Two MMORPGs, Two Paradigms
I poked around Fallen Earth for about 45 mins this morning. Sort of hemmed and hawed over taking a couple of quests, explored a bit and then saw a notice on the chat window about the server coming down. A few hours maintenance in the middle of the day for a new patch: It’s not surprising, the game is very raw right now. Seriously raw. I hesitate to be critical, because it’s from a small developer and it just oozes charm.
While I waited for that server to come back up, I jumped into Champions for a bit. This is like apples and oranges, but it screams out for comparison when I play two games back to back like this:
Champions Online: I ran around on my Champions character like a kid in a candy shop, or maybe a bull in a china shop. The combat feels so expressive to me and I fully expressed myself for an hour or so, tossing mobs to and fro with my Force character. I threw myself into fights (literally via travel powers) and I just enjoyed myself vs the Mob AI. It feels explosive. Building myself up via the Powersets has been satisfying, although I may be a bit overpowered now. I’m very comfortable with my character at this point and for me the game now revolves around that.
Fallen Earth: In Fallen Earth, I’m just a newb. I’m still wearing the same jumpsuit as every other newb. I’ve got a couple of hidden tattoos, but (regardless of level) the primary distinction between other players appears to be hairstyle and the choice of weapons strapped to your back. My character is new and there’s a great big world to explore. It’s humbling. I killed a rabbit today and skinned it. I feel a bit like a small spec of sand.
There’s something to be said about being one peon in a universe of other peons. It’s an RPG thing for me: I can get deeply into my character’s own responsibility to separate himself from the crowd. Sooner or later I’ll have covered some ground and it will be to my own satisfaction when I’ve made my way in that world.
These are two completely different experiences, the strengths of both (for me at least) firmly planted in RPG. I enjoy my character so much in Champions, probably moreso than any other MMORPG. I also haven’t felt like I was in an actual virtual world in a long time and that’s what Fallen Earth is giving me.
I’m loving both of these games so far.
Force fun on Monster Island
I had another video I was going to upload for Monster Island, but I was having too much fun today on the walls of an Argent base that was perfect for tossing mobs around with my Force powers.
You can see a bit of the playstyle I’ve adopted, where I tap block for energy. I have Force Shield with the Force Sheath advantage, so I can block and the effect lingers, absorbing damage and converting it to energy.
When I’m throwing mobs around like this, I intentionally stick to a smaller subset of my overall powers which I get into a rhythm with. If I expect more trouble, then I pull out the Field Drones and whatnot.
Note: Blue smoke is nasty, it drains energy.
Lemuria quick video
I’ve been requested to show some more of Monster Island and Lemuria. Here’s a quick video of Lemuria to start, just to give you an idea of what the water effects look like and how combat plays out underwater.
If you want get a better idea of the ripple effects, try the larger (click for YouTube) or fullscreen version of the video, they’re a bit subtle for the small embedded size here.
