August 14, 2010 - 6:27am — hereticrick
So...just trying this game out for the first time tonight, and I'm a bit lost. First I don't think I had the latest version downloaded, which I'm trying to fix now (seems like the download page could be a little clearer. No one needs a bunch of different versions, just the latest, or a list 1, 2, 3 of what to download. I was a bit confused and only downloaded the US link, which I now think was only the main game and not the latest patches...but then...there were two different listings for 3.31 or whatever...so now I'm trying both of them).
Anyway...hoping I can figure out the rest of the game on my own, but wishing there was chat to help with that (but I realize that was left out intentionally...is there a forum or something?). I'm really just posting here to kill time while the thing downloads. I'm really curious to know what people generally do with this game. It obviously has fans that are generally into it, despite the fact that at first glance it seems like something that would get old after an hour or so (once you've done everything). I'm hoping I'm just missing something.
It seems like rp would be pretty difficult with just emotes (a bit like trying to rp cross-faction on World of Warcraft if anyone has ever tried that...). But...again...maybe I'm missing something (and that's why I'm trying it out!).
Ah well...my download is 95% done, so I should wrap this up. Very curious game...but I think I've already decided that it would be kind've pointless and irritating as an actual screensaver as it would take up a lot of power to run, rather than conserving it, and you can't just pop out of it right away to get back to the computer.
Welcome, I hope you come to
Welcome to the community and
My hopes for you are the same as Tally's. There's just something special about this game that just pulls some of us in, hope you see it too.
Thanks for the greetings!
I guess I'm just really curious to know what other people DO when they log in (particularly those who've been playing for some time). Is it one of those games where it's best played with something else going on in the background? (I was thinking it would be neat if there were a chat room set up outside of the game so that those logged in could choose to talk if they wanted to) Do people really get to know each other well enough that they can go looking for certain deer to hang around with? Does the communication become more intuitive? I mean...I get the jist of what I can communicate to others, and it doesn't seem like much...
I saw someone in the forum talking about how they learned to to be nice to everyone, "even fawns" because you never know when they might end up being a good friend "or even a mate" ....so is there some form of real storytelling rp going on somewhere that I'm missing? Or do these kind of "friendships" just come out of the forums? ...in which case...how do you know what dear the person is you're talking to?
~Ohn
Sometimes people post screen
From what I've learned, People make rp blogs here, Which you can find in the blog categories. Or people msn/email each other with a rp. Also, a lot of people on here make Bio's for their deer, they also name their deer, so that makes it easier to know who is being talked about
/bad explaining.
Btw, welcome to the community and game.
If you hang out here around
There's stories, plots, the occasional tragic death, fawns are born and raised, there's not just one story, every deer in forest has a story behind it.
Welcome to the community~
I would look at the biographies to get an idea of it all.
The reason I am drawn to this
It is a way to interact with people on a different level than you will anywhere else in the world. In real life, so much of how we communicate is governed by our body language, but oftentimes we are distracted by words. No, you can't tell someone your tragic history in hoof-stomps, or list off your favorite and least favorite foods by dancing. But you can stay with someone. You can approach them, follow them, show them with your presence and happiness that you choose to be around them. And similarly, you can choose to leave them, to show them your anger, your vexation, your fear. Do these things not tell us who our friends are just as much as talking can? These tools we get as players are simple, but if you are willing to let yourself become your mute deer and let this forest become real to you, you may find an experience that you won't anywhere else.
Of course you can interact with players directly through chat clients or here on the forums to make it a more traditional text-based roleplaying experience. But to be honest I think what makes TEF different from all the other role playing games is that in other games, you are given an endless array of premade ideas and rules, and in TEF, you have to make your own in whichever way you see fit. You can play this game connected to the forums and other players directly, or separate from them. Me, I infrequently play and don't do text rp, but after I play the game I usually create art or writing expressing my experience in the forest. Others have their own ways to play too.
I hope that you will give the game more than a few hours and approach it with a different attitude than you would a normal MMORPG full of clutter and arbitrary goals. In the forest it is your rules and your imagination at work. Maybe you will also be bewitched by its freedom.
I don't strive to be the best, but instead I strive to do my best, and always give it my all every time.
-faunet
It's not that I necessarily
I found a post on the forum where someone tried to explain what each movement could mean in general use...and it was highly contradictory where movement X could mean they like you and want you to play with them or it could mean they want you to go away, etc. It's not like it's incredibly easy to figure out context in this game either. So while I might be following someone around thinking we're having a gay ol' time...the player on the other side might be irritated as crap and just wishing I would go away. Not only that, but such 'relationships' simply based off of "hey, that's the guy who followed me around for awhile" seem completely arbitrary. What makes me follow one deer over another? The only thing I can figure is appearance...which is it's own sort of "competitiveness" (just check out a public high school).
My other beef with this game is the fawn thing. It just seems way too limited, particularly when you figure that appearance is really the only thing really going on in this game. The fact that a brand new player must spend a month in this "limbo" kinda blows. I feel like the whole game for me at this point is that part in Bambi between when Bambi's mom died and his father showed up....I'm just this sad little lost and lonely deer running around crying out "Momma?!" And I look just like every other fawn in the game so there's little reason for anyone to follow -me- around. Oh...and then when the Prince of the Forest shows up...he doesn't say to follow him...he just wanders away mostly ignoring me while I try to figure my way around in this strange new world.
Even my one way of truly interacting with people -the magic- is pretty useless. I can throw my magic at other lonely fawns...but what a waste since it will just wear off in a little while and we'll be back to our faceless anonymity. And I hate throwing it at these highly decorative adults - who very well likely have their deer looking just as they want them and don't want me throwing magic at them. So, again, magic wasted as they just sneeze the spell off of themselves and run away.
I just wish the fawn stage was a little less stifling. I'd be interested to know how many of the stags that have been playing for awhile never had to go through the fawn stage (as my understanding is that came with the last patch or so), and how many of the fawns that pop into the game give up and never come back. I'm already considering leaving the game for a month and coming back when I can -actually- play.
I dunno...I don't hate the game...I did play till 3am last night..and I'm on again right now...I'm just having a tough time understanding it. It feels an awful lot like I'm deaf and mute wandering around in a world where everyone else is somehow communicating and I'm just completely lost. Maybe everyone's as lost and deaf/mute as I am, but it FEELS like I'm the only one. So many MMO's often feel that way for me, except then if I'm lucky an experienced person shows up and takes me under their wing and helps me get the game under my belt....what's frightening me, I think, is that that's more or less impossible with this game. And every other MMO where I -haven't- found that person has been one I quit out of frustration and loneliness (what's the point of an MMO if you don't know anyone on it, and no one wants to befriend you?).
I'll probably keep at it...but I am wishing the fawn stage was a little shorter...
Edit:
IF anyone's looking for a lonely fawn, this is my sigil-name-thingy:
http://tale-of-tales.com/TheEndlessForest/register/pictogram.php?username=hereticrick
~Ohn
Hello to you! Even the fawn
Even the fawn stage was fun to play for me !! Here you can learn and watch others interact !
you can learn much in this month !
So have a little patience with the game and try to read posts here .
This was how i learned to love this place
This place is so peaceful and relaxing ; It changed my life !!
And as a fawn you can do things without beeing bothered by older players !
Fawns will be forgiven easily ! I made friends with other fawns first and as an grow up deer we recognized each other easily
I recognize my friends even from the way they play and interact with my deer !
All it takes to know this is time !!
Take your time with this game and let his magic slowly come to you
Hope you will stay a while and Btw , your picto looks almost like mine
In regards to not knowing how
I was initially in a hurry to become a stag so i could 'establish' my character and decide who I was in game. But the longer I play as a fawn, the more I realize that this chance at youth is a wonderful opportunity to decide who you are before you have made any rules for yourself. It is a chance to look at the world with eyes unfamiliar to the game, and anyone who sees you will know that your silliness or uncoordinated or aimless behavior is likely because you are still learning the forest and yourself. It is a bit like real youth. You don't have all of the power of an adult, but there are fewer repercussions. And you can grow in any direction you want before you set yourself into one path.
I agree that the flexibility of emotes can seem small. But as you become familiar you may develop your own systems and combination that work for you. For example, my deer will never dance unless he is completely content, and never laugh unless with a deer he has known for a while. He always jumps if surprised when magic is cast on him. In the beginning he would nuzzle and dance and laugh with anyone and was pretty clingy, but he is little by little becoming more reserved and adventurous. By relaxing and melting into the experience, these qualities of him seem to build themselves and I am getting to know him.
If you choose to believe your character is orphaned that is your decision. I have my own thoughts about the nature of the forest and the deer and to me is not the same as the real world. Like the forest is a realm to which spirits in transition go, not human or animal. That's my way of playing. Perhaps brd will have thoughts about his origin and purpose in life as he grows, but for now he is purely naive, simply learning new things about the forest and himself every day.
I'm having a hard time writing this much. But I guess I am just sorry that right now you are frustrated. My first couple of days I wasn't able to keep track of things and I felt without friends. But I think once you get settled in you will find yourself with companions.
I will look for you in the forest.
I don't strive to be the best, but instead I strive to do my best, and always give it my all every time.
-faunet
It does! Lol, I actually saw
I think I might stick with this game just out of curiosity...it's like some weird experiment to figure out what the deal is with this game!
~Ohn
And , how was your play today
First i was the mini with fan antlers and butterfly mask , then i changed into a squirrel !!
I spellspammed you a few times and we danced together
Remember??
Hope you will enjoy it here
Now i am a normal sized deer with orange pelt and fan antlers with butterfly mask
Btw in the game you only see the right side of my picto ( You don't see the full circle , it is a glitch or a bug in the game ) !
One of my deer, Fledermaus,
As someone who's been here for about 2.5 years, it's hard to describe the appeal that brings people back every day. You're right in that there's only so much you can do, but I suppose it's how you use the basic functions and emotions to build a character, evolve their personality, their social circle, their "every day life" so to speak. It seems lonely at first but once you start recognizing other players and interacting with them regularly, you might find yourself wanting to get back in the game and see what kind of shenanigans everyone's up to today. Roleplaying happens all the time, both in-forest and here on the community site. And a whole lot of people here have a creative side and you'll find stories, artworks, etc. posted every day.
Not to mention, there's a lot more to the game than you've probably seen so far. Weather changes (snow, fog, rain, dusk, night), Abiogenesis, mini-Abios, meeting the gods, fields of flowers, giant candles, Easter eggs, the BZD (big zombie deer), glitching, and a bunch of other stuff that you have to keep an eye out for.
I don't think I actually do
I think part of what confuses me is something like what I'm looking at right now, where there are 3 adults standing facing each other...as if in conversation. Every once in awhile one will do some sort of emote, or maybe they will lay down, but otherwise they're just standing looking at each other...what are they -doing-?!
Sidenote: the fawn faces creep me out a little.
BTW Eyestrain: you're art is awesome!! And yeah for some fawn-art!!
EDIT: ah neat! I did enjoy playing with you folks today.
~Ohn