Duo
11-03-2007, 06:54 AM
The following wall of text will comprise of a personal review of many aspects of Seal Online. Facts about the game will be provided, then I will add a personal opinion to them so that everyone may hear at least one voice about the game.
**All factual information will appear in normal text while all opinionated information will appear in italicized text.**
**All edited/added on information will appear in red color while following the same code stated above.**
Topics to be covered:
Characters
-Creation Options
-Class Options and Abilities
Gameplay
-Leveling
-Quests
-Stats
-PvP
-Attacking
-Skills
-Upgrading
-Partying
-Relationship System
-Armor and Weapons
-Pets
-Setting Up Shop
-Fishing
-World Map and Movement
-Monsters
Miscellaneous Factors
-Chat System
-BGM
-Graphics
-Sound Effects
-Lag
-KSing
Personal Rating
Character - Creation Options
The character creation allows the typical options to change hair and facial expression. The options are partially limited, since you can only have one color for one hairstyle, and there are probably about 5 or 6 options for hair total. There are about 4 or 5 options for your face as well.
By now I am expecting the typical complaint of "omg, I'm going to look just like everyone else, that sucks." Well, however true that may be, differences in classes and the armor and weapons each class gets will help eliminate this factor. Unless you're totally anal about being the one guy who looks different from everyone else, this factor shouldn't even matter.
Character - Classes and General Abilities
Here is a list of all possible character classes in Seal Online (general information will follow each class):
Beginner - Your everyday average starting character with no real special skills and attributes.
Warrior - The one on one master. Warriors deal the most consistant damage to single monsters, have the longest combo chain in the game, and have the 2nd best defense.
Knight - The AoE master. Knights are the best AoE fighters simply because they have powerful AoE skills and defense that is second to none, so they can take the most hits.
Craftsman - The creation master. Craftsmen are the only ones capable of creating equipment beyond the G rank. It is said that they level slowly, but in order to get the best possible equipment in the game, this class is necessary.
Wizard - The magic class. Wizards have both single attacks, AoE attacks, and can use the fire and ice elements. They are inferior to knights in AoE because their defense is low.
Priest - The healer class. They level quite slowly, but they are absolutely necessary in parties at higher levels.
Jester - The clown that wields a dagger. The jester uses a dagger as his weapon of choice and can even throw it for long range damage. It is very costly to make a powerful jester.
Every class has its ups and downs. As for most games I play, I would suggest choosing the class that plays to your style. No class is inferior in terms of attack speed- daggers move as fast as 2 handed swords for the most part. Some say that warriors level up the fastest and that wizards become inferior in later levels, but the only thing you can do is to try and see for yourself.
Gameplay - Leveling
Getting right down to the truth, Seal Online is a grind game. Most of your exp will come from simply beating monsters to a pulp. The good thing is that Seal Online has very fast leveling times.
Leveling in this game is simply amazing, easy, and enjoyable. From levels 16-32, I felt no lengthening in leveling time, and I was leveling up in about 20 minute intervals. Also, level 1-10 can be achieved in under 10 minutes by doing a special series of quests. This is perhaps the easiest game to level up in that doesn't lose meaning by being able to achieve cap level in a week.
Gameplay - Quests
Pretty much all quests in Seal Online are collection quests. You go beat up monsters, take the loot, and bring it back for some money, exp, and fame. As your fame goes up, the difficulty of the quests increase, requiring you to go after harder monsters.
The reason why I said Seal Online is pretty much a grind game is because quests involve killing scores and scores of the same monster over and over. You get a small amount of exp as part of your bonus, but I wouldn't say that the amount of exp you get is wholey significant beyond level 10.
Gameplay - Stats
Each level up grants you 3 stat points. Those points can be placed into STR, VIT, AGI, INT, WIS, and LUK. I may be missing a few stats.
Stat builds vary greatly in this game. In a group of 5 warriors, 5 knights, 5 of any class, it is possible that all 5 have a different stat build. As long as you have enough stats to equip your next armors and weapons, all extra stat points can be thrown into whatever you want. If you wish, you may even make pure stat builds, or pumping all points into one stat. It's very hard to "screw up" your stats. As long as you don't put points into STR as a wizard or points into INT as a warrior, you can't really mess up. VIT is a very controversial stat, especially for warriors. My suggestion? Put it in if you feel like you need it.
Gameplay - PvP
PvP is available in Seal Online. Beat the crap out of other players for fun! Be aware that this ability is only available for level 30+ players. I have also heard that during PvP, you cannot use any attack skills, so your combo technique is the only thing you can use.
PvP is PvP really. You fight other people using whatever the game provides you with. This section is only here because PvP exists in Seal Online.
Gameplay - Attacking
Normal attacks in this game only follow one animation. For all melee classes, however, you obtain the ability to attack via combos at level 10 and beyond. Combos greatly improve your attack speed, damage, and uses 0 AP. As long as you fill up your combo meter to when it begins to shine, you may activate a combo by pressing A, S, D, and even by pressing AD at the same time. There are many different combos available to you, and the higher level your combo skill gets, the longer and more powerful your combos become. There is a specific path for combos, so you cannot just press A A A A A A A A A A for a 10 hit combo.
Combo is what makes meleers, like the warrior, great. Combos are very powerful, more powerful than most single attack skills, and very fun to watch. Memorizing all the patterns of attack may be hard, but it makes the game more fun since you have to actually know what you're doing rather than just spamming one skill key until the monster dies. You could almost say that combo makes the game if you play as a warrior, knight, or jester.
Gameplay - Skills
General beginner skills are learned from NPCs scatter all over town. A help menu openable by pressing Alt+H will provide you with all the information you need to get what you want. Job specific skills are learned at the tower of training in towns provided for your class. Lime is for warriors and craftsman, Elim is for knights, priests, and mages, while Madelin is for jesters. Learning skills requires no money. It only requires certain levels of previous skills and certain levels of your character. You obtain 3 skill points per level, and those skill points are used to level up your skills. Be aware that skills require more than 1 skill point to level up.
Skills are mostly useful only to people like knights, mages and priests. Knights must get their AoE skills, mages can't attack without skills (well, can't attack effectively), and priests, obviously, can't heal without skills. Combo is a big plus for warriors, so their single attack skills are mostly just for back up when you don't have enough combo meter to start a combo. Buff skills are perhaps the single most useful skills for all classes.
Gameplay - Upgrading
Items can be upgraded up to +12. Please note that G, DG, and XG items can also go up to +12. Upgrading items does not change them from G to DG or XG. "Crystals" are used to upgrade from +1 to +3, "rubies" are used for +4 to +6, "diamonds" are used for +7 to +9, and "pink diamonds" are used for +10 to +12, and can only be used at a blacksmith NPC in the town Zaid. The higher you get, the more your weapon will sparkle. The shiniest item I've seen had little balls of light shooting from it. Crystals pretty much never fail, rubies can fail and give +0, diamonds can fail and drop items to +1, +2, or +3. A diamond that fails at +7 drops you to +3, and a diamond that fails at +9 drops you to +1. If pink diamonds fail, your item says hello to the destruction chamber. There is an item called "gold plate" that increases your chance of success with pink diamonds.
As I said somewhere else, don't bother wasting your time upgrading low level equipments. Rubies are very expensive since they can upgrade items pretty high and have very weak failure consequences. Pink diamonds are worth the least because they can destory your item. In closed beta, even a simple crystal costed 40k each, rubies about 100k each, and diamonds and pink diamonds just didn't sell, period. You shouldn't waste money on items worth less than what you use to upgrade them. You could replace your weapon in about 2 hours of gameplay at low levels, so just go with what you have.
Gameplay - Parties
The party system allows 2 styles, "Each" and "Equal". Each means that you will get all the exp from your kill, and then your party members get a little bonus slice. Equal means that everyone gets the same amount of exp no matter who does what amount of killing. If I remember correctly, the equal option can't be used if the level gap between characters is too large. As for drops, it's a free for all system.
The party system is very good. You definitely level up faster in a party than you do if you were to solo. As for the drops, just hope you don't run into any ass holes, and party people you know or are friends with to prevent frustration over "stealing items".
Gameplay - Relationship System
Right click on a character of the opposite gender (and hope that that character is the opposite gender IRL as well) and you can click on an option to request a relationship with that character. When in a relationship, you sleep together and gain bonus items after a certain number of "days" of being in a relationship. The sleeping animation also changes as the "days" go by (no, you never have sex with your partner, even on day 69, perverts).
Sorry, I have no idea if being in a relationship has any benefits when it comes to exp gain and other in-game factors. I would like to assume it does, but make sure you know what you're doing when you right click that person, otherwise you might end up gay. Well not really, but still choose carefully, because breaking up is EXPENSIVE.
Gameplay - Armor and Weapons
Armor and weapons come around very periodically. Only a small selection can be bought from the store, and the items with special attributes like critical hit rate and attack speed and accuracy are found from monsters. You change armor and weapons very often due to fast leveling. Armor items need higher level requirements for different pieces, so it's like shoes = lv 11, hat = lv 12, pants = lv 13, armor = level 15. A full set gives you a 10 defense bonus, never forget that. Weapons are about 2-5 levels apart each, and weapons within level range of each other have different stats that make it better or worse. Some items have lots of clean attack, but suffer on accuracy, while other weapons may be weaker on attack, but have lots of attack speed to compensate.
Weapons and armor are very nice looking in this game. Despite the game's cartoon graphics, the items really are nice looking. Never dwell on upgrading your items at low levels. You shouldn't waste an upgrade gem worth 50k to improve an item only worth 2k. You change weapons and armor very often, so just keep what you find. If you find a weapon as +2, then just keep it +2. Even if you find a +0, as long as its better than your old one, use it. You should only start worrying about upgrading stuff at late levels when equipment gets rare and leveling times get longer.
Gameplay - Pets
The pet system in this game is not your typical capture a monster that follows you and helps you attack and picks up items for you pet system. In Seal Online, a pet is pretty much an equip that boosts your own abilities. Pets need to be fed pretty often, but that is a good thing since feeding them is the only way you can level them up. Each time you go to feed your pet, it sometimes will have a food of preference. If you give your pet that item of preference, it will gain massively more amounts of exp. There are 3 kinds of pets, seed, piya, and bird. All pets have 5 evolution stages, and must get to level 9 and 100% before they can reach the next evolution stage. When you evolve a pet you must take it to the pet NPC in any item shop and give it 10 different random items. The items you give it will affect what it turns into, because past evolution stage 2, pets can branch off into different types that give different stats. The absolute best branch of pets is the bird type. A max evolved bird that is good for melee classes [True Bahamut] gives these stats (may be inaccurate):
120 attack
80 magic attack
140 defense
40 accuracy
40 attack speed
15% damage amplification
15% defense amplification
Just goes to show you how important pets are. They contribute a lot to your character.
Pets are VERY ESSENTIAL to the game. They contribute to a large portion of your stats. However, they do take a very long time to level up, and they get VERY ANNOYING if you don't feed them. When pets get hungry, they spam "feed me" messages non stop that cover about 1/10th of the whole screen. Though the message is annoying, it's helpful in making you remember to feed your pet, and the fact that it IS annoying is what makes you want to feed it, kinda like reverse psychology I guess.
Gameplay - Setting Up Shop
You can obtain a skill that allows you to open up shop where you can both sell AND buy items. The buying shop may sound wierd and confusing, but it works quite simply. What the person who sets up shop does is choose an item that he/she wants to buy, and a price for it. If anyone running around happens to have that item and wants to sell it, then the shopper can click on the item in the buyer shop and get money for his/her goods.
Shops help tune down spam a LOT. The only real spam I heard in game was spam for buying and selling crystals/rubies, because they were on a short supply and few shops had them. The shop system really makes the market in Seal Online easy to deal with. This is one of the few games I know that has this option without needing to use real money to get it.
Gameplay - Fishing
Ahh, fishing. The fishing system in this game is automatic. You use random items for bait, find a small river or lake, and cast your line in. Fishing is basically free money, so it's a nice thing to have.
This is the second game I've played that has fishing. Fishing really helps get you the money you need when you're in an "economical down". I'm not exactly sure how much money you get from one "sitting" of fishing, but it should still be helpful.
Gameplay - World Map and Movement
Maps are very politely labeled with your next destination on warp locations. You also get a nice mini map so you know exactly where you are at any point. there's also a coordinate system so that you can locate yourself to people by saying things like "I'm at block A3, lower right corner of it". You walk slowly in this game, and warping between towns is only done by a transporter in each town. When you reach level 30, you get a command that lets you warp to any town you wish as long as you have a return scroll.
I admit, if you are the impatient type, you are going to HATE walking all over the place. Walking is LONG and is annoying from time to time. Once you get to lv 30 the problem is pretty much solved, but before that, you will probably hate Seal for having such huge maps and slow movement.
Gameplay - Monsters
The monster "selection" in this game is very unique. You get to kill anything ranging from yellow peas in a suit of armor and trees with afros to huge bears and worms that kickbox. The mob density is also quite large, meaning, there's always something to kill.
The monsters may sound silly, but when you actaully get into the game you will like how the mobs are drawn. Seeing a cartoony monster posted on a website with all real backgrounds and such depreciate the actual graphical value of the mobs. When you insert the monsters into a cartoony atmosphere, it all works out perfectly. And it is true that there is always something to kill. As long as you aren't a level 50 knight running around AoEing all the little level 1 mobs, you just won't run out of stuff to kill.
Miscellaneous Factors - Chat System
You chat just by typing whatever you wish to type. Menus and such are opened by Alt+. If you wish to change chat modes, just click on the different chat modes on the bar on the left, or use the chat mode sign. Note that if you are on whisper mode, your chat will automatically reset back to whisper even if you typed the symbol for guild chat. Also, since A, S, and D are attack keys for combo, you cannot type the A, S, D keys while attacking monsters.
[I]The chat system is half annoying, but it works, and that's all that matters. Those small little poopy parts just take getting used to, they aren't bad at all.
Miscellaneous Factors - BGM
Can't really say any factual stuff about BGM except that it's there, so this part will be all opinionated. The BGM really matches the game and the map atmosphere. Cartoony music with cartoony graphics. It's very jumpy, happy, and makes you wanna KICK MORE ASS. I believe everyone will enjoy Seal's music.
Miscellaneous Factors - Graphics
The game uses cartoon graphics. The characters are kinda chibi, but their heads are at least proportional to their bodies. The environments are nice, and the game even cycles through night and day every so often.
Can't say much factual stuff about graphics either. The graphics have 3 modes, cartoon, outline, and 3D. Really, the graphics are nice. I think they're nice at least. For cartoony graphics, they were drawn well. If you don't like cartoony graphics then well, nothing I can do to change that.
Miscellaneous Factors - Sound Effects
Again, more opions. The sound effects are made very well. Monsters have their battle grunt when attacked, and their death noise is very appropriate. Also, small things like the fluttering of wings or dropping of swords are also accounted for. The sound effects are very complete and proper.
Miscellaneous Factors - Lag
In all truth, I felt absolutely no lag while playing Seal Online. OB will be a lot larger than CB, so I suspect that I will lag slightly during OB sometimes, but the lag is nothing serious for most of the people. I never heard anyone in game complaining about how much Seal lagged and how they couldn't play because of lag.
Miscellaneous Factors - KSing
The community seems to be very nice on this factor. I have never seen anyone intentionally running up to a mob and killing it on purpose. When people do accidentally KS, it's because 2 people were going for the same monster. However, people always back down out of courtesy, and mostly because there's most likely another monster right next to it. Similar with lag, I have never seen anyone in game scream stuff like "WTF KSER!" or "STOP KSING ME OMG!!" etc etc.
Personal Rating: I personally give Seal Online a 9/10, second only to CABAL, which I rate a 10/10. Seal has a few small boo boos that probably could have been improved, like making characters walk faster and using I for inventory instead of alt + I. It has been a long time since I played a game this good.
**All factual information will appear in normal text while all opinionated information will appear in italicized text.**
**All edited/added on information will appear in red color while following the same code stated above.**
Topics to be covered:
Characters
-Creation Options
-Class Options and Abilities
Gameplay
-Leveling
-Quests
-Stats
-PvP
-Attacking
-Skills
-Upgrading
-Partying
-Relationship System
-Armor and Weapons
-Pets
-Setting Up Shop
-Fishing
-World Map and Movement
-Monsters
Miscellaneous Factors
-Chat System
-BGM
-Graphics
-Sound Effects
-Lag
-KSing
Personal Rating
Character - Creation Options
The character creation allows the typical options to change hair and facial expression. The options are partially limited, since you can only have one color for one hairstyle, and there are probably about 5 or 6 options for hair total. There are about 4 or 5 options for your face as well.
By now I am expecting the typical complaint of "omg, I'm going to look just like everyone else, that sucks." Well, however true that may be, differences in classes and the armor and weapons each class gets will help eliminate this factor. Unless you're totally anal about being the one guy who looks different from everyone else, this factor shouldn't even matter.
Character - Classes and General Abilities
Here is a list of all possible character classes in Seal Online (general information will follow each class):
Beginner - Your everyday average starting character with no real special skills and attributes.
Warrior - The one on one master. Warriors deal the most consistant damage to single monsters, have the longest combo chain in the game, and have the 2nd best defense.
Knight - The AoE master. Knights are the best AoE fighters simply because they have powerful AoE skills and defense that is second to none, so they can take the most hits.
Craftsman - The creation master. Craftsmen are the only ones capable of creating equipment beyond the G rank. It is said that they level slowly, but in order to get the best possible equipment in the game, this class is necessary.
Wizard - The magic class. Wizards have both single attacks, AoE attacks, and can use the fire and ice elements. They are inferior to knights in AoE because their defense is low.
Priest - The healer class. They level quite slowly, but they are absolutely necessary in parties at higher levels.
Jester - The clown that wields a dagger. The jester uses a dagger as his weapon of choice and can even throw it for long range damage. It is very costly to make a powerful jester.
Every class has its ups and downs. As for most games I play, I would suggest choosing the class that plays to your style. No class is inferior in terms of attack speed- daggers move as fast as 2 handed swords for the most part. Some say that warriors level up the fastest and that wizards become inferior in later levels, but the only thing you can do is to try and see for yourself.
Gameplay - Leveling
Getting right down to the truth, Seal Online is a grind game. Most of your exp will come from simply beating monsters to a pulp. The good thing is that Seal Online has very fast leveling times.
Leveling in this game is simply amazing, easy, and enjoyable. From levels 16-32, I felt no lengthening in leveling time, and I was leveling up in about 20 minute intervals. Also, level 1-10 can be achieved in under 10 minutes by doing a special series of quests. This is perhaps the easiest game to level up in that doesn't lose meaning by being able to achieve cap level in a week.
Gameplay - Quests
Pretty much all quests in Seal Online are collection quests. You go beat up monsters, take the loot, and bring it back for some money, exp, and fame. As your fame goes up, the difficulty of the quests increase, requiring you to go after harder monsters.
The reason why I said Seal Online is pretty much a grind game is because quests involve killing scores and scores of the same monster over and over. You get a small amount of exp as part of your bonus, but I wouldn't say that the amount of exp you get is wholey significant beyond level 10.
Gameplay - Stats
Each level up grants you 3 stat points. Those points can be placed into STR, VIT, AGI, INT, WIS, and LUK. I may be missing a few stats.
Stat builds vary greatly in this game. In a group of 5 warriors, 5 knights, 5 of any class, it is possible that all 5 have a different stat build. As long as you have enough stats to equip your next armors and weapons, all extra stat points can be thrown into whatever you want. If you wish, you may even make pure stat builds, or pumping all points into one stat. It's very hard to "screw up" your stats. As long as you don't put points into STR as a wizard or points into INT as a warrior, you can't really mess up. VIT is a very controversial stat, especially for warriors. My suggestion? Put it in if you feel like you need it.
Gameplay - PvP
PvP is available in Seal Online. Beat the crap out of other players for fun! Be aware that this ability is only available for level 30+ players. I have also heard that during PvP, you cannot use any attack skills, so your combo technique is the only thing you can use.
PvP is PvP really. You fight other people using whatever the game provides you with. This section is only here because PvP exists in Seal Online.
Gameplay - Attacking
Normal attacks in this game only follow one animation. For all melee classes, however, you obtain the ability to attack via combos at level 10 and beyond. Combos greatly improve your attack speed, damage, and uses 0 AP. As long as you fill up your combo meter to when it begins to shine, you may activate a combo by pressing A, S, D, and even by pressing AD at the same time. There are many different combos available to you, and the higher level your combo skill gets, the longer and more powerful your combos become. There is a specific path for combos, so you cannot just press A A A A A A A A A A for a 10 hit combo.
Combo is what makes meleers, like the warrior, great. Combos are very powerful, more powerful than most single attack skills, and very fun to watch. Memorizing all the patterns of attack may be hard, but it makes the game more fun since you have to actually know what you're doing rather than just spamming one skill key until the monster dies. You could almost say that combo makes the game if you play as a warrior, knight, or jester.
Gameplay - Skills
General beginner skills are learned from NPCs scatter all over town. A help menu openable by pressing Alt+H will provide you with all the information you need to get what you want. Job specific skills are learned at the tower of training in towns provided for your class. Lime is for warriors and craftsman, Elim is for knights, priests, and mages, while Madelin is for jesters. Learning skills requires no money. It only requires certain levels of previous skills and certain levels of your character. You obtain 3 skill points per level, and those skill points are used to level up your skills. Be aware that skills require more than 1 skill point to level up.
Skills are mostly useful only to people like knights, mages and priests. Knights must get their AoE skills, mages can't attack without skills (well, can't attack effectively), and priests, obviously, can't heal without skills. Combo is a big plus for warriors, so their single attack skills are mostly just for back up when you don't have enough combo meter to start a combo. Buff skills are perhaps the single most useful skills for all classes.
Gameplay - Upgrading
Items can be upgraded up to +12. Please note that G, DG, and XG items can also go up to +12. Upgrading items does not change them from G to DG or XG. "Crystals" are used to upgrade from +1 to +3, "rubies" are used for +4 to +6, "diamonds" are used for +7 to +9, and "pink diamonds" are used for +10 to +12, and can only be used at a blacksmith NPC in the town Zaid. The higher you get, the more your weapon will sparkle. The shiniest item I've seen had little balls of light shooting from it. Crystals pretty much never fail, rubies can fail and give +0, diamonds can fail and drop items to +1, +2, or +3. A diamond that fails at +7 drops you to +3, and a diamond that fails at +9 drops you to +1. If pink diamonds fail, your item says hello to the destruction chamber. There is an item called "gold plate" that increases your chance of success with pink diamonds.
As I said somewhere else, don't bother wasting your time upgrading low level equipments. Rubies are very expensive since they can upgrade items pretty high and have very weak failure consequences. Pink diamonds are worth the least because they can destory your item. In closed beta, even a simple crystal costed 40k each, rubies about 100k each, and diamonds and pink diamonds just didn't sell, period. You shouldn't waste money on items worth less than what you use to upgrade them. You could replace your weapon in about 2 hours of gameplay at low levels, so just go with what you have.
Gameplay - Parties
The party system allows 2 styles, "Each" and "Equal". Each means that you will get all the exp from your kill, and then your party members get a little bonus slice. Equal means that everyone gets the same amount of exp no matter who does what amount of killing. If I remember correctly, the equal option can't be used if the level gap between characters is too large. As for drops, it's a free for all system.
The party system is very good. You definitely level up faster in a party than you do if you were to solo. As for the drops, just hope you don't run into any ass holes, and party people you know or are friends with to prevent frustration over "stealing items".
Gameplay - Relationship System
Right click on a character of the opposite gender (and hope that that character is the opposite gender IRL as well) and you can click on an option to request a relationship with that character. When in a relationship, you sleep together and gain bonus items after a certain number of "days" of being in a relationship. The sleeping animation also changes as the "days" go by (no, you never have sex with your partner, even on day 69, perverts).
Sorry, I have no idea if being in a relationship has any benefits when it comes to exp gain and other in-game factors. I would like to assume it does, but make sure you know what you're doing when you right click that person, otherwise you might end up gay. Well not really, but still choose carefully, because breaking up is EXPENSIVE.
Gameplay - Armor and Weapons
Armor and weapons come around very periodically. Only a small selection can be bought from the store, and the items with special attributes like critical hit rate and attack speed and accuracy are found from monsters. You change armor and weapons very often due to fast leveling. Armor items need higher level requirements for different pieces, so it's like shoes = lv 11, hat = lv 12, pants = lv 13, armor = level 15. A full set gives you a 10 defense bonus, never forget that. Weapons are about 2-5 levels apart each, and weapons within level range of each other have different stats that make it better or worse. Some items have lots of clean attack, but suffer on accuracy, while other weapons may be weaker on attack, but have lots of attack speed to compensate.
Weapons and armor are very nice looking in this game. Despite the game's cartoon graphics, the items really are nice looking. Never dwell on upgrading your items at low levels. You shouldn't waste an upgrade gem worth 50k to improve an item only worth 2k. You change weapons and armor very often, so just keep what you find. If you find a weapon as +2, then just keep it +2. Even if you find a +0, as long as its better than your old one, use it. You should only start worrying about upgrading stuff at late levels when equipment gets rare and leveling times get longer.
Gameplay - Pets
The pet system in this game is not your typical capture a monster that follows you and helps you attack and picks up items for you pet system. In Seal Online, a pet is pretty much an equip that boosts your own abilities. Pets need to be fed pretty often, but that is a good thing since feeding them is the only way you can level them up. Each time you go to feed your pet, it sometimes will have a food of preference. If you give your pet that item of preference, it will gain massively more amounts of exp. There are 3 kinds of pets, seed, piya, and bird. All pets have 5 evolution stages, and must get to level 9 and 100% before they can reach the next evolution stage. When you evolve a pet you must take it to the pet NPC in any item shop and give it 10 different random items. The items you give it will affect what it turns into, because past evolution stage 2, pets can branch off into different types that give different stats. The absolute best branch of pets is the bird type. A max evolved bird that is good for melee classes [True Bahamut] gives these stats (may be inaccurate):
120 attack
80 magic attack
140 defense
40 accuracy
40 attack speed
15% damage amplification
15% defense amplification
Just goes to show you how important pets are. They contribute a lot to your character.
Pets are VERY ESSENTIAL to the game. They contribute to a large portion of your stats. However, they do take a very long time to level up, and they get VERY ANNOYING if you don't feed them. When pets get hungry, they spam "feed me" messages non stop that cover about 1/10th of the whole screen. Though the message is annoying, it's helpful in making you remember to feed your pet, and the fact that it IS annoying is what makes you want to feed it, kinda like reverse psychology I guess.
Gameplay - Setting Up Shop
You can obtain a skill that allows you to open up shop where you can both sell AND buy items. The buying shop may sound wierd and confusing, but it works quite simply. What the person who sets up shop does is choose an item that he/she wants to buy, and a price for it. If anyone running around happens to have that item and wants to sell it, then the shopper can click on the item in the buyer shop and get money for his/her goods.
Shops help tune down spam a LOT. The only real spam I heard in game was spam for buying and selling crystals/rubies, because they were on a short supply and few shops had them. The shop system really makes the market in Seal Online easy to deal with. This is one of the few games I know that has this option without needing to use real money to get it.
Gameplay - Fishing
Ahh, fishing. The fishing system in this game is automatic. You use random items for bait, find a small river or lake, and cast your line in. Fishing is basically free money, so it's a nice thing to have.
This is the second game I've played that has fishing. Fishing really helps get you the money you need when you're in an "economical down". I'm not exactly sure how much money you get from one "sitting" of fishing, but it should still be helpful.
Gameplay - World Map and Movement
Maps are very politely labeled with your next destination on warp locations. You also get a nice mini map so you know exactly where you are at any point. there's also a coordinate system so that you can locate yourself to people by saying things like "I'm at block A3, lower right corner of it". You walk slowly in this game, and warping between towns is only done by a transporter in each town. When you reach level 30, you get a command that lets you warp to any town you wish as long as you have a return scroll.
I admit, if you are the impatient type, you are going to HATE walking all over the place. Walking is LONG and is annoying from time to time. Once you get to lv 30 the problem is pretty much solved, but before that, you will probably hate Seal for having such huge maps and slow movement.
Gameplay - Monsters
The monster "selection" in this game is very unique. You get to kill anything ranging from yellow peas in a suit of armor and trees with afros to huge bears and worms that kickbox. The mob density is also quite large, meaning, there's always something to kill.
The monsters may sound silly, but when you actaully get into the game you will like how the mobs are drawn. Seeing a cartoony monster posted on a website with all real backgrounds and such depreciate the actual graphical value of the mobs. When you insert the monsters into a cartoony atmosphere, it all works out perfectly. And it is true that there is always something to kill. As long as you aren't a level 50 knight running around AoEing all the little level 1 mobs, you just won't run out of stuff to kill.
Miscellaneous Factors - Chat System
You chat just by typing whatever you wish to type. Menus and such are opened by Alt+. If you wish to change chat modes, just click on the different chat modes on the bar on the left, or use the chat mode sign. Note that if you are on whisper mode, your chat will automatically reset back to whisper even if you typed the symbol for guild chat. Also, since A, S, and D are attack keys for combo, you cannot type the A, S, D keys while attacking monsters.
[I]The chat system is half annoying, but it works, and that's all that matters. Those small little poopy parts just take getting used to, they aren't bad at all.
Miscellaneous Factors - BGM
Can't really say any factual stuff about BGM except that it's there, so this part will be all opinionated. The BGM really matches the game and the map atmosphere. Cartoony music with cartoony graphics. It's very jumpy, happy, and makes you wanna KICK MORE ASS. I believe everyone will enjoy Seal's music.
Miscellaneous Factors - Graphics
The game uses cartoon graphics. The characters are kinda chibi, but their heads are at least proportional to their bodies. The environments are nice, and the game even cycles through night and day every so often.
Can't say much factual stuff about graphics either. The graphics have 3 modes, cartoon, outline, and 3D. Really, the graphics are nice. I think they're nice at least. For cartoony graphics, they were drawn well. If you don't like cartoony graphics then well, nothing I can do to change that.
Miscellaneous Factors - Sound Effects
Again, more opions. The sound effects are made very well. Monsters have their battle grunt when attacked, and their death noise is very appropriate. Also, small things like the fluttering of wings or dropping of swords are also accounted for. The sound effects are very complete and proper.
Miscellaneous Factors - Lag
In all truth, I felt absolutely no lag while playing Seal Online. OB will be a lot larger than CB, so I suspect that I will lag slightly during OB sometimes, but the lag is nothing serious for most of the people. I never heard anyone in game complaining about how much Seal lagged and how they couldn't play because of lag.
Miscellaneous Factors - KSing
The community seems to be very nice on this factor. I have never seen anyone intentionally running up to a mob and killing it on purpose. When people do accidentally KS, it's because 2 people were going for the same monster. However, people always back down out of courtesy, and mostly because there's most likely another monster right next to it. Similar with lag, I have never seen anyone in game scream stuff like "WTF KSER!" or "STOP KSING ME OMG!!" etc etc.
Personal Rating: I personally give Seal Online a 9/10, second only to CABAL, which I rate a 10/10. Seal has a few small boo boos that probably could have been improved, like making characters walk faster and using I for inventory instead of alt + I. It has been a long time since I played a game this good.