By Anna "Morvelaira" Dotson, News Editor
When diving into a game for the first time, I always try to understand
the world in which it's set. Just like a sentence gives
context to a word, so does this little bit of research give context and
meaning to
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Combat in NeoSteam is
flashy.
may adventures. In the world of
style="font-style: italic;">NeoSteam, there was
once a great civilization whose wonders were powered by the
technological breakthrough of NeoSteam. In time a disaster
befell the kingdom (as often happens to utopian societies) and chaos
took over.
Eventually, the three remaining continents in the world coalesced into
separate kingdoms. A supply of NeoSteam still exists, but it
is a limited resource because no one knows how to make it
anymore. This appears to be the set up for the game's PvP, or
rather nation vs nation. The remaining source of NeoSteam is
on a neutral island which must be controlled by a single nation to
supply it with the valuable resource.
The Nations
Of the three Nations, only two of them were playable at the time I
played. While which nation you choose will not affect your
character's base stats, it will limit your appearance options one way
or another. The Republic of Rogwel is a Technique nation,
meaning its culture relies heavily on machinery. The
Mysterious nation of Elerd Kingdom seems to be a much more magic based
area, though I did not see much that would differentiate itself because
technology is still very present. The third nation seems to
be nature power based and also does not seem to be playable at this
time.
The Characters
There are several races to play, each with abilities that would lean
them towards a particular class. One striking thing is that
each race only has one gender available to play. I have not
heard a rationale for this I hope it is a beta thing. The
other thing I hope is beta only is the lack of customization.
There were only a few faces/hairstyles to choose from.
The Classes
NeoSteam
has a tiered class system. This means that you start
out as one of five basic classes, then you branch out to a specialty
class at level ten. I admit I don't know what max level is in
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Monsters in
style="font-style: italic;">NeoSteam can be
huge.
NeoSteam,
but if it's something huge around 100+, then I think
specialization at level 10 a little early. I only played a
Craftor and I did not make it to level ten. This class has
some buffing abilities to start, but mostly seems focused on
hard-hitting melee combat. The class also seems to be a pet
class, but that is an aspect I was unable to explore.
Overall, I'd have to say the class was misnamed because I see no
advantage to crafting with this class as opposed to the others.
The Game
Seriously, the right-click to do everything mechanic has got to be the
most annoying thing in this game. It's compounded by the fact
that while the tutorial quests tries to teach you to use left-click to
move, (and in fact says that's the only way to do it) you can still
move with right-click. Want to talk to someone?
Right-click. Want to loot? Right-click. Want use an
ability? Right-click. Where are you going? Oh, you
just missed clicking an icon on screen so now you're running 500m away
from the monster you need to kill? I think you see the
problem.
Other than that, my only complaint is that you seem to be on your own
in this game. I'm the questing and linear storyline
type. While the first few tutorial quests are very nice, and
you have a new newbie tip flashing in your screen every minute or so,
it is still difficult to find quests or event to know what you should
be working towards. It doesn't help that most of the quests
are in the neighborhood of Kill Ten Rats.
style="font-weight: bold;">Parting Thoughts
Overall,
I'd say NeoSteam
needs improvement, but it seems to have a great core concept, executes
that concept well, and is off to a good start. I look forward
to later versions of the game. After all, improvement is what betas are
for.
Have you tried the style="font-style: italic;">NeoSteam Open Beta?
Tell
us in our forums.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent Game Page.
