by Monster on Fri Nov 12, 2004 5:59 pm
The world looks great. Very well designed. Interesting landscapes, great looking buildings. Models and animation are nicely done as well. Textures are beautifully done, making the game look like a 3D cartoon.
Spawn everywhere. It's never hard to find something to fight at your level (so far, anyway).
Combat is great. When fighting something comparable to your level, the battle can be really close and if you make a mistake or two you'll die. Also, battle is fairly quick. You won't spend 5 minutes fighting a single thing, not even a boss, like in most other major MMORPG's. You have a lot to do in battles as well. As a 12th level rogue I have access to like 6-7 different techniques that I switch between during the battle. For instance, when soloing a monster, I stun it, then I have to actually move behind it, then backstab, then do a "finisher" or another combo move and then a finisher... very involved.
Almost no downtime. While engaged in combat, healing has to be done the usual ways... potions, spells, etc. But between battles you heal up at a fantastic rate. It's a brilliant design. Possibly the best feature in the game.
Quests coming out of your ears. The game is really quest based. Whenever you reach a new town you'll get a bunch of new quests, which of course reward you with items, equipment, money and experience, all the while subtly pushing you to explore the world.
Lots of crafting skills. Enchanting, alchemy, blacksmithing, mining, tailoring, etc.
Right now I have a bunch of cool quests that have to do with stuff on the beach and out in the ocean near this town. In one quest I had to swim out in the ocean to find a dead giant turtle (it was about as big as a house) and take a sample from it. It was right next to an old sunken ship complete with an elven ghost sailor. Also, I had to fight some sea monsters that looked like the Loch Ness Monster. First MMORPG I've seen that actually lets you fight underwater!
There's also voluntary dueling. So far I've owned everyone I've fought. The coolest thing about duels is you aren't killed if you lose; The duel just ends, so people usually aren't too scared to duel.
I guess, best of all, the game just feels right.