09-24-2004, 10:39 PM
My brother and I have it, and he's a bit nutty when he gets into a game, so he beat it in just under 13ish hours. From what I watched of him play, and what I've played myself, it's a solid game. Combat is relatively simple, and fun.
Right away though, I found a gold exploit, making the game much easier than it should be. I'm using a close-to-end-game weapon right away, simply because I'm the master at "memory". There's a card game where you match card combinations -- There are only 4 rows of 4 (or 5?) that you must match in 40 seconds. Plenty of time! I was able to get 20k gold in a short amount of time, thereby allowing me to buy some sweet gear. My brother just stumbled upon another key and gold-getting exploit as well. Looks like those boys need to fire their Q-A guys!
Over all, though, it's a good game. You can clearly see that there's lots of MMORPG influence in the game; it looks like it SHOULD be a MMORPG. When I think of the scar & body change/aging system and how that would relate to a massive rpg, I get all teary-eyed. The combat is fun, and would be very interesting in PvP, or multiplayer quests for that matter. The loading times are abysmal, though, and that alone makes this game a MMORPG impossibility. They really should have taken a page out of other game's seamless loading techniques, it would really have helped the "open-ended" feel, which is really non-existent. It's not open-ended at all. That doesn't matter, though; if you ignore the hype of "this is the ultimate RPG that has your character grow up from a little boy, your choices determine who you are, and the game play is completely open ended," and you just take it for what it is, you see that it's a fun action-RPG.
It's not the bee's knees, but it's definitely good. I tell ya, marrying everyone you can is just hilarious. You can marry just about anyone. You can woo and marry women who are already married, and then marry the man as well. It's fricken' hilarious.
Right away though, I found a gold exploit, making the game much easier than it should be. I'm using a close-to-end-game weapon right away, simply because I'm the master at "memory". There's a card game where you match card combinations -- There are only 4 rows of 4 (or 5?) that you must match in 40 seconds. Plenty of time! I was able to get 20k gold in a short amount of time, thereby allowing me to buy some sweet gear. My brother just stumbled upon another key and gold-getting exploit as well. Looks like those boys need to fire their Q-A guys!
Over all, though, it's a good game. You can clearly see that there's lots of MMORPG influence in the game; it looks like it SHOULD be a MMORPG. When I think of the scar & body change/aging system and how that would relate to a massive rpg, I get all teary-eyed. The combat is fun, and would be very interesting in PvP, or multiplayer quests for that matter. The loading times are abysmal, though, and that alone makes this game a MMORPG impossibility. They really should have taken a page out of other game's seamless loading techniques, it would really have helped the "open-ended" feel, which is really non-existent. It's not open-ended at all. That doesn't matter, though; if you ignore the hype of "this is the ultimate RPG that has your character grow up from a little boy, your choices determine who you are, and the game play is completely open ended," and you just take it for what it is, you see that it's a fun action-RPG.
It's not the bee's knees, but it's definitely good. I tell ya, marrying everyone you can is just hilarious. You can marry just about anyone. You can woo and marry women who are already married, and then marry the man as well. It's fricken' hilarious.
"Yay! We did it!"
"Who are you?"
"Um, uh... just ... a guy." *flee*
"Who are you?"
"Um, uh... just ... a guy." *flee*