I would like to start off by saying that I’ve played World of Warcraft, I’ve been addicted to it, and I’ve gone cold turkey to get off. I’ve been WoW-free for a couple of months but every once and a while I get an urge to start playing again. I remember seeing all these ads on the television for products to help smokers quit so I wanted to see if I can find a WoW replacement. So begins my quest to find a good (free) massive multiplayer online game to play that would satisfy those urges. I want free because most games that are pay to play are good in their respective genres but to find a game that’s good enough to play that is free would be a good game indeed.
The first game on my list is called Fiesta Online by Outspark. It’s a cutesy game that offers adorable pictures during loading screens. There really wasn’t a story to this game. The website’s provided story says, “A new power has risen in the north. The battle between Angels and Demons has begun. Is your heart pure enough to follow the path of Light? Or are you destined fall into the clutches of darkness?” There wasn’t any other introduction and there wasn’t any in game background. Fiesta is simply a world in distress that needs a hero or two. The game play is unimpressive having the standard ‘WSAD’ and a click to move setting. There is a number bar that you can hotkey shortcuts to and a health and mana bar. The click has an auto walk and auto attack where it will attack a specific monster when you click on it. Fiesta is a standard MMORPG with monsters to fight, parties to join, and caves to explore. It has an economy that’s just starting off, but the lack of an auction house or any trading system other than word of mouth leaves it lagging behind other MMOs.
There are 4 classes to pick from: warrior, archer, cleric, and mage. The classes are just as they would seem, however the two magic casting classes don’t seem to be able to survive on their own later in the game. Playing as a mage I was unable to kill things in the higher levels because of my character’s incredibly low health and armor; even with a high damage to the monsters all it takes is two hits and my character dies. The quests of Fiesta lack variety (kill monsters, get gold) and since it’s a foreign developed game, translation errors pop up. The translations don’t stand out as much of a problem compared to having to walk from one end of the world to the other to kill the same monsters, which leaves me bored.
Other small annoyances include the ability to buy mounts that die. You purchase an expensive horse that slowly runs out of energy which then requires you purchase a new one. The game is tedious to progress with slow leveling and no way to quickly heal and move on. There is an ability to sit and heal slowly or drink a potion with a cool down, but both leave the feeling that I could have been doing something other than sitting. The graphics are average: no special effects, the environment leaves much to be desired, and the monsters are definitely G rated. The sound is clear and average with the music being muted after a while from sheer repetitiveness.
To put this in an age group I would put it out there for pre-teens because it’s very simple to play and doesn’t take a lot to understand. I disliked this game and wouldn’t suggest it to anyone. It’s at most an average game to play; it doesn’t stand out as different and has a few problems that just can’t keep prospective players.
