MENA Gamer - Where Game Begins

4Story Online [PC]

”Powerful things, often come in small packages.”

Introduction
4story Online launches you into the world of magic, mystery and mayhem. You are thrust into a world full of strange creatures, magic and exploration. You start the game in a dizzy as you get thrust into things, but you will soon pick it up. Depending on which path you want to go down, influences what you do and how you get there. Starting in the kingdom of DeFugel like I did you will find yourself in a world of towns, villages which are protected by walls towers and numerous guards and beasties.

There are many aspects of this game which I can’t cover due to mainly not having enough hours in the day to either experience them or due to the complexities of them, so if there is something I don’t state here that you were looking forward to reading, tough luck hehe.

How it looks
4Story has a very typical MMO style, very similar to that of WOW and alike. This doesn’t mean it looks bad by any means. 4Story is a rich, free roaming world with many environment styles and creatures to match. The variety in this world is diverse from the sparsely populated savannah style environments to lush forests and plains. You have the opportunity to explore this rich world and what it has to offer just by following the set paths. Or if you are feeling a little more adventurous you can stray off the beaten track and explore the many ruins or camps full of those little nasties.

On your travels you will see the many creatures that the game has to offer, from the usual suspects like wolves and goblins, to giants, serpents and flying demons, all of which are very well made and have their own weaknesses to boot. Spells cast, weapons swung providing a very well made and very well looking game play mechanic.

How it works
Loading up the game you are presented with a login screen and then a character creation screen, once logged in you have the option to select from a number of races, choose racial style, hair clothing and general features. There are three main races in 4Story, although this doesn’t sound like a lot, it is still plenty to pick from in fact. I have found from most MMO’s you have multiple races or species, let’s say on average 6. Out of those 6 you have x amount of factions and x amount of abilities, thus spending more time on what your character looks like rather than how it plays. I like the way that 4Story has made 3 main races and in those each has their own plusses and minuses. So choosing, human, werebeast or fairy you then have an option for hair style, colour and facial features, along with a few other options.

Humans tend to be best when it comes to resistance to magic and their strength is quite a plus. However their intelligence compared to the other races is low and as such you may struggle to defeat some foes.

Werebeast being probably the strongest of the three tend to be best suited to hand to hand combat and close up fighting. If you are looking for this type of game play where you get stuck in, then I would say werebeast is best.

Fairies although the cutest sounding and certainly by how they look, don’t look up to much when it comes fighting foes. True they don’t have the physical prowess of the human and werebeast races, but they provide their own means of creating havoc on the battlefield with a multitude of spells and casts.

Playing as your selected character you get the chance to roam the world killing, conquering and generally exploring what’s to be found. Don’t venture too far though, you may get lost or even worse, killed! You can of course take things at a slower pace and try the numerous quests and challenges throughout the realm. Using these to hone your skills, practice and also gain experience, you will gain a better idea of how to play through the world.

I found that taking it slow and not rushing into battles and making sure you have the right tools needed pays off. Also you can use your skills to trade and sell items, which not only give you money but allow you to purchase items for your own needs. I have played many games which have their own virtual monetary system and this is not any different, however I found it easier to sell and create things in this game that I have with others especially when it came to selling them to people.

AI
Most MMO types are sluggish and quite buggy when it comes to the movement of its AI. This includes everything from the actions and reactions of not only the computer generated character, creatures and scenery, but also the user’s avatar. I found 4Story to be genuinely good when it comes to speed, responsiveness and overall accuracy in all of the above aspects. Choosing a target is easy and once you have initiated a battle then you will find that one or a number of targets will act and react as you would expect, considering a mass volley of weapons and spells. If you are in a region which contains a large number of baddies, and believe me there are lots of them. You will find that they will only approach or attack you when in range or when they see you as a threat I suppose. Rather than the ‘I can see you now so I will attack’ system which many games not just MMO adopt.

If like me you have already killed 6 dozen beasts, wanted more and started exploring you will find numerous things to do, from quests to treasure hunting to creating apparel and goods. With the open world environment, still restricted by barriers and boundaries of those regions you aren’t allowed to venture into yet, you may find it a bit frustrating sometimes. Although pets make it easier to venture around and certainly make it faster to do so, but be careful though if you get attacked chances are you will get knocked off your noble steed and end up walking. You get the chance to during the game, also providing you selected the right race to switch races, even gender. This is done by purchasing one of the varying potions from many vendors and using them upon you. Some of them are random and as a result you may find yourself purchasing many to get the desired effect, but I like the fact you can change how you look after you created your character.

Some characters in the game allow you to ask them questions, these are indicated by either an ! or ? mark and can provide useful information to quests or regions. If an when you find yourself in battle some of this information may prove to be useful as it sometimes can provide an insight of who this species is and what their weaknesses are, so in other words, PAY ATTENTION!

Controls and ease of use
You will find this game easy to control, whether you are used to the standard setup or not. The game isn’t at all sluggish or hard to control; on the contrary, it’s easier than some FPS games I have played. You can use the scroll wheel if you have one, zoom in your view of your character making it a near enough first person view, allowing you to get right into the action. Whether you are controlling your characters movement or just the interface it is pretty easy as all you do is point and click, there is none of this press key “x” combined with key “x” to do action “x”. You do have quick key shortcuts such as I for inventory and P for pet etc. This makes it a lot easier to find things on your taskbar, just in case you find yourself playing in the early hours of the morning.

The Good
• The overall feel and character of the game, including surroundings, style and sound.
• Also I liked the way customization was easy when you have the money of course.

The Bad
• You may find sometimes in the heat of battle and in the midst of multiple enemies, it’s hard to target a particular one, as a result this is probably the only bad thing I could find.

The Just plain Ugly
• To be honest couldn’t find anything which I would consider ugly, maybe something’s which could have been done a little better, but nothing stood out.

Summary
I don't usually go for MMO's and I'm certainly not an MMO fan boy, however, 4Story is a very good game to play and is a pleasurable experience throughout.

The simple to use interface, the intuitive controls and the fast, fun action, combined with the scenery, numerous character upgrades, customization and sound makes 4Story a game definitely worth taking a peek at.