Archeage: Second Impressions

I was extremely harsh on the game with my first impressions. Part of this was a mmo that promises  so much then presents the first thing you see as something worse than the worst Warcraft clones.

Turns out once you get past this hump there is a interesting game to explore.

So I tried the game again, this time doing something I never do. I rolled a human player.

My experience with Warcraft taught me that beast races can get the short end of the stick and while the cat area does get  much nicer once you get out of the valley, the begin is horrid.

Humans on the other hand get a lush, green environment with trees, bushes and its near the ocean.

The human starting area seems to show off the game much better. You get a horse quicker and shortly after the horse you even get a row boat and its the boats that have won me over in this game.

Boats are proper vehicles, you can stop at any time, stand up and walk around on them. Even light the lamp on the front. You can also take passagers.

Row boats are impressive, the bigger boats even more so. With harpoons and canons.

Rowing around the bay was the most fun I have had in a mmo in a long time.

The impression I get from Archeage is its a new Ultima / Vangard. The world is massive and seamless with lots to explore.

Combat is still clunky, labor points the gated crafting mechanic needs to be dumped and I haven't experienced the world pvp yet so I may still endup not enjoying the game but thanks to boats I will be playing this a lot more when its released. So I try my recomendation to give it a go when released.

Archeage beta impression

A new post has been done with my second impressions which are better. I left this post here as some of the issues rased are still vaild.

http://www.yamama.co.nz/2014/08/archeage-second-impressions.html 

I finally got a invite to the Archeage beta after so many emails of them saying " Hey buy this, play the beta this weekend  "

I am glad I didn't fork over any money. I was quite hyped about the game but in the back of my mind I knew it was going to live up to expectations

The HiveLeader on ArcheAge

Trion announces ArcheAge Free To Play

Finally some good news after the whole greedy ZeniMax euro thing.

ArcheAge will be free to play in the west.

"Both Trion Worlds and XLGAMES want ArcheAge to be a free-to-play sandbox that fits our 'no tricks, no traps' vision and will make development decisions to achieve that goal in Trion's territories."

 This games back on my radar again. 

ArcheAge - Castle Siege Trailer

This trailer is nothing but hype as I know that this sort of scripted game play is imposable in MMO's and what you will really get is 15 people bashing on a gate.

Maybe in Korea they could pull off this kind of organisation, but here in the west its never going to happen.

Still a nice trailer.

Trion Worlds to bring ArcheAge west

Trion Worlds ( Rift ) are bringing ArcheAge sandbox MMO to the west. I am not to sure what to think about this. Its good that's its not NCSoft but I can't help but think Trion are spreading itself thin. They have Rift and Defiance MMO's and now ArcheAge.

Most of the work for ArcheAge is done but as shown with Aion it doesn't mean you can slack off. Aion was years behind the Asian version.

The Draw for me to ArcheAge is the sandbox, housing and boats, the turn off is the races and over acting in expressions that you get in Asian style MMO's, also the lack of continuity in the game. Most of this might just be the experiences I found in Aion, which was just a very confusing mess.

But I am willing to give ArcheAge a go.

Would I pay a sub for it ?

That depends on how good it is. Currently I am living in a subless world and enjoying ever part of it. I am currently spending the same amount on a sub on cash store items in free to play games but I like the freedom of not being tied to a game. ArcheAge would have to offer a unique immersive experience if I am to sign up to a subscription.

Archeage coming to the west

Triton worlds ( Rift ) have announced that they will be publishing the western version of Archeage.

I am not sure what to think of this. Rift was super generic fantasy and I have had a terrible customer treatment with them ( 3 name changes due to servers becoming ' trial servers ', loosing all my characters names ) also they are launching Defiance another MMO.

Still if done right they would only be handling the translation of rift into other languages but I just keep thinking of Aion being a year or 2 behind the Korean version. So I want to be excited that its coming but I just don't know what to think.