Atlantica Online

Atlantica Online is a free to play 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by NDOORS Corporation. The game is set in an alternate history Earth, with the game map consisting of large parts of the northern hemisphere. The setting is fantasy-themed with elements ofsteampunk.


Gameplay

The game features a persistent world populated by player-generated characters and NPCs. The player can choose from nine different classes and customize their appearance. Players do not fight with the main character alone; each player can recruit additional fighters, up to the maximum of eight mercenaries (and one main) on the field at any given time. Players can store additional mercenaries in mercenary rooms.

In addition to their battle skills, all players may pursue a number of different crafting abilities.

The game design puts strong emphasis on the concept of guilds. Guilds can control the various towns on the game map. Strong guilds can found nations and wage war on one another.

Battle in Atlantica Online is rather unusual for the genre as it is turn-based. Representations of hostile parties wander around the landscape; if a player clicks on such a representation, his/her party and the enemy party are transferred to a separate battlefield similar in fashion to battles in console role playing games and remain there until the battle is resolved. The battle system also features a time limit for a player to make their move, assuring that there will not be any type of player griefing during player vs player combat.

Mercenaries

After beginning the game players can recruit up to 18 mercenaries to join them in their travels. Users can have up to 8 mercenaries fight alongside in battle, and shuffle their lineup as the situation calls for. Mercenaries, like your hero, advance in both level and rank as they get stronger. Currently there are 35 different mercenaries that fall under 4 different classes and styles.

Traditional battle

The game's traditional battle system is unusual for its genre in that it uses a turn-based system.

When a player character and an enemy character come into contact with each other on the game map, both parties are transported into a miniature instance where the battle takes place. During battle other players's group and other monster groups may join in to a maximum of three groups on each side.

In battle, the characters of each party are positioned on a 3x3 grid. The positioning of each mercenary and the main character is determined by the player outside of battle. However, it is possible to modify the positioning by moving the characters around during his/her turn.

During a monster/player group's turn, up to five of the group members may perform an action.

Tactical Battle System

The Tactical Battle System (TBS) is the most recent evolution of Atlantica's Turn-Based Combat and it gives players the ability to form squads with their friends and guild mates to fight in large scale battles with dozens of characters per side.

Setting

The world of Atlantica Online features real world locations mixed with mythological and fantasy elements. Countries like Germany and China are represented, with cities like Munich, Moscow, and Sapporo being featured as cities where one can visit. Though the locations on the map feature climates similar to their real world counterparts, the architecture is often a generic recreation of well known structure types, such as the cities in Eastern Europe and Japan. Rome also takes on a big role as a real world location, resembling the ancient city of Rome as is well known from its period of conquest as the Roman Empire.

The locations are based on real world locations, but are often geographically out of place and heavily altered for effect. Most of the civilizations represented are anachronistic—Rome is set in the Holy Roman Empire, while Great Britain is independent, the Ottoman Empire reigns in Turkey, Southeast Asia resembles ancient Indian kingdoms before Western colonization and Islamic influence, and North America is caught up in the Industrial Revolution.

On December 18, 2008, the North American continent was added, which features New York as a new explorable city and the United States and Mexico as explorable countries. These contain a few dungeons, but greatly expand the map in Atlantica. Developers have also mentioned the possibility of adding the continents of the Southern Hemisphere, excluding Antarctica.