Fairy Story Online Review: VISUAL ANGELS FTW!

Fairy Story Online Review: VISUAL ANGELS FTW!
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist

Fairy Story is a fantasy MMORPG that takes place in a world on the brink of destruction. The actual art of the game doesn't really fit the setting. Must it always be cute characters living in a dying world? Anyway, according to legend, these cutesy critters are actually creatures drenched in sin (how could something so cute be this evil? Geez MMO! Stop torturing my mind!). Due to the folly of their ways, the gods were forced to abandon the world, filtering their supposed blessings thus turning it into a dying wasteland. After slowly being consumed by darkness, some of the world's inhabitants started to retaliate to stop the "99th" destruction of the world. The storyline is actually quite generic in my opinion, especially since it proved that all MMO gods enjoy giving up on mankind. Brushing the storyline aside, Fairy Story supposedly has a decent system in store for MMO gamers. The game won various awards in China from what I've heard, so I guess it's safe to expect something good fromit. Let's see what Fairy Story Online has to offer, shall we?

Starting Up: Will Santa Come If I'm Naughty?

There's not much to look at when it comes to the game's character creation screen. Youbasically have six characters to choose from, with three girls and three boys (although it was pretty hard to tell since they all look feminine to me, except for the fat one). The worst part about this stage is that there are only two features that you are free to customize (the hair and hair color). It would have been better if the game provided at least a small variety of pre-made faces, especially with the minimal character selections provided. Once you have chosen and named your character, you will be asked to select your profession.

Professions are like the character classes in the game. It's actually refreshing to see a selection that doesn't say warrior, mage, and rogue, however it is pretty much the same thing just renamed. As far as I'm concerned, they could have come up with  better names for all three.

Naughty: Naughties act as the spell nukers of the game. They are avid explorers and draw their powers from the depths of nature. They can nuke, curse, and provide a rapid succession of spell damage when left alone. Apparently, they weren't called Naughty for nothing!

Brave: The Brave (plural?) serve as the warriors, tanks or brutes of Fairy Story Online. They excel in melee combat and are capable of taking damage as well as he can dishit. Unparalled in close combat, if you're into hacking and slashing, this profession is for you.

Sympathy: And finally, we have Sympathy. These folks are experts in healing magic and are essential for teams who want a higher chance of survival. Aside from the ability to heal, Sympathy users are granted a fair damage output, allowing them to take it, heal it, and dish it effectively.

Class Is In Session!

Classes in the game are similar to the average guild system, which allows you to form a lasting team to enhance both your success rate and progress in the world of Fairy Story Online. Much like a guild, the administrator (guild master), is free to add and delete members as he pleases. Much to my surprise, the class system had more features than meets the eye. Aside from the traditional guild privileges, players in classes can attain a variety of skills by helping their guild rank up, this is done by participating in class activities and class quests. Once you earn enough rep points, feel free to splurge to your heart's content.

OH MY GOD!!! POKEMON!

One of the most commendable features of Fairy Story is its ever-cool pet system. Pets are quite essential in games that feature them. If you think you can make it alone without the help of pets, then you are better off playing another game. Capturing a pet is actually quite similar to Pokemon's capturing system, where you must use Poke--- I mean---Pet Balls (how unique!) to subdue the hostile monster. Much like your character, pets are also capable of learning skills and enhancing their attributes. If you find yourself trapped in the midst of battle without anyone to rely on, know that your Poke----errr---PETS are always there to help you.

Botmania

One of the features that caught my attention was the bot system. The game actually relies heavily on grinding even with the presence of the quest system, especially since most of your quests revolve around killing mobs of monsters. Luckily, Fairy Story was gracious enough to provide players with a bot system that makes it easier for them to progress with minimal effort. By accessing this feature, players can order their characters to keep on fighting (and looting) until they are ordered to stop. Also, if you are too tired to travel from one place to another, you can freely order your character to do the traveling for you. Geez, is that easy or what?

The Verdict

In my opinion, Fairy Story is more of a casual MMO than a hardcore experience. There's a lot of variety in the game, but there's always that distinct feeling of everything being too easy (I suppose the bot system is enough to vouch for that). If you're looking for an MMO with a short learning curve then you'll probably enjoy Fairy Story. The graphic engine may come off as a bit outdated, but the game offers a huge set of visual diversity to make up for it. After experiencing that hell-ish character creation screen, I'm happy to say that everything that followed completely redeemed it. Oh wait, did I say everything? I forgot to mention that the game has translation issues. One good example would have to be the ability to change your Visual Angel... at first I was like "VISUAL ANGELS?! Sounds awesome!". Well, it turns out that they were talking about visual ANGLES... baaaad. Other than that, Fairy Story's still a game worth checking out.

Pros

-Lots of stuff to do

-Classes (not character classes)

-Bots

-Easy to learn

-PVP

Cons

-Lack of character customization features

-Can be boring for those who want depth

-Feels repetitive (on a grinding note)