Lost Ark Review: Great Combat in an Accessible F2P MMO
In the high-demand space of MMOs, small twists on the formula can make a significant impact. New free-to-play MMO Lost Ark leverages the familiar tropes, bugbears, and trends of the genre, but wraps them in an action-RPG approach that feels welcoming to neophytes — and, specifically, fans of Diablo or Torchlight with less skin in the MMO game. Whether it will maintain novelty months from now is harder to discern, but there’s considerable content in this package, even before diving into its myriad premium unlocks.
Lost Ark’s narrative is probably one of its weaker elements, which may have to do with a fairly workmanlike translation of a trope-filled narrative. Individual players embark on a journey through the land of Arkesia, essentially filling the right-place, right-time, right-person trope over and over again through the considerable single-player-ready questline. Practically every story beat is familiar and predictable, and the generic NPC conversations don’t do much to enliven the narrative, as they're mostly fluff to quickly click through on the way to the next objective.
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That being said, Lost Ark’s cinematic interludes and set piece quests are impressive and dynamic in their own right. It’s a game where a sizable number of its dungeons and main questline touchstones boast a unique gameplay wrinkle or some eye candy at the least; a dungeon delve through tombs may require a special gameplay-altering artifact, while a staged castle siege sees players vaulting onto ramparts and commanding a ballista against hordes of demonic enemies. These signature moments add much more charisma and engagement to the game than its simplified, numerous,
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