I took a course to test the western release of Lost Ark. Even though an NDA is still silent, I have no right to come and play at all, so I could say that I was surprised with the gameplay and excited to the full release. This new game introduced me to beta but was a great game. The big change that I could see in this version of the game is a new tutorial. In the first three and eight grades, each class has an unique starting experience. This results in the player choosing an advanced class and joining the higher world on level 10. In the beta the whole sequence has been thrown out. The story of previous tutorials is described in short cutscenes. Then youre started to build on the Chosen One, and set up to be anointed and ordered to pick your class (a permanent choice). From a story perspective, its discontented and confusing and from a gameplay perspective, its sheer overwhelming. You can continue trying the advanced class against enemy spawns as much as you like, but even if people don’t feel like it, it’s still complicated. After you’ve chosen your advanced class, you’re followed by an old tutor that is the same as for every class. Initially, the quest for an artifact in a ruined city was created. This is not really a bad tutorial, as these things are nice and help the world a little, but it’s really a shame to throw out all the tailored stories for each class in favor of a single size fits all approach. It is pretty long as the tutorial is gone. So it isn’t really saving a little time. I’ll be honest: I really don’t know what the aim is to push everybody up to the tenth grade and make them do their full length tutorials anyway. This is one of the clearest cases I’ve ever seen that solve a problem. As soon as the release of Lost Arks was delayed to 2022, I had hoped this would be an opportunity to solve some of the sex-specific problems like gender-locked classes – but now it seems to be as good as the first one. It’s possible that sort of thing will still be coming before the Western launch, especially since gender-locks are already being put into place in other regions, but the fact that this unasked for new tutorial was given priority raises some questions about the decision-making at the helm. Now I got into the beta feeling a little grumpy. This new tutorial really ensures that the game is off right. Even though I stopped feeling over that initial frustration, and started to get into the swing of things again, I realised that Lost Ark is very good. There aren’t many areas where the competition is going to be swept away, but it seems to be a very solid, polished, and feature-rich game. Like this, a rifle does not survive or dies due to the strength of its combat. However, I wouldn’t put Lost Ark down as the best ARPG combat Ive played, he was well enough to think he needed to succeed. I was initially concerned because of its similarities to those that make up a cooldown but combined it makes for a smooth experience. Although the cooling is longer, a minimum of eight skills on your bar allow you to cycle throw them all, without wait, and you can always fill gaps with your fundamental left-click attack. Six levels plus a lot of a ten depending on class is slightly more than I like, especially in the ARPG, though it isn’t that good for being physically awkward. What really adds spice to the fight is skill animations, which are gloriously superior even for Eastern MMOs. There’s literally no way around everyone’s abilities. Those of you may find that somewhat, but ARPGs are a power fantasy, as is any other game genre, so it’s a chance you can be crushed against bad guys with the name of a giant foot Monty Python style. I spent much time with this beta tinkering, and experimenting with different classes, and again I found that the class design clearly a good enough one. Basic skills are a little similar to classical studies. But for most of classes, everything is expensive — even a logical leap — and it is expensive to do that. The summoner and the dancer build up charges to spend on stronger abilities, while the gunslinger also swap their own weapons, etc. With easy, but entertaining lessons, the complex nature of the Assassins, and the very strong angst and anesthetic world, the process to try the game of martial arts was a must for me. I feared it would be tough to play the game again and again, and despite the success of its martial arts and martial arts, it made me say that I didn’t get the chance to do anything. I did find the wide choice that is not the Soulfist, but I think it is mostly due to personal preferences. I can’t find some obvious objective flaws in the other classes. They just didn’t click for me. I’m disappointed that the Summoner class isn’t actually a summoner in the mechanical sense. These skills summon minions, but those said minions are very rare and short-lived. Really summoner is a flavor component; your skills are skinned as summoning spirits, but there is no difference between hurling fireballs and clinging into a charging horse spirit. That’s the big factor that matters to me in a RPG story Lost Ark certainly won’t win any awards for originality but execution is over average. We’re saved from the demons, with that standard chosen for us, but there are plenty of cinematic moments, the voice acting is a lot of trouble, and the rest of the time was spent trying to build the backstory. It’s a very good game that, too, is not the first one to be made for a few years. It can essentially pass for a release in 2021. I was particularly impressed by the details of the character models, supported by a character creator that is sometimes not so good like Black Desert or Aion, but not much faster than any other isometric ARPG I think of. I didn’t have time for some serious delve into upper tiers, but I noticed that Lost Ark is incredibly feature rich. In addition to the standard battle and loot grind you’d expect, I heard or heard mention of Guild Wars 2 style vistas, lore collectibles, player housing, a NPC friendship system, pets, mounts and an adventurers journal accessory collection system. There are lots of interesting features out there. The camera and combat might be pure ARPG, but the feature list is screaming. Though the tutorial change has left a bad taste in my mouth, Lost Ark is still a game I feel confident in, even if now its more cautious optimism isn’t too much. Online gaming is changing. A new and expanding frontier grows, as the single-player and MMO areas become a lot stronger, Massively OPs Tyler Edwards takes part in this new and expanding frontier twice a week in Not So Massively, our column on battle royales, OARPGs, lootershooters and other multiplayer online titles, which aren’t quite MMORPGs.
