Allods: First Impressions of a F2P Fantasy-astral Space MMORPG

Allods: First Impressions of a F2P Fantasy-astral Space MMORPG By Pamela Pamela's played a ridiculous amount of MMORPGs. She's tested and played both free-to-play and pay-to-play games. Writing about MMOs is her passion and she'll keep you informed on news from many MMO worlds. She likes cats and zombies, expect to hear about them.

Let me preface this by saying that you need to try this game. Don't be put off by its "free-to-play" tag. Just try this game the first chance you get. There's a good chance you're going to enjoy this game.

With a 12 million dollar budget Allods isn't just any old free-to-play title. That sizable investment in development allowed for art by award-winning artists, full motion-capture animation, and a soundtrack by the composer for Fallout, Fallout 2, and the TV show Dexter. Currently, there are 2 factions, 6 races, 8 archetypes, 28 classes, and over 1,500 quests. There's a lot of meat on this free-to-play bone.

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Allods Gallery

In Allods, two factions are at war. That sounds pretty common, but what these two factions fight over is a little different. The League and The Empire are battling each other for control over allods; independent islands floating in astral space. The word "allod" is actually a derivation of the word "allodium" which is noun meaning land owned independently without superiror claim, rent, or payment in service. As these two factions war over allods, you control an avatar and level up like every other game. Furthermore, you build an astral ship to traverse open space. Those ships can be manned by your friends, each with distinct roles like navigator, gunner, etc.

What makes Allods stand out at first glance is its appearance. Its cartoony graphics may look familiar, but watching it in action proves depth behind the flash. Animations are impressive and often differ for each race/class combination. Spells are crisp and beautiful. Fire looks like it might burn you while psychic abilities look as though they'd slice right through you. The environments have substance with individual ambiances. Certain areas of a map will grow darker or lighter depending on the tone of the area. To put it bluntly, the game is pretty.

If looks don't do it for you, then let's look at the races and classes. The League and The Empire each have 3 races. In The League you have the Kanians (humans), Elves (elves with wings), and Gibberlings (Ewok-like 3-man team). In The Empire you have the Xadaganians (humans), the Arisen (half undead, half robot), and Orcs (smash). As touched on earlier each race has specific animations for combat, emotes, and everything in between. The 28 classes those races can be come from 8 different archetypes. The 8 archetypes are: Warrior, Paladin, Scout, Healer, Warden, Mage, Summoner, and Psionicist. Each race/class combination has a special name. For example, a warden Gibberling is called an Animist while a Kanian warden is called a Druid. Not all races can be any class as you can see from the table below.

What impressed me about the races and classes was the concept of Gibberlings, the psionicist's gameplay mechanic, and fatigue. These are just three highlights of the game. I assure you there are more, but these things are what stuck out during my first exposure to Allods.

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Allods Gallery

First off, Gibberlings are a cute, Ewok-like hamster race. They come in sets of three meaning there are three avatars for you to customize if you roll a Gibberling. They work as a unit to get any job done. If you have a Gibberling warrior each of the avatars will perform a specific roll. One will hold and use the shield while one takes point with a sword. The third Gibberling will cheer the others on in battle and take care of the ranged weapon if one is equipped. If you have a scout Gibberling one will wield the bow while one places and pulls the arrow back. The third will point in the direction you're attacking. The idea of a squad isn't anything new, even to MMOs, but the Gibberlings' unified actions are endearing and different.