Been playing this for a bit now, and so far it's got a certain quality of addictiveness to it. It's a turn-based MMORPG developed by Ndoors, so it's a Korean game(it has some elements that might suggest a bit of a grind, but it's not as bad as say, Sword of the New World). If you hate turn-based RPGs or strategy games, stay far away from this one. But if you're a fan of old school Final Fantasy-type gameplay, this might be worth checking out.

Apologies for this being in Korean, and it's probably the oldest video of the game out there, but it still gives you the best impression of the game that I've found on youtube:



It's currently in beta, and rumor is that it will be free to play upon release(with the usual item shops, etc). For a free game, I have to say it seems awfully nice so far. Just don't go in expecting your first WoW experience.

I have two complaints with this game:

1) The introduction of the "Stamina" system, in which you can only participate in 100 battles in a 24-hour period. There's a lot of negative feedback about this from the majority of the population, so hopefully this will be taken out next patch. That being said, quests often take a decent amount of time so you won't just be grinding them out anyway.

2) The loot system seem a little bizarre and your inventory can fill up quite quickly. You gain equipment via "Equipment boxes" that go through a slot machine process and give you a weapon or piece of armor. After getting around 50+ of these boxes, it can be a bit of a pain to loot all of them. I have no idea why they did it this way, but it can be a painful process. Enchanting items seems a little whack as well, but tolerable.

But overall, I think the game is pretty cool despite the faults. You start out in Eastern Asia and gradually work your way around the world as you level up, going to places like Rome, Cairo, and even NYC(I think it takes place in the past around the early 1900's). The world is miniaturized quite a bit, and you can feel it as you walk on foot from Northern Japan to Beijing in about 10 minutes, but it's still pretty cool seeing the different areas. The enemy and character models are pretty well-done as well.

There's also a pretty robust mercenary system with, eventually 15-ish different mercenary types. Max party size ends up being 9 people I think, and it's interesting to see the different combinations people come up with.

Anyway, pretty good so far, but I'm interested in hearing what other people think about it.

http://atlantica.ndoorsgames.com/center/default.asp

I'm in Beta. They seriously need to clean up the introduction. You are assaulted with a bunch of weird shit from step 1.

I didn't mind the intro personally, aside from the fact that I have to do it again when I create a new character (ugh). Still I think it accomplishes the mission of showing the basics of the game.

It's not that I found it particularly difficult, but I'm trying to keep in mind players who aren't MMO vets like most of us around here. It would be nice if the tutorial was skippable, a little longer, and instanced.

The time limit to make my moves combined with the close up attack camera pans annoys me to all fucking hell, though. I think the timer pauses while doing the close ups, but it just distracts me and breaks my rhythm in what moves I was planning next.

Just click off the cinematic camera(should be in the lower right part of the screen on top of the box there). I haven't used that in a long while, keeping it off just makes it easier to queue up your next move. Although admittedly that does give it a bit less of a "Final Fantasy"-type feel in that you're on a timer and you can't watch your guys perform the moves cinematically without some strategic loss.

I still have it on, but I'll turn it off next play session. Danke for the tip.

Just finished my 100 fights for the day. I think that's plenty honestly. I could play this all day long but I'd probably burn myself out. 50 fights after level 50 might be annoying though.

I absolutely love the item boxes. My inventory doesn't get overloaded with junk and what I get out of em is always something I can use (no swords unless I got a sword user). And being able "enchant" them by melding em together is pretty bad ass.

I hit level 13 with my Axe (main), got 2xSwords, Gunner, Shaman. I'm liking the feel to it. I was messing with the town too and I really like having a GUI for the town necessities. It's convenience completely makes up for the taxes and fees for buying, selling, and banking.

Is there a place to store loot though? The bank seems to only be for cash.

I will admit, the 100 fights slows down a lot after a few levels. Fights take longer, etc. So I suppose the Stamina isn't completely game-breaking, but I don't like to feel "forced" to do anything in an MMO, even if I don't always do all 100 fights in a day.

As for a place to store, there is a place in Rome to store extra items(I think there's around 20-30 slots that I saw. The easiest way to get to Rome that I've seen is to just wait for the "Free League" to start up, click on it and battle someone, then you're already in Rome and you just go from the arena area to the city.

Axe is a pretty good choice, I went with that also. You have to be ready on some of the harder fights though to move him around so he doesn't get knocked down at low health. I'm also just stacking all my good armor upgrades on him. It's also nice at level 20 due to the fact that Axe's freeze freezes an entire front row(which comes in handy in dungeons where you get multiple groups of enemies that join in on the fight).

I'm starting to think the stam thing is a good idea. A lot of people won't like it, but it will slow things down, which is honestly long term good for the game as a whole. From what I gather it will be free-play for the most part, so I can deal with a time-killer game.

I'm loving the auto-move shit. I'm currently omw to Sapporo from Beijing as we speak (with an alt I'm testing, 5xSword rapes face, but don't fight flyers yo).

Closed 3 starts today (supposedly). I'm looking forward to it. Between this and Perfect World International, I now have 2 free games I can grind myself happy with.

Friend of mine turned me on to this and I gotta say it's been pretty fun, I've been playing on the Thebes server, what are your char names? (if you still play)

With the advent of Warhammer and getting prepared for WOTLK(saving up gold), I haven't really had much time to play it. I did sort of get bored around the 25th-ish level, for some reason it felt a little more grindy around then. Still, I was surprised at the quality of what I assume is going to remain a free game(with item shops of course).