Interesting story (so far) but like most MMOs, grinding is unavoidable; almost like a Korean MMO, making the gameplay somewhat monotonous. Side quests lack coherence; have almost nothing to do with main quest (aren't side quests supposed to also complete the story as a whole instead of just +XP/Palladium?). Quests usually have the same objective; kill x amount of monsters, pass x to person, defeat the boss monster, but gets slightly better as the game progresses.For multi-player, what I really like is that you could open a portal to be with your party if you die, so there's no need to travel back all the way to your party. Currently the max level is at Level 22 (for free multi-player). Not too sure about the subscribers though (if anyone is willing to subscribe in the first place).
There are no clear combinations between factions/classes yet. The only class which can directly heal someone is the Guardian, which is pretty weird because Templars are meant to be tanks and tanks aren't really supposed to heal themselves (???).
Graphics are top-notch, need killer machine obviously. Animations are... not that smooth and usually the same. Evoker for example, always has the same pose, be it summoning Fire Embers, portals, activating curses, or even the little Mantawraith pet (which is actually quite funny because it's damn dramatic). Sound effects are not satisfying, limited dialogue. Music enhances the mood greatly, but at this day and age, a more interactive/dynamic soundtrack is expected.
My main gripes are the bugs, unsolved problems and glitches. While playing multi-player, I get thrown back to the desktop/hang around 3-6 times a day (and it's definitely not my machine; friends get it too). There are so many places to get stuck at in the map, or even out of the map. Everyone's waiting for a patch impatiently but it never comes.
My guess is that Flagship Studios were lazy with playtesting despite the beta release. Blizzard took 6 months to playtest WoW before its late release, ending up with a nice, polished game. Hellgate: London imho was quite a rush job (despite the graphics and not bad storyline) and is *slightly* overrated if it weren't for its graphics.
Maybe it's because of the over-hype that makes people expect so much, but still, play for story and possibly nice shiny items (in the future). Fullstop.
3 comments:
"Interesting story (so far) but like most MMOs, grinding is unavoidable; almost like a Korean MMO, making the gameplay somewhat monotonous."
zomg. You are so wrong imho. The thing with HG:L is that being developed by the former cabin staff of Blizzard North, the grinding in this game is very close to what it was in D2. Being a spiritual successor, I can't understand why people rate it as an MMO when it's primarily almost like D2 Closed BNET -- more of a multiplayer RPG then an MMO, what's more, to play online is free.
I have much gripe about this post tbh but at the same time, don't want to sound like a fanboy. People tend to forget what the grind in old school RPG was like. Objectively, in all aspects, it's like an arcade-style action RPG. My guildmates in WoW have QUIT RAIDING for this game, it can't be as nubsauce as what Mut says imo. You want bad MMO, try Silk Road lol
the leveling is pretty fast in my opinion. and the game is still very buggy. i wouldn't give up WoW for this anytime soon, unless they start fixing the bugs.
imo it's not a BAD "nubsauce" game, but rather a letdown in comparison to how much it was hyped up earlier on.
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