Portal - Softnyx
Cost - F2P with Cash Shop
PvE - Stage Mode, hosted in lobby
PvP - Battle Mode, hosted in lobby
Learning Curve - Easy to learn, hard to master
PC Requirements - Low
Genre - Online-Action RPG
What Is Rakion?
Rakion is a lobby-based Online-Action game with RPG elements that was released back in 2005 by Softnyx. Starting out, you create a character by selecting one of five different classes and then giving your character a name. Note that there are no initial character customization, and that classes are gender locked. The classes consist of Swordsman, Archer, Blacksmith, Mage, and Ninja. For this overview, I chose Mage.
Upon logging in I was presented with a server selection screen. Seeing that I live in the USA, I chose the Canada/USA server, which only had about 120 players online. This is probably one of the biggest cons for Rakion, as it isn't that popular. The most amount of players that I've ever seen online in one server was 500 in the European Union, which is IP blocked, which I find ridiculous.
After selecting a server and creating my character I proceeded with the tutorial. The tutorial was simple and taught me everything I needed to know to start playing in Stage Mode, but gave no explanation on other functions outside of the game such as the Refinery or Shop.
I still have no idea on what role the Refinery plays in this game, but I'm guessing that it is used to upgrade/enchant the player's armor and weapons in some way. Upon opening the shop for the first time I was a bit confused on what items did what, but soon found my way around and had no trouble in understanding the game's item system. I was a bit surprised that there were a ton of items in the Cash Shop, but only about a handful of items for in-game currency, but I also didn't see anything extremely overpowered, which is always a good thing.
Next I noticed that when leveling, players are given 3 stat points to place in the area of their choosing, ranging from attack damage to movement speed. This allows players to vary greatly from each other with different builds, despite there only being five classes.
Next I decided to try out the PvE, called Stage Mode. There are basically different mission for either solo or small groups of players consisting of killing a certain amount of NPCs in a set amount of time or time attack missions. At the end of the mission you are rewarded with experience and gold, depending on how well you performed.
As you level up, you unlock more missions that get increasingly harder, and soon require some friends to complete.
Since my character was only level one, I decided to start with the time attack mission. When the match began, I was confronted by two enemies that weren't that hard to defeat, and soon was on my way.
After killing the two enemy magicians in the final room, I encountered a massive enemy that charged right after me, hurling boulders which almost took me out after casting some of my spells.
After a short but challenging battle, I managed to get a below-average score of C. Even though this was the first mission, I had some trouble with the final area, which almost costed my life.
I was rewarded with some experience and gold, then later found myself back in my lobby, preparing for some PvP action. Sadly, I had some issues joining a match. Due to the very small population, I was stuck with a few rooms that contained players much more experienced than myself, which wasn't thrilling. Since there aren't many new players in Rakion, you are often matched against higher levels, or stuck in Stage Mode until you can hold your own in Player vs. Player combat. That wasn't the only problem, though.
Even though I was on the Canada/USA server, I found myself being auto-kicked from many rooms due to my connection being a lot slower than the other players in the room. Seeing that my internet was working, and that I had no trouble joining earlier, I decided to try one of the alternative but much-less populated servers, which then fixed my problem. I found it odd that Wolf Team, a FPS published by Softnyx, gave me the same issue. Whether the problem was on my side or Softnyx's, I will never know.
After some time, I decided that Rakion was a great unique game, but the extremely small population filled with mostly veteran players will turn off newer players looking to face similar skill levels. Despite the game being an older one, I enjoyed the graphics and effects, although I don't usually care much about the looks of a game. If you are looking for some quick fun against challenging NPCs or fast-paced PvP that requires skill, give Rakion a try. Although you might not stick with it long enough to reach a higher level, you'll get some entertainment out of it. What have you got to lose? It's free.
For more information on different game modes and more detailed class explanations, check out the official game site at http://rakion.softnyx.net/.
