Vindictus: Thoughts After a Week of Constant Playing

Vindictus is a game that I have a troubled history with. On the one hand, well… it’s difficult to play 1-handed.. okay that joke was in poor taste, but I know some of you were gonna make it.
Vindictus is a game I’ve always recommended to people but I’ve never really dedicated much time to, weirdly enough.
So I’ve been dedicating some time to it recently, as the new class just released and my god the devs really know what I look for in a character. Legit, I feel like she’s perfectly tailored for my specific interests.
And while this is – and I want to stress this – NOT A REVIEW OF ANY SORT, I did want to make a video with some of my thoughts thus far.
I’ll have a more dedicated video on Vindictus some time in the near future, once I’ve gotten further through the game where I don’t have to deal with people complaining I only spent “an hour in the game.”

Vindictus is admittedly one of the most entertaining hub-MMOs I’ve played in recent memory.
It isn’t an open-world MMO – if it were, I feel like this probably would’ve been what Black Desert is but for the free MMO market, as to date, I feel as though the combat in Vindictus is almost unrivaled in the MMO scene.
While we’re limited in terms of what we’re capable of doing, where we’re allowed to go and even how frequently we can engage in activities, as there is a fatigue system system in place, I found that I’m not playing nearly enough where this is necessarily an issue for me.
I can foresee it being for players that no life the game, but at the ripe old age of 31, I just don’t have the time nor the energy to dedicate to games like I used to.

Now I made it quite a bit further than I believe I ever have in this game in this play through already, and let me tell you, it’s been quite the ride.
I’ve been through 5 or 6 entire zones already, with each zone having their own unique aesthetic look and feel to them, their own style of traps, their own selection of enemies, and most importantly, their own bosses to murder for some sick loot.

I know hub-MMOs aren’t for everyone. It can feel as though at times you’re just sitting around running small instances with no clear direction. Trust me, I can totally relate. I feel that way at endgame in MMOs when all you do is queue for dungeons or raids.
You just get to experience what is traditional MMO endgame for the entire leveling process in Vindictus. But at the very least, the dungeons you get to run aren’t bad and provide you with the added benefit of learning your character.

And you get some pretty amazing views in the game – for real, if anyone says this game is ugly, show them the incredible environments, the stunning aesthetics, and most importantly… the plot – yup, there’s an actual ton of narrative in Vindictus.
Granted, and I know I’ll get some flack for this, but I did skip the majority of it. I mean c’mon guys, who here actually plays MMOs for their story? Right, nobody. Unless you’re playing something like Final Fantasy XIV or Star Wars the Old Republic.

Now if you’re still with me, then you’ve actually stuck around longer than I thought you would have, so well done.
I can relate, as I’ve stuck with Vindictus longer than I thought I would have as well. And yes, if I’m being entirely honest with you all, the character models are definitely a part of that.
I like aesthetically appealing games, and even more so characters in said games. And if you take a look at the characters in Vindictus.. my god. There. Are. So. God. Damn. Many. And they all look so incredible. Like, they were ripped from a catalogue of super models.
Instead of “Victoria’s Secret” we can call them “Vindictus’ Secret” except… you know, since everyone plays them, they’re a really.. poorly kept secret, I guess. I dunno. It sounded better in my head.
But seriously, regardless of how Vindictus is doing in terms of population, regardless of how pay to win the game is, can we just appreciate what makes the game worth playing for the majority of us?

The combat. Seriously, being able to engage enemies with the type of combat Vindictus has is what has kept the vast majority of the playerbase around. This, to date, provides players with some of the best action combat in the genre and I cannot stress enough how much other MMOs need to take a look at this and improve upon it.
Being able to interact with the environment, being capable of picking up enemies and body slamming them – heck, even using enemies as weapons to launch at other enemies as projectiles is just the most ridiculously over the top thing I’ve ever seen.
And the fact that you have environmental traps, you can impale enemies, like… as I mentioned earlier, if Vindictus were an open-world MMO as opposed to a hub-MMO, this would’ve been the king of the free MMO genre. Easily. Absolutely no competition.

If only I had more money to spend on outfits. Because there are more outfits than I have dollar bills to throw at.

I’ve had an unexpected amount of fun playing through Vindictus, and honestly, I have every intention of continuing this to get as far as I possibly can in the next week so I can get a slightly more complete look at the game before doing a “What is Vindictus” video in the next week or two.