August 10, 2008
Requiem: Bloodymare, developed and published by Gravity Co., launched in mid-June. Long before its official release, developers set out to show Requiem as different from its more traditional MMO brothers and sisters by proclaiming it a “horror based” MMO. Additionally, Requiem: Bloodymare has become one of the new breed of MMOs storming the market in the last year or so. It is a free-to-play MMO but with certain enhancements and products that can be purchased for real world cash. In other words, Requiem uses the “microtransaction” business model.
We’ll be taking a look at Requiem: Bloodymare from several different angles: Story, Races & Classes, Beasts, Graphics, Game play, Basic/Premium Accounts, the Item Mall, Fun Factor and Fan Reports. So as Caine from the Diablo series always says, “Stay awhile and listen.”
Story, Races & Classes
The world of Requiem is a post-apocalyptic one in which horrific monsters roam freely across the countryside. In a nutshell, three races have banded together using technology, or Ioxenic, to enhance their own genetic makeup into what are now called “Temperions”. All races are Temperions with different classes to make them unique and different.
Added to the base class, each race has other “jobs” that can be added as the player levels up. For instance, the Bartuk can choose to become a Shaman or a Berserker in later levels.
The three races are:
” Turan, the most human and most ‘balanced’ of the three. Turan classes are Templars or Defenders.
” Bartuk, a brutish race known for high strength and endurance. Bartuk classes are Warriors or Shamans.
” Kruxena, resembling vampires and are somewhat uncooperative. They are physically and mentally superior to the other two races. Kruxena classes are Rogues and Soul Hunters.
Each class has a host of skills from which to choose but players need to be careful about their choices. Level up only yields a single point which can be spent on skills from the local Temperion Skill Trainer.
One interesting facet is the DNA system where players can add up to five skill enhancements to their character’s DNA. These enhancements are expensive but add nice benefits to existing skills such as more power, faster skill cooldown or duration.
Beasts
The monsters in Requiem are cool and interesting to look at if you have enough time to do so. At the beginning, players must “aggro” monsters to enter into a battle. This affords players a chance to see exactly what they’re made of and, believe me; some of them are ghoulishly creative.
Later on in the game, it becomes wiser to take screenshots of memorable looking monsters since the AI takes over and mobs will run at a player without provocation other than wandering too close.
The monsters in Requiem are tough and have some powerful attacks. One annoyance, however, is that they can attack a character from unbelievable distances. It’s not a two way street either. While my Bartuk warrior, Micha, could easily be attacked from 15m or so, she certainly didn’t have the luxury of attacking from that distance. So running away from a particularly difficult battle doesn’t always work very well.
The variety of monsters, at least in name, is impressive, though as one progresses through the game, the same monsters appear with different names. Still, even if the -look- is the same, the “new” monster definitely is not. Skills, hit points and abilities definitely ramp up accordingly.
Graphics
Requiem: Bloodymare was developed using the Havok engine and it has yielded some GREAT looking death animations. There’s nothing like lopping your foe’s head off and then watching the body twitch on the ground when it’s all over. It isn’t so pretty, however, when it’s your corpse that’s lying on the ground jerking in its death throes. Luckily, respawn locations are liberally sprinkled throughout Requiem, never far from that monster that just snuffed you.
Character movement is smooth and natural looking though somehow the Turan female run animation annoyed me. It looked too much like a little prissy girl mincing her way across a bloody landscape. It just didn’t fit.
Armor look changes minutely when new items are equipped but there are different looks for leather, cloth and plate armors. As usual in most MMOs, the female armors are…revealing. Again, the Turan female, at least in her earliest levels, looks like a pseudo Gothic chick complete with torn hose and a bustier. All female characters fight in heels that are quite odd looking on my Bartuk brute girl.
“Wingriders” are one fun way to see much of the world. Wingriders are little “airplanes” (looking suspiciously like they’re made of monster hide) and can be hired to transport characters to a variety of locations. Of course, if one is just ‘touring the world’, one will want to fly back immediately unless ready to battle monsters that can kill them with one swipe of a claw.
Characters can jump and it’s fun to watch. Jumping can, however, get players in trouble if one leaps off the wrong cliff and ends up and an inescapable location. Luckily, there’s the ‘return’ button which can send characters back to their set city location.
Interestingly enough, players can also swim in Requiem though there is no reason to do so. I actually found this out accidentally after I jumped off a cliff and landed in the river. I won’t tell you how many embarrassing moments it took me to find my way out. But the swim animations are very good. Hopefully, devs will consider adding a reason to swim other than just to drown.
The overall post-apocalyptic look of Requiem is one of a bleak, frightening, abandoned landscape. Depending on where a character is in the world, there are icy plains, forested hills and dusty deserts. Requiem devs have done an admirable job with the graphics. Everything is precisely rendered and detailed. This is definitely one of Requiem‘s strong suits.
Game play
Once finished with character creation, players are thrust immediately into the fighting world. There’s a nice beginning area for players to get the feel of the controls which are, admittedly, similar to most games but with the annoying habit of using right clicking when, typically, left clicking is used in other games. It’s a picky point, but one I noticed right away. Movement is accomplished through the traditional WASD keys and will be familiar to most players.
Quests in Requiem are pretty standard fare though purist RPG players will be annoyed at the sheer number of “FedEx” quests. Running back and forth with small bits of information or collecting items is a grind to be quite frank but the yields in terms of lant and experience can make it worthwhile. There really are no plot quests, simply a seemingly unending series of NPC quests based on a character’s level. Once a player has finished all the obvious quests, scrolls can be purchased from the local agent for additional quests.
To target an enemy, one simply right-clicks and, if close enough, the battle sequence begins. Through the character’s skill set, hotkeys can be programmed and used during battle. The special attack animations are great looking as are spell effects.
Besides the monster being able to attack a character from outrageous distances, my other main combat complaint is the lack of interesting sound effects. There are only about three spell chants and characters/monsters being hit make a generic “oof” sound. It’s not particularly thrilling. The big deviation from this, however, are big bruiser attacks that yield a satisfying “thud” when the hit lands.
As indicated earlier, beginning levels require a character to initiate the attack. Later on, however, players will want to be careful treading too close to the enemy. This is particularly difficult in places where enemies are plentiful and wandering around.
It’s an utter blast to party with others and people in Requiem are among the friendliest players around. No one is shy about inviting others into groups and the combat is fast and furious. Groups can form for fighting in instanced dungeons, PvP activities (see below) or just ranging around in the world. Item drops are plentiful and good stuff can definitely be found easily. Each player’s drops fall individually in little boxes that are right clicked to open. This is nice since there’s no arguing over who gets what.
Overall, combat is fun and addictive and, after graphics, Requiem‘s best feature.
There is PvP in Requiem. Players can challenge one another to duels while roaming around in the word. There is also arena play in 8-vs-8, 16-vs-16, 24-vs-24 battlefields, and a mind-boggling 96-vs-96 battlefield. Only winners are awarded items that help in the obtaining rare weapons and armor.
For those who enjoy ‘ganking’ and PKing, there is a server set aside to fulfill that wish. The other two main Requiem servers do not allow PKing.
For those who enjoy crafting, Requiem offers a way to enhance items and armor through the use of ‘Xeons’. Xeons can be given to a special blacksmith in cities and added to just about any ‘wearable’ or ‘usable’ item. In some ways, it’s similar to a socket system employed by other games.
There’s also a robust economy in Requiem. Players can auction off materials and items for a small lant fee (the Requiem currency). Purchased items are automatically delivered via the in-game email system, which is a very nice touch. No more standing around waiting for someone to bring you that uber-sword you just bought.
Players on the higher end of the level scale complained about the grind to continue leveling and there’s no question that it’s very difficult once past a certain point. Instanced dungeons in parties are the one way to gain enough experience to make it worthwhile. Another is to fight ‘nightmare’ monsters which appear during the wee hours of the night (in-game time). These monsters are TOUGH and most can only be fought in parties, not individually. The item and experience gains, however, make them very worth fighting (and dying) for in the long haul.
Basic/Premium Accounts & Item Mall
Basic and premium accounts yield a host nice bonuses over “free” players. Basic accounts run $7 per month with premium at $14 per month. The benefits gained from membership include:
” More XP
” Higher chance of item drops
” Lower death penalties
” Region chat
” Additional benefits from Item Mall purchases
My experience showed that the purchase of premium memberships would probably be worth it but isn’t necessarily required to gain the best stuff. It just takes longer which is, undoubtedly, the point.
The Item Mall is another way, completely separate from the monthly accounts, where players can apply real world dollars to buy in game points. Points can be used to purchase things like a durability hammer to repair weapons and armor for free or a ‘fast rex’ to ride from the battlefield to town again. The rexes move about three times faster than a player on foot so it’s definitely a nice feature but one that’s not necessary if one is unwilling to pay for it. Again, it just takes longer.
Gravity has done a nice job with balancing things for the paying and non-paying customer of Requiem: Bloodymare. Purchasing store points is inexpensive and the items that can be purchased are well worth the low cost.
Fun Factor
Guilds have a big role in Requiem: Bloodymare. Finding a good, active guild makes the game more interesting and accessible as it does with most games. While it’s not a necessary component, I found that my experience and interest level improved 1000% after finding the United Legion (HI GUYS & GALS!). Never negate the importance of a guild.
Add to the guild thing all the interesting and unusual stuff to see and do, Requiem becomes something worth playing every day. Is it perfect? No it’s not. But devs have continued to improve the game with weekly maintenance and patching and plans are there for more additions and enhancements down the road.
Conclusion
I have found Requiem to be a blast to play. Perhaps my review is tinted somewhat with rose-colored glasses due to my involvement with the United Legion guild, but I don’t think so. There’s enough here to keep my interest beyond the “I have to play this and write a review” stage of things. Requiem has lots to do, lots to see and there is a lot of fun to be had if you can get past the small annoyances.
I don’t like assigning grades or percentages to my reviews. I prefer to think of it this way:
” “Preorder this game NOW”
” “Buy it the day of release”
” “Wait for a couple of decent patches, then get it”
” “Wait for the bargain bin”
” “It’s OK but only if someone gives it to you”
” “Not even worthy of being a coaster”
If Requiem were a game to be purchased in a store or via digital download, I would definitely rate it “wait for a couple of decent patches, then get it”. As Requiem has been constantly patched since release in June, it’s a safe bet to give it a try.
That aside, Requiem is worth the time to play. I’ve loved every bloody moment of my experience there and have plans to stay on for a good long while. My feeling is that for a first entry into the “horror genre” of MMOs, Requiem has definitely scored a base hit. Add some new content, fix some of the bigger problems and it’s possible it could become a homerun. Only time will tell.
But, as they say, you don’t have to take my word for it. Download the client, play Requiem and judge for yourself.
