Caballa Island; The landscape for Don Cavalier’s little “game” in which players compete for a fabled treasure. This island serves as the turf for Trickster Online, an MMORPG released to the public since August 4, 2006. Since then, it has gone through countless updates, events, and memorable occasions whilst still containing a very large, devoted player base. Trickster Online holds many features players yearn for in their quest to find the “perfect MMORPG” yet it lacks some very important capabilities some users cannot give up. What charms this game is its hosting company, Ntreev USA. Their support to the title is remarkable.
Basic game play
Trickster online has a pretty generic battling system although it has brought a rather unique turn to its game: the drilling system. The name basically speaks for itself; you can find or purchase various drills throughout the game, and dig up items from the underground. You can find potentially rare items, useless items, quest items, potions, you name it! It may sound uninteresting, and it can very well get annoying after an hour or so of constant drilling, although it’s actually highly entertaining and offers a nice break from the generic monster fighting. You can gain both TM (skill) exp, and regular EXP whilst drilling. Trickster Online also has a card battling system. This system is much less popular, although it still does offer experience points (much less, at that) and enjoyment. Cards drop from monsters within the game and you may use them to battle against other players. The card game is more of a “high card, low card” type, so it relies more on chance rather than player skill. That being said, there are a lot of different ways of playing Trickster Online and this is what attracted my attention when playing the game. I never had to repeat the same action in order to level up; I could vary my ways of training, which all in all offered a great experience.
Questing
Ntreev Soft found a good way to incorporate the cooperation of Trickster Online’s systems: questing. Quests in this game demand you either drill for items, kill a certain amount of monsters within a time limit, obtain items from monsters, scavenging cards, or simply following a story. Most quests are repeatable up to five times, allowing you to gain loads of experience; however they may get dull after the third or so completion! There are also episode quests, which are basically the storyline to Trickster Online. In all honesty I absolutely loved the story (especially the second episode) because it really offers you a challenge, makes you think of strategies, and of course indulges you in the environment of the game. Besides, it gives you so much exp it is not worthy to ignore. Quests are the perfect alternative to grinding. It is possible to reach the final job (level 130) without hardly any grind, due to these quests. You will never go to a point where you have no quests to complete.
Graphics and sounds
For a free, two dimensional MMORPG, you cannot really ask for better. The graphics are stunning and colourful, as are the effects and environments. The style of art is significantly different than most 2D games but the quality is outstanding. The music and sounds were also a surprise for me. Everything is so smooth and perfected that you just can’t go wrong if you enjoy the style of it all. The music really adds to the environments and sets you in the appropriate mood. I could say honestly I was not expecting for such well done work in this area. This is certainly not the type of game you feel the need to open windows media player to play your own tunes for, at least not until it gets repetitive. However, if you do want to open windows media player during your game play, you may experience some issues with that if you own a computer with Windows Vista. I had to open it prior to opening the game in order for things to function properly.
Personal Recommendation
Playing Trickster Online was a very enjoyable experience for me. There was never a dull moment, and I didn’t have to play 24/7 to become a high level. The community is very nice, the player versus player is elaborate, and there was just so much to do.
There were many other things that have kept my interest that I have not explained yet. Firstly, there is the MyCamp feature, a housing system that allows players to create mini homes to show off to your friends. Most items require cash shop to purchase, unfortunately, although you start off with enough to fully furnish a room. The only downside to that is that your house won’t be fully original unless you pay real money for it. Secondly, the cash shop is extremely well made in this game. Of course, most cash items give you an advantage over others, although there are so many ways to get cash shop credit, without even having to pay! The most important feature this game has, that has completely amazed me, was the events. Ntreev USA hosts so many fun events, which is what keeps most of the veteran community playing the game. There will always be at least a few ongoing events at once, and there is never a period with no running events. When an event is over, they just simply present the community a new one. Most events require players to cooperate together in order to reach a similar goal. The prizes are usually limited edition items, gacha lottery coins, and last but not least: cash shop points! The amount always varies but it’s enough for everyone to have a good share.
Also, as I’ve mentioned, levelling is so easy in this game until the point where you’ve reached your final job (there are many levels after that point, though), that you will get access to your entire skill arsenal at a pretty quick pace. All you have to do is quest along with the story and towns to keep up. Drilling for quests can get tedious at times but it’s always a great way to make money at the same time. Personally, the only true downside to this game is the lack of customisation, but I didn’t pay much attention to it due to the fact there are so many items to equip your characters that you can be unique with those alone.
In conclusion, you really have nothing to lose with this title. Trickster Online offers so much for a free 2d MMO. Everything is crisp, smooth, and constantly improving. I had a lot of fun playing the game, without much wrong to say about it. The staff members running it are amazing and continue to amaze me. Overall, it has proved itself well to me and I’ll surely play it some more!
