironically, my time spent in Darkfall isn’t all that different.  Our alliance’s capital city was sieged at 3am (EST) in the morning last night and lost to a group notorious for exploits early in the server’s life.  I wasn’t able to stay awake to see it go down, but from what I’m told the people who came to help ended up turning on us in the end and it was a done deal.  We’ve had some great pvp in the past few days though.  The glass in half full on this one for me.  I enjoy the smaller pvp in Darkfall (as I do in most games) and being forced to live out in the wild (which is what we decided to do voluntarily, even though we own a Hamlet) makes for some interesting pvp.  As a result of losing the property I imagine our alliance will be working together to cause some real havoc out in the world.  We’re a solid bunch and all that most of them need is a little practice.

Haven (if you need a smaller guild of great friends check us out) is doing well.  We’ve seen the effects of attrition on the game in our ranks but we’re managing at about 10-12 strong right now.  The key for us is that we have friends.  We run with another guild regularly where we’re able to muster up easily 15-20 which is a sizable force for hit and run tactics.  The consensus among us is that Darkfal would benefit greatly from a new server where, after the exploits are fixed, players can finally start on an even footing and the game can be played how it was meant to be played.

Warhammer Online is fast and furious with non stop action.  If you want to fight other players all that you have to do is click the scenario button and within seconds you’re whisked away to fight.  Maybe it’s the lack of mez from DAOC or the overpowered AoE’s, but WAR feels really like a clusterfluck of chaos everywhere.  Intended or not, the individual’s contribution is almost lost completely.  In Darkfall, the individual is everything.  Even in a big 200 vs. 200 fight the individual matters.  If you don’t pull your weight in Darkfall it’s apparent and you’re going to die and probably cost your team the victory.

Even in smaller fights the importance of the individual in Darkfall is seen as more important than WAR.  This is because of the class system.  In WAR a good healer can make up for some shortcomings in his team or a DPS who knows how to really play can end a fight quicker.  Darkfall’s skill system has essentially made it so that everyone fills every role.  You are your own healer, you are the DPS, you are the tank, you are the caster, you are the melee, and you’re all of them at once.  Whether you consider this a positive thing or not for Darkfall (it can be both) it’s different.  Personally, I like playing a role and playing it to the best of my ability.  This is where I wish that Darkfall’s skill system really mattered.  I wish that I could build my character in Darkfall to be a heavy melee where people on the battlefield would say “okay here comes a heavy melee character – look at his plate armor” but instead everyone sorta looks the same and you never know what the enemy is going to do.

Where WAR is fast, furious, and a never ending source of action, Darkfall is slower.  It could be a week before you see a huge siege or even two weeks as we saw this past month.  You really have to go out and look for the action and make it happen.  There is no incentive to fight in Darkfall unless you make your own incentives.  Ideally there has to be a middle-ground between these two games where players can feel like action is out there to be had with a purpose.  Ultimately, Darkfall suffers from being underdeveloped in some areas and released well before it was ready and WAR suffers from trying to be something it was not and always trying to recover from it.  Both games feel like they’re two or three major (and I mean major) patches away from being really close to ideal.  That’s a good thing.

You can now zoom the map!  Anyone who plays/played Darkfall knows that this change alone is probably the best change/addition Aventurine has made to the game yet.  Overall, the patch notes are fairly large but that’s because they’re bloated with listing every spell and skill that was changed.  There are a few changes to the game that are worth mentioning and if you want to see them all you can view the patch notes here.

You are now required to hit a valid target to gain skill in archery
This is a good change. People were able to just stack themselves with thousands of arrows, find a place to hide, and macro their arrow shooting until they maxed out. It’s the same with spells which, to my knowledge, can still be leveled up by shooting off into outer space. The problem with this change though is that those who abused it now have an even bigger advantage: Others can’t abuse it to catch up. The skill disparity is now emphasized. Hopefully the change below evens it out….

Skill progression in archery has been increased significantly and Skill gain has increased significantly in all melee skills
I think this was a mandatory change to go hand in hand with the making archery skill up only if you hit someone. Melee skill gain has always been horribly slow and has always required you to hit a target. This has placed melee at a disadvantage in power when combined with the natural disadvantage melee has in Darkfall was just horrible.

Player Journal and Clan pages now accessible trough external browsers
I’ve already given this change a try and it’s really nice for me as a guild leader. I can access the clan window while away from my home computer and perform administrative duties without ever having to log in.

Melee weapon range has been increased across the board
This is the second (maybe third?) time they’ve increased melee range. Obviously the balance issues that exist between ranged and melee characters is known to them and they’re trying to fix this problem. This should definitely help mounted combat feel more natural as well as allowing melee to kill runners and spaztacticians easier.

While this can be classified as a “great patch”, I can’t help but point out the fact that none of this is a step forward.  It’s another lateral patch or “catch up” patch to fix something that has been broken, unabalanced, or needed since launch to make the game ‘whole’.  I think it corresponds directly with Darkfall’s retention rate.  They have one(1) server that can hold somewhere near 10,000 people and they’re consistently opening the store to sell more copies yet never making a new server.  If Aventurine wants their game to improve and grow then they need to take a step forward with patches.  It feels like we’re still 3 of these patches away from “launch ready”.

It played me more than the other way around.  I had to cheat to win though by exploiting the use of Tamiflu, Tylenol Severe Cold, and some yucky purple syrup that knocked me out at night.  I’m 90% better now with just a lingering cough and a tad bit of congestion.  Thanks to this little virus I wasn’t able to play anything this week until just the past two days.

Amidst the Eurogamer review drama (Short version:  Eurogamer reviews it 2/10 and Aventurine cries foul, demands re-review, gets offered one, decides they don’t want one) I was able to squeeze a little bit of time in to Darkfall.  I would have been able to get more time in, except Aventurine was so involved with protecting their “livelihood” from one particular bad review that they must have missed their account management section being down for two days.  Aventurine already communicates… well you can’t really call it communicates… I guess it’s more of a forum post stating whatever they want to state – anyway – they made three posts about the Eurogamer review (one each day for three days) which is more volume of communication than the community has ever received on any topic.  You’d think they might be willing to mention their account management with at least one post.

I have decided to give the game one last chance to win me over.  My account will run out in about a month and if it doesn’t win me over then I will not be renewing.  The only thing keeping me logging in at this point is my friends.  Friends are key for me in a game because without them it doesn’t feel like a complete experience.  They are also what keeps me playing a game, but I swore off sticking with a game because someone else wants me to long ago.  I’ll ride out my subscription doing what I did the past few days which is log in and participate in whatever action (pve or pvp) that I can and hope that fun finds me.  For the most part, “action” has been roaming around finding someone to fight.  We come across the occasional Inquisition who pull the plug when they’re caught, Hundred who fall for the same trap every time, and Duchy who like their formations but can’t actually fight to save their lives.  There exists a nanosecond of fun, but that comes at the cost of 30-40 minutes of looking and seeking out (or laying traps).   I PvP’d for four hours the other day and we killed maybe 20 naked people harvesting near their clan cities, tried to kill a bunch of people who did nothing but run away or pull the plug, and ended up finding NO ONE wanting to just plain fight.

Yesterday the server stability was so piss poor that we had someone decide that they were done with the game altogether.  Can’t blame them really since we spent the day sitting around harvesting.  There were 3 or 4 sieges going on and the server can’t handle two at the same time without lagging.  The result was trying to PvP with 7-10 seconds of server lag (meaning it took 7-10 seconds to mount or pull out your sword) or having mobs teleport and be unhittable.  I logged off when the group decided to to just sit around and wait it out.  That’s Darkfall in a nut shell really… “wait it out”.  I’m just tired of waiting, but I’ll give it a month.

I spent about two hours playing WAR this week.  My goal is level 25 before LotD.  If you missed it, watch the LotD preview (part 1 and Part 2) from G4’s X-play.  I’m really finding it hard to get into the current WAR gameplay.  It’s too shallow for me right now.  I need something that I can really dig in, invest myself in, and see results.  I’m really thirsting for that DAOC or EQ experience right now and the more quick get in get out arcade-like pvp action of WAR is fun but not what I really want at this time.  Still, I’m pushing on to level 25 with my Choppa little by little in order to be ready for what I hope will be my re-launch of WAR.

One thing continues to concern me with LotD though… well two things.  First is the comment in the first video that Jeff makes when he says that level 25’s will have a hard time getting in….why?  It’s like Darkness Falls right?  Second,  the sheer number of times Jeff and others have mentioned “public quests” really, really bothers me.  I think I counted over 15 PQ’s in the video podcast showing the map.  Not a fan here guys.  The PQ system, while innovative and really clever at first, has been more of what feels like an excuse to pack in the content but not really have to invest in anything deep – none of that immersive gameplay that draws the player in like the dungeons from DAOC or the zones in EQ.  I want the camps of mobs and roaming that groups had to do in Darkness Falls.  This needs to feel like a traditional MMO zone and not just another Chapter like we’ve seen already.

I think what’s really hurting my enjoyment factor is not having a guild or friends playing.  I’m sorta all by myself and that makes it harder to feel tied-in.  Any decent sized and active guilds recruiting?

Doesn't that look fun?!

Well let me tell you, I have the flu and that statement is a bold-faced lie.   The flu is far more… okay sorry I couldn’t resist.

I think I counted six people wanting me to comment on this whole Eurogamer and Darkfall spat.  My gut reaction was “huh? who cares about someone reviewing a game poorly?” because I don’t care how the big gaming sites review games.  My interest in this feud wasn’t piqued until Tasos (the voice of Darkfall) started rebuking Eurogamer’s claims with lines like “our server code says differently so nah nah!”

I read the Eurogamer review and the guy obviously didn’t like the game.  It’s also obvious he didn’t play it much.  By his own admission he played the game for 9 hours.  I think it took me that long to figure out the controls in Darkfall, so I’ll give Ed some credit for being able to write any review in that short amount of time.  In general, his review was too negative.  Had he been less negative he could have said the exact same things but not come off as a hater.  But it’s not my place to tell this guy how or how not to review games that he plays – that’s Eurogamer’s job and they seem just fine with it.

Where I can comment though is in the accuracy of his statements.  A lot of the specific details about the game are twisted to match the author’s dramatic flare of negativity, thus they become exaggerations and blown out of proportion.  Any intelligent reader should be able to pick up on that immediately whether or not they have played the game.  The author deviates from fact to fiction to paint a better picture for his negativity,  but the gist of what he is saying is true.  Darkfall is based on attrition.  There is very little to see and do in Darkfall.  There is no real application of lore to tie anything in the game together.  The skill system is inferior to EVE’s (and every other skill system, imo).   A lot of the game is an incongruous mess of poor code and overlap from features half-developed but now abandoned.

Aventurine made the mistake here.  The mistake was to react to this review in the way they did.  People already know that you either love Darkfall or you absolutely hate it with a passion whose fires could melt the sun.  Why they needed to direct 100x the traffic that the review would have seen to read something obviously twisted (albeit right in many ways) is beyond my ability to comprehend.  But they did.  Now how could they have done a better job refuting the claims?  I would have offered up examples:  Offered up features, examples of things to do in-game, explained some of the clan conflicts that have gone on, shown how sieges are the bread and butter, etc.  Yet, Aventurine has not done any of that.  They’re simply trying to misdirect the review away from the game and onto the fact that this guy played for only a few hours.  It’s either because they feel their game can’t stand up on its own or they’re really that clueless.

Eurogamer is going to review Darkfall again.  This time they’re putting Kieron Gillen on the task.  Aventurine gets what they deserve here because, however irrelevant a second review from the same site may be, they’re still going to get a second negative review (hopefully more constructive) and this time from a more well known reviewer.   My advice to Aventurine is that they simply be quiet and take care of the players they do have while they still have them.

I do think that 2/10 is unfair based on Eurogamer’s scale.  I would have given it a 4/10 after reading the explanation of how they rate games.  Darkfall does have redeeming qualities.  Deciding whether or not they redeem the game to the tune of $15 a month is entirely up to you.

Read the Eurogamer review for yourself here.