New article from The Combine

[Brannoc]

Deyth has an article he wrote after his recent visit to Razorwax which can be found here (http://www.the-combine.net/articletemplate.asp?articleidentity=250) . Go read it!

[Dozier]

man, thats just awesome really, good job combine, nice pics too, the movie link had some trouble but here it is fixed
http://www.the-combine.net/gatherings/df_g...hering_1/13.exe (http://www.the-combine.net/gatherings/df_gathering_1/13.exe)
its a prettty cool video, grass and a ship in the water, hehe man if DF works out i'm going to lose alot of my life to it, and i wont mind one bit :D :D :D :D

[Whistler]

They had 50 of everything. Some of the trees were the size of mountains. An entire forest would be daunting. I'm pretty sure I saw marijuana plants.

This is going to be the best game ever created. :lol:

[B-Prime]

In this picture (http://www.the-combine.net/showpic.asp?sPic=/gatherings/df_gathering_1/6.jpg), I noticed that Tasos has a Darkfall T-Shirt. Is there any chance that I could purchase one? I wear an XL and I want a black one. :D

[Whistler]

There's also radar.

How are you supposed to sneak up on someone when everyone has radar? I thought that was a huge part of having FPV in the first place.

[B-Prime]

Originally posted by Whistler@Aug 30 2003, 12:04 AM
There's also radar.

How are you supposed to sneak up on someone when everyone has radar? I thought that was a huge part of having FPV in the first place.
Maybe you only get it if you have certain tracking/sensing skills. Hopefully if you do get it, it will be a very limited form of radar that only tells you something is near.

[Gowel]

Originally posted by B-Prime+Aug 30 2003, 02:12 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (B-Prime @ Aug 30 2003, 02:12 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Whistler@Aug 30 2003, 12:04 AM
There's also radar.

How are you supposed to sneak up on someone when everyone has radar? I thought that was a huge part of having FPV in the first place.
Maybe you only get it if you have certain tracking/sensing skills. Hopefully if you do get it, it will be a very limited form of radar that only tells you something is near. [/b][/quote]
If there is any way whatsoever, to see other players on a "radar", everyone will pick that skill. No one should get any radar whatsoever. A map that shows the land and structures is a completely different story. Basically it's a horrible idea and it's the reason that the best FPS games don't use radar.

[Whistler]

Originally posted by Gowel@Aug 30 2003, 12:34 AM
If there is any way whatsoever, to see other players on a "radar", everyone will pick that skill. No one should get any radar whatsoever. A map that shows the land and structures is a completely different story. Basically it's a horrible idea and it's the reason that the best FPS games don't use radar.
I agree with you full-heartily.
It's like Halo. When you were a newbie, you loved radar, you wouldn't play without it, you thought it was a great feature... But as you get better and more skilled, playing with radar becomes dull and boring, compared to playing with it off. I fear DF will grow dull and boring over time without the excitement of not having radar...

[Filip]

well in the movie there was something what dissapointed me, the ship in the water, normally you can see trought water, but just as in morrowind, you cant see trough water, you only see the part of the ship that is above the water, why?? is it too hard to implent so you can see a blurry rest of the ship???

[Sa'angreal]

Ever been in a sea with waves like that? You don't see the entirety of the ship. However, I really have put no thought into the clearity of the water. Perhaps the Dragon urine clouded it.

Anyhow, I thought the lucky gent' with a pissed wife did a wonderful job there! Though (and not related to the Combine folk), I am rather disheartened by the radar unless is it simply for topography or some such. I don't mind the radar in SB (yea, I liked SB...just got boring too fast) but I don't expect as much out of SB. I play it for what it is...not what it should have been.

Otherwise, outstanding job fellow with the wife that'll prolly bruise ya for taking her around a big group of gamers :) (though my wife games, she hasn't always, I feel your pain).

[Darkmatter]

Cool article, and nice pictures

Razorwax we're cheering for you!

[Andonis]

argh sorry for starting new topic on this i was looking for one but couldnt find 1 these days topics get run outa the first page within hours alot more poeple posting on boards.
once again sorry pumpkin :angry:

[Airius Droc]

Great article! I'm so jealous. :)

[Gaintlord]

Originally posted by Whistler@Aug 30 2003, 06:04 AM
There's also radar.

How are you supposed to sneak up on someone when everyone has radar? I thought that was a huge part of having FPV in the first place.
I was going to same thing. I hope the devs go more into this as I'm a little disapointed about this info

Deside this it was a good read and I enjoyed the read. I must say that this was a better read then a preview from any of the big game sites!! Good work!!

[Dozier]

*dies, radar, damnit, that had better have something to do with your ability to hear noise and their ability not to make noise, or mahrims sense skills and stuff, its its i always see you type thing its gonna be the gayest damn thing ever, and as far as the ocean goes, out in the middle of the ocean you cant see jack underneath the water, atleast i never have, once in a still lake in guatemala i could see pretty deep, but i'm sure the devs will have stuff like that

[Darkmatter]

Hopefully that radar can only locate friendlies.. for groupmovement purposes. =)

I hope..

EDIT:

I'd rather not have it there in the first place though. But if it's included, it shouldn't destroy gameplay by showing enemies, or enemies spotted by another friendly. Why did you limit it to firstperson view then suddenly adding a radar?

[Airius Droc]

I also hate the inclusion of radar, its lame. Is a secret pass really secret when it

[Darkmatter]

So true Airius..


Please get rid of the radar.. please please

[Gunther TheBlack]

it's prolly a small radar that shows the relief or housing that you can see if you turn around, prolly no players or monsters i guess.

[Viranth]

Lots of cool stuff. I really liked this though:


They've put in SMS messaging from in-game so you can get a message on your cell phone at any time.

[Darkmatter]

Well.. housing can be strategic and ment to be "hidden" as well.

If it's just going to function as a map helper, let people go into a basic shop in their capital city and buy a static map over their territory - to ease them on their way to "premade" npc cities if each racial territory will have more than just their capital one. Meaning changes made by players - cities they have built should not be exposed by a radar-feature nor a static "paper"-map.

Maybe im being grumpy here.. but learning to know the territory by actually being there and recognizing the handcrafted territories will be much more immersive than having a radar displaying what is behind you and so forth.

EDIT:

Yeah, SMS messaging was a great idea :P

[Arolas]

I see The Hub there on the Enemies list! What did we ever do to you eh! :P

[Deyth[Combine]]

How do you know radar will show someone stealthing? How do you know the range of the radar or who shows up on it? I'd suggest waiting for the devs to release details before complaining. I'm sure of one thing, if they don't include radar then some hacker will.

[squeese]

Originally posted by Gowel+Aug 30 2003, 06:34 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Gowel @ Aug 30 2003, 06:34 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Originally posted by -B-Prime@Aug 30 2003, 02:12 AM
<!--QuoteBegin--Whistler@Aug 30 2003, 12:04 AM
There's also radar.

How are you supposed to sneak up on someone when everyone has radar? I thought that was a huge part of having FPV in the first place.
Maybe you only get it if you have certain tracking/sensing skills. Hopefully if you do get it, it will be a very limited form of radar that only tells you something is near.
If there is any way whatsoever, to see other players on a "radar", everyone will pick that skill. No one should get any radar whatsoever. A map that shows the land and structures is a completely different story. Basically it's a horrible idea and it's the reason that the best FPS games don't use radar. [/b][/quote]
what? "the best games dont use radar"

The most played online FPS game is counter-strike, and if you sum up second and third and even forth place, they dont have the same number as counter-strike. With that said, Id like to dissect that statement with, counter-strike having a radar.

Besides, we dont know much about the radar anyway.
1. It could only show friendly people
2. it could only show people in front of you (your eye sight)
3. It could be skill based, if youre a ranger, you can train the ability to have "sense" animals etc.

I mean, its not like they have confirmed its a UBER radar that shows everything included "undie scan" that will show what kind of underwear youre wearing :P

[Calypso]

I was shown their world building tools and examples. Huge terrain maps. They can drag and drop to create worlds quickly. I wanted to get an idea of scale so they dropped a character-sized image on a mountain and we could barely see it.

Id like to know how far from the mountain he was to "barely see it". If you can see a character on a mountain at all how big could it possibly be?

And as for the radar - how else would tracking and or senses work in FPV? As long as it doesnt show blue, red and yellow dots showing you where everyone is im fine with it.

[Isha]

WoW, I wish I had visited them.
A very nice article, and also some nice pictures ( lots of dragons :D )

I really liked this :
There will be many different types and themes of armor. Players will be able to color the various pieces and put their guild emblems on their cloaks and shields. I got to see some of it and it was easily interchangeable across many themes.

This sounds really great, having a guild all dressed with the same icons on their cloaks and shields.
What more is there to say other than, this is going to be a great game.

[Vanquish]

Wow. If you glossed over the newest piece of info on the News page - dont.
The Combine's article is great.

I had no idea that the targeting system was going to be SO specific - with wind and movement making "auto-attack" a thing of the past.

And with the environment system responding so much to what players and even monsters do, this game will NOT be something that you go AFK for hours at a time in!

The idea of city-building taking such a long time thrills me and scares me at the same time. If the attackers are as vulnerable as the article make it sound, then this should be fine. If the level of detail and the result of the city-building are as great as they sound, then the time involved will indeed be an achievement, not a chore.

Im a little confused about the Invisibility system after reading the article. At the beginning of the description it sounds like stealth wont just be a simple spell, but then the writer says something about invisibity being balanced with see-invisibility. So im not sure.

I wonder if everyone who ventures to Greece will be so warmly received? lol
If so, might just change come travel plans from Italy to Hellas.

[Airius Droc]

Originally posted by Deyth[Combine]@Aug 30 2003, 12:53 PM
How do you know radar will show someone stealthing? How do you know the range of the radar or who shows up on it? I'd suggest waiting for the devs to release details before complaining. I'm sure of one thing, if they don't include radar then some hacker will.
It's never too early to complain...some people might even go so far as to call that feedback.

[Alistair]

Wow, I wonder if one of the devs is secretly a combine member or something. 'Cause that's SOME kind of hospitality!

Anyway, cool article, Darkfall sure seems to be shaping up to be something special.

--Alistair

[Deyth[Combine]]

"Feed" your opinions "back" when you receive enough facts to form proper ones. Or not. If you are bored enough you should feel free to rock that post count.

[Airius Droc]

Originally posted by Deyth[Combine]@Aug 31 2003, 01:19 AM
"Feed" your opinions "back" when you receive enough facts to form proper ones.&nbsp; Or not.&nbsp; If you are bored enough you should feel free to rock that post count.
Hey brother, I'd just hate to think that we could see ourselves in a spot where the devs say, "Oh you guys don't like radar? If you told us ealier we could've change it!"

;)

[Deyth[Combine]]

And here I was thinking that beta, where we can see instead of speculate, was the chance to change things. What was I thinking? I almost forgot that satire I wrote with you in mind. (http://www.the-combine.net/articletemplate.asp?articleidentity=231)

[Gowel]

Discussion, whether it be for or against a feature in a game, is healthy, regardless of if we've tested it first hand or not. That's pretty much what these boards are for. None of us are bashing Darkfall or the developers, we are just raising our concerns with the information that we do have. My personal opinion, as I've already stated, is that any form of radar is a bad idea. If for some reason the developers come up with a unique and balanced implimentation of it, then that's great. There's no harm in discussion.

[Airius Droc]

[quote]Originally posted by Deyth[Combine]@Aug 31 2003, 01:58 AM
[b] And here I was thinking that beta, where we can see instead of speculate, was the chance to change things.

[Alistair]

Hehe, this is what I was trying to subtly bring up in my other post. Why do the devs give so much 'hospitality' to some guy from a small-time gamer guild who thinks he is a hotshot? I mean, seems like they gave deyth considerably more info about the game than any actual industry journalists that have published about Darkfall, and he is/was not even a Darkfall fan let alone a journalist. The only thing that really makes sense to me is if maybe someone in the Darkfall team happens to be a Combine member, lol. Or maybe they are just THAT lonely for visitors over there in Greece ;)

Anyway, more info is always good, though, even if it does come from some strange sources :)

But I do hope next time the Darkfall devs give out a big exclusive like that it will be to some industry professionals, or at least to their fans.

--Alistair

[Makaveli[Combine]]

Sigh alistair..

[Gaintlord]

People need to star using PM.

I don't care who gave us the info. One of the problems of this dev team is that its a very long ways away. not many game sites are going to pay for a plane ticket for 3 pages of information about a game.

I agree with some that "The Combine" may sound and act as if they are all high and mighty. Though I won't take any pop shots in this post. I will see in game if anyone who post can walk the talk that goes in these boards at time.

So to the Combine........

Thanks for the info and when we meet in game may we meet and die in honor

[chivas]

I agree. No matter where the info comes from shouldn't matter.
In this case I like that it's coming from another gamer, a PvPer, and a downright difficult customer. Is his opinion lessened if someone dislikes him or his guild?


Media is ignoring this game for the most part because it doesn't have a huge following yet and it doesn't add to their numbers. Who cares It's what the players think of a game that matters anyway.

[Blade]

Ill just say to this all, that we should show a little faith in our Devs! They have shown to be completelly in favor of full PvP, so what makes you all think that if they deem a radar good or nessesary in any kind of way, that they wont implement it in a way that wont mess with the PvP aspect of the game?

I for one, will wait till I hear from the Devs how it will work, or hopefully to see it in person and try it out myself!

Thnx for the article Deyth! Nice info there! :)

[kender]

very nice article.. Deyth has always written well..

[Nightbird[Combine]]

I'm not exactly sure how this radar is supposed to work with the devs not giving out any details about it yet. But, from everything i've read this game is going to be about as realistic as it can get. So i'm seeing the radar working as a sensory type skill. You hear/see/sense something and you might get some type of blip that shows up on your radar. Being able to detect another player, ie hearing 6th sense, tracking, etc..., would all be skill based. This is all just speculation since we have next to 0 information on how things are going to work, but this is how i see it.

There's no reason to jump to any conclusions that this will make or break the game not knowing how it truely works. We don't even know if it can be shut off to give those hardcore players the chance to play without it.

[Duke_Dirtnap]

Im totally new around here having just found DF last nite but what I saw really grabbed my attention. I played DAoC since release day (just cancelled a couple weeks back) and am really burnt on weak pvp that mythic thinks is so wonderful. I have been playing the Lineage2 korean beta for a few weeks and it has some potential....but DF.....now this looks Amazing!!!

I found the article Deyth wrote to be really enticing and my thought is that this info comes from someone with a fresh outlook on the game....not someone who has been hanging on every post here since day one. Yes Radar could really screw up a concept like DF is intending, but you gotta think for a sec.....these guys came up with the overall concept in the first place! I dont think they are gonna drop something stupid in just for the $$$.

Well just my 2 cents....thanks for "letting" me butt in. ;)

[Rommus]

Yea I enjoyed the article back when it came out. I never thanked Deyth for his great work.

Deyth you write as well as you took dirt naps in DAoC! Excellent read it was.

Rommus-SiN
www.afraidyet.net