Luna Online is another MMO published by the people at gpotato who were known for bringing you Fly for Fun (Flyff) and Rappelz. Luna is their newest game that is suppose to focus on the player development rather than the game itself. This has been done before and it usually hasn't worked out well because it fails to live up to its expectations. The game's advertisement is very misleading. This game IS NOT a closed beta. It advertises itself as a closed beta but if you complete the survey on their website after registering an account, you will be granted access to the game.

Story:

Something about elves and humans. They're 2 different species of people that are pretty much only differentiated by pointed ears at this point.

Graphics:

The graphics are suppose to be a cute cartoonish style reflective of games from a while back. Character creation has a good number of hairstyles and faces to choose from. This game uses SD (Super Deformed) type characters to break away from realism. This is something that I don't really like. Monsters are also repetitive. Recoloring and resizing of monsters is frequent. Skills look fairly plain. There's nothing spectacular and some of them look very similar. At higher levels once you get your 2^nd class and such it starts to look different.

Gameplay:

First off, I would like to say that their game's advertising can be very misleading. I'm going to warn you now. This game also uses gameguard. It has numerous problems and a lag between you and the server will prevent you from logging out or exiting the game. This has annoyed me on several occasions.

Character creation is fairly decent. 2 races with no account restriction nonsense. There are a nice variety of different looks although hair is the one you will see frequently. I recommend you don't choose too bright of a hairstyle because it can hurt your eyes after a while. You also have to select one of the 3 classes which are Fighter, Mage or Rogue. Elf and Human have different starting stats and a few different classes. This is their key separating point. Humans always have more strength and Elves always have more intelligence for their classes. This is something that can be fixed with some stat adjustments though.

The class system is a bit unique. Its possible to advance to any of the next classes no matter what your previous class is. If your previous class was a 2 handed sword, you can switch to 1 handed sword at your next choice and then choose dual wield on the one after or go back to 2 handed sword. However, it is best to choose classes that complement each other instead of a pure class. That way you have access to different abilities such as allowing a 2 handed sword user to tank. Although the game advertises itself as 40 classes, its actually 3 classes with restrictions on your skills. You choose them in “sets” based on the tier you have advanced to. This can be misleading as there are 3 primary classes similar to RF Online's 4 standard classes. You have have some choices which provide different abilities at certain points. The only thing missing in this game would be something to allow you to save multiple skill trees you could level independently like Final Fantasy XI did. This would be an awesome addition to the game allowing you to try out numerous different builds with the same character.

Fighters are your standard tanks. They can deal heavy damage or take heavy damage depending on your route. Skills are also further divided into 1 handed or 2 handed. Later on its possible to choose between dual wielding or sword and shield as well. They only need 2 stats. Strength and Vitality.

Mages can be either support or attack. Its very helpful to be hybrid early on as well so you can defend yourself if necessary. Once you're past your 3^rd class, its best to stick to just a single type otherwise you will have big holes in your skill tree.

Rogues are what you expect them to be. They're fast and cause status effects. They also use bows for long range. Unlike the other classes, There is a greater penalty for switching around with rogues. Bow and dagger skills almost never provide benefits to each other. They have high stun rates as well and are a very attack oriented class, but fighters are still better overall in terms of pure damage.

There are 5 stats. Strength gives damage and accuracy. Vitality gives defense, hp, and hp recovery. Dexterity gives accuracy, dodge and critical. Intelligence gives magic attack and magic critical. Wisdom gives magic defense, mp, and mp recovery. Its pretty obvious what to invest into for each class. You only get 1 stat point per level so make it count. Each stat point can make a huge difference though.

Monsters are aggressive. The world is fairly dangerous so keep on your toes. You will get mobbed often and you need to be prepared for it. If not you will encounter serious problems. Potions are based on recovery over time. Not instant recovery so keep this in mind if you're being mobbed. They're also damned annoying with their random chatting. They talk about all this stuff and it makes you wonder if monsters are secretly sneaking around town disguised as humans during the day and then go out at night to return to being monsters again. Luckily you can set your respawn point on almost any map or choose to respawn on the spot. Respawning on the spot has more severe penalties but its an option and can be useful. You also only revive with about 25% of your HP when you revive.

Crafting is also present in the game. You need a mold and items to go with the mold to make an item. I did not bother experimenting with crafting because I hate crafting in almost all games. Its also possible to refine and upgrade your items. They are different types of stat bonuses and upgrading items can affect it as well. Its fairly complex because different colors represent different things. I think that this is TOO complex for what it needs to be.

There are some instanced dungeons, but it takes a while to get to it. The early ones require you to be around level 30. This is good however since you need a bit of experience with the game since instanced dungeons are more difficult than traditional mobs. The good ones will take a long time though. Instanced dungeons have the benefits of better overall drops and higher chances for rare items like upgrade scrolls.

The game heavily revolves around quests. There are a nice amount of quests available and it helps earn money and experience quickly. Its a good start, but once the number of quests starts to go down, it begins to get a bit difficult to grind. Luckily grinding isn't that bad for the most part. Its fairly simple to level up if you choose to until later on (say the 50s). Once you get through a good amount of the game its either something you enjoy or hate. Experience is based on your level compared to the mob's level. Ideally you want to be 3-5 levels below the monster you're training on.

My main concern with the game is the interface system. Although they tried to lighten the clutter, they have 2 buttons dedicated to the item mall while everything else but the inventory and character sheet is crammed into a single button. They should have either put everything inside the button or only leave the character sheet out. This setup has me doubting their priorities.

On several occasions there have been pathfinding issues. If I walk to an NPC and an object is in the way. I'm stuck and can't move. Sometimes I have been able to unstuck myself but usually not. As a result I have to use task manager to end task and restart the client to continue playing. These are also in odd places as well. There is a hole in the fence, but I can't walk through it. I have to circle all the way around the other side to get to the NPC. This is annoying and needs to be fixed.

Guilds (Family):

I haven't had much experience with families, but I have had experience with the match making system. Once you complete a starter quest you can use it. What it does is set up a blind date with someone who shares similar preferences. The problem is finding out what the hell all those icons stand for. Its fairly limited but its still something new. The greatest benefit from this is a special dungeon for the two who are paired up.

As for the family system, its quite difficult to effectively manage one. The primary feature of having a family is a farm. Once your family meets certain requirements they can buy a farm. They are limited in number on each server and only 1 farm per family. It can be used to obtain some useful items that you need for crafting or upgrading items. There are high maintenance costs but there are great items that can be obtained if you have the money to manage it. A large family can easily manage one but a small one will have a lot of trouble. Failure to pay the upkeep will result in you losing it.

Overall:

Luna Online is a game that tries to focus on character development rather than the story or development of game characters through quest. This is something that some people might like while many who are not use to it might dislike it. The skill system is something that is rare, but it lacks a more free mix and match system that might be preferred over this semi-free system. Grinding can get a bit heavy later on but its very light in the beginning. For those who want to get deeply involved in the game, they can while those who don't want to can stay away from those features and still enjoy the game.

Final Score:

7/10 – A good attempt, but there are major flaws within the game itself. Fixing these would greatly improve the overall experience of the game.