It’s time once again to head into the depths of the online world to look into a random free-to-play online game for the consideration of our readers to explore and investigate. But first, a personal editorial note: As you may be wondering about the change in posting days for my pick-a-game analysis series covering free-to-play online games, let me just say that due to various schedule changes it has become easier to deliver my series updates at a later time during the week as opposed to my prior schedule for my column updates.
So with that out of the way, let’s get down to business.
Earlier this week I was looking through my Raptr client’s downloadable game selections to find something that fit my interests regarding this week’s selection and happened upon Asda Story within the available choices. As it turned out, it was a remarkable-looking game with a hint of cel-shaded visuals to give it a look not unlike that of anime-style video productions. Put it like this: if Pokemon and World of Warcraft had a love child together, it’s a definite case where this game is the real deal among three possible candidates, if you look at the idea from the perspective of a rousing game of To Tell the Truth.
Of course, there’s a bit of Maple Story and it’s ilk in there as well, since Asda Story is free-to-play in and of itself. (No relation between either one, though; especially when you consider how the latter is from a rival service called Games Campus.) Still, the parallels are unmistakable; even though the former is a 2D MMO platformer against the latter’s 3D MMORPG style, many of the same ideas are present in both games. Asda Story connects each portion of the world map through portal-style gates, similar to what Maple Story does (although the same is different each way regarding villages and towns). Both games allow you to control your avatar directly (although the norm in Asda Story is to use the WASD standard, even though the tutorial says to “use the arrow keys”). And both games have a class-designation component; once your Asda Story level reaches five or more, you can specialize acording to your choice of archer, warrior or mage (each with it’s own inherent pros and cons) as easily as soloing a designated enemy (just be warned in advance that cheating is prohibited for your specialization trials). The latter game also takes a cue from another Nexon effort or two (both within the same franchise) using both mouse/keyboard look-and-move from Vindictus as well as the original Mabinogi game’s click, move and fight mechanic.
As with other MMO games, you have various options that feature in some or all of the games of such nature, which include the occasional need to pair up with other players for the most challenging quests for your current level; the ability to buy, trade and sell equipment and supplies (so long as you’re aware of battle equipment player-bonding qualities that prohibit trade of used weapons and armaments); the ability to dismantle equipment items for upgrades; and a purpose for all the battles that you fight — in this case, a revelation or three where creatures once loyal to certain factions have gone rogue and thus necessitating the impetus to discover the reasons thereof (which I obviously expect to be outright sinister in purpose) though such reasons are beyond the scope of this editorial.
Curious yet as to whether Asda Story is a good choice for your MMO fix? Be sore to leave your thoughts in the comments and let us know what you think.
