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Sharing my impressions about the game

impymizar

New Member

Hello,​


I've decided to write a review about EA and decided to share it here on the forum. It will be a long post but I hope it's a good reading. Also if you're new and looking around for opnions that help you decide if the game is for you or not hopefuly it helps.

Embers Adrift

My impressions and review about the game so far


About me


First I’d like to introduce myself so you. I am a almost 40 year old Brazilian man that works with TI and always loved games, from my sega genesis Phantasy Star II to TESIV:Oblivion my passion was most RPG’s and platformers like Sonic. Now you must be thinking: This guy probably played Ultima, EQ and now is here longing for the old days… Well, actually not.

You can say I jumped into the MMORPG wagon rather later than sooner. I started playing this genre with a not so well know game called RF Online. But my experience with it was rather brief, the real deal for me was World of Warcraft. Not vanilla or wrath also, but Cataclysm near 2011! Besides the rather hard dungeons runs in the beginning of the expansion we all know this was very much the modern era of WoW and this game was not unforgiving like at the dawn of the genre itself.

So what people usually said “easy and/or convenient” is the norm for me. I played a lot of mmorpgs including the likes of EvE Online so I am keen into learning new stuff and I am very resilient to some rough edges as long FUN is part of the equation. My days being a hardcore raider or anything like that are long past me and PvP shenanigans also started to do nothing but damp my interest in a game.

So now that I think all that matters about me has been said, let’s dive into what brought me to EA and why I not even playing the new Zelda to spend more of my free time being a drifter.



How I learned about the game


I have the people over massivelyop.com to thanks about letting me know about the game. The article that mostly captured my attention was this one: https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/09/...-the-game-promises-free-play-weekend-in-june/

It’s basically about no focus into PvP ever. Of course after seeing this I had to dig and see what kind of game it was and what it offered. And did I got a lot of conflicting opinions about it? Oh yes. Some praise but mostly a lot of bashing. After reading a lot I’ve decided that the only way to really know how I’d like it or not was delving in. No excuses I just grabbed my credit card and went ahead with the purchase.

Now I know there is a free weekend coming and the game is especially expensive for me (Brazilian, weak currency compared to dollar). But the initial sub already included in the box and the fact that my money is going towards development and the dev team cemented my decision.

So why I writing this? Because usually when someone enjoys a game, they do so in a silent fashion. No praises at forum, no posts at reddit, usually not a lot of good comments out there. The person just plays! So if you want a TLDR, it’s coming now: I enjoy this game a lot, but the devs have a lot of work to do. If you want to know the why’s and/or maybe is considering playing read on!


A great start


After paying, downloading and patching the client I got greeted by a amazing login screen. It was nighttime in atmosphere (the start screen reflects the current game night/day cycle) and I loved it. The paying experience was really smooth too and it’s something worth mentioning because it’s not always the case :cough square enix cough:. Then the character creation screen come and while it’s really not comparable to most modern or old MMORPG’s I managed to get interested and “connected” with my character: Orakio. The biggest issue here for me is not having much in the way of facial customization, still my boy had just enough to fell good and unique to me.

Let’s talk about the initial classes and something that I think is a deterrent for most people even considering playing: No magic oriented class. I understand that the game is low fantasy and honestly I like it, fells different from most games since the majority of then is very high on it but I do think that some kind of magical systems and more “low profile” magic classes should be either added at the beginning or even as specializations later. I’d love to play as a supportive druid for example or a magical dps. Regardless I choose the support class because Orakio for me is a hero that will save fellow drifters in a pinch or accompany adventures into uncharted territory as a multiplicative force of the group.

When loging into the world I really liked the visuals and decided the next logical step was looking into the menu for options, especially graphical ones and that leads us to…


The Ember Adrift Issue


In my opinion the biggest barrier of entry for anyone wishing to play Embers Adrift is that hardware required to play is putting simply, nuts! I own a very beefy pc rig, ( I’ll put a annex with its configs later) but it struggles to keep at 60 frames and demands a lot of my gpu and especially RAM. Now I do have 32gb of it but still it’s not unusual that 10gb or more be dedicated only to the game client. Before sacrificing the game on the altar of not optimized games however, remember that only around 10 people are currently working on it and while it’s important to make it more smart with hardware usage, it’s a rather hard than easy thing to accomplish. Someone with a more “reasonable” machine like my notebook (again, specs later) will have more troubles with the experience.

After I tinkered with the settings and consulted the forum for some tips got it running very well mostly at 60 frames, impressive immersion and last but not least, not keeping my gpu into constant full load. Now for my notebook I have a couple things to say. First it’s Linux powered and I am very good at running games at it, as expected I got it running under lutris/wine very easily with no issues. Sadly it’s only got 8gb of RAM currently and while I can get away playing some games EA is not on of then, even with all the settings on low it’s take close to or sometimes surpasses 8gb of usage making me hit swap (the Linux equivalent to Windows pagefile).The game chugs along fine caped at 30 frames and even at the low end of specs it is a immersive experience, till what I believe is a memory leak or my system suffering under the stress of no RAM available happens halting everything to a crawl forcing me to exit the client and reopen it.

So my advice regarding the game is: You can get away with high cpu/gpu usage turning shadows off and use of NVDIA DLSS or the AMD equivalent, but you can’t ignore the RAM requirement. I’d recommend 16gb of RAM for it, but honestly this is what I also recommend for anyone looking to game on a pc nowadays. I’ve serious hope about the people running the show to streamline and optimize better since they introduced DLSS recently. It’s worth noting that the game never, ever crashed in my 30 hours or so of playtime (around 2 or so on my notebook) and it’s count a lot for me.



The mmoRPG Experience


As someone way more seasoned with mmos than me said: (Hello Bree from MoP) “Prepare for some serious hardcore mechanics”. And it’s very true. Don’t try to find a minimap because the game don’t have one. The map is very lovely and it get draw as you discover places including points of interest like farms or smugglers hideouts but don’t expect to see your character pointed on it, only kind of map guidance you ever find is that if you’re near a ember ring it will show in a blue light on said map. The combat is overall slow, there is skills with somewhat long cooldowns and you need to consider well what to do and when. It’s very important to analyze what kind of situation you’re putting yourself into especially when solo playing.

But there is some high exaggeration regarding the mechanics of the game surrounding it’s experience that almost put me off trying it and I’d like to clarify it now before moving on. First, you’re not going to spend five minutes (or even close to it) hitting a mob solo to kill it, monsters with this kind of resilience are most likely two or three chevrons and will kill you rather sooner than later without a party. You’re not going to be scrapping for whatever resource you need, the game is not stingy while dropping basic stuff like salves and the gathering is very simple yet fun. There is a lot to be said about running around gathering stuff and seeing fellow drifters around, the population is not the highest it could be but it’s not a dead game, people can be found in any timezone doing it’s own thing solo or looking for groups. Don’t expect to be ganked or gank anyone because there is no PvP at EA and the dev’s are not planning to ever add it, which for me is one of the main reasons I got attracted to the game.

As long you’re committed to reading quest text, looking around for markers, not expecting much in the way of modern mmorpg convenience and open to talking to people and grouping up this game will reward you with a very different experience and immersion, especially if like me you never experienced the dawn of this genre. There is something magical about after some trial and error you realize you know your way around that city or that part of the valley just by exploring and familiarizing yourself with it.



The MMOrpg experience


I’m a very shy person, bordering on insecurity sometimes and I always avoided grouping or interactions in most game because of it. So what I do when playing EA? First, I try to be receptive and talk to people and then I try to be even more receptive when someone invites me to run something or do a quest. That lead me to the nicest experience this game can offer: Dungeon crawling. This is where the game shine mostly and trust me, killing monsters in spots was something that always sounded very boring to me but here that slow combat turns completely tactical and satisfactory when in a group.

I’ve choose to be a “Warlord”. It’s a supportive class that basically is a bard, you sing songs that heal and buff or allies and debuff or hurt your enemies. Orakio (my character) is most likely using a quarterstaff or a crossbow for range and both weapons have different positional requirements for better usage. Correct positioning, a smart use of your stamina (it let’s you cast skills) and good judgment of what/when to hit and who/when to heal is not only the key for victory but a very fun challenge in itself. It’s pure joy to support your group, dish out the damage and crush groups of monsters or kill bosses insides these places.

And even when things go very wrong (trust me they will) and a wipe happens there is no big ugly permanent penalty like experience loss. What happens is that your character adventuring bag falls on the ground and you can’t access or add items to it anymore until you go to the same spot and recuperate it. Your character gear is not lost in any way, only whatever you was carrying and money you had. There is even a “compass” that guides you to the spot of the lost bag and if you’re with a group recovery is pretty much all but certain.

Even grabbing it and running is a option, I’ve sure done it! Also you an always leave your gold stored away with whatever valuables you don’t want to ever lose in the city bank, but aside of all my deaths so far I had a total of 0 forfeited bags. Always managed to get back my stuff with or without help.



What about the future?


I can’t predict how and in what direction this game will evolve and if it will evolve at all, but I am here for the ride. The entire ride? I can’t predict that too. We know that for a game to stay afloat it needs a health population playing and paying so the devs can keep developing and make ends meet themselves. Unfortunate this is a very niche game with big challenges to overcome.

Will the small but passionate dev team pull it off? They made to launch after all and are keeping their promise to stay true to their vision so far. I believe yes, they can do it, but what will really dictate if this game will be up from one year from now is if it will develop a good playerbase and if said players stay supportive of the community and the game. I personally putting a lot of faith in the upcoming free play weekend to make the game more know and booster it’s player numbers more.

So, let’s gather around a ember ring and enjoy. Thanks for reading, drifter.

Ingame name: Orakio.

EA Forum: Impy

e-mail: rafaeldemizar@gmail.com

If you have any concerns or just wish to contact me about this article fell free to do.

I authorize anyone to reproduce it as long credit is given. Thanks!

PS: Please forgive any typing or sentence mistakes, english is not my main language nor I write too much articles.



Annex:


My main computer specs:​


- Motherboard Aorus Elite B650M

- Processor Ryzen 7600x

- 2x Fury DDR5 16gb Memory Stick (dual channel)

- NVIDIA RTX 3070 6gb MSI Gaming

- 1tb of nvme2 SSD

- Windows 11


My Notebook (Lenovo i3 Ideapad Gaming)​


- Processor 11th i5-111300H

- 1x DDR4 8gb Memory Stick

- NVIDIA GTX 1650 4gb

- 500gb nvme2 SSD

- Linux Pop OS!
 
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Probably the most accurate piece I've ever read about this game.

I particularly like this: "There is something magical about after some trial and error you realize you know your way around that city or that part of the valley just by exploring and familiarizing yourself with it."

And who said the game doesn't have magic :)
 
Probably the most accurate piece I've ever read about this game.

I particularly like this: "There is something magical about after some trial and error you realize you know your way around that city or that part of the valley just by exploring and familiarizing yourself with it."

And who said the game doesn't have magic :)
Thanks for reading and liking it! And indeed! :)
 
I personally think the biggest thing missing is more iconic characters and monsters. Something to put on the front of a cereal box. I feel my game runs pretty good for a potato tho and I'm rockin a GTX 1060 3gb with 16gb ram.
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to write this up and of course to give the game a chance as our critics can be quite harsh (and misinformed).

I remember playing RF Online, I'll always remember that beautifully sung intro song that really took me by surprise. I had played a lot of MMOs at that point, but that song was a first and will always stick with me.

I am so glad you got a chance to experience the dungeon content, I do agree it's really where the game comes together. Getting more players into those groups and experiencing that content is something we definitely want to continue to encourage for the best new player experience.

Nothing else to add really, great post, hope to see you around!
 
I personally think the biggest thing missing is more iconic characters and monsters. Something to put on the front of a cereal box. I feel my game runs pretty good for a potato tho and I'm rockin a GTX 1060 3gb with 16gb ram.
Yesterday I added more 8gb to my notebook in dual channel. It got way better at keeping the game stable. Still, I having some issues that I can't iron out if that might be some proton (Linux gaming compatibility layer) shaenigans or my gpu stressing. If that don't inconvenience you, may I know how your system act when close to Exile Camp in Northreach, especifically when facing the camp?
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to write this up and of course to give the game a chance as our critics can be quite harsh (and misinformed).

I remember playing RF Online, I'll always remember that beautifully sung intro song that really took me by surprise. I had played a lot of MMOs at that point, but that song was a first and will always stick with me.

I am so glad you got a chance to experience the dungeon content, I do agree it's really where the game comes together. Getting more players into those groups and experiencing that content is something we definitely want to continue to encourage for the best new player experience.

Nothing else to add really, great post, hope to see you around!
Thanks for your kind words AdricLives. That music and starting cutscene really caught my attention as well. But the constantly ganking pvp forced me out oh well hehe
 
I really appreciate your review and I'm glad you found us. We have several initiatives we are engaging soon to help with the player base issue. It is a big challenge, but like you, I believe we can overcome it.
 
Kudos to you for writing a review about EA! I'm sure your post will be an interesting read! Sharing your thoughts can definitely help others make informed decisions about games. BTW, you can also write on https://flipd.gg, a great platform for connecting with fellow gamers and leading discussions about game reviews. It's also an awesome marketplace to explore various games, including those from EA.
 
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