(3 votes, average: 3.00 / 5)
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Mytheon is an action MMORPG set in Greek antiquity where players could pick from 3 classes to take on mythological gods and creatures, wielding “Power Stones” that transform into spells, structures, and companions.
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Publisher: True Games Type: Action MMORPG Release Date: March 3, 2011 Pros: +Highly customizable. +Unique mechanics. +Strategic gameplay. Cons: -Only 3 classes. |
Mytheon Overview
Mytheon is a buy-to-play MMORPG that blends action elements with strategy, with gameplay surrounded by the use of “Power Stones,” acting as character customization and currency that were randomly drawn in combat. Power Stones are used to develop your unique style of play, allowing the invocation of magic spells such as fireballs, the summoning of mythical creatures, or structures that protect you and buff your statistics. The game also involves power stone crafting which allowed players access to rarer abilities. Each class specialized in certain power stone types as well. Warcasters are tanky characters, required to use battle stones supplemented by healing stones or potions. Eidolons are the game’s healer, and are focused on using a balance of power stones to strategically overcome enemies in combat. Elementalists serve as the game’s mages, focusing on elemental attacks and mythical creature summons to decimate enemies in combat. The game also includes traditional RPG elements, through questing and grinding, or partake in PvP through the game’s one-on-one dueling or in its mass arena mode.
Mytheon Key Features:
- Three Playable Classes (Warcaster, Eidolon, Elementalist) – Pick from three unique Greek-mythos inspired classes that can be customized with Power Stones to fit your playstyle.
- Over 180 Power Stones to Collect – Upgrade your arsenal by collecting power stones, which are used in combat to cast spells or summon units that help you fight.
- Lots of Game Content – Multiple ways to acquire new power stones, gain experience, and play the game in general.
- PvP Modes – Fight against other players in one-on-one duels or in a mass arena, strategically using power stones to topple your opponent.
- Unique Greek Theme – Fans of Greek mythology will recognize many of the game’s quest-givers and storyline, inspired directly by Greek and other mythologies from the ancient world.
Mytheon Screenshots
Mytheon Featured Video
Mytheon Review
Mytheon is the second free to play MMORPG published by TrueGames and it is a much more complete package than their previous offering, Warrior Epic. Like their previous title, Mytheon keeps the action-RPG look and feel but ditches the lobby screen in favor of persistent towns combined with instanced wilderness areas. This same approach worked wonders for Guild Wars and Dungeons and Dragons Online, how does Mytheon pull it off? Let’s take a look.
Three Flavors
Mytheon entered open beta testing on April 28th, 2010 after an extended development cycle. For accessibility purposes, the client size for Mytheon is pretty small, but a lengthy patching process is required before jumping into the game. Even after its installed, the game only takes about a gig of space which is very impressive given the visuals and graphic options in Mytheon. Character creation has never been very impressive in action-RPG style games, and its no different here. There are only three classes to chose from: the melee oriented Warcaster that looks like a Roman soldier, the Elementalist dressed in Greek robes, and the hybrid Eidolon that looks like an Egyptian priest. Each class is available in male and female variants, and has several hair style, hair color, face style, and skin tone options to chose from. Generally characters will end up looking similar, but gear differences help players stand out later in the game.
Ancient Mythology
After logging in for the first time, new players are greeted by their journal which acts as a comprehensive help guide, quest log, and achievement tracker. Mytheon has mouse driven controls which should be familiar to free MMORPG fans. The lack of keyboard movement isn’t a big issue in this game since the point-and-click style has always been a staple of the action-RPG genre. The only complaint I can muster is that there is a slightly delayed response between movement orders. This isn’t an issue when moving around, but it makes combat feel less fluid. The visuals are very attractive. They have an animated feel to them which allows for bright colors, varied scenery, and monster designs. Mytheon supports a wide range of resolution options and can be played in full screen or windowed mode.
Greece and the Underworld
The experience rate in Mytheon is slow paced, but that’s mainly because the level cap is set low. New players start their adventures in a small encampment near Echidna’s Swamp where they can pick up several quests and explore the level 1-5 zone nearby. Quests are usually repeatable and involve killing a certain number of a particular monster. Each region has a single ‘hub’ which acts as a shared capital city. Players can teleport to the hub cit from anywhere by clicking an icon near their mini maps. From hub cities, players can instantly travel to any location in that region assuming they meet the level requirement. The first of these regions consists of Greece and Anatolia which is labeled as the Underworld. The hub for this location is Argos. Another hub city called Thebes serves as the capital of the Egyptian region. Access between hubs requires speaking with a ship’s captain NPC. All zones beyond the hub cities are instanced, the only way to see other players inside them is by partying up and adventuring together.
Stone Duelists
The gameplay in Mytheon is unlike anything before seen in a MMORPG. It mixes the standard dungeon crawler experience found in games like Diablo 2, Titan Quest, and Dungeon Runners which something similar to a card game. Depending on which class they selected, players start with about a dozen ‘stones’ which act as their deck of spells and skills. Stones come in a variety of types including companions (summons), structures, and spells. These stones must be arranged into ‘Battle sets’ of up to 40 though players only have access to six at any time. After one of the ‘drawn’ stones is used, it is put back in the deck and a new one is drawn after a brief delay. Most stones are cast instantly, but some have a casting time. Summoned companions and structures come with a timer and players can only control up to five at a time. Structures, spells, and companions themselves come in several forms, but the game does a remarkable way of easing players into the whole system without them being overwhelmed. New stones are collected off monsters, bosses, quests, and even from NPC merchants. While most gear and stones are class dependent, players can actually use a few stones that belong to other classes.
Gladiators
Quests are not just available in hubs, but also within the instanced wilderness zones. These zones contain a variety of monsters, including bosses. Mana and health shrines are scattered throughout which help reduce down time. All stones consume mana which replenishes at varying rates depending on the class of the player and the gear they have equipped. Players will find themselves repeating quests and grinding in the same areas repeatedly, but an achievement system helps break up the monotony. Labeled ‘feats’, players can see exactly what feats are available in each zone and what they have to do to accomplish them. PvE is not the only method of leveling, Mytheon also has extensive PvP options. The simplest PvP method is dueling. Players can challenge others to duels by right clicking on their avatar. Groups can challenge one another to duels in a similar fashion. Once accepted by the other party, all players involved are teleported to a gladiator arena and duke it out. The first side to win 3 rounds is declared the winner, and even receives a large amount of experience as a reward. It took me just one PvP victory to get from level 1 to 4, so it is very possible to progress with a strong emphasis on player vs player combat over grinding off monsters.
Zues & Co
As the name and environment of Mytheon suggests, the lore generally centered on the mythology of ancient Greece and nearby areas including Egypt. It seems the Gods have turned on the humans and are waging a war against them. Fortunately, some bastions of humanity such as Argos have been spared their wrath due to the presence of powerful artifacts like the Golden Fleece. It’s not the most original setting, but there’s enough lore fluff to keep up the immersion. The cash shop was available during the open beta, but players couldn’t purchase Mytheon Coins, the premium currency. Familiar premium features like additional bag space and experience potions can be purchased with real cash, but there are some things in there that cause concern. Health potions, mana potions, even weapons and armor can be purchased using Mytheon Coins. Certain quests and events do reward Mytheon Coins, but hopefully TrueGames will implement a way of earning these coins more regularly so that paying players don’t have an unfair advantage in PvP. Overall Mytheon is a great free to play MMORPG that manages to innovate while still maintaining an aura of familiarity. It’s casual friendly, easy to pick up, but original enough to keep players excited. The lack of a fully persistent world may annoy some players, but that’s something that comes down to personal preference.
Final Verdict: Good
Mytheon offers classic gameplay elements mixed with a unique card-game like combat system. The heavy use of instancing allows for a detailed RPG experience while still maintaining a sense of community. The graphics and presentation are top notch making Mytheon a MMORPG well worth checking out.
Mytheon Videos
Mytheon Music & Soundtrack
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Mytheon Additional Information
Developer: Petroglyph Games
Publisher(s): True Games
Release Date: March 3, 2011
Intitial Closure Date: July 27, 2011
Steam Rerelease: December 08, 2015
Development History / Background:
Development on Mytheon had a rocky beginning, that included game release delays and a lawsuit between the developer and publisher, Petroglyph Games and True Games respectively. True Games sued Petroglyph for not meeting pre-determined deadlines, accusing them of intentionally delaying and/or failing to create a quality game as a means of acquiring more money from True Games. Development was moved from Petroglyph to one of TrueGames’ internal studios in Beijing, where the game was completed for release. Six months after its release, True Games was acquired by Disney, leading to the shutdown of multiple True Games’ projects, which included Faxion Online and Mytheon, on July 27th, 2011. Mytheon relaunched on Steam as a buy-to-play game on December 08, 2015.