Fiesta Online Review

Written by Rick Charbs

Eccentric music fills the air; I am logging into Fiesta Online, a world where quests bring perilous journeys, and also great treasures. Fiesta Online is an interesting title first released by Outspark on the 8th of November 2007. This review will cater how it has improved or weakened since its first impression, as well as a basic overview.

Fiesta is the most casual among casual MMOs. It features a lot of fun and interesting things to do, as well as a lot of generic RPG elements. Like most free to play MMORPGs, you will set out to battle cute creatures in your lower levels and the stronger more intimidating creatures in your higher levels in order to gain experience levelling up and wearing more powerful gear. The classes are strictly limited to a basic four: warrior, archer, mage, and cleric. Furthermore, races are not determined by choice, although some classes are different races than others at creation. For example, archers are elves and clerics are human. The storyline is somewhat immersive, but you need to have a very good imagination. Personally, the best aspect of this title is its party value. You will want to play this one with a friend or two; it just makes it that much better. Nothing is more fun that gathering up with a huge group of friends and taking on some big bad monsters!

Despite its current reputation, Fiesta Online’s questing system is not as undeveloped as it seems. Fiesta Online has introduced a title feature, which allows your character to earn humorous or glorifying titles to personal preference (or for bragging rights). These special titles can be earned by resolving certain quests or making certain accomplishments within the game. The downside to questing is the fact that almost every quest has the same base template: kill xx monsters or collect xx items. However, the King’s Quests, one of the most enjoyed features of the game, allow for a large group of adventurers to fight together in order to complete a much more difficult quest. They usually involve fighting a big bad monster as a group; working together with all your forces- they really are quite enjoyable.

Many patches have been released since Fiesta Online was first introduced to the MMO community. Countless fixes/changes have been made for the community. Were they for better or for worse? Recently, a fairly large patch was introduced to Fiesta Online. It ensured a faster levelling pace for a more enjoyable experience. As you may know, most of the bad reputation this game has been having was for its grind. With this new patch, users will receive a substantial increase in exp as quest rewards comparatively to the previous set exp rate. I was able to reach a decent level in a mere few days; the increase in quest rewards was noticeable. With this upgraded reward rate, the game runs much smoother, and most of the bugs that came along with this patch (such as skill animations) are fixed. Furthermore, many more exciting patches are planned for release during summer 08, with a lot of awesome new features implementing in this title.

I must admit, I have not found any differences to the quality of graphics and sounds since I had first played it at its release, for obvious reasons. However, with a more powerful computer, I was able to now enjoy it at a maximum capacity. The anime graphics style is truly perfected in this game, and you can tell various details are attended to. The environments seem very lush with the glow option, and everything seems very beautiful, especially for a free to play MMORPG. The sounds were quite odd and repetitive, though they did have a certain quality to them. They sounded great the first time I heard them; it was just that the same tracks just keep playing. The music does its job pretty well though; it sets you in the appropriate mood.

First and foremost, I would like to add emphasis on how this game has thoroughly changed within these past months. If you have left for certain reasons such as exp rate or events, you’ll absolutely love Fiesta Online.

Now, for all of those who are new to the title, I will give you a little bit of input to top off this review. Firstly, the staff in-game is very active and incredibly fun to have around. There are events hosted all of the time and they usually feature a gm appearance. They are all really humorous and like to drown themselves in the community. I attended an event and it was really enjoyable- I had a blast. Also, the community is very humble, fun, and kind. There are your usual spammers but mostly everyone was nice to me and even clerics kept healing me when I had not even asked. Overall I absolutely loved this community; you cannot really ask for a more down to earth player base. Although, the downside to this game, personally, is the fact there is almost no uniqueness in the classes, hardly any customisation (unless you use the cash shop), and despite the relief on the quest rewards, it is still fairly hard to level. You need to dedicate some time to creating a fun and enjoyable character within the game.

However, as I have stated, Fiesta Online is a very casual game. It is the type you would hop on for an hour here and there, and just have some fun with friends. There are some very active players though, who just love every aspect of the game, which is natural because the features are quite nice for a free game. If you are interested in casual gaming, look no further. Fiesta Online will grasp your very gaming soul, and you will love what this game has to offer. If you are new to MMO gaming this is a definite one to try!