Legend Of Edda

LEGEND OF EDDA (online multiplayer)

For the most part this is just a standard level-advancing multiplayer fighting game, but it has some nice features that make it worthwhile. It's free to play, but as usual paying customers can get extra benefits to give them an advantage over the free players. When you begin the game you have the choice of two factions to join - the Olympians or the Titans. These two factions are at war with each other and are usually seperated. One of the amusing things about the game is the two sides are totally foreign to one another. Let's say both sides are speaking English. If one person speaks only their own people will understand what they are saying, and to the enemy all they hear is meaningless nonsense, as if they are speaking a foreign language. So there is usually no communication with the enemy, except for taunting gestures.

The characters within the game are incredibly cute, and can perform many actions, which are usually just as cute. But when they fight it is incredibly violent. Friends can fight each other in duels, but the majority of fighting is with a large variety of strange creatures. Some of them are a bit freaky, and most will make little amusing comments. This is basically all the game is about - gaining experience, wealth and items by defeating the creatures in battle - over and over again, becoming gradually stronger and acquiring better skills, weapons and armour. In addition to choosing your faction, you must also choose the type of fighter you wish to specialise as. Though you can have the basic use of any weapon, you can only train to become advanced with one of them. For example you could specialise as a sword-wielding attacker, a defender with sheild, an assassin that can deliver deadly blows, a magic user, an archer, or a healer with the ability to heal yourself and your friends to prevent them dying in battle.

Another nice feature is being able to own your own animals, such as horses and other creatures that you can ride, to get around the huge world faster. You can also own pets such as cats, that will help you during battle if you choose, fighting along side you. In addition to fighting there are a few other things to do such as collecting things scattered about that can be used in the manufacture of useful items. For example certain flowers can be collected and used to produce healing potions. Also there are quests to complete, but these nearly always just involve killing many creatures. In addition there are dungeons to explore that can be visited a limited number of times each day, either by yourself or in a team with the help of some friends, which are more dangerous but also offer greater rewards.

Throughout most of the world you'll only be within the lands of your own faction, however there is one area where the two factions can meet in combat, and they may decide to invade the enemy city. This is the most interesting part of the world, since it gets boring fighting the creatures after a while. Since the two sides generally hate each other, you can usually rely on help if you find yourself outnumbered by the enemy. But likewise the enemy will probably do the same, so what starts out as a bully picking on someone weaker who is just trying to complete a quest in peace, can escalate into a mighty battle with reinforcements turning up on both sides, each eager to drive the enemy out and protect their people from attack. But on the other hand, if you're looking for a fight, often there will be no enemy around.

But by far the most exciting part of the game is the wars. These happen almost every half hour, and are seperated into ones for only less skilled players, or for only more skilled players, or a free-for-all. These are kept fairly balanced by only allowing you to join if your faction doesn't significantly outnumber the enemy already. So if you can't join straight away, you may have to wait until a few enemy players join. The wars are played like a "capture the flag" game. Two or three crystals are available, which must be picked up and placed on the pedestals owned by your faction, then guarded to prevent the enemy from stealing them. At the end of the war the faction with most crystals wins. However if one faction collects all the crystals the war will end within five minutes if they are not captured by the enemy, as well as powerful creatures will be added to help the losing side. Possessing the crystals results in useful bonuses for everyone on your faction currently fighting in the war, so it's worthwhile trying to defend them for a while, rather than waiting until the war is just about to end before possessing them. Also killing an enemy, whether within the war or not, will also give a bonus, so this is worthwhile rather than just chasing them away.

These wars must be fought tactically, with your team working together, though many players often just do whatever they want and it can be quite chaotic. The side that has the best organisation and follows orders well will normally be the winner, though sometimes a poorly organised force will win by pure luck. Within the regular game your character dying results in losing some of your valuable hard-earned experience, but within the wars there is no penalty, and you are simply reincarnated in your base (though losing a crystal if you were carrying one). This can be problematic though, as a common strategy is for a large group of enemies to be lying in wait to just kill you again as soon as you leave the base. Often the best strategy will be to have some strong sword fighters lying in wait just outside the base, being supported by healers hiding in the bushes at the edges. Many will fight this forward force endlessly, but never be able to defeat them, while the smarter fighters will ignore them and go straight for the healers, either killing them or chasing them away, thus leaving the forward force unprotected and able to be driven back.

Overall this is a fun game, especially in the beginning, and it can be better with friends. The basic game, though it has some great features, often gets very boring since it's mainly a long tedious grind, doing the same thing over and over again, with enormous amounts of time required to advance and become one of the better players. But on the other hand, when the two factions come together in battle, most especially during the wars, it is immensely entertaining. But the long boring grind part of the game is required in order to be more successful in the more exciting parts of the game though, so in order to get rewarding entertainment from the game you have to put in a lot of boring work. However, if you don't mind that you may enjoy the game a great deal.

Another game I'd recommend that is the same type of game, but with a completely different setting, is 'Battlestar Galactica Online', especially if you are a fan of the TV show, whether the original or modern one. Again for the most part it's good in the beginning and then may become a bit of a tedious grind, but also it has some good features.

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