All about the action
What is Kritika Online? Let’s start with what it is not. It is not a leisurely stroll through fields of Oz poppies. There are no snooze breaks where you kick back waiting for the next bit of action in your adventure. More than just action combat, the game is dedicated to getting folks to the action quickly, and then making that action super fast-paced once there. Kritika Online removed much of the time-hogging filler present in many MMOs. Instead of long, drawn-out quest lines, the missions here can often be completed in just a few minutes. Instead of traipsing all over tarnation to get from one task to another, players move from shared city hub to dungeon via portals on the connected danger zone. You select your specific dungeon as well as the difficulty rating right from the portal itself. There’s no need to wait on others for a dungeon run, either, as these can be completed solo or in a group. Additionally, there’s no trinity forcing you to wait for a specific class; all classes combine the three.
Once inside the dungeons, players move right from fight to fight without wasting time navigating endless empty, sprawling corridors. Both dungeons we completed were on hard mode or higher, and each took only a few minutes to complete. And then there are the fights themselves; these were exercises in speed racing.
If you enjoy super slow casts and sitting on your heals waiting for cooldowns, Kritika may not be the game for you. I hardly noticed the cooldowns on my special skills at all, and the regular attacks bound to the mouse keys were fast and furious. Combat was all about firing off combos quickly and shutting down the enemy by attacking with such a flurry of blows that it was pinned and unable to dish any damage back. If you do happen to get knocked out of the fight and killed, you don’t waste any time rezzing and running back to the action: a simple press of F5 uses a rez stone and pops you right back into the action. (Yes, I did test this once on the boss in insane mode.)
Speed is truly a goal here: Knox emphasized that the faster you clear the dungeons and the better you clear them, the better the loot you receive. But there’s a unique twist to how you get the loot. At the end of the boss fight a player in the group (if you are grouped) is awarded MVP, and that player chooses between four cards. Whatever card is picked then grants each player his or her own loot. I admit I felt the pressure when I had to make the selection. Folks are going to know if you have angered the RNG gods for sure! Luckily, what level of stuff is available on the cards depends on the rank the group achieves (based on number of deaths, how many hits dealt, etc), so performance also matters.
How does the action look? It is very flashy, fast, and high-flying. Each class can use a weapon that is slower with more damage, faster for more hits, or balanced. Knox noted that the character models and costumes were also styled over the top. To me, there’s a very old comic book superhero mixed with anime feel to the fights
Progression: a min-maxer’s dream
Just because players skim through combat quickly doesn’t mean the game is necessarily shallow. The depth is found in the progression. If you like theory-crafting, you could enjoy this game. In the words of Knox, Kratika Online is a min-maxer’s dream. He said, “There’s really a lot of emphasis on progression across every piece of your character,” and noted that every piece of gear — including costumes — can be enhanced in a variety of different ways, such as by socketing gems or enhancing to +1, +2, etc. Players also build their own combos and decide what skills to invest points in, whether to really beef up a few or to spread the power out among them all. Those who decide they want a chance can respec the points once they hit level 15.
At level 15, approximately two hours into the game according to Knox, is where players get to further refine their play by selecting subclasses. At launch, Kritika Online’s main classes will be Reaper, Rogue, Warrior, and Gunmage, with new classes being introduced throughout the year. The subclasses break down as follows:
- Reaper – Valkarie or Vamp
- Rogue – Catspaw, Assassin, or Wolf Guardian
- Warrior – Bezerker, Fire Lord, or Doom Blade
- Gunmage – Frost mage, Shadow Mage, or Warp Mage.
If you can’t really decide which you want to play, go ahead and play more than one. “We really want to encourage that cross-class knowledge,” Knox said. He explained that the game actually encourages playing alts by giving each character its own pool of daily points to spend as well as increasing an overall buff for each max-level character you have.
On the topic of progression, the game itself will be able to progress at a steady rate. Since the content was already created for the original game in Korea, there is no uncertainty about where to go — it has already been laid out. Because of this, Knox noted that the content release schedule for the west will be more aggressive. How quickly will new content release? Knox said the team wants to see how quickly players consume the content in the betas before spelling out a timeline; he noted the need to find a balance between holding stuff back and overloading the players.
Knox also noted that the creators are very excited to be in the west and see this launch as a way to improve the game utilizing what they learned with their previous launch. He said they have dedicated a part of the team to adapting this western version instead of just shuffling it over. Both teams are excited to hear the feedback from players during the closed beta.
Store, story, and more
As a free-to-play game, folks want to know what will be for sale in the store. Knox said there are “items of convenience as well as cosmetic items.” More than just costumes, players can buy completely different hair styles and colors to give their character a different look. Outfits can be bought in bundles or separately, and all pieces can be individually dyed as well. Items on the costume tab can also be marked to show or not show on your character. A nice feature in the store is the ability to preview every cosmetic on their character to be sure how all pieces look together.
Unfortunately (for me), the customization is only available via the store. There is no customization as far as building your characters; all you do is select the stock character by class. Another negative for me personally is that classes are gender locked.
As for story, Knox noted that there is a consistent story from levels one through 65. Players are on the side of good (even the Vamp vampire who drains blood of her enemies). More about the story, including a video, will be revealed later this week.
In all, Kritika is a game that can work for folks who only have short bursts of time and want to casually hop in for a quick action thrill as well as offer depth for those who want to invest more into the progression system. Interested players can sign up for the closed beta on the official site. However, since this beta is so short-lived at three weeks, those who want to be sure to get in can get a guaranteed spot by buying a founders pack. Right now and throughout the closed beta, these packs are 25% off ($15, $30, and $75); during open beta, the packs will still be available but for full price ($20, $40, and $100). Each pack includes and equal amount of funds to spend in the store, paid elite status time, and titles while higher packs also have pets, costumes, and sunglasses. Fun fact: The pets pick up loot, saving even more time.
