First Impressions: Allods Online
by Shawn Schuster 
Nov 13th 2009 at 10:00AM
Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Video, New titles, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Massively meta, First Impressions, Allods Online
In this one for gPotato's upcoming free-to-play Allods Online, we did something a bit different. Instead of just a write-up, we've also done a short video to show the visual side of our impressions. Why? Because Allods Online deserves it, in our opinion. Keep reading after the jump for the embedded video and a brief run-down of what we thought.
At first glance, from screenshots and even video on the Allods website, I must admit to have written this game off as another "WoW Clone". This coming from a guy who hates that phrase with a passion, but there's just no denying sometimes when an MMO resembles Blizzard's genre-defining game.
Once I fired up Allods Online though, I could see that it's a bit more than that. Sure the game looks very similar (if not better), but I got more of a Warhammer Online feel from it, instead. Diving even deeper into the game, and eventually doing some research, I saw that the inevitable comparisons are just familiar enough to make it easy to learn, but not stale or boring. And I'm not really interested in getting into that whole "WoW Clone" discussion, anyway.
So here are my impressions of Allods Online, after leveling seven classes to level five or six.
The art style of a game, no matter what some people might say, is a big deal in any first impression. Well, consider me impressed because I was blown away by the graphics in this game. I've always felt "stylized" graphics were a good idea, to help with the longevity, but it works especially well in Allods because it's combined with some realism. Star Wars: The Old Republic and some other upcoming games are utilizing this same style, and I think the Allods team made the right choice.
I mean, we're talking about award-winning artists here, and I can honestly say that I haven't seen art in an MMO that has stopped me in my tracks this many times since Guild Wars.
Controls/Gameplay
The controls are your normal WASD, with right click available to interact with items and NPCs. There's even a click-to-move option if you're used to that.
I think the pacing of levels is very quick for the first five levels, and then it gets a bit more challenging from five to six. I'm not sure at this point if that trend continues, but it was actually nice to hit that slowdown and challenge.
The quests seem to be very traditional, with your kill-ten-rats (literally), Fed-Ex and explorer quests making a strong presence. Nothing special so far, but at least there are plenty of quests to keep you busy. I do hope they get less grindy later in the game, though.
CombatCombat is very slow-paced, although I hear rumors that it gets faster later in the game. Regardless if it gets faster or not, it's pretty painful for those first few levels. Melee classes are a bit better about it than spell-casters, but they still have some intricate chains and preparations that take some time.
I found myself having the most fun with the combat of the Psionicist archetype of classes. You must first link your mind to your enemy to open up new spells, and that preparation is pretty interesting -- and powerful. It's not fun when you're fighting a mob, but that's why I feel that most of the classes in this game would work best in a balanced group.
The Warrior classes were actually a lot of fun, and I had a blast with the Scout classes. Come to think of it, the only classes that were just ho-hum were the Healers and Paladins, but that's just me and my play style.
UI
The UI is also very familiar, except for one major component: the mini map! They have a small compass in the upper right-hand corner for navigating, and it's fairly worthless. I would love to see a mini-map in this game.
Other than that, everything else is very clear and concise. If you've played World of Warcraft, Runes of Magic, Warhammer Online or any of those games, you'll have no problem navigating your way around this game.
Performance
I can't remember the last time I played a game on the first day of the first stage of closed beta and had it run so smoothly. To their credit, this is an experienced team who has actually gone through the initial beta stages of this game several months ago in the Russian beta, but even with this version being mostly a port-over, the performance is almost flawless. Lag? Yes. Crashes and rubberbanding? Nope.
In fact, as betas are a time to watch for bugs and glitches, the only ones I ever saw were typos in translated text. Other than that, at these early levels, I'm quite impressed with the level of polish.
Conclusion
My first impression of Allods Online is very positive, despite some of the nitpicking I've done. The traditional, familiar aspects of the game do not divert from the fact that it's still fun. In fact, the similarities seem to tighten up that initial learning curve and allow you to go out and see what does make it different from WoW. I'm excited to see later stages of this closed beta, and eventually dive into launch as we see more of the main features of the game, such as the extensive ship control and combat, PvP and the crafting minigames that are actually in now, but I didn't get a chance to explore.
With a projected launch set for sometime in Winter of 2009, and a business model revolving around no subscription fees and a item shop, I have no doubt that the teams at Astrum Nival and gPotato have a hit on their hands.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
royale said on 10:09AM 11-13-2009
I like how ragnaros is the first enemy you fight.
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Kaamos said on 10:16AM 11-13-2009
I am convinced that this is made off of the vanilla wow client, im not kidding, the characters, the models, the placing of the models, the movement, the special effects, everything looks like blizzard software, sorry, but im not joking.
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Randomessa said on 10:19AM 11-13-2009
"I can honestly say that I haven't seen art in an MMO that has stopped me in my tracks this many times since Guild Wars."
While I'm not sure I'd go quite this far, I too thought the art quality and especially character model details were near GW levels, and that's not a compliment I'd give to most other games on the market. I also agree with your assessment that the graphics are more remniscent of Warhammer than WoW - that's definitely the feel I got, especially with the Orcs (who are literally football hooligans in this game!).
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Ivasen said on 4:52PM 11-13-2009
Warhammer feel huh? I felt it was rather a "His Dark Materials(The golden compass movie)" series feel to it.
It just feels like City of Tomorrow Retro-futurism, maybe it's just me.
Snorii said on 10:22AM 11-13-2009
I'll definitely have to check this one out.
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THAC0 said on 10:28AM 11-13-2009
This looks simply amazing for a F2P. I tried to download the client but i was corrupt so i gave up after the hours it took. I'm going to have to try it again. I really want to try this out. For free it looks like your right they may very well have a hit on their hands.
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Amritrao said on 10:32AM 11-13-2009
The environments are gorgeous but I really didn't like the character models at all, like the humans who have that same goofy run style that nelf and troll females have in WoW. Agreed, this is a pretty minor detail.
I absolutely could not figure out combat. I tried a psionocist too and not only were the spell descriptions so poorly translated that they were just pretty sounding gibberish, but the length of time it took to kill one mob was insanely long. This didn't turn me off so much as make me laugh a lot as literally just pushed randoms buttons until whatever I was fighting was dead. That said, it did burn me out a bit and I signed off.
It was pointed out to me in another post that this is a beta and I shouldn't set my expectations so high. That's fair enough. I'll give it another shake in a bit.
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Randomessa said on 10:36AM 11-13-2009
@THAC0 - if you are getting that "version corrupt, reinstall" error, try renaming your Launcher.exe file and then running it (the renamed file). The game will patch up and create a new Launcher.exe that will run properly. May have to do this a couple of times until it's fully patched, but this seems to clear up the problem.
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THAC0 said on 10:40AM 11-13-2009
Thank you so much! I'll have to r-download this tonight and try your fix.
niakori said on 1:54PM 11-13-2009
I had to use this fix as well (listed in the forums) lots of people getting corrupted launchers.
Alluvian_Est-Endrati said on 10:47AM 11-13-2009
Thus far my own experiences with Allods Online have been very positive. I will agree that right now the initial experience is a bit bumpy for a few classes around level 4 or so. However as I ended up going through the initial experience with some of the same classes more than once for testing purposes, I found that knowledge of how to use the features of your class better makes a very big difference in performance, even at the lower levels, such as for a Mage.
My only real complaint thus far is with the aesthetic disparity between the initial starting zone for each side. League characters come out of their tutorial instance in a breathtaking vista that shows off perhaps one of the most beautiful in-game environs I have seen in a while. Empire characters start off in a tech sewer that while fascinating perhaps to folk who like tech in their fantasy (and steampunk) is not anywhere near as impressive when it comes to first impressions.
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Slayblaze said on 11:53AM 11-13-2009
That is so true about the League zones early on, they are nearly astoundingly excellent - much moreso than the Horde ...I mean Empire... areas, although they are pretty good too. I'm seeing a lot better translations and less grammatical errors on the League side as well so far. I really like how both sides start off with fairly intense action sequences right from the start. It really gives a good taste of some of the Epic-ness that holds a lot of promise later in the game.
Great first impression post by Shawn btw, many very good remarks and great video!
JP said on 1:51PM 11-13-2009
More first impressions like this. I know it's not as easy to gain access to beta, and allowed to video it like this, but this is great.
The game looks genric to me. If it's F2P, I'll check it out though.
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Suspiro said on 11:31AM 11-13-2009
Nice write up. Not a game I would have even considered before but you've piqued my curiosity. Thanks
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Diaz said on 11:36AM 11-13-2009
Excellent video. This went from a title I had no interest in, to something I will certainly try.
(It also appears to be an appealing game for those of us who liked WOW but hate Blizzard and thus refuse to fund them with our $$)
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Hecteron said on 11:46AM 11-13-2009
I'm in the closed beta, this game is very good for a f2p, guys, very good. Nothing truly new, so far, except some little details, but looks solid. We'll see how it goes on future beta phases.
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Nollind Whachell said on 11:46AM 11-13-2009
I'd have to say this is probably the best visuals I've ever seen in an MMO. Take note that's just based upon watching the video only. If I actually played it, maybe I'd rate it differently.
The character model artwork totally reminds me of the characters show on the cover of the Wheel of Time books. And I agree, the special effects look awesome.
Based upon the video, I'd say this is a WoW clone done right because the various gameplay elements all seem to have their own unique stylized feel to them. So yes, the experience feels familiar yet new at the same time.
Finally awesome job of creating world immersion. The scope of that city is incredible. Even the simple quest at the beginning where you have to shoot the cannon at the other astral ship made me feel like I was entering an active thriving world (i.e. you are a small part of the greater events happening around you but you can influence those events).
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Pingles said on 11:56AM 11-13-2009
Thoroughly enjoying my time in the Beta. I do have a few concerns (mentioned in the article above) but I am hoping these things get a bit more balanced by the time the game goes live.
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Sunspots said on 6:23PM 11-13-2009
I'm looking forward to trying it out when I get the EU beta in my hands (got a US key but I still wanna play on EU servers due to time zones and latency)
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Aganazer said on 12:01PM 11-13-2009
I feel like I must be the only one who got past the tutorial only to be surprised with a completely different game. It seemed all cool and story driven in the tutorial then when I got done with that I was given 3 quests to go kill 15 deer, kill 15 snakes, and collect a drop from a crab (which not so surprisingly took about 15 kills). I thought... Okay its a newbie area I'll give it a chance. Then I got the next round of quests. Kill 15 lynxes, kill 15 owls. I ran to the nearest cliff, jumped off and logged out.
Sorry, but that is not content and I won't do that in an MMO anymore unless it has a very compelling combat system (which IMO Allods did not have).
The graphics are great. The animations are some of the best I have seen. I thought the Gibberlings were just awesome. But beyond the window dressing, there wasn't a game there that I would consider playing. I would probably prefer Allods to Runes of Magic, but that isn't saying much. DDO is the kind of F2P right now and there are a bunch of other sub based MMOG's that are much better IMO.
I can see the game filling a the F2P niche, but I don't think it will sway too many people that are capable of paying a standard $15/mo sub.
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