Vindictus Review [MMORPG]

[Acid]

1. Short Introduction
2. Game Details
3. System Requirements
4. The 2 Versions and their difference (Premiere VS. XE)
5. The Story
6. Characters
7. The Dungeon/Raids
8. Title System & Crafting (Expertise)
9. Cash Shop (Depot - Avatar Shop) & Dye Shop
10. Gameplay
11. Summary


Short Introduction:

Vindictus is a free-to-play non-target Action MMORPG unlike anything you have ever seen before, it features a similar gameplay style like C9 (or Divine Souls). The developer of this MMORPG is devcat and the publisher is Nexon in most of the areas (beside China).
The Source engine provides a realistic and brutal Gameplay, you are able to destroy mostly everything and you can use objects which lie around as a weapon.
The boss fights require teamwork and strategy. There are bosses which are 10 times your character's size, you will want to have the support from your party members.
There are a lot of rare drops to obtain and hundreds of equipment parts to craft. You can personalize your gear stats with Enchant Scrolls, color it via the Dye system and Fuse it with any other combination of equipment you like.

Game Details:

Developer: Devcat

Publisher: Nexon (Tiancity in china)

MMO-Type: Free2Play / Peer2peer

MMO-Genre: (non-target) Action MMORPG

Languages & Areas:

 Spoiler

Europe (English/German) [XE]

North America (English) [Premier]

China (Chinese) [XE]

Japan (Japanese) [XE]

Korea (Korean) [XE & Premier]

Graphic: Source Engine

Client Size: ~3.6 GB

System Requirements:



The 2 Versions and their difference (Premiere VS. XE)

Premiere is the first (standard) version of Vindictus and XE is an alternative version.
XE stands for Extreme Edition and offers a slightly different gameplay. The developers implemented a jumping system, you are able to strike enemies up in the air and you execute Jump-Attacks + new XE moves (each character has its own). A combo system has been added (similar to C9). Some skills are completely changed from the Premiere Version. XE features easier bosses on normal difficulty, you will be able to see the Boss HP on any difficulty and your stamaina won't run out as fast as on the Premiere version.

The Story:

 Spoiler

The Legend

The air is thick with despair, and the battles never cease. Rain falls, yet the land is barren, as if the earth has been drenched in too much bloodshed to bear fruit. Monstrous creatures lurk in every trench, cave, and valley. To survive, people have huddled together, forming ramshackle towns with high walls. Yet, cowering behind those walls does not guarantee safety...

What has become of the outside world? Few people know. Fewer care to find out. As the common folk trudge from one empty day into the next, only one thought keeps them going: the Legend. The Legend will come to pass. The people yearn for it, pray for it. They hope and believe. And because they believe, they know.

One day, they will be in Erinn.

Erinn, The Land of Paradise

In this world, there is but one moon, and it shines upon a wasteland where Fomors and beasts roam, hungry to tear flesh from bone. Not so in Erinn. In Erinn, there will be two moons, Eweca and Lateka, and they will shine with the brightness of the gods. There, no one will age or fall ill, and the land will be rich with bountiful resources.

It is the dream of Erinn, the paradise promised in the Legend, which fuels humanity in these dark times. The people wait, as they have for countless generations, for the black-winged goddess to come and save them.

They wait. Because the Legend is truth. It must be, for it is all they have.

Characters:


Lann

(Quick offensive Character who uses two swords to deal damage.)

 Spoiler

Lann specializes in dual-wielding weapons, especially swords. His attacks are speedy, and in the battlefield, enemies are left breathless at his seemingly non-stop whirlwind of slashes and thrusts. Because he relies on speed, Lann starts out wearing light armor. As he gets stronger, he learns how to wear heavy armor without impeding his quick movements.

Lann hails from the northwest. He left his hometown when it was destroyed by Fomors and came to Colhen to join the Crimson Blade mercenaries. He stakes his entire identity on his ability to be victorious in battle.

Weapon: Twin Sword / Spears

Fiona

(Defensive character who can block and strategically counter enemy attacks.)

 Spoiler

Fiona is a balanced warrior who wields a sword and a shield. She values defense, so she uses her shield to protect herself during combat and then strikes strategically when enemies aren’t expecting it. She is able to wear heavy armor from the start and later learns to wear plate armor as well.

Fiona comes from the south. She treasures her privacy and boasts a solemn, serious personality, so no one knows how she came to join the Crimson Blade mercenaries. She rarely speaks about her past. Even as people marvel at her combat abilities, they can’t help but wonder what secrets she’s hiding.

Weapon: Longsword / Longhammer

Evie

(A character which defeats her enemies with the power of magic.)

 Spoiler

Evie relies on her magic and alchemy abilities to support others during combat. She wields a staff and is weak when faced with enemies up close, but from a distance, she can summon powerful golems, revive allies and use ancient magic to perform devastating attacks. She starts out wearing cloth armor but, with time and effort, she can learn to wear light armor as well.

Evie comes from the east. From her demeanor, it’s likely she was raised in a noble family, but no one knows for sure. When asked, Evie just smiles and changes the subject. Despite her youth, Evie is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

Weapon: Staff / Scythe

Karok

(A giant barbarian which fights with pure strength.)

 Spoiler

Karok wields a colossal pillar to bludgeon his enemies into submission. As a giant, his considerable strength allows him to easily carry and throw huge objects. His massive size makes him slow, but it also grants him high defense and the ability to start with heavy armor.

Karok's pleasant and easygoing personality leads the people of Colhen to think he's from the south, though no one's sure exactly where. Some even say he's from a town of giants. Whatever you do, don't let his laidback personality deceive you, for on the battlefield, Karok is a force to reckon with.

Weapon: Pillar / Cestus

Kai

(An archer which is using kick-skills & his bow to wipe out his enemies.)

 Spoiler

No storyline available

Weapon: Shortbow - Longbow / no second weapon option

The Dungeon/Raids:

This is what makes Vindictus special, it's not an open world game like most of the MMORPG out there, it's a dungeon-based game. Most of the time you will be on a mission inside a dungeon. There are various monsters which will try to block your way, normal monsters and special monsters, you will recognize the special ones by their name (for example Stoneskin/Speedy Gnoll). Special monsters have abilities which make them harder to defeat. At the end of each dungeon you will encounter a boss monster which will be stronger than all the mobs you fought before, each boss has unique moves.

 Spoiler

Title System & Crafting (Expertise):

Vindictus features an unique Title system which allows you to improve your stats permanently by obtaining titles through quests/boss fights/special events and a lot other ways. Collecting all the titles is a nice way to entertain yourself whenever you have nothing to do.

 Spoiler

There are 3 ways to obtain equipement in Vindictus, the first one is to drop an equipment piece but it rarely happens. The second way is to collect craft materials and craft it at the NPCs (yes you read correct, you have to actually craft your equipment at the npcs) and the last one is to learn an expertise and craft it yourself for less craft materials than at the NPCs but you might get higher grade equipement by doing so.

 Spoiler

Cash Shop (Depot - Avatar Shop) & Dye Shop

The cash shop in Vindictus is called Depot, it offers various items: blessing stones, Mercenary supplies (gives you a random gift/item), costumes, different kinds of runes (to fuse your items to another item or to enhance your items without a fail).
But it's not necessary to buy something from there to be a decent player, there is nothing which acts like Premium (Membership) which we know from most f2p MMOs.

 Spoiler

You can modify your character in the Avatar Shop, for example the hair style, tattoos, make-up and several other things. There is mostly no game which allows you to work on your character's appearance as much as Vindictus does. You can make your character look like a total Hero or Creeper.

 Spoiler

Sexy underwear (USK 16):

 Spoiler

To personalize your equipment even more you can dye it in the dye shop or buy dye ampoules from the depot (the dye ampoules you can make yourself by buying it from the depot and these are usually more pure than the colours you are able to obtain from the dye shop).

 Spoiler

Gameplay:

Why is the Vindictus gameplay so special? Because Vindictus is one of the first games which made a step forward and exchanged the old "click & point" system (WoW/Aion) with a new non-target combat system. You do not need to focus on one monster and spam your skills by clicking "1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4" over and over again, in Vindictus you make combos by clicking the left or right mouse button and your attacks will hit all enemies in a certain range. There are almost no skills which require a button to be casted (just the special SP skill needs to be activated by clicking the Z button). Every click-combination is a new skill, for example left left right mouse won't be the same as left right mouse. I would say it's a totally different gaming experience and refreshing.
You can do your mission on 3 different difficulties (Normal - Hard - Hero (for level 50 players or above), by doing a mission on hard or hero you not only receive more Ability Points you will as well obtain more gold/exp and drops.

 Spoiler

Later on in the game at level 40 you will be able to obtain a transformation skill, there are 2 transformations to choose from (Paladin & Dark Knight), you will be able to join the good or dark side (don't worry you won't become a bad person by choosing Dark Knight). Transformation has 2 stages until now, the second stage accrues out of the first one and is even more powerful.

 Spoiler

Summary:

To sum it up, it's totally worth to play Vindictus since you do not need to invest a cent to make the maximum level or to achieve proper gear.
Vindictus will for sure entertain you if you are tired of seeing the same boring gameplay in any MMO you have played before.
You can try to do solo achievements or team up with your guild mates/friends to hunt down raid bosses as 8 men party, later on there will be 25 player raids (hosted by the server itself) which will bring the game on an even higher level.
You can go to fish if you get bored of dungeons or just to relax your eyes for a bit from the stressful gamer life.
Every new update brings more game content to Vindictus, more areas to discover, more raids and more achievements to make sure you won't get tired of the game.
The only disturbing part of Vindictus is the peer2peer connection, you have to host your own dungeons which means the connection of your party mates depends on your own connection (Upload), if you have too less mb upload your party mates will lag badly and most probabaly leave.
A lot of hackers abuse the client-based (peer2peer) connection to use console hacks or bots to obtain gold/equipement on a non-legit way, Vindictus EU is handling the situation really good and takes care of most hackers in an instant but Vindictus NA seems to be overran by them.

 Spoiler

Thank you for reading my review, i hope you enjoyed it and visit our Vindictus Section to find out more about Vindictus:

Please leave some constructive feedback.

Regards,
Acid

Credits:
@vindictus.nexon.net
@vindictus.nexoneu.com

[bartbilf]

Very good review, lay-out is great. Had no trouble reading it! Even for the 'skimmers' there is an option, they can just click on the part they want to read at the top of the review.

Well done Acid!

[[GM]DeathAngel]

Very good.Your review almost convinced me to quit Cabal and get my *** on Vindictus.10/10

[Acid]

Originally Posted by bartbilf

Very good review, lay-out is great. Had no trouble reading it! Even for the 'skimmers' there is an option, they can just click on the part they want to read at the top of the review.

Well done Acid!

Thank you for your constructive feedback

Originally Posted by [GM]DeathAngel

Very good.Your review almost convinced me to quit Cabal and get my *** on Vindictus.10/10

Thanks, i might write a Cabal Online Review as well if enough people care to read my first Game Review and leave some feedback.

[[GM]DeathAngel]

Originally Posted by bartbilf

I sure will enjoy reading the whole thread + msn conversations!

Originally Posted by Αcid

lol i just checked the cabal eu forum after a ~month and now he has a changed nick:

It's indeed Lord Seru

Originally Posted by Αcid

Like i told you on msn, we should make some epic thread about games-masters.com, i have a list about mostly all the GMs and their player characters beside the newest ones (because i do not play on Eu anymore) + a nice conversation from msn between a gms about the dmg hack and another conversation about alz buyers

Well to be honest I'm more interested into this

[Acid]

Originally Posted by [GM]DeathAngel

Well to be honest I'm more interested into this

I can't post it yet (i still need to sell one account) but i will release all the information i collected about gm.com during this summer

Anyway let's stay on-topic.

[Die Schnittstelle]

Are Karok and kai already out in germany?

Didn't play for a few months...

[sol!dus]

Originally Posted by Die Schnittstelle

Are Karok and kai already out in germany?

Didn't play for a few months...

Karok is available in the EU version now but it's going to take some time till we get Kai. ;O

[Acid]

Originally Posted by Die Schnittstelle

Are Karok and kai already out in germany?

Didn't play for a few months...

Originally Posted by sol!dus

Karok is available in the EU version now but it's going to take some time till we get Kai. ;O

Yes Karok was released a few weeks ago (together with thor).

And i would say that we won't see Kai for at least half a year on our server (Vindictus Eu) but i played him for ~1 month on the korean server (feels like a Lann with a bow).

[theitfan1337]

Decent review, very well done! Maybe gonna start to play Vindictus, too, if I'll find the time.

[MisterM890]

Good Review.
I played a time ago this game with friends, but the party system can be bad in some cases. If you join a party with a leader with bad Internet connection, all the party will lag. At least, if the leader quit, other person will be promoted to party leader and he can have much better connection.

 Spoiler

If someone want to buy my Spear Lann (with Sword skills leveled too) PM.
He is level 58 with last level equip.

Regards

[Acid]

Originally Posted by Nomad'

Decent review, very well done! Maybe gonna start to play Vindictus, too, if I'll find the time.

Thank you for your feedback

Originally Posted by MisterM890

Good Review.
I played a time ago this game with friends, but the party system can be bad in some cases. If you join a party with a leader with bad Internet connection, all the party will lag. At least, if the leader quit, other person will be promoted to party leader and he can have much better connection.

 Spoiler

If someone want to buy my Spear Lann (with Sword skills leveled too) PM.
He is level 58 with last level equip.

Regards

Indeed that's why i mentioned the peer2peer connection (client-based), you can host ~3 people with 500kb upload and ~6 with 1mb but for 8 people you need for sure 1.5mb+.

[Kiyono]

I played this some time ago but the game was infested with cheaters ***-mode'ing every dungeon and botting money (macro that automatically activated cheats, teleported to boss and 1hit k.o. killed boss over and over).
That all made me quit but it has been a while (last year I think?) so is it still like that or has it improved?

[Rysja]

Gute Preview.
Ich finde Vindictus ist ein sehr gutes Spiel das einzig was mich nervt ist halt das selbe hosten. In Deutschland besitzen 2/4 alle nur 6000er Leitung und deshalb macht niemand mehr Party auf und zockt alleine oder hört sogar mit dem Spiel auf.

Schaut mal ca. Mittags rein.
Kaum jemand spielt das Spiel.

[Acid]

Originally Posted by Kiyono

I played this some time ago but the game was infested with cheaters god-mode'ing every dungeon and botting money (macro that automatically activated cheats, teleported to boss and 1hit k.o. killed boss over and over).
That all made me quit but it has been a while (last year I think?) so is it still like that or has it improved?

Actually there are like no cheaters lately (beside the China farmer bots) because there are no more public hacks for Vindictus Eu (but the NA version is full with them). And Nexon Eu does a good job banning all the users which do abuse consoles or other tools.

It did improve a lot and the new daily raids are challanging.

Originally Posted by Rysja

Gute Preview.
Ich finde Vindictus ist ein sehr gutes Spiel das einzig was mich nervt ist halt das selbe hosten. In Deutschland besitzen 2/4 alle nur 6000er Leitung und deshalb macht niemand mehr Party auf und zockt alleine oder hört sogar mit dem Spiel auf.

Schaut mal ca. Mittags rein.
Kaum jemand spielt das Spiel.

Danke,
Ja die Peer2Peer connection ist leider ein dicker negativer Punkt von Vindictus aber tot ist Vindictus sicher nicht vlt bist du auf den falschen Channels aber auf 1-10 ist immer einiges los und in meiner Gilde sind zwischen 20-40 Leut online am Tag.