JoshuaKadmon
New member
- Aug 12, 2012
- 360
- 0
Since October 2010, Nexon's free-to-play action MMO Vindictus has constantly intrigued me. It has not only held my attention better than any other MMO on the market (including larger, more technically impressive retail games), it has drastically altered my expectations for all future video games. This is no overstatement. Originally known as Mabinogi Heroes in its native Korea, Vindictus is no average MMORPG. It's actually more of an advanced dungeon crawler, with some unparalleled cooperative raids and some of the best (and most fashionable) character customization ever seen in a video game. It's also completely free to play, and the full client can be downloaded either through your Steam client or directly from Nexon's Vindictus website.
Just a few days ago, Nexon upgraded Vindictus with much of eXtreme Edition's content, including the ability to jump at will, a rebalancing of all character types, and a Level 50 event that gives you instant startup with better skills and equipment (which also effectively gives you access to more of the story content and map right out of the gate). This seems to be in celebration of Vindictus completing its first 10 episodes before moving on to "Season 2" in the near future.
If you haven't played Vindictus, give it a shot, no matter what types of games you typically enjoy. The arcade action is more akin to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta than a typical RPG, and the combat allows context-sensitive grappling like fighting games Dead Or Alive or Soulcalibur. Thanks to Valve's Source engine, objects in the environment can be destroyed, thrown, or wielded as gimmick weaponry (so can most enemies' bodies). Even your own armor can be shredded or broken, exposing undergarments with real-time damage models unlike anything I've seen in other action games. And even though you technically select between five drastically different characters, you get almost total control over their appearance (hair, eyes, skin, body shape, colors, etc.), with certain things like height and weight actually affecting your character's stats. Tall, muscular versions of each character may have higher payload limits, whereas shorter, thinner characters are faster and more agile. Character animations are also extremely lifelike, and compared to the stiff-as-a-board models we've grown accustomed to in MMORPGs, you'll instantly feel connected to the characters you create in Vindictus.
On top of all this, you can easily map an XBox360 or PS3 controller for amazingly responsive controls, something you almost never see in a game of this type. In fact, the action is still far superior to high-budget titles like TERA (and much more user-friendly). If anyone's interested, I can even share my controller layout that I've tweaked over the course of two years. The only thing you need the mouse and keyboard for is menu/dialogue navigation in-town, but if you're a PC purist and prefer keyboard controls by default, they're good too.
Vindictus also mixes in elements from Demon's Souls and Monster Hunter without feeling too much like either, its projectile-using characters almost lend an FPS playstyle to the affair, and all of the trap dungeons and procedurally-generated maps add serious replay value to all stages. It's still pretty approachable though. Just talk to people in town to activate story missions and side quests, go to the local docks to either launch your own boat or join one that's been set up already, and deploy to the location of your choice based on given objectives. Boom, you're there in the thick of the action, solo or with up to four players, with no long treks through the woods necessary. The community is surprisingly good-natured and helpful, and if you get tired of running missions, there are also mini-games, enormous boss raids, optional challenge dungeons, bonus goals, mineral mining, a fishing system, and even CTF-style PvP.
If you're in need of something free and fun on PC (and who isn't?), try it out. I'll be happy to hook up with newcomers if you need help on dungeon runs.
And there's no better time to get into this thing. Season 2 is just around the corner, with new character Vella to balance out the current selection:
Just a few days ago, Nexon upgraded Vindictus with much of eXtreme Edition's content, including the ability to jump at will, a rebalancing of all character types, and a Level 50 event that gives you instant startup with better skills and equipment (which also effectively gives you access to more of the story content and map right out of the gate). This seems to be in celebration of Vindictus completing its first 10 episodes before moving on to "Season 2" in the near future.
If you haven't played Vindictus, give it a shot, no matter what types of games you typically enjoy. The arcade action is more akin to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta than a typical RPG, and the combat allows context-sensitive grappling like fighting games Dead Or Alive or Soulcalibur. Thanks to Valve's Source engine, objects in the environment can be destroyed, thrown, or wielded as gimmick weaponry (so can most enemies' bodies). Even your own armor can be shredded or broken, exposing undergarments with real-time damage models unlike anything I've seen in other action games. And even though you technically select between five drastically different characters, you get almost total control over their appearance (hair, eyes, skin, body shape, colors, etc.), with certain things like height and weight actually affecting your character's stats. Tall, muscular versions of each character may have higher payload limits, whereas shorter, thinner characters are faster and more agile. Character animations are also extremely lifelike, and compared to the stiff-as-a-board models we've grown accustomed to in MMORPGs, you'll instantly feel connected to the characters you create in Vindictus.
On top of all this, you can easily map an XBox360 or PS3 controller for amazingly responsive controls, something you almost never see in a game of this type. In fact, the action is still far superior to high-budget titles like TERA (and much more user-friendly). If anyone's interested, I can even share my controller layout that I've tweaked over the course of two years. The only thing you need the mouse and keyboard for is menu/dialogue navigation in-town, but if you're a PC purist and prefer keyboard controls by default, they're good too.
Vindictus also mixes in elements from Demon's Souls and Monster Hunter without feeling too much like either, its projectile-using characters almost lend an FPS playstyle to the affair, and all of the trap dungeons and procedurally-generated maps add serious replay value to all stages. It's still pretty approachable though. Just talk to people in town to activate story missions and side quests, go to the local docks to either launch your own boat or join one that's been set up already, and deploy to the location of your choice based on given objectives. Boom, you're there in the thick of the action, solo or with up to four players, with no long treks through the woods necessary. The community is surprisingly good-natured and helpful, and if you get tired of running missions, there are also mini-games, enormous boss raids, optional challenge dungeons, bonus goals, mineral mining, a fishing system, and even CTF-style PvP.
If you're in need of something free and fun on PC (and who isn't?), try it out. I'll be happy to hook up with newcomers if you need help on dungeon runs.
And there's no better time to get into this thing. Season 2 is just around the corner, with new character Vella to balance out the current selection:
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