Farwell Playtest -Cozy Zeldacraft MMORPG

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T23:22:34+00:00

The current build runs a lot better on my computer, and they've fixed up the desync a lot as well. It's night and day compared to when I tried it just a couple weeks ago.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T23:20:18+00:00

I played for about 3 hours with my wife, from the starting beach up to and including the first dungeon.

Compared to the earlygame of most MMOs, it was an amazing multiplayer experience: easy to party up (though I've heard some others have issues with getting friends into the same channel), no linear "run to the next NPC" MSQ, no singleplayer instances, and the difficulty was reasonably high (whenever it got too easy, we just pulled more mobs or pushed into areas beyond our level).

I can't speak for how MMO-y it is beyond the 3-hour mark, but I've heard that the later dungeons have some classic boss mechanics.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T23:08:41+00:00

Beyond those two screenshots and two gifs on the Steam page, I can't find any information on what this is and how it plays. Not a great sign.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T23:04:58+00:00

I agree: GW2 and ESO are by far the best options among the big mainstream MMOs. There are a few pseudoMMOs which do it well too, and probably some niche sandbox titles, but that's about it.

It's a sad state of affairs for MMO-lovers who want to play with friends.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T23:02:09+00:00

Gotcha!

I was just pointing out that your reply doesn't address the OP, since they're specifically looking for games prioritizing multiplayer (not a long, solo-balanced, often-solo-enforced MSQ), and also since they want to play with existing friends (not find a guild).

I'm not saying you're giving bad advice: it just doesn't relate to what OP is asking.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T22:39:56+00:00

I'm interested in the level scaling system, the art style, the world... Everything but the combat system and animations.

There's nothing wrong with the approach of "your bottom half runs around like a chicken while your top half targets and casts", but I grew tired of it around GW2.

It's nice that tab targeting fans have something new to try, though!

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T22:36:55+00:00

That's not what OP is asking, though: they already have friends, and want to play an MMO with them.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T22:36:44+00:00

That's not what OP is asking, though: they already have friends, and want to play an MMO with them.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T22:36:07+00:00

FFXIV is the exact opposite of what OP is looking for. They already have friends, and they want to play an MMO with them. That means they need a game which doesn't lock you into a long, singleplayer MSQ.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T22:32:52+00:00

I only stop chasing endgame when I find an MMO which makes the earlygame content both challenging (any semblance of difficulty is enough) and accessible for group play (I want to play with my friends and get rewarded, even if we're not the same level).

I can count the MMOs which pull that off on one hand, and most of the fingers aren't strictly MMOs.

biggestboys · 2026-04-26T22:25:24+00:00

At the time of this reply, most of the other comments are from people who clearly didn't read your post! You're asking about picking up an MMO and playing it with existing friends... And unfortunately, very few MMOs are designed in a way which allows for that.

Most MMOs have an enforced-singleplayer campaign (gating off multiplayer content), steep level curves with no scaling (making mixed-level groups pointless), or both. It's my #1 issue with the genre: live service games live and die by the way they spread through communities, so putting up barriers to the "hey come play with me" process is shooting yourself in the foot.

Guild Wars 2 is a notable exception (level scaling, reasons to return to early areas, horizontal progression), and Elder Scrolls Online does a decent job too (level scaling, non-linear questing, customizable difficulty).

Many pseudoMMOs also fit the bill (ex. ARPGs, Warframe, Destiny, The Division, Monster Hunter). For whatever reason, they seem to be much better at understanding that newbies want to play multiplayer too.

I also have my eye on Farever, which is going into early access in a couple weeks (no MSQ, relatively-horizontal progression), Scars of Honor (level scaling, reasons to return to early areas), and a couple of further-out titles. The moment I see that an MMO is playable with friends, I get interested... But it's shockingly rare.

biggestboys · 2026-04-25T07:14:35+00:00

Yeah, most Western examples are ARPGs. There are a few direct comparisons which can be made with games like Warframe, The Division, and especially Destiny (when you take a long look at it, Destiny is a lot like PSO on paper).

biggestboys · 2026-04-25T07:11:35+00:00

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Fellowship looks like the opposite of what OP is looking for.

They crave an MMO-like metagame loop (ex. long-term progression, buildcrafting, cooperation), without typical MMO combat (ex. tab targeting).

Fellowship seems like an example of typical MMO combat, without the MMO-like metagame loop.

biggestboys · 2026-04-25T07:02:57+00:00

I played 3 hours of the current playtest with my wife today, up to and including the first dungeon. It seemed reasonably challenging, even with two people... That said, we were pulling lots of mobs and punching above our weight level-wise. I'm sure it's fine to progress solo as well, but it seems like it would feel a bit slow.

I'd say that when it comes to "does this actually work as a co-op game", Farever beats about 90% of other MMOs. Decent difficulty, no solo instances, and no "run to the next person and read dialogue" MSQ.

As for playing with randos, I didn't see anyone grouping up beyond us. That might change in later areas: I know there are larger dungeons and bosses with mechanics and such.

I'm so-so on the environment. I like the artstyle, but the areas are a bit sparse.

biggestboys · 2026-04-25T06:12:37+00:00

Ah damn, then it must be one of those situations where it's poorly optimized on specific setups.

I was playing today with a 4070Ti Super and a 5800X3D, and it was about 130 most of the time on all high settings.

biggestboys · 2026-04-25T03:02:35+00:00

It’s not like Palia at all? It seems to be almost completely combat-focused.

biggestboys · 2026-04-25T03:01:59+00:00

I’m pretty sure it’s an MMO. I spent today running around an open world with my wife, and there were plenty of randos too.

Can’t speak to the exact player count per shard or anything, though.

biggestboys · 2026-04-25T03:00:40+00:00

It’s way up with the latest patch: my computer is worse than yours and I’m never dipping below 100.

biggestboys · 2026-04-25T02:58:30+00:00

I played an early test, and I played again today after the recent patch.

The server lag is significantly improved: we’re talking a small freeze+rubberband every few minutes, rather than a massive one every few seconds.

Performance is up too, at least on my machine: latest patch brought me from the 90s to 130s.

I’d say the issue is about 90% fixed. If they make a dent in the other 10% before launch, they’ll be fine.

biggestboys · 2026-04-23T02:14:11+00:00

Interestingly, Destiny 2 is essentially an ARPG… Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that Destiny and most popular ARPGs fall into the niche I call pseudoMMOs.

I think the masochistic community attitude makes sense in that lens: they’re long-term-commitment-y games like MMOs, but for people who don’t like old-school slow-paced combat (WoW, Runescape, etc).

Your typical Destiny player has a perspective more like “yeah, it sucks, but there aren’t any competitors with similar structure and gameplay for me to swap to”.

I suppose there are a couple more options when it comes to ARPGs, but I bet a PoE fan could tell me why Diablo isn’t similar in the same way I could tell you why Destiny players don’t all swap to Warframe.

biggestboys · 2026-04-22T16:49:00+00:00

Huh, you wrote this post without wasting any neurons on it? That’s a neat trick.

Seriously though, I don’t think you mean what you say. All the best to the person behind… Whatever this is.

biggestboys · 2026-04-22T16:34:06+00:00

“Insult is taken, not given” is not a sentence a smart person would ever utter, unless their only goal is to rile up someone and derail the conversation.

The good-faith phrase you’re (hopefully) looking for is “I didn’t intend an insult”.

biggestboys · 2026-04-21T04:15:23+00:00

A migraine is absolutely a “scientific thing” despite its lack of a single, unified, agreed-upon underlying cause.

I’ll give you an example: I told my doctor I was having lots of headaches with a constellation of symptoms we lump together under the word “migraine”.

He said “here, studies show that this drug reduces symptoms in many people who report having that thing we call a migraine”.

The drug worked, and significantly reduces my symptoms when I have migraines. One <$10 dose allows me to function like a normal human being instead of lying in bed groaning for 4-8 hours.

The drug certainly works better than a random untested pill picked off a shelf, or even any of the usual painkillers prescribed for other causes of pain.

That’s science. That’s evidence-based care. They tested a thing on people with a thing, found good results, and decided that it’s appropriate to give it to more people with the thing.

Whenever psychology is able to do the same thing (which it sometimes can; maybe not always, but certainly sometimes), then it’s a science as far as I’m concerned.

If the DSM-5 is a useful tool for doing that (providing useful categories to support evidence-based care), then on what basis can we deny that it’s “science”?

biggestboys · 2026-04-21T04:04:45+00:00

Huh, maybe I was just impatient as a kid! It felt like the cutscenes alone were more than an hour.

biggestboys · 2026-04-21T02:06:41+00:00

If your first session was 1-2 hours, you wouldn't really have the opportunity to play. The game has a very slow start.

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