Fallen Earth - open Beta

[Salbos]

By the way--any interest the home page is http://www.fallenearth.com/

[Darius_Black]

That sounds cool. But this is the really important question, right here: can you kill your horse and get your rough leather back?

Edit: Jeez, thanks a lot for that link, now I'm actually thinking of pre-ordering to get into the beta and get that shiny new horse. I'm such a consumer whore...

[Bartlebe]

I tried it for a couple days and wasn't terribly impressed.

The game runs awfully, even on nice computers. The system requirements are through the roof. Also, it had the responsiveness of an MMO but the "action shooting" of a FPS. I know that sounds confusing, but if you've every played Tabula Rasa, you'll know what i'm talking about. It "feels" bad.

[Salbos]

They have a new pre-order item, the atv.  Pretty cool vehicle with nice graphics.  You can also craft it through a long quest chain as well as many other vehicles.

Bartl--loved the combat in Tabula Rasa, wish the rest of the game had been as good.  Yes it has BOTH!!  You can go ranged and become the awesome rifle/pistol/sniper or you can be the all powerful melee.  Both mechanics work well if you know how to zoom-in for accurate ranged.  I am going CHOTA faction so will be melee class.

As for performance--sure it sounds cliche, but it is running with the usual beta debugging stuff in the background.  I actually feel it performs better than WAR did months after WAR was released, and better than most other just-released mmos.

As for specs:     * CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.40 GHz or equivalent
    * RAM: 3 GB for XP, 4 GB for Vista
    * Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800GTS/ ATI Radeon 3870
    * RAM (dedicated): 512 MB
those are recommended, not minimum...seems pretty mild to me if your gaming on the PC.

Plus with the huge weekly patches people say it just gets better and better ( i haven't noticed but been running at 80-120 fps smoothly on medium).  I only wish they had some type of marketing for it.  It is like completely absent in any advertising.  I've been completely caught off-guard by this game (which I thought would be hard considering I had given up MMOs)

Anyway all you fantasy players, here's my special Fallen Earth ATV for preordering, racing the sunset.

[Darius_Black]

Damnit damnit DAMNIT. And I just got my stupid horse...

[Salbos]

Truthfully, besides the 'coolness' of the ATV, the horse is so much more practical.  I already garaged my ATV and took my horse back out because fuel is so expensive and the horse can go forever practically.  Plus the horse is easier to get around on (no crashing on little rocks, curbs, etc.  A lot of players are going to be disappointed come release when they are level 1 and can't afford to ride their ATV.  Later levels (10ish) when chip count is easier to keep, the ATV will be more practical.  Already wish I had gone for the horse.

Some good news unrelated...the world is absolutely gigantic sandbox right now with tons to keep players entertained.  They already have plans to expand with new sectors and level cap every 3-5 months.  That'll make an already huge world one of the largest out there.

[Salbos]

I have high hopes for Fallen Earth.  I know everyone can pot-shot Direct2Drive but thought this was pretty cool, especially for an Indie developer that has really been listening to the community. (but doing little marketing  )

These are sales numbers for the week (they also show Steam #s but FE isnt available there). http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/60179

Direct2Drive's Top Ten (8/16 - 8/22)

   1. Champions Online (pre-order) / Cryptic
   2. Fallen Earth (pre-order) / Fallen Earth, Icarus Studios
   3. Aion Collector's Edition (pre-order) / NCSoft
   4. Rise of Flight / neoqb
   5. Civilization 4: The Complete Edition / Firaxis
   6. The Sims 3 / The Sims Studio
   7. Fallout 3 / Bethesda Softworks
   8. Hearts of Iron III with Sprite Packs Bundle / Paradox Interactive
   9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare / Infinity Ward
  10. Neverwinter Nights 2 Complete Bundle / Obsidian

[Bartlebe]

When I played last week, I felt so disconnected with my character. The controls and the shooting weren't sharp. Has the patch they released changed any of this?

[Salbos]

I've had no problems with the controls or shooting (but you should zoom into 1st person view for accurate shooting).  Plus you need to have some AP placed in ranged to increase your accuracy, along with perception.  Not sure how long you played but the game does have a steep learning curve, even for a veteran.  That and I think you mentioned your system might not be up to par? That can make a huge difference. 

Its a different game made by an indie group (which I am so glad they are so into because it means we reap the rewards).  In terms of non-fantasy MMOs its the best out there right now, imo.  We had a stress test Apocalypse Party yesterday, hundreds of people on my screen at once and I never fell below 20 fps, impressive.   Haven't had a single 'instance' in the game, completely wide open.  Haven't tried any of the PvP but I'm not a big PvPer so I could care less, I've heard peeps having fun in the PvP areas.  I could rant all day.  But I'm a old-man nobody so it all could just be me 

[Bartlebe]

Well if you compare it to any reasonable FPS or control system, the controls are lose and sloppy. It suffers from many of the same control design flaws Tabula Rasa did. That was my biggest problem with it.

[Salbos]

Maybe I don't notice it much cus I play melee and never am shooting anything.  I like the reticle or hit circle though, it makes combat meaningful.  You just don't stand in front of something, swing, and automatically hit it.  Or target something and just start hitting the missiles or shoot button. You have to actually HIT it.  If your aim is off, guess what, you missed it.  Kinda what combat should be, imo.  Never liked the 'if its targeted' you hit it method, ala WAR, WoW, etc. 

[horpse]

After I read the page about vehicle crafting, I pre-ordered a copy. I hope the special ATV with the 120kg worth of cargo space is worth more than one other game that gave a ring (which ultimately became trash, unfortunately). I mainly like playing the crafting aspect of a mmog, so I will give Fallen Earth some playing time.

I did try the open beta, and I found that the camera controls, AI, and some geometric scene objects (eg thin walls) to be lacklustre, so its mostly graphics and AI that needs to be worked on. So thats not so bad, though I would prefer if they can get the camera controls up to one that is similar to Hellgate.

[Darius_Black]

I like the reticle or hit circle though, it makes combat meaningful. You just don't stand in front of something, swing, and automatically hit it.

Gawd, it took me way too long to figure that out. I kept wondering like an idiot why I kept missing.

[Salbos]

Pretty good 'First Impression' write up that is presented as a slideshow.  For anyone who didn't get a chance to try the OB but want to know more about the game.  This is from Massively, just click on the 'next photo' button top right to go through the slideshow-writeup.

http://www.massively.com/gallery/first-impressions-fallen-earth/2251993/

[Darius_Black]

So I've been playing for a few days now. Again, mixed impressions, but mostly positive. I do have one really big issue with the game, and I think that's latency. Everytime I'm in combat it seems the mobs are just jumping and sliding and teleporting all over the damn place, and it feels like I'm trying to fight while having a seizure or something. I really hope they fix this, because it's gonna become a game-breaker, I can feel it. Is it just me?