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Atlantica Online

Atlantica Online is a turn-based strategy MMORPG set on a fantasy-themed Earth with real world geography. Atlantica features 6 continents as well as the legendary floating continent of Atlantis. Atlantica features a well-written storyline, a solid soundtrack, and over seven years' worth of content updates.

Publisher: Valofe
Playerbase: Medium
Type: MMORPG
Release Date: Oct 30, 2008 (NA/EU)
PvP: Duels / Guild Wars / Arena
Pros: +Unique tactical turn-based combat system. +Huge variety of classes. +Good crafting system. +Tons of quests/events.
Cons: -Few character customization options. -Monster graphics are recycled.

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Overview

Atlantica Online Overview

Atlantica Online is a 3D strategy MMORPG with an incredibly creative world and a turn-based combat system. Set in an alternative version of Earth, players travel six of the seven continents, plus the land of Atlantis, in a game that has a free-market economy where the players are the vendors. The game has a strong emphasis on PvP. If you are a fan of tactical gameplay, or alternative history, Atlantica Online is the game for you.

There are three races in Atlantica Online. You have the Descendants of Atlantis, who start with the weakest base values and the most flexibility; you have Atlantians, who are stronger than their descendants (and flashier), but less flexible; and you have Heroes, who start at Level 30, but have no customization options.

Atlantica Online Key Features:

  • Unique Turn-Based Combat – experience a different kind of combat in the MMORPG realm, where tactics rule over reflexes.
  • Great Crafting System – being that there are no vendors in the game, players must craft everything.
  • Free-Market Economy – the market is ruled by the playerbase. Sell, trade, barter influence the market!
  • Large Variety of Classes – choose from a big pool of different weapons to wield to match your playstyle.
  • Participate in Events Altantica Online has not only a lot of quests, but many events for players to enjoy from the usual gameplay.

Atlantica Online Screenshots

Atlantica Online Featured Video

Atlantica Online - Teaser Trailer

Classes

In Atlantica Online, classes are defined by the weapons the character uses, with a few notable exceptions.

Melee Classes

  • Axe Main – usually played as a tank. High in health, low in magic defense, high in physical defense.
  • Power Saw Main physical and magic damage dealer. Fairly high in health, decent in magic defense, decent in physical defense (unlocked when you have a character at Level 100).
  • Spear Main – uses lightning magic with weapon to deal damage. Decent magic defense, but low in magic defense.
  • Sword Main – physical damage dealer. Decent in physical defense, low in magic defense.

Ranged Classes

  • Bow Main – deal a ton of damage, silence enemies, but do it at a distance with your bow. Frail in terms of defense, high in damage and evasion.
  • Cannon Main – high in health and damage, Cannon wielders do AoE damage. While slow, they have decent physical and magic defense.
  • Gun Main – high in health, Gun wielders also deal AoE damage. Slightly higher in strength than Cannon wielders.
  • Instrument Main like a support character, you can debuff enemies. Decent defense for a ranged character.

Magic

  • Staff Main – essentially the basic mage. Low physical defense, high magic defense. High in magic damage output.

Atlantian

  • Battle Mage Main – lightning AoE magic user. Low in physical defense, but high in magic defense. Can buff allies and debuff enemies.
  • Blademaster Main – lightning AoE dual-sword user. High physical defense, decent magic defense.
  • Stormcaller Main – uses a whip, but also transforms into a goddess of lightning.

Atlantian Hero

  • Celestial Hunter Main – uses a bow to hit multiple enemies at once. Fair stats all around.

Full Review

Atlantica Online Review

By Toan Layne

Atlantica Online is a 3D strategy MMORPG developed by NDOORS Interactive and published by Nexon (of MapleStory, Combat Arms, and Vindictus). The game was released on October 30, 2008 in North America, and on April 9, 2014 in the UK. Atlantica Online features a unique turn-based combat system, which is where the “strategy” part in strategy MMORPG comes from. The game is available on Steam for North American players, while players in Europe can download the game from its official website. Nexon transferred the license to anew publisher, Valofe in 2016.

Diving In

Atlantica Online takes place in a fantasy, alternative history version of Earth. Players will be traveling six of the seven actual continents, plus the continent of Atlantis, in a version of the Earth that’s filled with a beautiful mix of history, mythology, and various cultures. When it comes to character creation though, Atlantica Online is a little lacking. There are three races to choose from: Descendants of Atlantis, Heroes, and Atlantians. Classes are defined by the weapon they use for the most part, with a couple of more exotic choices. Descendants of Atlantis can use Swords, Spears, Axes, Guns, Bows, Cannons, Instruments (rocking guitar), and Staves, with an added class called the Maniac which is unlocked once you hit Level 100 with another character. You then have Heroes, which can be Celestial Hunters that start at Level 30, but they are gender-locked and they have 0 customization options. As for Atlantians, you have Blademaster, Stormcaller, and Battlemage. As for actual customization options, you have around 6 faces, 6 hair styles, and around 3 hair colors for each character.

After you’ve created your character, you’re ready to dive into your very first set of quests, which will teach you about the game’s basic mechanics mainly the turn-based combat system and the mercenary system. If you’ve played any single player game where turn-based combat is the norm (JRPGs in particular), you’ll be immediately familiar with the concept; you take your turn to attack, and then the enemy responds in a similar fashion. The mercenary system is there to make the combat interesting. With mercenaries, you can create a party of up to nine characters, all of whom come with unique skills and combat styles.

Personal Experience

It’s nice to see innovation in a genre that is filled with copycats. The setting does a lot for me. I love alternative history and the idea of playing on a weird version of Earth. On top of that, the combat system is a breath of fresh air. Combat has been fairly formulaic in MMORPGs, with very few of them breaking the mold (I’m thinking Age of Conan and Tera here), so seeing a system that spices it up a little bit is at least interesting. I've long been a fan of Japanese RPGs, so I actually like the tactical turn-based combat Atlantica Online offers. Obviously it can get repetitive after thousands of PvE battles, but Atlantica offers unique combat compared to other MMORPGs.

Mercenaries and Leveling

The size of a player’s party depends on the main character’s level. At Level 1, players can have 2 party members; at Level 2 that number goes up to 3; at Level 5 to 4; and so on and so forth. However, players can hire more mercenaries and keep them in storage if they own several houses or mansions, enough mercenary rooms, and have a couple of expeditions under their belt, with the maximum number of mercenaries a player can hire being 52.

The mercenary system allows players to think tactically, creating a team that is optimized to respond to any threat. The mercenary system works on a rock-paper-scissor pattern, with melee mercenaries beating ranged ones, ranged ones beating magic mercs, and magic mercs beating the melee ones. On top of that, there are different winning conditions for PvE and PvP. In PvE, the player must clear the battlefield of enemies, while in PvP, it’s enough to kill just the other player. This leads to some interesting dynamics and adds a whole new layer of tactical thinking to a battle.

The mercenaries will level the same way your main character does: through combat and gaining experience. You build your mercenaries through skill and bonus points, which are earned by leveling up. This is where you see some more of Atlantica’s depth, since you have to choose whether you want to specialize in one or two skills, or if you want to spread the points out. Your decision does not have to be final though, since you can use a Skill Decrease Book to respec. However, this can be quite expensive. Bonus points on the other hand, can be used with Growth Vials, which can be found throughout the game, in order to increase the four stat types: Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, and Intelligence.

Main characters skill up automatically until Level 130. Upon reaching Level 130, the talent system comes into play. The talent system is divided into tiers, which are unlocked every 10 levels. Points are assigned upon leveling, and players have a total of 10 points to spend on each tier. Each tier also has 3 categories to spend points in, and these categories can be either general passives or class-specific talents. Players can respec by purchasing and using Atlas Ore from the Item Mall (cash shop).

PvP, Trading, and Crafting

There will come a point when you will notice that there are no vendors in the game. This is because all of the in-game trading and economy is player-driven. That’s right if you want an item, you’re either going to have to get it from another player, or craft/find it yourself. How does PvP play into this? Through PvP, guilds can gain control of towns and they can set taxes on all of the trade going on, thus turning a huge profit. PvP also takes the form of dueling in the Colosseum and good old-fashioned PKing. PKing can be done on players that are above Level 30, with the loser dropping a piece of equipment/mounts/decoration. There is no penalty for PKing, except incurring the wrath of your victim and being placed on their Black List, which means that they’ll know when your online, and can auto-travel to your location.

Speaking of crafting, there are 39 crafting professions in the game, which makes sense when you think about the lack of vendors. These crafting skills can be anything from crafting helmets, to fishing tools, charms, tools, pants, bullets, and anything else that might be a tradable commodity. And to make for a more enjoyable experience, there is an auto-crafting system which will craft items automatically, in quantities that depend on a player’s level.

Cash Shop

The cash shop in Atlantica Online is called the Item Mall, and in the Item Mall you will find cosmetic items, mounts, buffs, Atlas Ore (for respecs), scrolls that can be used in combat, extra inventory space, extra mercenary slots, and much more. The item mall does offer some advantages to paying players, but it will not turn them into gods. Items purchased from the mall can be sent or traded after a 2-week waiting period, which creates a dynamic in-game economy where players can purchase cash shop items from other players for in-game gold.

Final Verdict – Great

Atlantica Online is a highly regarded F2P MMORPG, which won a ton of awards when it came out in 2008. With a fair cash shop, no limitations on F2P accounts, much love from a dedicated community, a very interesting setting, and unique and deep gameplay, Atlantica Online is a must try. For its originality, concept, and execution, it's a superb game.

Screenshots

Atlantica Online Screenshots

Videos

Atlantica Online Videos

Playlist: Atlantica Online

System Requirements

Atlantica Online System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Pentium 4 1 GHz
Video Card: Any Graphics card with 128MB video ram and Shader 3.0 support
RAM: 1 GB
Hard Disk Space: 15 GB

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Pentium 4 2 GHz
Video Card: Any Graphics card with 512MB video ram and Shader 3.0 supporti
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 20 GB

Music

Atlantica Online Music & Soundtrack


Additional Info

Atlantica Online Additional Information

Developer: NDOORS Corporation
Director: Taegon Km
Composer: Minho Jang
Game Engine: Gamebryo
Closed Beta Date: July 15, 2008 - September 17, 2008
Open Beta Date: September 24, 2008

Foreign Release(s):

South Korea: January, 2008 (Nexon KR)
Japan: November 25, 2008 (Nexon JP)
Taiwan: April 23, 2009 (Gamania)
Vietnam: June, 2009 (VTC Games)
China: June 3, 2009 (The9)
Thailand: September 9, 2009 (AsiaSoft)
Indonesia: June 21, 2010 (GemsCool)
Brazil: June 1, 2011 (Ignited Games)
United Kingdom: April 9, 2014 (Nexon EU)

Several localized versions of Atlantica Online are no longer available. The Nexon version of the game is the most reliable, as Nexon owns the developer nDoors.

Development History / Background:

Atlantica Online was developed by South Korean game developer NDoors corporation and launched in its home country in early 2008. Since its launch, Atlantica Online won the highly coveted first place spot for the 2008 Korea Game Award. Atlantica Online is powered by the Gamebryo engine and was NDoor's most successful game. The game was such a success that Nexon actually acquired the developer, NDoors, to gain exclusive access to the game. Atlantica Online is currently available through Valve's Steam service as well as through Nexon's official website.