Fallen Earth

I can't remember if I posted on this one somewhere already or not, but not seeing it in this category anywhere, so posting now/again.

Fallen Earth is an MMO RPG in a post apoc setting, full of warring factions, raiders, giant sandworms, mutated wildlife, radioactive zombies, and pretty much everything else you'd find in a world ravaged by dropped bombs. As a player, you take on the role of a clone who was created to make life easier for survivors (AKA, the expendable, respawning hero). Quests range from killing mobs, to killing players in warring factions (if you're into the PVP aspect of the game), or gathering salvage and food for NPCs or yourself. There are a number of unique aspects I find in this game:

1. Item salvage and crafting. Just about anything found in shops is something you can actually make yourself with the proper loot. With the right skills, you can scrape up any kind of junk in the wastelands and recycle it into useful weapons, clothing, armor, medicines, food, vehicle parts, and other things. Salvaging is like one big treasure hunt, and of course there's markets with both NPCs and other players. FE's a game where literally one man's treasure is another's treasure.

2. The Faction "Wheel". For those interested in making enemies of both players and NPCs alike, later in the game you get the option of joining up with one of six factions, and doing a number of quests for them to promote your standings. Each of these factions faces off against one main enemy and two of their allied groups. Where it gets interesting is that each of your own allied factions is also on friendly terms with those allies, so each action against your enemies can either raise or lower your standards with your allied groups as well. The friend of my friend is my enemy, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the friend of my enemy is my friend's friend, etc, etc.

3. Open roleplay environment and varying storylines. A number of players in this game are surprisingly open to roleplay and there's several groups/guilds for it. While I haven't joined one myself, from what I've seen they are all rather friendly and welcoming to new players. In most, faction alliances aren't even an issue for those wanting to interact. Also, no adventure into the wastelands is the same. Your starting point affects a great deal of things, and while there are a few main storylines, you are neither required to stick to them to enjoy the game or have to stick with that whole clone background as far as your character development goes. It's like playing in some kind of giant sandbox with a bunch of friends...where a lot of things can eat you alive?

4. The combat system. For those I've griped to about combat systems, you know I HATE auto targeting and fighting. There is none of that here. Every swing of a melee weapon, shot of a firearm, or use of a skill requires you to aim at your targets, and also deal extra damage with headshots, trip, stun, or cripple with blows to limbs (I think, tests on that one were a little iffy for me), and require you to keep moving to avoid the same happening to you in a lot of cases. Having said that, I leave you with this warning. Beware the Creepers. D8

Fallen Earth used to be like...I think 50 bucks to play, but became free through Steam a few months ago. It has that pay-for-premium junk like a lot of other free MMOs out there, but at the same time, it's thankfully not one of those pay-to-win schemes. Heck, some of the items you get from the shops and lockboxes you need to buy keys for are actually WORSE than the things you create.

$50 to buy, and then $15 a month.

Yeah, that sounds right. WELL, NOT ANYMORE! This is probably one of the few times I'm glad I did not have money at the time to buy something.