Mortal Online Beta Phases Review

 Mortal Online has been in closed beta for a decent amount of time, and preorders are going to be sold starting June 29th.  Here is a very good review of what the Closed Beta has been like written by Shinzon.  This review is not violating the NDA and has been sanctioned by the Mortal Online devs themselves.  Here it is: Combat Beta Review

by Shinzon

Introduction

Starvault has certainly made a lot of claims in what Mortal Online is going to contain, and especially after the resounding agreement about the sub-par quality of Darkfall, all eyes are on Mortal Online and in turn Starvault to deliver. The bar is certainly set fairly high with expectations coming from "Old school" players of Ultima Online, the more recent defectors of WoW, and the spaceship hating escapees of EvE Online. The pressure is on, and it's now up to Starvault to appease the ravenous masses. One thing to keep in mind when talking about Mortal Online is that it's an MMO, even though it might seem like an obvious statement, things start getting more complicated as you go along.

Character Creation

Let's begin with something every MMO has and is the very first thing any player has to do before entering the game; the character creation screen. The first thing that will hit the players is the davincian accuracy of the player model; that's right the availability of full frontal nudity. The initial shock value aside, everything as it should be and the multitude of sliders for facial features remind of Oblivion, though nowhere with as many sliders, though fortunately just as many styles of hair and even facial hair to choose from, even a mustache befitting of a German porn star. Then come the tattoos, a wide assortment ranging from scars, to tribal markings, this is where you see some of the features of the Unreal 3.5 Engine, instead of "Popping" into view; the tattoo begins as a blurred version of itself, gradually sharpening as the texture loads.

From what is presented in the beta, it seems that there are 5 character slots available per account, though this number is very probable to change around before the final release. The character creation is split into three screens. In the first you select your Species, then your primary race, and then finally gender. The next screen is where all of the appearance sliders and such are contained, and at the bottom the race sliders where you can slide away your genetic history. Everything works perfectly, if you chose a half-Orc as your primary race and you start to wiggle the Khurite slider, your character will smoothly warp to resemble a Khurite with the facial features blending instantly and smoothly. Since half-Orc is your primary race in this instant, it’s impossible to slide any other race more than half way up. You can also have a mix of every race, but the half-Orc slider will never fall below 50%. The next screen is supposedly where you will pick your starting Attributes and abilities, though currently it's only limited to Age and Size, which both alter your character accordingly. The character creation is flexible, large and was certainly built to please. I have seen people build characters that will make you burst out loud laughing, resembling imps, or some that are cringe worthy scarred and old, looking as if they have seen one battle too many.

Environment

The graphics present the player with a lush jungle environment, with vegetation so thick in some parts, making navigation a feat in itself, without the slightest hit on performance; though granted you will not be able to run Mortal Online with a lower end machine, so it's probably wise to upgrade. The current build despite the entire vegetationial prowess of Mortal Online, still lacks grass. Something which will no doubt add even more visual eye candy to an already impressive sight. There are truly some vistas within the current build that could rival a screenshot from Crysis, with crawling vegetation and distant mountains, complete with a sun that will wane as if hiding behind clouds and then coming back out. The game handles large amounts of players honorably, capable of displaying some 20-30 characters on screen all wearing different custom made armor and weapons without the slightest notice of slowdown. Though granted, once the bloody ragdolls start covering the ground, things do slow down, though it has been noted this is a concern point, and is probably going to be alleviated in the very near future.

Combat

The combat in Mortal Online even though still far away from commercial quality without a proper prediction system certainly delivers on the claim of skill based combat. Testers that logged in for the first time or relatively new were absolutely slaughtered by the more experienced ones, though some adapted very quickly and became proficient after a single fight. The combat, though only limited to Melee and Minimal Ranged, is designed so that it can accommodate a multitude of play styles, from aggressive to defensive it is all there. The closest comparison would be the Half-Life 2 MOD Age of Chivalry, as they share a lot of features and dynamics. Attacking and Blocking cost stamina, and stamina regenerates relatively quickly, but not fast enough to make you forget about it. During fights it's important to balance sprint, block and attack otherwise you will run out of stamina in the middle of a battle and will be a sitting duck. You can press and hold the attack button in order to "Charge" an attack and release it at the right moment, but it continuously drains stamina making it unwise to hold down attack forever. In a similar fashion you can hold a block for as long as you want, but it also drains stamina, so precisely timed blocks are advised less you want to drain all of the stamina. It must be stated that characters wearing poorly thought out equipment will not do well on the battlefield. Even if the difference is not that large, it still makes an impact when in battle, as you try to cling on to every possible advantage you can get.

Crafting

The crafting system presented in the Beta version is said to be not fully complete, with some pieces missing, but already it is absolutely massive. Weapon balance aside, it is boggling as to what type of weapons can be made, practical ones and even comical ones, like a two handed great sword handle combined with a spiked ball, make for some interesting weapons with their practicality in question. Each material has an impact on the texture of the final product; it's possible to say that on top of this a dye system can be implemented. When crafting, everything is as described in the power point presentation, with many of the handles and armor requiring a combination of two materials. On top of this the player is presented with the choice of how much of a material to put into the armor. Weight plays a huge role in Mortal Online, a player wearing the heaviest gold armor, even though well protected will move at a snail's pace, and his golden great hammer will take out all of the stamina bar in one swing, making extremely heavy weapons and armor while powerful absolutely useless in any real combat situation, as every action requires stamina. A smart crafter will pick the materials and their proportions used wisely to achieve the maximum effect, making the weapons light and heavily specialized, and in turn a smart player will pick weapons and armor that are a direct reflection of their playstyle.

Armor and Combat

The armor crafting system is worth mentioning because it's nothing like we have seen before in any other game, the paper doll is divided into several slots: Head, 2x Shoulders, 2x Sleeves, 2x Gloves, Torso, Grieves, and Boots. The armor is broken down similarly, with each individual piece custom crafted and placed into each location on the body. So it becomes important to put the most armor in the places that are most exposed with your fighting style. This means a player could potentially place all of the protection, in the torso while leaving everything else relatively unprotected, or spread out all of the armor to provide reduced protection all over the body. A good weapon can take out a naked character with 3-4 swings depending on the health, since body size determines the amount of health, while a fully armored character can take anywhere between 4-6 direct swings depending on health, and armor used. A usually battle can have 4-20 swings in it, because both players will be actively dodging, blocking and sometimes hitting each other’s swords or shields causing reduced damage. It's also a fact that two experienced fighters will battle much longer than inexperienced ones due to this. Also, no healing potions or spells are in at this point, so it's hard to say how this number will be affected. What is obvious though is that the skill of the crafter will be directly reflected in combat on top of the combatant, and it's impossible to separate the two, good items will be determined not by their "Max/Min" damage, but by the use they were designed for and personal preferences of each player, as certain weapons will be heavier, draining more stamina and in return doing more damage, or light weapons that do less damage, it's really up to the player to decide how they want to fight.

Ending Notes

In conclusion from what has been seen in Beta Starvault has defiantly hit the mark with everything they wanted to achieve and promised to the general community. The level of thought taken can be seen in everything you do. Bugs that were posted by the testers were always quickly found and eradicated at alarming speed, which sometimes put up the question if the guys at Starvault even sleep. Games that were mentioned in discussions during beta testing were nearly always single player, or small multiplayer games, and it was very easy to start criticizing Mortal Online for being worse than Crysis, Oblivion, Mount and Blade, Age of Chivalry or any other game, but the fact that this is an MMO must always be remembered, because when contrasting to other MMO's, you quickly realize that Mortal Online is on the bleeding edge. The response from the developers both during testing and the forums makes it clear that this is simply not just a game, but their game, their dream project, something done with love and care. I am sure there are many of us amongst us with such aspirations. Mortal Online stands as a beacon to not just MMO Buffs but other startup developers, and as such it's not a question if Mortal Online becomes successful, but how much of a success it will be. Time will tell.