Starvault, the publisher of the soon-to-be-released Mortal Online, has allowed a pair of beta testers to post "Combat Beta Reviews" on their forums. You can read them here: Lachrymose's Review, Shinzon's Review. Both write-ups provide a glimpse into the mechanics of the game which appear to be a sharp departure from the more "accessible" games that currently dominate the marketplace.

Crafting
Crafting in Mortal Online aims to be far more realistic that simply gathering a few materials and clicking a button to mindlessly slap them together:

Weapon creation at the moment is impressive. Crafting itself hasn’t been unlocked to players, but NPC crafters allow us to choose which type of material to use for each piece of a weapon (handle, core, blade, etc). In addition, when creating armor, not only do you choose which type of material to construct the armor out of, but you also choose how much material to use when creating the armor. Using less material obviously makes the armor lighter and less cumbersome, but it also provides less protection.

Needless to say, there is a seemingly endless amount of combinations to choose from, but the trick is to determine which combinations are most effective, as some combinations just aren’t very practical. For instance, attaching a great blade to a dagger handle will result in a strange looking and ineffective weapon, and although creating a sword made out of pure gold certainly looks fashionable, it will do little damage and require the majority of your stamina to swing it (if you’re able to swing it at all, that is). The amount of options given to the player is incredible and really adds to the involvement of player skill, as players will have to determine the best gear compositions for their particular playstyle.

Exploration
Nearly every MMO has built in maps and radars that are easily accessible to players. While this is great for getting from point A to point B efficiently when entering an area for the first time, it makes for a lousy sense of immersion. What if there were no free maps?

Some of the other beta testers and myself had a lot of fun exploring the [test] island and finding a few hidden ruins. Traversing the island is no easy task, so although the island is relatively small, it certainly seems large. Not only are there mountains and other land formations obstructing any straight paths across the island, but navigating the island is very difficult until you’ve walked around it enough to really familiarize yourself with it. At one point, I broke off from the group to do a little solo exploring, and I quickly realized that I had no idea where I was. For me it was a really unique experience in an MMO because there was no radar in the upper corner showing me where I was on the map. There was no arrow pointing the way to go. I was actually lost, which made for a truly immersive experience, and this was only on the tiny test island we were placed on. I can only imagine what the immersion of being lost in a much larger and inhabited world would be like.

The Waiting Game
Despite my care bear roots, Mortal Online is an MMO that has me anxious to try it out. Lately I've wanted an experience that is more than yet another guided tour, and Starvault certainly implies that their Q4 2009 offering will be exactly that.

If the impressions of the closed beta testers are anything to go by then the game is coming along well, and while there are definite wrinkles left to iron out, the game's concepts seems solid.