This is exactly how I'd want a Final Fantasy MMO to be like - seamless large open world with various options of travel (e.g. Mount, Airship,This is exactly how I'd want a Final Fantasy MMO to be like - seamless large open world with various options of travel (e.g. Mount, Airship, Boat, Ship, etc.) in which the game doesn't feel restricted as zones with loading screens between each. Can't wait to peel away the layers to see what else this gem truly has to offer. I am a fan of both Tab-Targeting and Action Combat, so the Tab-system of the combat within Archeage doesn't bother me at all, especially considering that it's pretty fast paced. It's a game that can be played for story, player vs. player combat and most important, interactive environments & housing to roleplay upon with other fellow players (making guild-play more entertaining). It may not be the classic MMORPG I am yearning (looking at you Pantheon), but it's enough to satisfy my exploratory itch. - 7.5/10; A Fun Modern Open-World MMORPG, However, we need more players! Such a great game is getting overlooked. I have to wait hours just to get a dungeon going, which is sad. Please buy and play with us, we need you all!
(NOTE: If you have played less than 5 hours, don't review this game. Mixed reviews because of people who are not patient enough to wait for queue time, with no gameplay experience to truly determine if this is a good game or not. My queue times are around 10 minutes, but I end up playing for hours, so it isn't a problem at all; seems a lot are just impatient. If you are someone still deciding, if it weren't for impatience, the overall review would be around 75%-80% - around the level of quality I rate this game. No MMO is perfect upon release, so don't mind the bs that's flooding this page.)
THE BEGINNER BASICS
ArcheAge Unchained is, like the original ArcheAge that released back in 2013, an open-world MMORPG with all the trimmings. Though there are some tweaks, additions, and deletions coming with the 6.0 update (which AAU is based on) the base gameplay in AAU will be familiar to anyone who has played ArcheAge in the past. It isn’t a complete carbon copy and a couple of big changes coming into the game are enhanced graphics and a new skill tree, the Swiftblade.
The graphics improvement is first noticed at the character creation screen. You have six races split among the games two factions to pick from. All races have both male and female models, with all six starting skill sets available to everyone. Once those choices are out of the way, there is a myriad of sliders to adjust as you individualize your characters look. The enhanced graphics make the time spent in the creator well worth it.
As you enter the game proper your first handful of levels will fly by as you work through the tutorial quests. The flexibility I had in pairing my race to my first skill set continues here. There are a total of twelve skill sets in ArcheAge Unchained, and by level 15 you must choose two more to complete your class. Not all classes are equal but your final decision isn’t set in stone, so feel free to experiment to find a combination of skill sets that suit your play-style. Many of the skills can be used to create combos, where skills further down your rotation are buffed by the skills used before them. No matter what your resulting class – there are over 200 unique choices – all weapons and armor are equippable. Each piece of gear comes with additional combat modifiers (clubs do additional damage against plate armor for example) so your choices once again add another layer to your character’s survivability and usefulness in combat.
Speaking of combat, we are looking at some old fashioned tab-targeting here. I personally find both action combat and tab-target have their strengths and weaknesses, so as long as AAU does it well tab-target combat isn’t a negative, but your own personal opinion on the matter may be different. I haven’t made it too far into AAU, but so far the targeting is working just fine. One nice touch is the animations as my dwarf attacks. He doesn’t just stand there flat-footed while swinging away. Instead, each swing of his sword has him jumping and twisting. It adds weight to the attacks, making them much closer to action combat movements than the typical tab target swipes.
P-VP-VE
There is a lot of player versus player action for those looking for it but ArcheAge Unchained also offers a bevy of PvE as well. There is guild vs guild combat in Castle siege, and world bosses are in highly contested areas. Naval battles (yes, there are ships) are a constant theme and you can even go pirate to attack trade ships of both factions. And of course, you can just run around randomly killing other players. All low-level areas (lvl 30 and below) are safe zones, and even some of the contested zones will have times of peace. Dungeons can be found across all stages of character leveling, and there are even end game dungeons and raids. Some of the PvE content is located in contested areas, so avoiding PvP all together is pretty difficult.… Expand
