So it’s been a little over a week into ToS iCBT2 and I have to say I’m somewhat pleased with my experience. However, as with anything, ToS is subject to a bevy of flaws.
1. The Story
I’ve always been a huge fan of Final Fantasy games and enjoyed the story thoroughly. I’ve been one to place story as one of my key aspects of any game, although gameplay always trumps story in the end. That being said, story is a method that is used to make a person invested in the characters within the medium. Story is useful in any traditional console or PC games as it acts as a device to move the characters forward and make us care about who they are and why they are doing that, and I love being invested in these characters.
With that being said, Tree of Savior has absolutely no need for story. When I play an MMO, it’s to play with a large community and the community itself becomes the game. There is zero reason for anyone to try and make me invested in the character, because the character itself is mine and I will never need someone to push me to care about myself. MMOs live and die on the experience within the game with few people playing and leaving for the story. It ends up being a weak distraction from leveling where a large number of people even skip through the dialogue so they can get to the next quest. quest quality itself can even be affected by a story, as it just serves as ferrying the player from place to place, having them kill a few monsters before they’re sent off to the next zone.
I understand that much of this is set already, however, it’s worth being stated, especially if the game can be modified going forward to an experience more about the players living in a world, rather than 100,000 saviors protecting the Goddesses.
And as a quick note of the story quality. It seems that there still needs to be fine tuning on translation but that’s understandable, and I’ve even enjoyed how IMC has handled that, so I’ll ignore the mistakes I’ve noticed. But overall for the quality I’d have to say it is lacking. Much of the driving points feel somewhat forced and not entirely connected. Some quests are used to clear paths and burn down thorns (good) while others are used to find a missing ring that we inexplicably know where it is and also is protected by a giant bug for some reason (bad). Honestly, this is probably par for the course in MMOs these days, but that’s a horrible bar to measure yourself against, which leads back to my point that stories in MMOs are hardly useful or worth it.
I will say I do enjoy the mythos behind the worlds lore though, although again, you can create a world with Goddesses that protect the world without making each player the “savior”.
2. The Combat
I’ll say I’ve enjoyed this part mostly although some problems still exist. I’ve played with keyboard controls as well as gamepad, and I’ll say as an Archer/Wizard, ranged targeting can be a tad difficult. With Ctrl off, it’s nearly impossible to focus on any one monster, especially as you’re supposed to be kiting them. With Ctrl on, it can be very difficult to switch targets as Tab seems to be random at times to which target it moves to an almost seems to not work if you’re running away from the target. A priority system could be nice where enemies that are targeting you or your party receive increased priority when tabbing to mitigate the random nature of switching.
Another problem seems to be how Swordsman are disproportionately strong, as has been noted many times elsewhere throughout the beta. They ignore the previous targeting issue since they’re melee, they hit harder and can take more damage and can even sprint. The one “disadvantage” they suffer from is range, but Archers/Wizards are even limited on that front as you always have to be relatively close to be able to hit anything.
3. Progression
I made a post elsewhere regarding this, but it’s an important aspect. Every class you take should play an important role when it comes to end game. There should never be a point in game where once you hit class advancement, any previous class becomes obsolete. A strength of the game relies on its variety, but by having a tiered system where later classes are just all around better than earlier classes greatly restricts the amount of customization that can occur. It gives an illusion of choice that can affect the journey but not the destination, as everyone would end up as the same classes at the end.
To give an example, in RO a wizard always has use for firebolt, an archer for double strafe, acolytes for bless, swordsman for bash, etc. Changing classes or even becoming transcendant does not make any previous class obsolete. I mention this not because of the RO>ToS relationship, but because this is class progression done right.
4. Additional Notes
- I view experience rates fine as is and should remain the same for release, however, they should be greatly upped for beta to allow more testing and for more players to experience much more of the game.
- Allow more customization for the players lodge. It’s a fun little feature but it would be nice to have more control there.
- Give reason to why each class NPC is at its location. Don’t just throw them where ever or put some in the middle of nowhere just because.
- Make attack types based on weapon type, not class. If a wizard wants to use a sword, let him swing it and be based on STR.
- Just get rid of the shout chat. It doesn’t add anything to the game.
Closing
Tree of Savior has been enjoyable, but for it to truly shine there should be more emphasis on the players creating the world, not the world creating the players. Additional balancing and making sure to never limit creativity and customization when it comes to defining your build is a must. Additional restrictions are almost never a good thing. I appreciate anyone who took the time to read this.
TL;DR
- MMOs have no need for a story. You don’t need to spend resources making me invested in a character that is unique to me.
- Combat can be clunky for ranged, and everyone is at a disadvantage to swordsman.
- Don’t make any choice pointless, and don’t allow class progression to make previous choices obsolete.
