Review Submitted By: Pennywise
Author Status: Player
Started on Static Chaos - Still Alive: 1999
Submission Date: Jan 2, 2010
TMC Listing: Static Chaos - Still Alive
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Pennywise]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
Static Chaos isn't like any god-wars I've ever played (which seem to
be clones of each other with varying degrees of differences). The
combat system is godwars-esq but is unique to this mud.
The clan system encourages pvp... all clan halls are located in a
pretty small area which includes chokepoints, which encourage pvp.
Clans are guarded by NPCs which help provide security... but they can
be cleared by the use of Gundams, which function like quasi-seige
engines. Some Gundams can be used to sneak into enemy clan halls to
finish off wounded players (but will die quickly to any player should
their stealth fail them)... while others have the ability to fire
devastating weapons that hit all of the mobs/players in multiple
rooms in a row.
It is a class based system. In order to keep actual class balance
(and not a day to day buff/nerf cycle that leads to flavor of the
week classes) there are only 5 classes:
Saiyan - Probably the most unique class. Its class mechanic centers
around the use of a type of energy called rage. The Saiyan can
generate rage during combat at the cost of movement, stored rage can
be used to perform various abilities for damage, defense, utility,
etc. It also must 'focus' this rage during combat into Strength,
Speed and Aegis. Which corresponds into how hard you hit, how much
you hit and how much less damage you take. Playing a Saiyan is a
balancing act between keeping your Str/Speed/Aegis focused, using
offensive/defensive abilities and maintaining enough rage to do all
of the above. A very fast-paced class.
Patryns - A melee/caster hybrid that is best described as a jack of
all trades. The Patryn can be 'built' or 'specced' differently based
on how you tattoo runes on your torso, arms and legs. Spells are
cast via weaving runes together... you may runeweave energy and life
runes together to heal a target, air and death runes to cast a strong
nuke (or air/destruction for an aoe nuke). The Patryn has many
spells to augment is brutal base melee damage. Combat is spent
deciding which runes to weave in order to counter the enemies attacks
and maintain a strong defense.
Fist - A pure melee class. The fist's class mechanic is a combo
point system. It has 6 abilities, each of which generate a static
amount of combo points (2 to 7 points). At certain combo point
levels the Fist can unleash a combo attack that can range from a very
strong defensive ability (at 14 combo points) or an all out assault
at 24 combo points. The combo generating abilities have a small
chance to generate one more or one less combo point than expected,
this means that the fist must be able to change his strategy on the
fly based on combo point generation. It is capable of the stiffest
defense of any class so it is regularly used to tank difficult
encounters/areas on the other hand it also has the ability to unleash
the single most devastating attack in the game so it is by no means a
'weak' class.
Mazoku - A morphing Melee class. The Mazoku is a multi-armed demon
that has the ability to change all aspects of its self. During
combat it can morph its arms into Claws, Tentacles, Blades, etc to
perform different abilities. For example when using tentacle arms it
can 'lash' the opponent to cause them to drop out of their current
stance (thus taking more damage, or doing less damage depending on
their stance). The Mazoku can also build up Astral energy which it
can use to unleash powerful direct damage and aoe damage spells. The
Mazoku isn't limited to one form either, it can change from its
Battle form to a 'True' form that puts it more in control of its
Astral energy resulting in its Astral spells hitting harder in
exchange for taking more incoming damage. The Mazoku's signature
ability is called Astral Strike, the Mazoku temporarily disappears
from reality and then appears behind the target unleashing a
devastating melee round. The Mazoku spends the fight switching
between arm types to gain access to special abilities, charging
different Astral energies for attacks and timing its Astral Strike to
maintain melee pressure on an opponent.
Sorcerer - The pure caster. The Sorcerer has the absolute most
abilities of any class. It also is unique in the ability to
specialize in 3 schools of magic each of which alters your
playstyle. As a Black Mage you have access to the top tier Black
Magic abilities making you the strongest debuffer. You also have
access to the strongest aoe nuke in the game which is capable of
hitting multiple times in a single cast. On the other hand as a
White Mage you have access to the strongest heals in the game as well
as the strongest single target nuke in the game Chaotic Distengrate.
A Shamanistic mage has access to the top tier abilities of the
Elemental trees (air, water, fire, etc) which give them a slightly
weaker aoe and single target nuke but they have access to some
additional utility spells such as the ability to knock all enemies in
the room out of their current stance. Sorcers do not cast spells
directly from their mana pool, they must maintain a secondary energy
pool called Mystic Energy. Mystic Energy is generated over time from
the Sorc's mana pool when they're concentrating, and expended when
they cast spells. A Sorc must balance the amount of Mystic Energy
that they expend so that their spell-based 'melee' does not suffer.
The combat in Static Chaos is anything but bland, classes do not just
stand in the same room and cast spells at each other until one dies.
Combat is a constant struggle between abilities and counter abilities.
For example:
A Patryn fighting a Mazoku can summon balls of electric energy as the
Mazoku goes to Astral Strike... causing the Mazoku to take electric
damage for every melee hit that he lands. The Patryn can use a
seperate runeweave to drain the accumulated Astral energy from the
Mazoku thus preventing their nuke.
A Saiyan fighting a Fist can attempt to guess the Fist's combo point
levels by watching his combo abilities and then activate a kiwall
ability before the Fist can unleash his powerful combo. If the Fist
manages to fool the Saiyan into using kiwall too eary he can punish
that mistake by using a different combo which shatters the Saiyan's
kiwall and does a large amount of damage.
A Sorc can continuously launch gusts of wind at a Fist to attempt to
cause the Fist to execute incorrect combos (not all of the Fist's
combos are beneficial to him). The Sorc can also use his magic to
dispel the Patryn's defenses causing him to take increased damage.
There are many more examples but I'll let you discover them when you
come play with us :).
