A normal, humble, unassuming 3-part review of AA's CBT3.

MarkJW

Thought you guys might be interested in this.

We don't claim it's the most "detailed" review in the world, but it is kinda long, so AA-O split it up into three parts.

Enjoy it, please. Thanks.

Part 1: http://archeage-online.com/post/1718108962

Part 2: http://archeage-online.com/post/1718109019

Part 3: http://archeage-online.com/post/1718109077

hehey

Best review so far dude.

elocke

Nice review.  Some things stood out to me, I'll post them here as I read about them.

"Another interesting facet of ArcheAge’s quests is the idea of underachieving and overachieving the goals given to you. Some quests can be turned in even if you don’t finish them completely, even if you only kill or gather half of what the quest giver wanted. In that case your reward will be less than the regular reward. The same quests can also be overachieved, by killing or gathering or doing more than necessary, then turning in the quest. In that situation your reward is more than normal."

This to me is one of those ideas that seems so obvious it makes one wonder why no one has implemented this in a game until now.  Very nice feature, for those of us who like quests and maybe feel guilty or unhappy when we abandon some of them or when we kill 50+ mobs getting back to the quest giver lol.

"Gear in ArcheAge isn’t easy to get unless you buy it from stores or get it from quests, and gear from those sources normally isn’t that great. The best gear is crafted and upgraded with enchantment stones, and good gear (green, blue, etc.) is also rarely dropped by mobs. If you get lucky, mobs will also drop the stones that you need to upgrade your existing gear."

So this makes the crafting game a very large portion of the game and the economy.  Good stuff.  Major bosses drop rare crafting mats too.

hehey

Oh yeah,and dude?, your link to part 2 of the review actually links to part 3, fix that.

ste2000

"As for the question of why someone would bother to kill bosses at all if crafted gear is better than dropped gear: bosses drop mats to craft the best gear"

 

That's the way is supposed to be.

Fighters sell materials to crafters, and crafters sell equipment to fighters.

Perfect economy system.

 

I like everything about this game.

Nizur

With every video and review I've watched or read, I get more and more excited about this game. I've got to keep my expectations low though. I've had high expectations for other games that eventually came out and turned out to be crap *cough* Fallen Earth *cough* Earthrise.

MarkJW

Originally posted by hehey

Oh yeah,and dude?, your link to part 2 of the review actually links to part 3, fix that.

Oh shit, you're right! Good catch, sorry for confusing people!

Fixed it.

Myrdynn

great review, looking forward to your next installment

Nevulus

awesome review.

It's been a real long time since i actually wanted to play a game mmorpg again, this game just did it.

Khalathwyr

Originally posted by Nevulus

awesome review.

It's been a real long time since i actually wanted to play a game mmorpg again, this game just did it.

Same here. I played Rift because I figured if I'm going to have to deal with these themepark heavy games I might as well choose one whose developers take quality seriously. Rift is a darn good themepark game.

That said, my passion for this genre lies in the gameplay offered by games like UO and SWG(Pre-NGE) and now ArchAge. They actually have outlined what I'd called an "inspired" crafting system as opposed to ALL of the AAA recent offerings of a "we have it in because that's what players expect in an MMO".

SnarkRitter

BTW is there any death penalty? I seriously hope that it will be losing all gears upon death as it keep the economy going and crafters employed by keeping the demand high.

k11keeper

I seriously hope the death penalty is not losing all gear upon death. They have already stated that the best gear will come from crafting and food has huge benefits. Plus the really really good gear is said to be crafted from items dropped off bosses. So if you have to go kill bosses and then craft the items to get good gear I don't want to loose it every time I die. Maybe losing something is ok but not everything.

Sinella

Originally posted by SnarkRitter

BTW is there any death penalty? I seriously hope that it will be losing all gears upon death as it keep the economy going and crafters employed by keeping the demand high.

Right now there is no death penalty at all. Who knows if they add it later.

Palebane

Originally posted by SnarkRitter

BTW is there any death penalty? I seriously hope that it will be losing all gears upon death as it keep the economy going and crafters employed by keeping the demand high.

You could always delete your gear when you die.

Yuui

---

Originally posted by Sinella

Originally posted by SnarkRitter
BTW is there any death penalty? I seriously hope that it will be losing all gears upon death as it keep the economy going and crafters employed by keeping the demand high.

Right now there is no death penalty at all. Who knows if they add it later.

---

They have not focused on pvp much yet - there are systems(like nations) deactivated, but I think its safe to assume that there will be at least some sort of incentive to kill enemy factions/nations as well as price for death in pvp.

waynejr2

Originally posted by elocke

Nice review.  Some things stood out to me, I'll post them here as I read about them.

"Another interesting facet of ArcheAge’s quests is the idea of underachieving and overachieving the goals given to you. Some quests can be turned in even if you don’t finish them completely, even if you only kill or gather half of what the quest giver wanted. In that case your reward will be less than the regular reward. The same quests can also be overachieved, by killing or gathering or doing more than necessary, then turning in the quest. In that situation your reward is more than normal."

This to me is one of those ideas that seems so obvious it makes one wonder why no one has implemented this in a game until now.  Very nice feature, for those of us who like quests and maybe feel guilty or unhappy when we abandon some of them or when we kill 50+ mobs getting back to the quest giver lol.

"Gear in ArcheAge isn’t easy to get unless you buy it from stores or get it from quests, and gear from those sources normally isn’t that great. The best gear is crafted and upgraded with enchantment stones, and good gear (green, blue, etc.) is also rarely dropped by mobs. If you get lucky, mobs will also drop the stones that you need to upgrade your existing gear."

So this makes the crafting game a very large portion of the game and the economy.  Good stuff.  Major bosses drop rare crafting mats too.

 Killing N bears for paws shouldn't be a quest, it should be a job so that is appropriate.  Games need branching in quests for more interesting dynamics such as what happens when you fail.  At least one game in testing is doing some of that.