[imagebrowser id=437]
Gala-Net starts the Open Beta for its cute MMORPG Iris Online, available through the gPotato games portal. From today November 24th, everyone can go and try this new MMO, featuring three races for players to choose and explore the lands of Arcana, a world ruled by strange magical forces that will lead players into a mystery tale.
Iris Online offers a unique and in-depth Tarot Card system and thrilling PvP. Don’t get mislead by its cute appeal and lovable characters, this game offers a lot, like the monster transformation system, instanced dungeons and special PvP areas, to throw yourself into frenzy battles of duels and conquering.
The game is now in Open Beta. Though everyone can get in, the item shop is not available yet and all fans have to wait for a final release, to get the maximum from this new anime-like MMO. If you want to give it a run, don’t hesitate and download the client, once you register, on the official website.
Hello everyone, I am currently playing Iris Online.
I am here to give you my opinion on it. Because I have already played Iris for several days (not counting my time during closed beta), and for the fact that I enjoy it, my opinion will more then likely be somewhat biased, so live with it.
What is Iris Online?
Iris Online is your average generic F2P korean grinder. Or… is it? Maybe it is, depending on what you consider average and generic.
I have played dozens of F2P MMORPG’s, and Iris Online is really quite enjoyable. It is a good way to pass time. It appears to have something for everyone.
Iris Online is a featureful and contentful MMO with very enjoyable instances and very fun PvP. It does fall under the graphics style of “fantasy anime”, and some may even consider the characters to be “chibi”.
None the less, for an anime-ish style MMORPG, the graphics are quite crisp and the skills are quite flashy, especially at level 30+.
Website: http://iris.gpotato.com
Video – Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3H3jVYQoIg
Video – PvP [Battlefield Flag Match]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mr11w-YRpk
What does Iris Online offer?
EXP Rates?
Like I said above, Iris Online has something for everyone.
PvE wise, there is quite a bit. You can grind solo (if your character can handle it, you may need to pot a lot), or you may party with multiple people. Either way, the incoming EXP is actually pretty good for mindless grinding.
Most EXP in Iris Online is gained through questing. Yes, spamming quests. Most of them involve running from certain areas back to town, as well as killing monsters. In my opinion, most of the quests in this game, and for that matter, other games, are just nice bonuses to the EXP you recieve from normal grinding.
Leveling in this game isn’t too difficult, especially for your first 20-30 levels. Level 20 can be achieved in a day, or in 4-6 hours if you are hardcore.
Currently, the max level is 55 for Open Beta.
PvP?
Ah yes, PvP. In Iris Online, the majority of PvP happens in the battlefields. The battlefields are sort of instanced areas that you can choose to teleport to every 30 minutes.
The battlefield type alternates between death match and capture the flag.
Your team in the battlefield depends on which faction you chose very early on for your character. That faction is only for these battlegrounds.
The max people in a battlefield is 18 per team, and there are 2 teams.
You even get EXP and SXP(Skill XP) for participating in battlefields!
If you get enough battlefield points (You get a lot for winning a match, you get a little for losing a match), you can buy items from the battlefield vendor, such as PvP gear, crafting recipes(I’ll talk about crafting soon), mounts, titles, and more.
PK?
There is a bit of PK in Iris Online, especially later on.
PK is restricted to certain maps. The first PK map is for level 30+ (Conflict Valley is the map name).
You can PK in this map without penalty. If I remember right, the victim doesn’t get the normal EXP penalty for death either.
Conflict Valley is quite big though, and there are 3 channels per server. Avoiding PKers by either staying in big groups or just hiding in the shadows of another channel is not too hard to accomplish.
As far as I know, for the level 55 cap, there are only 2 PK maps.
Crafting?
Yes! You can craft in Iris Online. Although, you don’t craft weapons or armor.
You can choose between one of three crafting professions:
Card Making – You make cards. This yields the greatest rewards but takes the most money/time to do. Cards will be talked about soon.
Alchemy – You make potions that can heal HP/MP or give buffs.
Chef – You make food that can be used to give nice 15-30 minute buffs.
Cards?
The card system is quite elaborate in Iris. First of all, there are multiple types of cards.
There are types of cards that can be socketed in to gear to add stats.
There are types of cards that can be equipped on your character to directly add stats to your character.
There are types of cards called tarot cards. If you get a full set of these cards and use a couple items, you get a potentially very strong 2 hour buff. As long as you have the couple items needed, you can continuously give yourself the 2 hour buff.
Hmmm…
What I have just described above is just the start of Iris Online. Iris has a lot of other features, like the auction house.
There are also multiple types of quests, such as daily quests, normal [main] quests, dungeon quests, as well as repeatable quests.
So, why not give it a try? At first it didn’t appear to be my thing, but I kept playing and before I knew it I had spent over 6 hours just playing this game.
So come on, if you haven’t already, give it a try; you don’t have anything to lose. :P