I recently had the chance to check out the new Fiesta Online Adealia expansion. I was treated to a tour from the hands of the the product team to let them show off what they felt were some of the most awesome new features that Adealia brings to the game.

First off, however, for the uninitiated, Fiesta Online is one of the denizens of the Outspark stable of games in North America.  Fiesta was originally released in English in 2007 and since then has grown exponentially. Fiesta’s 300k Facebook subscribers are testimony to the game’s popularity.

Fiesta Online is also what Outspark calls an “unlimited F2P experience” with no locks on territory, levels, progression, classes, etc. There is an item mall with tons of gear, XP potions, outfits and more in it as well.

The Adealia expansion has created a lot of stir in the Fiesta community due to bringing flight into the game. In fact, to reach Adealia, players have to find the Dark Lands Teleport Gate in order to be taken to reach the flying mounts needed to reach the first city, Adealia Village.

The town itself is bright and vibrant and definitely shows off the team’s love and attention to what would generally be considered an ‘aging’ game. After all, five years old in Internet land is practically ancient! Adealia Village is home to the Abalita tree which covers the entire town with a leafy canopy.  It is here that players meet the NPCs that will send them off on various quests. One of the most intriguing new quest systems in Fiesta are those called “Kingdom Quests”. Each town’s chief has a quest for groups of players.

After picking up our first couple of quests, we headed out into the Adealia Field to take on some pretty awesome new monsters. Not only were these bad boys tough but they also featured some pretty scary hit points that took our group of 5 awhile to take down. Adealia Field is home to giant gorillas, the Depraved (Dark Elves), and giant killer deer. Players also need to be aware of the lightning fast respawn time of these monsters as it’s very easy to get caught over and over to one’s own peril.

Spell and item effects are simply awesome. For a game that should be showing its age, Fiesta, at least in the new Adealia zone, isn't. And the character customization options are quite nice too. My 'Allustra' character bought herself a shiny new head, gray hair and all. I thought she looked pretty nice!

Adealia also features new premium mini houses that players morph into when in rest mode. New mini house models include a shark, a sand castle complete with a sliding penguin, a giant teddy bear and more. Also of note, mini pets can be set to pick up dropped items. This is a really nice touch as just about every monster drops something. There is no “pick up all” command so it’s nice to have mini pets run around and do the work for you.

After Adealia Field, we were whisked off to the Psiken Gardens where we encountered a lot of ghostly beings that were as hard as they come. When even a GM character goes down to defeat in a group battle, you know these critters are rough customers! While in the Psiken Garden, we met up with the end bosses, a Chimera and a Zombie Girl with her rabid dog pet. While we only got to see the girl as a GM spawn (hence making her a one shot kill), the Chimera did spawn while we were there. I mostly admired him from the dead position.

Our last tour stop was the Kahal Plains, a zone filled with tons of Dr. Seuss-like animals. There is a very ‘safari’-like feel to the Kahal Plains. Other residents include the Battle Beak (marauding and PAINFUL ostrich-like birds), Dark Fog and more Doomed Elves. We didn’t, unfortunately, have as much time to look around as I would have liked but all in all it looked pretty awesome.

Fans of Fiesta Online will doubtless love the Adealia expansion for all of the new content and adventure that it brings into the game. Unquestionably, Adealia shows how far Fiesta has come in the last five years and how much the team loves its game. Check it out!