| Review entitled 'Anime styled RPG with fresh gameplay elements' |  | Tempted by another anime style MMORPG I began downloading Holic Online, suprisingly I had trouble finding credible information about this game and its lack of exposure in the normal places was quite strange, the game has only recently entered beta but already has a firm userbase in this testing period.
Smooth lines but no details
Being familar with the anime style graphics from the likes of Ragnarok Online, Secrets of Solstice and Priston Tale I was expecting another generic anime inspired cast and array of monsters..
Thankfully I found the art behind Holic to be very appealing, bordering on cell shading graphics the edges were very well defined with sufficent anti-aliasing to make a believe experience, unfortunately the detail in characters is very sparse with little variety past the eyes, hair and wardrobe.
The terrain follows a similar pattern in that the limited amount of objects are quite well definded and create an acceptable horizon on which to navigate.
Subtle but enjoyable
The music behind the game which is constantly audible during both gameplay and menu navigation is quite pleasant, even being on repeat the music is non-distinct enough to aid the gameplay experience rather then hinder it that you find in alot of foreign developed MMORPGS.
Enter stranger
Still being in beta the community is quite strong, plenty of discussion and help being exchanged at regular intervals, even so much that I had people extremely willing to assist in issues regarding gameplay, controls and the likes.
With ample control panels to see activity in public chat channels, current private message and party sessions and guild discussions the community is both easy to interact with and not to troublesome to monitor alot of activity.
Where for art thou?
Unfortunately the game had no real strong role playing elements especially with alot of the dialogue from the NPCS in the form of quests being very bad english, making it difficult to understand basic quests and objectives nevermind important plot points.
And now render those lines.. in stints.
Game performance is substantial at almost all resolutions with a modest PC at the highest graphic settings, however the server lag was a serious issue, with monsters not being in the position where the screen actually portrays them. This made a good gaming experience frustrating at times, especially when trying ro execute certain moves to have them respond slowly, if at all.
Help, I (don't) need somebody
The customer service comes in the forums of the user base which is generally very helpful or emailing the game via the website which unfortunately does not give an instant response to any time based issues, however, I never had to contact customer service having trouble-free gameplay so cannot give a totally accurate gauge on provided assistance.
Gimme more
All the issues I had with Holic were not related to the core gameplay mainly because I found the game very fun to play, with a dual class system allowing an instant switch between your two chosen classes with only a one minute cooldown, this introduces some strategic situations where you can think beyond your intial class limitation, the ability to change the dynamics of your character on the fly means some very interesting gameplay situations.
This game was both refreshing and fun during playable periods.
Would you like a large meal
Microtransactions see to be the flavor of the month, or the year infact.
With that purchasing item bundles including experience and gold earning benefits are available through the ingame shop panel, the prices are reasonable and translated through a specific currency that you purchase (perhaps making it harder for people to easily say how much money they are literally paying for a bundle at any one time).
Basic but accommodating
All the most handy requirements of a UI are there, the adjustable minimap, the hotkey bar, the chat panel, option buttons and status display for players, monsters and beyond.
The customization is basic in the moving of certain elements of the UI and some parts you unfortunately cannot erase rather then move, however all the required information is either immediately displayed or just one click away.
And so...
Tilt this time will be on the high side since I found it quite an enjoyable experience that I can only fault based on issues that can be fixed relatively easily, lag issues probably relating to the intial acceptable of mass players. |
| | Reviewer | | 
Valane
Last active : 19/11/2008 7:23pm |
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| | Review Scores | | | Graphics | 8 | | | Soundtrack | 8 | | | Community | 9 | | | Roleplaying | 4 | | | Performance | 5 | | | Customer | 7 | | | Fun | 10 | | | Value | 6 | | | UI | 8 | | | Tilt | 9 | |
Total Score
74 |
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