Recent reviews by Ylthorin

There is no reason, at all, for a game to not allow you to pick the character you want to play in a game with dozens of characters to select from. The decision to lock character selection behind pure RNG is a decision that I am utterly baffled by, and I have no idea how this concept made it past the cutting room floor.

If you *really* want to play this game, stick to Custom games, because that's the only way you'll be allowed to pick whichever character you actually want to play. If not, I hope you'll enjoy being randomly given characters to play with your only option for a different one being paying in-game currency to roll a different randomly-selected god.

The concept is phenomenal, but I don't see a reason to play this game if I am not allowed to choose for myself.

Note that this review was made at the very start of Open Beta, and contains a bit of off-topic rambling. Apologies for this.

Where do I even begin with AQ3D? Let's start from the beginning, back when I originally joined the original Adventure Quest. It was a simple game, fun for what it was, though the server restrictions were a pain. The company's great too. The staff are open and friendly about just about everything related to the community - I myself can count several staff members as personal friends, including Artix himself.

Then I played Dragonfable, which was much more refined than the original AQ in gameplay. More elements, more attacks, better gameplay, and the story was about as compelling even if I didn't dive as deeply into it as I did the original AQ. It introduced us to several new characters, including Sepulchure, who is one of the more interesting villains I've seen in a game.

Then, came Mechquest. One of my personal favorite AE games, even if it's been long-abandoned. That game was great, it hit my need for giant robot sci-fi action. Shame that there were so many unresolved plot points, but oh well, they had good reason to abandon it due to their next game.

Next off came AQWorlds, their first foray into the MMO world. For a game made in Flash, it was quite well-made, even if the Alpha and Beta had many issues. I sometimes log back into AQWorlds every now and again to have some fun with the game.

And now, we reach AQ3D, originally billed as Legends of Lore or something to that effect. I was extremely hyped for this game. AE's first attempt at a 3D game, and not just 3D, 3D MMO. They wanted it to play on every device without issues, and from what I've gathered, they've succeeded. There were setbacks that delayed the game for years, but it managed to make it through anyways.

I had the honor of visiting AE's Secret Underground Lab when Closed Beta began. I got to see how they work, and they're a close-knit team that looks out for each other, and are quite fun to play with. They were kind enough to grant me several things during my visit, one of which is now invalid but was a very high honor while it lasted.

I've watched AQ3D build itself up from the very start of Closed Alpha to the beginning of Closed Beta, and it's come a long way. I remember how we all started with only Battleon, with no crafting, no real storyline, no nothing except enemies to grind on. Level cap was Level 3, and there was a boss that folks could cheese by just switching gear around for full heals.

Then came new areas, then dungeons and crafting, and a whole slew of new features, and more are slated to come. I donated $60.00 US to the Kickstarter campaign to fund AQ3D, and every last cent was woth it. I may not play it every day like I used to, but every time an update hits, I guarantee you, I'll hop right in and have me some fun.

Do I recommend AQ3D? Yes, with all my heart. It may not be at its most polished state at the time of this review, but it's made well enough to be more than worth your time. It's Free to Play, with an entirely optional one-time fee upgrade to Guardian status, much unlike AQ3D with monthly transactions.

While there *is* microtransactions in place, and some folks who remember earlier AE games would know that earlier practices included barring off the best gear to those who pay, AE has made it exceptionally clear that they refuse to make this game Pay to Win. You can buy shortcuts and cosmetics, not power. The best items in the game are impossible to simply buy with microcurrency (After player feedback on such, no less!).

And on a personal note, seeing this game, which had many setbacks and developmental problems occur in its creation, finally reach Open Beta, it makes it clear that if you don't give up, you can succeed. AE has meant a lot to me, ever since middle school. They gave me the drive to start up my own game company, they helped my writing become coherent, and I will support them until the day that company crashes.

Artix, I'm glad to have met you in person, and I look forward to seeing what else you can come up with. To those who wish to join in on AQ3D, to you I say, Battle On. And to those of us who have been with AE for as long as I have, here's to another 14 years of Artix Entertainment's games. Catch you on whatever server I'm on.

-Matthew Joseph "General Tommy" Michaelson

I'll be honest, I have never played a Doom game before this one. I had heard of the series quite often, but I had never actually played it. So when this game first got announced, I was very eager to see how it played, and it did not disappoint.

The game is fast-paced, brutal, chaotic, pretty challenging, with some emphasis on exploration to acquire weapons earlier as well as other neat little trinkets. Some of the secrets are a pain to find, particularly the classic level sections (you can easily find it on the Automap, but actually opening them is the tricky part). The rune challenges add a nice addition to the game, especially as they get more difficult as the game goes on, with the rewards getting increasingly useful.

The addition of the Glory Kill system was an interesting decision, but I can't call it a bad one. Glory Kills are an excellent way to resolve the matter of no regenerating health or shields without forcing the player to scavenge through levels for health packs, and the animations are so brief that it hardly detracts from the flow of the fights.

Now, the plot of the game is very minimalistic, but frankly, who plays a Doom game for the plot? Really, all you need is an excuse to kill hordes of demons and you're good, which this game delivers. You're never far from a brawl, and even if the cast of characters is fairly forgettable (I almost completely forgot about the villain until she showed up at the end of the game), I never expect much of a plot from Doom, and neither should anyone else.

Interestingly, the game included a Codex feature, which I find to be a fascinating addition, as it enables you to learn more about the setting if you want to, but is entirely optional. You will automatically acquire certain codex entries if you kill an enemy for the first time or download the Automap for the level, as well as acquire a gun for the first time or its optional alt-fire modes, but at no point are any of these Codex entries mandated (unlike Doom 3, where you had to listen to PDA files in order to acquire door or locker codes).

Unfortunately, some of these Codex entries are currently bugged and are unable to scroll when by all means you should be able to. I am uncertain as to what is causing this glitch, and it is rather annoying for me, but it does not detract from the experience too greatly.

While it isn't until late in the game that you actually face a boss battle, and there are only three boss battles in total throughout the campaign, they are still every bit as entertaining as they should be, with the first boss being none other than the Cyberdemon (amusingly, the achievement for killing it is called "Shoot it Until it Dies"). Bosses 1 and 2 are two-stage fights, but the final boss ironically is only a single stage (though you could consider what happens when the boss drops down to half health to be Stage 2. It's just that the other bosses regained their health when the stage shifted).

There's no reloading mechanics in the game if one does not count the Super Shotgun, and you can carry a crapton of weapons on you at any point in time, so you're almost never without ammo in the later stages of the game (even disregarding the fact that your starting pistol has infinite ammo to make up for a lack of punching).

I should note at this point that I have not tried out SnapMap nor the multiplayer, so I cannot in good faith cover them in this review. I have heard, however, that the multiplayer was rather poorly developed. Do not take my word for it, however, as again, I have not played the multiplayer.

To any who wish to play this game, I recommend you go in without expecting a deep plot and instead focus entirely on the fact that you're murdering hordes of demons with your weapons of choice.