Recent reviews by kEVIN+

One of my favorite games of all time!

So far the game looks great, but does have some performance issues when transitioning zones.
Updated GPU drivers and still having some issue. Hopefully these get worked out.

Disclaimer: PvE player

Lost ARk is an open world adventure ARPG with an isometric camera angle.
It plays very heavily on the combat experience so I would like to bring this topic up first.
In terms of combat, I think this is one of the most fleshed out ARPGs available.
Like high APM? There's a class for that. Like chill vibes? There's a class for that too.

There are 17 advanced classes in Lost Ark at the time of posting. Every class has 2 primary "class engraving" that dictate the build you will choose. Both choices give very different playstyles for the user and choosing the one that fits your playstyle is key to a fun experience in Lost Ark. Grand total that gives 34 different class playstyles that play very different from each other. Which is good considering Lost Ark is a very alt-friendly game.

Once you have selected your Class Engraving, it is time to look over your skill choices. All classes have over 15 options for base skills, and each skill has 3 Tripods(talent points) that you unlocked when you put more points into it. This Tripods adjust how the skill functions by giving damage, adjusting it's speed/crit/aoe radius, or adjust the number of hits. Most classes have 8 skills that can be placed on the hotbar at one time but there are a few classes that alternate weapons and get upwards of 16 skills(like Deadeye and Gunslinger). All of this combined gives a HUGE amount of customization per class. Each skill and Tripods can be uniquely customized just for your playstyle. That alone puts this game far above most ARPGS in terms of build diversity and is truly where this game shines.


There are 3 primary pieces of content for ilvl progression. All includes combat.

Daily - Chaos dungeon - Rift from Diablo 3 (1-4 players)
Daily - Guardian Raid - Single boss challenge (1-4 players)
Weekly - Abyssal Dungeon/ Raid - Mix of both. Even more challenging bosses. (4-8 players)


Next I would like to talk about horizontal progression. The non-ilvl increasing side of the game. While not directly increasing your ilvl, there is a lot of beneficial content that directly impacts the combat side of the game with skill points, runes, and engravings.

Horizontal focused content:

Roster level = Overall level of your account. XP is given from all activities on all characters
NPC reputation - Gives useful items or collectibles
Craft/gathering - Used for crafting battle items
Island hopping - Island token collectables
Timed islands - Rewards based on island in rotation
Daily quests(Una's Tasks) - Collectibles, ilvl materials, island tokens


Both are mandatory for progression towards end-game content. Although you can be more selective on the horizontal grind if you're not a completionist. Alts come in handy for both pieces of content.



"But what about that loot?" you ask...ahhhh yes fellow ARPG grinders. There's a lot of loot to be had in LA as well, although not quite in the same stem as most traditional ARGPs. Most traditional ARPGs has you search far and wide for armor pieces, accessories, charms, and gems. Nothing is static and all pieces of armor are RNG drops you collect on your adventure. Lost Ark takes a little bit different viewpoint when it comes to looting gear. Since this is a mix of an MMO and ARPG with a plethora of horizontal content, to achieve the standard MMO timegate mechanics they have separated the gearing into two categories. Left side armor is time gated and right side accessories is not time gated.

Left side armor:
Slower RNG percentage based progression(or fast if you're a lucky ♥♥♥♥).
Only determiner of your "Item Level".
Has multiple level of rarity that increases stats but the progression is transferred from lower grade armor(within a tier).
Each piece has a base quality that ranges from 0-100%
Gives base stat(str,dex,int) and vitality.
*At final tier3 of the game left side can also contain Tripods. Tripods increase the level of the "talent points" you selected for your skills.

Right side(the juicy "ARPG" side):
Give specialty stats like crit/swiftness/specialization to boost your overall dmg, cooldowns, and meter gain(if you have one)
Gives engraving. Without going to far into it, it's essentially a point system with thresholds at 5/10/15 giving various stats.
Has a chance to roll all non-class specific engravings and either of your class' engravings
Gives base stats like dex and vitality.
Has a quality system like armor which dictates the amount of all stats on the item besides the engraving points.

Ability stones:
Has a chance to roll 2x non-class engravings
Gives engraving points based on a mini-game.
Gives Vitality.
Is the backbone of all engraving setups.

Engraving books:
Give + nodes to class and non-class engravings
Once you have collected 20 books of the same type (uncommon/common/epic/legendary) you have 2 engraving slots you can equip to your character. You can equip 2x engravings this way.
Example: Collect 20x common Adrenaline engraving. You can now equip this into one of your two slots for +3 to the Adrenaline engraving, or equip in both slots for +6 to the Adrenaline engraving.

Runes:
Add special characteristics to skills in addition to Tripods"talent points".
Can add characteristics that are not available through Tripods. Like MP cost reduction or increased cast rate.

Gems(unlocked Tier2):
Give damage or cooldown reduction to specified skill

With all this said, there is a lot of gear grinding you can do in Lost Ark. The complexity of the stats and engraving just come in focus later in the game.

Basic rundown of your loot progression through the game:

1-50(story time):
Equip anything that says it's an upgrade. Terrible Diablo 3 style gear progression.
Pvp is unlocked once you get to Luthera Castle(~lvl30)

Tier1(once you hit 50 and are in Vern):
Unlock weekly raiding! Abyssal Dungeon 4 man. Multiple tiers throughout tier1- tier3. Hella fun.
Unlock Chaos on Guardian daily farm.
Try to put together some sort of engravings for your right-side while prioritizing the base stats you want(like crit).
Unlock runes by killing world bosses or progressing horizontal content.

Tier2(once you git 600 ilvl):
Go to new zone. Repeat tier1 gearing style. More options for higher engraving nodes.
Unlock Gems!
I think tier 2 is the start of the "fun" part of the game.
Character customized increases drastically with increased engraving and gem possibilities

Tier3(once you hit ilvl 1100):

1302-1370:
Unlock Tripods!
Abyssal dungeon here are far more engaging.
Most would say this is when Lost Ark really becomes fun.
Customization of your class increases drastically again. Gem/engraving/tripods allow unlimited possibilities.

1370-1415:
The min-max phase of your initial tier3 setup.
Pimp gear and engravings even more. Sell extras for $$$
Start building up your skill points true end game content.


1415+:
Unlock Legion Raids! 8 man content.
Relic accessories start to drop with higher engraving node possibilities and more stats.
Relic ability stones for more engraving node possibilities.
Final min max stage for NA(currently)


Final Thoughts:

Positives:
Literally never run out of things to do.
Vertical and horizon progression has a lot to offer in this game. 1500+ hours of collectible stuff to do while progressing ilvl.
PvP arenas are synced.
Build customization and class diversity
Challenging yet fun raids for 4 or 8 man
All characters have a global progression called "roster level" which gives stats to all characters on your server
Alt synergies diversify your daily playstyle.
Rest bonus for missed daily content

Negatives:
Higher tier(2+) gear requires Pheon(buy with gold or $). Limits end game purchasing from player market.
Subscription is mandatory for efficient grinding(more tele locations)
Reputation grinds are a bit much.
Wish you could complete weekly raid content more than once for no rewards.
RNG ilvl increase can be disheartening sometimes
Whales make my pp look small


9/10 would sink another 1k hours in..

Pretty fun game to CooP wit duh bois......but who in the ♥♥♥♥ thought it was a good idea to only have 3 person CooP?????

+Graphics good good. Runs very smooth.
+Mods and Upgrade system is interesting.

--- 3 person Coop....I mean come on man

Honestly I like this game.

It may noy have the best grahpics, but the feel of the game really brings me back to the cod2\cod4 days with a bit of day of defeat thrown in there.

Sound has made great leaps and bounds in this game tho. You teammates will automatically call out different enemy locations if you make visual contact. Which is huge since many people do not play with mics (not sure how much I would like if I was playing HC S&D) and it's actually good! They even call out if enemies are in the windows\out in the open\ by a statue. It's just cool, trust me.
Environments have also been greatly enhanced. I think they may have taken a tip or two from battlefield 1 :P
Brings a little more depth to the maps, but the maps are quite small.
Weapons , reloads, footsteps, and explosions sound ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ great imo.

In this itteration they decided to add factions into the "create a class". This helps diversify classes and loadouts a bit. It's like choosing your perk, but you can't select every perk individually. Instead you level up that faction to recieve more perks. Little watered down if you ask me.

Some shotguns are almost completely useless without have a certain class' bonus(Flameshot~i think that's what its called). I am just one of those people that always select double barrel shotguns in any game if it is availible. With the flameshot this gun is nuts, without it you might as well use your pistol. So due to the nature of the class perks they had to nerf the shotty damage and range in order to not allow most shotguns to OP with the class. Which causes an adverse effect to the diversity :/

ANNNNNDDDDD........only 2 pistols......Two. Wtf. That's all I got to say aobut that.


Overall the game feels great. Will I buy it? Probably not. I just can't get back into cod games, or maybe I'm just getting old. If cod is your thing and you still enjoy the fast pace die and repeat game play, then I really do recommend this game.

Overall:

Graphics: 7/10 -could use a little more AA
Sound: 10/10 seriously, its great.
FPS: avg of 100-120 all maxed ~i preloaded texture since I have the game installed on SSD. Load times were about 15-20 seconds. Drastically increased my fps from around 80 w/o.
Network: Probably p2p MM again. That's just cod my dudes. RIP the cod4 days :(
Gameplay: 8/10 Felt smooth, hit reg wasn't terrible, and nifty maps. Crashed only once for me..so not bad for Beta.



*Will make a bit more thorough when I'm not so tired lol

Bring yourself back to your highschool days by messaging grills about their daily drama while attempting to get in their pants.

+You can have multiple personas and lie about your likes and dislikes based on the grill
+You can tell them their boyfriends are trash and need to date you instead
+Old School Memes before they were "Dank"
+Get random icons added to your desktop

- Can't send ♥♥♥♥ pics
- Getting rejected
- Too accurate to real life

I'm a simple man, I see things that say Nier Automata and I pull out my wallet.

No complaints here. Great graphics, superb smooth combat, and a nice side of sexy.

Honestly you cant even tell this is a console port. Zero issues what so ever.

If you love DMC, you need this game.

This review is from someone who has never heard of Nier or played any of Yoko Taro's games.

Deep story with well over 40+ hours of story to unfold. AND IM TALKING DEEEP M8!@! I have 55 hours at the time of writing this with only 15 endings under my belt, and I haven't started my "Very Hard" playthrough yet. Yes....I'm addicted.


The Combat system while easy for newcomers to hack and slash, also has a lot of depth in terms of combos. Mostly being the combos that involve your Pod companion(he it pew pews while you slice and dice) and combos with delays.
There a plenty more combos involving dash and jump, but you'll figure it out.

With 30+ weapons that all have different weights/timings/combos that switch out on the fly , I'm sure everyone can find weapons suitable to their playstyle.

Last but not least, the SOUND TRACK, this is the center piece that brings everything together. The chilling feel of anxiety brushes over you everystep of the way, drawing you in to the story. I even listen to the sound track when im not playing the game...it's that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good!


I had no performance issues other than Video cutscenes run at reduced framerates (assuming due to the compression?).
Other than that, the game crashed once in 55 hours of gameplay.
Game is capped at 60 FPS

Cpu: i7-3770k
GPU: GTX 1080
Resolution: 1920x1080

So make sure to call your phycologist and schedule an appointment for ~5 days after the purchase of this game. Tell them you need to talk some real deep ♥♥♥♥, they will more than likely know why you are calling and refer you to a Nier recovery specialist.


Proposal: Buy this game for the Glory of Humankind :yorha:

Is that chainmail or are you wearing a skirt

Drink beers and play this game with ya bros, you won't regret it.
...wtf are you waiting for dipsh!t??
Buy the game
Call da m8s overs
Enjoy this dope game :)
7.5/10


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