On July 23, the new MMORPG V4 (PC, Android, iOS) from Nexon was released, which you can now play for free. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch has tried the new title for several hours to get an idea of it.
Update July 25: Meanwhile, I have played the title for about 15 hours and reached level 50. I have also tried all the content and joined a guild. The article has been updated accordingly.
What is V4? Victory Four was developed by the South Korean studio Nexon, which has already released MMORPGs such as Vindictus and MapleStory 2. It is playable on both PC and smartphones and offers crossplay between the two platforms.
V4 aims to impress with its open fantasy world, various PvE and PvP content, extensive guild content, and large battles.
As Nexon has released the game with German text and English voice acting, and I was curious about a new MMORPG, it was a good reason for me to try the game for about 2.5 hours. But what is my impression so far and can V4 keep my interest longer?
Diverse Character Development, but Little Personal Contribution
Here’s how the first steps went: V4 offers you the choice of various servers at the start, including 3 in Europe. In character creation, you have the choice of 6 different classes, with a gender lock:
- Spellcaster – Female
- Warlord – Male
- Butcher – Male
- Knight – Female
- Gunslinger – Female
- Heavy Blade – Female, and unfortunately looks a bit childish
At least you can own 5 characters for free to try almost every class. Character creation itself offers some pre-made templates but also many options to make changes to the appearance. However, the editor is far from reaching the level of Black Desert.
What is the gameplay like? The first steps in the game are quite simple: You follow some dialogue quests, where following isn’t quite the right word. It’s more accurate to say you watch some characters talk to you. Because you don’t have to walk to any NPC; everything in this game happens automatically.
The same goes for the first quests in which you are to defeat monsters. The character handles combat on its own, and not even poorly.
It uses skills, performs combo attacks, utilizes mounts automatically at advanced levels, and dialogues are completely self-running. In the settings, you can also define at what percentage of health potions should be used and how the character should respond automatically in certain situations.
This can be disabled, but since everything can be completed automatically, the difficulty level during leveling is correspondingly low. The character can also handle the first “dungeons” effortlessly.
Only occasionally is there a small interruption from the autoplay when a quest line ends, and you want to take on a new line or a tutorial is about to introduce a feature of the game. Then you actually have to click twice.
What is interesting about V4? Although the gameplay is almost completely automated, Nexon seems to have made some interesting ideas with character development:
- My Butcher has 21 different skills, which is quite a lot for a game that also runs on smartphones.
- There is an ultimate skill that briefly transforms me into a demon. Accordingly, I can imprint demon stones to obtain better stats.
- Equipment can be improved through potential and also through found scrolls.
- There are 4 gathering and 3 crafting professions.
- My character can learn various talents.
- There are mounts, companions (pets), and comrades that you can send on journeys to gather materials or complete other tasks. The selection is large, and you can even make upgrades.
However, a drawback in all these systems is that chance plays a significant role. At a certain point, upgrades to equipment can fail or even destroy the item after too many failures.
Moreover, there is a research journal for character development, where you can learn more about certain creatures in the game world and where you can find them. You can also improve your character’s stats through this.
What content does the MMORPG offer? V4 relies on quests and a story for leveling, which is rather simple: meet people, help them, make new friendships, and rescue other people.
Over time, small dungeon-like content is added, such as the Abyss or demons that you experience with random other players. Additionally, there are Lunatra, real dungeons that can only be entered with real money. I have not tried these.
Those at level 30 can found a guild or join an existing one earlier. Guilds offer bonuses such as XP for having more players. Large guilds are thus welcome.
The crafting system in V4 is very simple:
- You gather wood, ore, herbs, and gems in the open world.
- From this, you can craft armor, weapons, upgrades, and potions in 3 professions.
Furthermore, there are world bosses, for which you need at least an equipment value of 23,100 (maximum even 175,500 – I currently have just under 19,000). Additionally, the first bosses only appear in the evenings.
All of this is wrapped in decent graphics, although not exceptional. Unreal Engine 4 is used, but with an interface designed for smartphones.
What about PvP? Although I discovered a PvP leaderboard, I haven’t encountered any real PvP content yet. I would have liked to try the autoplay there as well. However, there is the menu item “Assault”, which has always been “already over” for me so far.
Too Much Smartphone, Too Little PC
What is annoying about V4? During the game, the autoplay didn’t bother me that much. What was worse was the blinking at every corner of the interface:
- New items in the inventory
- New achievements that you achieve every second
- New skills
- Login and online rewards
- New research
- Quest rewards that you get from a journal
For each of these events, there is a direct notification in the form of glowing icons.
What is the monetization like? The only thing that hasn’t been aggressively promoted so far is the real money shop, which does exist in V4. It offers a 30-day subscription for €10.99, which provides additional experience, gold, attack power, and speed.
You can also purchase with real money:
- Better equipment
- Buff food
- New companions and mounts
- and even in-game currency and progress for your research journal.
What is not available in the shop are cosmetic skins. You actually have to earn the right appearance in-game. Nonetheless, there are already some pure mobile MMORPGs that are better than V4.
An MMORPG for between, but not a highlight
V4 is primarily a mobile MMORPG and unfortunately plays just like that. I am most effective on the go when I let the game do the work. So if you are looking for an MMORPG simulation, at least you will find a pretty example here.
At first glance, Nexon’s title does not offer impressive innovations or particularly interesting aspects, aside from the fact that you don’t need an emulator to play it on PC. Many of the contents can already be found in other mobile MMORPGs.
I understand that MMORPGs should be made interesting for smartphones. Many more people own mobile devices, and I enjoy playing Hearthstone or Teamfight Tactics on the go. However, I would have liked to see a bit more effort.
Alexander
Editor and MMORPG expert at Mein-MMO
Does another crossplay MMORPG do it better?
A small hope for me is the upcoming MMORPG The Ragnarök, which also wants to offer crossplay between PC, smartphone, and even console. Even though we haven’t seen any gameplay yet, the ideas from developer Netease sound at least interesting, which we have introduced to you as part of FYNG.
