For what it is the game is amazing. Button mashin but with the deep character creation and boss fights a RPGer will love
As far as game play goes the best i can do is give absent but associated games that I have played to relate it to. The class/subclasses seem to follow the "Holy Trinity" of RPGs nowadays which is the "Tank, DPS, Healer" formula. There are three classes now and two on the way. The current playable classes are Fiona the tank/mDPS, Evie the Healer/casterDPS, and Lann the very fast paced dual wielding mDPS. On the way is Karok, an enormous mDPS that wields totem sized two-handed weapons, and Kai, all signs point to a rDPS with bows.
The combat of the game involves a weak/smash attack button system. With this system it matters how many weak attacks are in tandem with the followed smash attack. The number of weak attacks followed by the smash changes the style and strength of the smash attack. Similar to, but simpler...not in a bad way, what one might find in a Devil May Cry or God of War button mashing type game.
Your character levels up from experience points but this really only effects what gear you can equip for when times have level requirements. The real character customization comes from Ability Points(AP). AP is earned from finishing "Battles",(instanced zones) doing some daily battles, and some quest have the possibility to give AP. This is where the deep character customization comes in...from choosing to skill-up tanking type skills or melee and/or Magic damage or to be a Healer. This type of leveling and game play kinda reminds me of a Baldur's Gate or a Neverwinter NIghts.
As for your interactions with NPCs, when you are inside a building in the city-type zone, the NPC's are displayed by portraits down at the bottom of your screen and you must click on their portrait to talk/craft/quest/trade with them. This feature really gives it an old school feel like an old Shinning Force or Final Fantasy interface...which i love.
The story is...well...there, nothing extraordinary yet and not bad but not great. On the other hand, some of the NPC's dialogue is written very well. For example, there might be a few characters here and there that, when you turn in a quest or whatnot, can say things that actually make you hate...or like them.
The game starts off extremely easy with enemies that seem to stall and take forever to swing at you, but the game picks up pace and difficulty fairly quickly. Also, the interactive environmental boss fights and strategies make for a much deeper fighting experience than your average button masher. For example, a boss might drop a helm you want...well you might have to chuck spears at his face until you knock that helm off his head which can then be looted at the end of a victorious encounter. Some other examples; you might need to break a pillar to get rubble to smash the boss' head to daze him for a moment or possibly shoot chain hooks on their feet to tug them to the ground or break a shield off the arm of a boss that literally looks like a mobile fortress to expose some meat for cutting. Thus far the game has just gotten better and better the farther i have gotten into it.
One con of the game though is that it does not support any hosted servers and when you are in a "Battle" it is peer-to-peer...so your connection is only as good as your party leader's connection.
All in all this is what to expect; an attack combo action-RPG with undertones of complexities in strategy and class customization that make this much much more than a mindless button masher. So get ready for the action of an adventure game and the depth, intelligence, and strategy of a roll-playing game. Worst thing you could do is not try it...IT'S
FREE!!!
Please, if you read the review...rate it.