I should have known…..

Wouldn’t ya know it?  As soon as I post my final beta thoughts for Allods Online, they extend the beta for a week.  Not really upset, as it gives me more time to play on my Psion and cement my main character choice.

In addition to extending the beta, they have opened it up for everyone with no key.  So, if you have been on the fence about Allods and never got a key, now is your chance to try it out!

I was browsing over on Keen’s blog today and saw an amazing Astral Ship video.  It was the first Astral video that really made me realize how massive and impressive the Astral ships were.  It also makes me realize how unique this experience is going to be.  It gave me chills as I watched the video and saw how expansive the Astral is and how team work and communication will be needed.  It looks to be a very, very unique experience.

I disagree with Tesh about the teamwork requirement for Astral Ships.  He wants Allods Online to drop the group requirement from Astral ships and, while I can understand the wish for solo content, I think doing that will take away a lot of the “epicness” of Astral Ships in battle and exploration.

I think the main ships should keep the group requirement but a second, smaller, ship should be available for personal Astral exploration.  Perhaps make some Allods solo instances?  That would allow you to own your very own ship and not take away from the grandness of the existing ships.

By the way, I am glad to see my assumption was correct!  Allods Online’s “space” battles are a lot better than ST:O’s.  Like, a metric ton better.  The epic feeling you get from AO’s Astral ships can not be matched in any game, including ST:O.

I find it ironic that, of the MMOs featuring “space” exploration/combat, that ST:O is a distant third.  Behind Eve and AO.  But, then again, it serves Cryptic right!

Allods Online’s Closed Beta closes today; Final thoughts and Impressions.

Today the Closed Beta ends for Allods Online.  At least, we are pretty sure this is the last one before Open Beta and release.  They have not communicated to us their plans for after today but from prior communication we have every reason to believe this is the last.

I approach today’s ending with torn feelings.  On one hand, I am excited for release.  On the other hand, I really do not want to see my characters get wiped.  I have become pretty attached to a couple of them.

I am going to give my final impressions here shortly but to sum up, for those who do not want to read it all, I am mightily impressed.  The greatest thing about my feelings on the game is that I got more impressed as my gameplay increased instead of less.  The game is very well put together and has been fun the entire way through.  Read on to find out my more detailed final impressions!

Graphics and Animations

Allods impresses early with this one.  Though the graphics are not near as detailed as Age of Conan, they have a nice feel to them.  The art direction is amazing in Allods.  It begins in the tutorial and stays sharp and creative the entire way through.  Both sides (League and Empire) have their own style, one that is immediately distinguishable from the other.

Animations are superb and creative as well.  For the most part, every race moves and fights fluidly.  The sole exception is the Empire humans, which seem to move a bit stiffly.  The magic animations are a nice balance between flashy and too flashy to run on most systems and they are creative as all hell.

For instance, the level seven Human racial for the Psionicist is an ability that makes you immune to damage for ten seconds, while also making you unable to move or cast spells.  The first time I triggered the spell I figured I would see the standard “bubble shield” animation that you normally see for this type of spell.  But no…

Instead, my Psion took off straight into the air like a rocket, reached a high altitude, exploded in an impressive display of light and fell back to the ground right where he took off.  By the way, he also left his boots on the ground.

It is little things like that and the artistic “feel” of the game that really set Allods Online apart from the myriad of WoW-clones out there.  It has its own feel that is completely its own, despite having the “cartoony” style graphics of WoW.  Allods Online has a world all its own and it looks fantastic.