Iris Online is a recently released MMO that has some of the same problems as Allods Online.
Iris is an anime styled game with beautiful graphics and apparently a detailed storyline. But the game has problems that make it tedious to play.
Font Sizes
The font sizes are too small. The windows are apparently designed to play on small screens rather than modern screens that are 1600×900 or 1920×1200. Especially on a laptop screen with 1920×1200 resolution, the fonts are too small to see. The system magnifier does not work on Vista, but it does work on Windows 7. So on Windows 7 one could play the game using the magnifier on a large screen. Of course you could always play your game in Full Screen at reduced resolution like 1280×780.
Navigation
In other MMOs, once sees Auto Route or another way to navigate to an NPC or to Monsters or other items to satisfy a quest. Usually you can click on items in the quest log directly to go to a destination related to the quest. But not in Iris. In Iris you need to click on the map only. Not the mini-map, but the larger map only. This means that you need to open and close the main map too frequently.
Mini-Map
The Mini-map, like the rest of the user interface, is very small and not clickable to navigate. But at least there is a mini-map, unlike Allods which only has a compass.
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The Inventory is Very Small
There are very few slots in the inventory.
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Interesting Things Are Very Dear
Your first mount to purchase will cost you 1,200,000G. That’s right, 1.2M Gold. That gives you some idea about how much gold you are going to be collecting to accomplish anything worthwhile. You will need to be level 30 to purchase that mount.
Bottom Line
Iris seems like a lot of work to play. I’m not sure if it’s the developers that gPotato chooses or the game philosophy of gPotato that causes both of these games to be a chore to play. I think I’ll go back to my Perfect World games like Ether Saga or Jade Dynasty. These never feel like a chore to play.
– Windy
Windy Weather 