Two days passed and noone posted anyhing... Guys, was it really that hard to download the client and give the game a try?
Well, I've promised I'll try it and I did it.
And I'm so sorry to say this - it's not my pair of shoes.
Graphics... I've seen better, honestly. But within the engine the game uses this is probably the best possible. Although the setting is sci-fi, stuttering animation like in cult Transformers cartoon is not positive thing however. Dunno why someone thinks it's great, I think it sux. And not only that, this is not the first MMORPG I'm seeing such hiccups in animation. No, it has nothing to do with my PC which runs latest games on highest settings flawlessly.
Sounds... To be honest I have no complaints here. It's not something amazing nor utterly original, but it is done good.
Grinding? I've played the game for a few hours, got on level 12... Yes, there is a bit of grinding but not unbearable amount like in some other MMORPGs. More on the matter - if you want to level up quickly, you better start to solve quests and forget grinding as quest XP is very high! This is something very positive and I love it. But then again, this is not the only MMORPG where a player will get more by grinding less.
Mobs? Yea well... I haven't seen everything but so far there are peaceful critters that won't touch you until you attack 'em and their protective "mothers" (hehe) who will jump on you if you come near her "children". Those are harder to kill ofc, but don't worry, if you're equipped (and you get some nice equipment from quests) you'll nail them easily. Not bad design I say, in many other MMORPGs areas aren't mixed like here, but in the area either everything is calmed or everything wants to chop off your head.
Equipment mentioned... Yes you get some starter items from tutorial quests, later you get some better items from more quests or you can buy some in shops. But there is also crafting. And honestly, crafting is the best part of that game - completely different from The West crafting. How? By crafting, you get a piece of equipment better than ones you can get in quests or in shops! This is what crafting should be in every MMORPG, good job Inno! I only hope we'll get the same system in The West.
Quests can be categorized in few types. Some are classic kill a number of mobs, some gather materials or mob drops, but there are also timed escort quests. The map is pretty polished so by opening it you can see where exactly you need to go to take or solve a quest. But there is a certain problem, some quests are marked in blue color and then blue exclamation or question mark is pretty hard to see on the map. Don't worry however. On the right side of the screen, there is a list of accepted quests, and if a quest says you need to go for example to Tieo Mien, if you click on that name within the quest list, your character will start walking to his location. Better yet, you need to find and kill a certain type of mobs, just click on the mob name there and your character will run to the nearest spot where that type of mobs can be found. Another definetly good part of design. Oh, and your movement is slow. You can make yourself faster - with nuggets of course (forgot what's it called there, diamonds IIRC). And there is also a teleport that can move you fast on an area you mark during the game, but that thing has a lengthy cooldown so don't rely on it much.
I didn't know till I got it within the game, but you get a COMBAT pet. It's called CTU here as it's not fantasy setting though. I've not seen much of MMORPGs with pets that actually help you during your fights and it's a nice addition. You can get one of three types of pets. Melee, ranged or buffs one. And since I've played Cleric as I've said, the pet I've took was melee one who kept mobs off my back. If I took a warrior class I'd pick an archer or buffer pet. In any case, your pet gathers experience too, levels up and practically enables you to effectively play solo, at least on low levels. I must add here that I didn't die at all anywhere.
Classes... Dunno about other ones, but cleric, in fact Engineer here, has some very odd skills in skill progression tree. See... Except the health, every player and mob has a "shield". And my cleric has a skill restore health. But since it's the shield that first gets hits, I wasn't very helpful to other players around me as I couldn't bring their shield back up. Whatta mess... Hehe. But who knows, maybe it becomes usefil later in the game... For those who'll play cleric. Oh and combat skills, and you get two on low levels, are definetly nice and waste mobs in no time.
And classically, inventory is not unlimited, dunno how to unlock the locked parts, probably by nuggets. For whatever reason I didn't need more of inventory space than I had.
And that'd be it. I've had some fun, it's not a bad game, it's nice to see sci-fi MMORPG, but honestly, it's just a clone. Nothing in it hooked me up so I probably won't return to it anymore. Dunno, but it didn't feel special nor original like things that were planned for Tribonia (which was cancelled). If you haven't played client based MMORPGs yet, this one is definetly good for starters. Do give it a try. If you're looking for something good you've never seen before, do stick with The West and hope that 7lands gets international release soon.
