Just took the plunge into "Free to play" MMO's: SUN

Rayx0r

with the recent hype surrounding Atlantica Online, I decided to take a look into some free to play games and was really surprised.

I cant say im a total F2P virgin, I did beta test a couple and played ragnarok for a very long time.  I played "Soul of the Ultimate Nation" (aka. SUN) during closed beta and enjoyed it a lot.  I couldnt play it much though due to a bug, so since its been released and made available on ijji I decided to give it another shot.

For starters, the graphics are breath taking and so are the animations.  It has by far some of the best lighting and shading of any MMO Ive ever played (and Im one of those guys who juggles 3 different MMO subs per month just trying stuff out).  Theres not much to choose from as far as your individual toons looks, but I will say the character art direction of the game is what seperates this game from every other MMO on the market. 

The looks of one of the classes I'm most impressed with is the Valkyrie.  This class has the ability to summon pets and wield guns.  Its very steam punkish, some armor sets even include steam punk type goggles with bomber hats:

 

Theres another class called the "Dragon Knight" which, actually can transform into a dragon at higher levels and wields a polearm/Spear (and can wield a dual sword)

If you're looking for another asian grinder, this game isnt for you.  That said, this game is filled with quests that are very rewarding and levels are gained very quickly until about mid-game.  Theres nothing shallow at all about what SUN has to offer, and I would put it against many of the pay-2-play games on the market as far as content and game size goes.

The game system itself is pretty nice and unique.  Theres a very harsh PK penalty which pretty much eliminates player killing outside of specifically designated PvP areas (with item dropping, murderer flags etc). 

Theres something called "Battle Zones"  where players can select different types of maps, set the entry numbers, degree of difficulty and types of monsters within the map. For a players vs. monsters map, players will form a party and usually have to proceed through the map to complete certain map objectives, such as killing the boss monster. At the end of the stage, experience and loot are shared among the participants.

 

Crafting is pretty simple and doesnt require skilling up, just materials and coin.  You find mats from drops, and quest rewards sometimes  You can also modify your gear by enchanting it at an enchanter NPC making it more powerful in case you outgrow it (of course you can purchase and get item drops, this is just for modifying existing items) or you can crystalize your items for mats to use at the same npc. 

Theres another system in game called Area Conquests, but I dont know much about that just yet

Skill trees are very standard, although characters are fairly flexible on builds.  Many people do play hybrids for PvP and PvE as opposed to the cookie cutter builds you find in every MMO (and they do exist here)

Anyway, Ive spent too much time here writing and not enough time in game so Im gonna cut this here.  If you ever second guessed the quality of what a non-sub game can offer, you really shouldnt..  If you're concerned about customer support, well quite honestly Im not sure why that should hold anyone back especially considering most of us here think CS is pretty poor even on subscription games.  The game was just released in October, and is getting itsfirst content release on Feb. 25th so check it out.. or check out any of the other free-to-play games you've kept yourself from trying because your convinced if you dont pay money monthly.. it has to suck.

rmk70

Sounds interesting. I've heard there's major issues with their cash shop though that makes the game totally unbalanced unless you spend a lot of cash. Anyone know more about this to clarify?

kaiser3282

Gotta agree with most of this post. I had played SUN back during the beta, unfortunately only for a few days before i got caught up in other things. I do have pretty fond memories of the game, and even for being in a beta state was more well polished and complete than several AAA P2P MMOs that have been released the past couple of years. Ive kept going back and forth between giving SUN another shot or not, but seeing theyre having a content update already i think that settles it, ill probably be getting back on there this week on a new Valkyrie.

Skuz

Mr Aihoshi, is that you?

Just kiddin'

I'm not impressed by SUN because it has a severe lack of variety in it's races & visuals like most easten games, for some people they prefer that but it's not my preference as variety in races & classes is a fundemental part of my enjoyment of games, especially fantasy themed ones.

I've played quite a few F2P games though, & most fall into that "one race" category a few extend to 2 or 3 races but it's perhaps a western thing to have many races.

Rayx0r

Originally posted by rmk70


Sounds interesting. I've heard there's major issues with their cash shop though that makes the game totally unbalanced unless you spend a lot of cash. Anyone know more about this to clarify?

 

theres a few cash item pets that give buffs to certain builds.  IE. if your an elementalist and you purchase the butterfly it will help you as a caster.

there are a few other items that also give buffs, but they have time limits.  IE. you can buy a ring that gives defense but it only lasts for a certain amount of hours depending on how many GCoins you spend. 

I dont think theres any unbalancing going on with cash shops to a large extent, but there are advantages to using the cash shop.  Ive yet to see anyone complain about cash shop advantages on the forums or in game.  *Edit* Class balancing however, thats a totally different issue and there are some balancing issues with the classes.

Personally, id rather have the liesure of a cash shop as opposed to being forced to pay $15 a month or have the entire game turned off.

UnsungToo

I've been considering SUN, I might give it a go after i get bored with this other free to play game I just started to roll with called Bloody Requiem. It's got one of them change into a beast setups at a certain level too. You gotta find monster parts and build it before you can actually take on it's form for a short time, then have to build up a kill bar sort of thing before you can use it again.

Which I think I'll now go and play.