Game Review: Fallen Earth (MMO)

Well I have decided that I am going to branch out in this blog and explore. I am not limiting myself to my usual navel gazing or rants, I am going to step out and do a game review :)

I have been a 'gamer' (and I mean computer games, in case that wasn't obvious) for a long time. I am not one of those hard core, 24 hour a week types that locks myself in a room and stinks up a storm. I just enjoy playing a game, and find in particular the escapism of a good MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) is akin to a good movie, only it has multiple viewings heheh.

Anyway, my history of MMO's dates back to the early 2000's when a friend introduced me to Earth and Beyond. This was made by EA Games and was science fiction based. Since then I have played a fair few of these sorts of games. My most recent being Fallen Earth.

Fallen Earth is developed by an independent studio, Icarus. It is set in a post apocolyptic world, and based in the areas around the Grand Canyon (although this may be expanded in the future). It is a very interesting game and having played it since release (around 22nd September) I feel I have played it enough to offer my opinion on it now. I will follow that somewhat boring but easy to digest method of the good and the bad.

The good...

* The lack of hand holding. Yes, this (as many of these things will be) is very personal, but I was a little sick of games that connected the dots for you. The learning curve is quite steep...but this is a good thing. It gives you a sense of achievement when you get through it and it also ring fences the uber leet zerger's out to an extent.

* The open skill system. No class paths, this is an entirely skill based system. Four areas of 'knowledge' being stats (i.e. intelligence, strength), skills (i.e. pistol, armour use), mutations and tradeskills. Each of these can be raised either directly or indirectly with Action Points (AP's), which are earned over time with experience. You do have levels which seems a little unnecessary, regardless the open skill system is a good choice.

* The world, lore and environment. The setting has been well thought out, and really encourages you to immerse yourself. The world is visually quite pleasant and 'believable' if that makes sense. The graphics are not state of the art, but it is sufficient to provide a good basis (they are not photo-realistic, but not cartoony.

* Crafting. The crafting system is very in depth. You are rewarded with skill increases when you craft something that is not below your level, and are limited by the stats of Intelligence and Perception (and therefore level, as this limits your stats). You utilise raw materials to build items. Sometimes these are themselves sub-components and are assembled with others into a component or final item. The crafting is offline, so it continues while you are doing other activities or are offline.

* Options. You can buy an item, or craft an item. You can get experience from salvaging (harvesting), crafting, quests and killing. You can group or you can solo. You can go hard and zerg, or you can take your time. I am level 16 and I think the cap is 45...I'm still in Sector 1 (there are currently 3). Sometimes I have 10-20 minutes spare, I will log in, harvest a bit, setup another crafting queue...etc.

OK now for the bad...

* Crafting. I know, I said it was a good. But I am a little concerned with the fact anyone can craft anything. There is no limit on 'specialisation', so you can max your crafting in every tree. Sure, you are limited by your intelligence and perception as to the levels, but the fact that anyone can craft all the categories...weapons, ballistics, science, nature, armour...you get the idea. I believe this will not only be potentially terrible for the economy, but also takes a large leap away from the other areas that seem so well thought out.

* Skill trees. Again a strength that is not a 'cookie cutter' class system, but if you are going to have a skill based system, why would you have skill point increases for crafting but not for the true skills like pistol, rifle, armour use etc? I am thinking a system along the lines of the old SWG (pre stuff up) would be better, where you earn points using the skills, once you have sufficient skill points you can use AP's to advance those skills.

* Respecs. I understand the issues involved with this. Really, I do. Some people abuse them. But don't make rules for the 5% that upset the other 95%. If you have a system where you are encouraging immersion, roleplay, character development...don't have newish players develop their characters and make mistakes, and then realise they are stuck and have no chance of altering the mix. Bring in some sort of system where you can gradually drop AP's from one tree, then reallocate to another, somehow, someway.

* Controls. After playing my first 2 x 2 hours sessions of this game, I very nearly rage quit and threw my laptop out the window. The controls are not great, and the ability to alter them is very limited. But once you get used to them, they are not horrible (but even now I don't like them).

So there you go, that's my thoughts on the game. The developers have released a number of patches since go-live, and the signs are very positive. The things I would like to see that are lacking right now:

1. RESPEC!!! Let us change the abilities for our characters at a cost/time penalty.
2. Player housing. This is huge to me for immersion. Camps, houses...whatever. Just don't make them instanced, and let us put things in them.
3. Fast Travel. I don't want to break the setting, or mechanics, but the ability to get from one end of sector one to the other...I mean it takes about 15 minutes to get from a town to a neighbouring town sometimes (yes, that's "real life" time). I hate to think what would happen if a friend was in Sector Two and I was in Sector One and we wanted to meet...
4. More a wish this one...limit crafting people can do. As much as I love being able to craft everything, it's poor form.

So there you go. My character name in Fallen Earth is Michael Brennan, feel free to add me to your friends list if you see me about :)

The mystery of time...

I have long experienced a little issue that has intrigued me, and I feel the need to discuss (aka vent).

You always hear it, that comment "I don't have time". Commonly an excuse utilised for a lack of effort on someone's part. Whilst it can often be the basis of the issue, it is more often the convenient crutch that is leaned on when effort was lacking.

It is however an easy, and very believable reason. Of all the things we possess, time is perhaps the only finite resource. However if you can find someone that has had something, be it a hobby, work, or some passion that involved them spending a lot of time on it...odds are you will find someone that appreciates just how much time we do have at our disposal.

I am a basketball coach and have been doing it for 15 years. I would train 2-3 times a week, with each session involving a 30 minute commute either way, arriving 30 minutes prior to the session to prepare and then the 2 ½ hour session. So up to three times a week, that was 4 hours a night (12 hours total). Then for every training session, I would spend about half that time again reviewing video, preparing training plans, analysing individual players issues etc. So that's another 6 hours. And then every Saturday morning I had 8:00am – 11:00am booked for professional development, where I would read a book, watch a college/NBA/other game, and try to improve my knowledge. So that's another 3 hours. None of that takes into account the 'variable factors', like going to junior games on occasion to watch upcoming young players, attending other coaches training sessions to assist/learn etc. So let's go with a total of 21 hours.

On top of this I had a full time job (no, coaching doesn't pay the bills...). That was well in excess of 40 hours a week. And still somehow managed to have time to catch up with friends and go out.

I am having a break from coaching this year and it has really hit home how much time it takes up. However I have chosen to look at it rather as how much time I currently have available. So many of the people I know, when you say to them "hey lets catchup", they say "sorry, I just don't have time right now...lets plan something later hey?". Hmmmm. So rather than accept this, recently I have politely asked what it is they have that keeps them so busy. It seems the routine of going to work and going home is sufficient for most. They get home...err...get changed...ummm....cook dinner...yeah and it is just really busy. There's stuff that needs to be done. And it's not getting done on its own.

Honestly, find something that will take up your time, do it for a while, then stop it. You will find a world of time available that you didn't realise you had.