The basic fundamentals are there. Battles consist of the typical turn-based rolling of the dice—sometimes you miss, sometimes you hit, and sometimes you really hit. Over time you can upgrade your avatars skills/spells, purchase new ones, and imbue, as well as “upgrade,” armor and clothing. Like I said, standard stuff.

If that was all “Ether Saga Online” had for players to do, it’d be a colorful but basic title. Thankfully the developers have remembered Nintendo’s billion-dollar pet collecting franchise, “Pokémon,” and have included a fairly large pet-utilizing mechanic in the form of capturing enemies. Captured enemies not only look cool traveling next to your player, but also help you in your journey to beat up monsters and various other NPCs. The developers have made nearly every enemy in the game capturable, meaning you can easily switch it up should you get bored. Tired of your little fox pet? Go and capture that maniacal Burton-esque rabbit on the grassy knoll over yonder. Oh, he’s not cool enough, either? Well, there’s a miner in another area who looks like he hasn’t bathed in a month or two (my favorite). The monster capturing system is useful and often rewarding on a purely aesthetic scale. What’s not to like?

Your own appearance can also change drastically, as well. (More than just “look at this new colored shirt!”) At one point during the lengthy tutorial players come across a boss of unparalleled difficulty. After repeated attempts at felling the vile beast, I resumed other training quests. Little did I know I could learn to transform into a beast who unleashes a different kind of damage and bring this big mama jamma to his knees in just four quick swipes. I did, and I didn’t change back into my original character for a very long time. Shortly after I changed back, another enemy dropped a transformation card and I switched forms again. The change wasn’t as useful this time, but I enjoyed the alterations undergone by my avatar purely on an “oooo this is different” level.

There’s a story here about being some legendary figure who’s been promised to arrive, but the presence of dozens of other “chosen ones” running around doing the exact same stuff as me caused this man to lose interest in any sort of narrative presented in this world. I really don’t care how or why I transform into a double-bladed goat-man warrior, I just like the fact that I can transform into a double-bladed goat-man warrior. Don’t try and make me feel for my girly Shaman dude with pink hair, either, because I don’t.

I also don’t know how I feel about the quest system, or more specifically, the ability to auto-walk to any NPC or location in the game. It’s a great feature for those of us who like to alt-tab out and surf the web while we play MMOs, but its very existence single-handedly dismantles any and all immersion generated by gameplay. Who’s really the pet? The little creatures I summon in and out of battle, or the little avatar who I sometimes give orders to then alt-tab away from, even during battle when he follows my custom-built macros?

To be honest, I probably won’t be playing “Ether Saga Online” after this review is finished. I feel too old and too weird walking around a world so obviously designed for people half my age. But the mechanics, pet and transformation systems make me want to play a similar title with different aesthetics. For a younger audience, I’m sure this game will be a huge hit due to the fun pet and transformation system. But, like I said, for an older player it might just be a bit too cutesy.

Review Kyle Stallock
October 9, 2009