Tantra: For MMO newbies?

I had a few days off from work lately, thanks to the holidays, and I was really looking forward to some quiet time alone, catching up on reading and just simply relaxing. But my roomie has been talking non-stop about this MMO that she has been playing called Tantra.

Yeah well, I’ve heard of the game, I may have written some articles about it. But what really intrigued me about it was that my roomie isn’t into gaming and videogaming definitely doesn’t rank high in her “fave things to do” list. And now here she is, talking about it to anybody who seems interested. Just like the effect of Wii Sports to that grannie, I guess. Since I had lots of free time, I decided to try the MMO and see for myself what’s with this game and why it lures in newbies like her. I have nothing to lose anyway, because playing’s free; however, buying items would cost some real money and I have no intentions of buying anything.

For me to have an unbiased take on the game, I viewed it the same way I did when I saw Mission Impossible 3, months ago. For two hours, I had to make myself believe that Tom Cruise is not a nutcase and he doesn’t jump on couches in national television. With Tantra, I had to always,always think that this is not World of Warcraft, or EVE Online, or Guild Wars. This is Tantra and it would be really unfair if I compare it to the above mentioned MMOs.

The full article awaits after the jump

I had a few days off from work lately, thanks to the holidays, and I was really looking forward to some quiet time alone, catching up on my reading and just simply relaxing. But my roomie has been talking non-stop about this MMO that she has been playing called Tantra.

Yeah well, I’ve heard of the game, I may have written some articles about it. But what really intrigued me about it was that my roomie isn’t into gaming and videogaming definitely doesn’t rank high in her “fave things to do” list. And now here she is, talking about it to anybody who seems interested. Just like the effect of Wii Sports to that grannie, I guess. Since I had lots of free time, I decided to try the MMO and see for myself what’s with this game and why it lures in newbies like her. I have nothing to lose anyway, because playing’s free; however, buying items would cost some real money and I have no intentions of buying anything anyway, so what the heck?

For me to have an unbiased take on the game, I viewed it the same way I did when I saw Mission Impossible 3, months ago. For two hours, I had to make myself believe that Tom Cruise is not a nutcase and he doesn’t jump on couches in national television. With Tantra, I had to always,always think that this is not World of Warcraft, or EVE Online, or Guild Wars. This is Tantra and it would be really unfair if I compare it to the above mentioned MMOs.

So with that, I think I need not elaborate it’s story because that’s pretty much covered by our previous report. In a nutshell, everything started out perfectly because the Gods and humans peacefully co-existed. La-la land became disturbed because something evil threatened the balance. With that, wars between Gods and humans escalated, and a powerful evil called Mara became the product of all the wars.

There are eight characters you could play. The Naga which basically handles the same as a Barbarian; Garuda (sorcerer); Gandharva (Martial Artist); The Yaksa which moves like a Paladin; Kimnara (Amazon); Rakshasa (Assassin); Asura (Bountry Hunter); and the Deva (wizard). I chose to play a bow class, Asura character because levelling up is easier when you’re shooting arrows from afar and not fighting monsters head-on (which is why I didn’t choose the Naga class).

So I started my journey using my roomie’s Asura character who was already a member of an Ashram (their take on the Guild) which was pretty handy because I didn’t really know anything about the game, ergo they would be my virtual Tantra tour guide. So as I was wandering off with my party, somebody asked me what my level is. Well, being wary of a PK, I said that I’m at Level 18 (when in reality I’m only at Level 11).

True enough, this Naga just attacked me at will even if we’re not even at Kruma (which is the game’s official PvP area). In the end, my partymates and other players bamboozled him and then they we’re saying that their kill had nothing to offer but flimsy initial items. So that got me into thinking, if this guy is in his level 20s, why is he still using initial items? That’s my cue to check out the game’s buying system.

The game’s buying system isn’t exactly to die for. In fact, the simple act of buying may be a tad too tedious for the uninitiated, why you ask? Imagine this, for example you’re going to buy a bangle that has a price tag of, let’s say, 200 rupiahs. Once you’re in The Registry, that’s when the confusion starts for most.

You’d have to type in the number of items to be purchased, what happens is that some players type in the amount of the item they want to buy. So in the end, the NPC or the shop would tell them that they don’t have enough money to buy 900 bangles. I was initially confused, but I got it after a few tries. But definitely, the buying system is not noob-friendly (which explains why my character is wearing what appears to be tatters and initial items).

On the other side of the fence, PvP mode in Tantra is meshed with Hindu beliefs which is something that becomes the game’s double-edged sword of sorts. It’s good because it offers something different but on the other hand, this makes Tantra‘s PvP quite hard to decipher. As mentioned earlier, the official PvP place is Kruma, but when PvP takes place outside the place, it works differently.

Tantra‘s Karma system will make you think twice about killing someone for kicks. Killers (their characters would be marked in red) can be attacked by any player and anybody can get their rupiahs. The only possible way to decrease karma points is for you to wait it out (which could take a long, long time sez my partymate) or if you keep getting killed by other players. On the other hand, attempted killers (names marked in violet) won’t be receiving Karma, but they are almost always attacked by other players.

The attempted killer status will usually disappear in a few minutes, provided that you stop attacking the other player. So PvP, on my book, isn’t something that could be easily picked up by newbies. Although it offers something different and different is always interesting. So once you get the hang of it, maybe you’d like it too. Since I only reached level 16 (after two hours of play), I wasn’t able to try out the Duel Mode because you need to be at least level 20 to initiate one.

Now on to the brighter sides of Tantra.

There are a couple of things that I found to be good about this MMO. Since I grew up playing Diablo and Diablo II, I found it really refreshing that in Tantra, I could use kickass items regardless of my level. My character was using a bow that requires Level 20, and even if I couldn’t maximize its potential (that’s the drawback), at least I still have a good enough weapon for defending myself and my Ashram.

Another good thing about this game is that it gives you plenty of second chances. How? There are items that you could buy that would enable you to reset your skill tree or skill points. So for example, if I got tired of being a bow-wielding Asura and I wanted to use a sword, I could just purchase this item (whose name is hard to pronounce and remember) and voila, I’ll be a swashbuckling Asura.

Same goes with the skill points. But at the same time, this feature also gives more evidence to the fact that this MMORPG is one game that’s hard to master, why would you need second chances if you could get it right the first time? Just a thought.

So after two hours of play, what’s my take on this game? Well, it’s your typical MMORPG wherein you have to make yourself strong, kill ’em all monsters, murder some players every now and then, blah, blah, blah. But I gotta admit that I had fun. My partymates have been nothing but helpful and I owe my Asura’s life to them.

But is it noob-friendly? I don’t think so. An uninitiated player who’s just out to kill some time will realize that learning the basics of the game may take a while, ergo, this won’t appeal to casual gamers. However, if someone has gotten tired of the monotony of playing WoW or GW, then Tantra may have something refreshing to offer and MMO players could get a kick out of it (when I played, there were players from all over the world (Americans, Frenchmen, Asians, Aussies, etc.).

Would I play it again? As long as playtime is free, but if and when the time comes that they charge for it, I don’t think I’ll subscribe. Tantra may have something different to offer but it’s not something that I would spend on. To sum it all up, the game is not noob friendly at all, and out of 10 rupiahs I’ll give it a six, perhaps a seven if they’ll tweak that buying system of theirs.