DnL "Impressions"

EonNachtgot · February 2005

"Sadly, battles in Dark and Light do not share the same beauty as the land on which they happen. Thanks to choppy animations, the enemy will often end up sliding up to you instead of actually sludging through the snow to attack. Spells, though massively animated, look less flashy and more like an experiment with lens flares in Photoshop. Combat is less about strategy and more about exploiting bad engines, as the player must first find the monster to target it."

"If the player manages to survive against a difficult monster long enough to find them in the enveloping darkness, they may just die trying to figure out how to attack."

"Another fallback for Dark and Light is its massive size. Upon playing the beta for over two weeks, this writer only spotted two other players. With the massiveness of the world of Ganareth, parties may be most difficult to find for a player"

"The beta lacks any noticable quest implementation, the developers have decreed that there will be no cave indoor areas, and NPCs are completely absent. Finding another player to trade with is almost a quest in itself inside the large world of Ganareth. Though it does show tremendous amounts of promise, the beta's gameplay doesn't seem to offer anything more than pretty landscapes and multiple forms of transportation."

...And Go

EonNachtgot · February 2005

add this :

"it is still very early into its beta life"

Zyke · February 2005

And where exactly did you get this from?

I see quotes but no source.

Keldar · February 2005

Brokn NDA.

DerfelCadarn · February 2005

Originally posted by Keldar
Brokn NDA.

Hes not in the beta, he is quoting someone. Anyway, who the hell cares about a broken NDA, DnL producers arent going to do crap about it.

ViolentY · February 2005

Not true. I've heard many cases (one of which happened here in fact) in which the producers of DnL banned beta accounts to those who have broken the NDA.

DerfelCadarn · February 2005

Originally posted by ViolentY
Not true. I've heard many cases (one of which happened here in fact) in which the producers of DnL banned beta accounts to those who have broken the NDA.

Hmmm...lets see. Dont post your characters name and use a proxy and boom!, they cant do crap. You would have to be borderlining retarded to get caught. Not to mention the people they get are very few compared to the ammount giving info. Either way, losing your account is the worst they can to lol.

Lanmoragon · February 2005

You do realize its still MANY months from release (i guarantee you it will not be April). I know you hear that alot, but alot of the things you quoted are the last things to get fixed before release. Sorry dont really have time to reply in full since i have to get going, but as to the amount of players seen ingame, they have only let in a few thousand people to beta test. Say they have 10000 people in beta right now, which is not alot at all, maybe 5000-7000 would be on at peak playing times. In a huge world your not going to see that many people when there are that few in the beta test. This has nothing to do with what it would be like when they let in a massive amount for a stress test.

Also, im not saying you faked it, but where did you get your "quotes" from. You really could have just written that on your own and lie about everything in an attempt to flame.

stone-seraph · February 2005

the information you gave is from an unknown source and is therefore completely unreliable but i'll assume this is this truth and pick away at this.

Originally posted by EonNachtgot
"Sadly, battles in Dark and Light do not share the same beauty as the land on which they happen. Thanks to choppy animations, the enemy will often end up sliding up to you instead of actually sludging through the snow to attack. Spells, though massively animated, look less flashy and more like an experiment with lens flares in Photoshop. Combat is less about strategy and more about exploiting bad engines, as the player must first find the monster to target it."what kind of graphics card was this person using? what kind of system specs did they have? and spell animations aren't why i (and more than likely most people) am going to play this game"If the player manages to survive against a difficult monster long enough to find them in the enveloping darkness, they may just die trying to figure out how to attack.""Another fallback for Dark and Light is its massive size. Upon playing the beta for over two weeks, this writer only spotted two other players. With the massiveness of the world of Ganareth, parties may be most difficult to find for a player"1) there are, what, 5000 people in beta right now? there will be at least 20 times that on release.
2) how long did the person actually play and how any major cities did they visit?
3) i do hope they restrict the size a bit upon release though"The beta lacks any noticable quest implementation, the developers have decreed that there will be no cave indoor areas, and NPCs are completely absent. Finding another player to trade with is almost a quest in itself inside the large world of Ganareth. Though it does show tremendous amounts of promise, the beta's gameplay doesn't seem to offer anything more than pretty landscapes and multiple forms of transportation."
the way the landscape engine works (satellite imaging and such) doesn't support dungeons, but i suppose that does not take away from the fact that they are not there. i really doibt there are no NPCs and am sure that many quests will be added by release. i'm sure when NDA is no longer a problem, it will be much easier to find groups, not only because the many more players, but because the ability to freely talk to all your friends and guildmates and organize outside the game.
...And Go

i can hardly say any of your info is reliable, it wouldn't be unlikely that your are some -[insert competitor here]- fanboy trying to unhype this game.

Fade · February 2005

info is a little sketchy, tell us where you got the quotes from, system specs, how long they actually played the game, and when they beta tested DnL.

also this seems to be only one person saying this so ill wait until theres more substantial info.

Riotgirl · February 2005

First, it's hype whipping gamers into near hysteria, and now it's the opposite end of the spectrum - taking pot-shots at a game that has not emerged from closed beta.

For any future affadavit, I would love to see DnL succeed if the game lives up to its potential and delivers on around 90% of features upon release. The rational view would be to mentally filter all the hyperbole surrounding the game and remind oneself to wait until the end of closed beta. Likewise, any negative comments about the game.

If the game lives up to expectation and becomes 'The Next Big Thing' - all fine and dandy. We'll learn to whistle 'I'd like to teach the world to sing'. If the game emulates Horizons, then we'll *sigh* and move on. Until I hear facts from beta testers after the closed beta comes to an end (NDA is lifted), then I'll reserve judgement.

Until such time, any thread hyping DnL (or any other game not yet in open beta and/or with NDA lifted) or disparaging the game, I'll just mentally apply the, "And this one time, in band camp .." tag

Regards,
Riotgirl

Wotann · February 2005

In his last interview, Vuuar said that there are about 2000 beta testers.

I know from experience that most people flock to a beta when they get in but quickly get bored and don't use their accounts. People want content to be using their account. If the beta is empty, that's a sign that the beta version isn't very interesting for the majority and only a handful elite fans are testing the game.

DerfelCadarn · February 2005

Originally posted by Riotgirl
If the game lives up to expectation and becomes 'The Next Big Thing' - all fine and dandy. We'll learn to whistle 'I'd like to teach the world to sing'. If the game emulates Horizons, then we'll *sigh* and move on. Until I hear facts from beta testers after the closed beta comes to an end (NDA is lifted), then I'll reserve judgement.

Well even if it lives up to expectation it is never going to be the "next big thing". A game that is only aviable only online(no store sells), has very little to no advertising on popular sites/mags and really only hardcore mmorpg fans of heard of. It even has very little info/interviews on any site worth a crap. It just doesnt appeal to enough people to be big.

Orcc · February 2005

Originally posted by DerfelCadarn
Originally posted by Riotgirl
If the game lives up to expectation and becomes 'The Next Big Thing' - all fine and dandy. We'll learn to whistle 'I'd like to teach the world to sing'. If the game emulates Horizons, then we'll *sigh* and move on. Until I hear facts from beta testers after the closed beta comes to an end (NDA is lifted), then I'll reserve judgement.Well even if it lives up to expectation it is never going to be the "next big thing". A game that is only aviable only online(no store sells), has very little to no advertising on popular sites/mags and really only hardcore mmorpg fans of heard of. It even has very little info/interviews on any site worth a crap. It just doesnt appeal to enough people to be big.

Its only going to be available online for a certain time, likely around three months from what I read somewhere. After that time it WILL be available in stores. I actually prefer it this way though, since I know that the community will be that much better due to the fact that the only people who would be playing would be people who have taken a strong interest in it, and arent just buying it because it got whatever% in PCGamer.

Ozzon · February 2005

Originally posted by EonNachtgot
"Sadly, battles in Dark and Light do not share the same beauty as the land on which they happen. Thanks to choppy animations, the enemy will often end up sliding up to you instead of actually sludging through the snow to attack. Spells, though massively animated, look less flashy and more like an experiment with lens flares in Photoshop. Combat is less about strategy and more about exploiting bad engines, as the player must first find the monster to target it.""If the player manages to survive against a difficult monster long enough to find them in the enveloping darkness, they may just die trying to figure out how to attack.""Another fallback for Dark and Light is its massive size. Upon playing the beta for over two weeks, this writer only spotted two other players. With the massiveness of the world of Ganareth, parties may be most difficult to find for a player""The beta lacks any noticable quest implementation, the developers have decreed that there will be no cave indoor areas, and NPCs are completely absent. Finding another player to trade with is almost a quest in itself inside the large world of Ganareth. Though it does show tremendous amounts of promise, the beta's gameplay doesn't seem to offer anything more than pretty landscapes and multiple forms of transportation."
...And Go

Funny post considering that there are 2000 beta testers now and that game is few months away from release, also missing monsters can be added very easily in a week or two.

"[...]they may just die trying to figure out how to attack."

This person needs to learn how to fight then...
From this quote DnL sounds better than many other MMORPG's during beta.

annxii · February 2005

writer of that clearly hasn't understood what beta is about!....and wtf are he/she/they thinking of with that whining about lack of players??? there're only 2000 people in beta so ofcourse it's going to be hard to find someone if you're all on your own with no friends to contact!

Darksoul_ · February 2005

not much to say on this as my fellow-dnl followers have said enough about it.

1-NDA Breach

2-does the word BETA mean anything to you?

3-how can we be sure that the above rants are honest?clearly is someone is breaching an NDA to bash a game then he might aswell exaggerate..therefore i think its not unreal to think most of his rants are exagerated and unreal.

4-Nice attempt at trolling, care to bring it over .net forums?or to show your real name?

...

Greatness · February 2005

I am not too hyped on this game. It looks good, but I do not think it will be what I am looking for. Even though, I want to atleast try it. I am scared of the land though. Seriously, how are people actually are going to be going all the places. Probably 3/4 of the land will still not be discovered(or maybe discovered by random explorers) after like two months. All the players will be at towns that have a lot of people and so they will try to stay close to it. Since, one of the quotes said barely any npcs, and it is mostly player trading.

Shivalyn · February 2005

Either way, losing your account is the worst they can to lol.

Well, that and sueing.

But yah asside from them suing you the worst that can be done is losing your account.

Necrotic · February 2005

Its a closed beta for a reason...
Seems to me that what is happening is that there isnt much content from what hes saying but that isnt the problem. The tools are probably already done and putting in the content wouldnt take much time at all.
That is what annoys me, people who just get into beta to complain because they think theyre just there to play a free game and it isnt complete while many of us are still not in and we could really help out. The idea of an NDA is the principle, from what Ive heard they cant even say theyre in beta which is very logical, this is a game that has people from many nations where international law is hard to persue so the people understand its a thing of honor above all things.
My suggestion to that person is to leave the beta, its not a free game for you, you are there to test. And stop giving bad info about things which aparently you do not understand. Youre just giving the game a bad reputation.

Greatness · February 2005

The thing is, they have 40,000 sq. km! There are only less than like 5,000 testers probably lol! One of the quotes said they only met like two people! TWO PEOPLE! They need more testers first of all, to test partying, and territories and things like that! Also, someone said the combat was messed up, do not complain to us, complain to them! Seriously.

Gules_Aspen · February 2005

I know there are a lot of folks really thinking this one will be th eend-all....but I honestly won't be surprised if one of two things happens: It's another Horizons or pulls a WISH.

I've read all I can about it, and can't say I see much attraction. Looks like they've focused so much on making it complicated that they forgot to add anything fun.....looks to be a game for someone who plays 40-50 hours week.

At any rate, I'll be seriously surprised if it doesn't flop, and flop hard. Sorry. Can't believe anything claimed until I see it.

aeric67 · February 2005

"It's only beta..."

Those words should be encased in bronze and shipped in every game box that contains an MMORPG.

Lack of content, lack of features, lack of design... Those are things that should NOT be present in a beta test phase. Those are for alpha. With this game scheduled to be released in 3 months, there is a problem if we are lacking major features and/or content. Don't kid yourselves.

Not backing up the OP or anything here, but if what he says is true, this game either (a) will not be shipped in April, or (b) will be shipped sans features--doomed to fail.

Thoro · February 2005

I posted this on the DnL site a few weeks ago and I will post it here now. We know next to nothing about the gameplay for this game. At this point you have a bunch of blind people following this game like cattle. This game has the makings for being a disaster. I wish people would demand more info. The closed beta is a copout at this point. You can only hide garbage for so long.

Greatness · February 2005

People have different opinions also. They wouldn't release a game with choppy combat or something like that.

annxii · February 2005

oki end of discussion, it's BETA and NDA was broken! let's find the authors and kill them and remember what beta means!!

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