MMORPG
My new MMORPG obsession is Sword of the New World. It's a game that just came out this past Tuesday and has been very successful in Korea where is originated. A couple of interesting things about the game are it's setting, a fantasy-ified exploration/settling of the Americas (but all places are fictional). The other interesting thing is that you play THREE characters at a time and you can have a total of 36 chars(there is no point in having less out but it's possible). The choices are fairly limited, scout (healer/dps), fighter (tank/dps), elementalist (aoe dps), musketeer (range dps) and wizard (buff/dps). The classes are actually a little more flexible than that but that's their general idea. Your character(s) have slightly to greatly different abilities depending upon what stance you put them in. There are also what's called, "UPC" or Unique Player Characters. These are sort of a set character (or class) that you can purchase or quest for and offers different abilities than the stock classes although they don't have as much flexibility and some are not able to reach after levels (after lvl 100 there is an alternative way of advancing your character). Your characters have decent AI so that if you put the scout in heal stance it will heal your char without any input from you. Of course you can also do these actions yourself by mouse or keystroke. Movement is point and click. Really, if you've played any Korean MMORPG then you'll have a good idea of how the game plays.
I love this game. I have become seriously addicted and I was surprised at it. I started mostly out of curiosity of the three characters at a time and my frustration with being limited in MMO by not being able to find a healer or tank.
Game is very grindy...quests have you kill 100s of mobs, however the number of mobs you take on at a time is mind boggling and the respawn rate is near instant. So it's essentially wave after wave of mobs. You can leave your chars and walk away but I've found that not to be the most efficient way to lvl and unless you park them where the mobs are much lower than you, you will die. So there is a bit of putting the char in auto but in order to play well there is some strategy to learn.
Almost no customization of your characters. You pick sex and class and that's pretty much it. No hairstyle or color or face. I am one who always loves to spend lots of time making a character so I thought this would be a huge turn off for me. Turns out it isn't really an issue. In the North American translation they added a bunch of outfits that you could later purchase or earn to the character creation screen. There are still more outfits to choose from or earn later and your stat improving "clothing" is separated from your appearance changing clothing. I'm as happy as a pig in mud. My characters have beautiful, awesome clothes (baroque style hoop skirts, top hats, mesh, victorian styles) and hats I can choose from. (Not authentic as they are often cut up in sexy ways) The only thing I really miss is hairstyle/color. The face I rarely get close enough to see anyway and I always hated the ugly mix/match of putting together armor with the best stats. The boys are very pretty too, of the more feminine anime style than typical brutish American types.
If you are at all interested in the game, give it a try because it is free to play to lvl 20 (with a couple of other restrictions).
I love this game. I have become seriously addicted and I was surprised at it. I started mostly out of curiosity of the three characters at a time and my frustration with being limited in MMO by not being able to find a healer or tank.
Game is very grindy...quests have you kill 100s of mobs, however the number of mobs you take on at a time is mind boggling and the respawn rate is near instant. So it's essentially wave after wave of mobs. You can leave your chars and walk away but I've found that not to be the most efficient way to lvl and unless you park them where the mobs are much lower than you, you will die. So there is a bit of putting the char in auto but in order to play well there is some strategy to learn.
Almost no customization of your characters. You pick sex and class and that's pretty much it. No hairstyle or color or face. I am one who always loves to spend lots of time making a character so I thought this would be a huge turn off for me. Turns out it isn't really an issue. In the North American translation they added a bunch of outfits that you could later purchase or earn to the character creation screen. There are still more outfits to choose from or earn later and your stat improving "clothing" is separated from your appearance changing clothing. I'm as happy as a pig in mud. My characters have beautiful, awesome clothes (baroque style hoop skirts, top hats, mesh, victorian styles) and hats I can choose from. (Not authentic as they are often cut up in sexy ways) The only thing I really miss is hairstyle/color. The face I rarely get close enough to see anyway and I always hated the ugly mix/match of putting together armor with the best stats. The boys are very pretty too, of the more feminine anime style than typical brutish American types.
If you are at all interested in the game, give it a try because it is free to play to lvl 20 (with a couple of other restrictions).