Topic: Defiance

[Xessive]

It can be best described on the official website. To sum it up, it's an open-world shooter that is accompanied by an upcoming TV series of the same name and apparently the game and series can affect one another.

I'm sure storywise the game and show will have something interesting. I've been playing the Defiance beta over the last couple of days and I have to say it is fun. It bears many marks of a traditional MMO but it breaks away in having real-time combat and some gameplay elements more akin to Planetside 2.

It's coming out on PC, X360, and PS3. While the developer has demonstrated that it is technically capable of cross-platform play apparently it will not have the capability due primarily to corporate issues (Microsoft won't allow it) which doesn't make sense considering they have done it in the past with Final Fantasy XI across X360, PS2, and PC.This article illustrates the points in more detail.

Anyway, all issues aside, the game pretty fun. It will not have subscription fees; they're going for a Guild Wars style scheme, pay for the game and play.

[W7RE]

I've been in the last few PC beta weekends, and have been in the alpha for a couple weeks (not really alpha, just a live test environment that the devs update more often, and is up 24/7). It's tough putting too much time into it though because I've already done the early game stuff several times. The game is pretty decent, though not amazing. I can see it being a lot of fun with a friend or two. There's the main story missions, which are mostly phased (your own version of the overworld area where it takes place), and tons of side missions. World events (arkfalls) like in Rift or the old undead invasion that happens way back in WoW. You can queue up for pvp matches, or join in an open world pvp mode with capture points. (takes place in the questing areas, not a dedicated pvp location, but you have to queue for it and it only starts when there's enough people.)

I've been trying to get on the Xbox 360 beta since it started yesterday, with zero luck so far. There's some issue where it tells you, "A sign-in change has occurred. Returning to title screen." and you never get in. My friend that was thinking of buying it doesn't have a PC and we play everything on Xbox, so we were thinking of getting it there.

[PyroMenace]

I actually played the beta yesterday for a little while and I couldn't get into it. I was looking into it for a little while as the show and video game concept intrigued me and the setting seemed cool to me. But the game just felt too much like MMO mediocrity. Simple quests, boring mob AI, and I just didn't like the way the shooting felt. It looks pretty nice on PC and its cool that they give you a vehicle to traverse the environment right away. Maybe the higher level content is more interesting but I don't want to slog through the early game to get there. Again it's a cool concept but its MMO trappings feel years old now.

[W7RE]

Yea you really have to be into MMOs to not take issue with the enemy ai and quests in most of them. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. MMOs still have a long way to go before they can have the pull of a regular game, because they give up so much that weve just come to expect in standard games. If you can actually get into them though, progressing your character can be really addicting.

[Xessive]

MMOs, to an extent, feel like classic games especially with their strict adherence to scripted events, which seems to be the only effective way to manage how game events appear for a myriad of players.

Defiance is a MMO game but the way the controls and overall gameplay come across make it feel much more accommodating to people who aren't fans of MMOs. With few exceptions, I don't consider myself a fan of MMOs, hence my never-ending pursuit of the ideal MMO.

My experience with the beta is thus far positive. I'm enjoying it and I can definitely see this being a lot of fun with friends.

It is tough out there for a new IP. So here's hoping this one makes its mark and succeeds.