Lost Ark
Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2022 4:47 pm
I'm going to be pretty honest after thinking about this for a bit. Anyone ever read my review of Archero? It's one of the first action mobile games that added a daily element, and thus, "the grind". The Grind used to be part of RPGs when you would travel around fighting random monsters to build up your level so you could continue the story. Now the grind is a constant battle to get just a little more stats out of new equipment by doing things that must be done daily to get the maximum reward. So you get on every single day and do daily tasks to ensure you don't lose out on whatever free items are handed out that day in the very unlikely event that you get something you need or want. Every update adds some new game mode or element to give you more tasks to get done for just a little more stats. Like recently they added monster eggs that you collect and hatch. Now they've added levels to them because I think people were hatching them too quickly. Oh, and multiple currencies, no matter what form they take, are super important to keeping people grinding.
I've been playing Archero for two years or so and I'm nowhere near the max of anything, except level. I think this game is that, but not mobile. In fact, does anyone remember when they already tried this exact formula by making Diablo a mobile game, but it failed?
So my TLDR summary would be: This is an absolutely gorgeous Diablo clone that pretends to be an MMO with all the elements you hate from mobile games.
There is, literally, a thread here about how several game companies, particularly the known "money > gamer experience" ones like EA are looking to make games with this exact formula.
The game plays just like Diablo, but I'm using Tryndamere from LoL. (That is legit how this character plays and looks. He even drags his comically oversized sword.)
Loved:
-The graphics! The world is just gorgeous and the cutscenes, character art, and so on are next level.
-Game play is exactly like Diablo (good or bad depending on how you feel about that).
-The story does keep things moving at a perfect pace.
-The pet made it so I didn't have to play pixel hunt in picking up loot. (I didn't pay for that feature...not sure what Cake was talking about. I know it has addition benefits that you can pay for, but I declined.)
Hated:
-For some reason they decided a smaller pointer was the way to go. Huge mistake in a game where they're throwing waves of enemies at you with massive spell and hit effects constantly going off. I was always losing where my mouse was all night.
-Game is super easy. Outside of the raid bosses, there just isn't a challenge. Sure a few boss monsters would hurt me, but I was never in danger. I could always back up to heal and they would disengage.
-50 level max and it's possible to get there within a day or two. But do you see how many worlds there are? That tells me the additional worlds/levels/areas (whatever they call them) are constantly tacked on to give new content and to keep you playing, and hopefully paying...
-Raid bosses are unadvertised.
-There are easily over a dozen currencies in game.
-So many features were uninteresting and clearly tacked on after the game was already out.
-The stupid dynamic of trying to gain influence with certain characters is really, really uninspired. But you know what? In this age of "Only Fans" it totally makes sense.
-The secret areas highlighted by maps were obviously added after launch. First, they launch a solo dungeon that's just an entrance, exit, weak minions, and weak boss. Second, outside of the map you can get for each instance of this, nothing on the map indicates there is anything there. You can even go there without the map and nothing happens. (I did.) Third, this only started happening about 10 hours into my run, which means just like the new stuff in each update of Archero, it was added well after the game was already out.
-I'm going to guess strongholds are also something that was added much later because I've not come to them yet.
-Guilds are absolutely pointless EXCEPT you can farm another currency!!!
-The story and voice acting. Yes, well paced, but man it's boring, cliche, and holy shit the acting is bad.
-There is nothing about the Diablo playstyle that excites me for PvP.
Writing this review and really thinking about it, nothing I did mattered last night. No matter how many people I saved from cages, no matter how many monsters I killed, no matter how many plague orbs I destroyed, they just spawned again within seconds. Nothing I did mattered. It was all pointless. The story element of an RPG is THE biggest factor and it's nonexistent here. In RPGs I'm the protagonist and the things I do matter and affect the story. Not here.
No biggie though, it is an MMO and that element didn't really exist in UO either and that was fun. However, UO had land you could build on, guilds that went to war and mattered. You could actually win a guild fight by attrition and eliminate them. People could role play whatever they wanted, like that tavern outside of Yew that was massively popular. None of that exists here.
I am truly struggling to find the difference between this game and Archero or Firestone Idle RPG or even Shakes and Fidget. Obviously, Lost Ark has better graphics and better interactive fights, but truthfully, I'm not sure the fighting here is better than Archero. Sure, it's MUCH more beautiful, but Archero takes skill. This is just button mashing. All other factors are the same. All have a bunch of currencies. All offer subs and purchases to gain advancement/stats. All offer paths to doing well without P2W. All have guilds. All have daily tasks and so on.
I had a lot of fun playing this last night. It was exactly the distraction I needed from the slumber party going on around me. I even planned to give it another whole day of playing. However, after really thinking about it, I'm uninstalling it now and not looking back. This is just a grindy time sink that wants me to eventually put real world money into it. But for what? A couple more points of strength or attack? A new skin? A new decoration for a house that has no real game purpose?
I really wanted to love this game, and I definitely enjoyed playing it. However, I don't see any point in continuing on. The story is bland and blah and I know there's no real ending, so why keep going? It would just become a time sink that I would eventually grow to dislike as it becomes more like a chore rather than the escape it's supposed to be.
Plus, I cannot support this direction in gaming. This will kill the industry if every company goes this route. I want stories that end and where my actions make a difference. I want competition. I want frustrating fights that I can win, but it's going to take a lot of attempts. I want the anticipation of well thought out sequels. I want to finish a game having experienced it all and then move onto a new game made by new people. If this shit catches on all of that will be in danger of dying. Every publisher will demand studios make these time/money sinks instead of innovative game play and new stories that are unproven.
I've been playing Archero for two years or so and I'm nowhere near the max of anything, except level. I think this game is that, but not mobile. In fact, does anyone remember when they already tried this exact formula by making Diablo a mobile game, but it failed?
So my TLDR summary would be: This is an absolutely gorgeous Diablo clone that pretends to be an MMO with all the elements you hate from mobile games.
There is, literally, a thread here about how several game companies, particularly the known "money > gamer experience" ones like EA are looking to make games with this exact formula.
The game plays just like Diablo, but I'm using Tryndamere from LoL. (That is legit how this character plays and looks. He even drags his comically oversized sword.)
Loved:
-The graphics! The world is just gorgeous and the cutscenes, character art, and so on are next level.
-Game play is exactly like Diablo (good or bad depending on how you feel about that).
-The story does keep things moving at a perfect pace.
-The pet made it so I didn't have to play pixel hunt in picking up loot. (I didn't pay for that feature...not sure what Cake was talking about. I know it has addition benefits that you can pay for, but I declined.)
Hated:
-For some reason they decided a smaller pointer was the way to go. Huge mistake in a game where they're throwing waves of enemies at you with massive spell and hit effects constantly going off. I was always losing where my mouse was all night.
-Game is super easy. Outside of the raid bosses, there just isn't a challenge. Sure a few boss monsters would hurt me, but I was never in danger. I could always back up to heal and they would disengage.
-50 level max and it's possible to get there within a day or two. But do you see how many worlds there are? That tells me the additional worlds/levels/areas (whatever they call them) are constantly tacked on to give new content and to keep you playing, and hopefully paying...
-Raid bosses are unadvertised.
-There are easily over a dozen currencies in game.
-So many features were uninteresting and clearly tacked on after the game was already out.
-The stupid dynamic of trying to gain influence with certain characters is really, really uninspired. But you know what? In this age of "Only Fans" it totally makes sense.
-The secret areas highlighted by maps were obviously added after launch. First, they launch a solo dungeon that's just an entrance, exit, weak minions, and weak boss. Second, outside of the map you can get for each instance of this, nothing on the map indicates there is anything there. You can even go there without the map and nothing happens. (I did.) Third, this only started happening about 10 hours into my run, which means just like the new stuff in each update of Archero, it was added well after the game was already out.
-I'm going to guess strongholds are also something that was added much later because I've not come to them yet.
-Guilds are absolutely pointless EXCEPT you can farm another currency!!!
-The story and voice acting. Yes, well paced, but man it's boring, cliche, and holy shit the acting is bad.
-There is nothing about the Diablo playstyle that excites me for PvP.
Writing this review and really thinking about it, nothing I did mattered last night. No matter how many people I saved from cages, no matter how many monsters I killed, no matter how many plague orbs I destroyed, they just spawned again within seconds. Nothing I did mattered. It was all pointless. The story element of an RPG is THE biggest factor and it's nonexistent here. In RPGs I'm the protagonist and the things I do matter and affect the story. Not here.
No biggie though, it is an MMO and that element didn't really exist in UO either and that was fun. However, UO had land you could build on, guilds that went to war and mattered. You could actually win a guild fight by attrition and eliminate them. People could role play whatever they wanted, like that tavern outside of Yew that was massively popular. None of that exists here.
I am truly struggling to find the difference between this game and Archero or Firestone Idle RPG or even Shakes and Fidget. Obviously, Lost Ark has better graphics and better interactive fights, but truthfully, I'm not sure the fighting here is better than Archero. Sure, it's MUCH more beautiful, but Archero takes skill. This is just button mashing. All other factors are the same. All have a bunch of currencies. All offer subs and purchases to gain advancement/stats. All offer paths to doing well without P2W. All have guilds. All have daily tasks and so on.
I had a lot of fun playing this last night. It was exactly the distraction I needed from the slumber party going on around me. I even planned to give it another whole day of playing. However, after really thinking about it, I'm uninstalling it now and not looking back. This is just a grindy time sink that wants me to eventually put real world money into it. But for what? A couple more points of strength or attack? A new skin? A new decoration for a house that has no real game purpose?
I really wanted to love this game, and I definitely enjoyed playing it. However, I don't see any point in continuing on. The story is bland and blah and I know there's no real ending, so why keep going? It would just become a time sink that I would eventually grow to dislike as it becomes more like a chore rather than the escape it's supposed to be.
Plus, I cannot support this direction in gaming. This will kill the industry if every company goes this route. I want stories that end and where my actions make a difference. I want competition. I want frustrating fights that I can win, but it's going to take a lot of attempts. I want the anticipation of well thought out sequels. I want to finish a game having experienced it all and then move onto a new game made by new people. If this shit catches on all of that will be in danger of dying. Every publisher will demand studios make these time/money sinks instead of innovative game play and new stories that are unproven.
. Look, I’m fine with u guys not liking the game we all find things we like and dislike about all genres of games. Do I need to have u guys explain what an MMO is and isn’t. Nah. I think I know what they’re all about. Some are more single player friendly, others you will get absolutely rolled or have Lot of content not even available to u if u don’t join a guild. Sadly though most of today’s MMO are about end game and that just the truth of it. I don’t make the rules, its just the way it is. 
