If you’re here, then you’ve probably already seen the Chrono Odyssey gameplay video that IGN released recently. From that short preview, it’s easy to get hyped up for this upcoming MMORPG, but as somebody who’s dabbled in the genre quite a bit, I’m definitely tempering my expectations and waiting until players actually get a hold of it.
I’m not going to just completely dismiss the game, but there are some potential red flags to watch out for. Heck, I’ve even signed up for the closed beta, cause I’m willing to give it a shot despite my reservations. Anyways, let’s talk about it!
(Gameplay screenshots taken from the IGN video)
Kakao Games – A South Korean Company
Before anything else, Chrono Odyssey is being published by Kakao Games, a South Korean company. Call me a doomer, but that alone is already raising alarms in my head.
To the uninitiated, South Korean MMORPGs are known for being heavily monetized to the point where they have very blatant pay-to-win mechanics. This isn’t a new trend or anything, as it’s been going on for way longer than some of you have probably even been alive.
You could argue that western games like World of Warcraft or even Old School RuneScape are “pay-to-win” because they let you sell bonds/tokens for ingame currency, but if you’ve never played a Korean MMO before, well it’s just a completely different beast.
There are varying levels to how “pay-to-win” K-MMOs can be, and they’ll never outright say that it’s a thing, especially if they’re releasing it for western audiences. It’s very likely to be present to some degree though, because they’re almost always built to reel in whales.
As somebody who grew up playing stuff like RAN Online and Cabal Online, as well as many other now-dead games, I’ve been completely desensitized to the concept, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. If you’ve played stuff like this before, then you know how insanely grindy and unfair they can be, especially if you’re committed to avoiding the cash shop.
Hell, I’ve tried Lost Ark and even Throne & Liberty. Although not quite as bad as the aforementioned oldies, they’re still run the same way as every other K-MMO.
If it’s not just straight up giving you the ability to buy the best gear, they also tend to sell you EXP boosts, upgrade resources, “cosmetics” that actually have stat bonuses, or even some type of temporary “VIP” status with varying gameplay benefits.
Gear upgrade systems for these games also tend to be the type that will destroy your stuff if it fails, and of course, they’ll try to sell you the solution for that too. Luckily for this game, it seems to have a crafting system almost like New World‘s instead, which is still a massive grind, but not that punishing.
It’s Stylish, But Will It Have Substance?
While we can’t really answer this for sure without playing the game, the 17-minute preview did give us a glimpse of what it’d be like.
Now, I’m not even gonna talk about the visuals, because there have been plenty of K-MMOs that looked impressive but were disappointing when it came to actual gameplay. I’m not beyond admitting that it looks amazing, but that’s hardly an indicator of how good it feels.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, it actually looks kinda like New World on both the combat and life skills side of things, especially with the weapon swapping mechanic. That’s great! I’ve always loved action-based combat more than the typical tab targeting system that most MMORPGs use.
That said, it isn’t exactly new. Even looking beyond New World, I’ve played games like Dragon Nest, Vindictus, and even Blade and Soul (which I was HORRIBLE at lol), so seeing fast-paced combat like this doesn’t spark that much interest on its own. It doesn’t help that some of the footage shows bosses moving at a different framerate, which was… odd.
I also keep hearing stuff about its “complex puzzles”, but it’s paired with footage of simple platforming segments similar to what you’ll find in a certain (mildly frustrating) part of Palia‘s main story. Maybe it’s just a poor choice of visuals? It’s such a weird choice to show us that…
Dynamic Events, But Same Outcomes
The gameplay preview showed us a lot of dynamic and instanced content. We’ve got group and solo stuff like the Void Nexus, Field Bosses, Time Portals, Trials, and Chrono Gates. However, am I wrong to think that most of it seems to look like too much of the same thing?
With the way these bits of content were presented, a lot of them mostly just feel like different flavors of “boss rush”. While there isn’t anything inherently wrong with that, it makes me wonder, why don’t I just go play Monster Hunter instead?
Mind you, this isn’t a free-to-play game. If something else already exists that gives a better “boss hunt” type of experience, then why would I go for the game that, to me, just looks like a slightly better New World?
On that note, anyone who tells you that nothing about it looks similar to New World hasn’t played that game. The Void Nexus mechanic they showcased is just like the Corrupted Breaches from Amazon’s doomed MMO. It has a two weapon system that only lets lets you use a handful of abilities for each, and even the life skills look similar!
I’ll give them credit for at least looking like they have an endgame already, including what seems to be a PvPvE extraction zone (Eden). The trials look interesting too, especially as somebody who’s a huge fan of roguelikes.
Cautious Optimism
So yeah, while I’m trying to be excited for the game, it’s kinda hard for me to hop on the hype train with what we’ve been shown so far and what we know about K-MMOs in general.
Yes, it’s visually impressive (though a bit too dark for my liking), and the gameplay does look like a blast, but I’m not entirely sold just yet. It’s really giving me a lot of New World vibes at the moment, just with more engaging PVE encounters.
It looks like something that I’d find fun for a couple of weeks, but I want to stick around when playing an MMO, not just get into it for a month or two.
There are a few other eyebrow raisers from the preview too, like the bounties. How exactly would that work in an open world MMORPG setting? Is it unique for every player, or do you have to race for it? If people start camping certain targets, would everybody else just be gatekept from killing them?
The Chronotector mechanic seems cool too, but would it allow players to just cheese encounters by staggering the time stop mechanic or spamming summons?
Right now, it’s really just a big “wait and see” situation. If I ever get a closed beta invite, then I’ll probably write something new about the game before the month ends. For now, I’ll just go and play my silly lil roguelikes while I wait for news or actual gameplay to show up…
