What is Darkfall? Darkfall is a Next Generation online roleplaying game developed by Razorwax AS.
What is an online roleplaying game? An online roleplaying game is a game that is played over the internet, in a world inhabited by thousands of real people. Everyone logs in from their computers all over the world and meet up in a fantasy world for adventure and fun.
What do you mean by Next Generation? By Next Generation we mean that Darkfall was inspired by the pioneers of online roleplaying games, such as Ultima Online, Everquest and Asherons Call, but has advanced features and technology that is never before seen in online games, and we are confident that Darkfall will advance the genre further.
What is the setting of Darkfall? Darkfall has all the features of its predecessors, meaning hundreds of combat skills/trade skills, hundreds of spells, hundreds of different monsters to kill, hundreds of dungeons, more magical items than you can shake a battleaxe at, vast wilderness, player owned houses and castles, and everything you expect from an online roleplaying game. Darkfall is highly geared towards player vs. player combat, and especially towards racial wars and player-run clans conquering city states owned by other player-run clans. You can read more about conquest here.
Racial wars? Yes. Darkfall has six different main character races: Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Mahirim, Orks and Alfar. Each race has different political standings with the other races. The Elves are at peace with Dwarves and Humans, but are wary of Mahirim, and are at war with the Orks. Everyone hates the Alfar, and the Alfar hate everyone. In effecst this means that Elven players may travel to Dwarven and Human cities without having any problems with the city guards, and may buy and sell in stores. If an Elven player traveled to an Orkish city, he would be killed on sight, both by city guards and other players. In Alfar cities, everyone gets killed anyway.
So you have only six races? Well yes and no. We have some pretty neat features when it comes to races. We will announce these at a later date.
Where can I read about the different races? Read about the different races of Darkfall here.
Can I play all races on the same account? No. This is something we have discussed at length within Razorwax, and we believe that there would be too much unwanted spying going on: if you play an Alfar, for example, you may log on your Elf scout just to check if the Elven town of Charybdis is well defended at the moment or not.
I have to be in a clan? Not at all. Darkfall can be played any way you want. If you want to get involved in conquest, wars and ruling kingdoms, you join a clan, or get together with some friends and start your own. If you just want to be a lone adventurer, hunting for treasure, magical items and fame, you just go out and do it. You can even be a mercenary, selling your sword arm to the highest bidder, or a merchant, setting up caravans and shops in different cities, buying high quality hides from Mahirim hunters, and selling them for top prices at Human cities. You can even hook up with a few friends and be pirates, sailing your galleon around, plundering merchant ships and other pirates, or a Dwarven blacksmith, crafting mighty magical weapons and armor, or maybe a farmer producing rare herbs and spell reagents that you can sell in the cities. The possibilities are endless.
Will it be possible to start a multi-race Clan? Yes. Clans with a mix of say humans, elves and dwarves will be common in Darkfall, or mixes of Orks and Mahirim. Alfar tend to not mix with other races at all.
Remember that human NPC hirelings, such as guards and vendors, will not tolerate Orks and Alfar players, and may attack them on sight, even though they are in the same Clan. In Alfar towns, NPC guards will attack anything not Alfar. The same goes for alignment, so an evil Clan will have to recruit evil NPC hirelings only.
There will most certainly be Clans in Darkfall with players from all races. We predict that this will be small evil player killer Clans, that will set up their Clan headquarters in remote locations, and not get involved in city conquest or empire building at all, since it will be almost impossible for these Clans to recruit NPC hirelings to help defend their cities, and run their shops. And who knows, maybe a strong Clan with a mix of all races may be able to run their cities, and conquer new territories without the help of NPC hirelings. It will be extremely hard, but it is possible in theory
Will you have character classes and levels in Darkfall? No. Darkfall has no traditional character classes, and no levels. Our character advancement system is 100% skill based, meaning you learn a new skill or spell from an NPC or another player (yes, neat huh?) and this skill or spell is raised by being used. In effect this means that if you purchase the skill Swordsmanship from an NPC or another player, it is raised by wielding a sword, and fighting monsters or players with it.
We wanted to give the players total control of what and how they want to play. Customize your own character to suit your playing style best, without traditional templates to limit your character. If you want to be an axe wielding dwarven fighter you simply pick up the Axe skill, Axe Mastery, Parry, Dodge, Cleave and other linked skills. If you later decide that some magic would be nice as support, you pick up a few magic skills and spells as well. Same goes for trade skills. Want to be able to create weapons? Pick up Smithing and Weapon Crafting.
Want to make clothing when you are tired of battle? Pick up Tailoring. No need to reroll your character. There is no way to "gimp" your character by picking the "wrong" skills or spells.
Get what you want, play as you want.
That being said - We do have something called Prestige classes, like Paladins, Warlocks, Assasins etc.
So I can learn any skill or spell? Almost. Some skills and spells are race specific, meaning you can not learn them unless you are of the appropriate race. The races also have limits on what they can and cant learn. The dwarves for instance, are better at melee fighting than they are at magic, so they can master some awesome melee techniques, but they can not learn some of the most advanced spells. Dwarves are however the best smiths in the world, so they can make magical armor that is alot better than those smiths of other races make. This somewhat makes up for them being a little weak at actual spellcasting.
We also has some special skills and spells for the prestige classes that members of the appropriate prestige class can learn.
So what are Prestigue Classes? Prestigue Classes are special classes, such as Paladin, Assasin, Gladiator, Enchanter, etc. These classes are totally optional, and if you dont want to, you dont ever have to pick a class for your character. Picking a Prestigue Class will in most cases give you a few special skills, maybe even a few special spells belonging to this particular Prestigue Class. Paladins for instance, gain the ability to Lay-Hands (instant heal) once every day. Some Prestigue Classes will give you real good bonuses, others may only have minor bonuses and a cool sounding name. A general rule however, is that the more bonuses you get, the more tradeoffs there are. Druids for instance, may never use metal armor after they are initiated into Druidhood. Paladins have to give half of their earnings to their church, etc.
Prestigue Classes may be interesting to some players, and some classes may give you an extra reason to roleplay, or maybe give you an edge as a PvPer, or as a player smith. We can promise you alot of interesting Prestigue Classes to try out.
Picking a Prestigue Class is not final - you can change class later, but this carries some minor penalties, such as a wait period.
The easy route would have been to make picking a Prestigue Class final, but we want to keep Darkfall as open ended as possible.
Do you have skill caps? Yes. Skills start at 1 and can be raised to 100.
How many spells and skills will Darkfall have? As many as we can possibly add before retail. We currently have about 300 skills and 200 spells designed on paper, but we are hoping to get at least 500 skills and 500 spells in there before retail.
Why so many spells and skills? Because we want to make combat, spellcasting, trade and item creation as interesting as possible. We want every player to have their own personal set of favourite spells and skills, so no combat situation is the same. Obviously there will be certain skill and spell combinations that work better than others in combat, but hopefully as many as possible, so at least a certain level of individual player skill can shine through, unlike other games we do not want to mention by name (but that we still love to play).
Can players make magical items? Yes. Darkfall features an extremely sophisticated item creator, that will enable players to create powerful items, such as weapons, jewelry, armor, wands, potions, food and more. We have invested alot of time and design resources into making the ultimate player based economy, so players that enjoy making a living as a trader, creator of quality weapons, amazing potions, or powerful magical items will truly enjoy Darkfall, and find a almost limitless item creator system never before seen in any MMORPG.
How do I gain new spells and skills? Most spells and skills can be purchased from NPCs, and they will teach you the basics of the particular skill or spell, so you can start using it and training it. Some NPCs may ask you to help them perform certain quests before they are willing to teach you special spells and skills.
What is your spell system like? We dont want to get into too much detail at this early stage, but spells will be divided into several different schools of magic: Lesser Magic, Greater Magic, Element of Fire, Element of Earth, Element of Water, Element of Air, Witchcraft, Spellsinging, Necromancy, Wild Magic, Arcane Magic and Ritual Magic. In addition there are some special spells that do not fit directly into any school of magic, such as racial specialty spells.
Can I cast spells while wearing armor? Yes. However, your casting time (the time it takes to actually cast the spell) will increase significantly if you are wearing heavy armor. So while it takes only 2 seconds for a player wearing a robe to cast a spell, it may take as long as 5 seconds for a player in a full platemail to cast the exact same spell. There is also a slighly increased chance of botching a spell if you are wearing heavy armor.
Will wearing armor affect running and swimming speed? Yes. If you are wearing heavy armor, you will run and swim slightly slower than if you are wearing no armor at all.
So why should I wear heavy armor at all? If you are wearing heavy armor, you will be harder to hit than if you are wearing no armor. Armor will also absorb some damage from swords, arrows and even spells. So there are tradeoffs involved here. You sacrifice movement speed and casting time (the time it takes to cast a spell), for getting hit less often, and for less damage.
How are you going to handle Player Killing? Anyone can attack anyone. In fact we encourage you to seek out and kill enemies of your race and your clan. However, it is up to each kingdom to set the rules of their borders. The different kingdoms have NPC guards, that have orders given to them by the player kings and lords. For example, in the city state of Midheim, controlled by the player clan Black Rose, it is illegal to steal and attack players of neutral and good alignment. Evil characters are not allowed into the city, in addition to members of the Keepers of Chaos clan, members of The Mercs and members of the House of Chaos clan. Guards will attack violators on sight, and all inhabitants of the city are encouraged to do the same. (We may add a feature to have guards Kill On Sight individual players too).
Well how am I gonna keep track of all different cities laws? You will find all the information you need on the political map. Including who controls the different city states/kingdoms/fiefs, their laws and who they kill on sight.
So you have an alignment in Darkfall? Yes. You start out with a neutral alignment, and based on your actions, this alignment changes. Being regarded by others as evil is easy, just kill someone totally unprovoked, and voila, you are evil, and will be killed on sight by most guards, clans and players. Changing your alignment towards good is a long and hard road, but once you get there, you will have the respect of all other neutral and good players, probably even the evil players.
Don't you fear that out of control player killers will ruin the game? No. Being a random player killer of evil alignment is definately possible, but also an extremely hard career. You will have enemies everywhere, and will have a hard time finding a safe city to sell/buy in. Also keep in mind that Darkfall is a very harsh world, deep into the dark ages and then some. This is a place were people will kill you if they get half a chance, loot you, take your equipment, and then brag about it to their friends. If you find it hard to get by on your own, join a clan, and you have instant protection, friends and allies. Grow strong, and go out and punish those that have done you wrong.
Remember that people can kill you, but you can also kill them. It goes both ways. Someone being rude, and refuse to leave you alone? Kill them. Someone stealing from you? Kill them. Someone camping your favourite part of the woods? Kill them.
We are not saying killing people is nice, a good idea, or even legal - we are just trying to prepare everyone for a really great game - a game were YOU decide what you want to do, and how you will interact with other people.
So what if a good clanis at war with another good clan? Once the clans have declared war on each other, no alignment adjustments will occur due to your actions towards members of the clan you are at war with.
Will Darkfall have safe zones? There wont be any traditional safe zones as seen in other games, were you cant attack anyone just because you entered a safe zone. However, a town owned by your Clan should be pretty safe, as long as your Clan has hired some strong NPC guards, and/or you have a few Clan friends hanging around. We do however expect that hostile Clans may launch small skirmish attacks on your city, and try to take out a few NPC guards, merchants or other players. Basically just to weaken the town defenses, terrorize its player inhabitants, and to hurt the defending Clans economy. NPC guards are expensive to hire, and the more often they die, the higher they consider the risk of guarding this particular city, and they will demand higher wages for their services. Re-equipping looted guards will also take its toll from the defending Clans battlechest.
Can you fight in cities? Yes you can fight wherever you want. No safe zones.
Darkfall looks great, but i dont like PvP, can I play anyway? This game is geared towards the PvP market, so you may find Darkfall a bit too harsh for you. That being said, we are aiming at having more useful tradeskills than any released MMORPG to this date, so you may find something of interest to you in Darkfall despite all the PvP action. Most Clans will need a large range of player smiths, farmers, tailors, hunters, fishermen, alchemists, miners, etc., and they will offer relatively safe cities and good accommodations for those willing to spend time crafting items, or providing supplies for the Clan. In theory you could play Darkfall for a year, and never have to take part in any PvP as long as you are careful, and dont venture too far into dangerous territories. Also remember that the Darkfall world is absolutely huge, with hundreds of small islands scattered all over the world. Nothing is preventing you from finding a hard to reach, hard to find little spot of the world, set up a house, and live in peace with a few friends, hunting in the nearby woods, or adventuring into the local dungeons without seeing other players for weeks at a time.
Darkfall can be experienced any way you prefer. We are just making the game - you play it.
Will Darkfall Have player owned houses? Definately. Players will be able to set up houses of various sizes and design, ranging from small cottages to huge castles and citadels.
Can I design my own house? Yes. [more info to come]
Will Darkfall have universal banks? Most probably. It will be tested in alpha and beta. We like the idea that if you deposit a longsword in a bank, you have to go back to the exact same bank to withdraw it. However this might prove too annoying in the long run, and as with everything else, we have to consider gameplay issues vs. realism.
Can you walk through other players in Darkfall? No, so blocking entrances etc will be a viable pvp tactic. It is possible to push players and monsters out of the way though, so this tactic can be countered.
Can I have pets or NPC hirelings in Darkfall? Yes. You can have pets and NPC hirelings in Darkfall, ranging from tamed animals and monsters, to summoned skeletons, charmed animals and monsters, hired NPC merchants, hired NPC guards, etc.
What can my NPC hirelings do? NPC hirelings can follow you around and fight with you, they can carry your loot, they can perform skills and spells to aid you, etc. NPC hirelings can do pretty much everything that player friends can do. In addition, NPC hirelings can be given advanced orders such as patrolling your city, looking for enemies, criminals and thieves. They can be a vendor in your shop that you have set up, they can mine for minerals in a mine, they can go out into the forest and chop wood for you, or stand on the banks of a river, fishing for you all day.
Can I have more than one NPC hireling? Yes. You can have several NPC hirelings under your command at all times. The maximum number of NPC hirelings you can have under your command is limited by several leadership and command skills.
How do I tell my NPC hirelings what to do? You can either give an NPC hireling a direct one-time order, such as "heal me", or you can set up a more permanent chain of orders, through an advanced NPC hireling interface in Darkfall. This advanced interface can tell the NPC hireling to heal you every time your health goes below say 10% of your max health, and cast invisibility on you and herself if enemies comes running at you. Obviously the NPC hireling has to have the matching skills and spells to perform these actions.
NPC hirelings have skills and spells like players, and the more skills or spells an NPC hireling has, and the better skill and spell levels she has, the more gold will she require for her services.
Can I survive in Darkfall without learning magic? Absolutely. You can be extremely successful in Darkfall doing only tradeskills and being good at diplomatics and politics. Start a Clan, or hire some NPC hirelings, and let others do the killing and dirty work for you.
Can I be successful in PVP without learning magic? We are balancing magic and melee/archery skills so that you can compete even if you choose not to learn magic. Darkfall is a magical world though, so if you are hell-bent on not picking up any magic skills or spells, you may have to rely on magical items, potions or scrolls to aid you in PVP. But it will definately be possible.
The most successful 1vs1 PVPers in Darkfall will probably know a good amount of both melee, stealth and magical skills, and use both defensive and offensive magic to win fights. In Clan wars, teams with a healthy mix of wizards, warriors, archers, thieves and priests will probably dominate, as long as they are well coordinated and trained. But dont forget all the tradesmen, farmers, bakers, miners etc in the Clans city, stocking up supplies of spell reagents, gold, weapons, potions, armor etc to help your Clan win the war in the long run. The fighting bit is only part of what it will take for a Clan to dominate in Darkfall.
What effect will eating or not eating have on my character? We dont want to add too many mundane everyday issues to Darkfall. However we do think that eating or not should have some influence on your character. This means that if you are absolutely starving, your stats and skills will take a small penalty, and you will regenerate hitpoints, stamina and mana slightly slower than if you werent starving. Nothing big – you cant die from hunger - just enough for it to make sense to have some food in your backpack.
We have tradeskills such as farming, setting snares and hunting animals, and we are serious about having useful tradeskills in Darkfall. Therefore eating is in the game, and players that enjoy farming, setting traps, baking, cooking, fishing, hunting, etc. can sell their wares to other players and actually be useful to others.
Will you have permanent character death? No. This is a very bad idea.
Will you have character aging? No. This is almost as bad as permanent death.
What camera view will Darkfall have? Darkfall will have a first-person camera view. Probably the most debated issue in our team, with strong points both for and against. We settled for first-person view because we believe this view gives the most immersed gaming experience, the most nerve wrecking combat situations, and the most beautiful view of our landscape and dungeons. o.O
Counterstrike, Quake and Unreal work pretty well yea? Oh and RPG games with first-person views that work great: Arena, Daggerfall, Ultima Underworld, Deus Ex.
Will Darkfall feature night/day cycles? Absolutely. The sun comes up in the morning, and goes down in the evening just like in real life. The exact timecycle is not set yet, but the current total night/day cycle is about 4 hours long.
Will Darkfall feature weather effects? Yes. Expect realistic weather effects, such as rain, snow, wind blowing in the trees, wind blowing in the grass on the ground, thunder and lightning.
Will Darkfall have "zones"? No. Darkfall will not have "zones" and zone loading as seen in other MMORPGs when traveling in the huge Darkfall World. There will be a short loading pause when entering dungeons though.
How will you prevent cheating and hacks? Darkfall was developed with preventing and detecting cheating and hacking in mind from day one.
We are not going to tell you exactly how we will prevent and detect cheating and hacking, but rest assured that cheaters and hackers will be found and dealt with.
How will you punish cheaters and hackers? Cheaters and hackers will be banned from the game, and their characters will be deleted.
How much will I have to pay to play Darkfall? We have no idea yet, probably the same as other MMORPGs on the market - $50 for the CD, first month free, then $10 each month. We'll see. Obviously it would be cool to give the game away for free, but we got bills to pay :)
How about system requirements? The alpha engine runs on a PIII 800mzh, with 256mb RAM and a Gforce 2 card. Obviously the retail version will be optimized alot, but this is a very demanding game. We are just not sure what system we should recommend just yet. Minimum internet connection? It should work with a 56k modem, but we obviously recommend DSL or Cable :)
Will Darkfall support different gaming platforms? Darkfall is primarily developed for the PC. It is unlikely that we will support other platforms, and at least not till after the PC version is out, and a proven success. An Xbox version is possible, but not planned. Darkfall for Mac or Linux is highly unlikely.
One of the things I wanted to write about for some time now is a Darkfall guide I stumbled upon a few weeks after the release of the game. I was really, really sceptical about this guide and never thought I'd find anything useful in one, but I've been wrong once or twice before so...
