Asheron's Call 2 (with free Strategy Guide)

 

 

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I've been playing this type of games for quite a long time now, went through Everquest, Asheron's Call 1 and more recently Dark Ages of Camelot.
One thing was common in EQ and DAOC, not so common in AC1... the levelling was booooring as hell.
I mean... you could spend hours and hours killing thousands of monsters to gain one level and slowly progressing from there. The quests gave poor experience and sometimes items rapidily turning obsolete.
In AC2 you have also this problem, you also have to kill thousands of creatures to level... but YOU CAN also level quickly by doing quests and in this game there are PLENTY of them.... not only plenty, but quite different from each-other.

The graphics are the best in any online-rpg, no doubt (until now).... but one of the major bugs in the game comes with this annoying sticky points where your character keeps being stuck here or there just to climb a small slope (quite ridiculous).

The sound is superb and i never get tired of the music, kinda adds to the athmosphere of chaos and desolation.

Regarding game mechanics, you no longer have to worry about putting points on strenght, agility and so on. In a very logical way, this is handled automaticaly behind the curtain... instead you train your skills..... and... contrary to some sayings, SKILLS MAKE A DIFFERENCE, i can easy pull of 300damage with an unpredictable hit at level 15. User interface is the best i ever saw since Dungeon Siege.

You can choose 3 races and each race has the opportunity to train on different professions, Defender, Berserker, Ranger and so on. Since each person decides what skills are the most useful to them, you can have quite different characters roaming in the world.

Battles are usually fast and more realistic-looking than in EQ or DAOC, gore is present here in a scaleable amount (custom wise).

As a final note.... there are no vendor NPCs around... but quite frankly.... you dont need them... remember DAOC vendor items become useless after level 40 and up? Well... AC2 just does that from the start.... start crafting (its fun and easier) and start playing the hidden merchant in your warrior soul.

Overall.. if you can forget somehow the "sticky" points on the huge and beautiful landscape.. and if you want to really have FUN while levelling up.... while at the same time participate in a evolving fresh-world.... i must admit.... AC2 is the way to go.

I feel that I must write a decent review regarding what is commonly known among the online elite as AC2 - asherons call 2: The fallen kings..

This game is what is known as an MMPORG ( massively multiplayer online roleplaying game ).

Over Time As you play this game you Will be Training And developing a unique "character".. 1 Of 5 that you can make and store on an online server...

There are american and european servers.. about 5 in america and 3 in europe for faster connections to this online universe.. Your character will live on the world/server that you create him on..

The World That you character can roam about in is absolutley HUGE!!!! You just wont be able to fathom here from my explanation, exactly how huge the world your character will reside in really really is....

The lands that you will roam are populated too!! Oh yes warriors.. Your quest for ultimate power, rule, experience, or virtuosness will not be a journey that you will have to make alone.. Each server is populated by hundreds upon hundreds of other players.. All wanting to do the same quests and hunts and wanting to talk about the same stuff as you.. There are nice people and nasty people honourable poeple and vagabonds!!

Yes friends.. the worlds are populated by other REAL LIFE players all paying a small monthly fee for the stoarage space on the servers that your 5 characters will live on.. You can hunt with them.. You can chat with them.. You can even try to kill them!!!! Its great!!

There are towns citys.. nasty dungeons.. Huge huge monsters just WAITING to tear out your lungs out.. The list go's on and on.. There is now alot of diversity in the game.. In AC2 when your player kills a creature or completes a quest you will gain what is called experience points ( those rolplayers out there will understand what I mean here ).. This XP as it is known is stored by your character and when certain totals have been reached you go up levels accordingly..

AC2 as I said before, continues in its huge trend here in the levelling system, with many, many, many, diffrent types of quests, monsters to kill and dangerous missions to undertake.. all of which gain you varying amounts of xp...

Some things are or should I say can if you want them to be solo-able.. While other things have to be done with other players..

Unless of course, you wanna end up a small pile of red mush on the floor of some creepy ruins.. Or splattered across the moss strewn walls of some dungeon deep in the swamps..

There are many terrain types that populate the world including forest's mountain's island chains.. Continents, desert, swamp, glaciars, sea's (yes u can swim) and grassy plains with citys and forts.. You can sometimes also spot the ruins of some ancient structure ( lots of things represent diffrent famous structures of the ongoing ac1 genre..

I have been playing AC2 since April 2003 and have not looked at another game in all that time. There were bugs at the start, and there was an end to how far you could progress, but now that has all changed. With exciting new content and world updates each month and a great community, and Turbine buying it back from Microsoft and getting more control over the development, I don't intend to play anything else for the forseeable future. I've even hooked other people from work into it.
As to the monthly cost, £8.45/month is not a lot...equivalent to 2-3 video rentals and a lot more sociable.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
I`m still playing this game after four months so that has to be a good thing!.
It has a very good learning curve and eases you into the game even if you have never played a... Read more

Published on 2 Aug 2003 by firefighterwillum

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good points, but boring in the end
I played AC1 for a while, and enjoyed it quite a lot. I must say that AC2 was a bit of a disappointment: many features that added depth to the original game was removed from the... Read more

Published on 8 July 2003 by Einar Waaler Høst

2.0 out of 5 stars It had so much potential
This game could have been so great. The graphics stunning, the attention to detail was just amazing. Read more

Published on 20 Jun 2003

1.0 out of 5 stars Stick to AC1 Dark Majesty.
AC2 is miserably inferior. There are no towns worth noting, no shops, no need to carry arrows, no way to make fancy arrows, no need for spell components, no need to buy scrolls,... Read more

Published on 29 April 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Why this is one of the best RPG
The big difference between AC2 and other RPG are the players.
All quite friendly and combat oriented. Read more

Published on 23 April 2003 by JORGE GUIMARAES

5.0 out of 5 stars Best MMORPG
Possibly one of the best massively multiplayer games around. Fun, accessible and, on occasion, hard.

Published on 20 Mar 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars AC2 --> allways improving...
I bought the game at the beginning (well, the beginning it was released in my country Belgium.) There wasn't really much to do. Read more

Published on 3 Mar 2003 by conanx

5.0 out of 5 stars a big improvement on number 1
Asheron's Call 2 is an online multi-user dungeon in which you create a character and then experience life through your alter ego's eyes, travelling via the Internet to a... Read more

Published on 1 Mar 2003 by robbiepowell646

5.0 out of 5 stars A decent game
AC2 is a great game. It does take some dedication and patience to rise through the levels but once a path is known, using the official guide and resources from AC2 web sites, the... Read more

Published on 28 Feb 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars fallen Kings
I have played many massive online roll playing games, and i have found most very unfriendly, especially in the beggining.

Not so, with this one. Read more

Published on 8 Jan 2003 by J. Tory

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