Cow Nose's Take on Darkfall, and A Farewell!

A yes, another MMO, come and gone in the life of Cow Nose the 50 Pound Cat! So here is my farwell post, and my little review of the game.


DarkFall is a beautiful world. It's strange and interesting and I was pleasantly surprised by the varied landscapes. DarkFall stretches it's engine to the limit and the game ends up looking great. I found myself looking around with true wonder at the different cities I came across and the strange sights.

Of course, death is a common experience in DarkFall! However, as an experienced Ultima Onlinen gamer, it never bothered me too much. OK let me explain, see in DarkFall when your character dies she leaves everything on her corpse. Any other player can walk up to your corpse and take everything you own! (Actually it's a gravestone in DarkFall, in Ultima Online it was the same thing but you left a body behind, and when looted completely you were left naked, and not to compeltely sidetrack but in Ultima Online you could also cut up your enemies body and take whatever parts you wanted as trophies)

I've talked about this in past posts, probably my Ultima Online posts. See, this kind of gameplay system makes DarkFall a completely different class of MMOs. It's a style of MMO forgotten to the average WoW gamer, but it's one familiar to many vets.

Everything changes in a free-loot based game. Epic swords are still epic, but common swords do great damage even compared to said epic swords. This is because gear MUST be expendable! So decent or even great gear is cheap to come by.

However gear is used up much more quickly, therefor a game like DarkFall has a GREAT crafting element. There is a huge place for crafters in DarkFall. (Even if it is not nearly as fun as PvP)

Plenty of interesting dungeons to explore in DarkFall! :)

So what is there to do in DarkFall? Well, PvP of course! And the PvP IS a lot of fun. You need to like ganking, and you need to like conflict. And conflict and ganking go so well hand in hand together. DarkFall is the ultima PvP MMO I've played, hands down. It has many of the great PvP elements of Lineage 2 without the awful asian grind that really ruined the game imo. Castle sieges, random PvP out in the world, and many skirmishes between cities is the best fun the game has to offer.

And believe me, there is NOTHING as satisfying as running along side your mates on your mounts heading towards the enemy for battle. It's a very very rewarding experience that no PvE MMO could ever offer. Just takes some stones and a lust for battle!


This is DarkFall's version of Bone Armor. It's great for mages because it has good armor but doesn't have a big impact on your magic skills.


So why am I leaving DarkFall, for now at least, if my review of it is so positive? Well the reasons are two fold.

The reason I am leaving, is because I can not afford it at this moment. I recently switched jobs and I just needed to conserve that $15 for other things untill I get back on top of bills and such.

So then the second reason, is not why am I leaving, but why may I not return? Well, that is because DarkFall does not have the grab-and-go gameplay that I have kind of come to be used to and enjoy. It's the same thing that drove me from EvE. Yeah, it's fun and really exciting! But it can also be kind of empty and boring at the same time. Just you and your skills and your mates and your loot. Yeah, that really is all you need, that's why DarkFall is not a bad game by any stretch. But were are the quests? The story? I suppose perhaps I am maturing in my RL life and my MMO life. I no longer have the stamina (lie) to game for 8+ hr stretches. I prefer a MMO were I can be doing RL things and just jump in when I have an hour or two, have some fun, maybe even a PvP battle or two, and then go to bed or go to work.

That said... I am very much looking forward to Aion! So, stay tuned to Cow Nose the 50 Pound Cat's MMO Adventures and you just may see some great Aion action. :D

In the meantime.. stay tuned for some free MMO updates! Runes of Magic, and Wizard 101, wohoo! Two MMOs LONG overdue for an appearance on this blog.

The Last Grimmwold Post (for now)

Ah well, all good things must come to an end. It's no fault of Grimmwold that I am leaving, it's just my nature. I can't stay in one place for long. So, in my last moments on Grimmwold I decided to take a little tour and visit some of the sights there are to see.



These guards are actually rather new, there have been some troubles in Grimmwold lately and people just feel safer with a guard at the gates.


One last visit to the windmill to stock up on rat carcasses for eating later.


After eating those rats, I set off to exlore.


And look what I found! Some amazing hotsprings! I didn't go in them (it was hard enough walking here on the snow) but I'm sure big people really enjoy these.

Well, that's all for now! There is a good chance I will return to Grimmwold again someday but for now I am off to other lands. I would just like to say that Grimmwold is an amazing private roleplaying shard! Grimmwold has one of the most amazing communities I have ever seen in a private UO server. I have been playing on RP servers for many years now so believe me I know what I'm talking about when I say that Grimmwold is the best! I would like to thank Lara and the other admins at Grimmwold. I would also like to thank everyone who roleplayed with me. :)

The next day

The next day I decided to go back to that windmill and investigate it a bit further.


I ran into some really scary monsters, and I almost got killed, but this stranger saved me!


I never got the chance to know this person, but whoever you are you have my thanks.

The Windmill

Feeling a bit peckish I decided to leave town to go and find something to eat.



Nope... this won't work, I can't eat vegetables!


Can't eat honey either...


I think I smell something edible down this dark hole!



Yes! I think I smell rats!


These rats are a bit bigger then I'm used to... I might only be able to eat one or two.

Mushrooms...

That IS a lot of mushrooms!

A Forest Adventure in Grimmwold

It started with a walk in the forest. That was my first mistake.

Especially since the forest is so dark thick! What was I thinking?


OK, but it does thin out in some parts. Hmm.. I am hungry, I wonder if there are any tasty squirrels around?



Maybe there are some squirrels this way.


Nope! Definitely not squirrels! Run away, run away!


Just... not in this direction.

"The sorrow of the Hills that cry the name of Dana rocks you to your knees"

So, forget this, I'm heading back home where its nice and warm and safe.


Almost there...


Ahh, and I am home! All the milk you could drink, all the meat you could eat, this place is paradise.


Of course, after laying around eating for a few hours I feel the urge to hunt and kill. But if I'm gunna go into that forest again, then I'll need to practice my skills. Have at thee training dummy!

The Town of Ulster

Deep within the town of Ulster there is a mysterious tablet. I don't know what it is, but its definitly interesting!

Kitty goes home

After being away for a very long time I dream myself to Grimmwold. Here is my home! Well... it's not my home exactly, it's the wonderful Caitria's home. But she keeps a basket next to the fire for me, just the place to take a nice cat nap.

Somewhere in the world...

A kitty falls asleep... and wakes up in a bar?

A Short Return to Ultima Online

Well, I was bored one day and I felt like playing a fantasy MMO. I am ashamed to say this, but I even wanted to give World of Warcraft a shot! I had a dream that I was an undead warlock and that I had joined a role-playing guild.

Well, thankfully, my friends intervened and stopped me from playing WoW. (They said, "No! Don't tarnish your record! I tend to agree, WoW would be a stain on my MMO career.)

Ah well, don't take what I say too seriously, WoW is just easy to hate if you come from my perspective of hardcore MMOness.

Well, UO is about as far from WoW as EvE is! UO is actually very much a sandbox like EvE. You make youw own adventures, and explore the world outside of the rail-road theme-park experience. In UO anyone can kill anywhere. You are never safe! And your always stronger in groups. In UO when you die, everything that was on your character is now on your corpse!

Here you can see me about to loot a monsters corpse, little did I know, that they have changed the rules in this server to prevent ninja-looting and so when I took some bone armor from this dead skeleton I turned into a criminal!
So of course, I died.
Oh well, thats about it for my brief venture back into UO! It's a tough game, and I really just don't have the guts for it anymore. But, UO will always have a place in my heart as my first MMO and one of the most unique and best MMOs ever made. There still has never been a true UO-like MMO (With the possible exception of the Asheron's Call Darktide server).

Say hello to Ultima Online!

Hehe just today I accidentally logged into the wrong private Ultima Online server! Here is a screen of what I saw at the britan bank:Ok I just want to point out the etheral horses, the purple llamas, and the other crazy colors. This is NOT the UO I want to play! XD See the server I actually play on is called Online Ultima and its running the Ultima Online before the expansions mucked it up.

This is what it should really look like.
But unfortunately it usually ends up just looking like this.

However, even if it doesn't have all that crazy !#$% Online Ultima is not without its events and unique kind of fun! Here I am in an event where the players are split into two teams and the winning team gets a reward.
Ultima Online is a very special game and will always have a place in my heart. :) It's a shame I didn't have this blog back in the day when I played nothing but UO. I really had some good times then. Needless to say.. it's good the be back in the land of Sosaria!PS: OnlineUltima.com has all the elements that make UO a classic and the best PvP in any MMO. (Full body loot, stealing, killing anyone anywhere, etc. etc.) UO has done many things that no other MMO has yet to duplicate which makes it very special. Ultima Online has more in common with EvE then it does Vanguard. (Well, maby)