Dark and Light:
The Little Engine That... Might

by Tony Jones

We all remember the Little Engine that could.  It’s a heart-warming tale of a man whose wife is killed by criminals, and decides to take the law in his own hands.  I mean, let me turn the TV off.  Actually, the story is of an engine that exceeded what everyone thought it could do by hauling a huge load over a steep mountain.  Dark and Light reminds me a little bit of this story.

As a quick side note though, as Karen Hertzberg and I began to make our way to the Dark and Light booth,  she mentions the publisher is French.   Now we brought at least 3 Canadians that could easily understand a French accent, however it made more sense to send RadarX who is in Florida and speaks Southern.  It’s ok though, I’m not bitter….

We arrived at the Dark and Light booth and were met by Community Manager, François Laisné who opened right up asking me if there were any questions.   Do I have questions?  Yes, first, who are they marketing this game to? François explained that they were reaching for a broad range of players who like combat, crafting, and a complex hierarchy system. 

The boasts of Dark and Light sound like a MMO players dream.   One server consisting of 15,000 square miles, 213 cities, player fortresses?   What could be wrong with that?  In my mind, I have to be a little worried about the player getting lost or being overwhelmed.   I was told one of their 13 realms had a larger land size than EverQuest 1.  That’s pretty freakin' big, and watching him zoom out from the player to the world itself proved he wasn’t joking.  They are living up to their claim of “largest MMO ever.”

I had two concerns with the size.  First, with such a massive size world, were they going to be able to populate it all with content?  The example that came to mind was the launch of Horizons, where there were a few areas missing content.  Second, 213 cities?!  I’m thinking that would overwhelm even the most veteran player.   The Little Engine was starting to struggle under the load.

I do have to take a moment to talk about their weather and time system.   I’ve yet to see an MMO incorporate seasons making the date actually meaningful.  As the character trudged through knee deep snow, François explained that different parts of the world would have different seasonal effects at the same time.

The first thing we were shown was a player fortress and a typical siege against it.  I saw there were defensive towers firing at the opposition but other than that, it was difficult to figure out what was going on.  Everything was done fairly quickly, and ended with flashy goodness.   We were shown a little more combat and the ungodly number of skills.  He mentioned there were over 500 spells.   If you like to micromanage skills and prefer numerous paths, this is for you.  The Little Engine had just about stopped in my mind. 

François took us to a typical village and showed us the architecture.   I asked if the cities were individually-created or used a random-type placement.   I don’t think I was clear with my question.  He took us to another city, which had completely different building appearances.  We had seen a ton of buildings, so I had to know; do they do anything?   I was told they are empty and for aesthetic purposes, with the exception of the crafting building.  Empty buildings make for an empty town in my opinion. 

Chugging along...

The next question that came to mind was the transportation system.  How were people going to travel around this huge world?  The methods that were discussed were hot air balloons, wagons, and dragons.  The most popular among the players is the dragon, so with a little difficulty, one was spawned and we were airborne.   Shortly into the flight, I was told the dragon was “flying too slowly,” so if you are buying one, stay away from the blue-colored one.  

At this point, Lead Game Designer Stephane Quilichini stepped in to show us the crafting system.   There are a crapload of crafting skills such as “belt speed” in tailoring.   Objects are created using resources from NPC’s, magic ingredients dropped by monsters, and recipes purchased.  Certain crafting requires a city be under the correct alignment in order to be successful.   The Little Engine was now stopped and on fire, with people jumping off screaming “AHHHHHHH!!!!!”

The demonstration was over soon afterwards, and I walked away from this really torn.   This Little Engine has incredible potential, but seems to be trying to fill huge expectations.  The graphics are decent, the weather incredible, but the gameplay appears to be tailored to those willing to spend time learning a complex system.   An incredibly built tutorial might save them.   If you are looking for a bold, unusual, ginormous MMO, be sure to pick up Dark and Light when it's released on May 30th.