Since NPCs in Yslandia send the world’s inhabitants on the range of chores we’ve come to expect in mobile RPGs, the game world’s internal story tends to fade from the player’s mind in favor of the more interesting and practical tasks of organizing Guild activities and helping new recruits grow. Other than figuring out how to best capture Totems on Glida that attest to clan ownership of territory there, the most overriding concern of Yslandia’s inhabitants appears to be organizing exchanges of equipment and skills. Luck-of-the-draw item drops often leave an individual player with weapons and armor his or her character class can’t equip but which might be useful to other players, and Guild members inherit skills from other members of different classes as a means of expanding their characters’ default skill sets.
Guild leadership may seem like a desirable honor on paper but the Yslandia player should be forewarned that leadership positions demand great responsibility and directly impact how enjoyable the game will be for other players. Only the Guild originator and one designated lieutenant can recruit free wandering players, a quirk perhaps aimed at ensuring that one giant Guild doesn’t dominate either island.
The Guild I joined on Baahla boasted an outstanding lieutenant who took tons of time out to organize skill exchanges and make sure new members had somebody to pair up with for monster hunts. This user’s leadership instilled within each of us a sense of camaraderie that stuck as we broke off into smaller groups to complete quests we had in common on our task lists or assimilated gameplay knowledge via the Chat window. It was in large part due to this particular user’s efforts that I found Yslandia to be an experience that illustrates the true potential of the MMORPG as a game model.
While the Guild-centric experience plays to the MMORPG’s strengths, Yslandia is hardly immune to the genre’s underlying drawbacks. Obviously the quality of the player’s experience will vary with the number of players and fellow Guild members logged in at the same time — hop on during non-peak hours and there might be few people to venture with or face off against in Player-vs-Player battles. Yslandia’s ruling gods are also working feverishly to stamp out server lag for US players, which causes the onscreen action to visually skip on occasion.
Speaking of Yslandia’s gods, they’ve commendably remained in touch with the fanbase through the Touch Arcade forum and the game’s website, taking suggestions and gathering information from players regarding technical issues. They’re a riotously unconventional lot at times: the dev team recently sicced all of Yslandia’s residents on users who accessed the game via unapproved channels, changing the sprites of these unsavory characters into chickens so fair-paying users could visually identify them. Turns out that taking the virtual axe to clucking jailbroken iDevice users is a fun way to get used to Yslandia‘s Player-vs-Player battling! It’s proof that users should be careful not to anger Yslandia’s ruling gods, but everyone’s definitely encouraged to get in touch with them all the same — land a prayer at their doorstep and it might just be answered!
Yslandia sports a soundtrack that is both high caliber and varied, with battle themes kicking in during multiple-enemy encounters and separate music tracks suited to each environment the player finds him-or herself in. It was really the dark tribalistic drumbeats on Baahla that drew me to favor that environment in the first place.
Perhaps Yslandia‘s main draw compared to some of the more established MMORPGs will be the fact that it’s a one-time purchase without a monthly fee, although fans can expect major content expansions in the form of In App Purchases down the road.
iFanzine Verdict: While not without its flaws Yslandia promises to be a fun romp for seasoned MMORPG veterans and a smooth transition for fans of single-player RPGs who might be looking to give this genre a spin. If what’s been observed so far is any indication, assured developer support for the foreseeable future sweetens the deal by making it likely that Yslandia will continually improve as time goes on. If this is your first MMORPG, bear in mind that trying to go it alone in Yslandiawill spoil the experience; this is absolutely a game for the little politician, military chieftain, or troop leader in you.