Aika review

AIKA Online Review Free MMORPG   Genre: Fantasy MMORPG Publisher: gPotato review by J. Davis	Ready to play now? Click the image!
"for the dedicated players of the MMORPG genre..."

As a seasoned MMORPG player, I've seen my fair share of quality games and a few lower-scoring experiences that have only a few slight problems in execution that hold them back from true excellence in the genre. So when I came in to Aika Online review. I was checking all of the ins and outs of the game to see just how far the game raises itself in its measurement. Only this time, it was a bit more on the sore side than the good side for once.

Indeed, the slight disappointments that I uncovered can do more than ruin the experience -- in fact, some of the issues can effectively make the entire game completely unplayable if you're not paying attention to what you're doing, or may possibly lead you into frustrating situations that may serve as a discouragement in holding you back from considering whether you intend to even keep playing AIKA, let alone any type of MMO game for that matter.
 

How is this a new weapon?

Case in point: one particular task that you're given when you first start out Aika will break the game experience in its entirety should you overdo the requirement of the task, or do anything that inhibits your ability to proceed with the game's progression. In that particular scenario, you're given a weapon of the same exact type and identification as the one you're equipped with as you start out in the game world. The idea is to swap the so-called "new weapon" in for the one you started with, and then sell offthe duplicate in the next quest that you get in sequence.

No-hands battle

However, this presents some issues if you end up making a mistake during the process. If you were to accidentally discard one or both weapons (and thus leave yourself completely weaponless) then you may possibily end up being unable to complete the sales quest, let alone have the ability to fight off your enemies once you reach the point of your first battle quest. Since Aika enforces a strict "no-hands" battle style, you can't punch your foes in the jawbone even if you wanted to. This applies even if you mistakenly sell both of your weapons during the "sell and buy" quest that immediately follows your weapon-switching task, effectively meaning that you have to start over with a new character if you don't have any other players to rely on for a replacement, since buying one yourself from an NPC at this point in the game is completely impossible due to the required monetary cost in gold units thereof.

Even if you do end up needing to start over as a result of this issue (or anything else), you'll be completely out of luck if you wish to use the same character name upon realizing your mistake. That's because Aika Online doesn't even allow you to delete a character profile on your account for a whole entire week after its creation. In other words, you're stuck using a different character name if you're the impatient type who intends to jump back in with a fresh new character to explore the world as.

Even more problematical is that you're limited to a total of just three character profiles on a single account in AIKA, so if (heaven forbid) you were to mess up on all three without due process, and have already used up all three of your slots, then you're shot out of luck once more... or at least until each character's full week is up, that is. This applies even if you're looking to check out any of the other five class types (warrior, rifleman, etc.) that Aika offers to its players. Top this off with a forced logout if you leave the character management screen idle for an extended duration, and you'll be wondering just how patient you are should you be forced into starting over with your character design process simply because you had to step away from your computer system for an extended duration.

No child's play

As for the rest of the game experience, there are a few things worth pointing out as well. For example: the game's NPC dialog. Some of the words used in Aika's quest briefings may have quite a few strong qualities that will pop up in your face. One early quest-giving NPC in particular tosses out the a-word, d-word and the longer of the two b-words in a raspy, drill sergeant demeanor without a moment's hesitation. This one is definitely not child's play in any possible shape or form.

Quests, pure MMORPG elements

On top of that, at least one battle quest that you receive from this very same NPC tasks you with taking out a primary target situated within a group of trigger-happy foes that just happen to be very easy to set into aggro mode, and which can kill off your character in a matter of minutes such that you're forced to revive at your most recent save point. So you'll be excessively overcrowded in a fight that is effectively impossible to win by yourself at several points in the game's progression, making group play a very real possibility in order to keep the chains moving along in certain situations. Thankfully, most of the other early quests can easily be completed on a solo basis; however, the fact that such a situation will arise at some point most certainly bears mention here. Aika clearly tends to emphasise the "multiplayer" portion of the term MMORPG to a very large extent.

Overwolf add-on

At least one thing has managed to make tke list of my few personal favorites regarding the Aika download package: the Overwolf add-on that has been included with the game was a real surprise in both form and function. It's a completely optional part of the installation process (and there's no hint of any malware junk, in case such a worry is a major put-off for you) but it makes things easier for you when you need quick access to the game's home page, or any other website, or the microtransaction charge system, or even your latest Facebook updates – all without leaving the game session.

Once the Overwolf component is installed, accessing these functions is as easy as passing your pointer over the half black oval on the left of the game screen and choosing your desired function (whichever one of the aforementioned tasks you're looking for at the moment, or any of the other tasks that are provided via the Overwolf system. My only complaint about this efficiently-helpful add-on is that it doesn't shut down when the game does (presumably for access whenever you'd like to use it) so you have to close it manually after you're done playing if you don't need it for anything else, nor is there any way to set it to close down automatically thereof.

AIKA ONLINE : Decent Experience

To sum up my Aika review, Aika does offer up a somewhat decent experience, with all things considered – but that's only if you're paying attention for long enough to avoid messing it up. Indeed, you can very easily leave yourself with an unplayable mess if you're not careful, and with only three character slots to play with it can be devastating to your enjoyment of Aika should you make the same mistake three times over. Add in the frustration that can result from potentially starting far away from your objective if you tackle certain quests by yourself, and it bears mention (as I stated earlier) that Aika certainly enforces the “multiplayer” portion of the MMORPG experience.

For all of these reasons, I can only recommend Aika Online to those who are dedicated to the MMO genre, and who are willing to put up with their triumphs as equally as with their mistakes. Anyone else who is new to the MMORPG market and therefore not as likely to understand what makes these games tick is best served into looking elsewhere but Aika, as the fun that you can have can be spoiled fairly easily in this game to the point where you could almost give up on the whole entire genre. And that's quite a shame.

J. Davis
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