Writing this is difficult, as it involves convincing people that a recent Free-To-Play Korean MMO that’s in Open Beta is actually somehow fun.
https://www.vindictus.com
Here’s the basics.
-The game is made in the Source Engine (to the dumb: The one used for HL2, TF2, BM, etc), but doesn’t have shitty load times.
-The “massive” part is not so true. You start off in a small town that has individual “channels” (servers with their own group of people). From there, you head out to a dungeon in a max party of 4 (or more in special events called Raids)
-It takes advantage of Source by having complete destructive physics in the instance-dungeons. The best part is; you can use them as weapons. One of the most effective ways of killing bosses is to destroy a pillar, grab a resulting rock, and smash his face in. There are also hookshots you can use to pull a boss down by a limb, etc
-Combat is more like a hack-and-slash game than any WoW clone; rather than a list of abilities you set to keybinds, you remember simple combos like “strike, strike, strike, smash smash”
-No magic as of yet
-You are restricted to a set of 4 to 6 items when in a dungeon; a throwable weapon, and three potion-esque items. This is a nice way of preventing you from losing too much on one fight.
-Most of your stat increases come from a special form of achievements called “Titles”. Basically, they are character attributes that let you put a title above your character’s name, such as “The gnollslayer”. However, unlocking one, whether or not you use it, also grants stat bonuses to your character.
-Crafting is available by taking random items from the dungeon to shopkeepers who have an appropriate pattern (players themselves don’t learn crafting skills)
Here’s what I like about the game so far.
-It is very good about introducing mechanics to you one at a time. The introductory level is played solo, and reduces the HUD to minimum items; no stamina bar, no armor management, etc. From then on, things you need to know are introduced over time as you go through the first region of the game; and you won’t lose out by not knowing them earlier.
-Combat is actually fun. You will, unfortunately, need to redo previous dungeons over several times, but it remains entertaining. You actually have a number of moves available, such as grabbing and throwing enemies, grabbing and throwing objects at enemies, using large objects as handheld weapons, or just attacking with your own sword. Any of these will work pretty well. (If you have played Dead Rising 2, it may feel familiar)
-The main difference between the two classes available (as it’s a beta) is that one defends by dodging attacks, the other defends by either dodging (not as well) or shielding them. Also one is a girl, for which you can customize the size of her boobs to “large” or “unduly large” (it’s a Korean MMO, what do you expect?)
