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4Story

4Story, previously known as Gates of Andaron, is a 3D fantasy MMORPG set in the world of Iveria. 4Story features several warring factions vying for control over the land, and emphasizes questing as well as endgame PvP content.

Publisher: Zemi Interactive & Gameforge
Playerbase: Medium
Type: MMORPG
Release Date: Oct 20, 2008 (NA/EU)
PvP: Duels, Battle Grounds, Territory Wars, and more
Pros: +Lots of quests. +Varied PvP options. +Unique skill system.
Cons: -Limited customization options. -Poor English translations. -Pay-to-win.

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Overview

4Story Overview

4Story is a 3D MMORPG developed and published by Zemi Interactive that was released in 2008. Players choose between three races: Fairy, Werebeast, and Human. They also choose between three nations: Craxion, a kingdom of magical knights; Defugel, a military kingdom; and Broa, a neutral kingdom built by refugees of the war between Defugel and Craxion. Visually speaking, 4Story was clearly inspired by World of Warcraft, but it isn't the first game to utilize the same art style. Other features include a mount system, extensive PvP options, and more.

4Story Key Features:

  • Various Race and Class Options – players can choose from 3 races and 6 playable classes (Archers, Assassins, Priests, Summoners, Warriors, and Wizards).
  • Ride Around – players start with a mount, which makes traveling convenient from the start.
  • Varied PvP Options – pick from Duels, Aerial Wars, Territory Wars, Dragon Invasion, Battle Grounds, and Battle of Worlds.
  • Unique Skill Progression players start with all of their skills and enhance the ones they like as they level.
  • Choose Your Allegiance players select 1 of 2 factions, Craxion or Defugel, upon reaching Level 9.

4Story Screenshots

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4Story Featured Video

4Story Gameplay First Look - MMOs.com

Classes

4Story Classes

Classes include the following:

  • Archers archers are long-range fighters, using their bow to take down foes before they are close enough to do much harm. When close by, archers also excel at evading enemy attacks.
  • Assassins attack quickly and return to the shadows, dealing massive amounts of damage. However, if discovered or at a distance, they are much less effective.
  • Priests can daze their opponents or turn them into harmless squirrels to reduce the number of enemies. They can also strengthen or heal their allies, and are the only class that can revive them.
  • Summoners use powerful creatures from other dimensions to fight for them or even heal them. They also use crystals and magic to hinder and weaken their enemy, making them a great support for groups.
  • Warriors vicious at close range, easily taking severe hits and surviving thanks to their high hit points and defense.
  • Wizards make up for their weak armor and low endurance by using explosive large-scale magic that hits multiple enemies or causes damage over time.

Races include:

  • Fairy – associated with wisdom and intelligence. They make the most capable spellcasters in 4Story. They are the ideal class for Wizards and Summoners.
  • Werebeast – powerful close-range warriors and are built to have high strength and stamina. They are an ideal pick for any close combat class like the Warrior or Assassin.
  • Humans – like in most MMORPGs, Humans are the most adaptable and flexible race in 4story. They have high resistance towards magic and have a bit more intelligence and strength than average, making them excellent Priests and Archers.

Full Review

4Story Review

By Dimitri Jordan

4Story is a 3D MMORPG developed by Zemi Interactive and published by Gameforge. it was released in 2008, with the global version launching February 2014. The global version is self-published by Zemi Interactive. The game features the warring nations of Craxion and Defugel, as well as the neutral mercenary state of Broa. Players are able to choose either Craxion or Defugel as their nation, with a later option to defect to Broa, enabling them to work for either nation as a mercenary.

4Story features a large amount of quests, taking place in the world of Iveria. The world is divided into different zones, with the three nations warring over them in a daily territory war. In addition, 4Story features several other outlets for PvP action, including Battle Grounds and the Battle of the Worlds, both of which are large-scale battles between 50 to 100 people.

Starting Up

When first starting, players complete a few quests that teach the basics of combat, skill use, and navigating the world. After these quests the world opens up considerably, with players able to take many quests from the various camps and city areas acting as quest hubs.

Players can move either by clicking the ground or using the WASD keys, and skills are set to both the number keys and F keys. All key bindings can be configured to the player’s preference.

Players start with all of their skills, which can be overwhelming at first. Instead of unlocking skills, players earn a point per level to enhance their skills to higher levels, strengthening them. This allows for a good level of specialization, and is a fantastic idea because players get to play and experiment with their playstyle before committing points to their abilities.

The First Few Levels

The first few levels can go by very quickly, especially if players make use of the auto-path feature. This causes the character to automatically run to the next point in a quest chain, or to a point specified by clicking the in-game map, and is very handy when the next point is far away. On top of that, players also start with a mount, significantly cutting down on time wasted moving between areas that often bog down the starting levels of MMOs.

Another great idea is that several premium items are given to the player for free, including strong healing potions, experience potions, and equipment to increase mount speed. Again, this gives the player a feel for how these items actually impact gameplay before they commit any money to them.

At Level 9, players then have the option to choose their kingdom, either Craxion or Defugel. This decides where they will warp to after the starting area and their quests for much of the game. In addition, all characters on the player's account are locked to this kingdom. New characters created after choosing a kingdom will automatically begin at Level 9. Players can also choose to cancel their allegiance after Level 80, and players that become Broan mercenaries can tackle endgame quests for both nations until the level cap of 140.

Gameplay

The gameplay in 4Story is solid, if not particularly fresh. Players travel from quest hub to quest hub, completing quests that reveal more of the overarching storyline or backstory as they go, in addition to gaining new, more powerful equipment.

Because of the constant warfare between nations, some of the territories switch hands, possibly on a daily basis. 4Story creates an interesting feature where players can disguise themselves in the opposing nations clothing, allowing them to take quests from quest givers in contested areas when they’re controlled by other nations. However, these disguises don’t fool other players, who can still attack on sight. It’s a pretty handy feature for those questing through a zone that happens to become an enemy zone overnight.

PvP

4Story offers several interesting options for PvP. In addition to regular 1v1 duels, there is Aerial Wars, Territory Wars, Dragon Invasion, Battle Ground, and Battle of Worlds.

In Aerial Wars, players are divided into offensive and defensive teams. Each team is tasked with defeating the opposing nation’s leader, at which point that nation’s guardians are spawned. Those that are defending are located within a fortress that the offense first has to breach. The offense, however, are located outside of the fortress. The first team to kill the opposing leader and guardians is the winner.

In Territory Wars, guilds fight on behalf of nations to control different territories in the world. For those not in guilds, they can participate but not reap the benefits of guild rewards. In Territory Wars, players must win over three areas inside of each of the four territories up for grabs. Players must defeat one of the three Chief Gate Guards of the area, before the Guardian Spirit of Para spawns. The nation to defeat the Guardian Spirit claims that territory. Once the territory is taken, the guards and other NPCs in that area switch to the winning nation.

In Dragon Invasion, players band together to topple waves of dragon warriors in ever increasing difficulty, before facing Commander in Chief Margarito, a massive dragonoid monster. Being the player that defeats any of the higher level monsters yield special rewards, including chests that give random cash shop items and costume clothing.

In Battle Ground, players are split into two teams of five and sent into an arena much like a League of Legends map. There are three titans on the map that players must attack, driving them towards their opponent’s base. The game ends when players drive the titan into the opposing base and destroy it, while fighting off the opposing team. It’s a novel take on the League of Legends gameplay, and transitions well into 4Story.

Finally, there is Battles of Worlds, which are large battles with 25v25 to 49v49, or nearly one hundred players at the same time. Players are split between kingdoms, Craxion battling Defugel, with Broan players split to whichever side they choose to back. Each team has a boss monster summoned and is granted five points. The goal is to destroy the opposing boss monster, resulting in the killing team gaining one point while the defending team loses one point. The first team to reach 10 points is the winner.

Cash Shop

4Story loses major points for their cash shop. Clicking the cash shop in game opens up a web browser page instead of any sort of in-game interface. Further, while they sell the usual items like experience buffs, health buffs, and mounts, they also sell a lot of equipment. A set of equipment will run a player $40, and when coupled with accessory packs cost nearly $100. While there is plenty of ways to gain competitive equipment in game, these packs leave the pay-to-win avenue wide open.

On the bright side, most of the items sold don’t offer any advantage, and 4Story offers a wide selection of costume pieces, a needed option to increase the sparse customization options given during character creation.

Final Verdict – Good

Between the Cash Shop selling equipment that boosts stats to the poor English translations, there are solid reasons for avoiding 4Story. However, after digging into it a bit, particularly the PvP, it is easy to see why many of its players have stuck around for years. The PvP offers plenty of options for end-game content, and the Broan nation of mercenaries is an interesting spin on the “warring factions” MMO concept. With plenty of quests, 4Story offers a great amount of content to be a solid, free-to-play MMORPG.

Videos

4Story Videos

Links

4Story Links

4Story Official Site
4Story Wikia [Database / Guides]
4Story Official Game Guide

System Requirements

4Story System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: XP / 2000 / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz or AMD Equivalent
Video Card: GeForce FX5700 / ATI Equivalent
RAM: 1 GB
Hard Disk Space: 2 GB

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: XP / 2000 / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz
Video Card: GeForce 6600 GT / ATI Equivalent
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 3 GB

Despite the 4Story minimum requirements stating 2 GB for hard disk space, the installer alone is ~2.8GB. The official system requirements most likely haven't been updated in a while.

Music

4Story Music & Soundtrack


Additional Info

4Story Additional Information

Developer: Zemi Interactive
Publisher: Gameforge, Zemi Interactive

Closed Beta: June, 2008
Open Beta:
October 20, 2008
Commercial Release Date: July, 2009

Foreign Release:

South Korea: April, 2007 (Zemi Interactive)
Turkey: August, 2009
Greece: July, 2009
Spain: June, 2009
England: May, 2009
France: April, 2009
Poland: April, 2009
Czech Republic: February, 2009
Italy: February, 2009
Japan: December, 2008
Romania: December, 2009

Despite numerous foreign releases, the global version of 4Story, published by the developer, is the go-to version for everybody. GameForge publishes 4Story in Europe, but everyone else can access the global servers.

Development History / Background:

4Story, previously known as Gates of Andaron, was developed by South Korean game studio Zemi Interactive. Development for 4Story began back in 2006 with the game's closed beta launching in South Korea in December 2006 with the open beta commencing in April 2007. The game is self-published by Zemi in its home country as well as abroad. Since the game's original release in early 2007, 4Story has been in continuous operation for over 9 years, making it one of the more successful free-to-play MMORPGs. GameForge currently publishes the game in Europe, while the rest of the global service is self-published by Zemi Interactive with no IP restrictions.