That report is real.

Although I think the graphics are fine for a PvP game. Runs fast and smooth and never crashes.

"Darkfall scares me, they just announced they will be releasing in europe on jan 22nd which is far to soon in my mind. In the current phase of beta theres about 150 ppl total and they have nearly the entire game disabled. You can skill up a bit on random newbie camps of goblins/orcs/skeletons but beyond that the world is entirely barren of NPC's. The combat system is \"meh\",

if they fixed melee it would be fine I guess. Its more of a FPS than anything combat wise, fps archery/magic and third person melee but you aim your swings. However in melee it turns out to be a spam left click fest because theres not much else to do. You cant control directional swings and thats my biggist complaint."

Ranged combat feels like Oblivion. I think it is really fun and I will be playing a caster live. Melee needs work, so I agree on that one.

"Full loot is really cool, getting all the items etc is fun. Took me a bit to get used to banking all my important shit again (i went out macroing fishing one day to come back and find all my best weapons/armor were on some SUN guy =p)."

Best looting sytem of anything but a free shard. It simply kicks ass. If you like very harsh FFA worlds... Darkfall is everything they said in that regard. This is your game.

"The graphics are bad, it wont make a fan quit but it would keep a new player who knows nothing of darkfall from playing. The sound effects are just laughable, when you run you sound like you got tap shoes on etc.
I seriously think the game is going to be a Age of Conan, they claim their internal testers are doing all of the siege/player cities/endgame shit but I've heard that before. These awesome internal testers let stupid shit like 3 minute health regen get by so I cant imagine what they could possibly miss endgame to fuck it up."

The world itself looks good and well designed. Buildings and character models are good enough. Not a problem for any serious pvper. Health regen isn't that bad. The game is supposed to be very hard, and it is.

"Its really a toss up, I want the game to work, sieging, player cities, homes, player drivin economy, full loot, sailing/ship warefare, etc etc is all really cool. The UI (not just chat tab etc, the way you interface with the game) is clumsy and will turn people off, I hate not being able to look around without moving my character."

Totally disagree with the last point. I think the first person perspective makes the world feel even more dangerous. 3rd person is so tight that there isn't much of an advantage of melee over range either. So this is a positive for me. Guess it depends on what you like.

"Melee combat and health regen if they don't change it will be a
sticking factor as well. Stupid shit like the quest journal being HTML (actually opens up webpages ingame) just detracts from the fun factor/immersion."

Health regen is not a negative in my mind. It is nothing like EQ, but it is enough so that you don't want to get wounded. I do agree they need to turn on or finish the content and make some tweaks, and a jan 22nd release feels far too early. Hopefully they just start the open beta by then and continue to improve it. Lots of potential though, and I will be buying it myself.

My first impression was that the world graphics are decent enough. The ground, trees, paths, water.. all designed and placed well.
I ran for great distances to explore the terrain and found that it changed like it should, and felt much like a real world and not fake like some games.

I could climb any hill for example, and generally didn't feel boxed in at all. So this part of the game was impressive to me. The environmental sounds were also good enough as well.

The sunrise was simply stunning, gorgeous. Clouds and night sky looked good as well. I did not notice any weather like raining, but, it may be either very rare or not turned on yet.

Generally it did feel pretty empty though. There are camps of monsters to be found here and there. There are also animations of small birds in the distance.. So this empty feeling may have just been from so few players being around.

The Character models looked ok from the close in 3rd person weapon drawn perspective. Not great, but ok for a PvP game. They looked a bit better while looking at another person on the screen, or while viewing your character while resting. Armor looks good as well. Aflar's glowing eyes look excellent.

The buildings and cities look well designed and are functional. I could not find any doors to open, but it felt natural enough with archways and open doorways. NPCs are functional but sparse.

I expected the interface to be horrible, but found it was very simple and easy to understand. It is like a nicer UO interface that could use a bunch of work, it is very crude I admit, but it is functional.

The biggest problem is that there are lots of things they say are not turned on yet. I have no idea if they just have to turn these things on or if they have to create them still, but I hope it is as they say.

As for bugs, there are a few, but less than I normally see in betas. The stability is pretty much perfect or better than most released MMORPGs.
At least with the small amount of players on now. This is the most shocking thing for me. I expected Darkfall.exe crashes, yet the game just doesn't crash. I could also alt-tab just fine, and generally it just works really well.

Melee combat feels like you are just trading blows. Back and forth. What can you say? They need to work on it and tweak it some.
Jumping does not really matter much with melee combat, it might with avoiding AOE spells aimed at the ground though, in theory. Sprinting is very cool because you can sprint for a very long time. You also skill up with it.

You can sprint and fight at the same time as well.. If you run out of stamina you are doomed.. Ranged combat is amazing on the other hand. Just great as it is. It is however very difficult to change weapons rapidly and switch between modes, unless I am missing something, which is possible.

As for the feel of the world, it feels very dangerous, it feels more like a world or a sim than just a game. There is also a sense of equality right away with other players.

Without levels it does feel like you matter from the start. While the skills still give a variety of things to work on and improve. So I think it can be a game for casual or hardcore players, provided they are seeking the most harsh environment possible while playing. The main point is that you don't have to grind for months to make a difference, but everything is going to be deadly hard right away, and stay that way. This part of the game just feels right to me.

As for the difficulty in general, it is simply very hard. The monsters alone are enough of a challenge, to say the least. They group, run away, attack you at extreme distances, you name it. I think they might need some easier mobs for players to start with, but with enough tactics you can kill these initial monsters.

Finally, it is hard to say how the game will be at release or to give a complete review with so many things turned off or not finished, but Darkfall certainly has a great amount of potential for PvPers seeking a harsh and deadly world. The game clearly needs work and some tweaks, but it does offer what they promised and what many of us have been waiting for. Darkfall is a dark world of harsh consequences. There is no denying that.

Melee combat feels like you are just trading blows. Back and forth. What can you say?

cos czuje ze podzieli los AoC tym perfekcyjnym dopracowaniem a tak btw. na filmiku koles od darkfalla mowil ze kosztowalo to ich ogolnie +- 10 mln euro , IMO to nie jest wystarczajaca kwota na zrobienie DOBREJ gry mmo patrzac na koszty innych producentow wylanczajac Blizzarda bo wiadomo ocb.

smierdzi lekko failem brak wersji pudelkowej.

wrozenie z fusow ciag dalszy widze , 22 stycz. gra wychodzi , bedzie trial bedzie test , zadne argumenty nie przekonuja ze to bedzie uber gra ani z bedzie fail , po premierach AoC , WAR nie nalezy optymistycznie podchodzic do nowych mmo bo pozniej jest wielki placz:D