Post by Morreion on Jul 12, 2010 10:22:44 GMT -5
Dark & Light official site
Dark & Light (Wikipedia)
Dark and Light is a former pay to play fantasy MMORPG developed in Reunion Island by NP Cube. It now is undergoing legal issues and the servers have shut down.
Development on Dark and Light started by NP Cube in 2002. Later, under the "pressure from its investors and from the gaming community"[1], it was released underdeveloped to retail and on the internet in 2006 after a prolonged beta testing. On August 14, 2006, the publisher, Farlan Entertainment, stated that the game was released prematurely and has experienced problems due to its early release.
"Farlan Entertainment now acknowledges that the game was released prematurely due to pressure from its investors and from the gaming community."
"[We are] embarking on a new initiative to correct and improve various operational aspects of Dark and Light. While worldwide play in the Internet game will not be interrupted during this period, Farlan is nonetheless offering a thank you to the hundreds of thousands of Dark and Light subscribers who have signed on thus far by offering three months of play with no monthly subscription fee."
Farlan Entertainment signed with SnailGame Entertainment, the distributor in China, to provide additional help with the graphics. All of the current subscribers are given a free 3-month period to play the game.
Farlan also offered 2 payment schemes: free to play (after initial purchase) and 9.99 USD per month. Restrictions were imposed on the free to play account relating to character development with the intention being that a casual player may never be affected by the restrictions or it would take several months for them to hit the f2p level cap.
Development on Dark and Light started by NP Cube in 2002. Later, under the "pressure from its investors and from the gaming community"[1], it was released underdeveloped to retail and on the internet in 2006 after a prolonged beta testing. On August 14, 2006, the publisher, Farlan Entertainment, stated that the game was released prematurely and has experienced problems due to its early release.
"Farlan Entertainment now acknowledges that the game was released prematurely due to pressure from its investors and from the gaming community."
"[We are] embarking on a new initiative to correct and improve various operational aspects of Dark and Light. While worldwide play in the Internet game will not be interrupted during this period, Farlan is nonetheless offering a thank you to the hundreds of thousands of Dark and Light subscribers who have signed on thus far by offering three months of play with no monthly subscription fee."
Farlan Entertainment signed with SnailGame Entertainment, the distributor in China, to provide additional help with the graphics. All of the current subscribers are given a free 3-month period to play the game.
Farlan also offered 2 payment schemes: free to play (after initial purchase) and 9.99 USD per month. Restrictions were imposed on the free to play account relating to character development with the intention being that a casual player may never be affected by the restrictions or it would take several months for them to hit the f2p level cap.
Dark & Light Review (MMORPG.com)
Take the world of an MMORPG, multiply it by a hundred and add complete freedom of movement and a fluid day/night cycle with changing seasons and weather. This is Dark and Light. The world of Dark and Light is so huge that you can actually get lost in it. You can spend hours just exploring and enjoying the wonderful views of bright deserts, snowy mountain peeks and dark caverns. Unfortunately, this big beautiful world is pretty much empty.
The environment may never stop impressing, but the character models certainly do. They do not make good use of the current technology and their animations are at times silly. In fights your character sometimes swings his sword in circles above his head before hitting the enemy. The characters do a disservice to the environments they populate.
The environment may never stop impressing, but the character models certainly do. They do not make good use of the current technology and their animations are at times silly. In fights your character sometimes swings his sword in circles above his head before hitting the enemy. The characters do a disservice to the environments they populate.
Final Score
4.0
Hopeless
Graphics
6
Role-Playing
4
Fun
6
Performance
6
Sound
4
Value
2
Community
3
Service
1
4.0
Hopeless
Graphics
6
Role-Playing
4
Fun
6
Performance
6
Sound
4
Value
2
Community
3
Service
1
Overall
There are a lot of bugs in the game - most of which are more peculiar than annoying - but when fixed, this could be a passable game. The question is, will anyone be around to see it? The game offers a degree of freedom that is rare in online games and its events really brought the community together before being scaled back. The problem is simply that they promised big things and didn't deliver them. The community feels like they were lied to and as a result even the good parts of this game may never have a chance to shine.
There are a lot of bugs in the game - most of which are more peculiar than annoying - but when fixed, this could be a passable game. The question is, will anyone be around to see it? The game offers a degree of freedom that is rare in online games and its events really brought the community together before being scaled back. The problem is simply that they promised big things and didn't deliver them. The community feels like they were lied to and as a result even the good parts of this game may never have a chance to shine.
Farlan Admits Dark and Light Problems, Offers 3 Months Free (Gamasutra)
Publisher Farlan Entertainment today admitted to a number of issues with its massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) for the PC, Dark and Light, and acknowledged that the game was released prematurely due to what it claims was "pressure from its investors and from the gaming community."
Whoa, do I remember Dark & Light. In my mind, it was the first of the big-time MMO release disappointnets (some might want to argue Horizons was the first); unfortunately, it was certainly not the last. I remember reading that the game devs were headquartered on Reunion Island and I wondered if that was a way of escaping extradition to France *laughs* Anyway, D&L had a great features list they were shooting for. It failed. I seem to remember that they used some kind of interesting world simulation engine (and may have gotten sued over that by the owners) and tried (badly) to put a game on top of that. I never made it past the first weekend.
Chock up another 'it sounded great on paper' moment in MMO history