Too much to ask of any market?

A common occurrence: untranslated messages. In an abstract way, this sums up the game experience.

Anticipating some differences in gameplay based on the cultural origins of the game, I tried my best to give With Your Destiny a fair shake. But, for all intents and purposes, the game in WYD is the collecting and leveling aspect itself - combat and interaction with fellow Wydians (beyond trading) is secondary. If you posses an obsessive-compulsive nature and enjoy chasing down the next stat point or item, then you may get some enjoyment from the game. But first, you'll have to get past the dated graphics and maddening controls, and be willing to look the other way when it comes to bots and vindictive players.

Gameplay is focused more on rewarding individual achievement rather than sustaining a lasting group dynamic. Ultimately, the game's mechanics cater to those who enjoy rushing to the top of the leveling food chain. Whether or not there's any fun to be had at the top remains to be seen, as the time involved in reaching the higher levels is more than I'm willing to invest.

Summary of YouGamers Hardware Testing

The publisher of this game state the following specifications for their minimum and recommended requirements:

Component	Publisher's Minimum	Publisher's Recommended
Processor	Intel Pentium 3 800MHz or AMD Athlon equivalent	Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon Processor
Memory	256 MB	512 MB
Graphics Card	64MB or greater Supported Direct3D-8.1 capable video card	128MB or greater Supported Direct3D 9.0c-capable video card
Graphics Card Example	Not specified	Not specified
Free Disk Space	500 MB	1 GB
Net Link	Internet connection required for play	Internet connection required for play

To learn more about how YouGamers performs its hardware testing, click here. Through our extensive gameplay and hardware testing across the full spectrum of PC configurations, YouGamers suggests that one should use the following guidelines for an appropriate minimum and recommended setup:

Component	YouGamers Minimum	YouGamers Recommended
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 3200+ / Intel Pentium 4 630 MHz	AMD Athlon 64 3800+ / Intel Pentium 4 570
Memory	512 MB	1024 MB
Graphics Card	ATI Radeon X300 128MB / NVIDIA GeForce 6200 128MB	ATI Radeon X1600 128MB / NVIDIA GeForce 6800 128MB
Free Disk Space	1 GB	1 GB
Net Link	Broadband	Broadband

Scores

To learn more about our scoring methodology, please click here.

Gameplay	54	The RPG elements are almost non-existent. Backstory? Your guess is as good as mine. It's difficult to form a party or guild alliance with a group of chatbots. Combat is unsatisfying and quests are tedious. No instancing means long lines and needless competition for quest items.
Graphics	52	An MMORPG isn't required to be a visual tour-de-force, but having Everquest-quality graphics in 2007 doesn't cut the mustard. Sparse environments, lackluster models and blurry textures all detract from the experience.
Audio	50	The only aural element keeping this score out of the "Poor" range is the music. Sound effects are minimal and ambient sound is almost nonexistent.
Technology	48	A Flash-based external configuration program? Ancient graphics technology? Lack of widescreen support? No real chase-cam and poor controls? PC gamers deserve better.

OVERALL

A few hours spent playing With Your Destiny begs the question: is there a game here? The combat system is entirely unsatisfying, the world is filled with bots and quests are tedious to no end. Hardcore MMORPG junkies may appreciate the leveling and collecting, but any redeeming qualities the original Asian release may have had are lost in translation – both literally and culturally; with no sense of an in-game community, there is little reason to log on.

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