Darkfall Beginner Guide

Congratulations! If you're reading this we're assuming you won the Darkfall 'lottery' and were able to purchase an account. Of course there is no lottery but with account sales the way they've been, it might as well be that way.

First of all, when you start out in Darkfall Online you'll be nearly naked with nothing but a cheap one-handed sword in your possession. If you're sitting at the keyboard waiting for a tutorial to get you into the game, you'll be waiting forever as there isn't one. Instead of trying to figure out the controls for the game, go into the options and set the controls up the way you like. We recommend setting the controls up the same way you play a First Person Shooter as opposed to a traditional MMORPG.

Once you're moving around, check out the exits of the starter city you're in. Near one of the exits will be a Councillor. The Councillor will start you off on the beginner quests. Definitely complete all of the beginner quests that you can. This will give you the opportunity to kill a few goblins, earn some cash, and acquire a few crafting tools.

Now, before you leave town to kill your first goblin there are a few things you should know:

1. You are going to get killed. Lots. Probably not from goblins because they're pretty weak, but definitely from other players. Until you get your skills up (or make some friends to travel with), leave any armour you might have in the bank. All you're doing by wearing armour is advertising that you have something to steal.
2. Find the closest bank and get used to running there. Often. Sure it takes time to run back to the bank from the goblin spawns but it's still more cost-effective than losing everything you've looted to an opportunistic ganker.
3. You need a Fox Mulder mentality to make it in Darkfall, "Trust No One." You might be thinking that you only need to keep your eye out for other races. This is not true in any way at all. Especially as a new player you will be attacked by your own race repeatedly. After all, why kill ten goblins when you can kill one player who has ten goblins worth of loot? The alignment system won't necessarily protect you. If your would-be ganker has killed a few players of opposing races then his/her alignment will be high enough that he/she can afford to kill a few players of his/her own race. Or, if the would-be ganker manages to step in the way of one of your attacks, you will be flagged as "Rogue" for a period of time allowing your own race to attack you freely. Be wary of joining a group with another player even if he's offering to help. Being in a group allows the other player to attack you without consequence.

Now, this was a very basic guide but as mentioned, it's for beginner players. Leave a comment if you're interested in a more in-depth guide. Make sure to indicate what area you would like the guide to reference (crafting, combat, etc...).

Good luck out there!

Survey Results - #1

Which OS do you primarily run on your netbook?

The votes are in:
76% - Windows XP
15% - Linux
7% - Windows 7 (Beta)
2% - Other

Darkfall Online

If you're involved in the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) community at all then you've undoubtedly heard of the new game by the Greek company Aventurine: Darkfall. Darkfall was supposed to be released on February 23rd of this year however there have been so many issues with the launch that you might as well consider the game still in Beta testing. Right now there is a freeze on sales of the game until some of the issues are worked out.

We at Play On The Run are lucky enough to have an active game account and have had the pleasure of playing Darkfall for a few hours between server restarts and client crashes. This however, did not take place on our netbook. The poor Intel graphic chipset on our test unit just isn't up to the task of running Darkfall and the game client will not even start to let us attempt the game at it's lowest graphic settings.

Having discounted the game as viable for netbooks, it is still a mold-breaking MMORPG and as such, we will be publishing some hints and tips in the near future. Check back soon.

Acer Aspire One
Intel Atom N270 CPU
1 Gb RAM
Intel 945 graphic chipset
8 Gb SS Hard Drive
16 Gb HCSD card used as a second drive
8.9" LCD screen

Sim City 4

First of all, yes, Sim City 4 will run on a netbook. In fact, SC4 is pretty forgiving to netbooks as it allows a lot of customization in relation to your graphics settings. The graphics settings in Sim City 4 include an option to switch to software rendering if you're finding the itty bitty graphic chipset in your netbook is having a problem rendering your city when it gets large.

Sim City 4 installs well from an image file though the installation takes a little while. When all is said and done, SC4 will take up approximately 920 MB of storage. The default graphics settings will allow the game to play smoothly. However, with no wide-screen resolution you might find it difficult to navigate your city as the control menu at the bottom of the screen takes up a large portion of your view.

Will you create a metropolis to rival New York? Or will you lead your city to ruin? Good luck!

Acer Aspire One
Intel Atom N270 CPU
1 Gb RAM
Intel 945 graphic chipset
8 Gb SS Hard Drive
16 Gb HCSD card used as a second drive
8.9" LCD screen