The new MMORPG Throne and Liberty has sparked many discussions. Some rave that it is the best MMORPG since WoW, 20 years ago. Others can’t relate to the online role-playing game at all and see it as a loveless and generic fantasy nonsense. But there’s one feature that everyone praises: the seamless zone transition without a loading screen.
How is Throne and Liberty being discussed? There are two major poles:
- Some say they can’t get into the game at all and left after the tutorial. They just don’t find their way into the game. They consider the MMORPG to be overloaded and cheap.
- Others, on the other hand, rave mainly about the graphics and how smoothly everything runs. They can’t understand the negative reviews.
This division is reflected on Steam: The reviews here are 61% mixed. However, German reviews view Throne and Liberty more critically than international ratings. In German, only 55% of the reviews on Steam are positive.
MMORPG players love the absence of loading screens
The feature is widely praised: In Throne and Liberty, it is possible to change zones without the loading screens that are otherwise typical in the genre forcing players to wait for a few seconds.
This is seen by many players as a sensation for an MMORPG, as long loading times during a zone transition are usually expected.
One player on Reddit says: He is still amazed by the feature for an MMO. It is a revelation for him.
Other users agree:
- One really has to praise the developers here. They are the first who managed to do this with the Unreal Engine
- Many say: Whenever many players were visible in an MMO running on the Unreal Engine, it would have been embarrassing, but Throne and Liberty has changed their opinion
- Throne and Liberty is in a league of its own regarding the quality of comfort features. Other games feel sluggish by comparison
Throne and Liberty comes from the Blizzard of South Korea
What is the reason for this? Throne and Liberty comes from the absolute AAA studio in South Korea, NCSoft. That is the Blizzard of South Korea, in a way. They have had the most successful MMORPG in their country with Lineage for over 25 years and are generally considered the first address.
NCSoft has also been swimming in money since about 2017, which has been pumped into the previously struggling coffers by a mobile boom. Throne and Liberty has also been planned as the new flagship
MMORPG of the studio for 15 years and has been developed with considerable effort.
One can simply assume that some of the best game developers in the country work at NCSoft. Even though new gaming companies from South Korea like Pearl Abyss (Black Desert) or Netmarble have been making headlines in recent years, NCSoft remains the first address in the country – along with their eternal competitor Nexon, which was able to deliver a hit with The First Descendant in 2024 as well.
However, like our Blizzard, NCSoft has come under fire in recent months and has recently been responsible for some flops. Among other things, because they went overboard with Pay2Win in new mobile games. We have dealt with the criticism of NCSoft in this article.
Criticism of the story and localization
What is the criticism of the game? Even though the technology is praised, Throne and Liberty apparently has weaknesses in other areas. In a scathing article, the magazine PC Gamer criticizes the presentation and coherence of the MMORPG. They point out major flaws in the localization.
The spoken text would not correspond to the readable text in the game in many cases and would sometimes even contradict it.
The story appears senseless and wildly cobbled together. Additionally, a crash ruins the tester’s experience in Throne and Liberty completely.
How we at MeinMMO feel about Throne and Liberty and what our expert Karsten Scholz has to say about the South Korean MMORPG, you can find out in our expert talk: Throne and Liberty in the Review: In the talk with GameStar, our MMORPG expert reveals his interim conclusion
