First Impressions: Alganon part 2
I decided to give Alganon a fair shot for several reasons. First off, it's a game that was crafted by real people with real lives and real passions. I see every game like this, and realize that hype and negativity can spread incredibly easily these days. I'm not going to pass judgment until I get my hands dirty in a game. In line with that, you should use this First Impressions article as my initial opinion only. Playing the game yourself is the only way to truly discover if it's for you.
Now that that's out of the way, I have some thoughts to share on my experiences with the first ten levels of Alganon.
To be frank, the rumors of it being similar to World of Warcraft are not off base. Yes, the UI is almost a direct copy. Yes, the combat is very similar and yes, the visuals are extremely "familiar". Does this make it a bad game? Not really.
But in those crucial first ten levels, most of us wouldn't give a game a chance if it had glaring quest bugs, boring combat or mechanical glitches. Alganon has all of these.
Let's start from the beginning here. At character creation, the game has two main factions (which are also its only two races). From there, you have four classes to choose from: Soldier, Ranger, Magus and Healer. The customization expands a bit more with the Families, which are mostly based on Richard Bartle's Test of Gamer Psychology. You have the Achiever, Competitor, Crafter, Explorer and Socializer. Aside from the expanded options available from the Families (which I admit, are vast), the basic races and classes are severely lacking any playstyle variety. Families allow like-minded players to find each other and be rewarded with Family-specific items. It's almost like a subdivision to factions.
The Studies system is probably the largest part of the game (again, after only ten levels) that sets it apart from most other games. I wanted to explain it in some depth because I think it's really polished and works well.
Studying in Alganon is not required to fight or gain skills or do quests, but it is an additional feature set in place to add content to the game. As Eliot pointed out, the Studies system is satisfying, which I think is really an accurate word for it. Once you gain enough "levels" in your studies, it opens up new quests specific to that study. You can also improve your stats by studying. I found it interesting that you can actually study Weightlifting to gain Strength. Makes sense, doesn't it?
Your queue of studies can span for several days or weeks, and that's one of those game mechanics or features that was designed to keep you coming back. The queue is set up to show you how long each study will take, what day it will be finished and a brief description of the benefits of advancement. You can even re-arrange the study queue if you want to finish one before another.
Something else I found as a re-occurring theme throughout the game is the simplicity. Combat is almost on auto-pilot, a comprehensive quest log directs you to your next quest objective automatically and the class structure is very straightforward. Now, whether you think simplicity is a good or bad thing, that's up to you. I enjoy simplicity sometimes, but I respect complexity. It seems to me that Alganon is designed to focus on its main features, while providing familiar combat, UI, classes and questing to ease you into the driver's seat. I'm just afraid that this might ironically be what's turning so many people off immediately.
So you might be asking at this point, "What's the allure?"
Well, despite the constant negativity this game gets, it still has many loyal followers. Quest Online promises that Alganon is "designed for long-term growth". On their about page, they put their dedication to community front and center: "Alganon is more than a game - it's a service where upon the developers will observe and interact with players to determine what new feature to add. Alganon is not a product that we sell and then abandon like last month's magazines. Alganon is for the community, and by the community. Everything that changes and is added to Alganon has a piece of player input into its final implementation and design."
So while it seems like they're admitting that the game isn't quite there until the players tell them how to make it fun, you have to admire their dedication to community. The fact is, Alganon isn't there, but it is nice to know that they want to be. Would I pay a subscription fee for this game? Not at this point, but it has potential.
Here's my suggestion for anyone interested in seeing this game accomplish greatness: Download the trial and try it out. Provide feedback and let the developers know what will push it beyond that dreaded "WoW Clone" label and into a game that offers a viable alternative. While I don't see myself playing this game much now, I'd like to see where it's at in six months or a year from now.
If you've spent any time on the free trial servers or you're a subscriber, let us know what you think in the comments below.
