Forsaken World CBT Phase 1 Pt.1

Alright... Where to start?

Last night I dipped my toes into phase 1 of the closed beta test of Forsaken World and I know you are all dying to hear about my first impressions.

A beautiful Elven Priestess adorned in all 'blue' equipment

So far I have totalled about 1 hour of game time and my views are rather mixed so far. Really, this is what I expect from a brand new beta test. The graphics and effects are well done, models look well detailed and fancy but not over the top and landscapes such as towns and leveling areas are very well done, providing a good atmosphere to the game.

The leveling system is a bit different from other games. So far I have killed very few monsters and my Vampire has attained level 10. Most of the experience gain is acquired through questing and initially everything you do will be a quest. Whilst this means that you won't be grinding mobs so much, you will be grinding quests and daily quests too so they've switched the repetitiveness away from monsters and onto quests. Take that whichever way you will.

The scantily clad female warrior prepares for battle with a striking pose

The quest system is hampered by the biggest in-game problem I have faced, half of the game is still in Chinese!!! For an EU/US closed beta test to be half in Chinese for all of the English speakers of the world makes testing rather awkward when you can't understand what a quest giver wants you to do or where they need you to go. Other than that the system works and with auto-walk it's not as tedious as it sounds.

As for the Vampire class I cannot comment too much. Comments about this class being really, really weak early on have been clearly exaggerated by the haters of Twilight and Trueblood because it's not painful to play at all. In my limited combat the Vampire handled itself well with limited downtime and I can't complain about the skills, the damage dealt or the damage received. Further exaggerations about the number of 'Edward-lookalikes' were made to the extreme and in reality I saw one Edward-named Vampire in my hours play.

The Vampire class

Pets and sub-classes are the next part of the game for me to look into. A Goat, Wolf or Turtle pet to accompany me at level 10 onwards sounds like it could have some fun implications when it comes to farming or just normal killing of mobs. Most of the subclasses are not available in Phase 1 but several including Chef and Socialite should be achievable during the several weeks of the game. If all goes well I might be able to sneak in some Bard play for you too!

So far it's about as good as can be expected. It's got problems but it's a beta and for a first phase beta, it's actually in pretty darn good shape. Can't wait to get stuck back in and bring you part 2. Stay tuned.

Check out my other Forsaken World previews and guides.


Check out my other previews and reviews here.