Ashen Empires

The Good
What I like about Ashen Empires is the wide variety of skills (Wikipedia states there are 71 of them), the soundtrack I've even downloaded to my iPod(composed by a Finnish talent Paavo "Tarantula" Härkönen who has a band of his own nowadays), the huge world and, personally, I love the isometric viewpoint and the sharp, beautiful graphics it has to offer.

Even as a subscriber to the game I sometimes make a new character just to play on Valinor Island, which is the place where people start their journey in the land of Dransik. On the starting island anyone can try the game out; it doesn't cost anything. Valinor Island is probably my favourite area in the game at the moment.

For me the best thing in Ashen Empires is to go out with a friend or two and to explore a new area. You never know what you get! And if you venture into a dungeon that you are unfamiliar with, you might really get lost!

One can hunt and wander around the world alone, too. It just gives more possibilities to party up with a couple of other players and go for bigger and meaner monsters.

The game also offers a wide range of different quests: some of them offer epic adventures and some of them offer fun dialogue such as a rooster telling you to fetch him a magic potion.

The small community especially on the non-pvp server is very friendly and helpful, and I think this is a thing you don't see in many MMORPGS of today.

The Bad
The token system is a very controversial subject in the game. It means players can buy some items from the in-game shop with real money. It doesn't go as far as selling gold or high-end gear, although that happens between players. I personally don't mind too much about it, although I think it wasn't such a wise decision to introduce the token system into the game. On the other hand, it has allowed the game to move towards cheaper prices & free limited game play.

After the game experienced a major graphics overhaul a few years back (called Dungeon Spire) many of the old-school Ashen Empires players quit the game. To an old Ashen Empires player the game just doesn't look like it did before. The old look is something I miss too. For new players though it doesn't matter.

Now that there are two expansions and a third on its way, the areas of the main game feel quite deserted. Introducing Lotors Summer Palace (abbr. LSP) which makes it possible to teleport between the major cities dealt the killing blow to smaller cities. A big part of the game world nowadays is just simply left unused because there is nothing of interest for higher nor lower level players. Players are simply moving towards bigger treasure and more challenging areas.

The Bottom Line
The game isn't for everyone, starting from the graphics. In our world of 3D MMORPGS these kind of isometric games just won't gain a foothold big enough.

Shortly, Ashen Empires will offer you a great soundtrack, interesting lore, fun and challenging questing, skills that require dedication and gameplay that requires teamwork.