First Impressions: Eden Eternal

Hello, Massively readers, and welcome to my first ever first impressions article. Are you excited!? No? Well, feign interest for me anyway, and be gentle! Today, I've been asked to take a look at the currently-in-closed-beta Eden Eternal from Aeria Games, and you all have front-row seats for the grand tour. Now, I don't know about y'all, but I tend to be highly skeptical in regard to free-to-play games such as this one. I'm sure at least some of you know what I mean -- anime-inspired graphics, microtransaction-based, each with the same instantly recognizable website layout.

With this in mind, I wasn't expecting much when I first logged in to Eden Eternal. I was anticipating, at best, some limited character customization, poorly translated quests, and a whole lot of grinding that could only be alleviated by shelling out for upgrades in the cash shop. What did I find instead? Jump past the cut to find out.

Eden Eternal's character creation is straight to the point but offers a fair amount of customization with a number of different faces, hairstyles, hair colors, and eye colors to choose from. Each player begins his journey as either a Warrior or Magician with his choice of one of eight Heroic Traits, which grant permanent stat bonuses. Each trait seems to correspond to one of the game's advanced classes, so I began my adventure as a Warrior with the Maverick trait, which granted Agility and attack speed bonuses that I figured would come in handy when I got to take up the mantle of the Thief, and eventually, Blade Dancer.

The game's questing is nothing ground-breaking, but don't fix what isn't broken, I suppose. Go here, talk to this person, kill X mobs for Y items and bring them to person Z, etc. Unlike the questing in many free-to-play games, however, the questing in EE doesn't seem particularly grindy, though at times drop rates can be infuriatingly low (why is fruit from a cactus a chance drop? Why not just let me use the cactus as an object and automatically get the damned thing?). A couple of quests around level 20 asked me to kill upward of 30 mobs, which seems a bit excessive. The ability to autorun to your quest objectives takes a bit of the tedium out of it, though, and with Portal Stones purchased from the item shop, you can actually nix the running altogether and simply teleport to your destination. Many quests are repeatable, although I never ran into a situation when I actually needed to grind to reach the level I needed to be at to continue along the bread-crumb trail. The quest text is actually quite well-translated, and at times I actually enjoyed the writing. Sure, not many people pay that much attention to quest text, but you can bet that people notice when it's poorly done, so it's good to see that the team didn't overlook it during localization.

One issue I did run into rather frequently is mob overpopulation. Creatures can be very densely packed into quest areas, and the respawn rates tend to be absurdly fast, hindering my progress through particular areas. Perhaps this was because the beta server's population seemed low -- I ran into literally one other player through all of my time in Eden Eternal. Because of this, I had to solo my way through all the content. I'd imagine that mob density will be considerably more manageable with other players around.

Completing quests in an area also earns you fame in that area. Fame works much like reputation in other games, in that as you accrue fame, you gain the ability to purchase exclusive rewards from the fame merchant for the area. For the most part, I gathered enough fame to buy at least the basic-level rewards (which were still quite useful!) throughout the course of the area's questlines without having to grind additional fame, though if you want some of the top-tier rewards in the later zones, expect to grind some of the repeatable quests.

Completing certain questlines also earns you titles. Unlike in many games, however, the titles in Eden Eternal aren't just cosmetic. Each comes with its own stat benefits, which I think is a neat twist. I've always hated grinding for titles but receiving no tangible reward for doing so outside of a pretty little name above your head. The stat bonuses from titles add a nice bit of incentive for players who prefer to receive something of benefit for their troubles.

The bulk of the game's content, of course, revolves around combat, which is flashy and exciting and flows very well. The abilities are responsive, and each one has a distinct animation that leaves no doubt in your mind that yes, you are in fact performing that ability. This is a huge plus to me, as I can't count the number of times in other games that I've pressed a hotkey and been left wondering, "Well, did that... you know... do anything?"

Also of note is the Break-Point system. When you're fighting against an elite or boss mob, there's a purple gauge under its portrait and small icons that note the enemies' weaknesses. By attacking with these damage types, you lower the enemy's break-point meter, and when that's fully depleted, the enemy is "broken," which lowers its combat ability and causes the enemy to drop rare loot. Why? Who cares! It's a guaranteed rare loot drop. Shut up and chew your gum.

Combat isn't without its quirks. You're frozen in place during attack animations, some of which can be a bit lengthy. Disregarding the obvious PvP ramifications (which I couldn't tell you about from experience, as PvP battlefields are not yet implemented, though I'm told they will come shortly after launch), I think this could be a huge pain in conjunction with the respawn rate, as I commonly found a mob spawning on top of me mid-attack, and I was unable to move away to avoid aggro. Bizarrely, there's also no option to automatically cast beneficial spells on yourself or on your target's target, so if you want to cast a heal on yourself mid-combat, you have to manually switch targets and hope the mob doesn't hit you before you can cast, since you automatically target the aggressor who strikes you. Also, ability tooltips can be a bit confusing at times, but if you possess a rudimentary knowledge of common MMO mechanics and parlance, they're easily puzzled out.

The experience you gain from quests and combat is divided into two categories: character experience and class experience, which contribute toward your character level and class level, respectively. Character level is, as the name implies, your character's overall level, and it determines your base stats, basic abilities, and the level of items your character is able to use. Class level determines which class-specific abilities (such as stealth for the Thief) you have access to and the level to which you can upgrade them. Gaining class levels also grants you Knowledge Points, which can be invested into your Class Expertise tree to grant bonuses such as increased ability damage, stat boosts, and so forth.

Another interesting facet of leveling is the Certificate System. As you gain levels in a given class, you will unlock Class Certificates, which can be slotted for additional bonuses, such as increased threat as a Warrior, increased evasion as a Thief, and so forth. Interestingly, it appears that -- unlike class-specific abilities or the bonuses granted from your Class Expertise tree -- all unlocked Certificates can be slotted and used regardless of your current class, allowing for a bit of mixing and matching between classes.

This brings me to the class progression system. As I mentioned above, the only classes available to you at character creation are Warrior and Magician. As you level, you unlock more advanced classes. For instance, reaching character level 5 unlocks the Cleric class, character level 10 unlocks the Hunter, and character level 15 unlocks the Thief. These are the "basic" classes for each archetype (defense, healing, ranged DPS, melee DPS, and magic DPS). From there, you can unlock two more advanced classes within each archetype by leveling up the proper classes. For instance, the third-tier defense class is the Templar. To unlock this class, you have to reach character level 60, Knight level 55 (which itself is unlocked by reaching character level 25 and Warrior level 20), and Cleric level 55. I actually rather enjoy this system of having to unlock the advanced classes, as it lends a real sense of achievement to finally being able to play that super-awesome class you really wanted, though your mileage may vary if you'd prefer to just be able to play what you want when you want to.

Each class also has a variety of class-specific outfits that are unlocked by reaching certain level milestones with that class. I'm honestly rather divided on how I feel about this because on the one hand, it's very neat to be able to advertise the fact that you're a powerful Warrior with the awesome high-level outfit you're wearing, but on the other, you don't really get to show off that badass new piece of epic armor you just got because it doesn't affect your appearance whatsoever. It also means that all high-level characters of a given class will look the same, save for the fact that you can dye your outfits to colors of your choice.

The game also features a crafting system, but it's presented in a somewhat unique manner. You don't actually gather the materials or craft the items yourself. Rather, you purchase (and perhaps find, I'm not certain on that) scrolls, which operate essentially as work orders for particular materials. For instance, you might buy a Mining Map that will yield 20 copper ore and three pure crystals (as seen above). You submit these work orders, along with a small fee, to an NPC, who then goes to work gathering the materials for you. Success is based on chance. Sometimes you'll get all the items listed on a work order, sometimes only part of them (like, say, 10 copper ore when the work order listed 20), and sometimes nothing at all. This is both a blessing and a curse in that it saves a great deal of time, as the NPC will continue to gather your materials for you even if you're off questing or even logged out entirely, but you run the risk of not getting all of the materials from a given work order, forcing you to sink more money into scrolls and gathering fees to get the materials you need.

Item production itself works in much the same way. Once you have your materials, you buy a blueprint for the item you want crafted and take it to an NPC, who crafts it for you. The blueprint is consumed in the process, so you have to buy a new one each time you want something crafted. Clearly, crafting is meant as a means of personal enhancement and not as a money-earning activity, which is somewhat odd but not altogether unwelcome, since at the very least the items you can have crafted are incredibly useful.

You can also use Fortification Scrolls to fortify your items, which essentially increases their defense (in the case of armor) and attack (in the case of weapons) capabilities as well as grants special stats such as +crit to daggers and the like at higher fortification tiers. There is a risk involved, however, as fortification past tier 4 has an alarmingly high chance of failure. Fortification failure results in the piece of equipment you're attempting to fortify being destroyed entirely, so it's certainly not for the faint of heart. There are items available, however, that can keep the item from being destroyed in case of failure in addition to some very rare items that will guarantee success.

Lastly, we come to the item shop. As someone who is militantly against the "pay-to-win" variety of free-to-play titles, I'd be remiss if I didn't cover this at least briefly. While the cash shop is currently incomplete (there are two entire sections listed as "coming soon"), what is currently being sold is far from game-breaking. There are a few convenience items, such as Portal Stones (which allow you to teleport directly to your quest objectives), Safety Stones (which prevent the destruction of a piece of equipment in case fortification fails), Gathering Aids (which increase the chance of success when having materials gathered), and remote bank and auction house access. You can also purchase dyes for your armor, health and mana potions, and larger backpacks.

Still, almost all of these items are obtainable over the course of normal gameplay in one fashion or another. For instance, each player earns some freebie items every five character levels, and dyes, Gathering Aids, and other cash-shop items can be acquired by completing certain quests. Players are also able to sell and trade cash shop items that they've purchased, so it's entirely within the realm of possibility to acquire these items without spending a cent. Of course, it's obviously more convenient if you buy them, but that's ultimately what it boils down to: The cash shop is convenient, but it doesn't unbalance the game. Granted, the game is still in closed beta, so any number of things could be added to the cash shop between now and launch.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised (shocked, really) by how much I enjoyed my time in Eden Eternal, and I urge you to remember that this is by no means a complete account of what the game has to offer. I was unable to delve into any of the group dungeons, partake in PvP, join a guild, get to know the pet system in-depth, or check out guild towns. From what I got to sample, however, the game seems to be incredibly well-polished despite its closed beta status, which means that the team has plenty of time to take care of the small bugs and annoyances that do exist. I can honestly say that I'll be keeping Eden Eternal on my hard drive, at least for now, so that I can see how the game evolves and plays out on the road to launch.

In sum:

Pros

• Crisp, stylish graphics and animations.

• Mob and character designs are interesting and look great.

• Combat is quick and responsive.

• In-depth class system with a class for every playstyle.

• Quest autopathing is convenient and perfect for short play sessions.

• Item shop provides convenience, not power.

Cons

• Anime style is very hit-or-miss.

• Tooltips can be a bit convoluted.

• Population seems low right now (though it is only closed beta).

• Quests are generic and can get old very quickly.