ArchLord Has Come A Long Way Since It's Release But It Still Lacks The Element That Makes MMORPG's Fun/Addictive.
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THE GOOD : Graphics Are Alright, The Ability To Control The World Is A Great Feature, Different Classes For Each Race Makes The Game Feel Unique, Enviroment Sound Is Great!
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THE BAD : Sound Is Recycled, World Doesn't Have Enough Variety, Can't Wear Armor At The Start Of The Game, Weapons Lack Variety, Leveling Up Feels Like A Chore.
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ArchLord originally started off as a game where you had to pay to play but as it lost it's fanbase CodeMasters decided that the only way to reel them back in would to be make it free to play and yeah the rest is history!
Gameplay : When you first get to the character creation screen you will presented to choose your Race and Class, there are only 3 Race's and 3 Classe's for each although in the long run they all boil down to the same thing Meele, Range and Magic. The different Race's are Human, Orc and Moon Elf, which pretty much are the general races on any RPG/Fantasy game which leaves something to desire.
The Leveling up system is a chore, it is basically killing foes over and over and over again which gets boring after a while OR you could do quests which more than less task you on killing foes so you lose either way.
In order to start using Weapons and Armor and Spells you have to progress to Level 2 but you will not hav nearly enough money to buy anything of the sorts until you get to a level such as 4, 5 or 6. The variety in weapons and armor is okay because each different set/type of weapon has a different model so that adds some depth to the game. Apell casting is a chore and feels as though it was just tacked on to make the game more appeling to fans of other MMORPG's.
Graphics : The graphics in ArchLord have improved over time, lighting effects have improved and so has all the other aspects of graphics BUT they still do not make for more than average graphics. The character models are about on par as the enviroments which pretty much means they are bland and plain. Foe models are detailed enough to be different from different types of them.
Sound : The sound in ArchLord is recycled and old, the basic sword hits and misses are in it and so is the world famous "dying enemy sounds" which don't sound nearly as good as some other marketing MMORPG's, the enviroment sounds on the other hand are great! These range from trickling water and that smokey bell ringing in towns, Enviroment sounds really add atmosphere to the game.
All in all ArchLord is an alright MMORPG, it let me down in a few area's but in some area's it went over my expectations!
If you want to play a free MMORPG then don't go pass ArchLord because it's good even's out it's bad.