Day 01 - First Impressions

Today What They Play sent out their Ether Saga closed beta keys. If you're here you probably already know what Ether Saga is, if by chance you do not I'll attempt a brief explanation.



Ether Saga is a MMORPG developed by Perfect World Entertainment, a Chinese company responsible for the game Perfect World Online. Ether Saga is a aesthetically a strange fusion of Dragon Ball and Pokemon, as far as gameplay goes, it's a very familiar landscape at first. The controls and even many of the hot keys are reminiscent of WoW, no surprise there.


The big draw of Ether Saga for a lot of people, and Perfect World, is that the game itself is free to play. PWE draws their income from the online item shop built into the game. Here players can charge a new costume or perhaps a new hair style or some other item on their credit card or paypal account.

Some people see it as a bad thing; explaining that the player's status is no longer indicative of the amount of time they put into the game.

For me, someone who is always busy and will often be unable to play games for huge chunks at a time, I'm glad that I won't have to pay for the game when I'm not playing it. As long as it is still possible to play the game without using the shop; and it appears it is, I don't mind shelling out a few bucks here and there for some fun aesthetic knick-nacks.


So when we finally got our beta keys today, my roommates my girlfriend and I all booted the game up and dove right in. The initial thing that hits me about this game is its charm. The style is a very timeless and ageless style, and the characters are all very vibrant. The wide array of little details, from the depth of some of the emotes, to the random things you can watch a vendor do when he thinks no one is looking is what really made me notice.

Expect some awkward dialog though, where the game art is incredibly polished, the localization and translation are capable at best, sexually confusing at worst. (It gets a little sketchy when my Baby Fox pet starts making passes on me calling me Princess, and I'm a guy.) Gameplay wise, so far it's been fairly standard fair. There were some interesting things though, pets are an integral part of game play, not just for specific classes but for everyone. The player can fuse with their pets as well as transform and raise various different pets.


One of the more interesting ideas that I found though is that when you first create your character you'll have to give your Chinese sign and date and month of birth. Based on your Zodiac you actually learn different abilities as you progress. Spells and abilities are learned as you level. The other systems include ethyrs that are accquired through various means and equipped up to 4 at a time as abilities; and the combo system that lets you string together moves and standard attacks into a looping or non looping macro.



So looping combos sound pretty useful huh? And they are, it takes out a lot of work. So does path finding quest destinations! I though this was really interesting, say you have a quest that tells you to go talk to Tim the Enchanter in the Forbidden Woods, and you're not sure how to get there. Double tap his name in the quest log, off you go! Your character will find his or her way right to the guy. Now, this is really up to you if this is a good or a bad thing. For me, it fits in this sort of casual MMO, I can go grab a drink while I'm off to my next destination.

The biggest thing for me though? Embracing! What the hell am I talking about? Well, you can embrace other players, which will - should they choose to accept - allow you to pick them up and carry them, even carry them on your mount. To some this may not seem like a big deal. But I play games with my better half all the time, and this sure as heck beats /follow! It's cute and fun and it means she won't get stuck on trees and fences anymore! Unfortunately I was too busy enjoying myself to capture any pictures of it this time, but I'll toss some up soon.


That's a wrap for today, until next time.