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Review of the PvE side of the game.
After playing in the Phase 2 beta, much like hundreds of others, I have drawn many conclusions about this game. Keep in mind this is a review only of the beta phase, as we won't know what's going to be there when the game actually goes live.
Graphics - 9: The graphics are very good, better than many of the other MMO's out there. The characters are very detailed and the world also looks really nice if you have the graphics settings on high.
Sound - 9: The soundtrack of this game is excellent. I think the only game I can think of that is better would be EVE. Even the soundtrack CD that comes with the pre-order box has some great music on it.
Character Customization - 2: This is one of the poor features of the game. All characters of your class and level range are going to look exactly like you. There is no variation in armors, and even the weapon selection is minimal. For those of you who like to feel the look of your character makes them unique, you'll be sorely disappointed.
Class System - 3: This game's class system is laid out exactly like that of Lineage 2 with classes and a few sub-class selections. But the choices are quite limited. It's a weak system, and can't rival any of the current top MMO's on the market.
Server Lag - 9: Even with tons of players around the starting areas, there was no lag to speak of. Now, whether people were experiencing lag with their video card is a different matter, but there was none coming from the server. The game ran very fluid, and the graphics weren't even that much of a tax on my machine.
Roleplay/Community - 2: Take this with a grain of salt, but it's my expectation that this game will not cultivate a good sense of community or be the home of much roleplay. The players are going to be too busy on the grind to level 40 to be concerning themselves with it.
Gameplay - 3: Pointless and uninteresting quests, potion spamming, and a rushing level grind to PvP make this game on the low end for gameplay and fun. Keep in mind this is not about the PvP experience. The levels are not necessarily a big grind, as they come rather fast, but it is a boring time killing the same mob over and over again for a few levels just to make it to the next mob farm. This important part of any MMO is a big disappointment here. Nothing to do but hack and slash your way to level 40 for some tactical PvP action.
Overall Rating - 4: This game does not have what it takes to compete with most of the other titles on the market, and especially not those on the near horizon. Many other games offer a more robust experience for their players and have a more friendly gameplay atmosphere with better character uniqueness. If you're into tactical PvP in a sci-fi setting, you may want to get the game for doing that, but it is not going to be the MMORPG people are looking for, as I believe it will distinctly lack the RPG part of the equasion.
It's clear why the asian version of the game is already seeing a quick downward trend in its subscribers as the game does not offer much for future playability or a good game system to keep people interested in the world. They are seeing several server mergers, and if the game goes live here with people interested in the beginning, it will surely meet the same fate. The game could potentially hit the market with a flash, but go out with a dim glow.
Comments
From the point of someone that is most interested in PVP you just made this game sound good. Personaly I do not get in to the whole RPG aspect of games i am more of a griefer. I hope this game has what is needed to keep a strong pvp community.
I have a few gripes with your post:
Character Customization & Server Lag are directly related. The more uniqueness in character looks that you have the more taxing it is on everyone connected (more stuff to hold in memory). I'd rather have a 9 on server lag with a 3 in Character Customization than a 9 in Character Customization and a 3 in Server Lag.
You gave class system a 3. Fine, great, but you're missing something. The character classes are a bit minimal at first glance, but when you get into the game you'll see that you have a choice of which new spells/skills to buy (all skills, spells, items, etc are bought, not given to you unless its a reward). Not everyone will choose the same skills to buy first, second, etc. So, the variation in character class also comes from there. Personally, I would give Class System a 7 or 8. Minimalism has its benefits too, especially if its balanced, which this game seems to be.
Lastly, you say that the gameplay is a grind. Grinding is and always will be apart of the MMO in some shape or form. But, this is another huge debate and topic all on its own.
I agree with your assessment overall. Although, if you make a judgement on a game before you get to the core of it, I think it may be a little biased. You may still be forming some impressions, but it seems like you have made up your mind.
It is good that you titled the thread "review of the PvE side of the game, since that is all you know so far.
In terms of customization and gameplay concerns. I personally think the gameplay is fine, and I enjoy the fast speed of it all. Yes, there are relatively few armors compared to some other MMO's. But early on, it is much more this way than later.
Armor changes looks pretty drastically later in the game, and is radically different between Ranger, Warrior, and Spiritualist armor. Not to mention the ability to get rare drops with special stats, and that you can upgrade each piece to your liking later on with talics.
The visuals won't change all that much for armor. But there is a great deal of individual customization among the stats of the armors, later on.
I totally agree with your review and everything about it is entirely correct, the game deserves around a 4 because overall, it's pretty bad and the only saving thing about it, is the pvp but even that will get boring over time.
The game lacks any real lastability and ultimately, will lose a LOT of subscriptions after a few months. I was interested in this game for the pvp aspect of it but i personally can't stomach the grind to even get to the pvp. Sure, it's not a lengthy process but going from 1-30 with absolutely nothing new in terms of skills, is just silly and the amount of class options, makes it even worse. Come endgame, you will so many people with the same armour, weapons and class, it will get so boring.
I played the beta phase 2 for a span of five minutes before turning it off in annoyance (i spent longer in the chinese beta though.) I have to say that this game's quality is about the same as the ones you can get for free off fileplanet and even then, i feel the user interface, is perhaps a LOT worse than them.
The amount of interest i still see in this game astounds me but i'm sure once the coolness factor wears off, it will sink down down down.
this reviewer sounds to me like he has given the game a fair go.
It has also killed my interest in the game.
I'm sorry, but if you can't make all of the game interesting to play, you're not getting my money.
If i wanted a boring grind, I'd go back to work
Nick
The race doesn't always go to the swiftest, nor the battle to the strongest, but that's the way to bet.
I like the gfx and sound also. The rest of the game is pretty much similar to Lineage 2, but there are gamers out there(including me) who like it that way. Personally I am waiting to see how will the PvP work, cause I have my doubts because of all the potion spamming.
On a side note, is anyone playing this game on a GeForce 5200? And if so how does it run for ya? Thanks in advance.
We Need To Take The Power Back!
I agree with the OP with everything. The grind is just horrid and the probability that there will be any roleplaying or anything like that is 0.0000001%. I think (also based on the forums) that the community will be a bunch of 12 year olds.
There was this discussion in the beta forums (I think 2 days ago) and all these little kiddos were crying because the server was down and it went on for like 3-4 pages. I kept telling them its beta...they didn't want to hear it.
Well I guess its time to wait for Pirates of the burning sea with its carebear pvp (unless they changed anything). I stopped following with the instanced battles. Or The Chronicle, but I don't like how they are doing business.
So it looks like ill be playing splinter cell 4 and FPS's till Q4 2006 lol. heck maybe I should get a job...or a life.
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