Starting today, I decided to start reviewing games that I play when I have time. Why? I don't know and I just feel like it. The first of mine is going to be Atlantica Online and because this is my blog and not a "formal review" I can do a lot more blasting of the game than I normally would be able to in a review.

Story:
Unlike most MMOs, there is actually a story. More or less 3 sisters have summoned you to their world in an attempt to save it or something like that. The main story quest goes nowhere fast and just has you talking to NPCs to complete a long chain of quests that goes through nearly every dungeon in the game. I've done the quests up to the mid 80s, and it goes nowhere still. Its just "we need your help to kill ____ or stop ____ and ____ then talk to _____". Each quest chain is fairly long but it sometimes has you revisiting past NPCs on the other side of the world.

Graphics:
The graphics of the game are pretty good. There are some issues with slow down when in large 3 groups vs 3 groups battles since there is up to 54 things on the screen moving at once. The details and spell effects are nicely done and there is quite a large variety of enemies as well instead of reusing models and recoloring them. The towns are all fairly generic and share more or less all the same characteristics. The same goes for pretty much all the characters as well. The mobs have a nice variety, but the players don't. Customization options are very limited and there is not much you can do to make yourself unique.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is by far the best feature in Atlantica Gold. It uses a turn based combat system. The amount of time you have is dependent on the number of mercenaries you have in your team. You can have up to 9 mercenaries in your team and can switch them out for one of the first 4 listed in your mercenary room during a mercenary's turn. You start off with only 3, but as you complete the tutorial quests and level up, you can add more. You get an extra slot in your party every 10 levels up to 9 slots at level 50. You can rearrange the formation of your mercenaries in and out of battle for more added strategy. The only problem is you cannot place a mercenary over a dead mercenary.