MMOsite writers

This post will consist of mockery and hate. I was never a fan of MMOsite’s article writers and bloggers ( Most of which consist of casual freeloaders ). I will be quoting lines from this article: clicky

As many “free-mmo” gamers recently have heard about the AIKA close beta test and many were involved. Today I came across an article about this particular person’s experiences in the close beta.

To start it off let’s begin by mocking this person’s sudden discovery about the female anatomy.

Usually I play as a male character (given that I, myself, am male) but, honestly, it was a nice change to play as a female character for once. In fact, it gets so much better when you realise that the emotes for your character are sexy, the armour is sexy, the boob jiggle physics are sexy et al.

Some may find these gender restrictions restricting. I didn’t, but that is most likely because of the boob physics.

He just discovered why we males play a female character. I’d like to also quote this as I’ve heard it a lot when this is brought up “When I play a game for a long time I don’t want to be staring at a male character for hours long.” I don’t know the exact words but you get idea.

Let us move on shall we?

One thing I did find a little restricting, however, was the level of customisation of your character. Having recently played games like Aionand Champions Onlinethe bar for character customisation has been set quite high. In those games it was almost limitless, here though—quite the opposite; very limited.

Here we see him comparing a Free-MMO to mainstream MMOs. Does he not realize how big the difference is in these development teams? You cannot compare a low budget to a higher budget and say they must produce the equal amount of content. Obviously enough AIKA was focused on something else other than the customization and had no one left to work on customization intensively. Furthermore, Champions Online is developed by, Cryptic Studios, the same people who did City of Heroes.

Let us keep going.

you’ll notice the world of Aika looks great. The environments are lush and varied and, the music is great; it all feels very alive and welcoming.

Environments go a long way in games lately, and a lot of people base their judgements on the game on how the visuals appeal to them. For instance, Aion, to me, felt dull, like the world was clouded. This could have had something to do with the fact that I played Asmodian, but back to my point: Aika feels like Aion but drenched in sun and with a smile on its face; a welcome, needed and refreshing change.

The art style isn’t anything groundbreaking (again think Aion) however it’s still a very original style, full of cute fighting women and charming adventurer lads.

AIKA reminds me of Lineage 2 or Granado Esapda graphics more than Aion with a vibrant color overlay. AIKA looks nothing like Aion.

The user interface is simple, and from what I could tell, bug-free. It’s your basic skills-on-the-number-keys-down-the-bottom deal, and it works quite well with the fast-paced combat system.

WHAT? “fast-pased combat system” AIKA in no way has any fast-pased combat system. AIKA has a generic MMORPG combat system it is neither slow or fast. I’m going to assume this person has never played any other games to know what a “fast-pased” combat system is.

it’s doesn’t feel as static as World of Warcraft, and this is mostly due to the quality of the animations throughout the combat. Every attack has a very smooth animation, and coupled with the great sound within the game, each attack has a certain kick to it, which adds a tonne to the experience.

I do not see a difference between the two combat systems WoW has and AIKA has. Just because of the amount of “animations” changes this? I suppose it could but, AIKA’s animation is in no way smooth or polished. The sound of the animations are off most of the time. Each attack is just a different preset animation like all other MMORPGs.

It has a tendency to become quite repetitive at points and the tracks don’t transition smoothly, by any stretch of the imagination, but regardless of those two minor issues the sound in Aika is fantastic.

Tendency to be come repetitive is in all games. All MMORPGs are repetitive due to the amount of “grind” or “milking” the game provides unintentionally. These are not minor problems in a long term.

The one big innovation this game delivers is the Pran system. A Pran is a small fairy companion girl you get in the first ten levels, who then accompanies you throughout your adventures, spouting some witty dialogue, carrying your loot and helping you in combat. Your Pran starts off as a tiny fairy (with a certain elemental attribute of your choosing) with minimal abilities but grows as you do, eventually become a young girl and then a teen.

This sounds like a typical “pet system” coevered up by a fancy name. Where else have you seen this /hmm.

You may have a cute Pran who is always really (for lack of a better word) cutesy, reflected in dialogue and appearance, making your adventure just that little bit unique. It’s definitely something I would like to see more of in MMOs.

Predefined random generated AI anyone? it has been done. Especially when you have played many other games, you’ll notice these things.

Another feature I was quite impressed by was the crafting system, which is one of the simplest systems in any game I’ve played. You loot materials from certain mobs and then take those mats to an anvil, located next to the blacksmith in the city and there you can create anything you wish, provided you have adequate materials.

I welcome this simplicity with open arms, having stressed a lot over complex crafting systems in the past.

Really! You can make anything provided you have the materials and an Anvil! This is so cool! WHY DON’T I TRY MORE GAMES? AAAAAHHHHHHHH! INVOATIVE!

This person needs to play more good games and stay away from makeshift MMOs provided from MMOsite. So unreliable.

Aika is definitely shaping up to be one big great big breath of fresh air for me, delivering original and fun gameplay mechanics over and over, whilst still staying familiar enough to not feel overwhelmed.

That is because you have never played other games in your life. Hell, you just recently discovered about “bewb physics” in games.

Aika boasts a 1000v1000 realm PvP system. I can see this being amazing, especially with the fluid, fast-paced combat; truly something to look forward to at later levels.

AIKA does not have a fast-pased combat. 1000 vs 1000? I can see this being amazing too, especially with awesome lag ( provided half the players have low-spec PCs because you wouldn’t be playing these games if you don’t have low-spec ).

Speaking of levelling, and this seems to be the general concensus, there is no grinding! Now, I might have just been talking to some optimistic people, but if there is no real grind needed to enjoy the game, I can see it taking off immensely, both hardcore players and noobs alike.

Sorry, what? How long have you been playing the close beta for? There is a grind. FedEx quests, and looting materials to craft is milking as well as grind. The moment you do things repeatedly for some gain is grind.

There are too many great ideas and features in this game to pass up a trial. It gets my two thumbs up and is one of the most impressive free-to-play MMOS I’ve experienced in a long time.

That’s because you haven’t been playing other games instead you’ve been comparing it with big mainstream games.

AIKA itself is a low-budge makeshift MMORPG. The client itself felt really buggy. The programming behind it felt cheap. I can’t help but think there is a memory leak when I ran the game itself. I suppose I can run a few tests to confirm it.

There will be a lot more posts like these in the future.