With beautiful music and something for everyone, it's hard not to see potential under its layers of terrible grammar.

User Rating: 7.7 | Voyage Century PC
For many people first trying the game, they may have a hard time figuring out exactly what they should be doing. Some of the time it's because new players don't pay attention to the new-player guide. Most of the time I believe it's because the game fails to mention how critical it is to do certain things, like listen to the new-player guide. A major flaw at the moment is the lack of in-game resources and guidance built into the user interface. As it stands, there's too much reliance on a player's meta-game skills to obtain quest and leveling information. Example: I've spent nearly my entire time playing with a web browser page open to the VC forum. The forum is fantastic and if you spend some time going over its content, you can get up and running in no time at all. For those who plan on playing for the first time: Go talk to Alliance NPCs (Warrior, Adventure, Guild, etc.) for tasks. Do exactly as they say and you'll learn a lot while earning some decent rewards to get you started up. Don't leave the Mediterranean until you've completed quests in Alexander, Beirut, Athens and Istanbul of the path you're most interested in.

In terms of content, the game offers something refreshing: the real world. If you get one thing out of it, it will be an improvement to your geography skills. Speaking of skills, though, this game has a fair number. None are critical, but the ones you choose to use more often will shape your character appropriately. For example, nothing stops you from spending all of your time chopping down trees. As you chop down trees, you'll gain levels in chopping wood, consequently allowing you to gather wood of a higher level. This will mean you'll need to travel from city to city trying to find new wood to chop as well as earning the right to titles appropriate to your skill. Others will appreciate your labor as well since the more sea-inclined will need your wood to rebuild their bigger and better ships. If at any time you decide to try something new, nothing stops you from doing it. Want to give your hand at being a merchant? Rebuild your ship for next to nothing to a merchant vessel and start picking up some merchant quests. You won't lose your wood-chopping skills and, in fact, those wood chopping skills will help you since you'll need the wood to rebuild your own bigger and better merchant ships. The take-home message is that most of the skills are always useful and there's the feeling of wanting to be great at everything. While this is theoretically possible, the limiting factor of course is the time you can put into it. This is wonderful in that you really are the sum of what you put into it and there really is no such thing as wasting time since all skills are relevant to you. It does mean that to excel in an area quickly, you'll need to sacrifice yourself in other ways. It really just makes a lot of sense. Another thing to mention is that the different "classes" of the game often operate in different "scenes". As an adventurer, I prefer to spend my time on the open sea searching for new discoveries (ancient ruins, strange animals, etc.). You can find that the game can feel very different depending on what you choose to spend your time doing and there's a good chance that many people would find something that's entertaining. The game has many flaws, however. Terrible English and a lack of polish the most prominent in my mind. If they cook up some great writing and a few layers of fresh paint by the end, I'd be happy, even if the core game was left mostly as-is.