Lost Ark

[Silent_Buddha]

It's finally launched in the US. It started development in 2011. It launched in Korea in 2019 (beta for a few years before that). It uses UE3. It was still Dx9 at the end of last year. Dx11 was finally added at the start of this year.

It might be my game of the year for 2022. It still looks really good. Some levels are so well designed that my jaw drops.

Here's the original reveal trailer from 2014.

Lost Ark : World Premiere Tailer [KR] - YouTube

I've been waiting for this game to come out ever since I saw that trailer. Here's the official launch trailer for the US.

Lost Ark: Launch Gameplay Trailer - YouTube

The game is basically an ARPG (like Diablo) but happens to also be an MMO. But it's definitely first and foremost an ARPG.

It also happens to be the 2nd most played game in Steam history in the first 24 hours after launch. PUBG is the 1st.

Lost Ark becomes the second most played game in Steam history after just 24 hours (msn.com)

I am having to force myself to stop playing after a certain amount of hours in the hopes that I don't get hopelessly addicted to the game.

From what I'm hearing the end game (which I'm going to try to avoid) is incredibly involved and complex with an absolutely mind boggling amount of things you can do.

This is like crack cocaine in digital form.

Oh and it's F2P. You can also "sub" to the game (called Crystalline Aura) for 9.99 a month or 49.99 every 6 months. Or if you grind in game enough you can buy that sub with in game currency.

You can basically ignore all the other people in the game and treat it like a single player game for the main campaign. It isn't absolutely necessary to play with other people until you hit the end game content.

I don't plan on paying money because I'm trying not to become too addicted to the game. And so far, I haven't really felt any need to pay. If at all possible, I'm going to try to play this casually. I've told people I know to force me to stop playing the game if I play it for more than like 4-6 hours at a time. They have my permission to punch me in the face to get me to stop.

Regards,
SB

 

[Davros]

Oh and it's F2P. You can also "sub" to the game

Why would I do that if it's free ?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Why would I do that if it's free ?

You can think of it 2 ways. It gives in game benefits or the F2P tier is nerfed somewhat because it's free. I'm not subbing because while some of the benefits are nice, I'm still having a ton of fun just playing it for free.

I imagine the benefits are more worthwhile once you get to end game content and grinding out gear for raids.

And from what I've seen from watching some people play, holy cow is there a LOT of end game content. And the developer Smilegate is adding more content so rapidly that evidently users in S. Korea are asking them to slow down because it's TOO much content TOO quickly.

Now when have you ever heard of players of a game asking the developers to slow down adding content because they are adding too much content?

Regards,
SB

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Holy cow, the end game content is just absolutely bonkers, insane.

There's an island with an entire side story that is classic Disney-esque complete with singing animals. There's an island and complete side story that would be right at home in Final Fantasy complete with Magitek like robots. I guess there are a lot of themed islands some of which have quite extensive side stories. There appears to be more islands than there are areas in the main campaign.

I've heard that the developers have said that islands are where they can put in any content with any theme that can want.

People are definitely not lying when they say that getting to level 50 and finishing the main campaign means that you are now ready to start the actual game.

Regards,
SB

 

[Malo]

I'm installing this now to try it out. I'm definitely not a fan of JRPG-style exaggerated weapons and armor, with stupid levels of effects and jumping around shit for attacks, so I have my doubts. Additionally, as a F2P game I expect horrible levels of grind and randomness that to enjoy myself in the game I'm going to want to spend ludicrous amounts of money on.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I'm installing this now to try it out. I'm definitely not a fan of JRPG-style exaggerated weapons and armor, with stupid levels of effects and jumping around shit for attacks, so I have my doubts. Additionally, as a F2P game I expect horrible levels of grind and randomness that to enjoy myself in the game I'm going to want to spend ludicrous amounts of money on.

The gameplay is far more Diablo-like, but with a simple dodge mechanic (dodge is on a timer). Normal enemies are basically cannon fodder. Elite enemies are only slightly tougher. Bosses can have complex mechanics. Raid bosses have extremely varied mechanics. In some ways "normal" combat is almost Dynasty Warriors-esque WRT excessive cannon fodder with some tougher enemies mixed in.

It's a Korean RPG which is slightly different from JRPGs in aesthetics, but not that different. So, "armor" for women tends to be rather skimpy.

Classes are currently gender locked which is typical of Korean RPGs.

Sometimes the story can be quite good, at other times it's pretty mediocre. Some of the end game side stories have much better stories than the main campaign.

It's free, though. So easy enough to just drop it if it ends up not being your cup of tea.

Also, there isn't the "holy trinity" of classes. There's no tanks, healers or DPS. There are some classes that are slightly tankier or squishier. There are some with a few more support skills than others. And some do slightly more or slightly less DPS. The big differentiator that I've seen are classes with more of a single target DPS focus with others having a more AOE DPS focus.

Regards,
SB

 

[Malo]

You can really see the legacy tech in this game which is basically an older DX9 game that has only just now been enhanced with DX11 for some performance boost. The character models and textures look and animate like something from 2010. NPCs in particular are really bad. The environments are quite nice, well modeled and some great details which overall looks fantastic at the top down distance. Combat action effects look quite good and (so far) aren't overly crazy to not distract too much from the combat itself.

Can't really form an opinion on the gameplay loops, character progression and combat yet since I've really only just started doing quests.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

You can really see the legacy tech in this game which is basically an older DX9 game that has only just now been enhanced with DX11 for some performance boost. The character models and textures look and animate like something from 2010. NPCs in particular are really bad. The environments are quite nice, well modeled and some great details which overall looks fantastic at the top down distance. Combat action effects look quite good and (so far) aren't overly crazy to not distract too much from the combat itself.

Can't really form an opinion on the gameplay loops, character progression and combat yet since I've really only just started doing quests.

Yeah the top down ARPG aspect hides a lot of the low asset nature of PCs and NPCs, but that said they don't look all that bad compared to other top down ARPGs.

You can notice a change in environments when you get to some of the later islands after you've entered into the end game. Larger budget combined with better hardware on the market leads to more detailed areas. I haven't gotten there yet myself as I'm playing this more casually and I'm not rushing to hit end game content where the game really opens up. But have watched some streams and some of the later islands are like, wow.

I'm kind of curious if NPC quality has also improved on later islands.

I'm level 30 now, I think, and I've just gotten a tiny taste (engravings) of the tip of the iceberg of how things will be changing for post-50 gameplay.

Regards,
SB

 

[zed]

I'm installing this now to try it out. I'm definitely not a fan of JRPG-style exaggerated weapons and armor, with stupid levels of effects and jumping around shit for attacks, so I have my doubts.

Yeah I cant understand this, to me its a total turnoff, Its like its designed for 7 year kids.

 

[Entropy]

Yeah I cant understand this, to me its a total turnoff, Its like its designed for 7 year kids.

The asians seem to have a liking for mowing down hordes of really stupid enemies while wielding comically large weapons and having the screen filled with bursts of visual effects that hide what the hell is going on.
I don’t get it either.
They seem capable of making sense of it though, and are quite apparently capable of skill based play in spite of the on screen chaos. God knows how they do it.

 

[techuse]

Do you have to like grindy repeat-a-thons to enjoy this game?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Do you have to like grindy repeat-a-thons to enjoy this game?

Not until "end game" "end game" when you are grinding out tier 2. Before then, there are a lot of hours worth of gameplay. I'm likely looking at close to 100 hours of gameplay before I hit a serious grind wall.

A big part of that is that, like I said, I'm taking this casually and doing all content (including side quests and collections) as I play instead of rushing to finish the initial main campaign and hitting 50. People who do that and try to rush tier 2 and tier 3 are going to run into the end game grind a lot quicker.

Me, I'm taking a leisurely stroll and enjoying the journey through main campaign and then through tier 1. After that I'll see if still interested enough to work at tier 2 without grinding (which means it'll take a long time). While tier 1 can be considered the start of end game content, the grind hasn't really started then.

Regards,
SB

 

[Rootax]

Yeah I cant understand this, to me its a total turnoff, Its like its designed for 7 year kids.

Damn I took this personally

 

[Cyan]

did it live up to the hype then? I didnt know about this game but loads of people started playing it. However, seeing big youtubers playing the game..., hmmm.

The fact that it is an ARPG is what I find the most interesting, 'cos those are the game that until Diablo 3 is published on gamepass, I miss the most.

Does the game has a difficulty progression like in Diablo 2 and 3? That's imho the most difficulty progression in any game ever. You play all difficulty levels because Normal lets you know about the story and you learn to play the game, and Nightmare, Hell difficulty levels just expand upon that and it's the real goal in the end, when you become really good at it.

 

[iroboto]

did it live up to the hype then? I didnt know about this game but loads of people started playing it. However, seeing big youtubers playing the game..., hmmm.

The fact that it is an ARPG is what I find the most interesting, 'cos those are the game that until Diablo 3 is published on gamepass, I miss the most.

Does the game has a difficulty progression like in Diablo 2 and 3? That's imho the most difficulty progression in any game ever. You play all difficulty levels because Normal lets you know about the story and you learn to play the game, and Nightmare, Hell difficulty levels just expand upon that and it's the real goal in the end, when you become really good at it.

diablo is a better game imo. But there is no MMO element to it.

I think it proves there is a very large audience ready for Diablo 4, but AB botched it by not greenlighting a D4 until after they are smashed on working on a mobile version of Diablo.

 

[Malo]

How much of an MMO is Lost Ark though? Areas are heavily instanced, which is really needs to do so that players can actually kill things and complete quests. The concept of dungeons and bosses I guess make it more of an MMO-style game.

 

[Entropy]

Not until "end game" "end game" when you are grinding out tier 2. Before then, there are a lot of hours worth of gameplay. I'm likely looking at close to 100 hours of gameplay before I hit a serious grind wall.

A big part of that is that, like I said, I'm taking this casually and doing all content (including side quests and collections) as I play instead of rushing to finish the initial main campaign and hitting 50. People who do that and try to rush tier 2 and tier 3 are going to run into the end game grind a lot quicker.

Me, I'm taking a leisurely stroll and enjoying the journey through main campaign and then through tier 1. After that I'll see if still interested enough to work at tier 2 without grinding (which means it'll take a long time). While tier 1 can be considered the start of end game content, the grind hasn't really started then.

Regards,
SB

Well, I have to admit that I’ve played it a fair bit by now, so yes - I’ve enjoyed it. However, even after having sunk enough time into it to have reached the point where it branches into a myriad ways to keep you busy and it tries to own your life, I still don’t understand its mechanics. I have 15-20 different currencies, and only know what to do with two of them. I know there are mechanics to beef myself up, but I don’t know how to implement them.
If I go on playing the game, I’ll have to watch hours of tutorial videos on youtube.

At this point I’m ever more strongly steered toward guilds and group play, which doesn’t really suit my circumstances or priorities in life. It may be time to abandon my main character and start up a new one to see if they feel substantially different, or just move on to something else.

But that said - fun! The best game experience I’ve had out of Korea, probably. And there is a TON of content, it spanks just about anything in that regard, even though the sheer volume of systems to keep track of can also be regarded as one of the games main weaknesses. Complexity does not equate to quality, at some point it just gets too messy, although that is a personal judgement call obviously.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Well, I have to admit that I’ve played it a fair bit by now, so yes - I’ve enjoyed it. However, even after having sunk enough time into it to have reached the point where it branches into a myriad ways to keep you busy and it tries to own your life, I still don’t understand its mechanics. I have 15-20 different currencies, and only know what to do with two of them. I know there are mechanics to beef myself up, but I don’t know how to implement them.
If I go on playing the game, I’ll have to watch hours of tutorial videos on youtube.

At this point I’m ever more strongly steered toward guilds and group play, which doesn’t really suit my circumstances or priorities in life. It may be time to abandon my main character and start up a new one to see if they feel substantially different, or just move on to something else.

But that said - fun! The best game experience I’ve had out of Korea, probably. And there is a TON of content, it spanks just about anything in that regard, even though the sheer volume of systems to keep track of can also be regarded as one of the games main weaknesses. Complexity does not equate to quality, at some point it just gets too messy, although that is a personal judgement call obviously.

I'll be revisiting the game at some point in the future because Elden Ring launched and that pretty much shoved all games to the side for me.

Yes, there is a LOT of different currencies in the game. There are a LOT of game systems that contribute to character progression (even the "dating" simulator in the game contributes to character progression). Since I was taking it slow and not pushing, I enjoyed all of them, but I know from watching some streams that if you are one of the types that pushes for end game and need to feel like you're at or near the top of all players in the game (especially raiding) then the number of systems that you absolutely have to keep track of every day is quite significant. And while at end game you can do all of that in like an hour or two once you get the process streamlined, then another part of character progression becomes incredibly important.

Having Alt character's is incredibly important for character power progression at the higher levels as Alt character's can be used to farm the various things needed in order to increase the power of your main character. Having multiple Alt character's each doing the daily "things" gives a huge advantage to power progression at end game.

That's why I have no intention of even attempting end game stuff when I get back to this game. Everything pre-end game was reasonable, IMO. They even removed "grind" pre-end game. Kill quests never required killing a lot of enemies, for example. I have a feeling that the Korean version of the game probably required killing lots of enemies for the kill quests (if not now then at launch certainly).

MMORPG addict me would love all of that end game stuff. Me trying to avoid becoming an MMORPG addict again wants to stay away from all that end game stuff.

Regardless, it's still a really good and reasonable ARPG with lots and lots of content that can be enjoyed pre-end game.

Regards,
SB