Tag: Tasos Flambouras

Past/Present Players Invited To Return To Darkfall


Good news, Darkfall players! On November 15th, Darkfall will shut down for good. What’s so good about that? Starting on October 17th, Aventurine is inviting all players, past and present, to play the current iteration of Darkfall completely free of charge until the servers shut down in November. Players will simply be able to log into the servers starting the 17th (not necessarily right at midnight), and send the original version off in style. Following, Darkfall Unholy Wars is set for release five days later, November 20th.

Although the two games share the same brand name, Aventurine has stressed that Darkfall: Unholy Wars is a different game. While some aspects remain the same, the world has been completely rebuilt from the ground up, and just about every aspect of the game from the UI to the skill system, combat, and more have been completely revamped. While players characters are not making the transition, accounts that already owned Darkfall will not be forced to purchase Unholy Wars.

As a result, the Darkfall as we know it is considered defunct as of November 15th, and Darkfall: Unholy Wars will launch as something of a direct sequel shortly after.

(Source: Press Release)

Darkfall: Unholy Wars Releases Details, Wipe Confirmed


Darkfall: Unholy Wars launches at the end of November, and Aventurine is letting the details flow free. In a post on the official website, Tasos Flambouras starts off with the question many have been asking ever since Unholy Wars was still Darkfall 2010: Wipes. Short story, they are coming. Darkfall and Unholy Wars are two separate games, which presents the problem of compatibility between the two systems.

Assuming we forced things and made it possible, the DFUW characters would completely destroy the Darkfall Online characters, and I make this comparison to also give you a practical idea of the incompatibility.

Luckily, players won’t have to worry about the grind. According to the blog, players will have no problem becoming viable. Also, Darkfall Online (the current edition) will be shut down to make room for Unholy Wars. Anyone who already bought Darkfall will not have to purchase Unholy Wars. There are plans for Darkfall-related side projects, and characters from the current game are being kept for such a purpose.

(Source: Unholy Wars Website)

Darkfall: Unholy Wars Announced


Tasos Flambouras has gone to Youtube to announce Darkfall: Unholy Wars. In the video, Flambouras talks about how the job of fixing the current Darkfall was too great, and as a result Aventurine has decided to relaunch as a separate game entirely. In the video, Flambouras praises the community for its extensive feedback, and notes that Unholy Wars is in internal testing and is gearing up to roll out.

Unholy Wars features a massive art change, as well as an entirely new map, new races, new environments, a new GUI, and more.

Quite exciting news. Check out the video trailer below.

Darkfall Developer Blog: Korea And Onward


Who loves Korea? MMO Fallout loves Korea, and not just because the country has spiraled up to about 50% of my traffic over the past couple of days. Aventurine also loves Korea, in the latest Epic Blog Tasos Flambouras starts by commenting that the developers are heading to Korea to sign an agreement with new partners with more details to come next week.

In addition, you can check out the entirety of the blog to read up about changes to the user interface, the upcoming addition of “player points,” the addition of an achievement system, and new village control system.

Darkfall 2.0, the major relaunch of Darkfall is set to go live this year, or more specifically, sometime between today and the apocalypse.

(Source: Epic Blog)

Tasos Flambouras Works With Amnesty International


A team of Greek developers have combined their powers in order to create a video game for Amnesty International. The aim of the game is to bring awareness to Amnesty International’s push to end the death penalty in the countries where it still exists. Players take the role of an AI advocate in several countries that still push the death penalty, including the United States, China, and Iran. The player must open an Amnesty International office and raise public support for banning the death penalty.

You may recognize a few of the names on the group roster: Tasos Flambouras, Irene Zeleskou, and Allan Stellakis from the Darkfall developer Aventurine. Well, you probably recognize Tasos Flambouras anyway.

“The hardest part was to find an idea that could become a game but not betray the issue. We had seen something developed in the past by a French company for Amnesty International — it showed people being shot by an execution squad and the player had to stop the bullet with his hand. We thought this gave the entirely wrong message — the issue is not as simple as stopping the bullets. We needed an idea that worked for an issue that is so depressing and dire, but that was also fun to play. It also needed to put across Amnesty International’s message without portraying the inmates as angels — they are scum and they’ve committed crimes, but there are other reasons why they shouldn’t be executed.”
-Tasos Flambouras

Amnesty: The Game is available to play from the group’s website, linked below.

(Source: Game Politics)

(More: Amnesty: The Game)

Darkfall Suicidal: Character Wipes Not Off The Table


One week ago, I put my money on the table that Darkfall 2.0, a relaunch of the game, would bring free to play to the game. There is still no information as to whether or not the game will indeed go free to play, so let’s focus on another avenue of the Darkfall 2.0 launch: Character wipes. As far as MMOs have it, the topic of character wipes is akin to playing that five finger game where you move a knife around your hand stabbing without hitting your fingers. In this case, however, it’s a chainsaw instead of a knife.

How badly do communities respond to character wipes, especially two years out of launch? As ZTZ on Massively put it, it would make the Galaxies NGE look like a set of patch notes. In the Darkfall Epic Blog, Tasos Flambouras (potentially soon to be renamed John Smedley Junior) toyed with the idea of a character wipe, noting that such an implementation would not be necessary, but indeed a possibility depending on how Aventurine sees the update:

This is a topic we’ll open up for discussion after we’ve given you more information on the new version of the game, so you can understand all the parameters involved.

Tasos refers to this update several times as the end of a chapter, and the beginning of chapter 2, and for the record my money is still on some sort of free to play, or buy to play, coming with this update.

I’ve seen a few people liken this to Shadowbane. Some of you may remember that Shadowbane was shut down in 2008 (five years after launch) to reboot the title, during which all characters were wiped. The game stayed up a good year after that, before shutting down. We’ll need more information on the specifics of Darkfall’s relaunch before making any comparisons between the two titles, however.

Darkfall Arena Promises Cataclysmic Events


This could end several ways...

Referring to the Darkfall 2010 expansion as Darkfall 2010 would just be silly at this point, being 2011. Instead, Aventurine has renamed the expansion Darkfall Arena, and has promised that the update will not only change Darkfall as a game, but change the world its players reside in.

In a recent blog post, Aventurine’s own Tasos Flambouras goes on to talk about streamlining the world, removing dead spaces, and moving points of interest closer together. The racial areas are set to receive a complete layout change, and clan cities will also have their layouts optimized. Each subcontinent is being revamped, with the addition of their own epic monsters to join the mobs already existing in-game. Current monsters will also be receiving a makeover from the art team, as well as player characters receiving their own graphical upgrade.

Aventurine is also focusing on the general atmosphere of the world of Darkfall, with ambient lighting, aesthetic upgrades, sounds, and more. More work is being done to keep the servers stable, offer options to clans, and bring in new upgrades for non-combat skills, including the much promised speedup in leveling.

You can read the entirety of the post above. It’s good to see the leaps and bounds Darkfall has improved since release, and hopefully the timely release of Darkfall 2011 will only add to that continued success.