Pyros plays: Vin-Dick-Tus.

[PyrosNine]

Computa ASPLODED!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/300px-Vindictus_Logo.jpg

Alrighty, I be playing the new ememmorepeeguh called Vindictus, which is being hosted by Nexon, and uses the source engine. That's right, the same thing that makes Half Life 2 look awesome. However, the pliability of the source engine has always been questionable in my opinion, and the Source engine hates my computer's guts. But I play nonetheless because it is free!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0000%20%28Small%29.jpg

The game loads slowly, no doubt a combination of it being installed on my external usb hard drive, a need for more ram, and Source engine hating me.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0001%20%28Small%29.jpg

To start off with, you're given three character archetypes. I was actually a little worried this'd end up like Borderlands, where you pick stylized characters with different skill sets, and the only thing that sets you apart from everybody else is what loot you're equipped with.

There are three characters, one's Lann, a dude decked out in full armor and can dual wield, and specializes in being quick, long combos, and can counter any time.

Then there's Evie, who is an "alchemist" which mostly means she's a priest (heals)/ mage (hurls fireballs) /and summoner (summons monsters to do her bidding.

Finally there's Fiona (pictured), who is more basic, and the one I picked. Meant to be the balance character, Fiona has a sword and shield as her special power and does more damage while also having decent defense. I picked her because I've been watching a Demon Souls LP, and the idea of hacking into enemies with a sword and shield european style has overpowered my notions of running into enemies wielding 6 swords or a BFS.

A neat feature is the streaming video that plays for each character, describing their strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the game these videos will play seamlessly within the game whenever they want to teach or show you something.

It's looking bad for character customization when I immediately get shoved into a loading screen before even naming a character....

Not pictured due extreme lag, but I'm immediately dumped in strange environs for a cutscene. The Source engine always starts with a slow, grinding stutter, that suggests to me that the level I"ve emerged in is still loading as I'm walking through it, because if I wait a bit, it goes away completely until I enter the next area. For this cutscene however, rendered in the source engine, shit be weird. I don't know what's going on, but people flicker in and out of existence, theres' a giant spider, I don't know where the hell I am during some dramatic argument between flickering people that basically went along these lines:

Old Guard type: Men! Load the ballistae! It's a fuzzy giant white spider on a rampage!

Young Guard type: You heard the man, load 'em! Swallow down the lag and get your asses moving!

Young Maiden: Wait! *stands in front of ballistae* *or stands in front of it as much as she can because she is flickering in and out of existence. Standing in front of it 50% of the time.*

Old Guard: Tieve! Move!

Young Maiden: I can't let you do it!

Old Guard: He's wrecking the city and endangering lives! We need to take care of him!

Young Maiden: He doesn't mean any harm! He's just frightened!

And then I'm like: Shit, I'm frightened. It's a giant spider wrecking a castle! And it's fuzzy! Surprisingly not as flickery as everything else.

Old Guard: I know you think he's a guardian spirit, but right now, he's nothing more than a monster who needs to be killed.

Young guard: He's right Tieve, someone's going to get hurt by him!

Tieve: Please just let me talk to him! I know i can calm him down! Please Marrec! He doesn't mean any of this.

Young Guard/Marrec: :( Um, sir, she may be able to calm it down as she says. She's known it for a long time.

Old Guard: What? Very well then. Squad, you will fall in with me and escort us into that building. That means you rookie!

I think I'm a rookie.

Old Guard: Marrec, you stay here and ready the ballistae. If anything happens, fire away.

Half the squad leaves, half the squad stays, and suddenly a girl clad in cheap armor emerges and follows these plot people. I assume this is my character.

Our group starts flickering, cautiously, into the building, which is surprisingly mostly wooden. Probably still being built.

The Old guard finds a strange red stone on the ground, mutters something about Fomors, and then senses company. Then arrows come out of nowhere and take everyone down, including the old Guard. And I mean from nowhere, this wasn't a graphical glitch, just arrows coming from off camera...and when the camera turns there's nothing there.

Fortunately ladies first hasn't been invented yet, so me and this Tieve priestess had a bunch of testosterone to catch arrows for us.

Old Guard: Rookie....protect the priestess! Shes in your hands now....

And then dog men attack. I was too busy during combat to hit the printscreen button, but they were men and they were dogs. Newstyle DND would call them Kobolds, but I have no clue. I hit them in the face with my sword. It's a tutorial, so they were laughably easy, I took no damage as I fought with controls and the lagging computer, but once I killed one the game caught up with itself and evened out, and things moved at a normal clip, with no flicker.

The game already has a few points of interest: You can tell how good a game is by what elements it has to offer from the get go. For starters, there were crates and barrels in the opening cutscene. Secondly, the game begins with a damn escort mission. But on the plus side, she was invincible for these events, and EVERYTHING IS DESTRUCTABLE (except the priestess for what I just said)

Especially crates. So as I'm beating the crap out of dog men, I'm also wrecking the building's foundation, destroying fences, walls, crates, barrels., and enemies. When the enemies die, they turn to stone and then shatter under the force of my blade.

There's a simple combo system, with basic melee swings coming from left clicking the mouse (though there is a keyboard and controller scheme) and special attacks by right clicking. Different combinations of left and right clicking in a combo will result in different attacks, my favorite being "slash, kick, slash, shield bash to the groin that sends them flying"

Special attacks for me just mean a piercing strike that does more damage, and can send them flying. I have a stamina bar which depletes with every special attack, but regenerates quickly when standing still.

I can also press the E button to grab things. This is epic is what this means. I can grab an enemy, and hurl him at his friends for extra damage. I can grab an enemy and pile drive him. I can pick up defeated enemies weapons and smack them with it, as well as beat them over the head with their own comrades rocky corpses. I can destroy parts of the scenery and pick up the rubble to throw or smash into my opponent.

I very quickly ignored the quite awesome combo system in favor of grabbing chairs, fences, support beams, and enemy corpses as impromptu weapons for beating the crap out of enemies. However, this came to a stop as mine and the rampant destruction of the spider brought the ceiling down, which resulted in this (and then I remembered the print screen button)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0002%20%28Small%29.jpg

A carrying escort mission. She got hit with a plot two-by-four, and broke her ankle. Like this, I only have access to a short range kick attack with a long delay between kicks. However...
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0003%20%28Small%29.jpg

The next area was next to a 4 story fall.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0004%20%28Small%29.jpg
Capture function was a little too slow, but what you're not seeing is the dogman falling to his death.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0005%20%28Small%29.jpg
Ditto for this one, but you get a good view of a burning village, which is always nice.

One thing you'll notice about the map is that this is not a straight up dungeon, as I'm walking through rooms that load for each room, but it's a fast load, and later dungeons do not do this. These rooms are just for tutorial and fencing me in.

Well anyway, on the top floor we catch up to the hissy fitting spider, and the maiden talks to it after calming it down. She then talks to the spider. I"m not kidding. They hold a conversation. Or she does, the spider just kinda stands there.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0006%20%28Small%29.jpg
"WHERE DID THEY TOUCH YOU!?"

I think a bunch of guards just died on the whims of a crazy person who talks to giant spiders.

Then the spider got possessed by an evil red glow (don't you just hate it when that happens?) and the mark of Fomor (same as the stone found earlier) pops up on it's forehead, and I have to kick it's ass. Sadly, it's a giant spider, and y'know. Arachnophobia. Seriously, what is it with European style RPGs and giant spider enemies?

Didn't printscreen the fight, but halfway through I get help from the ballistae, which not only hurt the boss, but also litter the battlefield with the spent spears, which I can then pick up. I impaled the spider's leg on one of them, making it hold still and let me beat sense back into it.

Traditionally, when something's possessed by evil, beating the crap out of it with bladed weapons resolves the problem, if Dark Cloud has taught me anything.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0007%20%28Small%29.jpg
Uh...
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0008%20%28Small%29.jpg
Oooh....
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0009%20%28Small%29.jpg

Then it went all king kong and climbed the belltower. Then got riddled with spears. And then it fell...and had sharp chunks of tower fall on it....followed by a huge ass bell, which crushed it flat.

Poor girl's spider died...Totally not my fault. Daww...poor fluffy.

I'd be more sorry about all this if both aforementioned things didn't fall on ME because I was too busy gawking.

So was some ominous dogmen-shaman guy in the distance too.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0010%20%28Small%29.jpg
A good night's rest at the Inn cures everything!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0011%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0012%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0013%20%28Small%29.jpg

Now we get some character customization.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0014%20%28Small%29.jpg

Oh hey, I do get a character, not just one prepicked for me. Welp, since I picked Fiona I be a chick. It was a 2/3 chance of me being a chick anyway, and I bet Lann's totally gay or something, so we'll have to wait for an update to play someone manly. There were two shadowy masculine characters on the class selection screen, and a dark knight character with a sign that said "Coming soon"

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0015%20%28Small%29.jpg
AFROS NOOOOOOOOooooo!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0016%20%28Small%29.jpg
My virtual self is not pleased by this hairstyle.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0017%20%28Small%29.jpg
This would make wearing a helmet more comfortable but...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0018%20%28Small%29.jpg
This be who I be. Asheth, because all the other names I use are taken. Except PyrosNine, but I'll save it for when I make a male character.

You'll notice some things in the customization window are greyed out or have a star on them. This means....MICROTRANSACTIONS! I can't have Ashethian burning red hair or cool hairstyles unless I unlock them somehow or shell out some cash. You know which of those I'm doing....cuz pyroz broke! :crying:

Still surprisingly robust customization, and it's the source engine, so a lot of detail in face and hair, without tripping into uncanny valley territory. I can totally adjust the size of my chest. There is a slider and everything. Well, we know what this means for Asheth. I wonder what the male version has?


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0020%20%28Small%29.jpg
Linkette!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0021%20%28Small%29.jpg
When do I get to kill things again?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0022%20%28Small%29.jpg
These boots are made for walkin'

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0023%20%28Small%29.jpg
This is a sword! Lookit! Not at my boobs!


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0024%20%28Small%29.jpg
Soul Calibur eat your heart out.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0025%20%28Small%29.jpg
Y'want to be a pirate lass, because pirates have large chests!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0026%20%28Small%29.jpg
You wanna live forever?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0027%20%28Small%29.jpg
Fiona's advertised armor.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0028%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0029%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0030%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0031%20%28Small%29.jpg
Of course. No one ever wants to see a giant spider die.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0032%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0035%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0036%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0037%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0038%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0039%20%28Small%29.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0040%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0041%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0042%20%28Small%29.jpg
You're surprisingly caring for someone talking to the person who killed your pet spider.

More Stutter. More grinding sound. Loading takes time. But then....PUPPIES!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0046%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0049%20%28Small%29.jpg
And doggie! And an Inn with a floating sign!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0052%20%28Small%29.jpg
And a kitty!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0053%20%28Small%29.jpg
CAPITALIST SWINE!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0056%20%28Small%29.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0057%20%28Small%29.jpg
Lag is making this asshole forever to tell me something. Or he just has a really slow monotone.

But then I discovered the neatest feature....

Not only does this game have a built in screen cap function...but it also a built in video recorder...

However....you can guess what happened when I used it. Recorded the first quest, beat the crap out of a boss by throwing it's own mooks at it to stun it, and then killed it by smashing it in the groin.

So when I decided to call it quits and check out the recorded movie....hitting stop caused the game to freeze....then crash. Then take down firefox with it...and my computer.

It got back on it's feet quickly enough, but the video was corrupted, and a strange korean folder popped up in my documents along with the Vindictus folder.

however, the game automatically saves a few nice snapshots of the killing blow of a boss. So it's not a total loss!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0095%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0096%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0097%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0098%20%28Small%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/2010_11_12_0099%20%28Small%29.jpg

You could say I smashed his wood.

More Deets later as I get better pics or vid of combat, and have played enough to really rate this game. Though aside from my problems, it's looking pretty good so far.

[Krylo]

I hope they made the capitalist swine joke on purpose.

[mudah.swf]

I'd play this along with you if it WORKED IN MY COUNTRY :( Again, Nexon have gone for the "Fuck the UK" approach to localisation. Also is the UI really that cluttered or is it just the small screens making it look worse than it is?

[Sage Harpuia]

A friend of mine told me about this game. From what I've heard it's stats/skill upgrading mechanic(s) seem to be somewhat similar how it works in Final Fantasy 2; including other games made by the same director, although I fail to recall his name... Of course this is a imperfect comparison since I haven't actually tried to play the game, but I will someday... because it's free and within North American.. So I'll be waiting any more feedback updates from you, Pyros. To see if it's any good...

[Ryong]

I'd play this along with you if it WORKED IN MY COUNTRY :( Again, Nexon have gone for the "Fuck the UK" approach to localisation. Also is the UI really that cluttered or is it just the small screens making it look worse than it is?

Nexon's default MO since three years ago has been "Call the NA version global, IP block everyone, release an EU version in two years." I wanted to play it too, but I'm in Brazil, so it's even worse.

[Magus]

Looked cool and I had it written down somewhere to play because it said "Source-based physics MMORPG" and I was like "WHA THAT IS COOL GOTTA PLAY".

I will have to follow through on this promise to myself.

[Niveras]

Offtopic rant: what the hell is with the ubiquitous presence of pando media booster these days? Why not just rely on an open source peer-to-peer download method, like torrents, instead of this shit "booster" that makes browsing the web absolutely impossible while it is running? It seems like every FTP game I've tried in the past year uses it for the download, and I can't understand why. I've had a page of raw text take 5 minutes to load, and it still stopped halfway through. And why does it continue to run after the installer has finished downloading? Seems shifty to me.

End rant.

[PyrosNine]

Pando is just an accelerated torrent, methinks, and the reason why it keeps running is that you were able to download it so fast, you downloaded most of the pieces from other downloaders near you, also reducing the strain on the game's servers.

However, your internet speed shouldn't deteriorate after it's been updated, it normally shuts off. If your internet remains degraded after updating, it may be a problem with your router or something, because after I just started torrenting, my internet would die for a bit long after I stopped all torrents until I messed with my settings, and later, got a new router.

As for right now I"m using college 'nets, so I got something a little less than a T1, so I don't have problems aside from Wifi for my phone and nettbook goin' down.

Anyway, apparently trying to record video with the program itself causes the game to asplode, which then takes down my computer. I think it's pushing the limits of my RAM, which I need to upgrade. I do also remember how Half Life didn't like my dual core computer, which may once again be the case, but I will admit that after doing some tweaking (including hitting a dual core option) the game loads much faster and has less slowdown.

I did find another method of video recording, but it's jittery and has slowdown. There's also the thing where I shove a camera in front of my monitor record that way, might do that.

Do have another update coming tonight-ish, anyway, with better pictures, some multiplayer, and some more thoughts on gameplay.

On one final note, this is a Pyros Plays, not a let's play, which is just a slightly more active review, as MMORPG's and the like, cannot actually be played to the end. Unless you have no life.

[h4x.m4g3]

I download and played it through the weekend and I'll bite its pretty fun. I'm on the East Server under the character name Goudabii if anyone wants to hang out. I don't like the token system for doing missions but I just started needing tokens, and don't know if it will actually be that big a deal in the end. Still it seems like its an attempt to limit playtime/make you pay more. Groups seem to come and go with the wind, which I like because a big problem I had with WoW was committing to hour + long dungeon adventures with random strangers (who normally annoyed the heck out of me), on the inverse of that I haven't found myself making any friends, or running with the same group ever. Also I can't find the mute player button and the gold spammers in the town are reallllly annoying.

[PyrosNine]

Asheth is also on East Server! What a koinky dink!

[PyrosNine]

Damn! I want to update! BUT...PAPER DUE!

Come watch lame recording attempt! Stay for awesome Gorillaz song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze5vDkDQtr0

Needless frame skipping! I'm shelling out cash for Fraps!

Though I did solve that synch problem for GBA games, so If I ever get back to Golden Sun, that'll be cool.

Actual Actual update....Friday?

[mauve]

Stay for awesome Gorillaz song!
WOO EMPIRE ANTS!!!!

This game looks interesting. I hadn't heard of it before.

[Niveras]

My meager opinion so far:

I am finding it very boring and repetitive. Maybe that is just because of the level (I am 14 or 15 right now, but only just finished "chapter 1" and opened the next tier of battles that require tokens to visit), but the number of skills are highly limited. I've only "failed" two battles thus far: once I failed an oath to beat the mission in a time frame (by, like, 10 seconds), and once when I vastly underestimated the reach of a boss who soon killed me. Bosses strategy is "juck and jive, spam my piss-short-range 'ranged' attack". My other ability is PBAE explosion but it has a 30 second cooldown (that I can clear once per ~minute) and requires some good timing because it has a long charge time (though I have no idea how its damage per energy compares to my other ability, whether it is worth using).

Mission maps are also extremely repetitive, there are maybe 10 permutations on the first tier's theme that "plug" together (through a loading screen). There is some variation in how they go together but boss areas seem always the same for the specific boss. Later tiers may have more permutations.

Upgrading your equipment is a grind. As you progress through battles you learn new crafting recipes, but they all require semi-rare drops that only come from one, sometimes two bosses. For example, I need several white gnoll leather, but only one boss can even drop it - and he might only drop one leather per 2 runs. You also need dozens of non-boss drops, but you frequently only get one of those parts per run as well. This issue is somewhat softened by all these parts being tradeable, so you can waltz over to the auction house (the "messageboard") to buy what you need easily enough, though it can quickly get expensive. Most components are listed at about 800 to 2k depending on their rarity (cloth being ~800, of which I need dozens, while colored gnoll leather is ~1500) but battles only reward about 2k gold themselves.

It seems very easy to get ahead level-wise, although I don't know how big of an effect your character level has in terms of damage output or health. Unless it bumps your stats, which it might, character level doesn't seem to do anything except what gear you can equip or what skills you can learn. Skills themselves advanced through AP, which you get from doing battles (the amount of AP rewarded based on, I presume, the relative level of the battle to your character level). Grinding AP also contributes to further pushing your character level ahead of the battles you get.

The fan service is pretty ridiculous, but I guess that is expected from an asian conversion. Beyond 2 of 3 available classes being female, everything my character (the mage/healer) can reasonably wear is frilly and short. Very much at home in any *con's cosplay.

All my experience has been solo so far, unknown if playing with other people helps cut down the repetition or boredom at all, whether from combat or otherwise. Oh, and gold spam is frequently present, but there does not appear to be any way to add people to an ignore list that I have found. Possibly there is a typed command, but the spammers are generally named gibberish - a hassle to type. I generally click the Ch. ## in the upper right and change it to something random and hope that channel doesn't have a spammer.

Hope this doesn't step too much on your toes, Pyros.

PS: Character name Quewex, East server.

[h4x.m4g3]

At Niveras, cool you look to be near my level, expect a friend request.

I don't believe is gained in based on your relative level compared to the battle your in, but how many times you've run the battle and if the battle is a 'daily' battle. When you launch your own boat it shows how much AP you'll gain for completing the mission. It seems daily missions give you 35 AP the first time you run them that day. For example one mission (Wind through the ruins) I ran a bajillion times and awards 0 AP to me, but the earlier missions which I ran once or twice to advance give me 20-30 AP still.

I'm not sure if gaining levels increase stats (or by how much) but gaining titles does. When you discover a title you can view it on your character screen to see its bonus, and a note that you don't have to equip the title for the better stats just unlock it.

I think the fan service is limited to Eevies (the mage), from what I've seen the other female class (the sword/shield warrior) equips armor that looks almost the same as the male warrior's armor (I could even match pieces to what I had equipped previously). That being said the game seems to have a severely limited armory (like one or two sets per level range), and so nearly everyone of each character class at each level is dressed identically. Maybe its the different class or timing, but the one set of armor I bought components for cost me about ~300 gold per piece, even the rare this item drops from this boss and this boss only.

You should try multiplayer, it cuts down on the tedium a good bit by virtue of not having to chip away at a boss's health for as long, teammates being able draw the boss's attention, lets you heal and charge spells easier. That said it seems people in the game are quiet during missions, and just push forward at a relentless pace, and there's no real strategy in team play as in other MMOs where everyone has a role.

[phil_]

Explain your wallpaper for those of us not in the know, Pyros.

[PyrosNine]

Oh, it's just me as my bimbo alter-ego turned scientist eating a sundae while Arhra's fifth incarnation comes to engage me in yet another passive aggressive battle. She's also copying my look but is a cyborg, and there's a timer but neither of us care about it because we are science-type-person-thingies.

Straight from current Avvy RP! I'm also a cat in a related picture!

But anyways...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%28Medium%29.jpg

Back to the game review!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%281%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

I'm back in the game Vindictus, and today, I'm gonna try out some multiplayer. The game is essentially PSO or DDO turned into a more straight forward beat'em up in regards to structure: There's an instance of a level with set enemies and obstructions, and you and your party enter that instance without having to worry about some other player ganking your exp and stuff.

However, you are able to replay quests at your leisure, and fulfill them on different terms to gain more exp, AP, items.

The real novel approach to party building is that whenever you go from the hub (the town) to a dungeon for a quest, you go to a 'boat'. Boats are made by players to get to the dungeon, but while they're setting up the boat and even once they've begun to embark, other players can join them. This makes building a party, something hard in other games and especially DDO, easy.

You can still go solo (for some extra points) by checking a few modifiers that give bonus points for things like going solo or having just 2 characters. To party up, often all you have to do is just create a boat, check

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%282%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

So, having been given this "battle" (quest), I am free to go to the Perilous Ruins dock and see if anyone's made a boat to Perilous ruins for this battle, and if not, make my own. Then I just wait for a little while, and thanks to the overcrowding of servers, I'm bound to have plenty of peeps before long.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%283%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

In this case, I got Laehi, a spellcaster. Laehi uses a long range melee attack with a wide but slow arc, and has some pretty neat lensflare tricks even at a low level. Her/His Ping was atrociously low, but his/her computer could play the game likely a lot better than mine, so despite connection differences we had no problem, and to my knowledge you can't hurt the player, but it's likely there is a PVP element (which would be awesome, as this game has everything a fighting game would need.)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%284%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

Some actual battle clips: Health is plentiful, I've never even come close to biting the big one yet, except for the boss battle from the hyper speed video. But stamina on the other hand, isn't. You lose stamina any time you use special attacks (that shockwave kick, and shield groin bash I've got) and Laehi loses hers with every spell. It regenerates pretty quickly, reducing the need for magic/stamina potions, but also makes for a little strategy in battle: the same stamina I use to do my special attacks is also drained whenever I attack with picked up weapons, and whenever I walk around carrying heavy objects and performing certain actions, like blocking and rolling.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%285%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

As h4x said, multiplayer does take a lot of the work out of most fights, as you're not getting gangraped, and bosses don't take such insane amounts of punishment to go down. This boss and the first boss are the only bosses you're expected to take down on your lonesome, as I'll show in a bit.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%286%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

Laehi sticks to the back and blasts the boss with flame while I beat it up with my sword and thrown objects.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%287%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg
Then she charges up a powerful spell and hits the boss with it.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%288%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg
Even on the lower settings, this game is PURDY.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%289%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg
Boss got blown T F up.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%2810%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

The dynamic picture cam does an incredibly good job, I have to admit.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%2811%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

Look how happy I am!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%2817%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

But on coming out of the action shots, my camera gets stuck behind a pillar. Boo game!

An extra perk of mulitplayer is that you can pursue goals independently of each other within the same quest, with Laehi getting the a particular pelt she needed for a sidequest in the village while I completed the quest so I could move along in the plot. For beating the quest I got to level 3, and by turning the quest in, I gained another level, and then just by talking to people and walking around the village I've been practically suited up and leveled up to 7. Just launched straight in to the game, is say!

On the whole, this game has a lot going for it. A lot of the cutscenes are simply people talking to each other, but at the same time every character has a lot to say and incredibly good writing. I haven't seen a typo yet, and that's saying something for a F2P game. You gain levels very quickly out of battle, and all the characters have something to say or some quest to give you, which change as you go through the plot. The fact that they all have something new to say to you every day is pretty nice too, and the rendered backgrounds give every building a neat look while you shop. The rendered cutscenes are pretty good, using the same tech as Half Life 2, so some of them are in real time and happening before your eyes, like when the Spider boss died.

Crafting, the bane of any MMORPG is quite easy: some quests are designed just to give you the items you need for crafting, and being so short, you can just run through them a few times to get what you need and earn the money for crafting. I've already made a better set of armor, and without needing extra junk or levelling up some skill, all I need is the recipes and later, a license (to sell the crap I make).

Quests are quick and easy affairs, yet the missions within them spice them up quite a bit, and there's a variety in the level design: I was used to having a few items to beat up my enemies with, and then maybe a few breakable walls in between me and my goals, but then when I had to pass through a hall of rolling meat grinders (ala Zelda) while fighting enemies at the same time (throw them into the meat grinders!) things got a little hectic (hit by enemy that sends me reeling back...Into a meat grinder, which sends me forward...to the enemy. Needed a pot! To SMASH FACES WITH!)

The physics that make up the game prove delightful for making even the lame boss fights pretty epic. As i finally fought a hard boss, the Embermain, there were stone pillars dotting the battlefield. His large sword did a lot of damage, and had a wide range, and the only thing that kept him between me was often the pillars...which he'd then wreck ala Iron Knuckle. This was a big fight of keep away, as he had a 5 hit combo and was hard to stun...but when he knocked down the pillars, I was free to pick up the rubble and throw it at him for good damage and stun him, letting me get in a few attacks and get away.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%2818%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%2820%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4241108/Let%27s%20Play/Vindictus/vind2/vind2%20%2822%29%20%28Medium%29.jpg


The enemies are actually pretty smart, befitting a beat-em up. They will block, the crossbowmen will keep a distance while the melee's rush you, while the magical green balls of light just blast at you. They are able to hurt each other though, and during the boss fight Embermain took care of a few of his mooks for me, and displayed a few bolts sticking from his gut when his crossbowmen attempted to shoot through him.

You're able to do quite a bit within the game proper. You'll notice in the video I checked out the game's newspaper...within the game itself, and you can still buy items and pretty dress up costumes within the game itself without having to access an external store, something that annoys me about Shin Megami Tensei and DDO, though particularly DDO on that part (still can't buy anything...and since extra areas cost money...I can't play anymore!)

Easy channel changing is a plus, as it literally takes just a mere click and suddenly there's less lag and less people trying to sell you shit outside of the marketplace.

I do worry about the source engine not being the best suited for a static multiplayer server, as Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress are one thing, but a constant, continuous space with over 300 hundred players on a single channel seems to drive the game haywire. For me, at least, on the hub. The individual quests don't have any of that lag.

I could imagine the whole deal running a lot faster if the hub was just a selection of menus with the rendered back ground, and the actual gameplay was just on the beach/boats or on the quest itself, but the playable hub does have it's charm: the puppies will bark and follow you, the animals will respond to your passing, and the weather will change. It's also better designed than most hubs, as it does not require me to run the length of a football field to get from where I log in to, where I buy stuff, and where I go for quests, which the last game I reviewed, Dynasty Warriors, did with it's HUGE hub. There are floating titles and names over every establishment, making it impossible for anyone not to know where to find a significant NPC or shop.

As for the whole fun factor...it is a very fun game, my personal problems aside. The combat system leaves combat very open, you don't just have to hit the attack button until they all die (and it's not a good idea to), you can mix up your combos, block and counter, and put the environment to your own use. Battles are rarely drawn out, and enemies have multiple attack patterns to try out on you, lord knows later enemies will have both magic and special conditions on them.

On the whole, Vindictus is a decent game, it's not something incredibly world breakingly new, or novel, but it's still a medieval anything goes beat'em up using the Source Engine. If your rig can run it, and you don't live in the UK, (LOL) I'd definitely recommend it for blowing off some steam with a splintery two by four on a dogman's head.

Pyros gives this one a 7 out of Nine.

(5 out of Nine for personal gaming problems but other people tell me that it's just me, and my rig sucks. Why did the price of RAM go back up?)