Defiance (formerly One Earth)

[CeeKay]

SyFy melds TV and game into a singular entity.  things that happen in game can affect the show and things that happen in the show affect the game.  it sounds pretty ambitious, perhaps too much so....

[CeeKay]

this is now called Defiance according to Sci Fi: http://blastr.com/2011/03/syfy-unveils-its-largest.php

[Blackjack]

PC Gamer's print edition about Blizzard's anniversary had a very interesting sort of flow chart listing all of the games that former Blizzard devs have, or are working on over the last decade or so. It seemed to list two WoW devs that went on to Trion, one specifically on Rift and the other on presumably what Defiance is. I assume the flow chart was limited mostly to higher level devs and not the equivalent of a key grip or best boy on a movie.

I used to joke we'd keep seeing games touted as "from the creators of Starcraft," and "from the makers if Diablo," and when you reviewed the fine print, the dev team had someone who worked in the art department of one game or helped with "UI programming" on another.

[rittchard]

Another link:

http://www.trionworlds.com/en/games/syfy-action-mmo.php

The game is from Trion, makers of Rift.  CK, I'm wondering if this would go better in the Off Topic section since the real novelty is that it's going to be a TV show?  I dunno.

In any case, these guys need to hire ME now (or maybe a group of us here) before they make all the same idiotic mistakes (in both genres) that everyone continues to make.  No one is a bigger both TV AND MMORPG junkie, and they really really need someone to make sure they don't mess up what could be a really cool thing.

[CeeKay]

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8eSgg3y7W68

The game is from Trion, makers of Rift.  CK, I'm wondering if this would go better in the Off Topic section since the real novelty is that it's going to be a TV show?  I dunno.

I'm only interested in the game.  I may catch the show on Sci Fi but I'm betting that part gets canceled for more wrestling.

[CeeKay]

making of video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6BNYSf_Ivo

[CeeKay]

beta signups are up, plus they have a new co-op battles trailer.

[Blackjack]

PA Report's Take from a Trion-paid press trip:

Firefly by way of World of Warcraft: how Defiance is bridging games and television
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/firefly-by-way-of-world-of-warcraft-how-defiance-is-bridging-games-and-tele

At the beginning of the game, your ship comes under attack, and your escape pod crashes. You’re separated from the scientist mastermind who hired you to escort him as he studied Ark tech, and much of the game’s early missions revolve around you trying to find your way back, before getting caught up in something much more grand.

You have what’s called an “EGO” implant to help you along the way. Your EGO is a soft-spoken AI companion, who offers mission advice, as well as various tutorials. She’s basically Cortana, but with a voice and personality that calls to mind Angel from Borderlands. I half-expected her to start talking about a “funny little robot” at any moment.

It’s not just the gentle, feminine AI that will remind you of Gearbox’s FPS/RPG hybrid. Enemies drop various guns, shields, and grenades as loot, and though they don’t get as stat-crazy as Borderlands, they do support elemental add-ons which can deal extra damage via things like fire and acid. It even has a bright, colorful, stylized aesthetic, which is a welcome break from the brown and gray apocalypses we’re used to.

Defiance mixes the third-person shooter game play with MMORPG structure in a similar way as Borderlands merged its respective genres, and for the most part, it works quite well.

I played on PC, but found the controls better-suited to an Xbox 360 controller as opposed to a mouse and keyboard. Defiance doesn’t rely on a complicated array of buttons and bars, like many MMORPGs. When using a gamepad, you use left analog to move, right to aim, left trigger to zoom in, right trigger to fire. Left bumper activates your special ability, right bumper tosses a grenade, and up on the d-pad calls in your vehicle. In other words, Defiance is a shooter first, and it feels built like one.

The RPG elements come in the way your character progresses. You won’t choose a class at character creation, because the game doesn’t function based on classes. Instead, you’ll choose your race and gender (the build I had only allowed for two races, but there are many more in the Defiance universe) as well as an Origin and Archetype.
...
But despite these occasional hiccups, Defiance surprised me. A game that does a good job of merging traditional RPG elements like loot, leveling up, and a skill tree with an action-heavy genre like a third-person shooter is the exception, not the norm. Defiance‘s systems don’t feel like a copy of anything else, though it clearly borrows from the likes of Borderlands and Trion’s own Rift.

This is much more than a video game using a SyFy show as a promotional gimmick; it’s not always perfect, but it’s fun, and I look forward to seeing more. Defiance - the game - releases April 2, and the show premieres April 15.

He mentions there's no cover-fire system in spite of an abundance of cover.

[USMC Kato]

Might be  for this.

[Jarrodhk]

Keeping an eye on this. Cautiously optimistic.

[Razgon]

As I mentioned elsewhere, I can't say to much due to NDA, other than the game is actually pretty fun. It has some decent shooting mechanics, and a HUGE skill tree to choose from. The graphics are very nice, and runs nicely on my 1½ year old I5 laptop at 1600 x 900.

The missions themselves are okay, but the meat of the game is of course the PVP part.

That said, 59.95 is NOT a price range I'm comfortable with - I wish they had gone the Planetside 2 way instead.

[Harkonis]

Might be preordering PC version, hopefully I have my PC working sometime soon

[metallicorphan]

I just got an email from Twitch about this game,i had never heard of it before but "the massive, online open world shooter" made me think it meant Destiny at first and i was surprised that this was coming to 360

Defiance, the massive, online open world shooter, coming to PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, is launching world-wide on April 2nd. The game is currently in closed testing and the last official beta weekend (and the NDA lift) is scheduled for March 22nd. Twitch and Defiance have teamed up to provide Twitch broadcasters exclusive early access to the PC closed testing environment from Friday, March 15 at 8AM PST through Sunday, March 17 at 9PM PST. The Twitch broadcasting community will be the only folks (besides the devs) to ever stream from these servers: it's yours for the whole weekend.

To get started, head to www.defiance.com/TwitchPartners and enter your email address. The Defiance dev team will then send an email, granting you access to the PC game.

Once you are in – start streaming! Please remember, though, that this is an exclusive to Twitch. Don’t upload your VODs to YouTube (or anywhere else) until March 22nd – then you can go nuts.

[EngineNo9]

That said, 59.95 is NOT a price range I'm comfortable with - I wish they had gone the Planetside 2 way instead.

Yeah, I would have definitely given this a chance if it was free to play like Planetside 2.  Being $60 means I'm definitely waiting for the post-launch reports (and based on the lack of hype, the inevitable price cuts).  I ended up giving Planetside 2 my money anyway, but only after I was able to spend many hours in it and find that I really enjoyed it.

[EngineNo9]

Their beta event 3 began today and runs through Sunday.  The patcher/launcher says the NDA is lifted at the start of the event, so hopefully we can get some real impressions.

Did anyone else get in the beta?

[metallicorphan]

i got a beta key from ign for the 360,i downloaded the 5.9gig beta but when i try to play it says the following:

Error
A sign-in change has occurred.Returning to title screen



so i try again,but keep getting that message,so not actually played any of it yet

[Harkonis]

Been playing on PC, the game is quite nice. 

[metallicorphan]

Finally able to get in


I liked it,at first i was really liking it,but after about an hour,hour and half i was a little less impressed

Will off course play some more if i can before it finishes

[metallicorphan]

that last line was a lie,just been trying to get in again for the last 20 minutes and can't,so i gave up...doubt i will be able to get anymore time with it before the beta ends(tonight?)

And overall i think i will just give the show a try and give the game a miss

EDIT:okay got on and played for a few more hours and reached the last mission of the beta

[forgeforsaken]

What are they doing about level disparity?  I know I would not be able to keep pace with the people I would want to play with. 

[rittchard]

I don't know what they may or may not have done since the prior beta, but what I saw was pretty sad.  It was almost identical to the opening tutorial from Tabula Rasa, I could almost swear it was lifted directly - but with a bunch of glitches and buggy behavior.  I never got much further after some bizarre mob(?) one shotted me and I was stuck in some weird plant/graphics glitch.

[Razgon]

I don't know what they may or may not have done since the prior beta, but what I saw was pretty sad.  It was almost identical to the opening tutorial from Tabula Rasa, I could almost swear it was lifted directly - but with a bunch of glitches and buggy behavior.  I never got much further after some bizarre mob(?) one shotted me and I was stuck in some weird plant/graphics glitch.

totally different experience here - Everything just worked out of the box, the game looked great, and ran great, and was a lot of fun. Its VERY nice to have an MMO that isnt a fantasy world based on the WoW model, and this is definitely it!

[Harkonis]

I had a great time and very few problems.  Everything about it seemed good.

[USMC Kato]

No problems, no horrible lag, no queue, good performance even during big player raid battles. Smooth beta weekend and looking forward to the release.

[rittchard]

I'm curious for those of you that played Tabula Rasa, how do you think it compares?  Do they have any of the same AI incursion kind of content?

[Harkonis]

Feels like Rift to me, which isn't surprising since it's Trion.  The Arkfalls are just like Rifts

[Lockdown]

Only played a couple hours since launch.  Quite a few folks seem to be having launch day issues.  I guess I'm lucky, cause no issues here.  So far, it has really surprised me.  Lots of fun to play.

[forgeforsaken]

So I continue to be a bit perplexed by the grouping mechanics in this game.   I really don't understand how a group member can change phases while they are running right next to me.  Also I find a lot of other elements of grouping a bit lacking, such as quest management, waypoints etc.   It's fun to shoot bad guys with friends, I'm just not sure why the game seems to make it so difficult at times.  Also the remove friend option is really rather poorly placed.

[msduncan]

So I'm hearing from Hark and Kato that this might be worth it?

[Harkonis]

I'm enjoying it.  I hear the console versions are having all sorts of problems.  The pc version also has some very odd 'is this still beta?' bugs and 'features'.  Despite all of that, I'm having a blast.  I really enjoy the feel of combat.

[Razgon]

I'm enjoying it.  I hear the console versions are having all sorts of problems.  The pc version also has some very odd 'is this still beta?' bugs and 'features'.  Despite all of that, I'm having a blast.  I really enjoy the feel of combat.

Same here! it's really fun!

[Ascendent]

Yes I'm really enjoying myself, and to be totally honest I find myself dieing more then I expected to which was a pleasant surprise. Watched that IGN hour long segment with the game, the AI didn't look all that great, glad they polished it up a bit.

[Lockdown]

Many more hours in since my last impressions.
New impressions:  Still very fun.

[msduncan]

Does it have a loot system?    Unique drops?

[forgeforsaken]

Does it have a loot system?    Unique drops?

Yes.

[msduncan]

Is the loot system robust -- meaning not only rare effects, but also cool looks on your characters that make it obvious you have something rare and awesome? 

[msduncan]

Anyone?   Considering getting this today or tomorrow, but I'm very picky about my MMO loot systems.

[forgeforsaken]

Is the loot system robust -- meaning not only rare effects, but also cool looks on your characters that make it obvious you have something rare and awesome? 

I would say no.

[msduncan]

Is the loot system robust -- meaning not only rare effects, but also cool looks on your characters that make it obvious you have something rare and awesome? 

I would say no.

Thanks for the response.   Can i get a little more info?   What part of the loot system isn't robust?   The character vanity part or the common to unique type drops or what?    How does it work?

[Lockdown]

I would agree the loot system would be on the south side of robust.  

But, to give you a little more of a response:  I'm only EGO level 98 or so (which in this game is practically nothing) - so I'm not the best person to answer you.  That being said, Defiance doesn't strike me as the type of game that gear "looks" are of any importance.  And I'm not talking in a sense of what a player deems important, but more the game itself.  Functionality and/or look of a weapon in action is a slightly different story however.  There are some weapons that really stand out in big firefights, but not so much because of how they look - more so on what you see happening during the battles, and tracing the "bullets" back to the gun wielder himself.  Clothes/armor/outfits are nice, and even have a fair level of detail; but I can't say I've seen a great amount of variety - nor is anyone ever standing still long enough to notice anyway.  Vehicles have some (if not much) variety, but again... it's not like most games where you look around for, or prance around with any type of super vehicle; at least not that I've seen.  Regarding loot drops themselves; so far for me, I get excited over finding new weapons, but really that's about the only thing with respect to loot that's exciting so far.  No idea if that changes.

Just one person's opinion, but maybe that helps.