Review Lost Ark for PC
The Raiders of the Lost Ark is not a game for the faint of heart. It's a Korean ARPG/MMORPG hybrid that combines the best and worst of both genres. Its lofty aspirations are hampered by cliched narration and a monotonous quest structure, but it offers a large and spectacular fantasy experience heightened by a superb combat system and an incredible feeling of scale. It's a crazy, loud, frequently corny, and occasionally amazing chunk of game design, and it's a particularly difficult customer to encapsulate into a review. But, to summarize, I like it a lot.
The plot follows your character on a globetrotting MacGuffin quest in search of the eponymous Arks, seven objects of enormous power that are critical in shifting the tide of the mortal realms' war against demonic armies. You can choose from five different classes to build your character: Warrior, Gunner, Mage, Martial Artist, and Assassin. Several of them are then further subdivided into more specific sub-categories. Warriors can choose from damage-dealing Berserkers, melee/ranged Gunlancers, and Paladins, who combine swordplay and holy magic.
Although I tried with numerous classes in the game's in-built class-tester, I spent the majority of Lost Ark as a Paladin. At least on a visual and tactile level, the battle in Raiders of the Lost Ark is fantastic. "Why fight one enemy when you can battle twenty?" it proclaims from the start, and it equips you with the necessary combat skills to do so. You begin the game at level 10 and have five skills unlocked. This contains Paladin abilities such as Spin Slash, a strong one-two punch move that slashes enemy health bars in half, and Light of Judgement, where your Paladin thrusts his hand forward, releasing a beam of searing light that sends enemies flying back in a way that never grows.
The combat in Raiders of the Lost Ark is mainly centered on these meaty combat talents, to the point where you'll only utilize your regular assault to sweep up stragglers after the fight has already been won. As you level up, your abilities become even more remarkable. Every few levels up to roughly 40, you unlock new fighting talents, while each level gives you ability points to develop your existing skills, making assaults faster, more powerful, or with longer-lasting effects. When I had earned higher-level abilities, I loved to start fight with Wrath of God, a deadly AOE assault delivered directly from the skies. Then I'd clean up any remaining adversaries with the slightly strangely called Flash Slash, which has your Paladin travel slowly forward while cutting at the air like a sword.
Lost Ark is a fairly guided experience at first. The world is divided into continents, which are further divided into zones. These zones are designed to be explored in a precise order, leading you down a rabbit hole of primary and optional quests.
The questing system in Lost Ark is a spoof of MMO architecture. You'll be dispatched to hunt down monsters that respawn so quickly that it's often easier to wait for them to reappear than to explore. The NPCs that fill zones are also some of the laziest I've met, requesting you to speak to people you're practically standing next to or move stuff like crates or barrels 10 yards. Those with the strangest ambitions are those with the strangest goals.
Second, these quickfire tasks lead to broader plot arcs and events over time. The majority of zones eventually lead to a dungeon, which is an instanced region that can be explored with up to three other players. Ancient ruins, pirate coves, and crumbling tunnels filled with heretic priests are just a few of the dungeons available. They're fascinating places to explore, and unlike the more general zones, they're not overrun with continuously respawning foes, making fighting a little more enjoyable.
The highest points in Lost Ark, on the other hand, are associated with key plot events. The majority of the early game takes place on the continent of West Luterra, where you must aid errant King Thirain in reclaiming his throne from usurper Lord Scherritt. Thirain's armies must be gathered throughout various zones, ending in a massive castle siege that looks more like something out of Total War than an ARPG. I was truly giddy as I dashed along the castle's fortifications, murdering foes by the dozen while siege engines pounded the walls with boulders and chains. Then, in East Luterra, Lost Ark does it again, taking you to a conflict that is not only larger, but also stranger.
When You're Abandoned When The Raid: Raiders of the Lost Ark gets large, it's impossible not to be swept up in the dramatic events unfolding in front of you. And what I've stated so far is just the beginning of what the game has to offer. When you reach the end of East Luterra, the game provides you a ship, allowing you to explore the rest of the massive planet of Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are a plethora of new places to discover, ranging from strange small islands populated by talking creatures and other anomalies to entirely new zones where you can continue your search for the remaining arks. Some of these locations are truly odd. Your first port of call away from the mainland, for example, is an island inhabited by pixie-like beings that run ladybird farms.
that enthralling The major group of characters is largely one-dimensional, with heroes and villains that appear to have stumbled past the local S&M club on their way to combat. The priest Armen, who is half-human, half-demon, is the only character with any genuine depth. The way the game treats the concept of duality like a baby faun offers you a hint as to how deep the story goes.
Another issue I have with Lost Ark is that the loot is terrible. At least along the main plot path, it's almost entirely aimed around incremental stat boosts, with little little that is unique or different. This is largely due to the game's upgrade systems, which include a whole slew of arcane rules for things like faceting gems and collecting cards, all of which contribute to your character's numbers. To me, none of Lost Ark's metagame superstructure is as enjoyable as finding a huge ol' sword that shoots lightning, and it's a shame the game dilutes the basic delight of collecting fantastic weapons spewed at high-velocity out of oversized monsters.
But every time I got close to the shallower borders of Lost Ark, the game would throw me a strange scenario to pull me back into its depths. It's difficult to be angry at a game in which one of the bosses is a pirate's parrot whom you battle on a tabletop after shrinking yourself with a magic potion. The combat alone is incentive enough to play Lost Ark, and the game's absurd scope and numerous bizarre tangents help it overcome its dull plot and by-the-numbers quests. It's not exactly a classic, but it's been entertaining to watch it strive to be one.