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Vindictus Review: The Official Review - Edit
8
| Pros |
 Beautiful visuals Engaging story Fantastic combat |
| Cons |
 Heavily instanced Repetitive nature Shallow nature |
Vindictus might very well be the most bang for your buck you'll see all holiday season and into 2011. It's free to download, free to play, and as long as you show signs of restraint, you'll never have to pay a dime. Usually F2P games offer little to no production value or come off as some cheap knock off of a better game. Vindictus is neither of these things. Developed by Nexon using Valve's Source engine, it's easily the prettiest F2P game around and also one of the most fun. It's not without its drawbacks however, which mainly come in the form of shallowness and repetition: two things which are sort of commonplace with the action-RPG genre. It's a hard game to review really for this site, as Vindictus isn't your normal MMORPG. I have to rate it for what it is, instead of what it's not. And as we'll explore in this review of Nexon's newest title, Vindictus is a whole lot of fun and an extremely satisfying multiplayer action-RPG. For fans of hack-and-slash games, there's a lot to love here.
Characters and Classes
Don't go into Vindictus expecting an open-world MMO experience. That's not what this one's about folks. Like Dungeon Fighter and Maple Story before it, Vindictus is mainly a dungeon-crawling action-RPG affair. You'll start by picking one of three available classes (with two more to come). Lann is a dual-sword wielding speedy DPS class, Fiona is a shield-using defensive class, and Evie is a magic-using support and DPS class. Each one is gender-locked, but you can change the hair, facial expressions, eyes, and such at character creation (as well as assigning a new name for each character). Think of it like picking from the classes in Diablo II and you're on the right track.
For my time with the game, I spent most of my dungeon-crawling as Lann as I just enjoyed the hyper-kinetic nature of his attacks and his combat abilities. But I did play as Fiona and Evie, and all three classes are capable of both solo-ing and bringing something unique to a party. Lann's damage output on single target's is second to none, while Fiona can do an amazing job withstanding boss attacks with her shield, and Evie's support skills are a godsend later on in the game. Basically, no matter your preferred playstyle, you'll never have to worry about being hampered due to class selection.
Starting Out
Right from the very beginning of the game, you'll notice the extra attention to presentation that Nexon and Devcat (developer of Mabinogi) has paid Vindictus. After picking your character and entering the game, you'll be treated to a brief in-game cinematic explaining that a massive spider which was supposed to be protecting your hometown has gone mad and started rampaging up the side of a local cathedral. The town's oracle tries to prevent the militia from just shooting the spider, and your captain agrees to send you and a small force in with her to try and coax the spider down (apparently oracles can talk to nasty homicidal animals).
It's a pretty wicked and satisfying tutorial for the combat of Vindictus. You'll fight your way through a few rooms of bloodthirsty gnolls (who obviously have something to do with the spider's rage), and get a good feel for the basics of Vindictus' visceral combat. Once at the top you'll have to beat up on the spider since it doesn't feel much like chatting, and then after another cinematic you'll finally enter the game world proper. This whole thing takes about ten minutes and is a really engaging way to begin the game, even if the voiceovers throughout are campy and high on cheese.
The Town of Colhen
Most of your down time in Vindictus will be spent in the town of Colhen. Think of it like Dome City in Global Agenda or the subway stations from the ill-fated Hellgate: London. It's here you'll be able to barter and trade with other players, and it's here you'll do all your shopping and all your between-mission stuff. There's a bulletin board that serves as an auction house of sorts, but its interface isn't exactly optimal. My advice is that if you want to find anything, use the search function to look for it by name.
The quests or missions themselves are given by the NPCs stationed in each building. The Inn, Blacksmith, etc. are each privately instanced little spaces while the outer town itself is shared and split up into different channels depending on how many players are in each one. This works well enough at keeping the place not-too-crowded, but can making meeting up with friends a difficult task. Luckily, there's little need to actually meet up in Colhen itself, as all of the adventuring will take place in its own separate instanced dungeon.
The inside of each building in Colhen is not really a physical space, but more of a rendered space that represents where you're at. The inn for instance shows a bunch of beds and a fireplace. But they're not exactly places to explore. Instead when you enter a building, its tenants' portraits will be placed in a little UI window in the lower left, and by clicking each one you can interact with them. Whether it's for crafting items, progressing the story, or adding to your abilities, it all takes place in one of the town's many buildings. Sure it would add to the immersion if these buildings were actual spaces to explore, but this setup is functional, and anyone who has played a game like Nintendo's Fire Emblem series will be right at home.
The Boats and the Dungeons
The other shared instance space that's not one of the dungeons itself is the docks of Colhen. It's here that you'll organize and set up trips to one of the game's many missions. There are currently three docks, and each dock takes players to different dungeons with different missions attached to each. Missions are repeatable, and you will find yourself going back and doing many missions multiple times to meet different completion requirements in order to get more experience, different rewards, crafting items, and of course the wonderful ability points (AP) to upgrade your character. It's also worth noting that you're given a certain amount of coins which you use to pay the ships' toll in order to get to the dungeons. These are reset three times a week, and casual players will largely never run out. Should you need more than what the game allots you for free, that's when the real-money items start to come in: you can simply buy more from the in-game store.
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There are bulletin boards at the end of each dungeon's dock, and it's here that you'll select what mission to wish to venture out on, or to join a boat (group) that's leaving for a mission you want to do. It's a process that's fairly straightforward and works relatively well for getting players together quickly and painlessly. Say for example I went to do "Mission of Awesomeness", but don't want to try it solo. I can check the board, and it will show if there are currently any parties getting ready to try that particular mission. If there are, and if they've left it open for more to join (up to four players) I can just click it and be brought to the ship where players are preparing to sail off.
Now when I say, "sail off", I mean that a little facetiously. The boats themselves are basically preparatory stations where you and others in your party can buy last minute supplies like potions or spears and whatnot. Then, once everyone has marked themselves as "ready," you'll watch as the boat starts to sail off and then fades to a loading screen. Once you've completed (or failed, or quit) the mission, you'll be warped back to the docks to rinse and repeat or mill about the town some more. But we'll cover the repetitive nature of the game a little later on. First, let's talk a little about Vindictus' most interesting aspect: combat.
Apparently the EU version is coming on the 2nd Dec, hope it is true cause i really would like to play this game.
u just made me reallly happy
Fingers crossed!
There's no way to jump in Vindictus. It's a disadvanced.
If you are/were a fan of games like Phantasy Online. Then you'll find this game quite fun.
Geez 8 out of 10, another fail for mmorpg. Is this game is an 8 out of 10, mmo's are in deep deep troubles.
we can hold our fingers crossed till 2 dec :P
3 classes? All gender locked? How lazy is that...
Might be a good game to play for a week.
First off, giving such a shallow game an 8 is rather stretching it a bit don't you think? Not to say it is not fun to play initially, but it gets olds fast.
Suggestion, every time you get on a boat check your connect speed to the host because whoever started the boat is the host. If you don't have a decent connection to them (displays on the party window) get off the boat, you are just wasting your time. Some people out there with really bad connections.
It is a cute game though, just that it is more or less an updated Diablo without as much content. You should expect more in this day and age.
I downloaded this game on a whim. I've found it to be an amusing combination of Diablo and Legend of Zelda with environmental physics and fairly meaty combat. I've been playing a Fiona character (sword and shield) and have been having fun for a couple hours at a time.
I'd never dream of playing it for hours on end, though. Being F2P, it makes a great distraction for a little while, but it's not a game I'd recommend moving your guild to.
For the price (I've spent exactly $0 so far) I'd say it's worth the download.
The game deserves an 8.
Its better than Champions Online OR Star Trek Online, as well as better combat and more amazing animations than sWTOR or LOTRO.
The game deserves an 8.
Its fun as hell, and its...... eeeeeeeeeeeentiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiireeeeeeeely........ free!
Boo on any nay-sayers.
Vindictus is a fun game but not an MMO. It's a shallow Diablo-esque dungeon crawler with lost of instant-on fast paced action.
As a second class world citizen aka European I am locked out, so it can go to hell as far as I am concerned.
I agree. To suggest an 8 in a category of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game is going to run the gammet of resposnes for many; laughable, rediculous, shock, dishonest, strange. Maybe some of those reactions might be a bit harsh, but the score is inaccurate in the context of being a Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, as far as I'm concerned.
Is it a big, open-world MMO? No.
Is it a hell of a lot of fun? Yes.
Enjoy the game for what it is, and not what you think it should be. Oh, and it can be played pretty effectively without paying a dime, as opposed to most other F2P games.
Good review.
boring after first week.... next! :P
F6 or /jump works.
It is a little different of a jump from some other games.
The game doesn't hide what it is, but what it chooses to do it does very well. When judged against what it's advertised to be, it deserves the 8.
To some, but I'd still say it's worth the price, wouldn't you? Ya know, free.
I won't say that I'll be playing this game feverishly every night for years. It's isn't that deep or varied a game. But, for free, it's a lot of fun. It can sit on my HDD, and I can play it whenever I wish.
One other thing I'll say - the combat system in Vindictus alone has increased my interest in other titles, like DCUO and TERA, neither of which I had been seriously considering. If the combat in either of those is anywhere close to Vindictus', I'll be interested.
You know, I wouldn't complain if you were reviewing it as an action RPG because even gender-locked classes could be passable.
But giving this an 8.0 when reviewing it as a MMORPG is utterly absurd, especially when repetitive AND shallow are in the cons for the game.
Again, agreed.
errr... didn't the author say that he is not reviewing it as an MMORPG and regards it more as a hack-and-slash action rpg? So what the hell are people like EricDaniel or Chick_Aslin complaining about?
"It's a hard game to review really for this site, as Vindictus isn't your normal MMORPG. I have to rate it for what it is, instead of what it's not. And as we'll explore in this review of Nexon's newest title, Vindictus is a whole lot of fun and an extremely satisfying multiplayer action-RPG. For fans of hack-and-slash games, there's a lot to love here."
I really cant wait to try out the EU version since diablo 2 is getting boring again although it gives me more fun than 90% of the MMORPGs out there. I guess I will like the game if I can have fun with a 10 years old 2D Hack-And-Slash which is simply about farming items mindlessly ;)
I think people are not understanding this game and rating on what they want as opposed to what it is.
first of all, not having "jumping" is not a disadvantage. One can "roll" out of the way which serves the player as a way to avoid a swing or attack. it works perfectly fine and in my opinion is far better than the whole jumping spam that we see in some of these games.
But still, one can move out of the way.
As far as gender locked classes being lazy, again, one must realized that apparently each of these "classes" is actually a character from some story. So it's more about connecting with this story over creating "you" in the game. Though one can customize some aesthetics.
It's the same as playing a game where one is Lara Croft or Duke Nukem. Or heck even the new Dragon Age 2 which one has to play as male. It is what it is.
As far as being heavily instanced, well, it's a game that is not creating a world but is more of a lobby type game. It is what it is.
One might not want to play an instanced game but it's similiar to Guild Wars in that there really isn't a world but you gather your party at a staging area and head out.
The fighting can be quite fun if you like fast paced mouse clicking fights. the game is very repetitive so one can easily burn themselves out if they aren't careful.
There is a lot of attention to detail within the confines of what this game is trying to be. Whether this details is lost on people or not is antoher thing entirely.
If one is looking for quick fast pace combat fun then the game works. If one is looking to groom a character over the levels in a large dynamic world then the game won't satisfy.
Class number 1:
Combo, dodge, combo, dodge, rinse, repeat, got stale after 3 days.
Class number 2:
Spell, spell, dodge, melee or if you're using her other weapon, combo, blink, combo, blink, buff, combo, blink
Class number 3:
Combo, block, counterattack, combo, block, counterattack
This game is in no way whatsoever adaptive. You're going to be stuck doing the samething over and over for your entire duration of the game unless you're Korean and know how to abuse certain glitches.
OMG!!! Is the EU server really launches on 3th DEC?????? Oh i hope it's true! I can't wait for this game!!!
The thing is you don't have to play that way.
After reading your post I logged in with the express mission of not repeating some sort of litany of moves. I also did a few things that I usually never did. For instanced, I actually used "block" as I really never used it. I also started grabbing opponents and throwing them. I then made a concerted effort to pick up surrounding debris and use it more in fights.
In the end, I think that is what this game is about. It's not about figuring out a certain order of moves and then repeating them ad nauseum but more about allowing players to mix it up a bit. That's where the real fun is.
Can it get old? well anything can get old. But as I prefer this type of combat over cliking on mob, spamming skills and then repeating (I prefer hack and slash oblvioin combat with options within that combat) I find this somewhat refreshing.
Still, there is repetion and I would say that if a person is obssessive compulsive about gathering the best gear, leveling up in quickly, etc, they might burn themselves out.
Grabbing some friends and beating the heck out of things with a 4 x 6 for a little while can be fun. As long as one doesn't allow themselves to rush headlong into playing this game like an mmo but like a hack and slash diversion, it should be ok.
As far as nothing being adaptive, well most games don't have adaptive mobs or there is very little in the way of mixing it up.
I can't really comment on the gameplay.
It says NA, Canada and Oceanic... I'm in Australia.. Thats Oceanic but I'm locked out... durrrrr If they can't even figure where Oceanic extends to ... this game = fail
At this rate when they finally get to review FFXIV It'll get a 15 out of 10.
Careful , once you start grabbin and smashin its hard to stop ...Great time , fast fun ... but an 8of 10 nahhhh 7 at best
7 could work. It really depends. It is shallow but I find it fun. I couldn't play for a whole day though unlike some mmo's.
I would say if one wants a game they can lose themselves in it's not that game. At least for my tastes. If one wants to play a lot it would be a 7. If one wants to just log in and do a few missions, beat the heck out of a few thigns and log off, you know " quick fun", then it could rise to an 8 just for fun factor. No more really.
If one is looking for an mmo then it just can't compare.
Be carefull this game is for Canada and NA only.
This game should had been a console game. This is all i had to say. Im waiting for Demon's souls 2 so il past. bye.
The combat does have a bit of excitement at times but when MMORPG.com gives out an initial 8 one has to wonder what really is behind the rating.
Even if this is a F2P it should not even be close in ratings to other more established games. Let's see an "8" in my eyes mean that this game is borderline must play.
Maybe this is what the market is becoming, something that has a vision of fast paced mechanics and eye candy. But until depth of the entire concept is brought to indulge the masses for the long term, I have to disagree about the current rating.
Let's be honest as F2P it might be an 8, however for any serious rpg fan this should be no more than a 6 on the scale.
Great to try, and Great to play for the short term but the biggest issue I have is the substance.
But I think that's what I mean when I and others say that one must judge it on what it is as to what they want to be.
for instance, yo usay " for any serious rpg fan this should be no more than a 6".
and I would respond "why are you evaluating it as a role playing game when it really is more of a hack and slash combat game".
I mean, there's not much here for a one to really assume any role in the terms of character.
You literally have a small town square where one can go to the docks. There are several docks that allow people to do certain missions and then you are on a boat, your characer does a jaunty farewell of some sort and then you are in a linear dungeon.
It really is a pick up a piece of rubble and throw it into the oncoming rush of enemies game. No more or less. Based on that 7 or 8 works fine.
It can't really do more than that and if one takes what it is aiming for away from it I would say it's a 4 for good art design and visuals in an online game.
Heck, Guild Wars has more of a world than this game.
Before reading this review I tried it out last night. I'm not into asian style MMOs and their very similar character animation styles either. I also didn't care for the static NPC rooms with the selection tiles. Despite the "spoken" english you could still tell it was just off.
Bottom line sadly this game didn't swing it for me. Just not into asian style MMOs and I disagree on the 8. There is a lot to like in this game but I think it deserves a 7 or 7.5 at the most.
I'm not going to play it regardless.
The worst part about this game is the insane lag. This game uses some wierd hybrid peer to peer setup for the instances. So once you leave the dock you are basically running off of the group leaders PC. If that person gets disconnected you get booted back to the docks mission failed. The lag has made the game unplayable. This game was made in korea where they have 50 million people jammed into a few major cities that have very good average internet speed. I guess this might work there but in north america where the distances are so great and the average ISP is not that great this game fails badly. You can play it solo fine but in a group forget it.
Your basic group is 4 people and raids are 6-8 now i think they max 10. Unless they complately rework the system so that the instances are hosted server side this game doesn't have a chance. They restricted IP's outside of the US and Canada but we all know how easy that is to work around. Don't even bother with this mess at this point you will only be frustrated.
The content is super easy and you can get through it in a few days. They take 2 months between updates so you find yourself repeating the same tired instances just to get tiny amounts of ability points. I was planning to play this until GW2 got released but I can't do it its's just a mess.
I totally agree Oz. For a day or so after the game is maintained the connections tend to be pretty good. After that, they get worse and worse. The Korean version resets once a day to deal with the problem. Why they don't do that in the NA version I have no idea.
The lag gets so bad some times that the game is literally unplayable(group wise). I have a 22/4 meg connection, and have no problem playing any other game that I've tried. I'm quite surprised that Bill didn't mention that in his review. Its a rather important detail.
Another point is the game feels a bit unfinished in its current state. Only three of the five characters are available, and a lot of the gear(armor and weapons) has yet to make it into the game(plate and giant shields come to mind).
One of the main down sides is the peer to peer system they are using, instead of dedicated servers. While that may work well in a small country with an advanced tele comm system(Korea or Japan), it doesn't work all that well in a country the size of NA with a less well developed tele comm infrastructure.
Over all a good review, but I'd not have gone as high as 8 due to the peer to peer system and the unfinished nature of the games current state.
That's a pretty weak reason to say that, but there is a seperate version in korea called XE or something, that allows jumping, but as a result the air combos make the game even easier.
The game is not as awesome as I had hoped after waiting over a year for it, but if you have the attention span to play multiple games (not at the same time obviously) instead of just one (which a lot can't seem to do judging from all the token complaints) then it is pretty great.
Started in the Early Access Beta, but still jump in atleast once or twice a week, and that's more than I can say for other online/mmo games which get a month tops before I never want to play it again.
I dont see an 8 rating as being that unrealistic. Honestly this is the best F2P game ive ever tried and it is inovative compared to even P2P games in terms of combat in the mmo genre. Inovation in the genre when well executed should be worth something. It isnt the best game ive ever played, true and it does have some technical aspects to it we would prefer to be different. But its pretty damn good for free. People coming on here expecting a seemless world with tons of content on a F2P game without a "must buy from" item shop need to set there expectations accordingly. Attacking it for not being perfect given what it is, is just silly.
Pricing model will always factor into rating. Sorry. That is just how it is. Being Free will and should adjust expectations a bit as would alternatly having to pay for something does.
Guild wars 2 is not going to be a CORPG like gw1. It's a persistant online world and a full fledged mmo.
hmm well its ok if you don't mind being restricted in so many ways. not for me.
The game is not an MMORPG and it's not even 40% complete. Lack of customization? You are playing the wrong game. If the game gets boring for you, that's more your problem than anyones. Sure, the game has cons, but it is free. You really can't talk shit on this game because it's either fun or it's not, either way it cost you 0$. The game is a hack and slash based around obtaining new loot and leveling up skills.
I can't believe people still complain about free shit. Do you go to addictinggames.com and run around probing games for cons? No, you play them and if they're fun you continue playing them. If they bore you, you stop. If you don't like hack and slashes, don't play it. It recycles content a lot, but if you're into just mind-blowing fun and fast paced action than play it.
Anyway, the game is no where near finished, they're releasing it in segments and they're very good at listening to the audience's requests. If you're looking to play Vindictus 14 hours a day, you're going to get bored. But if you're a gamer by even the shoddiest definition, you'll enjoy having a free and fun game to play 3-4 hours a day. And you won't feel behind if you choose to not play it at all for a bit.
The classes are unique, the gear is amazing, the boss fights are fun. Scythe Evie is easily one of the best class designs in the past decade and it's a blast to play. You can effectively play the game 4+ hours a day everyday without ever spending a penny, yet you will never be left behind or alone in the leveling. In the end, the game is free. The game is fun. And haters will hate on that which doesn't agree with their opinion.
Players who like the game will agree with an 8/10. People who dislike the game will disagree. You just can't beat opinions.
Most of the nay-sayers on here are probably people who don't even know what they want from a game anymore. Calling this game shallow is nothing more then saying cutting the bull$h!t. So you don't have to run around town then run 20 mins to find your quest mobs then run back and then run back out to get a set of herbs then run back? I am fine with the shallow gameplay then cause obviously the normal questing and gameplay systems aren't what people want either. I chalk it up to people just never being pleased.
This game is definitely an 8/10. Anyone who rates it lower is either a.) Forgetting it's F2P, or b.) An RPG purist.
I haven't had this much fun in an F2P or otherwise MMO in a while.
- Tryken/Ryan
Maybe you are right.
However, you still need proofs to prove it.
If that, i'll try some day. And i think many ppl have the same idea.
How would it being F2P have anything to do with it's rating? Infact this makes me thing the game is average, but simply worth a 8 because it is F2P.
A lot people factor in price when it comes to opinions. The fact that Vindictus is the quality of a game that it is and that is F2P does make a difference to a lot of people.
True, and as a cooperative multiplayer rpg, as GW2 will be, I cant fathom how an extroidinarily designed CORPG like GW2 can be distinguished in its level of exquisite breadth and depth of game-play, within a point of 1 or 2 between it and Vindictus.
So one means to tell me that when GW2 is reviewed as a 9 or 10, that all that stands between it and Vindictus will be 2 points?
im gw fan, so i dont have any problem with instances! can't wait to play it in europe!
Nice to see something a bit differant, but is it taking MMO's forward? Well yes with the physics but the restrictions of not having a open world are a step backward. A game like this helps point the way forward though, add an open world, keep the instances to dungeons and you have a MMO of the future.
On the other hand it is definatly taking online play forward, which is good to see.
It's a grindy game It gets boring after 3 days of playing.
Game isnt an MMO.
0/10
The game is fun. The combat is fun. The visuals are great.
It's a perfect game to play when you only have a half hour or an hour. It's easy to log in and get right into the action.
I think most people will probably burn out fairly quickly if they go overboard on play time. Take it for what it is.
BTW, also good for when you are the mood to play a game and just bash things. Good way to relieve some frustrations. :)
Its biggest fail is the forced server separation... that stuff should be outlawed.
Wish the EU site was open, probably opens up a day before launch. Grrrr!!
An 8? Goodness. Great graphics, great polish, and great tutorial. Beyond that its an empty shell of a game. Its f2p for a reason. No one with half a functioning brain would pay for it.
Verdict:
Fun for 30 minutes.
Pretty much this. A review is just a statement of opinion. Based on what this game is and claims to be, I give it an 8. Ideally, I'd do away with all numerical ratings, but it's what we do here at the site. I'd much prefer a "Buy it, Try it, Avoid it, Wait for it" approach that we're starting to use on our first looks. But people love them some numbers... so much controversy!
Thanks folks, those who realize that the 8 is just one man's opinion. :)
Fingers crossed :D I hope on dec 2nd at last i can play that game !!
Yeah, something that I found unusual.
So yeah, where is the MMO part of that game because only thing I see is a lonely grind fest. Like seriusly, Im not even sure if I saw another player in any of your screenshot. Is there PVP at all? Also, how the hell can you guys give such high ratings when we read the HUGE and OBVIOUS flaws you are describing. What about you people from MMORPG.COM leave the numbers 10, 9 and 8 and work a lot more with the number 4, 5, 6 and 7 because none of the current MMO(also read recent) deserve such high ratings... None.
I also gave this an 8.0. I think it will make a great back up game for myself and up to 3 friends lol.
Yeah well that's kind of how all MMORPGs work. Find the skills that work the best then spam them constantly. Atleast Vindi you need to aim your attacks based on the situation.
You do realize GW2 is fully MMO, not a CORPG don't you?
Those who think Vindi is short have apparently never played Mabinogi before or are not familiar with DevCat studios.
DevCat releases content constantly. And considering the game was free from the get go, I really don't think anyone should be complaining about the current length.
Also 3 characters? Yeah well there's a point to this to. The game will only bring in so many new players once it's been around for a while. Releasing a new class will bring old players back with low level characters that will be able to play along with new players.
The only part of Vindi which I don't think is absolute diamonds is the fact that it doesn't yet have a lot of permanent NX items like Mabinogi does.
The only part? You like the peer to peer system and its results in the NA markets? At the very least they should reset it on a daily basis as the Korean version does. Its not a bad game, all things considered, but group play with that lagged out system is very unpleasant.
Few corrections, unless it was changed between when I stopped playing, to now.
Only the 2 last boats require a coin fee, the first one is free of charges, as it serves mainly for tutorial purposes.
And you don't have to visit an NPC to use your AP, it can be done at any time outside of a dungeon simply by going into the skill menu.
As for the score? I may like the game, but 8 still seems too generous. 6-7 sure, but no 8. There is zero mention about the actual customization and just how limited it really is. Besides minor tattooes, you have to rent options out, which ultimately can be ignored anyways because you will never see it on your character. They are essentially hiding stat sticks in "customization" as an excuse to force you to pay what could be easily $20-30 just to have your characters look the way you like for 5-10 minutes out of the hours or so you play them.
Which is inexcusable. DFO has stats on all its avatar gear, and are still permanent. Hell, the biggest downside to its system is just the color and what you get is random, but its only what, a dollar a piece? And you can trade them too. Hell, it can't even begin to apply to the hair slot since it gives a meager "7" luck. The game went the way of Allods to me, and completely screwed up the item shop to a point where my interest in a game was ruined (when I've been looking forward to it for a few years now).
The lag also helped though. I couldn't join a single god-dang group without having 0 bars and minute-long spikes of being locked in place. And before I see another "stop playing you ain't in the states" response, I do live in NA, Nexon just needs to bother with actually fixing their side of the mess.
Good to hear. I was hoping someone would post the date here. Thanks ^.^
any news about this title comming to EU soon ?
Let's stay on the topic of the thread guys.
Volkon, ya know, your right and I'm wrong in that comparison. GW2 is in -development as a mmorpg, as opposed to GW1 which is much more of a CORPG. I should have known better, as I'm really anticipating GW2, and shouldn't have lumped GW2 in my comparison, but I am still disturbed that my perception of such a linear, limited, and shallow game as Vindictus, through this review, can share the same review score as GW1, if the game is even to be considered as a CORPG.
So let me step back....took my licks....So I'm still struggling with the context of the score; which is what I originally stated. A score, not for a mmorpg category game, obviously, but a score for a CORPG game? If it's a CORPG, then a 6 should suffice.
But as other have pointed out, and through my 'wtf fog', I think the author called it a 'multiplayer action-RPG', and clarified .'hack n slash' in there as well.
I have to become less jaded by the mis-information of previously launched mmo's, and their attempts to capitalize on the moniquer of "Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game", when in fact many fall short of really carrying that acronym, and be more accepting of what each game is.
So in closing, as the author never claimed it to be, Vinditus is not a mmorpg, but at best, an Action RPG with heavy elements of Hack n Slash fun. Perhaps in that category it is deserving of an 8; I'm continuing to see for myself. But again, as i origonally stated, in my opinion, not within the category of a mmorpg, or a CORPG, such as GW1.
I-WANT-THIS-GAME !!!
er.. well it's fun but it's not "that" fun.
Honestly, I would pare down your desire as I suspect you might feel cheated in the end.
too bad its been having random maintainence times with 5 min warning
DC Universe Online uses the same combat system as tis game...
The entire time I played this game I used the dodge a grand sum of eight-ish times, never against normal mobs, and I found my health went down slower than the bosses even when on higher difficulties if I just charged and spammed them. Be it with the occasional stun.
In other words my tactics for all three; combo, combo, combo, combo, combo, next mission, combo combo, combo ad infinitum...
I 'can' do other things. I 'can' have more fun and variety if I wanna mix things up. Bt I got every time trial easily that way, and had found no quicker method. If there was something else to the missions I could perceive slowing down, but all I had to do was kill, so I did so in as efficient a way as possible, and that got amazingly boring.
It's a broken mechanic when spamming is the best option to me, and you have to play worse in order to extend any variety into the game.
That to me is why I wouldn't give Vindictus an 8. I do however think they did a good job making the game.
What bosses have you fought until now? It only starts to get a little hard once you reach Gnoll Chieftain (Perilous Ruin's main boss) or higher level bosses, as they will eat through your HP bars in 2 hits if you're not carefull.
Either way, the goal is not to get hit, so if the bosses HP goes down faster than yours, you're doing it right :P
That was my thought as well. Some of the later bosses have nasty stuns and follow up attacks. Trying to stand toe to toe with some of them is asking to get two shotted, even with blue gear and good skills.
I havent played it but i think it would be a good game to try it will probly lose my attention in the long run. But for those people on get to play once or twice a week it will be great.
ur an idiot they're still adding new contents and characters u know, r u jus bagging on things without even knowing wats going on
Wow, get some sources before you make yourself look like the idiot.
The Korean client only has one character we don't have right now, and we sure as hell aren't going to get anything before they do. All we've gotten from Nexon, besides the generic "we are reading the forums" replies, is that they hope to catch us up as soon as possible, which could be anywhere from several months to a year.
And protip: Make better uses of "Yo"s, "h"s, "a-e"s, and proper placement of "s"s, and it might make your statement look like it took more effort than a rock would use to type.
Will this game be only playable for US and Canada? or have they planned to allow other countries others than EU ones?
There's an EU version on it's way, although no clue when it will enter CBT. My guess would be early 2011 (by the end of January probably)
Whats concerning me is how far the gaming media is allowing companies to push the line on what is an actual MMO. Its really getting frightening.
What defines an MMO is primarily one thing: a large persistent non instanced world. That doesnt mean the game can't have instances in the forms of dungeons, raid zones, etc, but at the very least the regular basic world has to be non instanced and able to support anywhere from 20-100+ people running around in the same zone or area at once. That does not mean a little bar/social hub where everyone can see each other counts, it has to be an actual world.
This is why Star Trek Online is not an mmo, and why games like Vindictus are not MMO's. What they are is online server based RPG's with a robust multiplayer system. Its no different than playing Diablo II on battle.net, they just chose to have a place where your avatar can run around while you look for players to group with. Battle.net gives you a text based chat room, STO gives you a graphical chat room.
I wouldn't worry too much about the definitions of an MMO. It's an extremely worthless topic to discuss. Rather you personally label is an MMO or not, changes nothing of what is offered.
This game is an MMO?
lol.
Is lol MMO this game?
An.
"Frightening"?? In what regard? The media(especially mass) has always been a branch of MiniTrue. Be it govenmental or corporate. The definition of MMO is so vague that its hardly surprising that it gets so widely applied.
Besides, if it drives page views and thus ad sales its all good.
I'm going to hold off on Vindictus until your next re-review, give the game time to improve before I try it. The only reason I come to this site is because your the only site that does re-reviews on MMOs.
I found the game to be fairly enjoyable for what it is, in the beginning, don't play much any more as it's very repetitive and the lag in groups make it just about unbearable to play.
Hm im waiting for the game to be available in South America, though i doubt this is happening soon :(. Anyways, game is good (tried it out when i went to the staes), great graphics, great tutorial, and i dont get bored of it, contrast to what other people say.
Yes, its been enjoyable so far. Its not my main game, so I've only managed to get to level 31 so far. But over all its been fun.
As of 6/13/2011, Vindictus has updated with 4 boats, a character revamp, PvP, a new town, and a new character. I say this as a statement of fact because I believe that MMORPG.com needs to re-review the game. Vindictus has changed to a point where the launch release would be incomparable to what I see now.
As a player who has seen everything in Vindictus, I'll give my 2 cents:
Vindictus is NOT a persistent MMO. It should not be approached that way nor should it be criticized for it. The game plays more like a RPG with Co-op.
The lag that people complain about is due to the fact that this game was developed in Korea, where their internet is much faster and better. The game is, and will always be tried and tested in Korea first before coming to NA.
Player vs. Player combat is an insignificant part of the game with very little support for it at all.
The four characters are NOT classes and shouldn't be defined as such. Rather, the characters have only two defining elements: Offense and Defense.
The characters are gender locked for a reason: They all have significant stories behind them. There are rumors of the Vindictus team elaborating on the backgrounds of these characters but there is nothing confirmed as of yet.
Now that's out of the way, here's my rant:
For the love of god people, THIS GAME IS FREE. I have not and will not spend any money on this game, even if I put another 200 hours. Why would you compare a game that's FREE to a game where you would pay $15 a month? There's also the fact that you can pick this game up anytime you want and drop it, only to pick it up another time. Vindictus is more akin to an RPG or FPS where achievements matter, rather than territories and guild status. Also why would you complain about the lack of persistence if there was none?
Does anyone play with friends? I sure as hell do and I have to say that this game is 5x as fun. Everyone criticizes this game because no one would play it with a buddy. This game REWARDS people with friends. Players aren't burdens, they're force multipliers; and I emphasize the term mutliplier. The more people you have, the greater the chances of success unlike MMOs with restricted classes. There's no useless tank and there's no person who needs constant attention to be useful. Each character does significant amounts of damage and has their methods of taking damage.
This is NOT a game for everyone, and I wholeheartedly agree. If this was, the community would de-evolve to a standard MMO. Vindictus' community is actually quite pleasant and nice because of what the aforementioned statement about players being burdens. Players don't swear and curse at each other, there's no griefing or trolling, and everyone is quite helpful to one another.
All in all, I would definitely give this game an 8/10. I agree with what Bill has to say about this game and I would definitely recommend this game to people who haven't tried it yet. This game is not for everyone but it's still a lot of fun.
Good joke Axci, but it isn't because Korean internet is superior to ours, or at least that isn't the main factor.
What is the main factor? The game uses peer-to-peer connections. You get just one person on AOL dialup playing in your party, and next thing you know everyone is warping about and dead in the blink of an eye. It's less about better internet, and more about more centralized areas of play in Korea, which facilitate peer-to-peer networks much better than some idiot from East Coast USA connecting to West Coast servers on his crap internet connection.
THAT, is the major difference. Which is also why Nexon has made it clear that their next game Dragon Nest, will NOT be using peer-2-peer connections and instead will have the players connecting to a server, which is how it should of been done in the first place here.
Good points. Korea does have one of the best telcom infrastructures in the world, but its also a MUCH smaller country than NA is. They can get away with peer to peer over there, but its not a good idea to use it in NA. I'm glad to hear that Dragon Nest is using a traditional server/client application.
What I find slightly disturbing about all these "Official reviews" from these "gaming news sources", is that not a single a reviewer has mentioned anything about the OST for this game. This game at least deserves best soundtrack of 2011.
http://youtu.be/OP-niZrsXLs?hd=1
http://youtu.be/LsDa7BU48Bg?hd=1
http://youtu.be/4qtwaxSc6lo?hd=1
So much quality for a purely micro transaction ( face it free2play sounds a little naive in this day and age) based game.
I'd go so far as to say this game has a better sound track than skyrim. Definitely better than the massive budget soundtrack of Warhammer Online. A that actually received praise for its orchestrated soundtrack.
OFFTOPIC:
There is concept art for a total of 8 characters, and it's rumored that Kai the Archer is to be announced in two weeks for Korea, at end of their "Infinite Festival".
Quick warning to anyone planning on playing this game long term, this game is peer 2 peerready yoursefl for extreme lag during anything that requires a group. Unles your group leader had a god like internet connection or the group is very small(and the leader has a good connection) you will lag all day during raids. This game is barely playable in most groups, any time your in a big group you get serious delays. Unitl the same is change and has dedicated servers dont play it once you get to high levels you will be forced to raid. The raids will be filled with delay lag none stop, peer 2 peer works in korea because it's so freaking small amercia is about 82 times bigger.
tl;dr this game could be a lot better but peer 2 peer ruined it (that and hackers doing dungeons in 2mins)