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alt="prius online"
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An adorable Anima from Prius Online.

Prius
Online
is the latest Korean
import by gPotato, but is more tailored to Western audiences than most
Eastern imports and is F2P (free-to-play). The world of style="font-style: italic;">Prius
is one of high fantasy mixed with a great deal of Asian influence and
giant mechas.



The basic premise of style="font-style: italic;">Prius Online
is that your character is a being of major importance, but who has
recently died and then resurrected. You were once an extremely skilled
and powerful person, but you now have to relearn all the skills you
have forgotten. Naturally, you do this through questing. Along the way,
you'll gain allies in the form of an Anima and a number of Gigas.


Cautions

There is no rating for Prius Online.
There is some mild violence, but is safe for older children (10+) on
up. I saw no harsh language in the game and the chat channel was clean.


Gameplay - 87 / 100

The gameplay for style="font-style: italic;">Prius Online
is your standard MMOG fare and is solid overall. You move around with
the WASD keys, fight by using various abilities that have cooldowns,
and there are skill trees that grant you new powers as you level. There
are a few differences to be found here though. The first is that
classes are race and gender locked. If you want to play a Gunslinger,
then you’re going to be a human female. If you want to play
as a melee fighter, then you’re going to be a Lon Mas
Berserker (a lion-man). There are only a few variations for modifying
your character’s appearance at character creation, such as
hair style and eye color.


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alt="prius online"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/101033">

Classes are race and gender
locked.

The most intriguing aspect of style="font-style: italic;">Prius Online
is what they call the 3C System, which stands for 3 Character System.
You begin play with your main character, but at level 10, you unlock an
Anima. An Anima is a little girl companion who has tremendous powers
and is linked with your main character. Through her, you’ll
do most of your crafting (cooking, cultivation, etc.) and her mood can
impact her crafting. You can switch to Anima mode where you move her
around and do actions. Your Anima will stick by your main character and
help you in your quests. At around level 30, you gain access to Gigas,
which are giant mechas that your Anima can summon and then you use to
stomp some major pain. You can have more than one Gigas and you keep
them in a deck in your Atrium, your home that you can decorate and do
certain activities in.



Quests are your normal kill X of this creature, deliver package Y to
person Z, or gather X number of items from creatures. Quests are easily
found by checking the bulletin board in each town to see which NPC is
offering a quest. Highlighting a quest shows a ring on your map where
you need to fulfill it. There is also an automatic transit system
called Celero that is a robotic mount that will take you to specific
locations where a Celero station will be found.


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alt="prius online"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/101031">

Throwing down in Prius Online.
Note that my Anima is setting my foes on fire.

While quests are your typical MMOG fare, the creatures you’ll
fight at the end of a quest chain are incredibly strong and will result
in your death if you’re not prepared. One weakness of the
game is that if you fail a quest, you have to abandon it and travel
back to the NPC that gave it to you and retake it.



Crafting is somewhat convoluted and the game could do a better job of
walking you through the basic concepts. Also, there is a great deal of
grammatical errors found in the text of the game, due to the fact that
the game is a Korean import. Still, the gameplay is well done and the
3C System keeps the game from getting stale.


Graphics - 82 / 100

The visuals in Prius
Online

are nicely done, but not ground breaking. The game is definitely
anime-inspired, so if you don’t like the anime style, then
you should stay away from this game. Unless you’re playing as
a Lon Mas (male lion man), you will not be a rugged male character.
Women are anime-hot, and men are the typical anime-style androgynous.
There is a touch of whimsy in the game, especially with some of the
creatures that you encounter, such as the flying onions. The game has
bright hues, appropriate for a high fantasy setting, and is not gritty
or dark.


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alt="prius online"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/101030">

Using the Celero automatic
transport system.

Sound - 65 / 100

The sound component of style="font-style: italic;">Prius Online
is pretty sparse and utilitarian. Music is of the forgettable
background music that you’ll ignore. There are adequate
sounds for combat, but nothing too exciting or innovative. NPCs can
have audio dialogue, but it just a sentence or two. The dialogue in the
cutscenes is better, but they tend not to match up with the mouth
animation of the characters. You will definitely want to have some
other music running as you play the game for an extended period of
time. There is one caveat to my opinion on the sound and that is the
opening theme as the game loads. That theme is a beautifully haunting
melody played slowly on a piano is incredibly well done. If music like
that was more prevalent in the game, the score for sound would be
higher.


Multiplayer - 65 / 100

Multiplayer is pretty standard in style="font-style: italic;">Prius Online,
and nothing really stands out for multiplayer in the game. You can
easily form parties and guilds. For PvP, you can engage in duels by
mutual consent or create an arena fight in the coliseum. Guilds can
engage in siege warfare with each other. I would have liked to have
seen more scenarios for players to engage in and some PvP zones. I also
don’t like being forced to being in a group to enter a
dungeon.


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alt="prius online"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/101032">

Gigas fighting it out in the
arena.

Value - 87 / 100

The value of style="font-style: italic;">Prius Online
is pretty high. While there is a cash shop, standard for F2P games, you
don’t really need to buy anything from it to play the game.
Sure, it would be easier with some of the items you can purchase, but
you can muscle through the levels without them. With solid gameplay and
a F2P model, the game is definitely worth checking out if you like
anime-style art and Western-friendly gameplay.


Lasting Appeal - 77 / 100

While there is both good value and gameplay, style="font-style: italic;">Prius Online
isn’t a game that I would give up playing my subscription
games for. The 3C System is innovative, but it’s really the
one aspect of the game that makes it different from other fantasy
MMOGs. It’s something I would come back to from time to time.
It’s a great choice if your budget is tight, but if you could
afford a subscription to a game, you’ll probably stick with
that. Prius
Online
is a good game, but
other than the 3C concept, it doesn’t stand out.


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alt="prius online"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/101029">

Your atrium...where you can
kick your boots off and relax.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
  • Innovative 3C System
  • Solid gameplay
  • Can play without using the
    cash shop

Cons:

  • Can get grindy, especially
    for crafting
  • PvP could be better
  • Lackluster sound and music
  • Gender and race locked
    classes
  • Other than the 3C system,
    the game doesn’t stand out from other fantasy MMOGs

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alt="prius online"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/101027">

My character and my Anima.
Isn't she adorable?

Conclusion

Overall, Prius
Online
is a good game with an
innovative system of having 3 distinct characters. However, the game
doesn’t stand out from other fantasy MMOGs other than the 3C
system. There are still some rough edges due to it being an import, but
the game does provide an enjoyable experience that will hold you for
the short term, but most likely not for the long term. There is a good
deal of content to experience and it seems that gPotato is focused on
adding new content, so if you stick around, there’ll be ample
rewards for your hero.


Overall 80/100 - Good

Metacritic

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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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