Monthly Archives: February 2015

Life is Feudal: Your Own – The Next Big Sandbox?

By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF)

 

 

Life is Feudal: Your Own is an up-and-coming sandbox game and the precursor to the MMO Sandbox of the same name. It is being developed by an Indie development studio based out of Russia. The primary difference between Your Own and the planned “MMO version” of the game is that Your Own will focus on a single player and privately owned server experience. The game features strong sandbox elements like hunger, terraforming, farming, and in-depth crafting. It also features a more action-based combat system that is often described as similar to Mount & Blade. Though it originally got off to a slow start, Life is Feudal is picking up and thousands of players have already bought the game, simultaneously testing and enjoying the game.

 

 

Graphics

The graphics in Life is Feudal are awe-inspiring. The realistic style truly brings to life the game world in so many ways. Whoever worked on the art in this game deserves an award, in my opinion, as this is honestly the first time I have been so captivated with the graphics in a multiplayer, let alone MMO, game. The textures are of a high quality, the models are incredibly detailed, and the animations are smooth as anything I’ve seen. I hope this game works in support for the Oculus Rift because I can only imagine how amazing the game would be with VR. Heck, I already find myself logging on to simply walk through the game and admire the sights. It’s not that Life is Feudal has the highest quality graphics I’ve ever come across; its graphics are just composed more like a painting than a game.

 

I’ll get into greater detail on that later in this article, but first I need to talk about one of my favorite components of the game, the structures. They simply provide a look and feel for player cities that I’ve never seen in a sandbox MMO before. The trees are beautiful, too. All of the fauna is beautiful. I hope the level of quality currently available will survive the optimization phases of development later in the year. Right now, I can chug along at around 30 FPS at my preferred settings, but if I take part in larger servers, I can see myself needing to lower those settings.

Life is Feudal Preview Graphics2

 

 

Controls

In these types of games, namely games focused on offering maximum freedom and side ventures to tackle, a recurring issue of clunky controls always seems to bog down gameplay. A clunky UI often goes along as the icing on the dry carrot cake. Right now, I think the Life is Feudal UI is decent, there is definitely some chunkiness but I can live with it. For example, like Wurm Online (which literally gave me tendonitis when I played the game hardcore) there is a lot of right click menu use. This was honestly my biggest fear when starting up Life is Feudal for the first time – extensive, and required, use of the right-click menus.

Life is Feudal Preview Right Click

There are some methods to get around the right click menu – such as the “Default” action that can be easily set. This is the action that is used when you left click and item, and you can set up the Default for each type of item. Most of the controls, even this early, are as smooth as can be. So, you could set the default action for logs to “carry” when you need to transport them, or “Saw out a board” when you need to mass produce boards for building. It comes in handy.

 

 

Stats & Skills

As with most sandbox games, Life is Feudal makes use of a skill system rather than a level system. However, the skill system is a bit more imaginative than the standard fare. As opposed to just having a single skill for each tool, weapon, or craft, there are skill “paths.” In these paths, you’ll need to reach a certain point in the previous skill to unlock the next skill. And, within each skill, there are multiple points you need to get to in order to unlock new abilities and bonuses.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Skills

Crafting skill tree.

 

The skills available are generally less than most other sandbox games. But this is because a lot of skills that would normally be spread out in other games are condensed in Life is Feudal. So, while your initial impression may be that there are less skills to choose from, the reality is “less is more.” Personally, though, I did find this system incredibly frustrating at first – it’s just so different from what I’m used to. It felt like I was forced into making certain choices in order to reach goals – such as using an armor I didn’t particularly like in order to get decent skills for a certain weapon.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Skills2

This is the “minor” skill tree.

 

Stats are also pretty important. Unlike skills, stats will go up much slower (though, in the “Your Own” version of the game, the stat/skill gain is based on whatever the server admin wants). Both the stats and skills have a “cap” that you cannot go over. But, because stats go up so much slower, you feel like you don’t have so much freedom as you do when it comes to re-organizing and learning new skills. Also, both stats and skills make use of the plus, minus, or lock system from games like Ultima Online.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Stats

Notice the Up, Down, and Lock icons.

 

 

Terraforming

What sets Life is Feudal apart from a lot of other sandbox games is the ability to terraform. Until recently, only Xsyon and Wurm Online (to my knowledge) allowed for the kind of “land sculpting” that Life is Feudal offers. Of course, now we also have EverQuest Landmark with Next on the horizon. This terraforming literally means that hills can be flattened or raised by the players’ hard work and dedication. It also includes the ability to tunnel into rock to mine or create an underground safe haven.

Life is Feudal Preview Terraforming

The terraforming system used in Life is Feudal is a bit different than what I’m used to. Most of my experience comes from Wurm Online, which uses a border tile and corner system that allows for some pretty exact detailing when it comes to terraforming. In contrast, Life is Feudal uses an Up Slope, Down Slope, and flatten system. The way this works is that the command is based on the tile you are standing on – if you’re standing on a flat tile next to a sloped tile and use the “Flatten” command, the game will do actions that try to flatten the target tile in comparison to the tile you stand on. It sounds simple enough at first, but if you’re like me and are used to other systems, it may take a while for you to wrap your head around the new concept. Heck, if you’re new you might find it a bit difficult to pick up as well – my guild had to hold a “mini-class” on terraforming to get us all on the same page.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Tunneling

It’s almost relaxing, tunneling.

 

Another aspect of terraforming is mining and tunneling. In Life is Feudal, tunneling is the process of creating tunnels through rock. Therefore, it is also the method with which you can get rock for things like stone structures. Mining, however, is a separate action and skill and is used to extract ore from mineral veins – like iron. Both take a decent time investment – it takes lots of actions to go through a solid rock wall or ore vein, and each action will take a few seconds at least. This, I feel, provides a sense that things take effort to achieve while not completely requiring people quit their day job.

Life is Feudal Preview Mining

 

 

Building

Life is Feudal makes use of a pre-fabricated building system. That is, you won’t be able to design your own buildings like you can do in certain other games (*cough* Wurm *cough*). This isn’t all bad though. While you don’t have freedom in choosing what the house looks like, the model for the house is a LOT more detailed and beautiful looking. I cannot fully relay to you how mind-blowingly real the town my guild created on our Life is Feudal: Your Own server felt. After we had completed it, we stared in awe at our housing district and workshops surrounding a small keep. It’s something you need to experience yourself, preferably on a high-end PC so the looks of the game can truly shine.

 

Life is Feudal Preview House

Doesn’t that look fantastic? One of the larger houses available.

 

There are a wide assortment of buildings to make use of in the game already. From carpentry shops, to blacksmiths, keeps, and even small kilns. One thing I love about all this is each thing you come across in the game is built by player efforts. The Bloomery you’re using was created by another player, using resources that they or someone else gathered. Hey, maybe you gathered the resources and they made it for you because your skills weren’t up to snuff. That tree you just cut down was potentially planted by another player. And if not, you at least know that it went through a growth process to get to where it was before you killed it with your axe. It puts so much more weight into everything you come across in the game world.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Shop

That wheelbarrow and all of those containers can be used, picked up, and moved by players.

 

Each building serves a purpose – a house you can place beds, furniture, storage containers, etc… in. A Blacksmith Shop will enable you to do blacksmithing, a warehouse will store large amounts of items. And they all look so great together. Another neat thing is that once the building is created, I do have some control over customization. For example, I can fill the Blacksmith Shop I just mentioned with crates to store resources and finished products in. When I first came across a building, I got the impression that the furniture and containers were just for show because they literally looked like they were part of the house model, but nope each one was created and placed by a player and can be interacted with. I could even put it on my back and make off with it, if I wanted.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Furniture Back

Excuse me while I steel this bed for my own home.

 

 

Crafting & Gathering

The crafting system in Life is Feudal is interesting, to say the least. There’s a nice amount of options, with time and effort resulting in rewards. The higher your skills and tool quality, the higher quality of your output. Which gets me into the resource gathering system, which is essentially the same – the higher your skill and tools (if applicable) the higher quality resources you’ll end up getting. Personally, I’ve found myself leaning towards the resource gathering aspect of the game – I find mining rewarding as I can get valuable resource for my group while watching movies or reading a book.

Life is Feudal Preview Crafting

The quality system is the crux of the whole thing. It’s the driving force that makes crafting an important part of the game – you want to have the highest quality items, so you’ll spend the time and effort to work towards creating them. The reason you will want those higher quality items is to make things easier, to do more damage in combat or receive higher skill gain bonuses when consuming food. And that demand for high quality items will power the economy. From mining and logging to blacksmithing and alchemy, quality impacts all aspects of your life. Needless to say, I’m a big fan of the quality system available in Life is Feudal. It makes sense to me and has a clear purpose in the game.

Life is Feudal Preview Quality

 

 

Combat

Like I said in the introduction, combat is similar to Mount & Blade. This means multiple strikes to make use of, third and first person perspectives, ranged, and mounted combat. It’s not exactly the same – especially considering that (in my opinion) the combat system still requires a lot of polish. But, after participating in the combat, Mount & Blade is the game that popped into my head immediately.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Combat

Practicing my thrusts with my trusty pickaxe.

 

There’s a number of different weapon types – from one-handed swords, to spears, to maces and more. I love the variety offered, but I do have an issue. Like I mentioned under the “skills” section, in order to learn some skills you’ll need to reach a minimum in other skills. Because of the way the skill system is set up, you’ll have to invest points – even if it’s a minimum – into weapon or armor skills you don’t want to use or have. I find this frustrating at times. But then again, the game is still in Early Access and there’s definitely time for things to change. I’ll still play the game either way, though.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Combat Skills

I’d like to use spears with Chainmail, but I’d also have to learn Militia Weapons and Padded Armor.

 

There are also ranged weapons to go along with the melee. Starting the basic sling, it goes up to crossbows and bows. The ranged weapons feel a lot like Mount & Blade ranged weapons, as well. Personally, I fell in love with the sling right away – even though the animations for it are currently kinda buggy and it’s definitely not the “best” out of the lot. It’s still a fun weapon for me. Mounted combat is also planned, though not yet released. So I can’t quite comment on that yet.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Ranged Combat

My trusty sling.

 

 

Survival

There are some survival features in Life is Feudal. They’re not near as apparent or complete as an actual “survival” game, but they play such a role that each group will want at least one person capable of creating high quality food. For example, with the way the game currently works, there is a substantial skill gain bonus for consuming food. There’s (currently) no drink system, but there is a “hunger” bar. The negative for not keeping that bar full seems to be slower stamina regeneration.

Life is Feudal Preview Hunger

Another aspect of survival is the need for protection. Essentially, you’re going to want to wall in what’s yours. If not, you may find predators wandering into your place to kill you or your domesticated animals. This isn’t quite apparent in the current iteration of the game, but you can definitely tell that this is the way the game will go. And, if you play on a public server, you’ll want to have palisades to keep out hostile players.

 

Life is Feudal Preview Walls

Now, if only there was a way to lock the front gate…

 

State of the Game

If you play the game, you’ll definitely notice that Life is Feudal: Your Own is in Early Access/Alpha. Even though a lot of features are present, there are still a decent handful missing and a lot of polish needed on the ones that are already in. For example, a decent portion of the skills available are not fully implemented at this time. My biggest issue, really my only current issue, is that the game is not optimized yet and the optimization isn’t planned until April. On a server where a decent number of people play and a lot of terraforming has been going on, you’ll find it can take you ten minutes or more to actually load into the server. This encourages smaller groups, frequent server resets, and very restrictive server rules. All three of which can severely hinder your fun.

Life is Feudal Preview  Not Implemented

Don’t take this as me saying that you shouldn’t get the game. If you like the concept, I encourage you to buy the game right now even. Just don’t come into it expecting a complete experience – you’ll just have a bad time with that mentality. If you do decide to buy, know what you’re getting into. You may be happy to know that updates come frequently and so far the devs have been keeping up with their Roadmap. Personally, I’m looking forward to February’s update which will introduce the Claim system. My guild has been keeping our server private because there is currently no way to control who can open or interact with our stuff – if we had it public, a random person could just hop into a house and take everything out of the chest. With the Claim system, that will no longer be an issue and we can invite others to join us.

Life is Feudal Preview  Roadmap

 

 

Conclusion

Life is Feudal doesn’t just have potential, it’s proven that potential. The game is already a blast to play with a ton of great features. Updates come frequently and there’s a clear plan to release in September of this year as long as everything sticks to schedule. If you don’t come into the game with false impressions or hopes for a complete game, I can safely say you’ll enjoy your time and get your money’s worth. Be sure to check the game out on Steam Early Access, where the game currently has “Mostly Positive” ratings.

Guild Wars 2: Revenant Stream Preview

This afternoon on Guild Wars 2‘s weekly “Points of Interest” livestream, the team focused showcasing the new Revenant class coming in the Heart of Thorns expansion.

GW2 Revenant Glint

The featured gameplay of the Revenant focused on its recently revealed skills and legends. The Revenant is a class that goes back to many of the mechanics and lore of the original Guild Wars series, and acts as a blend of fighter, brawler, and dark magic user. Shown were the hammer, mace, and axe weapons, along with the Legendary Stances of Jalis and Mallyx, but there are more weapon sets and legendaries to be shown in the future.

One thing of quick note is the energy mechanic. For those who aren’t familiar with, or don’t remember from their Guild Wars days, energy fuels the attacks of a Revenant. Each attack costs energy, shown as a small bar on screen between stances and weapon skills. Weapon skills take small amounts of energy to use, while legend skills take large amounts of energy (some skills also act as upkeep skills, which will continue to use energy until cancelled or energy is depleted). This adds an extra layer of depth and strategy as players must carefully use this resource so as not to gimp themselves when in need of a specific attack.

GW2 Revenant Battle Stance

The Hammer has always been a two-handed melee weapon in Guild Wars 2, but for the Revenant, it transforms into a ranged weapon (similar to the way a Mesmer uses a Great Sword). Its first skill throws forward a hammer and pierces enemies in a line. The second, Coalescence of Rain, creates a cascading attack (using new tech) that creatures further attacks over time and does greater damage over a longer distance. The third skill is a somewhat ranged snare, letting players leap forward at a ground target and damage and chill enemies.

Hammer’s fourth skill, Field of The Mists, also uses new mechanics to summon a wall of projectile protection in front of the character. Unlike other skills, this protective wall stays with the character, moving and changing direction as the character moves, making use of its positioning key. Hammer’s fifth and final skill adds more to the control aspect of the weapon set, doing a large knock down and damage to an area to help Revenants keep enemies at range.

GW2 Revenant Mace Axe

Mace and Axe were also shown as a combination, with Mace taking the main hand slot. Mace’s first attack is a three-part combo, where the first two attacks do torment damage, and the final attack is a poison attack that chains between enemies and bounces damage and conditions to enemies behind the target. The second mace attack creates a thin line of fire that creates a field from the character, and the third is a triple-blast finisher that creates a cascading blast after leaping at the enemy.

Axe’s first off-hand ability teleports players to the enemy to deal damage, but its second ability is also quite new. Called Temporal Rift, the character uses their axe to cut a rift into the mist in front of their character. After a short time, this rift will collapse, pulling enemies into it and trapping them again in front of the Revenant.

GW2 Revenant Temporal Rift

As for Legendary Stances, players have a lot to look forward there, too. Legends can be slotted into one of two spots, which are used as alternating stances available for the Revenant. Their skills then go into the right-hand side of the skill bar, offering a full complementary set of abilities.

Jalis Ironhammer’s skill set offers some tanky and defensive abilities. These abilities include Inspiring Reinforcement, which is an angled skill ground attack that grants stability while weakening enemies; Vengeful Hammers, which swirls hammers around the character with an energy upkeep; and an area defense boon for players to assist themselves along with their allies.

GW2 Revenant Malyxx

Malyxx’s set is designed to be more offensive, and uses a unique condition manipulation mechanic. Here players can use Resistance (a boon) to allow conditions to remain on them without causing negative effects. Malyxx users will be able to use these stacks of conditions to boost their skills, including increasing the effectiveness of their heal, adding bonus conditions to enemies on attacks, and pulsing outward conditions to grant them back to enemies forcefully. Malyxx’s skill set also uses a “reverse shadowstep,” which forces enemies away from an area, along with a boon removal attack.

Also shown for the Revenant, briefly, were three of the Trait lines (Corruption for Malyxx, Retribution for Jalis, and Invocation for general Revenant mechanics) and the downed skills, which include a slow, a displace beam, and a pull. We’re looking forward to seeing what else this powerhouse of a class will offer as it gets revealed!

Starriser: New Fleets Introduced

Starriser

As it already did for the Alpha version of Starriser, their much awaited space- themed MMO, Valencian studio Arpic Games is introducing all the ships that will be available for their player’s first steps in the game’s Beta. There are new units to build a space armada, joining the old players’ favorites.

These new models fill in new gaps in the fleet, with different ship classes to cover players’ needs. The new strategic choices these allow open up new gameplay options and improve the playing experience. Thus, Starriser settlers can go for maneuverability and versatility with a fleet heavy on Light Fighters, or command epic battles aboard gigantic ships such as the Cruiser in their quest for universe domination. This new fleet opens up a wide array of options and styles that will surely suit any type of player, and provide them with a unique experience. From traders to conquerors, all players will have unlimited choices when building their fleet and planning the expansion strategy for their space empire.

This new ship pack will be available for all users joining Starriser’s Beta version at www.starriser.com , and all players who already joined the alpha will automatically have them available.

Dirty Bomb: Stress Tests Scheduled For Steam

Dirty Bomb

Nexon America and Splash Damage are temporarily opening the floodgates for their upcoming hardcore first-person shooter Dirty Bomb, with two stress tests to be held in February and March. Beginning today, Nexon will invite more than 100,000 new players to take part in the game’s closed Beta for server tests running on Steam the weekends of Feb. 20 – 23 and March 6 – 9.

Dirty Bomb stress test schedule:

  • Friday, Feb. 20 at 9 a.m. PST / 5 p.m. GMT thru Monday, Feb. 23 at 9 a.m. PST / 5 p.m. GMT
  • Friday, March 6 at 9 a.m. PST / 5 p.m. GMT thru Monday, March 9 at 9 a.m. PST / 5 p.m. GMT

To welcome new players, Nexon and Splash Damage have released a new Training video, viewed on YouTube.

Developed by UK-based Splash Damage, Dirty Bomb is a competitive multiplayer online first-person shooter, and the first in a new generation of games published by Nexon America. Free-to-play, and more importantly, free-to-win, Dirty Bomb is a unique team-based game in which players will select from a diverse group of mercenaries, each with their own very different personalities, talents and weapons, to create specialized squads to take into the fray on a quest for riches and bragging rights.

Earlier this year, Nexon America and Valve announced a partnership to bring Dirty Bomb exclusively to the Steam platform. Running on dedicated servers, the game now delivers matchmaking, chat and parties, with additional Valve solutions coming soon through the Steamworks program.

For more information on the game, and for the chance to be part of Dirty Bomb’s closed beta, please visit http://dirtybomb.com

Dungeons 2 Release Date Confirmed for April 24

Dungeons 2

The Dawn of Terror approaches. On April 24, The Dungeon Lord shall arise from the dark depths of The Underworld, as Dungeons 2 is released for PC, Mac & SteamOS. Featuring a unique mixture of classic dungeon simulation and real-time strategy gameplay, Dungeons 2 challenges players to assume the role of The Dungeon Lord as he crafts a network of terrifying dungeons and uses its resources to fuel a campaign against the forces of goodliness. Order your servant snots to do your bidding and fill your coffers with gold, amass an army of lurching minions and then head to the surface world of the humans to conquer The Overworld. A brand new gameplay trailer is available to watch below, featuring in-game narrator and acclaimed voice actor Kevan Brighting. It shows off the basic ways to look after your dungeon, as well as how to manage your demonic horde once you reach the surface.

Dungeons 2 will be available worldwide via Steam for Windows PC, Mac and SteamOS on April 24, with a boxed retail version for PC released in Europe on the same day.  The North American PC retail version will be available at retail on April 28. For more information please visit: http://www.dungeons-game.com/en/.