This is a followup to my previous quick first impressions posting. It’s going to be short (my definition of short) and somewhat of a rehash (not as comprehensive as I wanted it to be) since I didn’t really have much time to put into this first closed beta so I didn’t get to experience a lot of the game.
The Good
Both the game server and client had no show stopping stability issues. Some of the most basic of issues were addressed fairly quickly (like the before mentioned quest tracking on the map and the missing help information that originally did not load and displayed only a blank dialog). As noted numerous times before, the serious performance issues that plagued Bless Online (which I initially witnessed in various videos and personally once I tried it when it went F2P) are mostly absent from Astellia Online (this isn’t to say game client performance is always smooth).
The game works as per its original intended design (with some minor deficiencies which can be rectified via tuning passes) which as I noted in my quick impressions posting, is passably GENERIC outside of the Astel system. Since one of Barunson E&A’s objectives was to pay homage to the classic MMORPG, the games core design (and its somewhat generic feel) needs to be looked at in that context. The game play as a result offers no real surprises. It isn’t bad nor un-fun but it also isn’t outstanding either.
The old school MMORPG aspects that Barunson is trying to achieve can also be seen in the ability to enhance specific character stats (like Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Dexterity, etc) using Atra Crystals.
The graphics (textures, movement, animations) for the most part are well done (subject of course to graphical settings based on the capabilities of the hardware it is being run on) and needs to be looked at in the context of a Unreal Engine 3, Direct X 9.0 game. For those who aren’t into the typical Asian stylized aesthetics, that could be viewed as a negative (my preference tends towards this style). Directly comparing this to other Korean MMO’s, it is comparable. The model design of the Astel’s are pretty good though where they even will dance along with the main character. The game world has varying environments (bright and sunny to dark and decrepit) that are fairly large but with some caveats that I will get to.
The voice acting that currently exists (mostly in the cutscenes) is alright and matches the portrayed character/pet (one of the things that bugged me a lot with Trion’s vocalization decisions for the NA/EU version of Devilian was the choice for the female classes to where I eventually would always replace the audio with the original Korean one). Some of the voice overs for certain Astel’s may be over the top/annoying for some players though.
Storage for the closed beta was limited to one tab amounting to 100 spaces (there’s four additional ones that will be unlockable once the game releases; how is not clear like whether it will be increasing amounts of Asper or via a cash shop item). There was also an account storage section below (comprised of 10 spaces) that was locked (the unlock price was 100,000 Asper). This will allow sharing items between other characters on the account.
The Bad
While I previously noted there were some places with micro-stutter (not related to other players creating load) while questing through the low level starter areas, I noticed this tendency after I used the level up NPC and began riding through multiple zones to get to the level 45+ map. Similarly, it was like some of the low level areas where the stutter and client FPS drop happened at the same place. The game is running off an 860 EVO so it’s not a read performance issue; it is probably related to the way they’ve structured assets and map data (and how the client loads/unloads this) since the game has around 26K files in it’s Content folder. Comparing other UE3 titles, TERA has just 10K files, LOST ARK has 15K files, A:IR has 15K files, and MU Legend has just 6K files. Again (as noted in my first impressions), it’s not a big deal since it doesn’t drop frame rates down to 0 like what would happen in Bless Online (especially when you combine that with player induced rendering lag which created that stunning slideshow effect in populated hubs while moving around). Certain UI windows also cause minor stutter (like if you pop open your inventory while moving; not that uncommon with games that perform a server validation with inventory item ID’s).
With regards to resource usage for both character skills and Astels (when more than one is summoned), this is where I have some concerns. The basic attack skill does not recover any resource (what is normally the customary way to do so in many other games). Mana recovery out of combat is also incredibly slow. Sure, there are potions that can be popped (the game doesn’t drop a lot of them so you need to burn gold for mana potions from NPC’s). To be fair, I didn’t have time to look into the skills to see if you could eventually unlock options where you could recover resources during combat. I also am aware of Barunson’s design objective with regards to the classical MMORPG angle where even basic mobs have a lot of HP and require more than 1-2 hits to take them down. And this being a Korean MMO, battle potions/combat supplies/food buffs (which increase damage, increase defense, increase resource and life regeneration, etc) are normally an inherent part of that design.
The flow of the combat (especially when we’re talking about simple questing for leveling) takes a hit though unless you purchase an ample supply of mana potions from the NPC. And me not being a huge fan of tabbed targeting style of combat, just makes the overall combat feel even that much slower when I find myself constantly having to manage my resources on just basic mobs (either from a quest objective or in a story dungeon).
With regards to summoned Astel’s, Atra Points is how they remain active; a single summoned Astel doesn’t consume these points but each subsequent one that is summoned does (so having two additional Astel’s active will quickly drain those points and once it hits zero, will dismiss them). There is a potion (Atra Tonic) which can increase the rate of Atra Point (AP) recovery and Astel’s can have passives that reduce AP consumption/increase recovery rate. Astels’ also have differing ratings (number of stars) which can impact these bonuses and given that we were given a case of all level 50 Astel’s for the level up NPC, gives me pause regarding some future cash shop monetization where Astel card packs can be sold (should the original monetization fail to provide them the ongoing revenue stream as time goes on). Yes, I know they’ve said in interviews that their take (for the western release) is that “power can’t be bought” but I guess I am one of those jaded/cynical folks.
Going back to the voice acting when it comes to the bad, the majority of the voice overs is associated with the animated cutscenes since the main questing dialog is text only (the NPC may have a short interaction voice dialog while an Astel may have a voice over that offers some additional piece of story relevant to the quest chain). If players were looking for more voicing of the actual story and lore, I doubt they are going to blow part of the production budget in this area.
The Ugly
End game gear progression is the usual RNG enchanting where 100% success is no longer a guarantee once you hit a certain enchant level (questing gear is 100% success rate). In the case of level 50 Heroic tier gear, anything after +4 has a failure rate attached to it (and I’m not sure how much worse it is for Legendary tier gear). I didn’t get a chance to try enchanting my event supplied base level 50 Heroic gear to see what it was like (and what if any failure mechanic exists like losing an enchant level/gear experience or having that equipment damaged).
End game dungeons (those with a higher degree of difficulty, additional mechanics, and better reward loot table than the normal story mode dungeons) also have a dungeon ticket cost associated with them. It remains to be seen if there will be cash shop items that somehow allow circumventing the dungeon stamina mechanic.
Gathering and crafting are a huge question mark (no different than the Korean version which raises some flags). When you pop open the crafting menu, it looks like a template placeholder that seems really out of place (as if it were an afterthought). Furthermore, a character can perform only one type of gathering. I get it; it’s meant to incentivize alternative characters (TERA does the same where a character can master only one crafting profession at a time but at least that character can gather from any node type) but it just seems like bad form to limit gathering activity in this way.
Finally, the exploration component in the game is pretty much a facade. There are these hidden chests located throughout the map in different areas that are meant to entice players to adventure around (you tick off achievements for locating these). But as you do venture around and then try to go further up a mountain or down a cliff to where there is a river below, you find yourself blocked by these invisible walls. There’s all of this graphical verticality BUT they are just a non-explorable facade.
And while the areas on the map look absolutely huge, the game world itself is unfortunately not completely open world ala ArcheAge or TERA (which has some boundary/altitude limitations but nowhere as bad as Astellia) where you can transition to adjacent zones without any loading screens. In Astellia, areas within the same region are segmented into their own instances with their own channels; there are points where you reach/passthrough a circular blue gateway and sit through a loading screen until that next areas instance has preloaded (so the world doesn’t really feel as large as it would feel if all of these areas could be seamlessly traversed). As someone who enjoys exploring the game world in these sort of MMO’s, this world design was one of the most disappointing aspects.
Final CBT1 Thoughts
I personally still have a hard time justifying the cost of the base game (extrapolating it using the cost of the low end pack) based on the state of the first closed beta. Granted, the focus was PvE and infrastructure stress testing utilizing a base build of the game. CBT2 will be focusing on PvP and will also show off the cash shop and its contents. With a summer release still on the docket, that doesn’t really leave a lot of time (basically, the countdown timer on the pre-order packs is about when the game will be released). The game does have upside potential but I’m not sure if their pricing will be detrimental to not just initial concurrency, but retention rates. I know full well that Bless Online had 43K peak CCU’s at launch BUT there are more folks that are now far more gun shy. Basically, I’m on that proverbial fence with Astellia Online and I’m hoping for more clarity on what level of polish will exist as the game heads into the final few weeks before launch.
