A look inside day one.

An Angels Online first day of play preview from a new player's perspective.

I’ve always been fascinated by angels. Whether it was the twenty-story high fierce Angel of Death marching through the land, sword in hand, administering justice, or the all-knowing Guardian Angel throwing herself in front of the herd of stampeding horses to save the life of a child, or even the sweet old man dispensing wisdom with a smile (and earning his wings with the tinkle of a Christmas tree bell), I’ve loved them! I even like the fat little babies with wings, swooping around shooting arrows at unsuspecting folks. So when I heard that IGG had a MMORPG called Angels Online, I was there!

But first, before I tell you of my adventures in the heavenly realms, a little background. (Cue bright sparkly music here — no organ music in Angels Online heaven!) Apparently back in the long, long ago humans and angels associated freely — so freely, in fact, that a human girl and an angel boy fell in love. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem except another angel was also in love with this girl: the archangel Lucifer. (Now why does that name sound familiar? …) Lucifer was so angry at this relationship that he turned the human girl into the morning dew and the angel boy into starlight. Then, to cover his tracks and because he’s this trouble-loving angel in general, he recruited an army and fought the heavenly forces for control of heaven. Lucifer lost, and he and his army were cast into hell.

The rumors and stories around heaven all say that Lucifer is busy plotting a rematch. There are whispers that he’s training a demon army, and hints that he intends to destroy Eden. Scariest of all are the tales that he plans another assault on heaven itself. To this end, Michael the archangel is training angels to return to the human world and help the humans, to fight the monsters and demons of Lucifer, and to save Eden.

And if I wish to join this noble cause, I must go to Angel College and learn the necessary skills. Sign me up! Where do I go?

MY CHARACTER
Well, apparently to the Angel Lyceum. But first I need to create a character. I choose a female with dark hair, and from twelve different hairstyles pick some very perky pigtails. Stature is next; I don’t see much difference between a 1, 2, or 3, so go for the middle-of-the-road 2. Complexion choices range from normal skin tones to out-of-this-world colors; since I don’t care for bright green or blue skin, I choose a bronze color. All of this is very easy to do, and, frankly, I’m looking pretty cute right now!

The next few choices mystify me. OK, I can see why they wish to register my country of origin (I randomly pick Canada in honor of my nephew) and my birth date, but why my blood type? Do angels have blood drives? So, after selecting my job (student), I’m admitted to … Heaven! Cool! Little Angel Jadeen is ready to fly!

CHOOSING A CAREER
First stop is the Angel Lyceum, and a chat with the archangel Raphael, who tells me we must help the humans in Eden. I’m ready to grab a flaming sword and go fight right now, but first I’m told I must learn angel ways if I wish to be successful. So, it’s off to Angel College I go!

My first big decision: picking a career! That will show me the course of study I must pursue. Classes are split into two main systems, Production and Fighting.

Fighting is divided into the Magic System and the Physical System. Magic includes Priests, Necromancers, Summoners, Magicians, and Priests. Physical includes the Protectors, Warriors, Swordsmen, Spearmen, and Archers. I’m told it’s easy to obtain credits for these classes; just accept quests from the Magic Professor and the Battle Professor. (Let’s go kill monsters!)

Under Production I find the Weaponsmiths, Armorsmiths, Tailors, Technicians, and Chefs, each with its own skills and challenges. Since players who major in Production have low attack skills, quests that involve fighting monsters are not a good idea. So it is recommended that Production graduates concentrate on quests from the Mine Professor.

But which career should I choose? After much thought and seeking of advice from my peers, I decided on Archer. (OK, I admit it; I became an Archer because it just sounded so cool!)

As a fighter I must obtain five credits to graduate, and fifteen credits to be a top student. Bring it on!

MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
My first assignment: Find Director Wolay in the Angel Lyceum to learn my basic skills. Wouldn’t you know it; he sends me off to get signatures on my scroll from the Battle, Magic, and Mine professors. My first day, and I spend it running around campus getting permission to take classes. Yep, reminds me of college, all right!

Fortunately, hitting [Alt][M] brings up a full-screen map, with the position of all the NPCs neatly labeled and a bouncing little arrow showing me I AM HERE, so finding my three professors is a snap. I obtain the necessary signatures and return to Wolay, who tells me … to go back to the Battle Professor, right where I was before.

This is really beginning to remind me of college!

Being the over-achiever that I am, I decide to take all three Battle courses. Being the overly-cautious type, I do them one at a time and slowly, especially as each course consists of going on a quest to kill monsters.

First quest: Kill 10 slarms on the East Playground. And off I go, darting around angels and angels-in-training. (I had no idea the streets of heaven were this crowded. There are a lot of people online!) It takes me awhile to get there, not because it’s hard to find, but because I keep turning around to look at Little Angels and their pets. Is that a dinosaur? And this sort of hopping egg-like creature; what is that? I watch a Little Angel wearing what looks like a cheerleader outfit run by me, right past a character wearing a barrel … huh? What is that all about? … then shake my head. Time to focus! So I run to what looks like a whirlpool with wings, and am transported to the East Playground.

I expected my first encounter with a monster to be rather easy, and I wasn’t disappointed. What I didn’t expect was how downright silly it looked! A Slarm looks remarkably like a green Hershey’s kiss, only it’s wiggly and hops around. I stifled my giggles and started slinging shot at it. My young son wanders by, stops to look, and asks, “Why are you fighting jumping lilies?”

The Slarms are no problem; before I know it I have ten Slarm scalps on my belt (no, not really, as far as I can tell Slarms have no scalps, just green goo. But they are dead!), and am running back to the Battle Professor. He promptly sends me on my next quest: kill fifteen water elves.

Water elves look like big blobs of water with eyes and a mouth. My son informs me, “These monsters are too cute to kill.” I discover that when I shoot one it dissolves into a lovely pool of water. I’m happily shooting away when a water elf with a crown floats by. Gleefully I shoot him. Bad news. He’s a Water Lord, and I am toast. My son rolls his eyes in disgust at me and walks off. Can’t blame him.

But, happily I’m an angel and can’t die — or at least not for long. I show up in the Lyceum again, ready to do battle. This time I return, fight my fifteen water elves (carefully avoiding anything with a crown), and return victorious to the Battle Professor.

I go out confidently on my third and final quest for the Battle Professor: kill fifteen earth elves. I quickly discover a group of earth elves. They look like potatoes with smiley faces and little green sprouts coming out of their heads. Easy!

Until I die. And regenerate. And die again. And regenerate again. And die again.

I learn a valuable lesson: quest three is really hard when you’re just starting out. Without adequate armor and skills, what I expected to be an easy quest turns into a slugfest. (Kill the earth elf. Sit and regain HP. Kill the earth elf. Sit and regain HP. Try hard not to die. Fortunately, none of them, even the Lords, will attack you unless you attack it first.) I also pick up on one bit of strategy for us archer-types — start shooting at your target while it’s too far away to hit you back. That way it has less time to attack back by the time it reaches you.

I decide with my next two professors to investigate if I can do lesson one for each of them, then lesson two for each of them, and then lesson three.

I do manage to kill all fifteen earth elves, but I will admit by the end I had an overwhelming urge to eat some mashed potatoes.

Next on the agenda: Three quests each from the Magic and Mine Professors, and then graduation and on to my career! But first I’ve earned a break. Wonder if there’s a pizza joint in heaven?

Until next time, remember our slogan: To Save Eden!

Jadeen

For more, please visit Angels Online.