Review: Shaiya
Warning: Image truly indicative of actual game quality.
Introduction: This morning, I decided that (just for fun), I would download and have a play of the MMORPG Shaiya. I’ve been steering away from this game for a while now, mainly because of the terrible ads scattered all across the internet which are obviously targeting a very specific demographic (if you haven’t seen them, here is one), if you know what I mean.
Reading about the game elsewhere on the internet, it seems that, like almost every other free MMO around, it originated in Korea. What this means is that generally speaking, you’ll encounter a lot of grinding, some very bad engrish and little of what is promised on the game’s features page.
Also true to every other Korean MMO, Shaiya features Micro transactions. I think these work out to be around US$5 for 1,000 in game credits. Items sell for between 100 and multiple thousand credits each. So, while the game claims to be ‘free-to-play’, it is, of course, anything but (especially if you wish to play it seriously).
It’s at about this stage that I should probably point out that I played the game for a grand total of around 15 minutes. That’s a general indication of the quality of the game, but it also means that my opinion does definitely not reflect the entire game.
Graphics: The graphics are pretty good, for a free to play MMO. They look a little dated, but that could well be because I turned the graphics options down pretty low because of my super-crappy graphics card. I noticed that the animations in particular were nice and fluid, although textures left a little to be desired.
Sound: About 2-3 minutes into game play, something began to bother me. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly on what it was until about another minute later, when I realised that there was absolutely no background music playing. Its not the most critical thing in the world, but it certainly did detract from the overall experience.
Gameplay: In short, exactly the same as every other MMORPG in the world. Little more, little less. World of Warcraft-style, the game features two warring factions. The major difference here is that the two factions play on entirely different maps. There’s no normal, everyday interaction between the two factions possible at all, except for on specially designated PvP battle fields.
Each faction has two races, and each race has three classes. There’s little special to be seen here, as they are mostly just your stock-standard RPG classes. Quests (of which the game claims there are many) are mainly based around killing X <monster>s (as per usual), and the world didn’t appear to be exceptionally large.
Overall: If you’re looking for an MMO to play on a rainy Sunday afternoon, you could probably do worse than Shaiya. It does everything an MMO should, with little else available - just don’t expect good grammer, or a particularly friendly community. Definately don’t get sucked in by the attractive banner ads alone.
Final Score: About 5.
