Even as gaming journalists, there are certain games that completely blow by without us ever knowing they existed or just how awesome they truly are. My personal ignorance brings me to a little MMORPG that goes by the name ArcheAge. When I walked into my E3:2013 Trion meeting I had no idea this game, which is already out in Korea, both exists and is coming to North America. After watching the trailer and seeing game footage, I found myself needing to know more – my ignorance needed to be remedied.
I’m going to try to cover as much as I can, from what I’ve seen/know, without my head exploding. This MMORPG allows players to play exactly how they want to and gives players political leverage in the process. There are currently four races and classes you build. For class builds there are warrior, sorcery, archery, devotion, necromancy, and agility. You’ll combine three of this into one character and make a character do basically exactly what you want it to do. Want to be a quick and agile cleric that swings a slow two-handed weapon – go for it.
You’ll start the game in a familiar sort of MMO grind. There will be quests, PvE content, and generally safe areas. Then around level 25, the PvP and trip to an island known as the Land of Origin begins. Do you have a ship? Do you have a DEFENDED ship? How are you at avoiding pirates? How good are you at avoiding a player run pirate faction? Wow you made it to the Land of Origin – which player run nation do you join? Do their rules and taxes suit you? Good luck.
No lie, this game is complex. This is the charm though. It’s rewarding and incredibly punishing. You’ll build a home anywhere you want to. No, not in a special zone; literally where ever you want to build one and buildable terrain. Plant some trees, groom them, harvest them, BUILD A BOAT WITH THEM! There is a crafting system that wants to take your time and genius to perfect. What’s that, not enough minerals where you are? Why not set up a player run caravan to help you out – that’s a thing.
So you have your farm, you got trees, you got pigs… wait, who killed one of your pigs? The swine! The bloodstain tells you that it was a member of your own faction? Time to report this villain to the player run courts. If found guilty, the character will be thrown into jail. If thrown into jail enough times that character is cast away from the faction and becomes ‘kill on sight.’ Welcome to the world of piracy. Since everyone and their mother will kill you if you make landfall, I guess you’ll just have to conjure up your pirate buddies and pillage the seas for minerals. The Land or Origin has scarce materials which means the good stuff will be coming from ships… see where this is heading?
You don’t like the idea of pirates ruining all your hard work? What’s stopping you from getting a possie together to hunt down the scourge? The answer is simple… NOTHING! Get some friends, get a boat, hunt down pirates. I mean… well… if they stole and killed for goods… and now they are dead… finders keepers right? Nothing says you can’t do the world a favor while benefiting on their destruction.
What I’m getting at, is that this game truly allows the players to play how they want to. You want to spend all your time solo doing PvE and farming – go for it. More interested in trading, do it. You want to trade in dangerous areas, bring some protection and go for it. Want to make those farming players pay and take their hours of work from them through bloodshed, also an option. Are you more of a sea combat type. There is a little bit of everything here for everyone. I can’t wait to see how this game evolves in America. The entire game seems to be like a psychology project. Keep watch for this one. Trion hasn’t made any announcements for a release date or when beta starts, but you can sign up.
Did I mention there are gliders that you can use at any time – for both exploration and war? No? Well there are and they too are awesome. Yes, there are different types like one that can stealth. Also… cow dung can be used as either fuel or fertilizer. I’m just going to leave you with that one to think about.
