By Bryan King (Bryan), OnRPG Journalist
Minions of Mirth has the composure of the classic hack and slash MMO. There’s a huge world to discover, characters to grow and epic battles to be had. Although the game is dated, it still provides a wonderful environment for players to explore to their own fulfillment. With both a free version and a paid version, it still gives F2P gamers the chance to experience the fun.
Gameplay
MoM, from the get-go, provides three points that are critically different from most MMOs on the market. Firstly, it is a single-player/multi-player bundle. It allows players to create their own persistent world and give the server information to other players to join them privately and cooperatively. Next, it is playable on a Mac. And last, it allows the players to level three classes on one character.
One primary complaint is that Minions of Mirth throws you into the game with little to no information on controls, interface, and starting advice. This is easily overcome by more matured MMO players, but I’m sure this would be a turn-off to new gamers who happen to choose Minions of Mirth to be a starting game.
After finding a user manual for the game on Google, I wandered into the lush world. Along with most other MMORPGs, you start by create a character. At the beginning of this process you can choose one of the factions, Fellowship of Light or the Minions of Darkness (membership only). What really impressed me is the bountiful amount of classes, which is hardly seen nowadays. There are a total of 12 races, and 16 classes. Some of the classes include Revealers, Shamans, Paladins, Clerics, Barbarians and Tempests, just to name a few. Some of the classes are exclusive to races, and other classes are attached to light or dark sides. For example, the Ogre, Goblin and Orc are exclusive to the Realm of Darkness. Specific classes and races also receive special abilities. In the early parts of the game I encountered a bug where I got stuck in a stairwell and had to relog to fix it and another bug where a skill would have a double cast time when I only pressed the hotkey once.
You can even create your own party of up to 6 characters and adventure with your own little ‘party’. Unfortunately, you will only see one avatar representing the party, but you can pick the look of any of your party members to switch who you view while fighting or adventuring.
After level 5 characters have the ability for a dual-class which adds another class to their base character. Then at level 15 they have the ability to add a third class to their character. With premium membership the max level for all three of these classes is level 100.
Anyone who loves classic medieval fantasy games will easily find a race, class, ability, or side that suits them. The starting combat seems very slow in boring, but in time, with increased skill learning and earning tertiary classes, it picks up and becomes very interesting.
Pets are another unique feature of the game. Players are able to enhance and level their pets, as well as equip them with armor and weapons.
Minions of Mirth actually allows players to play as some of the monsters defeated on the actual quests. Monsters become available in the player screen in the Monster section, and allow players to start from a totally different point and play from there.
Servers are divided in clusters of Premium Members (one-time fee of 29.99 to unlock all features) and Free Users, the Premium Members cluster usually being more populated.
Crafting
One of the most important features of the game is the game’s extensive crafting system. Crafting provides a steady source of income for players’ economic benefits. Whether it’s crafting weapons, spells, armor, poison, etc., there’s a pretty deep system to it all without being all too hard. Most games these days include an unnecessarily hard crafting system, but Minions of Mirth is successful at giving players an easy, custom-tailored crafting system. Players are able to earn experience by crafting items, and thus learn more crafting skills to use to their own advantage.
Graphics & Sound
MoM’s graphics are very dated, that can be easily stated. But, even for an aged game, the environment and models can be said to be better than or as good as some MMOs today. The lighting effects of the game further enhance immersion within the game.
Most definitely, the sound work in Minions of Mirth is superb. Walking around the world definitely gave me the feeling that I was walking in a unique fantasy world, battling monsters, raising my personal pet, and casting my own spells. Some NPCs speak when being spoken too as well. The sound definitely adds to the immersion of MoM.
Final Summary
Whether players choose Light or Dark sides, Minions provides a deep amount of lore that classic and new gamers will both enjoy. Immersion levels are extremely high, giving players the actual feeling that they’re IN the world. There are amazing structures that provide another level of enjoyment. Another intricate feature is that some enemies wear armor and weapons, and after being defeated, they drop their wares. This provides a whole new level of realism to MoM. Minions is a shining star on the MMO industry, and I personally recommend that players give it a try.
Pros:
– Large amount of immersion
– Beautiful Sound
– Great class/character development
– Deep Crafting System
– Beautiful Environment.
Cons:
– Relatively Dated graphics
– Small amount of bugs
– Paid content unlocks crucial part of the game.
