Over the weekend I was finally able to log back into Fallen Earth, thanks to my lame arm improving a bit and a change of keyboard (why it took me so long to think about changing keyboards, I do not know). It was nice to ease back into the apocalypse!
Usually when I take a break from a relatively new MMO I feel quite ‘behind’ when I return, but that wasn’t the case with Fallen Earth. Apparently the game is growing slowly (the launch itself was fairly modest) since there were still plenty of newbies running around the starter towns, and plenty of neophyte questions being asked in the Regional channels.
Additionally, and maybe this is just me, but Fallen Earth doesn’t feel all that level based anyway. Yeah, getting levels nets you a nice stash of AP that you can spend on skills, but you can also earn AP from doing quests, which is why at level 6 I’m still in a starter town. I’m wandering from village to village, getting quests, salvaging and harvesting materials and learning to craft stuff. I don’t feel any particular urgency to ‘level up’ in this world. What ultimately drives me is increasing my crafting skills, meaning I need lots of materials, which in turn means I do lots of exploring.
Honestly, I assumed FE was going to get savaged by the greater MMO community. It isn’t the most intuitive game in the world, nor is it the prettiest. There aren’t (m)any flashy loot drops and there’s no fast travel (at least that I’ve found). You have to feed your horse, put gas in your ATV, buy or make ammo for your guns. Basically it has few of the ‘modern conveniences’ we’ve come to expect in MMOs. And yet people seem to like it.
I know I sure like it, and it felt great getting back into a virtual world after a forced layoff.
My first impression is that it’s a very laid-back game. I don’t feel pressure to jump into anything right away and I spent my first few hours just exploring around, poking at this and that.
I like it honestly. We have enough games shouting “go, go, go” at us already. I’m feeling tired of being led by the nose, told what I should want and exactly how to get it, then take the long climb.
Somewhere down the road, most RPGs (even the single-player ones) forgot to let you make your own decisions.
Stooooooooooooooooooooop teeeeeeemmmmpppptttttiiiiiiiing meeeeeeeeee!
You and Syp are really bad for that. I figure if you guys like it I probably will – and I beta’d FE so I know I’d probably like it. Apart from the FPS interface.
LALALALA not hearing your review! 😉
“I assumed FE was going to get savaged by the greater MMO community.”
I think we’re prepared to be tolerant of a niche title that actually acts like a niche title, rather than shoving its hype down our throats like either it’s the next WoW or we’re all inferior for not preferring it to the things we’re doing now. More power to em. 🙂
@GA — Gee, I wonder what you might be referring to! *cough*Darkfall*cough* 😀