Well somebody has to do it why not me . For those who are not aware Sanrio has been conducting a series of betas for Hello Kitty online MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Player Game).
I guess I need to get this bit of news out of the way for any fellow furries, Sanrio is not planning any races or anthropomorphic animals in the release candidate., nor one can the play any establish Sanrio characters.Downloading of the client application was very tedious. I started around midnight using 8Mbps connection, after an hour I gone to bed and the app was still downloading. Configuring ones chosen aviator was very limited in the beta, once can ether a girl or boy and Anime Caucasian. I hope the release candidate will have better ethnic options.The learning cub is not that steep but I was confused about various task like how to change clothing and wands. Different types clothing and shoes increase protection and stamina of ones avatar and various wands increase attack points. One aspect is nobody get killed, monsters only get knock out and if your life point are depleted you are knocked out and set back to the last city. Game play was simple and at times tedious including forging and cracking some serious monster skulls. I had for example gather 30 leaves for one character or take 30 crab claws but stunning crab, not every attack results in the need item.
The music and graphical environment are industrial strength Kawaii and for some, the cuteness may be overwhelming. Navigating is ok even thought I had misunderstood or did not know how some features work like changing items and production quest. Other quest like finding the police officer or making axes was unclear. Over all it kept my interest.
I started the game in Sanro harbor; because I started late I never increase my skill enough to do any farming quest. Most quest are easy to follow do expect any complex puzzles early in the game. The monsters in Sanrio Harbor are easy to defeat but will get progressively difficult as one move on. I had problem with Boars during finding Innunoomawarisan and Ivory Wood quest. They were more powerful than me which resulted in me being sent back to town until a Good Samarian player was able to subdue all the boars so I could finish unmolested. This shows the advantage of the Multiplayer game, in addition many volunteer Game-Master were available to help if one is stuck. Hats off to you folks, mapping need t o be better including zooming of area map. There were time I wanted pick out individual players by this were so pack I was unable to do.
On item of interest was on the on Sanrio town was concerning the age of the players, out of 90 replies 38 were 25 yeas old or more and eleven of them male. The Founders Beta is over, a more open beta will commence in December.
Some shout outs
I was South Dream Forest on Friday 7 Nov 2008. Somebody help me by knocking out the Boars Thank you Domo arigato gozaimasu.
I was asked to join a guild, but I hope I did not seem standoffish. With only less 24 of play left and I was still learning the game it just did not make sense in joining.
The Good
Rather easy to learn
It did keep my interest
Pains
• Lack of ethnicity when creating avatars. The choice only we had was anime Caucasian.
• Slow download time I have an 8 Meg cable connection and it still took early in the morning to download.
• Better zone map controls. We only had one zoom and expand. I could not pick out friends in a crowd.
• Logical order in Quest. Innunoomawarisan and Ivory Wood quest meant trying to deal with boars but unable to purchase better clothing and wands because of the level obtained after completing Sanrio Harbor Quest,
Over all I give a B+ and look forward in the Open Beat and Release Candidate.
KND Operative Numbah42 Out.
