GameSpy's Free Agent is your advance recon into the world of free-to-play games. His mission: jump into a free game every week and put in some hours to see how much fun can be had without spending a cent, then try out some paid items to see if they're worth the asking price. This week, he's taking TERA to task with a heavy hitting F2P alternative in Vindictus. But will he actually end up having to pay an arm and a leg to get a leg up on the high-speed, hack-'n'-slash-heavy competition?
No Money Down
Vindictus legitimately surprised me. Korean MMOs have a reputation for running entirely on creaky, grind-loving gears, but this one kicked off by pitting me in semi-emotional and extremely cinematic conflict with a town's former guardian. Admittedly, said guardian was also a giant spider, so you'll forgive my lack of Scooby-Doo-worthy surprise at the fact that the whole deal went south. At any rate, that -- combined with combo-heavy, timing-and-skill-based battles -- gave the impression of a particularly daring dive into the MMO landscape's relatively still waters. Understandably, I was excited.
Initially, as a free player, I didn't feel like I was walled off from any of it.
So I emerged into Vindictus' ramshackle hub town and embarked on my first real quest. An on-screen arrow elegantly guided me from place to place, once again emphasizing the Source engine-powered swords 'n' sorcery's focus on fast, fluff-free action. And initially, as a free player, I didn't feel like I was walled off from any of it. For the first 10 or so levels, things moved at a nicely brisk clip, with levels, gear, and skills coming at fairly regular intervals after each 15-or-so-minute-long quest. Meanwhile, the highly physical hack 'n' slash combat had me chaining together combos like I was playing the result of a mad scientist's attempt at stitching together World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, and God of War. Sure, I was being funneled everywhere -- whether in the hub town or on largely linear instanced missions -- but it just felt good. You can, however, probably see where this is going. Though I never stopped carrying around a massive quest load that made Frodo and co's volumes-spanning trek look like a cakewalk, I started noticing a general slowdown after my insanely quick three-hour ascent to level 10. Little by little, my experience bar began to putter along where once it loped like a marathon sprinter, and essential quest item drops became fewer and farther between. I also found myself acquiring quest rewards I couldn't equip yet, which invited an unfortunate torrent of rain to my parade.
Gasp! He was full of candy!
The gradually slowing progression pace and generally repetitive combat took their toll.
Moreover, many quests were essentially excuses to tread through the same (albeit slightly randomized, thankfully) instances again, but with different objectives. However, since my experience bar had taken to moving with all the urgency of a sloth escaping from an active volcano, I had to do them anyway. Higher difficulty levels for each quest helped take some of the edge off by requiring split-second focus on dodges and attacks, but the gradually slowing progression pace and generally repetitive (with the exception of frantic team-based boss battles) combat took their toll. During my early quests, I felt like emitting a guttural war cry every time I pinned an enemy against a wall and booted their guts into stomach-acid-flavored Spaghettios. But, once the initial rush -- Vindictus' and my own adrenaline -- had died down, I started looking for new ways of entertaining myself at the cost of my own productivity. I tried to kill a giant werewolf creature by flinging countless brittle plates at its face, because at least there was more intrigue to it than more of the same slowly evolving hack 'n' slash drudgery. It was amusing at the time, sure, but in retrospect, I realize that I was desperately clawing while on the brink of slipping into yet another abyssal MMO grind.
F2P: Letting fantasy heroes dress up as football players because why not?
Insert Coin
Somewhat predictably, a trip to the cash shop put the spring right back in Vindictus' step. Well, mostly. Mercifully -- after my journey through Drakensang Online's labyrinthine wallet-devouring depths -- Vindictus' approach proved fairly straightforward. The store's entire stock took up a slim, trim six pages of virtual real estate, and though organization was nearly non-existent, locating essential items wasn't too much of a chore. So I grabbed a few stacks of one-per-quest blessing stones -- which came in 50% to 100% XP boost, item drop, and ability point increase flavors -- at $1.70 per 10 pack. Alternatively, I could've picked up a VIP capsule at $9 and a Cadet Badge at $7, which -- in conjunction -- would've granted me similar effects for 30 days in addition to a somewhat generous temporary stat boost that varied by level. So basically, it'd have been a one-month subscription.
In addition, I picked up a cheap yet effective Power Preview Set, which instantly decked me out in an incredibly temporary set of armor that nearly doubled my defense stat for a mere $3. I then replayed my most recent quest on hard, just so I could cackle maniacally to myself as hordes of enemies busted their claws into bloody stumps trying to put a scratch on me. I was worried, of course, that earth-shaking weight of my newfound might would transform PvP matches into lopsided affairs, but -- while I wasn't able to test it as thoroughly as I'd have liked because hardly anyone plays PvP in Vindictus -- my stats were rebalanced as soon as matches started. It seemed fair enough, at any rate.
My, what a large hammer you have! What's it for?
a new account has to wait two weeks before being allowed to use a credit card to charge up on in-game currency.
Perplexingly, however, actually paying for these items was an exercise in such exquisite frustration that even the oddly soothing practice of flinging plates at wolf monsters failed to calm me down. As I learned the hard way, a new account has to wait two weeks before being allowed to use a credit card to charge up on in-game currency. So I had two options: buy a prepaid card from, say, GameStop, or let Vindictus' sponsors bombard me with advertisements, surveys, and thinly veiled scams in order to earn precious morsels of free cash. First, I opted to try the latter. That was a terrible, terrible mistake. Worthwhile offers generally demanded credit card commitments, and a couple failed to pay up after I took the plunge. So if you haven't set foot in GameStop since "used PC games" were an actual thing, now might be a good time to brave the traditional barrage of pre-order offers and donate a few of your nickels and dimes to brick-and-mortar.
Free or Flee?
Vindictus impresses early on with rapid-fire brutality and a progression pace to match, but the early sprint gives way to requisite F2P MMO foot-dragging after a few hours. And while even a piggybank offering at the almighty altar of capitalism fails to entirely dispel the repetition, $8 to $10 worth of XP, AP, and item drop-rate uppers should be enough to help you decide whether or not you're in it for the long haul.