AIKA Online is a MMORPG that is set in the past. Boasting awesome graphics for a MMORPG, AIKA Online features some of the most innovative game play elements that I’ve ever see in any MMORPG that I’ve ever played.
Featuring some intensive PvP and even a daughter system, what more can be wanted from such a game?
Of course, most seasoned MMORPG player would know that AIKA Online hails from the GREAT SOUTH KOREA, where most of the MMORPGs we play today started off from there. Most seasoned MMORPG player would also know that any MMO games from Korea would probably mean hours of mindless grinding just to get the level you want.
Aika's Creations
Before time began, the great goddess Aika created the land of Arcan, a world she hoped would become a utopia for all who inhabited it. To people this gentle land, Aika fashioned the Scinic, a kind and just race who cared for Arcan and preserved the harmony with which the Goddess had infused their birth. After three centuries, however, the Scinic grew restless and disenchanted with the complacency of their existence. The Scinic elders blamed Aika for the lack of purpose which gnawed at the very core of their society, corrupting the goodness which lay within them. They wished only to sleep under Arcan's fertile ground until a time in which their lives could have more meaning, a request the Goddess granted, albeit sorrowfully.
Aika, in her wisdom, recognized that she had failed in her first attempt to create the perfect creatures to live in harmony on the world she had brought out of nothingness. She set out to correct her error in the genesis of the Humans, a race whose inherent balance of good and evil would inspire the meaningful struggle which the Scinic had so sorely missed in their peaceful lives. Human civilization thrived, but soon Aika learned that her second creation was also flawed. Arcan, her first and most precious creation, was quickly becoming overrun by Humankind's hatred and destruction.
Angered and embittered by the Humans' excesses, Aika vowed to create a race which would cleanse the land of its defilement. It was in this unhappy state that she conceived the Zereca, a race of arbiters to act as judge, jury, and executioner for the Humans. She desperately imbued her third creation with fragments of her own limitless essence — the better to overpower those whom they were destined to preserve or condemn. The Goddess released the Zereca upon Arcan... and prayed.
The Retreat to the Sky
Aika grew weary from her many efforts to devise a faultless world. She watched, horrified, as the Zereca ran bloodthirsty with power, bringing the Humans close to extinction and forcing them to hide in fear. Filled with remorse, she realized that there was no hope for the Zereca, a race created in anger, and that she must somehow shield the Humans from impending doom. She called upon the Great Prophet Giovanni of the Humans to command a mass exodus to the region of Lakia. With her remaining power, she lifted Lakia and the survivors upon it into the sky, away from the predations of the Zereca. Heartsick and spent, Aika fell into a deep sleep, and the fragments of her own power within the Zereca caused them to share her slumber.
The Awakening
Three hundred years have passed and the Humans have prospered upon Lakia, the land of the sky. Trouble lurks across the horizon, however, as both Aika and the Zereca have begun to stir from their repose. The Zereca, although still in a weakened state, have already begun to spread darkness over Arcan in preparation for their full awakening. In response, Aika has commissioned her own chosen emissaries among the Humans–a class known as the Aitan –to protect their race from harm. She has further created Pran, fairy familiars with elemental powers, to aid the Aitan.
And so begins Aika's awakening, and the final war for Arcan...
Classes
Guilds
Guilds are Aitan organizations which possess special powers within Human civilization in the land of Lakia. Guildmates may initially band together for purposes of raiding or dungeon exploration, or they may rally around a common cause or set of values. Perhaps they see the profit in pooling their resources to more efficiently acquire the necessary goods for crafting and completing quests. Whatever the reason might be for a guild's creation, those who take part in the system would do well to recall that guilds are privy to a powerful process in Lakia's political system whereby a single guild or an alliance of up to four guilds may rise to ultimate supremacy in governing one of the five nations.
Guilds are created when a party of six Aitan who are all citizens of the same nation and who are not already members of any guild approach the Guild Administrator in Regenshein. The Aitan who speaks to the Guild Administrator to begin this process becomes the guildmaster, the undisputed leader of the guild. The guildmaster has authority over all guild processes, including accepting and removing members, assigning certain powers to members, maintaining the guild warehouse, editing guild information, and disbanding the guild. The guildmaster may control the hierarchy of the guild by assigning members to one of up to four different units, each of which can have a different combination of administrative abilities. However, as the guildmaster has the final say, it is essential that this individual be capable and respected (through fear, if not trust) if the guild is to prosper.
The position of guildmaster is also crucial because it is the guildmaster who can create alliances with up to three other guilds, and it is the guildmaster who has the authority to enter his guild or guild alliance into the weekly Castle Siege. If the guild or guild alliance then manages to succeed in usurping the ruling regime, that guildmaster becomes Lord Marshal — military commander of the nation who also wields immense political and economic power. The other members of the Lord Marshal's guild are known as the Lord Marshal's Knights, and as the guildmasters of any allied guilds are called Archons, other members of those guilds are called Archon's Knights. Lord Marshal's and Archon's Knights enjoy special status benefits and, as a function of their policing powers, are not subject to the normal penalty for attacking citizens of their own nation.
Joining a guild is an excellent way to get a leg up in exploring all that Lakia has to offer, and starting a guild (or being appointed guildmaster of an existing guild) is the first step towards leading an entire nation to glory. Aitan who seek like-minded brethren or who dream of controlling vast armies and financial reserves would be advised to consult the Guild Recruitment forum. The path to true greatness — and perhaps true infamy — awaits.
The crafting and equipment enhancement system of Aika is an extremely useful and accessible way to customize both armor and weaponry. Once a player has acquired certain items in-game as well as enough gold to fund the process, he or she may craft new equipment or enhance existing equipment — with powerful results.
Crafting — Armor and Weaponry
Visit the anvils in either of Lakia's major metropolitan areas (Regenshein and Cirrugor) to transform ordinary materials into the finest weaponry and armor. Drop down menus provide helpful information regarding all of the different kinds of goods the player can create: the components needed, the price of crafting, the required level for crafting that particular item, and a full description of the finished product. The crafting process does not reward players with more extensive anvil experience — whether first-time crafter or old hand, any player can successfully forge a valuable piece of equipment. Many players prefer to craft their own weapons and armor over buying them outright, as it's much less expensive to start from scratch. In addition, crafted equipment may sometimes possess a statistical advantage over the store-bought kind, such as greater durability. With over 200 craftable weapons and armor components available, from swords and firearms to robes and gauntlets, the anvil provides an exciting gateway into the many possibilities of equipment customization.
Materials
While it might be fairly simple to find raw materials such as linen fiber, wood, and copper in the course of one's adventures, it often takes more refined materials to fashion higher quality goods. For a nominal fee and given the right materials at hand, it's a simple feat to create these intermediate components at the anvil.
For example, crafting certain kinds of equipment often requires reinforced serimight, a form of serimight which has been processed with coal. To create reinforced serimight, one must gather three serimight nuggets along with one piece of coal and combine them at the anvil. Once enough reinforced serimight is acquired in this way, it can be used together with other intermediate materials to forge a high level weapon or piece of armor. As many of these non-basic components are either difficult or impossible to acquire in-game by other means, a player would certainly find it advantageous to become familiar with this feature of the anvil.
Consumables
It's possible to create certain mana and health potions at the anvil by combining weaker potions and other materials. Since the cost in gold of crafting potions is small, this is an ideal solution for players with more basic potions on their hands than they know what to do with. The more powerful potions that can be crafted at the anvil will certainly be beneficial for advanced players who need to restore their health and mana efficiently out in the field — these potions also cannot be found in stores.
Disassembly
The anvil also serves another key purpose in the crafting cycle: equipment disassembly. Instead of discarding an old weapon or piece of armor, it's much more useful to bring it to the anvil and disassemble it, perhaps salvaging useful materials in the process. While all equippable items will return basic components when they are dismantled in this way, the quantity and quality of reclaimed materials will vary based on the rank of the original item. Players can experiment by processing different types and ranks of equipment to find out what sorts of materials they will receive. Best of all, disassembly is free!
Enhancement — Armor and Weaponry
Four major types of equipment enhancement combined with a rich variety of craftable, buyable, or findable items result in an endless array of unique weaponry and armor. Visit the local Enchanter, Alchemist, and/or Blacksmith with the right precious substances and some gold in order to engineer the perfect equipment. Be careful, however, as certain processes carry the risk of damaging or destroying the item being enhanced.
Enchant
Equipment can be brought to an Enchanter, who will apply his or her powers to the item and a player-supplied precious stone to add special properties, for a price. Certain stones provide specific enhancements while others supply randomly selected ones. Enchantment does not affect the weapon or armor's basic stats, but can produce a sword with a higher damage rating versus certain types of targets, for example, or armor which boosts the effectiveness of healing buffs. Enchantment stones are extremely rare, however, which makes enchanted equipment all the more valuable.
Level Down
All equipment carries a minimum level requirement for use, which is troublesome when a player finds a great piece of armor or weaponry but is still a few levels away from being able to equip it. The Level Down enhancement is the perfect solution. For a fee which increases as the item rank increases, a Blacksmith will attempt to reduce the minimum required level for a specific piece of equipment.
De-leveling is a riskier endeavor and carries a greater penalty if the procedure doesn't succeed — you may end up spending your money only to increase the required level for equipping an item! However, many fearless players consider the gamble worthwhile for the chance to use higher quality weaponry and armor.
Transfer
Another reason to become very familiar with your local Blacksmith is his ability to infuse equippable items with the properties of other equipment. This process is called Transfer, and it entails a one-to-one reassignment of a particular item's offensive, defensive, and magical statistics to another of the same type of item. The two pieces of equipment involved must be similar in all respects except for these statistics — it is impossible to transfer a weapon's properties to a helmet, for example, or Warlock boots' properties to Paladin boots. The cost of Transfer is always 500 gold, but the process itself is less reliable. There is a chance that the operation will not succeed, in which case both items will remain unaffected. Transfer requires the presence (and consumption) of Athlon, a special stone which can only be found or received as a reward.
The procedure may be useful for an instance where a player wishes to disguise the true nature of his or her level — transfer enables a more experienced player to take on the appearance of a new player (via lower rank armor and weaponry) without sacrificing the power of level-appropriate armaments. Alternately, transfer could prove a boon to the player who wants to preserve the aesthetics of an item while changing its features to match a less visually appealing but more powerful piece of equipment. Note, though, that level restrictions transfer along with the item's other properties, and that the item whose statistics are being reassigned is destroyed after a successful transfer.
Reinforce
The crystalline powder known as pellurite and the liquid chemical rubicine are renowned for their armor and weapon-reinforcing powers, and in the hands of a capable Alchemist they can add considerable heft to an item's attack/defense properties.
Pellurite and rubicine may be found or purchased, but as they come in different ranks as equipment does, one must take care to match the rank of the substance with the rank of the item being reinforced. This process adds points to the statistics of an equippable item via a percentage increase which accounts for the rank of the item. The cost of reinforcement rises with the quality of the equipment, and there is significant risk involved — if the procedure fails, the item being reinforced may be damaged or destroyed, especially if it has already been reinforced several times. Still, the advantages which reinforced equipment confers in battle encourage savvy players to stomach the uncertainty.
The perils of your long journey require the assistance of a devoted partner. This companion should act not only as a reliable sidekick in battle, but also as a close friend. The Pran fits both descriptions with ease as she casts helpful spells on you and grows to trust you over many interactions. She is your fairy familiar!
A religious official oversees the testament signed to forge a lasting bond between one Aitan and one Pran. You'll begin your partnership with a Pran when she is only a young fairy and you are still rather new to Aika's world. Your Pran will have a certain elemental type which will affect the sorts of spells she'll be able to cast upon you in battle. Will you choose a water, wind or fire Pran? The specific personality she develops is largely dependent on the way you interact with her as you fulfill quests and undertake adventures together. What kind of Pran will she become?
Would you like her to be cute?
Yeah, I think it's fun playing with you! I think that you might be one of my best friends, master! That makes me really happy! Let's get going.
Or perhaps tough?
Some dumb Pran was running her mouth, so I socked it shut. I'm only sorry that she wasn't sent straight back to the Pran Station.
She can be smart!
I'm slightly bemused, master. I'm getting insulted because of my ears. It's slightly gratuitous, isn't it?
Or even spunky!
Yes, I really like being happy, too! Yay, this should be easy!
The Pran can be mean to you.
Hey, let's see if you're actually good for something. Hand over some cash. Um — please.
Or she can be sassy.
It's usually cold in the mornings, so I warm myself up with a cup of tea, too! But sometimes I feel like I don't need it — baby, I'm already steamin' hot!
All Pran in Lakia are given lessons on basic social behavior and proper etiquette before they are permitted to work with Aitan. After this training, they await their summoning by a qualified potential partner. Always remember: you are the Pran's master! Treat her properly and she will return your good will with camaraderie and magical blessings. The bond between the Aitan and the Pran is singular and revered within the world of Lakia.
Credits: NotCliche.com, Aika Online
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