Invalid characterset or character set not supported Sailing in Uncharted Waters Online Review!





Sailing in Uncharted Waters Online Review!
September 07, 2010

Hello again!

This is the first time that i'll be making a review for a game, so comments and other reaction are all welcome. It is all part of my learning process to be a good game reviewer. But please have mercy on me LOL. I think it is much simply to make sections to better understand about the game’s qualities.

Introduction:
Uncharted Waters Online has been a vintage game for a long long time started in Super Nintendo then into a MMO. UWO (For short) is not your actual typical hack and slash MMO but rather a different and unique experience when it comes to gameplay. You set out in a world back in 15th century era where exploration, discoveries, and wealth what motivates the people in those age.

Graphics:
The graphics are a bit out dated since the game is already been released locally in Taiwan, korea, japan, etc. but only now it has been released in English and it is available to every player globally. But IMMO the real beauty of its graphics lies on the varieties of places to go. From the great palace of England to the mysterious stone heads of eastern island (Chile). These historic places that only lets you experience in books or images in the internet can now be visited in the virtual world of UWO. Towns are also different depending on the architectural culture of its time.

The variety of outfits, weapons, and ships are all based on the fashion of the 15th century era from western to eastern making it more realistic. Character creation is somewhat limited but you can still have your own unique avatar.

The most appreciated of all is the open sea and the sky because of its vastness and it really makes you wonder how big is the world is.

Sounds:
IMMHO the BG sound is a sleeping pill for me but not annoying, as you travel alone in the open sea and hearing this calm music in your ears made my eyes drowsy.

Storyline:
Each country has its own lead character and story to show. You will be doing quest for them and you will be a part of it. Short cut scenes, large character face images, and the conversation reminds of RPGames in consoles. There are other quests as well (I mentioned this in my earlier blog entries) that involves renowned historic figures such as Da Vinci, Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, and others. Following the main story will let you unlock some of the areas that are important in the game.

Newbie System: (Any system that involves new players)
The helper in town and the Maritime Academy is huge help for me to understand the game better. But the downside is that it is too long to finish each level of academy however it still worth it.

Battle:
There is a land battle where your character set out on foot in the land and encounters enemy during his/her travel. I have little experience in Land Battle but skill animations are good and strategy plays a big part like in the ship battles. Ship Battles are somewhat normal and it is not exaggerated like other MMOs. The animations are simple and fit perfectly to the game overall outlook. For a change, your fingers will not be stressed and all tangled up by just clicking or pressing different skills, items, etc… Relatively easy but winning battles can sometimes be hard retreating a battle is a smart move and not a cowardly act in this game.

Grinding:
The grinding part of this game is gaining fame points (Fame points are like experience to level your job class) and the travelling. During the CBT that I recently experienced, lots of players (maybe veterans) have advanced quickly in only a span of 2 weeks. So I think player’s progression is easy as long as you understand how the game works. Another grinding part for me is reading all the information and understanding how it ticks (LOL).

Game Play:
Basic movements like walking in town is easy because of their auto move by just clicking a location in the mini map but this is only available when you are in a town not in the sea. Sailing is easy but navigating and gaining access to different ports is hard. Navigating is hard because obviously your world map IS THE WHOLE WORLD! That is only the half of it, you still have the land to explore to!

Again, reading the quest is a must or you will get lost there are no “addons” like quest helper in WoW in this game. I even downloaded google earth just to know where to go to haha. There are also conditions that your outfit should be good to talk to a noble npc just to get a quest.

Crafting and profession is vast and there are tons of items, equipments, materials, parts, etc to acquire from (including work of arts). But thankfully there is the bank to store this and your own home. Speaking of bank, storage system is different. Storing money and leave it for a long time will gain interest and will be added to your total amount.

Another favorite part is having your own space in the game, either a dorm room, farm, to an island. In short there are many things to do in the game.

Pros:
Lots of things to do in the game.
Recommended for those players that wants a change of pace besides action games.
Educational.
Graphics are simply and unique on its own.
Newbie System.


Cons:
BGM is so relaxing that you can go to sleep.
Due to the games vastness, players can get lost.
Lots of reading may tend new players to quit the game early.
Finding certain area in the sea is hard.
Finding items needed for your profession or crafting is quite difficult.



I hope I covered some of the points of Uncharted Waters and please be informed that the game has just finished its Closed Beta Testing. Definitely there will still be changes when OBT or Commercial release of UWO is made available.



Happy gaming! - khirmell

Official blog site: http://mumblejumbles.weebly.com

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Feedback
True True - September 08, 2010 (01:37 AM)
Uncharted Waters Online has been a vintage game for a long long time started in Super Nintendo then into a MMO.

for a long time (only one) which started or that started. Either would work.

UWO (For short) is not your actual typical hack and slash MMO but rather a different and unique experience when it comes to gameplay.

You could stand to remove actual, here.

You set out in a world back in 15th century era where exploration, discoveries, and wealth what motivates the people in those age.

Which instead of what, that instead of those.

The graphics are a bit out dated since the game is already been released locally in

Has to replace is.

You will be doing quest for them and you will be a part of it.

A quest, or quests depending on the situation.

There is a land battle where your character set out on foot in the land and encounters enemy during his/her travel

Enemies or an enemy here.

The animations are simple and fit perfectly to the game overall outlook

game's

be hard retreating a battle

be hard. Retreating in a battle

Another favorite part is having your own space in the game, either a dorm room, farm, to an island.

or an island.

Graphics are simply and unique on its own.

are simple

Lots of reading may tend new players to quit the game early.

Tend sounds funny here. I would go with "force" or "inspire". Even "prompt".

The rest of the review was good and quite informative. I do want to mention, and please know I'm not trying to be cruel, that I would reconsider doing a sectioned review. There's nothing wrong with breaking a review up into parts, but giving them headers almost always destroys the flow. I know it's a very popular trend (and to be honest, I used to do it as well until someone brought it to my attention) but it's not really necessary when your first sentenced after the header reiterates the section's title. Like:

Graphics


The graphics in the game are...

One or the other would work, but I would go without the header at all.

I do hope this helps, and that we see more of your work in the future.
wolfqueen001 wolfqueen001 - September 08, 2010 (06:00 AM)
Hey. Nice to see someone new interested in contributing here. I commend you greatly for that.

I don't have time to read the whole review right now and give appropriate feedback, but I will point out one thing True missed in one of his edits.

Graphics are simply and unique on its own.

its should be their

Anyway, later I'll make an effort to read this and give more proper feedback. Until then, I also echo True's sentiments about the sectioned aspect of the review. You're welcome to leave it as is, of course, if you feel more comfortable that way, but usually the sections are unnecessary. Whatever you decide to do, though, I'm sure the review will get approved as long as you make an effort to fix some of the grammatical errors, so don't worry too much. :)

Anyway, I hope you continue to explore your interest in writing and continue to contribute here. As I said, I will be back later with more substantial feedback for you. It is my belief that the community here should do all they can to suppport newcomers, especially when they appeal directly for assistance / feedback.
zippdementia zippdementia - September 08, 2010 (09:42 AM)
I also agree that sectioned reviews are not really the style of this site, which is the style of most gaming magazines these days and thus a good style to learn to develop.

However, starting a review in sections can sometimes help us formulate our opinions better. It can also help us see what sections may not be necessary. I would go back through your review and look at which sections might be fluff or redundant.
zigfried zigfried - September 08, 2010 (02:34 PM)
That could be, but there's nothing really wrong with that. If someone comes here to seek the community's feedback -- regardless of where they really plan to post their reviews -- then that's a positive thing. It means people think our opinions are worthwhile!

//Zig
wolfqueen001 wolfqueen001 - September 08, 2010 (05:25 PM)
Hm... Well, now that I read it in full, I think you cover some of the basics, but it could really use more work. A few tips:

Try to avoid abbreviations like IMHO or LOL or any of those "net-speak" terms. They're kind of awkward in a review where you're trying to express your opinion in a sophisticated manner. Also, in some of these cases, it's just better to write out what you're trying to say rather than abbreviate it (though, you would never actually write "laugh out loud" in a review...). However, it is acceptable to abbreviate general game terms like RPG or NPC or even the title of the game (as you do here) after you give the full title once.

You could stand to add a lot more detail in some of these areas like story and battle and game play, etc. While I get a general sense of what's going on, I really don't get a whole lot, and I just don't come away with feeling adequately informed about the game.

To help create flow in your review, it may be better to just combine related sections together so that it doesn't jump around so much. But, this goes back to what was discussed earlier about sections in reviews generally, too.

While you have quite a few grammatical things to take care besides True's edits, here's one more:

the fashion of the 15th century era from western to eastern making it more realistic

That should just be "west to east".

Related to that, where you have "eastern island" or whatever, you should just capitalize Easter Islands and remove the "(Chile)" part of it. Most people know where the Easter Islands are, or, at the very least, what they're famous for.

Anyway, you have a good start here, so don't get discouraged with all these tips. Revising is often a larger part of writing than the actual writing itself, so it's generally a really good practice to get into. Of course, it's up to you how much you actually listen to the advice given here, but I hope you'll at least consider what we've said for the future.

I look forward to (potentially) seeing your review hosted on the site, provided you decide to submit it here.
zippdementia zippdementia - September 08, 2010 (06:01 PM)
Along with what Wolf Queen says, try not to include information in a review that sounds like it has been copied out of the instruction manual. Tell us how the game functions in practice rather than on paper.

For instance, I don't want to know that pressing "x" brings up the menu... I want to know if the menus are easy to navigate and why. I don't care that tapping up twice flips the ship around unless you explain why this is useful.

Not real examples, just talking here.
erickdgamer erickdgamer - September 09, 2010 (12:00 AM)
Thank you guys for helping me find some points to my review. I will not edit my review for it will remind me always of what I need to improve at. I want to be a good game reviewer. If you guys are bothered by my blogsite then I apologize. But honestly i'm not fond of the forums or the blogs where you can't add images or videos. However if there are issues on why it is prohibited, I understand completely (One of my reason that I link my blog because of this circumstances). I will posting more reviews like LOCO (Land of chaos online), Soul Master, and Aika. I'm still pretty busy with my girl and work. Once again thank you guys for helping and appreciating my review.

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