Review: Forsaken World Closed Beta Phase 1

As closed beta phase 1 closes I felt it appropriate to summarise my thoughts and feelings on the game to date. Phase 2 starts on the 24th November so I would like to wish everyone good luck at being invited to join us!

Check out my other Forsaken World previews and guides.

When I logged on for the first time I was overwhelmed by my surroundings, completely enveloped by that new MMO feel. I spent about half an hour just looking around my starting area just to get absorb the atmosphere and the scale of the game. Suitably comfortable and aquainted with the controls I proceeded on my adventure.

Grinding mobs to level is not really an option and questing is the way forward. They do a really great job of stopping the typical 'FedEx' quests being completely monotonous and boring with the autowalk feeature for locating an NPC and letting the computer walk you there. Perfect for those times when you just fancy a cuppa!

Having tried the Bard and Vampire classes I found both to be quite interesting in solo and party ventures. Unique character classes with their own interesting skill sets and completely different play styles to the typical MMO classes, I found these to be quite a refreshing addition and change from what I am used to in the past. From my observations most classes have their uses within a party but Vampires seem to be getting most of the negative press and less desirable in parties. Being a seasoned MMO player I felt happy with my contribution towards a party as a Vampire but I can across many players that were terrible Vampires.

Pets... I seriously love any summoner or pet classes in games. FFXI: Beastmaster and Summoner, Diablo 2: Necromancer, Torchlight: Alchemist. I find them so much fun and when I finally got 'Ramsbottom' my Ram, then discovered I could level him up, combine him to improve him and he would kick some serious backside, I was in heaven. The system implemented to handle the pets is just great and the interaction part just adds a little more fun to the game.

Instances and daily events I did not enjoy as much as I thought I might. Whilst the layout and balance of enemies is quite solid, I was quite disappointed when in some areas you could miss most of the monsters and content to complete the instance much more quickly. I love instances where I can run the segments of content within 30-60 minutes because my busy schedule in life does not allow for 4 hour instances. I just get the feeling that I am missing out on some story information or fun by not killing more than I am currently.

The graphics and sound are standard fare for a free to play MMO and considering he early stage of this closed beta test, they are quite bug free although not very optimised as of yet.

Stage 2 of Phase 1 with the introduction of PvP killed the game for me for about a week. I am not an open PvP fan and the chance of losing items even if I don't fight back is a big downside for me. I do enjoy a good PvP session when I feel like it and I am most certainly looking forward to someone announcing PvE servers! After everyone had their fill of random PK'ing then the game became fun again and I got to playtest some more of the interesting goodies.

Forsaken World is currently rough around the edges but when you put it into context it is really quite smooth for an early beta test. I cannot wait for Phase 2 and to progress my Bard some more. Level 40 here we come!

Check out my other Forsaken World previews and guides. 

Check out my other previews and reviews here.