General Discussion

MMORPG.com Atlantica Online Correspondent Matt Plourde gives us this first look preview of the new strategy-based MMORPG from NDoors.

Strategy RPGs have always held a special place in my heart - Fantasy General on the PC and Shining Force on the SEGA Genesis being the first two games to really capture my attention in this genre. Traditionally a single player affair, these games have carved a niche market for themselves through the years. There have been a few attempts recently to bring the StratRPG to the MMO market, but these games have fallen short (in some significant ways) of their single-player ancestors.

Until now.

If you are a StratRPG fan, Atlantica Online could be the best tactical online game you've never heard of. Available in the U.S. via NDoors Interactive, Atlantica Online is a free-to-play online game currently in open beta. They hope to get your money through microtransactions at NDoors' website (this feature is yet to be implemented).

Read the Atlantica Online First Look Preview.

And battle is where this game shines.

I disagree.

Battle seems like a dumbed down version of old console RPGs (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etc), but with much better animations and graphics.

I have a good first impression of this game, especially since I like both the art style and the sound/music. But I'm pretty sure I'll get tired of it very soon. Mostly because of the battle system, but also because of how dumbed down and linear it is. And the "auto-run to the exact quest location" crap, that's nothing less than retarded.

I appreciate this reviewers attempt to stay positive, but I have to disagree as well. Atlantica Online isn't even remotely competitive compared to the MMO's out today. The graphics are poor, the character customization is pathetic, and the battle system isn't enough to redeem it. When I saw an open beta for this MMO I jumped on the chance, but what the reviewer should keep in mind is your hyping a product we can all play, trying to jazz it up by emphasizing the one area in which it isn't terrible (Yes, terrible) will just annoy us after we spend an hour downloading it to find ourselves in a world devoid of entertainment.

On a five star scale, this gets a two. I know the game is in beta, but the way it feels it should be thrown back to alpha. Show us some polish.

It's obvious that both of you have barely played this game. Dumb and linear? You are quick to judge when you probaly haven't even gotten anywhere. Linear? Depends on how you play any MMO, there is versitility in this game like in everyother MMO.

"I disagree.

Battle seems like a dumbed down version of old console RPGs (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etc), but with much better animations and graphics."

Seems? As you self said, you have barely experienced this game, in which MMO's do you get thrown into action where a few mistakes will get you killed? Battle gets more intense and challenging. You've probaly just done the first couple of dungeons and experienced PvP on a beginner basis.

Isikari, why even comment on this when all you bring is a shallow first impression? I guess you barely touched the game. But I must admit I got a similiar notion as you in the beginning but the game really opens up more and more as further down the road you get.

Unlike any other F2P game this offers 100 times more, it's even better than many P2P games out there.

"On a five star scale, this gets a two. I know the game is in beta, but the way it feels it should be thrown back to alpha. Show us some polish."

Given you spent basically no time with this game I find your "review" void.

This game is not BAD, OK nor EXCELLENT, it is GOOD. I would give it 75/100. I've experienced over 200 PvP battles, reached well over level 80. The crafting, the market is very well done for being that simplistic, the game actually have an economy that is rather dynamic compared to most MMO's.

The guild system is better than most game, you can easily acquire a town and start building structures, persuading travelers to move there. Guild crafting, which is required for buildings but you can also craft everything else this way, where everyone in the guild who is not active with a personal craft will chip in on the workload.

You can establish a Nation relatively quick /Guild level 30) and start wars with other Nations which is a neat and fun feature.

There is several things you can do to gain points in several categories aswell which you can trade for items.

Mercenaries? You can customize your party in many ways, some take skill and strategy to pull off some takes no thought at all. Archer, Gunner, Artilleryman, Cannoneer, Shaman, Monk, Witch, Princess, Beast Trainer, Spearman, Swordsman, Viking, Inventor, Janissary, Spartan, Lady Knight, Excorcist, Prophet, Oracle... I might have missed some/one. There are several builds which you can make up - Some might make you weak in PvP but strong in PvE and vice versa.

There are alot of people who tend to whine alot, but they don't understand the mechanics of combat in this game, you have to move, plan ahead, try to "outdraw" your opponents in PvP battles.

Titles? There are alot of them, some are very time consuming, costly and will have you make sacrifices to achieve.

There is more that just this that I haven't covered here. This game is good, this game is very good given the fact it's free.

There is much to be improved, there is alot of potential, hopefully nDoors will turn around and get to shine with this if executed properly.

I agree, its not great but its worth fiddling with if you are looking for something to do. (that 75 seems like a reasonable score) best of all, it cost nothing to just mess around with. No total overhaul of your PC, no 50 dollar box, no monthly sub ...in other words no outlay of hundreds of dollars just to find out it sucks.

I don't know where many of the traditionalist get these delussions that nothing can compare to the pay to play model games. Someone please point me at one of these mythical high quality AAA western made miracle games. It sure wasn't AoC, TR, Hellgate, Vanguard or any number of other burning wrecks of MMO's out there that either don't run, are only half finished or both and most of them have deserted servers by the time they hit a playable state.

IMHO the time has come for MMO players to start being more open minded because the P2P model has done nothing but f**k us in the a*s over and over for years now.

I say if you are bored, give it try. You have nothing to lose.

Originally posted by IIRL

It's obvious that both of you have barely played this game. Dumb and linear? You are quick to judge when you probaly haven't even gotten anywhere. Linear? Depends on how you play any MMO, there is versitility in this game like in everyother MMO.

"I disagree.

Battle seems like a dumbed down version of old console RPGs (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etc), but with much better animations and graphics."

Seems? As you self said, you have barely experienced this game, in which MMO's do you get thrown into action where a few mistakes will get you killed? Battle gets more intense and challenging. You've probaly just done the first couple of dungeons and experienced PvP on a beginner basis.

Isikari, why even comment on this when all you bring is a shallow first impression? I guess you barely touched the game. But I must admit I got a similiar notion as you in the beginning but the game really opens up more and more as further down the road you get.

Unlike any other F2P game this offers 100 times more, it's even better than many P2P games out there.

"On a five star scale, this gets a two. I know the game is in beta, but the way it feels it should be thrown back to alpha. Show us some polish."

Given you spent basically no time with this game I find your "review" void.

This game is not BAD, OK nor EXCELLENT, it is GOOD. I would give it 75/100. I've experienced over 200 PvP battles, reached well over level 80. The crafting, the market is very well done for being that simplistic, the game actually have an economy that is rather dynamic compared to most MMO's.

The guild system is better than most game, you can easily acquire a town and start building structures, persuading travelers to move there. Guild crafting, which is required for buildings but you can also craft everything else this way, where everyone in the guild who is not active with a personal craft will chip in on the workload.

You can establish a Nation relatively quick /Guild level 30) and start wars with other Nations which is a neat and fun feature.

There is several things you can do to gain points in several categories aswell which you can trade for items.

Mercenaries? You can customize your party in many ways, some take skill and strategy to pull off some takes no thought at all. Archer, Gunner, Artilleryman, Cannoneer, Shaman, Monk, Witch, Princess, Beast Trainer, Spearman, Swordsman, Viking, Inventor, Janissary, Spartan, Lady Knight, Excorcist, Prophet, Oracle... I might have missed some/one. There are several builds which you can make up - Some might make you weak in PvP but strong in PvE and vice versa.

There are alot of people who tend to whine alot, but they don't understand the mechanics of combat in this game, you have to move, plan ahead, try to "outdraw" your opponents in PvP battles.

Titles? There are alot of them, some are very time consuming, costly and will have you make sacrifices to achieve.

There is more that just this that I haven't covered here. This game is good, this game is very good given the fact it's free.

There is much to be improved, there is alot of potential, hopefully nDoors will turn around and get to shine with this if executed properly.

You are completely forgetting what kind of thread this is. Hint: FIRST LOOK Preview.

Coming here attacking us for our opinions based on our FIRST IMPRESSIONS, because we haven't played for 100s of hours, that's incredibly stupid.

I got to my mid 30s in the last closed beta. During the week or so  between the end of closed and open I had unistalled to make room for other things.

It's a decent enough game, typical fantasy mmog with level grind, the turn based combat being the main distinguishing feature.

It is a very linear game, you must finish all the level 10-19 quests to be introduced to the level 20-29 quest guy to be introduced to the level 30-39 guy. Each set of quests takes place in a different dungeon, but has the same plotline: Something strange is going on, a peaceful place has turned dangerous, oh there's this ancient Atlantis technology corrupting them. Go beat the boss to turn it off. Heh, one of the quest steps was 'join a guild', so you're stuck on the quest chain until you join up.

Cities are disappointing. You access the market, bank, etc through a window. You don't actually walk through the city to a npc. Consequently , peope zone into a city, just sit there and open their city window. This leads to a slow zone-in since there's a huge crowd at the zone in point. Oh, and only one city in the world, Rome, has a bank with inventory slots. The rest just store money with a withdrawl fee.

Loot comes in boxes, click the box get a random piece of equipment. Same with skill books. Got very annoying.

Crafting was ok, ton of materials to keep track of with not much inventory space, though. Buy a auto-craft license so you can just click the make this button and sit while the progress bar fills up or you can go fight., as fighting also fills up the crafting progress bar. Craft stuff to earn crafting xp, once that's full you either pay an npc to level your skill, or find a player with a higher crafting skill to lvl you. Oh, yeah, the crafting npcs (one for each tradeskill) wander the entire world map. Want to find them? Pay another npc 1,000 to get their current loc, then go chase after them.

First off, my impressions of the game is, it is not a bad game, but it is also in beta too.  I would give it at best a 5 on a 10 point scale.  There were several things that I did not like about it