Voyage Century Review: Treasure Maps and Ocean Breeze
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), Onrpg Journalist
Voyage Century is a free to play MMORPG that takes us back to the old days when vast world exploration and international trades served as a way of life. In this game you are not limited to land and may continue your exploration via sea as well. This means that regardless of how small the cities are, there is still much to discover since you basically have the whole world to explore. The game is quite historical, making it (a bit) educational and fun at the same time. As a citizen in the middle ages, it’s up to you whether you choose a peaceful life of trading and barter or a life of adventure and sea fights.
The choice is up to you…
Your adventure starts now
Voyage century respects a lot of systems. In fact, it gets tiring just by studying them. PK System, trading system, combat system, it always gets on my nerves since I’ve never heard the word “System” being mentioned so many times. The game generally revolves around exploration, businesses and bounties. Once you attain your desired role in the game (adventurer, merchant, pirate, guardian, officer) you’ll be piloting your ship through rough waters in your search for land and glory. You’ll encounter a lot of historical places throughout your journey (told ya it was educational). I don’t know about you but being able to visit real places from a virtual perspective makes it rather appealing.
Voyage Century Sunset
One of the best parts of the game is the ability to fully enjoy the life of a pirate. The game runs on open PVP so you might want to watch your back when roaming the open seas. Ganking (the art of attacking an enemy from behind) is a huge element in almost every MMO and this one serves no different from the rest. It’s a killed or be killed world out there so arming yourself often would be a good idea. Open PVP is a good idea for hardcore players but can be bad and rather annoying for most of the carebears (non-PVP types) out there.
Quests
Quests also take you deeper into the heart of the game’s storyline, with a variety of tasks that would normally just lead to a mini game of “bring me this and bring me that”. The game has a bunch of quests, but the linearity of having to play a game of virtual fetch doesn’t quite cut it. Soon, you will be opted to go around in search of pirates. Combat is a nonlinear element of any MMO so if playing fetch gets old, your best bet would be to fight. Although the game has tons of quests, hardcore players may find the chains a bit too fast (and easy) during their adventures. This means that once you finish some of the quests, you’ll be left “task-less” for a long period of time.
Like I said, your best bet is to fight.
Ye Olde Cash is Ye King
Like any other MMO, money is the key to getting stronger as it provides you with necessities and gear. People would often tell you to do quests in order to progress faster both financially and level-wise. In this case, money is not that hard to gain. Despite the number of quests, Killing pirates would still be the easiest form of income. You can also consider living through the trade system, but the price range may betray you for your efforts, especially since the demand for certain elements gradually changes over time. Though some jobs make life easier for others, the game respects the importance of each class so you won’t have to worry about not being needed. The economy runs through everyone’s effort so go ahead and do whatever it is you must do.
The essence of adventure
Ever wanted to use a treasure map? As an adventurer, your task would be to explore the world and jot down your findings. Things such as maps and other mythological treasures can be found within the boundaries of the game. There are more than a thousand findings in Voyage Century, and playing treasure hunter would be much more enjoyable through your visual screen than in your head (imagination is outdated LOL).
Sailing Out to Adventure
Graphics
It was certainly love at first sight for me since it was the first time I’ve seen a free to play MMO render things this well. No matter how you look at it, the elements blend well together. The visuals alone gives the game a form of realism as it renders each element to perfection. Seeing your ship sail through the open sea while fighting pirates and looking for treasure has never looked this good (ever). While the graphics aren’t as good as today’s games, I would still say that the visuals aren’t too dull to be outdated. The water moves nicely, breezing through the place as your ships sails across the border.
Combat was expressed quite nicely as the cannons bring enough impact to satisfy your craving for an intense visual impact. The mass of the artillery can be weighed by how it looks. It is quite rare for games to show the mass of an object through visuals alone. The game’s graphics have impressed me thoroughly since I was able to build my personal relationship with the game’s elements even without the aid of sound (it was as though I could tell how hard it would hit just by looking at it).
At the Docks of the Bay
Sound?
One factor that I would deem poor would be the game’s lack of sounds. Even though most of the your actions are backed up by certain soundclips, these elements do not blend well together. Certain crashes would often stand out and ruin the ambiance, creating an empty feeling comparable to watching a 5.1 channel movie with only one speaker.
The Verdict
The game is good and should be played by anyone who’s looking for something new. Since everyone is stuck with mass leveling and on-land combat, this would serve as a good change of scenery. Item malls are always good but normally causes money whoring which pretty much destroys the fun. The sounds are really bad and the game lacks music as well. Picking your job is quite tricky since it would normally come down to which one progresses faster. Though the game needs every class to make the economy move, an individual wouldn’t want to get left behind just because he is needed.
The Good:
– Good graphics
– Lots of systems to ponder on
– Treasure hunting rocks
– Open PVP
The Bad:
– Bad sound effects
– Lack of Music
– Open PVP
– Money whoring
