Everytime AsiaSoft announces that it's acquired a new MMO title, I die a little.
This Asian MMO distributor has been responsible for an endless string of free-to-play duds, and their latest offering, AIKA SEA, is just another in that long list that's more likely than not, going to crash and burn once those poor teens who can't afford a monthly World of Warcraft subscription (but can somehow pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for A-Cash credits) get their fill of killing swine and each other.
Obviously, AIKA isn't new. Like many other MMOs that hit Singapore's shores, it's only managed to make it here months after the International version's gone gold. And that's the exact reason why AIKA looks like it's light years behind when it comes to the overall look and visual appeal. Worse still, it's got the exact feel of any other Korean grinder (and man, it's grindy) and music that makes you feel like poking out your eardrums, just because.
In AIKA, you play an Elter – a hero chosen by the goddess Aika to combat the evil Zerecas. Along the way, you get to beat on other players, and fight for your home country in large scale PVP oriented campaigns, relic hunts, and castle sieges.
Say "Goodbye" to female wizards, manginas!
You get to pick one of six classes – the warrior, the crusader (a paladin), sniper, dual gunner (thank god they spelled dual right). night magician (warlock), and priest.
They're really all of three archetypes – the fighter, the rogue, and the spellcaster, and there's about as much variety in their skill sets as there are doorknobs.
The class you choose also determines your gender (yes, it's a little discriminatory), so all you manginas out there, you're out of options if you want to play a female warrior or wizard. Better luck next game!
When I said boars, I wasn't kidding.
Mechanically though, there's little to really complain about. The controls are simple enough (or idiot proof enough), using the standard WASD buttons, and other hot keys to call up your inventory and on screen menus. When you target a monster and hit a key to activate a power, it will autocast – spamming the ability over and over until either the monster's dead, or you are.
I didn't mind the Autoloot feature – where everything that drops is automatically added to your inventory (it's a step up from right clicking a body to loot it), but you tend to run out of bag space pretty fast.
The quest interface though is incredibly annoying, and you have to scroll through a whole bunch of text, sit through cringe worthy voice acting, and worse of all, read the horrible, horrible dialogue to understand what exactly Poor Peasant A wants.
The first few quests are all about boars, boars, and more bores (and trust me, it gets boar-ing). At least the monsters looked… kinda amusing and were relatively detailed. I was especially amused by the animated potato sacks I had to beat up, and the ganguro goblins in the next zone.
Like a whole slew of other MMOs out there that decided it was actually fun for players to rear their own Pokemon, Aika introduces the Pran system.
So your Pran's not just Tinkerbell. She's got some decent powers too. Wait, didn't Tinkerbell have more awesome powers?
Fine, so the Pran isn't 100% useless. It actually gives you a token buff – like better damage output, or better defenses, but that's really just window dressing, isn't it?
Overall, AIKA SEA just doesn't deliver. There's nothing to set it apart from it's peers (and all those free-to-play MMOs are a dime a dozen).
Sure, it's attempted (albeit vaguely) to focus on the PVP component, but really, how many people playing MMOs play just to PVP when they've got so many better (and by better I mean real) options out there? The PVE facet too leaves a great deal to be desired. The trivial metaplot and story don't help at all either.
I have no doubt a fair bit of AsiaSoft's infinitely loyal, A-Cash chomping fanbase is going to jump aboard the AIKA SEA bandwagon anyway. but if you're a discerning MMO player, then I've got three words to say to you.
I recently got my hands on a Beta Invite for Lucent Heart, Gamania's latest MMO, and I'm disappointed to say that it's just a glorified dating platform set up with some cutesy graphics and a bash the monster component.
"Why the hate?" you might wonder, when Lucent Heart's a game about how love (and love-mania, apparently) makes the world a pretty, pretty place?
Well, that's because once you get past the anime style concept art, the googly eyed sprites, the happy-happy-joy-joy backdrops and the saccharine colors (it kinda feels like the developers were acid tripping here), you're pretty much stuck with a game that leaves a whole lot to be desired – both conceptually and mechanically.
For one, the game isn't new. It's been around in Japan for awhile now before making the English port, so the technology and overall appeal behind it is pretty dated.
Also, the fact that you have to jump through hoops and get up to all sorts of shenanigans just to register for an account on the Lucent Heart website, as well as the fact that you have to deal with a clunky, web based launcher interface that's a real hassle (it isn't Chrome friendly either by the way) just to start up the game can be a real put off.
When you finally get past the character creation, you're stuck with an interface that's cluttered and unintuitive, and only two classes to choose from.
There's little in the way of customization opportunities, and with only two career paths – either as a melee fighter or a magic user – your options are hampered.
Sure, you get to specialize when you get high leveled enough, but come on, people. We're not looking to play a 3D version of Maple Story here. I'd like to have my mage capable of casting fireballs early on, and my paladins who can sprinkle holy water on the ground, thank you very much.
Is a little variety too much to ask?
Check out the daily Horoscope forecast in the corner.
At least the game's mechanical frills aren't entirely hopeless.
Daily Horoscopes provide a set of attribute buffs that can net you better XP and treasure rewards and crafting bonuses.
The Zodiac powers also looked promising, providing a series of passive and active buffs (as well as a nifty Zodiac armor power that's not too shabby visually) but they don't really stand out enough to matter.
Overall, the graphics didn't particularly impress me.
There was nothing new to set it apart from all of two million other MMOs out there boasting anime style art, and big eyes, small mouths aside, it looked just like any other MMO from two years ago. That is, passé.
The particle effects and costumes, which I'd presumed might have been at least inventive, considering that the Japanese cooked this up, looked pretty mundane to me.
Animations were actually lag-tastic, and no thanks to server instability, a cause of frequent disconnects both in and outside of town.
Music was acceptable though, but the endless looping, and cheery beats, started to annoy after awhile.
In terms of concept, there's no real world spanning meta-story to speak of either.
There's some very overt Saint Seiya-esque references in there, and talk about Rifts (oooh, Rift, anyone?) used by monsters to invade the world, but other than these very blatant concepts, you don't feel like you're part of anything significant.
I mean come on, even DC Universe Online, with it's ridiculous premise, lets you in on something grand. And hell, it's at least original. Here, it's just one endless Fetch-and-Gather quest after another.
... aren't anything to write home about.
It's obvious that Lucent Heart's real aim is to encourage otakus and keyboard bashers who spend way too much time in their mom's basement to get together and procreate. That's why a large component of the game focuses on the dating and matchmaking aspect (it's also likely related to Lucent Hearts tie-in with GamerDating, which is what Singapore's Social Development Network should aim to be, if it wants to get gamers here to make more babies).
There's some novelty to it, but with so many manginas (and by manginas, I mean males playing female toons, masquerading as females) in the virtual world, I bet you a lot of happy relationships in Lucent Heart are gonna end in tears and heartbreak (hurhur).
Call me skeptical, but I'm not feeling the love for this title.
There's just no heart in it.
It's awesome when you've got a friend in Japan. It's even more awesome when he's willing to hit up conventions for you just to get ahold of exclusive releases like Ougon Musou Kyoku, 07th Expansion's doujin fighter based on characters from "Umineko no Naku Koro Ni" – a popular visual novel and animation series famous for it's deeply involved storyline, complex plot twists, and supernatural themes.
Aptly titled "Symphony of Golden Dreams", the biggest draw about this game has definitely got to be the score, hands down.
From the outset, you are blasted with solid, orchestral music and smooth vocals that play compliment to the mind-blowing introduction sequence.
Again at the character selection screen, you're regaled by the game's female ensemble as they vocalize a catchy, if sinister tune, nevermind that its in ear-grating Engrish, and this trend continues throughout the game, as you play through seven stages (called Movements, in true musical fashion) of intense, arcade fighting action.
Character Select - Take your pick!
Ougon players get their pick from a plethora of characters from the franchise, including Battler, Ange, and Beatrice, as well as the Lucifer, the leader of the Sisters of Purgatory, Beatrice's manservant Ronove, Kanon and Shannon, and the enigmatic Virgilia.
This line up might seem a little skimpy at first, but like all doujin games, there's little doubt content patches will introduce additional characters and options in months to come.
The controls are easy enough, and fairly intuitive. Ougon Musou Kyoku works with three primary buttons corresponding to a Light Attack, a Medium Attack, a Heavy Attack, as well as a Tag button for you to switch between your primary and reserve combatants, as well as a taunt button for health recovery. Pressing two or more buttons in tandem with specific keypad commands initiate enhanced attacks, and pressing all three Attack buttons at once activates Meta World mode.
The real mechanics come from how battles are structured.
Each bout is team based – you pick two characters, who share a common health pool, with an additional caveat – you don't stock up your own power gauges each time you deliver an attack. You stock up that of your reserve partner's. This forces players to master not just one character or play style, but a good mix.
Each time you tag in and out, your character also enhances their partner with a short lived buff.
Battler, for example, has the power of Resurrection, which recovers a small amount of health, while Eva-Beatrice increases the damage your character inflicts, if only for a short while.
Lucifer prepares to unleash her Meta World attack.
Activating Meta World mode causes the background to subtly shift and gives you a quick boost for some 20 seconds, but there's an additional benefit.
With at least 3 stocks in your power gauge, you can also deliver your most devastating attack.
This attack not only wipes out three quarters of your opponent's health bar, but also comes with requisite cut-scenes, flashing lights, bells and whistles and magic circles as well.
While the character designs for Ougon are true to the anime, and a lot of work was put into the animation for enhanced moves, rush supers and Meta World ultimates, there's little to set them apart mechanically from similar, fireball tossing, uppercut inducing archetypes in the genre.
Battler plays like a typical, balanced protagonist with his four moves – a projectile, an anti-air move, a downward attack from mid air, and a charging attack, while Chiester410 is a projectile spamming turtle with an uninteresting moveset, rather than a cuddly gun bunny (or precisely because she's a gun bunny). The game's witches, such as Ange, Beatrice and Virgilia are a little more dynamic, but there's truly little to write home about.
Despite slipping up a little on the mechanics aspect, Ougon redeems itself in every other way. Character sprites are crisp and beautiful, stage backgrounds are detailed, and little things like wisps of smoke and butterflies that flit about as you beat the crap out of your opponent is always a plus. All in all, it's visually top notch, and it's hard to imagine that this is 07th's first fighting game. It certainly looks like they've been doing this shtick for years!
My real grouse about this game is a purely technical one. It's just not keyboard friendly. Enhanced moves, Meta World Activation and the like require you to jam two or more buttons together, and these buttons, such as those defaulting to Z, X, and C on your keyboard, suffer from something called Keyblocking. This means, of course, that you're best served with using a controller pad, or a console controller pad with a USB adapter or you're at the mercy of the keyboard gods and bereft of your most potent moves.
Otherwise, it's a fairly good buy. It's something new and fun, and if you're a fan of the franchise, something to tide you over till your next Umineko fix.