I joined the
href="http://tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1830"
target="_blank">Ether
Saga Online (ESO) closed beta in mid-February
and was very impressed with my early experiences with Perfect World
Entertainments newest MMOG. In fact,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/64424" target="_blank">I
told readers I thought ESO is built with the same quality
as
target="_blank">Perfect
World International. Now that I have had some
extended time with the title, I want to pass along my official ESO
report.
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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/65272">
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 150px;" alt=""
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If their Heaven is so messed up, imagine
what their earth must be like!
The story behind ESO revolves around a party in Heaven that
gets a little out of control (even without a key bowl or help from Ten
Ton Hammers
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/features/geek" target="_blank">Coyote
Sharptongue). The drunken Crimson General of the Heavenly
Navy tries to force the meek Moon Goddess to dance with him, and the
God of Decency steps in like a true paladin to defend the ladys honor,
banishing The Crimson General to the mortal realm. Nuwa, Queen of
Heaven, wants to restore order to her party and calls for the Divine
Peach-Wine Chalice to make a toast. Unfortunately, a clumsy servant
drops it and the shattered bits of chalice drift down to the earth,
too. To complicate matters, someone steals the Treasure of Heaven, a
sacred ark, while everyone is distracted by the broken chalice. Just
insert Tim Curry and the back story makes for one hell of a farcical
comedy (see
target="_blank">Clue).
Each player comes into the story with a specific chore based
on the race chosen at character creation. To sort out their chaos,
collective finger pointing, and the mystery of the stolen ark, the gods
have decided to do what any pantheon of deities would do: theyll make
the inhabitants of the mortal realm clean up the mess. The humans,
called Renzu in ESO, are charged with collecting the bits of the broken
chalice. The Yaoh are a people of animal ancestry tasked with finding
the missing ark. Finally, the demigod race called Shenzu is left to
deal with The Crimson General, who has resurfaced as an evil pig
through a freak mechanic of the reincarnation wheel. The result is a
different path for your characters as you play each race with all story
arcs converging on the same ending.
ESO
features vibrant sprites in a fantastical world that oozes saccharine
flavor from every corner. From the cartoony rainbow on the Shenzu
character creation page to the ultra-sweet ivy that encircled my legs
when I donned a pair of sandals my female character received as a quest
reward, ESO conveys an effervescent world built for younger players.
Despite the all the color and flair in the world, the story
and gameplay are pretty decent and seem entertaining enough for adults.
Classes include the dragoon and rogue for short-range fighters, the
conjurer and ranger for distance fighters, and the mystic and shaman
for healer hybrids. The mystic is a caster-healer mix while the shaman
is a tank-healer combo.
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ESO presents a vibrant world.
Systems of note for ESO are the way weapons gain levels
separately from the player, the pet system, and the auto-move option.
Weapons are upgraded with their own level up screen, but armor is found
as loot in the game. Meanwhile, everyone gets a pet and can
capture animals to get new pets. It is possible to have
multiple pets and
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/65647" target="_blank">fuse
them to become stronger, but only one can be summoned at a
time for battle. On my way to level ten, my conjurer got the beginner
pet and one other. It was easy to look up info on the different pets to
determine how they would develop. Basic info pages in-game told me how
much DPS a pet would gain and how its HP would grow each level on
average. My starter pet was a better tank, but the second pet would end
up the better damage dealer if I took time to level it up. Finally, ESO
takes a page from
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1303"
target="_blank">Atlantica
Online, allowing gamers to auto-move to NPCs and
quest monsters. You can even mark a spot on the map and auto-move to it.
Prominent negatives for the game mostly involved combat. At
level ten, my conjurer had only two spells. For the primary caster
class, this disappointed me. Maybe the lack of attack choice is what
made combat feel so repetitive, but I was bored with fighting early on
in my testing. The last time I played, I took a side quest that
literally asked me to kill 99 of the same enemy. Talk about killer
quests!
Parting Thoughts
By the end of my Kill 99 sphincter beetles
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/59667" target="_blank">anti-quest,
I had decided that ESO would not be able to crack my Top Ten despite an
inventive story and a stable client that did not reveal any bugs to me
in my test time. Ether
Saga Online has some cool features (like the auto-move)
that identify it as belonging to the next generation of MMOGs, but it
has some inexplicably Draconian combat and quests to go with it. Two
years ago, ESO might have revolutionized the industry. Now
well, Im
still going to look into that
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/65276" target="_blank">pet
collection system.
Have you tried Ether
Saga Online?
href="mailto:mailto:%[email protected]">Email
your thoughts or post them
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=41741"
target="_blank">in our forums!
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/31549/preview">
I have a couple of F2P gaming notes for this week. First off,
Ill note that Runes of
Magic
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/65599" target="_blank">officially
launched on March 19. It is a terrific game worth trying for
people who want to see what it would be like to play a quality title
for free. Ten Ton Hammer snagged an end-of-beta interview for
you
target="_blank">here. Ill be playing
style="font-style: italic;">Runes of Magic this
week in the hopes of bringing you some quick reference guides for early
April.
Next up, I have been promising more details on
style="font-style: italic;">Free Realms (FR).
G4
href="http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/694088/Free-Realms-Direct-Feed-Walkthrough-Family-Friendly-MMO-Racing-Ninjas-Mailmen-and-More.html"
target="_blank">recently interviewed Sebastian
Strzalkowski from Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) about the game. Among
the important details gleaned were that the world will be open
(zoneless), that players can subscribe for $4.99/month, and that
premium subscribers do
get access to content nobody else gets. To hear Strzalkowski tell it,
though, SOE was adamant about not teasing free players with a trial of
the game and trying to push them to buy access to the real game. The
jury is still out for me, but I think I agree with one reader who
emailed me that FR might be the most expensive F2P game ever once
they give players access to the shop to buy costumes and paraphernalia
through microtransactions a small as $.99 each.
Speaking of the reader who emailed that comment, Id like to
take this moment to thank him for questioning my order of games where
style="font-style: italic;">Warrior Epic (WE)
and FR are concerned. Long ago, I promised to not rank games in beta
stages higher than released games. I lost my mind and put WE up pretty
high based on potential and features. Ive been burned before doing
that, so I am adjusting this week.
WE drops to #10 in light of the slow pace of its currently
inactive beta. Its been
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/EpicBeta" target="_blank">exactly
nine months since we were able to give away beta slots for
the last phase of beta. Furthermore, our
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/52140" target="_blank">December
interview with Brice Lucas gave the impression that the next
stage of closed beta was just around the corner. Its apparently a big
corner, but I have faith in WE based on the awesome community
interaction between the staff and the players.
If I move down one game in an exclusive or halted beta, I have
to move down Neo Steam
to keep things fair. It gets the #8 slot. Now order should be restored
to the Top Ten. Thanks for reading!
Free-to-Play Games
March 23, 2009
1
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week: 1
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NDOORS
Atlantica
is a squad-based fantasy strategy game that breaks the mold. Players
can control up to nine characters at once in fast-paced turn-based
combat. A lot of the systems in Atlantica
are different from the standard fare on the market.
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1303">Atlantica
Portal -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/49577">Ten
Ton Hammer Review
style="font-weight: bold;">
2
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week: 2
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NEXON
Mabinogi
provides so many things to do that it earns its self-appointed moniker
of A Fantasy Life. Players can farm, play music, hunt, craft, go to
school and more in this fantasy land. In style="font-style: italic;">Mabinogi, combat is
not the only way to advance.
3
Last
week: 3
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( href="http://www.runesofmagic.com/">www.runesofmagic.com style="font-weight: bold;">)
Frogster
Runes of Magic
is a traditional fantasy game that uses a Dual Class system to inject a
little strategy into character planning and a lot of flexibility into
grouping. RoM has all of the features gamers want in a
subscription-based game, but theyll enjoy them for free here.
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1234">Runes
of Magic Portal - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/51449">Preview
style="font-weight: bold;">
4
Last
week: 4
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style="font-weight: bold;">Dungeon Runners -
(http://www.dungeonrunners.com style="font-weight: bold;">) NCSoft
Dungeon Runners
is a hack and slash fantasy game that infuses every aspect of gameplay
with humor. DR makes fun of other games, the genre, and even itself.
This is the perfect game for a player looking to blow off steam after a
rough day at work.
5
Last
week: 5
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Gravity Interactive
Requiem: Bloodymare
is a horror-themed game that blends the traditional elements of MMOGs
with the visceral feel of a gore film. style="font-style: italic;">Requiem is worth a
look because of its fresh take on setting in MMOGs.
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/769">Requiem
Portal -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/29030">Preview
style="font-weight: bold;">
style="font-weight: bold;">
6
Last
week: 8
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Aeria Games &
Entertainment
Dream of Mirror
Online puts the player in the starring role of a classic
Chinese myth. The eastern-based lore provides a refreshing twist on
MMOGs, and the multi-class system makes character development in this
fantasy game fun.
7
Last
week: 10
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Aeria
Games &
Entertainment
Shin
Megami Tensei: Imagine Online brings the popular RPG to
life in the MMOG sphere. Players can use friendly persuasion or
aggressive coercion to get demons to fight by their side. The dark
subject matter and modern setting of the game is a welcome contrast to
the enchanted glens filled with pixies we often find in MMOGs. style="font-weight: bold;">
8
Last
week: 6
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/64767/preview">
( target="_blank">http://neosteam.atlusonline.com style="font-weight: bold;">) Atlus Online
Neo Steam
is a steampunk
game set in a world where warring factions compete for a limited supply
of the resource Neo Steam. It was above average in most categories
during closed beta for the US, but it had multiple translation
problems. Atlus Online should iron out the kinks.
9
Last
week: 9
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/63895/preview">
( target="_blank">www.freerealms.com style="font-weight: bold;">) Sony Online Entertainment
Free Realms
is a a 3D fantasy
world designed to encourage exploration and support casual play. With
graphics similar to WoW and all the gameplay of a standard MMOG, style="font-style: italic;">Free Realms could
appeal to adults. Its many minigames and events are designed to please
teens.
10
Last
week: 7
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( href="http://warriorepic.com/">http://warriorepic.com style="font-weight: bold;">)
Possibility Space
Warrior
Epic is ready to begin the next round of closed beta soon.
It provides a fantasy hack and slash dungeon crawler experience with
some very innovative features, including the ability to choose
different character classes for each dungeon and a Warrior Hall that
grows with the player.
About
This List
Please refer to the Top
Ten
Free-to-Play Games Portal to find out how to get a game you
make or like on this list.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Ether Saga Odyssey Game Page.
