Editorials

Jeffprime, our resident Fanboy, has posted his review of the movie, "The Fantastic Four"!

Hello and welcome to Fanboy Action Theater, our semi-regular review of superhero movies. In this installment, we'll take a gander at The Fantastic Four, the 2005 movie based upon Marvel's flagship title. As usual, there may be spoilers!

You can read all of his reviews in our Fanboy Action Theater Column!

In any event, Svengali is ok. His doctor says he can leave the hospital today and he doesn't seem to be having any adverse effects. Except...well...

Skills and spells are the very lifeblood of a mmorpg. We have seen them go from the very basic of Ultima Online which had if I remember right 8 magic spells to now the dev team is telling us DarkFall will open with 200 spells and the plan is to have 500. The game is supposed to go live with 300 skills and again the plan is to have 500.

Today we feature an editorial from Darkfall on WarCry where "Gamegoddess" looks at the Beta Date for the ever-in-development MMORPG Darkfall. Darkfall was supposed to have launched a few years ago, but the size of the company and other factors have kept it in production.

In August of 2001 we were introduced to DarkFall. We were told that the game we had all been waiting for was on its way. We would have our housing, our full looting, and our free PKing, everything we all missed from the old days of Ultima Online.

Read more after the click.

Hail savages! With the weeks rolling on, and beta invites already handed out to select few, this week I sit down with the one man, above all, who will likely not be invited to try Age of Conan anytime soon: The infamous Sturmrabe!

HA! Absolutely! [I would drunken brawl Athelan on the opening week of the game!]
-Sturmrabe

Jeffprime has written Chapter 3 of his new column, Villain 101! Where we follow along from the Villains view point.

Welcome, future villains, to Chapter 3 of Villain 101, the continuing exploits of Twilight Dusk, my criminal mastermind in City of Villains. As par the course, the column will be written from two perspectives, one from the viewpoint of Twilight Dusk himself, and the other will be my take on the game so far. Onward!

You can read the rest of the column, including chapter 1 in our Villain 101 Column!

This week, Jacinth looks back at perennial AC influence and instigator of everyone's favorite global message, Lady Aerfalle:

Years ago, back in my days on Ispar, and old Aluvian general of my acquaintance was fond of informing me of the absolute importance that patience held on the battlefield. He would often go into great detail recounting tales of commanders whose recklessness and rush to action cost their army an easy victory, or of small squads fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds but succeeding because of an attack executed at the perfect moment. "Jacinth," he would tell me, "the limits of a man's patience should only be measured in the number of breaths left in his body." When I remember that nugget of wisdom, I can't help but wonder what my general friend would think about the strange beings that inhabit this world and how his experience would apply to them. For instance, what would he think of Lady Aerfalle, a woman of apparent infinite patience but whose breath left her body long before any civilization I have known even came into being?

For more on Lady Aerfalle, check out Aerfalle's Note or the Aerlinthe Island quest writeup.

Tiderius returns with part two of his discussion on archetypes and the gamers who play them.

Life as a rogue, so solitary and bleeding edge. The exhilaration of stalking prey and striking with deadly precision for that one fateful moment is never short of glorious. What makes the gamer who prefers this class tick?

Issue 9 has just been released, complete with the Inventions System. UnSub sees inventions as being the biggest change to CoH/V for a long while, but what does the nature of this change possibly mean for CoH/V and the community?

Crom on Age of Conan:

Of course I'm going to play! I've sent in my application for the beta! My main is going to be a priest of set! Ha ha! That'll p--- the old worm off!!!

The topic for today is DarkFall characters. I will talk about the creation, race, prestige classes, customization, etc.

This first editorial is about something that is pretty close to my heart. We have heard that in DarkFall there will only be one character per server. I for one really oppose this choice by the creators of this game.

Formation combat! Finally, players will actually have to use their brains and think tactically as they deploy their troops and get their guildmates to take position on the battlefield or in the dungeons strewn across Hyboria. Combined "real-time combat" with RTS gameplay; it's the perfect marriage!

" Formations are also the best offense and defense against other formations. In a paper-scissors-rock type approach, 'Age of Conan' will offer a unique PvP and PvE approach to tactical combat."

This fortnight, a look to the past at what will herald your very own stories of glory and valour in 'Age of Conan'.

This week, Jacinth examines an interesting figure in AC's history whose recent absence has left him somewhat conspicuous, Lord Rytheran:

Much of human society is build around loyalty. Aluvian knights take great pride in the many years they have spent in service to their lords. Sho warriors are said to take their own lives rather than bring dishonor upon their daimio. Even Viamontians spend much of their time speaking of their devotion to king and kin (and usually as much time betraying both). But here on this world with few true deaths are those who put our paltry displays of fealty to shame. Here on Dereth we may find individuals whose loyalty to their masters endures long after their last breath. One such individual is Lord Rytheran of Dericost.

For more on Lord Rytheran, check out the Mage Academy quest writeup, or Lord Rytheran's Letter.

Welcome to Around Agon. This is a new weekly column where I will discuss many topics of DarkFall some old and some new.

This first week I am going to talk about the general story of DarkFall according to the official FAQ and lore.