Uncharted Waters Online may be set in the West, but it was developed in the East. The Japanese studio behind the game is KOEI (best known for their Dynasty Warriors series) which has its own MMORPG version appropriate titled Dynasty Warriors Online. Uncharted Waters was first released in 2005, but is only now making its way to North America thanks to Netmarble, the South Korean studio that also publishes Mini Fighter Online and Prius Online. Despite its age, Uncharted Waters Online still has attractive graphics, and a depth of gameplay rarely seen in free-to-play titles.
There are a wide variety of supported resolutions, and players can chose to play in either full screen or windowed mode. The client download process is simple, but Netmarble does require players to install a browser plug-in. Character creation involves selecting between one of the six major European powers of the time including Spain, Portugal, Venice, France, The Netherlands, and England. Next up, players must chose which set of skills to start with. There are three basic job paths to chose from, Adventure, Trade, and Military. While each starts with a different batch of skills, any Uncharted Waters Online Gold can learn any skill in Uncharted Waters. Besides ship and combat-based skills, players can master different world languages, or trade related skills such as keeping accounts. Appearance customization is diverse; players choose from several body types, face styles, skin tones, hair colors, and hair styles.
New players aren’t just left to fend for themselves in Uncharted Waters. Players start in a school with three NPC instructors, each corresponding with one of the three job types. These NPCs offer quests which explain the game’s basics and offer small rewards along the way. It is vital for beginners to complete these quests, despite how slow-paced they are. Uncharted Waters is not an easy game to figure out and players who decide to drop out of school will find themselves aimlessly wandering their starting city, or the seas nearby. The interface is functional at best; for some reason it reminded me of a console RPG. Moving from one interface menu to another takes a split second, and when NPCs reward players with items, they’re received one at a time. It’s hard to explain, but it just has the JRPG feel. Movement can be controlled with either the keyboard (W,A,S,D) or point and click via the mouse. Both methods work well, and characters will actually walk for a moment before breaking out into a jog. It’s a nice touch, but it does nothing to speed the game along. There’s no way to jump or roll forward either, but players can auto-walk by clicking an icon on the minimap.
