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I am unsure what I expected, in hindsight, beginning an account on EVE Online, but I have been more than pleasantly surprised by it. Creation After mandatory account creation, the game prompts you to create your first character. First up is choosing which faction you belong to, the tribal Minmatar who recently escaped from complete racial slavery were my personal choice but the other factions are: The Amarr Empire, the largest and most powerful faction in EVE, a Theocracy built on the backs of Minmatar slave labour. The Gallente Federation, fierce guardians of personal freedom and societal responsibility, the Federation is the only true democracy in EVE, some of the most progressive and forward-thinking individuals have arisen from the Gallente peoples. Finally, there are the Caldari, a ruthless, patriotic, and hard working people, they value merit and capitalist ideals over all else. Having chosen my race, the Minmatar, I then chose my tribe from three distinct choices. I favoured the Brutor, a martial and strong-willed tribe, their main goal is to re-unite the tribes into one stable, powerful, nation. From amongst the Brutor, I then chose my character's background from another three different choices, the Tribal Traditionalists, the Workers and the Slave Children. Each background holds its own bonuses, I happened to choose a worker background . Already at this stage I was massively impressed by the depth and scope of the in-game history and story. I hadn't expected such depth of character creation and, having a huge game-crush on elements like this, I was incredibly pleased. Starting Off EVE Online is a complex game, make no mistake, there is a lot to learn and a lot to get to grips with, but it eases you in very gently with a quest and tutorial based learning system. Beginning at a faction-friendly space station, you are given a rookie ship and shown, in stages, how to arm and armour it, equipping it with turret defences and shields, missile launchers and all manner of assorted goodies. The tutorial shows you how to do a particular modification or task, and then the local agent in the space station gives you a quest in which you try out your new found skills/equipment. This all seems very simple, but when the improvements include dozens of different weapons with dozens of ammunition types, dozens of ships, shields, boosters, thrusters, clones, body and mind modifications, ship modifications, tasks, quests, professions, trades and all manner of other stuff, you start to get the idea that the universe of EVE Online is absolutely gigantic. Training and advancement Unlike most other MMORPGs, EVE doesn't feature XP or experience points. For completing quests you simply get some money and perhaps some fancy bullets or cargo to sell. Instead of levelling up, progression takes the form of buying more powerful ships, kitting them out, and training your own repertoire of skills in-game. Training these skills consists of buying the relevant skill you wish to train and "injecting" the knowledge into your character's mind. Once there, you can add this skill to a training queue where skills are, over time, trained up. The time it takes depends on the player's attributes (which can be improved with expensive implants) and to what level the skill is being trained. Skills in the queue continue being trained even when the player is offline, so it is possible and definitely viable to advance your character without having to slog through a thousand and one missions and a million and one enemies. I was very pleased with the lack of "grind" in EVE, something which kills the joy from most RPGs for me, personally. Every quest you complete brings real reward, and there is no need to kill five hundred enemies just to get that next level. The depth of character advancement is also absolutely immense, from body and mind modifications to gigantic skill trees and professions to choose from. I haven't even begun to touch on the player run corporations and alliances, or the industries and sciences which you can take part in. The in-game economy is cut-throat and vibrant, with immence nuance and real working politics behind it all. For example, some players set up huge mining corporations, with their own mining ships to strip asteroids and planets of valuable resources, however, they are vulnerable to attack by other players, and may need to hire a third party of player mercenaries to guard them. Almost anything goes, and so this third party could very well turn on their employers and take the resources for themselves, but then they risk future employment as they would be known for treachery. As you can see, EVE is a dangerous and deep game to play, full of treachery and honour, hard work and thuggery. The game itself takes care of you, helping you learn and progress, but it is with other players that the universe truly comes alive. Overall EVE Online is an incredibly enjoyable game, deep and complex but with simple and helpful beginnings. The players make it what it is, and the developers have done a fantastic job of giving them the framework in which to build real economies and political alliances. The game looks gorgeous, with stunning vistas through space and well designed ships and stations. Combining this with the "no grind" mentality makes it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Rating = 9/10 Highly recommended. comments on EVE Online from a newbie`s perspective |
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