If the first reaction you had when seeing this picture above is “cute”, then you’re not alone. Everyone who I showed this to say’s it. I decided to give this thing a whirl. This game happens to be produced by the same people who did Puzzle Pirates (I have yet to try that game). This game has been described as Legend of Zelda meets Diablo meets Phantasy Star. I never played Diablo, so I’ll have to take their word on that part. Though it’s only been out for a few months it’s currently light on content but not on challenge (just give Three Rings time to add more stuff). Now, let’s get right to it.
Gameplay: You start off the game at a crash site which pretty much acts as a tutorial. The only controls you need to familiarize yourself with is Attack, Block, Switch Weapons and move. Just because you only have these four actions doesn’t make things simple, though if I had one concern about the tutorial is that it doesn’t seem to really encourage blocking with the shield enough (and when you get further into the game you will need to get used to blocking…A LOT!).
Unlike other MMO’s there are no “classes” to choose from. They’re all Knights. On the plus side there is no level requirements needed to equip stuff. In fact, you don’t need to “level up” at all! You just need decent gear and in game experience in order to be effective (unlike other games where you got to grind for experience points to beat stuff). Then again, it was designed to be a casual game, so take that how you will.
The game has a high emphasis on team play. When you go into the depths of the clockwork you can choose to either join a team or make a team. If no one comes you can solo if you wish, but know that if you do you could find things difficult. The foes are in nice range from wolves to demons, zombies and everything in between. I’d go into more about them but this is a review, not a guide to the game (and they already got a nice Wiki for that which can be accessed from the main site). There are different damage types as well as status effects (Poison, Stun, Freeze, Curse and Fire) which have an impact on your ability to fight, and yes, you can inflect these status effects to your opponent if you got gear or vials that can do so. These variables make all the difference depending on where you go and if your run will be smooth or complete and total Hell.
You will want to seek out a nice variety of weapons and armor from 2 star to five star. The weapons and armor scale for the Tiers. Using a 5 star weapon in Tier one won’t be dealing savage damage to those lesser beings, but still nice to have. The closer you are towards the core the stronger your stuff gets (if Tier appropriate) but so do the enemies so it balances out. If you really want to tear into opponents you’ll need to exploit gear that deals more damage to a particular kind of foe.
To get new gear you can either purchase it or make it yourself. If you want to buy, try the auction house instead of the NPC’s because the prices for them are ridiculous. This was a mistake I made starting off, so I wasted Crowns I’m not getting back anytime soon. You can make the gear you want by purchasing recipes. Once you got the recipe you learn it (it will never leave you afterwards) then you provide the materials along with some Crowns and Energy and your new gear is born, ready to be used by you or sold on the market (you should know that once you equip a piece of gear you can never sell it to other players since it becomes “bound to you”).
Now onto another part of the gameplay that is so major I feel it warrants its own segment in the review.
Energy: Energy is essential to the meat and potatoes of game. It comes in two flavors. The first that everyone is entitled is Mist Energy (also known as ME). You can only store up to 100 of this and there is no way to increase this amount. The second and most valuable type is Crystal Energy (also known as CE). CE is the most valuable resource in the entire game since it’s used to go explore the Clockworks, make new gear and (in worse case scenarios) used to resurrect yourself and others (note that if you travel with others you should try to get them to revive you first by hitting the Attack button over you to fork over half their remaining health to bring you back up (once they restore you hit the Attack button to get back up)).
The Clockwork runs and Crafting are the things that will divide the free players from those willing to shell out cash to get more CE. As I said earlier you can use Energy to resurrect yourself and other people in your group. If you suck or are horribly unprepared equipment wise you will die A LOT! Each time someone dies the energy cost will double. The highest they can hit is 1000 Energy and this could become such a case easily enough on Tiers 2 & 3 since the base resurrection costs go up from there. Players can sell CE to one another, trade it in for Crowns or purchase directly from Three Rings (at present this is the only way in this game they can make a profit). To say that issues with the CE market have caused quite a bit of fits and frustration (especially if they decide to be a free player) is putting it mildly. Then again, I could see why. You’re restricted to 100 Mist Energy in a 24 hour period which (assuming you don’t die) gets you 10 floors of play. People have said they can’t rightfully call this game “free to play” because their play is restricted more than others who choose to pay in. I’m not here to argue points, but since I could in theory get EVERYTHING without paying a cent and don’t have to pay a fee to play, I call it free to play. Where you stand on that is your opinion.
Final Judgment: I do have one complaint. The game tends to freeze briefly from time to time during spawns of a certain amount of enemies and when in the Auction House sudden updates can also cause pauses which has made me lose a few bidding wars when bidding on multiple items in one go.
Outside of that, it’s an adorable game but not too adorable to the point where you puke Rainbows. The game has attracted both kids and adults alike to its world. I want to stress that the Energy system has a possibility of making some people frustrated and in certain cases even quit the game. I look at it like this. If you want to play casually and don’t really care about advancing the Tiers quickly the fact that getting CE would take a while won’t bug you. If you want to get what you could see as a potential grind and want those cool weapons and gear quickly you won’t mind investing some money into the game. If you’re one of those people who believe that their business model is whacked out, you might just stay away from this game. All I know is that I’ll see those of you who decide to play the game in the Clockworks.
Now excuse me, I’d like to play with a few Snipes.
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