Atlantica Online (mmo)

I wrote this up for a friend on his site some time ago:

Atlantica Online Review

General Summary:
Atlantica Online is a 'free' MMORPG a bit different from most like world of war-craft and etc. It involves more strategy being a turn based combat game where you control yourself and up to 8 npc mercenaries that work alongside you. The game itself was developed by Ndoors who are based in South Korea.

Graphics:
The graphics are passable and quite nice for an MMO, there are times however when the terrain can look a bit bland and jagged but this can be easily overlooked as the environments in general along with character models look fairly pretty
- Overall graphics are given:
6/10
Good for an MMO but can't really compete with mainstream console games


Gameplay(Online):
Being an MMO offline gameplay does not apply here, so straight to online. The battle system works very well, you are given a set amount of time to control yourself and your mercenaries, attack, change formation, use magic and such. After the time runs out or you have no units left to control the enemies turn will begin and the same rules apply.
It can seem a little complex at first but the beginning quests do a good job of explaining a good deal if you don't mind some reading like most MMO's. Outside of battle the world is quite large and is based on Earth, almost impossible to get lost however since there is an
Auto-Move function to get you to your quest target if you are unsure where to go or to keep moving while AFK, quite a useful feature. The community overall in my experience is awfully nice as there is a reward for giving gifts to new players so you can expect quite a few monetary gifts until you hit level 30. The game also operates on a sort of 'stamina' system which as long as there is some you'll get triple xp and double the item drops, this benefit is lost once it drops to zero which can help in preventing addiction but can also be a bit of a pain if you are nearly leveled up or need a certain something,
stamina resets to 100 every day, with lower level stamina capping at 120.
- Overall online gameplay I give:
8.5/10
An exciting battle system with good music and a wonderfully polite community for the most part but at times can seem a little slow/repetitive


Storyline:
Being an MMO the story can be a little odd to follow at times and comes along in parts with the quests, however the same can be said for a great many MMO games so there lies no big surprise, given a bit of a read of the quest descriptions give the impression of a fairly decent story but as far as I know most people don't read the entire quest logs.
- Overall story gets:
5/10
Average quality story MMO-wise giving various reasons to kill/collect X amount of Y before Z happens.

Overall Rating and Final Thoughts:
A fun game all in all if you're a fan of games involving a bit of strategy. At the start I mentioned it being 'free' that being said because the game itself is free to play but involves optional micro-payments for extras like special outfits, mounts and potions which are for the majority, not at all necessary in the long run. Potions can be helpful yet most of them can be obtained in-game without spending real money.
My final rating of the overall quality of the game is:
8.5/10