Cabal Online Review: Skill-Centered Gameplay
By Vincent Haoson, OnRPG Journalist
In Cabal online you have the chance to be the defender of Navareth, a world that was devastated by an evil entity named Cabal. After a thousands years has passed, Cabal has once again showed itself in the lands of Navareth wanting to finish the destruction it has caused. It is your responsibility, to take part in the protection of the Devastated lands of Navareth.
This would be your story as you enter the world of Cabal Online, an MMO developed by OGPlanet, the company that brought you games like, LaTale, Rumble Fighter Albatross18 and BB Tanks. Cabal is known as an action-based MMO, where spectacular graphics and an engaging story line and in-game content enhance the players experience to a whole new level.
The way of the Force
Before I go in depth with the characters in Cabal Online, you would need to understand first the importance of the “Force” in the world of Navareth. The Force as the game puts it is the energy found within their world that can be used as a force to attack or defend themselves. To put it into a loser context, the force concept in Cabal Online is similar to Star Wars’ concept of “the force”.
With that out of the way, I would like to introduce you to the six available job class in Cabal Online. The six job classes in Cabal Online are segregated into two, namely the three who were established before the Navareth Exodus which are the Warrior, Blader and Wizard. While the remaining three, the Force Archer, Force Shielder and the Force Blader were the new skills that was established after the Navarethian Exodus.
To help sort things out, the first three classes can be considered as the “pure breed” types of Cabal Online. The first three, the Warrior, Blader and Wizard are job classes that concentrate heavily on one stat. Unlike the last three, the Force Archer, Force Blader and the Force Shielder where they are the “hybrid” types in Cabal Online, mixing their stat points by including the force skills as part of their concerns.
You will not have to concern yourself with builds though. Cabal Online eliminates the concern for stat builds due to the growth goal system that is part of the game. Upon reaching each growth goal, you get to receive upgrades that would be helpful for you as you progress through the game.
Another reason why you should eliminate skill builds in Cabal it is the items, equipments and weapons dictate on what stat you should concentrate on. The stat system is reminiscent of Diablo, where equipments have stat requirements.
The famous Combo System
Cabal Online introduces the Combo system to the MMO scene. This is where you can inflict massive damage to monsters just by activating the combo mode. In this mode your skills cool down faster, your attack damage increase as the combo continues and that you gain more experience points. This revolutionary system can be used in both PVE and PVP, whereby you can be a lethal force to other players even if you are a lowbie. The downside for using the combo system though, is that it takes perfect timing to get things right. We do have to admit that not all of us are great when it comes to that. Another possible problem you can face while in combo mode is the lag. Once lag hits, kiss your combo goodbye.
The World of Navareth
With the game boasting its engaging effects Cabal Online does deliver. Each skill in your arsenal can be quite a spectacle, especially when you do combos. But things are different when it comes to the game’s in-game background. There are times when your surroundings can be such a pain to the eyes. The contrast of the spectacular effects plus the drab environment can sometimes make you blink so you can adjust to the whole thing. The problem with that though is you could miss a critical moment in your combo hereby causing you to cancel your combo due to a visual issue.
In addition, the environment in Cabal Online lacks the energy that is found in other MMOs of this genre. You can move to area upon area without seeing your environment move except for the littlest effects of a wind blowing past when in fact some of the background should be moving with the wind too.
My Overall Verdict
Concisely, Cabal Online brings many innovative features to the MMO industry, the combo system being its biggest pull. Another good characteristic of Cabal Online is the rich storyline it has. However, it is the usual plot of you chosen as one of the defenders of a planet that was ravaged by a greater force. Cabal Online does it with style.
Cabal has many problems in the graphics department but the game brings a very fun and amazing experience come PVE battles. It is a rewarding experience when you finish off a monster with a combo. Besides the storyline and the combo system, Cabal Online also has one of the best equipment designs seen in an F2P. Though things are different with the character design, you can see the contrast of the flashy and trendy clothes your character wears to the drab environment the game has.
Cabal Online also follows the Equipment requirement stat system that Diablo also uses making character builds almost irrelevant in the game. However, this may kill the fun for some players who are into character builds and such, this system brings a refreshing change to the usual MMOs out in the market. In addition, Cabal Online is more of Skill centric rather than level-based. As per skill tier you can accomplish your character earns stat points. With this system included in Cabal Online, low-level characters can in fact defeat the higher-level characters as long as their skills levels are higher. This eliminates the level advantage that is usually seen in MMOs, this may be laborious to some players and would be a turn off for them.
The quests are numerous in Cabal Online so you can never get tired of playing because you have a lot of things to do. Players may get overwhelmed with the amount of quests they need to finish. Furthermore, questing seems to be the only thing you can do in Cabal Online. You would notice this as you reach higher levels, it seems that it’s one quest after another in the land of Navareth.
Overall, I can say that Cabal Online is a treasure among the F2P games available in the market. Several of the game’s features are unique or put into a really new jacket. Yet it has its downfalls too, as visual features are of very different quality within the same scene and some of the original elements as well as questing may seem very extensive and laborious to beginners. Play Cabal Online and see if you can stand and fight against the hordes of Cabal.
The Good:
– Game has a lot of quests
– The combo system is a good innovative system
– The Character clothes is one of the better designs in a F2P
– Stat builds are not that important.
The Bad:
– The environment is drab and static
– The BGM can be irritating when played for a long time
– Its seems that quests are the only thing you can do in the game.
