UNDECEMBER - Action RPG

It looks like a Lost Ark clone(art/animations and raids). The passive tree appears similar to Skyrim's constellations. The cast-on-cast skill linking could be fun but it has an ICD.

Oct 12th is what streamers are saying for global release, looks solid for ftp going to at least check it out for the 'story' if its not to b2p ill play it for a couple months.

I've had it on my wishlist for a while. It being on mobile, and a Korean game in general, gives me some large amounts of Doubt.

From the Steam page, a letter from the developer:

Hello, this is In Young Koo, the director of UNDECEMBER.

First, I would like to thank you for your support and interest in UNDECEMBER.

Since its launch in Korea in January, the most frequently asked question we received was about the global launch date.
Now, it is with great pleasure that we are able to announce this news.

We've been working on stabilizing the game for the global environment and optimizing it on various platforms so that many users can enjoy playing together.
Additionally, we are planning to support up to 10 languages.

Currently, our team is facing the final testing stage ahead of the global release.
The global launch is scheduled for October 12th unless critical issues arise.
UNDECEMBER will be released on both PC and mobile simultaneously so that you can enjoy the game on your preferred platform.

Lastly, we are preparing to give you an early opportunity to play UNDECEMBER through STEAM NEXT FEST just before the official release, so please look forward to it!

Thank you again for your support. See you soon!

Steam fest has the demo up for a week if you want to check it out.

mkopec said:

I smell RMT, micros and shitty "upgrade" style systems like Lost Ark and BDO had, fuck those games. But thats just me.

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I'm trying the demo now, and the second notification while creating a character was "Connecting to billing server...".

Seems fine five minutes in, but too early to tell.

Edit: Experiencing CTDs.

I'm going to give it a shot tonight, but Asian ARPGs have just been dreadful in my opinion. Most Asian MMO's are not my thing in general, so we'll see. I tried to see if anyone on Twitch was playing and it was 100% non English streamers. I'm sure some bigger name like Zizarian or Sacriel or Cohh will stream it tonight for people to check out if they don't want to invest any time into what could most likely be a shitty moneypit grind cycle.

Crash to desktop during a very early cut scene is peak shit game design. Well done, boys.

Went through act 2. It basically took something from every ARPG system I can think of to the point of blatant copying. Skill tree system is neat, the amount of various drops and upgrades feels like POE bloat though which is a turn off.

It's f2p though so I'll probably jam on it for a week before I get bored.

I will second the point that this game feels like 9 year old PoE, and Undecember isn't even released yet. So many systems and currencies and orbs etc etc etc.

All in all it feels like your bog standard ARPG blended from every popular ARPG you've played in the last 10 years.

And, yeah, I will def play it for a while when it releases.

Played it into Act 3. It's... something. Basically vultured every working ARPG mechanic they thought was BiS and implemented them. PoE crafting, PoE 2 skills, Skyrim Passives, D2/D3 style item stats. Seems decent for free, but I SEE the pay wall coming. You can see certain things you can't buy yet for "diamonds" which are their shop currency. Namely is stash capacity. They added in JUST enough shit like SHARDS of crafting mats to make you have 0 room in your bank that you're FUCKED by Act 3 on space if you keep all your crafting mats and a few skill gems. I'm fairly certain they give you another stash for free at some point, but I don't know when and it ain't yet.

The QoL shit is over the top. How over the top? You don't have to press buttons. Yeah, you heard me. You literally get to have your character auto-target and attack with your prefered skill whenever they're in range. So basically you build a character and walk it around while it auto obliterates mobs. You don't even have to pick up loot because your pay2win pet runs around and gobbles it up for you. You're literally just following the map around and maybe hitting a cooldown or dodge a few times. It's too fucking much. I get that they want it to be mobile friendly, but jesus fuck. It's not playing a game, it's a walk and collect loot simulator.

There is an Auction House which will be a fucking NIGHTMARE because this is the easiest game to bot I've ever seen. I don't know if you can trade for diamonds within game, but if you can, it's game over. The only saving grace is I don't know that you can trade with people outside of the AH and the AH requires level 30 (I'm 25 full clearing every zone at 7ish hours in) to get to use. But I have a feeling it's going to tank immediately.

If you don't want to get invested and fuck around with a weird build and walk around auto killing and looting while watching Netflix I will say this is that game. The most casual of casual ARPGs possible. There might just be a big market for it, so we'll see what happens.

I tried it for a short while before uninstalling. I just think your life would have to be pretty vacuous and sad to spend time playing this game. It isn't awful or broken, but it is about as entertaining as wallpapering a room. You can get a small amount of satisfaction from moments of it I suppose, but it doesn't much resemble a game as much as a time-passing activity. I found Lost Ark super boring and soulless compared to most games I play but that was like God of War compared to this game. Nothing has any weight or significance, tons of the assets are just ripped from a store, there is no tension or antagonism or meaning to anything you do...and at some point you will need to pay some money to get better at...passing your time? I'd rather not, thanks.

Chimney said:

Went through act 2. It basically took something from every ARPG system I can think of to the point of blatant copying. Skill tree system is neat, the amount of various drops and upgrades feels like POE bloat though which is a turn off.

It's f2p though so I'll probably jam on it for a week before I get bored.

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Its like that to sell storage space, like PoE stash tabs. There is an overwhelming amount of items, and currency for various aspects of enhancing items / runes. Its tedious.

Gameplay itself isn't awful, just not exceptional. Game runs super smooth though, no issues on that front. Made it to Act 3 (of 5) and called it quits, no need to play the demo further. I'll see how release is and what their shop is like.

I echo everything else said here. Gameplay is fine, if a touch on the floaty side. I liked the music. An incredible amount of overcomplication, though, presumably to later charge for people avoiding it.

Zindan said:

Its like that to sell storage space, like PoE stash tabs. There is an overwhelming amount of items, and currency for various aspects of enhancing items / runes. Its tedious.

Gameplay itself isn't awful, just not exceptional. Game runs super smooth though, no issues on that front. Made it to Act 3 (of 5) and called it quits, no need to play the demo further. I'll see how release is and what their shop is like.

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For sure, I could just do without that sort of predatory nonsense when I happily spend money on games if I enjoy them. With almost every game in the MMO/ARPG or GaaS genre continuing to do this shit, it warrants closing my wallet out of spite. Not that any of the devs/publishers care since whales and other low impulse control nerds will dump 4-6 figures and my hundreds spent won't mean jack in the short or long term =O.

It's only redeeming quality at the moment is that it's a new ARPG. I've already put hundreds/thousands of hours into nearly every one that has existed in the last 20 years to want to continue playing them and something fresh will always get some of my time.

yeah, trying this. Seems pretty decent. Stole ALOT of ideas from PoE with some interesting reworks of them..

seems like its going to turn into full korean mmo by the end though. worried about that.

Does it have an actual pet class?

Drajakur said:

I tried it for a short while before uninstalling. I just think your life would have to be pretty vacuous and sad to spend time playing this game. It isn't awful or broken, but it is about as entertaining as wallpapering a room. You can get a small amount of satisfaction from moments of it I suppose, but it doesn't much resemble a game as much as a time-passing activity. I found Lost Ark super boring and soulless compared to most games I play but that was like God of War compared to this game. Nothing has any weight or significance, tons of the assets are just ripped from a store, there is no tension or antagonism or meaning to anything you do...and at some point you will need to pay some money to get better at...passing your time? I'd rather not, thanks.

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This review was so articulate, passionate, and convincing, that I can't be even be bothered to try it out. Well done, and thank you. Un-watching this thread.

moonarchia said:

Does it have an actual pet class?

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Classless.

It combines Wolcen and PoE for skills more or less.

you get skill gems/runes. instead of going in your gear, they go in a hex based rune inventory. You then play tetris with your skill runes, as the runes have "links" of various colors facing in 6 directions. Can reroll color, direction and count, with orbs ala PoE style.
you can then link support gems to them in those 6 slots.

then yes. theres totems, sentries, and minions. very much like PoE.
Abyssaling. which is much like skellies. javelin abysslling. much like skel archer. bursting rune knight- a fire golem. (ice, lilt ones too) wrathful rune knight=melee phys one. fire orb abyssling-fire mage. (poison's, lit, ice onces too)

A bunch of support skills too. blood lust, siphon life, etc.

green dex has sentries. basically ranged attack totems. A bunch of diff ones.

totems in this drop aoe buffs. inc attack speed, debuff hit, etc.