Darkfall Beta Impressions

Adventurine’s Tasos Flambouras stopped by the official Darkfall forums to post various impressions being reported by the game’s closed beta testers. Some final thoughts:

“Oh well, on a lighter note… I went exploring the world today with a few other testers. As we traversed the landscape, I was constantly reminded of the gameplay video. Always, in the past, I’ve seen gameplay videos and screenshots touched up by a professional staff and given a production quality that surpasses the game experience. So I’ve come to be a little cynical against trusting what is more accurately “marketing propaganda” instead of genuine advertisements about a game. This wasn’t the case at all in Darkfall. As we made our way through the world, the feeling of adventure and awe was just as much there… no, more pronounced than the gameplay video would have you see. If I could correlate the majesty of Darkfall in any sensible way to some one who hasn’t played it, it would be to tell them “Look again at Aventurine’s long gameplay video… and this time, even if it’s hard to do now that you’re grizzled from all the lies and deceit you’ve been fed by other games in the past, don’t be afraid to let your imagination run wild”.

Upon running to a distant castle we spotted over a frozen lake, hopping between the floating ice blocks as fast as our stubby dwarven legs would take us, it was like a book coming to life in front of me. Only in this case the book was a particular scene from the gameplay video where that very thing had played out. Something so simple as that in a video can spark the imagination. Sure, we all looked at that and said “Man, those guys in the video are going out on a cool adventure!” but is the game really going to be like that? Are you really going to be solemnly exploring the rich world with your friends at your side, without a watered down experience where you’re more practically chasing down some flashing waypoint in easy-mode? Yes, you absolutely are, and every bit of back-story and reasoning you interpreted into the motives of those intrepid explorers are there as well. I guess with the current trend in gaming, the grandeur of simple things has been completely lost on much of the current generation of gamer… but I sure in the hell was impressed that I could have such a fulfilling experience from something so base as mere wanderlust.

Of course, it helped cap off the night that the location we were traveling to was just itching to dish out wholesale slaughter on anyone curious enough to take a peek. I felt like I was being shelled by artillery after some of the mobs unloaded their repertoire of spells on us. Screen shaking, firebombs exploding all around you, your friends screaming obscenities and running away… the game definitely has a tendency to abruptly take your head out of the clouds and grind your face into the dirt with its heel on the back of your head with no warning at all. And this was just the PvE! PvE!”