Aika is a free to play MMO developed by Gala-Net. Rarely have I been intrigued with what’s come out of the free to play market. But this game has gotten such solid reviews, it’s definitely worth a good look. The graphics are detailed and the animations are superb – rivaling many of the new games we’ve seen in the past couple years. Character creation is limited, as it is with so many free MMOs. But what you loose in terms of “pretty” you get back in terms of stability. I’d much prefer to have my hair styles or nose shape choices reduced if it means less lag during big battles. However…. gender locking the classes is a bit more of a drag. Although most men don’t mind playing female characters – especially if scantily clad – I do not know one female gamer that plays a male character. And wouldn’t you guess it – the two healer classes are female! At any rate, I opted to role a Dual Gunner… the mid range dps chick class… and it’s a blast.
There are many quests in the first starter zone that can take you all the way to 20. Not a lot of fedex quests – which I hate – so it hasn’t been that bad. I’ve had to do some googling to locate mobs and bosses, but other than that it’s been pretty painless. Is it a grindy game? It’s asian… so yes. But personally if I know there’s pvp at the end of the road – I’m ok with it. I never had a huge problem with the Aion grind – it was the lack of end game content that took the wind out of my sails. So it’s been 1-20 in a few evenings of game play. More updates to come in the weeks ahead. |
