Fiesta Online

[Felix]

http://outspark.com/fiesta

Okay, this game really took me by surprise. It's a new free MMO by a little-known company called Outspark. At first glance, it appears to be just another generic Korean MMO, but it's actually much better than that.

First of all, you should know that this is just the BETA version. Sure, it's a little glitchy, but for a beta, it's amazing. The game has a really cutesy style that is very very distinctly anime influenced, and is also reminescent of games like Flyff. There's some very interesting play mechanics involved. To rest, you actually go inside a little mushroom house that appears wherever you are. (and it's customizable, which is a nice little bonus feature) There's a very unique and rewarding upgrade system, a good exp system that isn't too frustrating, quite a few quests to do with decent rewards, and you can even ride from place to place on flying "stick horses."

Oh, and did I mention that the music is AMAZING? Because it is. It's the best music I've heard in any MMO, hands down. (though the town tune does get a bit aggravating after a while)

You get your basic classes with this. Fighter, archer, cleric, and mage. It's still the beta, though, so who knows what job classes and second tier jobs may open up?

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that this game is actually really fun. I've played a lot of free MMOs before, and they usually lose my interest within the first evening of playing, but I've been playing Fiesta for a good 7 hours or so, now, and I only like it more as I keep playing. So far there aren't any cheap limitations for not paying for the game (though there will be a cash shop opening soon, so I imagine it will work kind of like Flyff)

Oh yeah, there's also a nice variety of physical expressions, and they're all animated very nicely. And the monsters are really interesting, too. The whole game is very nicely made and is really smooth and good looking. And I don't know why I'm even saying all this. Just go check it out yourself! I highly recommend it.

To MSP: Think of it like a less grindy, more adventuresome version of Flyff. Just the beta version is better than Flyff's like, what, nth version?

*Edits again* Oh yeah, and already there's a whole bunch of fairly interesting events. And there's this cool party quest thing where you sign up and do these group quests. It looks really fun.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

XD I have a lot of games on my hands, I don't think adding another would be a wise choice, let alone another MMORPG.

Think of it like a less grindy, more adventuresome version of Flyff.

Seeing that is what I would call WoW, I'm curious as to how this game is in comparison to WoW.

[Felix]

[color="Black"]XD I have a lot of games on my hands, I don't think adding another would be a wise choice, let alone another MMORPG.[/color]

Oh yeah, I understand o.o/ Just thought it was something people might wanna keep an eye on.

As for comparisons, I haven't really played WoW, so I can't say for sure, but I would guess that it probably pales in comparison. XD

There's just more to do in it than your average MMO, it seems. And it doesn't feel so much like a grind because fighting monsters is more fun. (though I'm still pretty low level, so it might become more of a chore later, or it might become more fun as new skills and jobs open up.)

I'm just saying that for a sort of under-the-radar, casual MMO, it's actually fairly comprehensive and already has a lot of content. The company, Outspark, seems to be pretty on-the-ball and looks to have a lot of stuff planned for future versions (though most of their concentration is on working out the bugs in the Beta, right now.)

Anyway, the bottom line, from my point of view (and not having played Wow, but I've heard a lot about it so I have an idea), Fiesta has more to it, is better made, and is more fun than Flyff, but more than likely has less to it, is worse made, and is less fun than WoW. XD But it's free, so that has to count for something.

Oh, and a Con I thought I should mention: So far there isn't a whole lot of customization you can do to your character. There's only three hairstyles and three hair colors to pick from, and you can't change your character's face (each class has its own type of face, but they are all nearly identical.)
Hopefully this will be remedied in future versions.

[Felix]

Okay, sorry to double post, but I just have to say that this game is making more of a believer out of me every moment I play it. It was fun when I started, but now that I'm getting higher level, it's getting exponentially more fun and interesting.

I think the absolute greatest part of the game are "Kingdom Quests" which are events that happen about every 2 hours in the game. They're tricky to get into, because everyone else it trying to get into them, but they're incredibly fun and rewarding.
Basically, you and 14 other people close to your level get tossed into some sort of dungeon and have to fight your way through it to a boss monster and you all have to work together to take it down. This yields loads of experience and really good "drops" (every member of the quest still alive at the end gets a treaure box that can have really good +6 weapons in them)

And the higher level Kingdom Quest that I just did tonight was the most fun of all. The dungeon was actuall a pirate ship, and you had these huge corsairs with massive swords rushing at you, and there were actually two bosses, but the trick is that there are also a bunch of clones of the bosses that are equally as strong. You could go the route of killing all of them, which would yield tons and tons of exp, but it's hard to do it that way because there's a time limit for the quest, so what we had to do was use pulling arrows to lure the real ones out from the rest and just kill them, then the rest dissapear. It's very fun and rewarding, and has a great sense of teamwork.

There's also a very complex potion, scroll, and mineral making system that I haven't gotten too deeply into yet. Basically, you can learn two "production skills". Like, you could choose a potion making skill, and a scroll (basically a buff) making skill, and you have to collect the elements needed for those if you want to make them, but it's useful because you can't buy those items in shops. So you can use them, or sell them or whatever.
You can also go into mines and mine rocks to get ore, which you can sell or use to upgrade your equipment or use to make other items.

I expect that there's a lot of this type of stuff in bigger MMOs like WoW, but it's nice to see it in a free game like this. Basically, it's a lot better than Flyff. :p If you're looking for a good free MMO, get this one right away.

That's all I have to say. o.o/

[Mr. SmartyPants]

The way you describe it, it sounds very similar to WoW, lol. In fact, one of the first instances (See Here) in WoW leads to a pirate ship. (Called "The Deadmines", alternatively known as "Van Cleef") Let me tell you, running through a dungeon/instance/raid with 4 or 5 other guys to kill the boss is totally epic. Sounds like Fiesta does the same thing.

[Felix]

*nods* Yeah, I figured this sort of thing was a staple in games like WoW. It really makes levelling less of a chore, and a lot more fun if you're doing these quests.

Anyway, I guess Fiesta will have to be like me own crappy little free version of WoW. XD If I had the spare cash, I would probably play WoW, cuz I think it would be a lot of fun to play it with you and lightbringer or whoever else from CAA plays.

[Felix]

Apologies for the double post. I figured I would bump this thread and also tell you guys a little bit about my status in the game lately.

I've actually come quite far in this game. I'm nearly level 52, which is just 7 levels away from the game's cap. (At level 52 I gain experience about half as quickly as I did at level 66 in Flyff, just for a comparison.) I've been on many boss runs, so I have a lot of awesome rare equipment, and I'm also second in command of the guild Cloud9, which is arguably the strongest guild on the server. (We had a war recently with Asgard, the previously strongest guild, and we beat them, so technically we're the strongest) and the guild master of Cloud9 is going to be quitting around Christmas and is going to make me master. Which I think is pretty cool.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Woah man. Congrats! XD

I'm level 49 in wow, about 21 levels away from the cap. XD

[Felix]

Woohoo, go for it! And thanks.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to say that 59 is only the temporary cap, since the game is still in Beta. Sometime in the next couple of months it's going to be raised to 79, and ultimately to 100, or maybe 150, can't remember. It's pretty high.