So as most of you already know, the new Legends of Martial Arts (LOMA) closed beta test (CBT) started today.  I intentionally did not read any specifics on classes, game features or how to play as I wanted to get the maximum impact from my first time play as a new player.  I decided to blog about this to share what I found.  Rather than write a massive lengthy block of text for you all to read, I decided to break it up and bulletpoint how I experienced LOMA in a sort of diary fashion.

23rd Nov - 11pm

• CBT starts in just an hour or so from now on the 24th... yay very excited.
  

• Installed client, patched & tried to load the game.... you never know :P
  

24th Nov - 1am

• Games not running, so I check the official forums to see what people are saying
  

• Added a post "why does LOMA timeout on login"... got some really nice, helpful responces.
  

• Was advised that the time zone difference could be the reason the servers aren't up yet.
  

• No official post stating what time (in different time zones) the CBT goes live.... my god add a counter already!
  

• Took a sleep, someone said that the game was going to be 8hrs away based on where the developers are from.
  

24th Nov - 5am

• Four hours have passed, try to log on... still nothing, noticing lots of bugs in the small bit of frontend i've seen
  

• Go to forums to check on latest posts and to note bugs found so far.... lots of people asking where is the CBT?
  

• Sneak some more sleep, need to be fresh to enjoy this CBT when its released.
  

  
  
  

24th Nov - 11am

• Check official site, so bored of waiting already that I play the gay forum games like "follow on from the last person"
  

• Made an avatar for the forum, saved as a transparant png, first time i save this file type.... really bored now!
  

  
   

24th Nov - 1pm

• Post on MMOsite to see if the community knows anything I don't.
  

• Check official site forums.... forums are going really slow now, lots of people wondering when it starts.
  

• Ate some food, watched some tv, browsed MMOsite.
  

  
   

24th Nov - 3pm

• Starting to feel a little like Im wasting my time now.
  

• Check official... can't really browse the forum each page takes 5mins + to load.
  

• Post new thread declaring "If its not up and running by 6pm GMT the game is getting uninstalled and flamed".
  

• Check MMOsite.... some helpful answers and suggestions (they should send me an email when it goes live)
  

  
   

24th Nov - 6pm

• People seem to think this is the time the servers are coming online (no official word, just guesses)
  

• Try to log on.... still timing out. I notice the terrible interface inconsistancies more so now.
  

• Check MMOsite & Official site, browse unrelated topics out of bordem.
  

• I seriously consider cutting off my own head to stop the bordem.... but decided to play some Dofus for a bit.
  

  
   

24th Nov - 9pm

• Try to logon, still nothing..... jeeeezus christ, there are only 3hrs left of Nov 24th! this very sloppy indeed.
  

• Browse the forums, people are saying its going to go live any minute now.
  

• I decide to look at other PWE games on there site, im impressed by the sheer amount of games listed but noticed one game that I played before called 12 sky. Which was truely terrible when I tested it.... this isn't a good omen, i didn't even realise that it was the same company. *gulp*
  

  
   

24th Nov - 10pm

• Check the official site.... notice that its running faster than it was earlier. decide thats a good sign.
  

• Check emails, it was suggested I would recieve an email once it goes live... nothing in my inbox.
  

• Try to login.... ITS WORKING!!!
  
  
  

Playing LOMA, my own thoughts and opinions....

• Races and classes -- Not very many customisation options on the character select screen.
  

• Interface -- Large clunky and very disjointed, many many many buttons of which none seem intuitive at all.  Massive amount of other languages in the middle of english sentences... remind myself its CBT.
  

• Quests -- Distinct lack of guidance at the start of the game.... the first quest giver that start off right in-front of you has three or four quests from the very start.  Normally its better to ease the player into the game with one quest followed by another quest for a while until the play has covered the basics.
  

• Engine -- Seems decent, not as un-loved as the 12sky one i remember... which was entirely on a flat plane.
  

• Environments -- yeah man, pretty impressive compaired to 12sky... they have hills, dips and the likes.
  

• Navigation -- where the hell am i? I have a map and a strange pointer compass thing that obscures my characters body... not that I want to see my characters body... but obscuring it, that to me in game design is a no-no... stick the compass on the ripped off WoW minimap.
  

• Sound -- Not bad really, lots of missing feedback sounds... but hopefully this will be added during the beta test.
  

• Music -- What the hell... 20-30 second loops... thats just evil PWE. Sound gets turned off.
  

• Context -- where the fook is the martial arts? I have a sword... feels more like a bog standard adventure game than I had hoped.
  

• Options -- Where the hell are they? I looked around most the HUD buttons and couldn't see anything like that... sure its there, but I cant help feeling I should be playing the game not fighting to find something that should take 2 seconds to do.  No tutorial to teach me these things so I just mute the sound via vista.
  

• Exiting -- In almost every PC game i've ever played pressing ESC key brings up a menu with options.... not here it seems, really annoying that I can't do this.  Why would they not include this most basic, standard command... a bug maybe? Im beginning to think not, based on my observations of the rest of the game.
  

• Uninstalling -- doesn't work, left all the files on my system and said it was finished.
  

• Deactivating account -- No way to close a PWE account that is obvious.... I use the help system and find that I need to send a ticket or email them to have my account deactivated..... that to me is laughable and tells me they have a very very low player base.
  

• Immersion -- I found it impossible to get into this game, the lack of quality in the game made me not want to play it... where is the love in there creation, i just can't see it.
  

  
   

Final Summary

I was really really excited to play this. I love martial arts, I loved the graphics from the screenshots, but it didn't live up to my expectations.  The way that they handled the launch was terrible, alot of people decide in a snap instant if to play something or not.... so to string people from different time-zones along for a whole day was unforgivable in my opinion. If i hadn't used 2gig downloading it or it was a flash game it would have been removed instantly for the lack of feedback.  The gameplay is nothing original, seems exactly like 12 sky (with added hills)... Without checking the other games PWE make Im pretty confident that I can say, they simply re-package the same game over and over and churn out shit like this constantly. "fling enough mud and eventually something will stick". I would suggest to anybody reading this to avoid this CBT like the plauge.... I'm pretty certain it will fail again like it did before. 

Rating

3/10