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Atlantica Online
Topic Started: Nov 2 2008, 03:46 AM (573 Views)
Jeremy
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A lot of you have probably been seeing the ads for this one throughout IF/ZB. I know I've seen the ads a few times, but mostly just ignored it until I got a recommendation from a friend of mine. I wanted to give this one a couple of days to let me settle in and make sure I wasn't going to abandon it before I bring it up here. I have to say that I'm hooked, though.

Atlantica Online is a (free) strategic turn-based MMORPG and it's by and large the MMO I've been waiting for since the craze started with games like Everquest, WoW, DAoC, AoC, etc, etc. None of those games could hold my attention for various reasons. I either didn't like the gameplay (combat system), the community, or I wasn't interested in paying a subscription to something I'd probably never play.

The combat system is a huge deal to me, in games like this. In an MMO, what is the one thing you're going to be spending a good 90% of your time doing? Fighting things. That's why the "real-time" point, click, and walk away combat system of a good many of the current MMORPGs is a huge turn off, for me. I want to be engaged in the system. I want to enjoy it. It feels like less of a grind if you actually like fighting stuff enough to do it again and again without going "Ugh, I'm so tired of this." So, strategic turn-based action, when done right (and this game pulls it off amazingly), is where it's at for me.

You create your starting character and you get a small group of mercenaries which wander around with you, to start. You can eventually have up to 8 mercs for a total of 9 characters in your individual party. A lot of the opening quests are tutorial quests that are specifically for introducing you to the game. This has a dramatic effect on shortening the learning curve, as the first few quest NPCs are explaining the game mechanics to you as you play the game.

The community surrounding this game is absolutely phenomenal. These guys have done a great job concentrating on the MM aspect and not just the ORPG aspect. Multiplay is engaging and fun. About 95% of the people I've met in the game so far have all been friendly, willing to help out, and quite helpful. There's a mentoring system built into the game which allows older players to help new players out and get rewarded for doing so. A mentor sought me out within my first few levels and was helping me get adjusted really quickly.

The party system allows up to 3 people (with up to 9 character parties per person - max of 27 total characters) to join together to fight things. Monsters will call for reinforcements when faced with a party and it can lead to up to massive 27v27 battles. The login screen's background is a depiction of a massive battle like that, so you can get a feel for what it would be like in-game.

The guild system is nice as well, especially features like guild crafting. There are a lot of crafting skills in the game. You could spend hours just working on improving those, and this is one of the many benefits of joining a guild. A guild officer can put forth a massive craft project that the entire guild participates in. Everyone that participates gets their share of the craft experience. This has helped a few of my craft levels fly by. Guilds can eventually get enough guild points together to take control of cities and control the taxes, security, etc. in that area. It's even possible for guilds to build nations by allying with other guilds who control cities, with the guild leader of the leading guild becoming king of that nation. This leads to the potential for warring between nations, something that's actually supported in-game, as well.

So, this is my invitation for all of you IF/ZB-goers who may be looking for a new game to play together. If you join up, create characters on the Thebes server and add "Atrophius" to your friends list. I'll mentor you guys as well as craft and enchant some equipment for you to give you a boost to get started. Maybe if you guys enjoy the game enough, we can build a ZetaBoards nation. ;)
Edited by Jeremy, Nov 2 2008, 06:17 AM.
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Tony
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If found, please report missing.

I'm having a read through the site, I like the idea of the cities and battling other nations.

Multi-player games aren't really my thing, I prefer to play alone.

I don't want to jump all over this saying I'll start playing, as I'm bound to loose interest after a few day. So I think I may leave it. (You gave a good sale though).

If a ZetaBoards community is created I may play and be a part of that.
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