The Preamble
It happened again... The MMO itch. Everytime I quit playing an MMO I tell myself I will never play another one again. Silly, silly, Thomp. I ought to know better by now.
At any rate, the itch has been lingering for the last several weeks. I’ve been fighting it off with moderate success, playing the closed beta of Marvel Heroes when I can to subvert the voice in my brain telling me to pick up a real MMO.
Well, the voice won. I picked up Defiance on Tuesday evening.
I thought I'd give a cursory overview of my thoughts so far. I’ve really only scratched the surface of the game, having not even tried the co-op missions or battleground-like PvP.
I’ve sunk about 5 hours into the game so far and while I have some gripes, I’ll definitely be continuing on this adventure through Defiance.
The Overview
For those who aren’t keeping their ear to the ground in the MMO space (I don't blame you), Defiance is a recently released MMOTPS (massively multiplayer online third person shooter) developed by Trion Worlds (creator of Rift). Money wise, Defiance uses the Guild Wars model of paying full price up front for the game and then letting you play it forever without any monthly fees. There is a micro-transcaction store (again, like GW/GW2) but the items you buy are almost exclusively cosmetic, so it’s reasonable.
The game is set in a post-terraformed San Francisco Bay area, several decades in the future. A number of alien races have come to Earth to make a new home for themselves, not realizing that the planet was already inhabited. This led to a war (what a shocker), but a war that has a semi-peaceful ending, leaving a large population of humans and aliens that become allies and attempt to live together in harmony.
You, the player, join in the story as an Ark Hunter about 20 years after the reconciliation. You crash land in the Bay Area with a mission to search out advanced alien technologies found in Arks that are scattered around the area (as well as crashing around the world map at random places and times).
The unique thing about this game is that the game world and characters tie into an upcoming SyFy television series entitled (you guessed it) Defiance. Supposedly, things that occur in the show will affect the game world, and events that occur in the game have the potential to make a difference in the show. I think this is the first time a multi-medium experience has been presented in this way, so it should be very interesting to see how things pan out. The show premieres April 15, 2013, on SyFy channel.
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| Nolan and Irisa (main characters from the TV show) taking a rest at a local watering hole. |
The Good
- Multiplatform! Defiance was released on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, and while it’s not cross-platform (PC players can’t play with console players), it’s a step in the right direction. This doesn’t affect me too much as a PC gamer, but I’m happy to see MMOs moving toward the console space. There are very few MMOs on consoles, so props to Trion for widening their horizons and releasing this on some other platforms.
- Episodic missions. There are quest (mission?) lines that intersect directly with the show’s storyline and characters. It’s hard to say exactly how this will work, but it looks like more of these missions will open up as the series goes on. This is yet another cool and unique aspect to the television tie-in mechanic.
- An MMO that requires some skill! You’re not going to find yourself spamming frostbolts on auto-targeted enemies like in most traditional MMOs. You’ll have to actively fight and dodge attacks in real time, and while the AI isn’t great, the game poses a significant challenge to players, especially when solo’ing.
- Tons of dynamic content. Rift was one of the early adopters of this mechanic (Guild Wars 2 also employs it), and it’s definitely prevalent in Defiance. Arkfall events are occurring all the time, letting you team up with a ton of people and fend off a small alien invasion, resulting in a good deal of XP, gear, and fun! Also, as you run around doing the plethora of side quests and challenges, there are all sorts of small dynamic events that you can take on in a solo or duo group that provide a good deal of XP and fun. (See Extras for extended Arkfall video.)
- Early vehicle access! Just wanted to note this, as I personally hate the grind to get a mount. Defiance throws one at you free of charge when you’re about an hour into the game. Bravo Trion!
The Not So Good
- The AI is bad. This is a weird criticism for an MMO since mob AI is almost always terrible, but it seems somehow more apparent in a shooter setting as opposed to RPG.
- The interface is awful. I guess the problem with bringing an MMO to consoles is that you have to dumb down the UI to the point of being able to use it with a controller. As a result, it’s pretty horrible for PC players. On top of this, Trion does a terrible job of explaining the damn thing. I did a lot of fumbling around and googling before I felt comfortable with it, and even now, it’s only tolerable.
That's right, no dragging and dropping. 
The dreaded wheel. This is the sort of thing I hate about console-ifying interfaces. - I’ve never played an MMO where the chat channels are so vacant of discussion. It’s so weird, I don’t think I’ve seen a single line of text in chat since I started playing the game. I don’t know what the deal is, but it makes it extremely difficult to group up with people.
The Verdict (sort of)
Massively multiplayer online games are unique beasts in that they each have their own evolutionary paths. Defiance adds the television tie-in element, which will bring about a new evolutionary track for the game world that other MMOs haven’t explored yet. I guess what I'm getting at is, the game has barely been out for a week. There's a lot up in the air right now.
It's really impossible to come to a verdict for an MMO so early, especially after only 5 hours of gameplay (a piddly amount for an MMO). What I can say is that I have some gripes, but overall, I'm very enthusiastic about this game and I'm looking forward to exploring and uncovering more of what Defiance has to offer.
There are many things I have yet to explore:
- PvP
- Co-op missions
- End game content
- Significance of TV show tie-in (the show hasn’t even started yet!)
I’ll be sure to post again with more details about the bullet points I’ve mentioned above, as well as the general state of the game as time goes on.
For now though, I think that if you like shooters, especially in the vein of Borderlands, and you're fond of MMOs (you know you feel that itch!), then I'd recommend picking this up. It should be an interesting experience playing the game along with the screenings of the show.
The Extras
Here's a longer look at what sort of dynamic content you can encounter in Defiance. I'm on my way to an Arkfall event, and find an abandoned vehicle on the side of the road that turns into a mini-event. Anyway, it's not a lot, but gives you some idea of what you can expect to see in the game.
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