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SUN Review - Edit
6
Mediocre
| Pros |
 
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 Spectacular music and visuals Variety of quests Weekly events |
| Cons |
 
|
 Slow character reactions Slow start to the game Some stiff animations |
Overview
Soul of the Ultimate Nation (often abbreviated as S.U.N. or SUN) is a free-to-play MMORPG developed by Webzen. SUN Online brings a strong story-based RPG to us with a large world and stunning visuals.
Visuals and Sound/Music
Visually, Soul of the Ultimate Nation looks stunning, especially when compared to many of its competitors on the F2P stage. The characters are well detailed and so are the large landscapes. The beautifully done world is one of the highlights of the game and an aspect SUN Online can be proud of. Even with all the flashy graphics and well done environments though, there is one aspect of the game that lacks visually and that is the skill animations. The skill animations look stiff and outright dull, there is nothing that makes your jaw drop or makes you interested in other skills that you might get at higher levels.
It is also impressive that the musical score is created by the Academy Award winning Howard Shore, very well known for his work with Lord of the Rings, once again he lives up to his reputation by helping to bring the story alive with exceptional arrangement.
Character Creation
There are a total of four different classes including the hard hitting Berserker, magic casting Elementalist, long range Valkyrie and the quick combat Dragon Knights. After you choose your class you can customize your character's height, face and hairstyle. While it is good to have the option to customize your character, it is limited to an extent. One tremendous problem with the character creation is that all of the four classes are gender locked, meaning that certain classes can only be played as a female/male character.
advertisement Berserker and Dragon Knight are male only classes whereas Valkyrie and Elementalist are female. What would ease the problem would be the ability to use weapons or armor from other classes but you cannot. Each group has two different weapon types they can use so you need to choose wisely as the weaponry and armor are different for each and every class.
Gameplay and Content
When you first get into the game, you are treated to a short cinematic movie that explains a little bit about what is happening in the world that you will be entering. It is a good way of welcoming you into the game but will get annoying after some time because it will start every time you enter the world. Fortunately, it's skippable. There are a total of two servers both with two channels inside of them, you can easily choose either one of them but there is no way to transfer a character from one server to another, meaning that you need to create a different character on a different server if you want to play on the selected channel. When you do choose a channel it's best to stick with it and create multiple characters because that option is available. After choosing a channel and selecting a character you are ready to get into the game.
When you first get into the actual game, you are put directly into a small beginner's village where you do the usual quests as talking to the NPCs, getting to know all of the different people that are surrounding you.
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The world you explore is rather larger; to get from one spot on the map to another you use portals. The portal system means that when you are on a certain part of the map ,to get to another spot on the map, whether it be close or not, you need to travel through a portal which can be a bit annoying, but does not affect the overall experience of the game. One issue with moving through parts of the map is that most areas of it are level locked, meaning that you need to be a certain level to get to a specific city or another part of the world.
The game's interface is similar to any other MMORPG: you've got your basic layout of a mini-map, Health/Mana bars, skill slots and more. It's a classical setup that MMORPGs are known for, why change something that works so well?
The earlier levels in the game are really just a walkthrough. SUN Online does a good job of introducing you to all of the different elements in the game such as using skills, trading items and the crafting system. You occasionally get quests where you need to gather some materials/items from certain locations. These can be very enjoyable between all of the other missions you get to do where you have to slay mobs or deliver messages.
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The crafting system is detailed and solid, there are so many items to craft that it will make your head spin. It takes some time before you really get the hang of the crafting system, but at later levels it really is something you will enjoy messing around with. When you come to level 30 or so you notice that you are still in the beginning stages of the game which can throw you off a little as this game forces you to level up as quickly as possible.
The "real game" starts after level 40. The Level cap in the game is currently at 100, which is high for a free-to-play MMORPG but well worth the trouble to get there. It feels like the game was designed for high level combat as when you pass level 40 the real fun begins, you are able to enter several different dungeons, be more effective in Battle Zone and also craft more items. While the first 30 levels are a breeze, after that the game takes a turn for the better. It is safe to say that the game focuses mainly on high level characters, which is great but if the introduction to the game has slow start it might make you lose interest in continuing into the higher levels of the game.
Like almost every MMORPG, Soul of the Ultimate Nation supports playing in a group with other people, it does not only support the feature but it forces it on you at early levels where you need to beat incredibly hard bosses surrounded by several mobs that can do a lot of damage. It is understandable that an MMORPG has a party system but SUN Online is really pushing it on you and the game makes you create a party because some quests are just unbeatable without it, as doing it alone requires 5-10 levels over the quest requirement or in a party.
While this wouldn't normally be a problem, it does serve to point to one of the game's larger flaws: a lack of a large community. Finding a group can often be difficult and as a result, frustrating for players required to do so.
Combat
The combat in this game can be quite enjoyable if you don't focus on the aforementioned animations, which are lacking. Usual attacks work fine but there is one major problem with the way they look. While they should feel fluid, they are left feeling stiff and robotic. What might have been an enjoyable and immersive gameplay element is hurt by artificial stiffness. Then there's the fact that it was difficult at times to get your abilities to trigger when pressed, leaving your character vulnerable at the worst times.
So, while the bosses and mobs in the game are well placed and designed, the feeling of fast paced action is dampened by visual and response frustrations.
The Battle Zone
The Battle Zone is probably the most unique aspect of the game worth mentioning. Designed to be similar to PvP in most other MMOs, the system adds the ability to physically select your battleground, from your choice of different maps, to your choice of difficult level.
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OVERALL
Soul of the Ultimate Nation is, at least on the surface, a fun and enjoyable MMORPG, but while I found the game to be enjoyable for a while, I soon saw that there was a disappointing lack of depth stemming mainly from a lack of community.
While I saw the fun in many of the game's systems including crafting and combat, I was distracted by an overall feeling of a game that felt stiff and sometimes robotic. Unfortunately, in the competitive world of MMORPGs, SUN just falls short.
Still, the game is free to try and does have some up sides that would appeal more to others than they do to me, so it's probably worth the download if you'd like to see it for yourself.
My score would be about the same a 6.
The game is very linear,even the maps are so small and linear.The graphics were not as good as i remember them advertising in videos,probably tone down for F2P reasons,but maybe not,i don't see much detail in anything.
What is fair about the game is ,you never get the feeling of needing to use item mall.The crafting i found to be very cumbersome,too many hard to get items,so either a large time sink or possibly that is where the item mall comes in,idk i never even looked at the item mall.The simple part of crafting,not really crafting more so a 60/40 chance at success or fail upgrades,is just a ho hum design.
DO not expect anything amazing from the game ,it is your typical F2P looking game,just moving from quest to quest,is pretty much 99.9% of the game.
Just want to point out, that if you're going to review a game with a cash shop, you should really mention the cash shop, what kinds of things are for sale, and give an idea of pricing. As controversial as cash shops are, not mentioning the cash shop in a review could be seen as biased, which leads one to wonder why? Is it overpriced? Is it impossible to play the game without it? etc.
Accurate review.
The graphics have a good style, and the levelling speed is quite quick at least for the beginning.
As mentioned, grouping is required and not always easy to setup. My other propblem is that only 4 gender locked classes with very few armor sets means everyone is a clone, which kills immersion for myself.
The game is decent for a fun romp in a new setting.
Yep, I also find it should be necessary when reviewing a "F2P" game to also review the cash shop, how much money can affect gameplay, how much NOT spending money can affect gameplay, what kinds of items are there (like, hidden monthly fees, items that don't affect efficiency, items that affect it, endless sinks which are the ones that can give you the Iwin buttom if you spend enough money, etc).
I think this is a pretty good idea.
I felt this review lacking. Either its just that game does not have much to offer than run of the mill questing and dungeon running and some pvp, or it was just the review focused on just the graphics, gender locked classes, and robot animations.
This review is spot on. I got bored after a few days and especially when I hit the first forced group quest.
Great music, great scenery, but the rest is bit stale and dull and typical of FTPs these days.
How old is this review?
Seriously, he says it is the webzen(EU) version but yet the lvl cap is 100? Webzen is up to lv150, with 5 classes not 4, and has been that way for awhile.
Even then ijji version(NA) has been lv115 since feb.25th. This is the first review i've seen of the game and it is already in need of a re-review.
I hate to sound like some crazed fanboy but almost every flaw pointed out in this review isn't true, animations are very fluid and flashy. Depending on what class you are regular attacks can seem rather slow and clunky at low lvls, but there are skills and stats that improve overall attack speed, which smooths everything out.
((Forgot to add, melee can't spam skills in this game. Say if you are a Berzerker, you are required to do atleast 1 normal attack before each attack skill, so THAT is why he felt the skills to be unresponsive.))
The best thing about this game is the freedom, your character isn't forced to be a certain way, UNlike all the crappy WoW-style linear progression systems. You choose whatever stats/skills/gear you want, and if you make some really bad choices along the way.. then and only then, could I see how most of what this reviewer says about the game as being true.
From the review, it does look like he played the game to get a feel for it, but it felt like he didn't really immerse himself in it. The posters before me have a point, when reviewing a FTP with MT its important to mention the cash shop and its pricing and how it affects your gameplay. The review also seems slightly lacking.
Why does everyone think that if you have a predefined class, that you suddenly lose choice of freedom? I have choices. If I want to heal I play my priest, druid, shammy or pally. If I want to tank I choose the tank classes, etc. Granted, maybe you want all of those one character. Sure that would be great. FFXI did it but no one is copying them, which they should.
I still think a hybrid system of themepark/sandbox is the way to go, to appease those who like and those who don't like the WoW style linear progression. Which isn't as linear as everyone makes it out to be. I give Warhammer as a better example of a far to linear game design.
I think this is a pretty good idea.
/agree
Im rather shocked that the reviewer felt the animations in SUN are lacking. Im not sure what MMO's hes been exposed to, but the animations are on par with games like Aion and Guild Wars. In fact, in some cases SUN is better than both. Hell, roll a dragon knight and pick up a spear and watch the insane combat moves as he spins and twirls his spear in action. Those are anything at all but "sticky" or poor. Theres a lot of emote animations that are very fluid, as well as idle animations. To say SUN is suffering from poor animations is like saying the MMO genre as a whole suffers from poor animations (which may be a fact..) but honestly.. SUN is arguably one of the best animated MMO's you'll find.
Aside from that, I agree with most of the review with the exception of the score. A flat 6 seems very harsh for this game. However, MMORPG.com has done a fine job of destroying its bell curve when you see overall how they rate even AAA games so I can understand them low balling SUN considering games like EQ2 earned below an 8 and WoW gets an 8.1
Thanks for the review-- now there's hope to play that game again if it picks up at 40.
Honestly, I have only one complaint about SUN, and that's ijji. In fact, I think the major reason I don't play now is ijji... because I can't find another reason why I would have stopped. I never really noticed any sticky animations in the game either... though the gameplay itself did feel alittle clunky... it was still fun though.
Gender lock is annoying but the way u build your character is the funnest (annoying?) part. There are basically at least 3 ways to build: stat based or one of the two proficiencies. So it's like there are 12 classes maybe. It's cool.
Problem is it might not be fun enough to grind that high for it to matter. And yeah, everyone looks the same.
Graphics and sound are good though.
Edit I also bought a few cash items but the only ones I really paid for were the exp boost and the run faster potion. I guess if you wanna go nuts you'll have to buy more shit like box of wonder etc but anyway try it I guess!
I just re-read this review and.. ya I gotta chime in here and say 'what an extremely limited review" (quoted to echo what several other posters already said). I didnt really notice it the first time I sifted through it, but re-reading it.. it couldnt have been any more limited.
One thing that really struck me was this:
"The Battle Zone is probably the most unique aspect of the game worth mentioning"
really? Is that why the reviewer gave literally no explanation as to what it is and spent the sentence I pasted.. as well as a nice run on sentence using language a 5th grader would use to describe something he didnt completely understand? Heres the rest of the "battle zone review":
"Designed to be similar to PvP in most other MMOs, the system adds the ability to physically select your battleground, from your choice of different maps, to your choice of difficult level."... ya..thats it. Such a unique aspect of the game, glad you took the time.
for starters, the "battlezone" system is not limited to PvP. This is just one aspect of this system. And even though I agree that the battlezone system is in fact, very unique to SUN, the reviewer did an absolute piss poor job in describing what makes it so unique in his two short sentences.
If I may quote from the website, you all may understand "Battlezones" a little bit more:
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Battle Zone System
In Soul of the Ultimate Nation's Battle Zone System, users are able to choose a map, difficulty, number of participants, and reward type to personalize the battle and dungeon. In addition, depending on the way users choose it can differ from Mission, Hunting, PVP, and Event.
Various MapsCharacter's growth depending each users' taste.
Various Game Mode and Maps.
In Soul of the Ultimate Nation, users can participate in two types of maps.First one is located in the Battle Zone which you can customize the setting as how you want to play. Second one is the Dungeon Type which has no limit of participants.
Depending on your character's class and style of attack, you can experience different pace and path in maps for growth, quest, and various events.
Battle Zone
Mission Map
Unlike regular quests, mission map runs separately as different style of scenario goal achievement. Users can experience far more action in this mode and various rewards upon mission completion.
Hunting Map
Simply structured map designed for leveling up your character. Users can choose the max number of participants, max level, class limit, difficulty, bonus reward, etc.
PVP (Player versus Player)
Battle Arena designed for combats between players. 1v1 individual battles up to 5v5 team battles are possible in this mode.
Event Map
Variety of different events is hosted in this mode. Each map is preset with certain goals users must achieve. Upon completion users will receive very valuable reward.
Stylish CombatsFast character movements, visually vibrant effects, and thrilling sounds will maximize the intensity for every combat.
Stylish Combat System
In Battle Zone with maximum capacity of 10 users per room, users can experience most intense, micro-managing, individual or team oriented combats. Fast character movements, visually vibrant effects, and thrilling sounds maximize the intensity for every combat. In addition, users can experience a different 'Hack and Slash' type of combat during a massive battle.
Various Attack Style
Users can choose their characters' fighting style. Style can be changed during any combat, thus, this become part of the strategy and strength of each individual. Special effects such as a stun and a critical hit will add more thrilling experience in combats.
Mind Blowing Action
Variety of combats and hit effects were priority in developing this game. Why? Depending each character's movement (Strafing, Forward, Runback, etc.) and spells, opponent can be knocked back, blown away, etc. All these action blows every S.U.N players' minds away.
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much like the MMORPG.com forums, their reviewers need a bit more moderation before they post their reviews.
Judging from that i'd say you havn't played this game, but you miss the point of what I mean by linear WoW-style.
In SUN you are still a predefined class, you can't cross-class skills/equipment, but you do have complete freedom as to how you want to "build" your character by manually applying your own stats, which determines the skills and equipment you can actually use.
Whereas WoW-styled's don't have stats at all, only skill points, leveling requires no thought or planning whatsoever. When you lvl up It does it all for you and basically makes everyone the same as the next person with that class. Only variable in those type of games is who has the better gear, not who actually made the better character.
Right. I'll take Wow mechanics any day over Sun's. I did play the game, for about 2 days. It wasn't memorable enough for me to remember how the skills are applied etc. to the classes. Could care less really.
I didn't hate Sun, I just think it feels like all the other Eastern FTPs I've ever played.
By all accounts it's taken a long time to become localised for the west. It's annoying that the publishing deal is split between 2 companies, with Webzen handling the EU and Ijji handling UK and US, that's a real problem right there, most UK players and EU players are used to playing with each other within a small time zone difference so the game can't attract any pan european guilds, it's a big blow against it.
I read the review and agree that it's lacking, espicially regarding Battle Zones, if you're going to mention it then some detail would be better, it's probably one of the most unique things about the title and therefore deserved more attention.
I did go take a look and then download the game after reading this review, the first thing that struck me was how easy it is to get in to the game, from start to finish with a decent internet connection you should be in the game within 30 mins to an hour, including patching, that's a major bonus for any title.
I've only played for a few hours and completed the first 'dungeon', I have to say I've not had so much fun in an F2P title so easily and so quickly, the stats system was a little confusing but the free respecs helped me out. It may be that longer exploration will reveal some flaws and the CS impact is completely unknown (another major missing angle in the review).
Graphics are great for an F2P, I didn't notice any issues with the animations and I really liked the monster designs. First impressions are good.
Nice review, though as others said before: a review of a F2P game should include details about the item shop. If you can play the game alright without spending money, or if it becomes unbearable quickly. How much you got to pay to be viable in PvE or PvP, and so on.
I pointed out the cash shop that i never looked at it,you NEVER get the feel for needing it in the game.The only thing it could be tied into that would matter is the crafting,idk but like i said you could play the game and never feel you need to even look at the item mall.Most F2P games,you feel like WOW ! i need to kill 500 of these to level up,so you know the item mall is tied into the game,all you do in SUN is move quest to quest and you level up as you do them,nothing more to the game really,unless you get into the crafting time sink.
I pointed out the cash shop that i never looked at it,you NEVER get the feel for needing it in the game.The only thing it could be tied into that would matter is the crafting,idk but like i said you could play the game and never feel you need to even look at the item mall.Most F2P games,you feel like WOW ! i need to kill 500 of these to level up,so you know the item mall is tied into the game,all you do in SUN is move quest to quest and you level up as you do them,nothing more to the game really,unless you get into the crafting time sink.
Good on you. However, YOU are not the one I was commenting on. Most casual readers aren't going to read the comments. The cash shop should have been mentioned in the original review, not relegated to waiting on some random poster to discuss it in the comments.
Personally, could care less about the game or the cash shop. I read the review, and made a comment about something I felt was lacking from the review. That is all.
Please do provide a review of the cash-shop for games that have them while your reviewing. It is a necessary yard-stick by which many will measure their interest in a game that offers one.
As others have mentioned, the types of things for sale, pricing. etc. play into whether it could be an abusive means of buying into character development rather than through game-play,and certainly cheapens the impression and experience of the game with stat-enhanced items if purchasable.
The character classes are gender locked? Before I hit that sentence, I would have probably downloaded it just to try it out. I certainly won't be bothering now.
Have to agree that gender locked games usually get a pass for me too, but i've been playing a lot of console games like Kingdom Under Fire, and that's really opened up my judgement. If you like those types of games sun is quite good.
*has an epiphany without sitting on the toilet*
With that said it's made me notice something, SuN is very comparable to KuF:circle of doom. If anything I could almost call it a clone, similar gameplay and graphic style, with alot of the same characters types(same genders too), and even the names lol: SuN/KuF.
Come to think of it i've even seen people named Regnier/Kendal/Celine running around xD just never connected the dots until now.
Well, I tried this game for the last couple of days since the review piqued my curiousity. Got to level 17 or so.
There are some aspects of it I find intriguing, such as the AC (Area Conquest) system that appeals to my collector side and the quest driven levelling that makes grinding mobs a silly thing to do and grouping fairly easy, so I will try to keep playing until 40 or so which is when someone else posted that the game gets a little better/more challenging and crafting becomes more interesting. From the leveling speed so far, level 40 isn't so high.
It lacks the feeling of an open world to explore. There are too many invisible walls and the spaces feel like shoeboxes so far.
I'm not sure about the community. The one time I have grouped so far was a kind of nightmare race to the end of the instance. Not a word spoken on party chat. There wasn't time to loot presumably minor stuff. I was invited without preamble because it is kind of obvious when everyone is hanging around the entrance to the group mission instance, and by the time I exited the instance the group had been disbanded. It was a brutally anti-social event where you did the quest as quickly as possible, no more and no less. At the end I told them they were all insane. Then I went back and soloed it so I could actually experience the content.
The combat feels like I am playing an arcade game but I do love the spear action of my Dragon Knight. If the combat was toned down, less noisy and flashy and crazy movement speeds, I think I would really love it.
Regarding the cash shop. Nothing to say there at the moment as at level 17 I don't think they even try to entice you. I certainly agree with others that it doesn't even occur to you to need cash shop items.
Disclaimer: this is not a review, not even close, it is just my personal reaction so far to SUN. :)
I played the game through beta and enjoyed it for a f2p. Then it went live and I checked out the CS prices. I quickly shutoff the game and uninstalled it from my HD. Maybe they have adjusted the prices since then, I don't know, but they had their one chance and didn't pass the test.
As far as the review goes, I would agree with it and the CS should have been mentioned.
I sadly have to agree with the ppl saying the review was lacking. Not a good review by any means, it didn't give a clear picture of anything about the game. Maybe you should check reviews before putting them on mainpage.
Btw, about the gender lock, d2 was genderlocked and still highly popular. Yes, d2 is not an MMO, but still gender lock doesn't have to mean it's a bad game.
Yes Please MMORPG.com Writers/Reveiwers remember to mention in reviews whether the game you are reviewing has a Cash Shop or not.
A few people, such as myself, will not touch a game with a Cash Shop. Please save us time by noting this in the Review you write.
Thank you.
One of the female gender locked classes is a Valkyrie.
SInce there is NO male version of a Valkyrie in ANY of the old myths, what would the reviewer have them do?