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Forsaken World Review for PC

Forsaken World Review for PC

Eryda Explorers Unite!

Perfect World Entertainment attempted to do what a lot of other Korean companies have failed at: building a solid MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) that can draw the attention of a Western audience. For inspiration, they drew from the well created by such titles as World of Warcraft and Everquest. What they ultimately come up with was Forsaken World, a Korean MMO that feels Western.

Forsaken World Screenshot

Forsaken World includes some interesting race and class options from the get-go. While the standard MMO races are present – elves, dwarves, and humans – there are a couple more to choose from. First is the Stonemen, a race of powerful warriors. Those of the other race, the Kindred, are sort of a cross between the humans and elves, yet they have the option of becoming Vampires, which is pretty awesome.

There is a lot to do in Forsaken World, but most of it is the pretty standard MMO stuff. You’ll run fetch quests and be asked to kill x amount of such-and-such a creature. But Forsaken World never tries to convince you that it’s doing something new. It’s very fourth-wall-breakingly self-aware at points (your character will even refer to a specific quest as being a better than “killing ten rats,” an obvious jab at WoW.) Unfortunately, Forsaken World never quite falls into that groove that higher-quality MMOs are able to fall into. In the typical MMO, it’s easy to lose five or six hours without realizing it, constantly telling yourself, “just one more quest.” Whenever I sat down with Forsaken World for more than a few hours, it started to get a little dull.

Forsaken World Screenshot

There’s not an overwhelming amount of quests in starter areas, so players won’t be intimidated by a full quest log in the beginning. However, once the starting area has been completed, the amount of available quests increases. Even with some fairly robust repeatable quest options, there is still a pretty weak amount of quest content compared to other MMOs. And what content there is just doesn’t feel as balanced as it should. For most of the game, I was doing quests about seven levels beneath my character’s level. But even so, leveling up is surprisingly fast. It’s not hard to hit about level 15 after a couple hours, even while doing quests much lower-level than your character.

A quick look at the fully zoomed-out world map reveals that only about half the possible landscape has been used, suggesting Forsaken World has plans to expand land-wise. This means there is the potential for a much larger and richer game world in the future. It’s nice to know that even when you’ve fully explored all the areas in the game, there’s still more content to look forward to.

Forsaken World Screenshot

The visuals can’t hold a candle to those of major titles like Aion or Rift, but they are definitely a step up from WoW’s. The art-style is obviously inspired by WoW, though the characters don’t look quite as cartoony. Unfortunately, the character customization is a bit shallow; you can’t adjust height or weight, which results in many characters looking exactly the same. Since the low-level gear selection is pretty limited, there’s a severe lack of diversity in starting areas. I do have to mention that even though there’s not an enormous variety in hairstyles, the ones that are present all look really good.

Like most MMOs out there, there is a fairly elaborate story going on that somehow relates to the quests you are doing, yet you’ll probably just phase it out and focus on your more immediate goals. But for a Korean free-to-play MMO, the writing was exceptionally well-translated. Never once did I feel the immersion was broken by a piece of poor grammar or awkward syntax.

Forsaken World Screenshot

Since Forsaken World is completely free to play, there is a real-world currency store nestled within. This store is subtle enough, though, that it’s pretty easy to ignore. There is the classic model of introducing players to items via a gift box that functions much like a Russian nesting doll: each gift box contains some useful items and another gift box that can be opened at a higher level. These items usually have a time limit on them, so players will get used to having them at their disposal. After the time limit is up, the item disappears, forcing the player to either purchase the item or learn to play without it. While this isn’t a brand new concept in the free-to-play scene, it’s a pretty clever way to get players used to the way certain items function before they decide whether or not the item is worth purchasing.

The control scheme feels pretty familiar to MMO veterans. However, the camera angle doesn’t change to follow the character. For example, you can spin a circle, yet the camera stays in place. This makes for a lot of awkward manual camera adjustment as you explore the world of Eryda.

Adding to this awkwardness is the fact that enemies respawn almost instantly. It feels weird to kill a monster and watch it respawn again within seconds. And there is the typical MMO “this-is-a-quest-item” sparkly glow to guide players to the proper items, but this glow doesn’t always go away after completing quests. There are places where you’ll be able to interact with quest items you shouldn’t be able to interact with – especially in the starting areas – making subsequent quests more confusing.

One absolutely fantastic control feature, however, is the auto-routing ability. This allows players to simply click on the name of a NPC or quest item to have their character automatically walk to the desired location. This makes exploration a breeze, since you won’t waste time wandering around completely lost. You don’t need to use it if you believe in finding things on your own, but it certainly keeps long trips from getting too mind-numbingly dull. In fact, you can often accomplish things in the real world and the game world at the same time. Try reading a book or doing some chores around the house while your character wanders about. Not everyone will appreciate this, as it subtracts from the exploration element, but personally, I felt pretty grateful for the ability to browse my various menus and things while my character was getting things done.

If you are itching for a decent-quality MMO experience, yet are strapped for cash, Forsaken World offers a fair amount of gameplay for absolutely no cost. However, the gameplay experience isn’t nearly as polished as the bigger-name MMOs out there. Whether or not Forsaken World will compete in the Western MMO market is yet to be determined, but its lack of price tag certainly makes it worth the download.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.1 Graphics
While it’s not as pretty as many recent AAA titles, it looks a lot better than WoW. Character customization could use some more options to keep players from looking so similar. 2.9 Control
The controls are a bit awkward if you are used to other MMOs. The camera angle doesn’t stay with the character’s POV, so you’ll have to constantly adjust it manually. 2.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Nothing new here. Forsaken world has the standard MMO audio, but certainly doesn’t go out of its way to blow you away with incredible sound fx or music. 2.4 Play Value
While there is a decent amount of content to keep players occupied, Forsaken World tends to feel stale faster than it should. 2.8 Overall Rating – Average
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Free-to-play model that grants full access to players without the monthly fee.
  • Guilds, dungeons, quests: everything you’ve come to expect from the MMO experience.
  • Five races and eight classes to give players a strong selection of gameplay options.

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