MMOs becoming easier/casual: It's like smithing.

After writing the review for Elsword, I look back at when I first began and the current state it is in.

Back when Elsword had 6 characters instead of the 9 it has today, and also a reduced amount in the job options they had(2 instead 3 paths). Leveling up and achieving those job advancements were also a pretty big deal and a significant milestone. But as of what it is now, achieving the advancement don't feel as monumental, though at this point quite a bit of content have been added and updated.

Thinking about this, I recalled another MMO I used to play: MapleStory. Those early days when earning the currency of the game (Mesos) was relatively difficult and equipment dropped very rarely from mobs. The days where getting to the 3rd job advancement was a mark of greatness as leveling up became ever harder. The legendary locations beyond Victora Island such as the floating island of faries Orbis and frosted grounds of El Nath, where veterans tread and could only reach with a rather big hole in their funds. Hitting the big 100th level was something well-worthy of grand respect as it probably took months.

But now?

Now one can stock pile quite a bit of Mesos and equipment drop from mobs, their value reduced by the fact that items created with the forging system have additional effects and better stats. Leveling up is pretty much a breeze, with quests giving buckets of experience points along with the mobs feeling much easier to deal with as to before. Getting to the 4th job advancement(Of which is at level 120) don't take as long. Orbis, El Nath and various other areas that used to be a big deal can now be accessed FREELY. All this knowledge what the game was as of late had me feel a bit of ire, considering all that effort I used to put in to leveling, grinding. I was disgusted.

After watching a certain episode which talked about gaming, however, I would realize there was somewhat a need for what feels like a reduction in difficulty.

For starters, I had been an avid fan of Maple for awhile, so when there was new content, it was within a reasonable reach for me. The same can be said for Elsword. But what about those who were new to the game, the fresh players? They'd need to go through the same grind I did before getting to the same content. As time passed on, there came new areas, the new job advancement, new characters etc etc. SO much content. Maybe starting to get TOO much. With all that grind to get to the new content that maybe their veteran friend are enjoying, how many new players would have the patience to remain interested?

So what to do? Best compress it then. Make it easier to level up. Reduce the amount of experience points needed. Make earning money easier. Make travelling easier. Make it faster to go through the old content and catch up to the newer ones. I mean, one of them managed to last more than 10 years.

I can't disagree that it makes sense and benefits players in general since the game becomes less of a grind, but as said before, the unfortunate sacrifice is the feeling of accomplishment the old content used to provide. That moment when you go: "FINALLY. I HAVE ACHIEVED THE GREATNESS" rather than "Ugh. Finally got to this point". Then again, back when those games were new, they had to worry about the inverse: Gamers going through their content TOO fast, which meant making leveling up on the higher tiers more difficult and better equipment hard to find etc. And at least most games provide harder 'end-game' content for those who want the sense of achievement that comes from a herculean task.

Maybe it's a natural progression for MMOs as they age. For the devs to take the existing content and reshaping it as a blacksmith would old tools, melting, adding more and making something 'new'.

Game Review: Elsword(Taiwan Servers)

Alright, another MMO to talk about. And this one I have a better relationship with. Here's a heads up though: I'm doing the Taiwan Servers of this MMO. The reason for this is due to not publisher in South East Asia providing a server, North American Servers being region locked and the Korean Servers being about as penetrable as a wall made out of diamond.

Anyway, Elsword is a 2.5 dimensional side-scrolling action MMORPG developed by Korean game company KoG Studios. It's 2.5 dimensional in the sense that models and environments are 3 dimensional but the game is played along a 2 dimensional axis. The game itself would probably bear a lot of resemblance to KoG's other 2.5 D side-scrolling game Grandchase(So there's going to be some comparisons here and there).

Set in the fictional world of Elrios, the game follows the story of Elsword and his comrades who travel the lands in order to bring peace to areas where turmoil is occurring, though some of the members the group have other personal reasons for fighting.

Starting the game, a player can pick from one of 9 characters in the cast. From there, a player can also see the available job paths that character can take(As of the build the Taiwan servers have). The specialty and stat distribution/growth of each character and their jobs are also shown so a player can make as informed a choice when creating the character as possible.

Example of a job path. There are also short clips played to show the playstyle.

Combat in the game revolves around a character's combos done with the Z and X buttons as well as their skills, which are assigned to the A,S,D and C keys. For every 5 levels, a new tier of 2 skills will be unlocked but only one can be learned. Certain skills need to be unlocked via a Skill quest too. Equipment and Skill Notes also affect combat, as equipments can be argumented with elemental properties and Magic Stones that may affect damage and attack speed, not to mention some have set bonuses. Skill Notes modify certain skills, changing properties and/or damage values.

Example of a combo list and skill tree

Demo of gameplay

There are Dungeons and Field for players to fight mobs. Dungeons are preset areas that have players fight through to a boss monster. Fields are areas between towns that spawn 'lesser' versions of mobs that appear in Dungeons, though to make up for it, they do occasionally spawn their own 'field' bosses, of which tend to be much more a challenge than that of dungeon bosses. As for end-game content, there's Henrir's Space Time(A boss rush) and the Secret Dungeons for those who want a challenge and consider the normal ones as walks in the park. Well, the Secret Dungeons counterpart would be a walk in a park when typhoon hits.

In terms of monetization, the in-game store sells avatar skins that are worn over existing equipment and like equipment, provide slight set bonuses. But of course, it does have its own 'lottery' system in the form of Ice Burners and Ancient Fossil Discriminators. Ice Burners consume Ice Sculptures created from the town alchemist and provides a chance to obtain rare avatar skins that are better than the ones simply brought, while the AFD could give the player a Mount, though some can also be brought in store.. Mounts are more than just aesthetics as they have their own attacks that are used when the they're rode on. Besides these, the store also sells other things like skill resets, class change items, item expansions and extra skill slots(Meaning that 8 skills can be assigned instead of the default 4).

Elsword's combat is pretty fast-paced since combos can be chained mind way into another(For example a ground attack that sends an enemy into the air to be chained into an aerial attack/combo). Proper combos are rewarded, as hitting opponents that are downed reduced the damage done. The array of characters also serve a pretty wide spectrum and provide replayability, considering that if one counts every character's job paths, there would be 27(Or 23 as of the TW servers) possible paths for a player to take.

Searching for a party to do a dungeon is convenient, as one press of a button automatically queues the player and shows  how many are also searching in the same dungeon. When a party is formed, the game would ask if the player is ready, so they don't just get dropped in unaware. There's also a penalty implemented to those who think to join a dungeon and then Alt+Tab and feed off their team mates, of which is that if a player doesn't catch up to their team mates in a 20 second timer as they wait to get to the next area, their health would rapidly decrease till death and then they'd need to use a revival stone. 

The Cash Shop items feel rather fair, since they aren't necessary beyond letting a player look unique in the sea of other characters that might be wearing the same equipment as they are. The items that aren't for fashion however don't feel like they break the game more than they convenience a player with add-on that they would consider helpful or access to content faster. Even the Ice Burner sets can be brought via in-game currency so long as someone is selling it in the game's free market(Though such items have seals on them that need to be removed before use and disable trading when the seals are gone).

THIS SWORD NEEDS MORE TEMPERING.

As much as the game's combat flows like liquid silk, the skill tree is a bit of an issue, since you can't test a skill before investing skill points to it, so if a player messes up in allocating their points, they'd need to wait till their next job advancement(Assuming the screw-ups occurred before the final one), where they'd get a potion that resets their points, though the potion will expire if not used quickly. If the player only realizes their mistake VERY late in-game, they'll either need to fork out some money for a skill reset or wait for character rebalancing, in which the skill points of the character is reset since, well, rebalancing.

Elesis players be looking at this and be like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn977W9HjWM

The final job advancement quest tends to feel like it breaks the flow of the story(?) somewhat since it makes a player plow through dungeons that they shouldn't be if in the context of the story. Also, the requirement drop rates can feel horrifically volatile between characters.

The level design...Well, let's say they need more variety beyond 'area where you kill X mobs then go to the next to kill more'. Boss fights mostly consist of hammering away at them till they fall over, though some bosses require the players to take note of certain surrounding elements, for example: There's a boss that spawns two 'clones' of herself if the mirrors on the end of the level manage to turn to the center, meaning teamwork is vital so there won't be three times the trouble to deal with. Sadly, these kind of bosses don't appear often enough. The 'tutorial' portion of the game also feels a bit too long, considering it drags from level 1-15.

I would give Elsword a 7/10 . For what is has, Elsword's combat and general user-friendliness are its strongest points but a general lack of variety in level design and break in flow mid-game rips points off it.

Missed potential of Transistor

As I said before in my Transistor review, Transistor seems to have missed a chunk of interesting content due to not using the Function's functions well (you see what I did there).

Having studied games design, it irritates me more and more as I think about it and I feel the compulsion to express what I feel could have been put in to improve the game. Or at least give it more variety besides the fighting. That's not to say the combat is bad, it's just there could have been more.

(WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS)

What had caused me to notice this missing potential for exploration was the fact that in an early section of the game, the Turn system needed to be used in order for Red to hit two switches simultaneously and that you can use the Functions outside of the fights. And yet after that portion, there was no need to use Turn outside of battle. There was were also no 'secret' areas that needed the Functions in order to get to them. If you're not going to be having the Functions serve any purpose outside of the dogfights, why are you allowed to use them out of battle then?

Toying about with the Functions, I observe the qualities of some of the less directly combat-oriented abilities, primarily Jaunt, Mask and Get.

Firstly, Jaunt.

Jaunt is best described as teleportation, sending Red a certain distance and bypassing gaps and walls. You have teleportation move in a game that lets you use it in a city that begs exploration but has no part that needs it to access any hidden areas blocked off by a wall or maybe a large gap. Something isn't right here.

THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG IF I'M USING IT PRIMARILY FOR THIS.

Next, Mask.

Mask turns Red invisible AND invulnerable for a certain period of time or until she initiates an attack. It makes me wonder if it could be used to go through a treacherous pathway that damages Red as she stands on it(Or an instant kill) or access a 'security' area whereby if an enemy spots you, the door to the area is locked off.

And finally Get.

Observe closely. Snapshot would be pulled along the dotted line towards Red.

Get drags opponents towards Red. This could have been used to perhaps access 'bridges' that need to be pulled by it.

Besides the Functions, let's not forget about the Turn system.
Executing functions and moving in super speed can make for interesting puzzles or situations(I.E pushing a switch on a door that closes almost immediately)

Considering the story stating that the Transistor played part in 'shaping' the city by the Camerata, it wouldn't be too far-fetched for Red to use to and gain access to areas that couldn't normally be reached by those without the Transistor.

It would have also been cool if let's say that after unlocking all of the flavor text of a Function, the text hints that the remnants of the soul which it draws from can still be found in a certain area, warranting exploration, with the rewards maybe being a better efficiency(reduced usage of space when in queue during Turn) of the Function or an increase in damage dealt for the more combat oriented Functions, since they're now 'complete', they should work better.

Game Review:Transistor

The last time I did a review, I left a painfully obvious hint.

So yeah, we're reviewing an electrical component today known as a transistor.
.....
I was kidding.

The second game under Supergiant Game's belt, it shares its genre with Bastion, being an Action RPG, as well as having a similar game view, being isometric. The game itself works differently on the other aspects, however.

To start, Transistor takes place in disaster that's already happening(Supergiant really seem to dislike worlds) in the fictional city of Couldbank. The main character of the game is a red-haired women creatively named Red, who had a stunning singing voice but lost it. The game opens in medias res,with her standing in front of a poor bloke who's probably had better days.

You know, considering he's dead by means of sword to the gut.

Well, he's physically dead anyway. Soon, the sword speaks to Red and tells her to help him out, and the voice apparently knows her. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the man's soul is now in the sword.
After pulling it out and facing off against odd mechanical forces known as The Process, they head out to find the members of a group called The Camerata, who are apparently the cause of all this and are the reason she's lost her voice.

It's gameplay may invoke comparisons to Bastion due to the similar isometric view and free movement at first glace. Unlike Bastion though, you don't check back to no 'hub' area and there are no currencies for upgrades. Instead, it's all just you leveling up to gain abilities and perks.

The combat would be something I would best described as real-time turn-based combat, in the sense that you can fight in real time within a confined battle space using The Transistor's various "Functions", though they each have a varying activation time, making some attacks feel unsafe to use in combat. That's where the "turn-based" part comes in.

TOKI WA TOMARE(TIME STOPS)

Red can utilize a "Turn" during combat, freezing time around her(minus the terrible photoshop in) to plan a chain of actions or attacks which will be executed in EXTREMELY quick succession once she exits the planning phase. The actions(Which include moving) are limited by a blue bar that appears on the top of the screen that fills up depending on the action/attack. After using a "Turn", however, she must wait for it to recharge. Something worth noting is how the Functions don't simply work as attacks.

(Note: The number of open upgrade slots and memory shown is only upon hitting higher levels)

A "Function" can work as one of 3 things: An active attack, an argumentation to another attack or a passive effect. Each Function would take up a certain amount of memory, however.

Example of an argumentation to an active Function using another.

Another thing about the Functions is the fact that they all source from people's souls. This is also where the game gets its story and world building done. Kind of. Every paragraph needs to be unlocked buy using them in every slot at least once(I.E As an active, an argumentation and a passive).

Using Breach as an example since it spoils the least.

Transistor's answer to Bastion's hub is The Sandbox, which can only be accessed via certain 'Backdoors' scattered through the game. In Sandbox, players can access 3 kinds of challenges and a Practice mode to test builds. The challenges include a time attack, killing off all enemies in 1 Turn or simply surviving. These challenges provide extra experience points as well as unlocking new music to be played on the Sandbox's music player.

Transistor's artstyle for it's world is almost similar to that of Bastion, only with futuristic architecture in mind. The characters are also more proportionate as to Bastion's. Due to the fact that the game doesn't depend on any currency for upgrades, it doesn't feel as much of a grind as Bastion is. As with Bastion, the game has it's own form of Idols to ramp up the difficulty should players feel the game needs more teeth.

The ability building with the Functions really encourages quite the bit of experimentation and feels much more organic, granting a good sense of achievement to oneself considering that however far the player has managed, it was due to a personal build they've created. The amount of slots also make it so that most Functions would be used up and not feel as wasted. What makes a nice(If not creepy) touch is that enemies would start having similar abilities as you, in which makes terrifying sense the moment a certain plot point is revealed.

Controls, be it when a player uses a game controller or keyboard and mouse, feel very comfortable to use. When using a controller, the game provides a snap-on to enemies to make up for the issue of aiming using the joystick.

The various songs are sang by Ashley Barrett, whom some may recall from Bastion. As for instruments used, the tracks use more electrical instruments along side more traditional ones such as the harp and accordion. The vocal tend to convey more of the situation or probably how Red feels during the time a certain track is played.

BUT

The combat has certain issues. As much as the game does tell a player about the damage dealt when they execute the plan, that is under the assumption that ALL the attacks land. Which is a problem as some attacks cause knockback or massive changes in the enemy position. And the game does not calculate that. The game also requires the player to pick up Cells dropped from enemies after defeat. If a Cell is not retrieved after a time limit, the enemy would respawn. The problem with this is that if an enemy somehow gets knocked out of the confined battle space, collecting the cell would be impossible, thus forcing a revert to the last savepoint before the battle.

Finally, possibly the biggest and most odd thing is that Active Functions also work as your 'lives'. If your health is completely depleted, you lose a Function. As much as some might argue that makes a challenge, I'd say it's more akin to being told to run with a sprained leg while an angry dog is chasing you.

There also seems to be a sense of missed potential to use the Turns and Functions for puzzle-solving or exploration.

The game also comes up short in the aspect of story and structuring. On the first playthough, it was rather difficult to process the torrent of information fed in one go. It was only with a second one that I could better grasp the events that conspired. The backstory of each  Function's soul are very much detached from one another.Limiting the Sandbox to 'Backdoors' feels rather restrictive. It should have been an area freely accessable at any point of the game.

And finally the ending
Well
It's hard to describe what to feel about that ending.

For $25 dollars, it does seem rather extravagant. I would advise waiting for a price drop or sale, though if paid full price for, it would feel like you were cheated. The game does give off the vibe it could have been better.

.......Before we all become oneeeeee
Ruuuuun