Lost Ark is another game I've gotten into recently. Free to play and developed in Korea, then brought to the US by Amazon, I was rather surprised by it. It's a top-down, hack and slash fantasy MMO-RPG that has some gameplay elements that are very similar to the Diablo series of games.
To be honest, I liked the Diablo games, but was nowhere near as into it as much as everyone else I knew. Another thing I generally loathe is MMOs, and in particular free to play ones, as they usually are designed to just rape you of your time and money. So I was very unenthusiastic when I heard of the game and was not in any hurry to try it out. Color me surprised when I actually fired it up and tried it out after a friend who's opinion I respect insisted I play it.
Boy was I wrong; the game is not only good, but downright impressive! On a technical level alone, the customization options for the HUD, the quality of life options and functionality to the menus, and gameplay is superb. The visuals are pretty, the animations are astoundingly good, the environments are pretty and unique, and they do a far better job utilizing and showing off the environments than Diablo could ever hope to do.
Speaking of which, I really detested Diablo 3 after a short while as it seemed they engineered the game for you to waste your life on it as it was a game that just did not respect your time. That, and nearly everything other than the initial campaign was an exercise in frustration dealing with all the hassle.
Not so in Lost Ark. It's so refreshing to see a game that is considered an MMO, that doesn't force you to use it like social networking. It's a free to play game that I haven't spent a dime on, as it's engineered to fleece your wallet. From what I see, it's not constantly down for maintenance like so many other online only games.
But Saint Grendel, you ask, how does it play? Well, to be honest, I wasn't impressed with the first couple hours of gameplay, as it seemed like just another Diablo wanna be. However, it wasn't long after that, in which the game really flexes on you and you start doing thing you never have in that type of game. Truly epic, LOTR sized battles where you man artillery pieces, climb up siege towers to raid castles, and that's just the campaign. There's literally dozens of things you can do if you don't want to do that. Sail the high seas as an explorer or a pirate, play card games, build up a base where you can farm and manage buildings, or spend time crafting. And that doesn't even address the amount of content and depth to the game which already feels endless, but they are still working on implementing a plethora of new content as well! The sky is the limit here, and all without spending a penny!
That isn't to say the game is perfect, there are a few issues here and there. For example, the game does take eons to load up for some reason, and I have noticed some continual clipping issues when using any sprint ability, and the UI could still use some small refinements, and because of the free to play model, there is a bewildering number of currencies for almost no reason.
That being said, it's far from anything that would stop me from really enjoying it so far, and I'm looking forward to all the new content coming down the pipe. Give it a try, as I guarantee it won't cost you a thing unless you really want it to.
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