ArcheAge Game Review

ArcheAge is a South Korean fantasy tab-target MMORPG that released way back in 2014 to critical popularity.

At the time, ArcheAge was probably the most anticipated MMORPG to release since Aion, and it had every reason to be: Not only were ArcheAge’s graphics at the time beautiful to look at, but the character creator it offered provided more freedom than most MMORPGs give their players, and the large, open world provided players with the freedom to explore both land and see – something not really done before in an MMORPG.

As we’re approaching December, and further, the new year, many people are left a little depressed over the poor showing of MMORPGs 2017 had to offer.
There hasn’t been a single, good MMORPG released this year – although we’ve had some great expansions.
Final Fantasy XIV’s Stormblood, Elder Scrolls Online’s Morrowind, and Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire. All of which have helped their respective games’ push ever further.

Now let’s rewind a little to 2014’s insanely huge hit: ArcheAge!
People were excited beyond understanding at the sight and thought of such a large scale MMORPG that offered the features ArcheAge did.
ArcheAge promised everything – fun crafting, engaging combat, a unique PvP system, huge, incredible naval battles.. The game really had potential. So much potential to be what could have been the largest free to play MMORPG on the market.

Even though the game itself ended up crashing and burning to a degree – I want to go over whether or not I think it is worth playing currently and further, going into 2018. Especially with the 4.0 launch on the horizon.

Jumping right in, you can tell that ArcheAge is a beautiful game. Not as beautiful, granted, as Blade and Soul or Black Desert Online, but still a large, beautiful game in its own right.
Remember, ArcheAge actually came out before Blade and Soul or BDO did!
The character creator is actually pretty good – not as extensive as Black Desert Online, and definitely not with as much freedom to customize as Blade and Soul, but still pretty good in its own right.
There’s plenty of customization in ArcheAge and you can create some very beautiful characters. The graphics being as good as they are make sure of that.

Speaking of – the graphics in ArcheAge – which I mentioned above, are beautiful.
It can be a little barren at times as the world is pretty large – but riding around on your horse between quest hubs – especially to some of the amazing music ArcheAge has can be a breathtaking experience.
Now on the other side of this is the fact that you can sometimes be riding for what seems like forever to get to the next quest hub and the most you might happen across is a few spawns of monsters.
Which makes the world simultaneously seem dead at times.
That is just approaching the land related side of things, though. ArcheAge offers a lot of naval activities such as sailing, fishing, pirating, etc., and sailing the ocean is a beautiful, sometimes calming experience.
The ocean is very beautiful, and not many games have such a large focus on the ocean as ArcheAge does. Which is a shame – I find sailing the ocean and adventuring to be a very fun, unique, fulfilling experience and I’m glad ArcheAge offers it.

Moving on to crafting; crafting is handled more or less the same way as in any other MMORPG. I can’t really talk too much about it as the game itself doesn’t really do much to stand out in this area.
And that’s fine.
Not really many MMORPGs do really.
I’m not sure why MMORPGs never really try to do anything with crafting – it’s always such an integral part of gameplay yet somehow simultaneously always ends up equally as negelected.
I’m not much of a crafter myself, so in the grand scheme of things this doesn’t really bother me all that much, but I do know a lot of people that enjoy crafting, and I’m well aware that plenty of people make an in-game living off of crafting in games.
So once again – I don’t know why it’s always as neglected as it is in most MMORPGs.

Speaking of things ArcheAge has neglected, mounts specifically are another thing that left me kinda bummed out.
You have your typical horse mounts, lion mounts, elk, horse-variants like zebras, donkeys and the like, but for a fantasy MMORPG like ArcheAge to not really incorporate anything fantasy-related into the game as a mount is.. disappointing.
Very disappointing. The selection of mounts in ArcheAge is just so lacking in comparison to the majority of fantasy MMORPGs and that’s a huge turnoff for me.
I like working towards obtaining new mounts through quests, achievements, or even occasionally through the in-game store.
But, mounts aren’t really something worth complaining over. They’re just.. it was just disappointing. That’s it.

Speaking of disappointments, though, the combat, although pretty good, doesn’t really bring anything innovative to the genre either.
For something so popular at the time, you’d honestly think that they could have done.. more with the combat than they actually did.
The combat, as stated prior, is fairly good. However, the fact that it is both slow and also tab target in an MMORPG released in almost 2015 is both surprising and disappointing. Especially when TERA had released all the way back in 2012 with action combat.
Regardless, ArcheAge’s combat system does employ something unique – several sub-trees per class. Meaning as you level, you’re given the option between several sub-class trees to pour your skills into, making for some very interesting combinations.
Alas, there are, like in all MMORPGs, “cookie-cutter” builds that people follow if they want to be competitive.
This is unfortunate, as I want to be a damn mage tank! I feel like I deserve the right to tank as a mage if I want to, alright?!
You can’t tell me I can’t wear heavy plate armor and shoot fireballs at people as well! Not all mages are 50lb little girls, kay?!

Next is a very important part of judging an MMORPG for me: The story. There’s nothing more distancing to me, more immersion breaking to me, than an MMORPG that doesn’t have any semblance of a plot.
I hate, absolutely loathe games that focus on everything but their damn story. I believe a good story makes you care about the characters in the game.
I believe a good story makes you connect with the world overall. I believe that a good story makes pursuing the actual story worth it. Otherwise, you’re rushing from point to point without regards for the game itself.
So I was thankful when I found that ArcheAge actually had a story. A story that plays out through each region you go through – much like Blade and Soul. Something I believe BDO missed out on that brings the game down for me.
Although admittedly ArcheAge’s story isn’t on the same level as Blade and Soul or World of Warcraft – but nevertheless, the story kept me interested enough on the way into my 40s until I inevitably ceased playing the game.

The soundtrack in ArcheAge can be absolutely beautiful at times, but otherwise, more often than not at least, the soundtrack was generic and boring, much to my dismay. After hearing the White Forest music.. I fell in love with the soundtrack.
It’s a legit shame that I hadn’t heard anything nearly as beautiful again.
Unless you could the 3.0 intro music, which although not as good, was fairly catchy..

Moving along to what the game actually has to offer, though:
Alot of people are under the impression that PvE always means raiding. This is not true – as there is a lot more to PvE than joining an instance in a party and killing bosses.
Farming, commerce, trade runs, capturing pets, and generally exploring are all PvE and a lot of fun if you take your time with them.
Sure, it’s not raiding-PvE content but it’s PvE content that is actually present.
I would say PvP is a large focus of the game but definitely only one facet, as there is at least as much if not more PvE focused content than PvP.
Players can participate in various forms of PvP – Dueling – which is a way of fighting someone 1v1 safely, without concerning yourself with death.
Arenas – where you are capable of participating in 1v1, and 3v3 matches inside an instance, and finally Murder – an act of killing someone outside of duels and arenas that can leave you sentenced to time in prison if caught.
Which is another unique feature in ArcheAge – a fun one to consider.

Now earlier, I mentioned that there was sailing in the game.
There is – and that is due to the fact that similarly to World of Warcraft, ArcheAge features multiple continents – all separated by the ocean, and all accessible through sailing your ship between.
That is both one of the most entertaining parts of ArcheAge for me, and one of the most boring as well. As exploring the ocean is an absolute blast – but getting around takes foreverrrrr.
So long that at times I just want to peel my eyelids back so I can remind myself that I’m still capable of feeling something.
But that is simply because traveling takes so damn long in ArcheAge.

Overall there’s a lot to do in ArcheAge.
You can craft, explore, PvE, PvP. In that respect – it’s a very traditional MMORPG experience.
The game is fairly open – not like Black Desert Online, but more along the lines of Blade and Soul or TERA.
The combat is traditional tab target, not action combat so if that is a problem then you may find fault in it.
The graphics, and the character creator are both beautiful and provide a fair amount of customization options.
There are a large selection of classes to choose between, and the game itself gives you the option to follow the cookie cutter build route, or transcend what is generally considered as the norm and show people you can still be competitive even if you’re different!
There are two opposing factions, similar to World of Warcraft, Aion, Wildstar, Rift, ESO.. and I could probably go on and on.
But the fact is that there are two split factions at war with each other and that enables cross faction PvP – meaning you kill everyone of the opposite faction you see without remorse. Because you’re a ruthless killing machine.
There are very rampant pay to win issues that pollute the game unfortunately, much to the dismay of the general populace, however not so much on the legacy servers.
There are some things ArcheAge does right, but a lot of things ArcheAge does wrong. This leads me, and quite a few other avid MMORPG fans to have a general hatred for the game and Trion themselves for handling ArcheAge so poorly.

If you ask me whether or not ArcheAge is worth playing in its current iteration – no. No it is not, and I would not recommend it to anyone if they want a good MMORPG to play.
Maybe a private server would be beter, I can’t say.

Operating System: Windows XP / Sp3 / Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8000 series 512 MB / Radeon HD 4000 Series or better
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 40GB

Operating System: Windows XP / Sp3 / Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8
CPU: Intel Core i5
Video Card: nVidia GTS250 1GB / Radeon HD 4850 1GB
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 40GB