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NeoSteam: Open Beta Begins
Szark
News ManagerMember Posts: 4,420
Atlus Online has announced that their steam punk MMO NeoSteam has entered open beta.
IRVINE, Calif. – May 27, 2009 – Full steam ahead! Atlus Online’s fantasy-steampunk massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent, kicks off its open beta today. Anyone who registers before June 8 will have an opportunity to jump in for an early glimpse at the game, and to reward players for their dedication, all beta characters will automatically roll over to permanent accounts at the game’s commercial launch. All that hard work and hours spent customizing your character will not be in vain!
“Building a strong, happy community is our priority, and the open beta of Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent is our chance to cater to our members, show them the great progress we’ve made with the game, and continue to take their much-appreciated feedback,” says Tyler Kim, Head of the Online Division, Atlus U.S.A., Inc. “In the remaining weeks before the game’s official launch, we encourage players to take a look at Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent and contribute to the blossoming community.”
The Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent open beta will culminate with an exciting special gift, a pair of steampunk-inspired goggles handmade by an artisan specifically for one lucky fan. Atlus Online, a daily destination for community-focused gaming and interactive entertainment, will also continue to run various promotions beyond commercial launch, giving away prizes and exclusive in-game items.
Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent, Atlus Online’s first MMORPG, transports players to a world where two nations battle over a precious resource called Neo Steam. From the onset, customization is key to each player’s experience, where they can choose which nation to join and select from a number of specialized classes. As players battle to expand their nation’s resources and protect their borders from invasion, they must learn to harness steam technology to upgrade their equipment, learn new abilities, and progress in their chosen class. Adding to the immersive aspect of the fantasy-steampunk world, the game also features various forms of steam-based machines and vehicles for faster in-game traveling.
Read more here.
Comments
Neo Steam made my eyes bleed. The graphics were horrible and the UI was even painful to look at.
I love the idea of a Steam Punk mmorpg but this looks like pure fail.
Steam punk? Looks like some kind of manga anime crap to me?
and oh, item shop..
What isnt mentioned here or on the Neosteam site is that the Open Beta is US only (and restricted based on IP address). You have to actually download the 1Gb client and go through the install and update process to find that out.
Actually a little searching discovered that the European beta is also open and available here:
http://neosteam.gamigo.com/
Horrible, horrible game. The concept is interesting, the game itself is not. Tons of login issues and technical problems from the get go, and it takes up almost 3 gigs on my hard drive...I want to know where that 3 gigs went, as the game looks like CRAP. I've seen better graphics on PS1. The quests are generic and boring, the classes aren't very imaginative, etc etc. I played three different classes up to about 15ish to see if maybe I just needed to find one I liked, but no.
Oh, other thing? There are two factions, you chose one. That one you chose, is ACCOUNT wide. Not Server-wide. Two servers, you'd think you can try one faction on each, right? Nope.
So fail.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
I played a few hours last night. The game isn't that bad...well, yeah it is. There was a graphical glitch where I could see through parts of my head. The storyline is kinda lacking. I also had a few issues with installing/logging in. Hopefully they fix these before going into release. I would have thought the graphical glitches would have been fixed during closed beta. /shrug
This is just now in open beta? Is this like a relaunch or something because I swear I remeber playing the beta for this like 3-4 months ago.
-Currently looking forward to FFXIV
-Currently playing EvE and Global Agenda
Since every post here has been against the game, I'm going to write in support of the game. As Rollotamasi has pointed out, this is a re-release of an old Global version of NeoSteam. The news post isn't entirely accurate in calling this "Atlus Online’s fantasy-steampunk [MMORPG]," as Atlus Online was only responsible for localizing the game for North and South America, Australia, and Southeastern Asia. Gamigo is the localization company for the European Union and Europe, and there are other companies who have control of the game for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The game itself and the servers are owned by Hanbitsoft, which leads to Atlus Online having little control over what actually gets changed in the game's coding. The moderators of the game have already told us they can only make suggestions to Hanbitsoft and hope that the company takes them into consideration.
Despite the graphics issues and glitchy WASD movement controls (which were added at Atlus's request for their audience, since the game was originally designed as a click to move game), I've never had so much fun playing an MMO. I know that many of my graphics issues stem from a graphics card that barely meets the requirements given for the game, so I tend to disregard them. And, in my opinion, what the game lacks in smoothness it more than makes up for in community involvement. I've joined a guild (Cookies for Rogwel) and though I haven't had much of a chance to explore my class, I've really enjoyed the quests I've played so far.
Clearly, this isn't the game for everyone--that much has been proven from the previous posts. But I urge people to at least give the game a chance if they like steampunk. If it's not the game for you, then we at least appreciate you trying it out and contributing to the community.
Actually a little searching discovered that the European beta is also open and available here:
http://neosteam.gamigo.com/
I would like everyone to be aware that if you check the Atlus Online forums this has been discussed in several places, and in one of the official news announcements listing the available sites for client download, there is a list of the countries that can't access the Atlus version of the game.
I believe the post above addresses most of the issues posted here... so I will add my two cents about what is fun about the gameplay.
THE STORY... is not necessarily told in a particularly cohesive fashion through the consecutive quests, but each little questline after the initial newbie stuff, and even some of it, tells a mini-story. (Seriously, the way the quests play out and tell their own separate stories is very similar to WoW, if a bit shorter.) It does a far better job than most of the f2p mmo's I've tried of making it feel like things are going on in the world, and giving the game a little personality. And there are little bits of steampunk to be had just about everywhere, particularly if you're playing for Rogwel, the science nation. It is a steampunk/high fantasy mix, so it is probably not as purely steampunkish as many steampunk fans would like, but it is most certainly there.
THE GAMEPLAY... they have crafting, they have questing, and they have PvP. A little of something for everyone. Things are a little glitchy, yes, particularly if your hardware setup is pushing the bare minimum on the requirements. It's not, however, anything debilitating as long as your computer can handle the game and you're willing to look past it to the rest of the things the game has to offer. And so what if the graphics aren't spectacular? It's not like they're anywhere near bad, either. (I fear what would have happened to the old sprite games if any of them had been released in this day and age, I swear.) I've also been rather impressed with the variety of monster models they have so far. (Terrawhales for the win!)
THE COMMUNITY... in my opinion is spectacular and probably the best part of the game. The GMs are active in PvP, so far they've been trying to come up with lots of fun mini-events and even some contests on the forums. The staff actually make their presense felt, and if you need a question answered, they actually try to answer it or at least tell you if they can't. That's much better than the attitude I've gotten from some of the forum mods and GMs on the other f2p games I've tried. The other players have been nothing but helpful as far as I've seen, and we all feel free to joke around and actually have fun with one another on the game and in the forums. (We're all insane. XD It's a blast.)
..................
All in all Neo Steam seems to be one of those games that people either love or hate. All I can say is that I think it's at least worth trying out to see which category it falls into for you. It's simple, and it's fun, and I don't mind spending a couple of hours here and there poking around the game to see what comes next.
I know that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but please do not give your opinion without at least trying out the game more than 5 minutes or if you don't want to give some constructive criticism.
I started playing this game 2 weeks ago, in CB, and I am loving it.
It is true that it does not have the best graphics, but graphics is not everything in an mmorpg, actually to me it is the last thing I look at, gameplay is the most important thing, because a game is all about fun.
The classes are all fun to play with, you can spec them the way you want with the skill trees.
The quests are much better than any f2p mmorpg out there, they're not just go kill 20 boars because we're hungry, then kill 20 bears because we need their pelts to keep us warm. There's a story behind almost every quest.
There's also a really nice crafting system, it is actually much better than even most p2p mmorpgs. And crafting is a huge part of this game.
Someone commented on the item mall as if it is a negative thing. People want the games to be f2p and not have item malls, how will a game survive? Games need financial support and the item mall is the way to go in a f2p game.
The community in this game is amazing, I would suggest for you to just go to the forums of the game and see how the community is. Even ingame people are so nice, I am proud of this community.
So anyways, I am having a lot of fun in this game even though it's got some minor bugs and some mediocre graphics.
I would recommend this game to everyone.
Peace
I can't say I played this game for more than a half hour, but I really liked what I saw, the back story and setting are both new and carefully thought out, the few small interactions with the people was encouraging. It's not the game for me for no reason that matters, but people who judge games solely based on graphics, should go back to WoW and leave the rest of alone.