Review Score
Gameplay
Usual MMORPG fare with a sprinkling of friendliness and a ton of community.
Replay Value
Kingdom Quests are fun and add more replay value than a standard MMO.
Graphics
Kid-friendly but not overly simplistic.
Audio
Background music and sound effects are passable.

Overall
A free to play MMORPG with a decent community that is a nice place to hang out and crush monsters under the collective might of a dozen players.

Introduction

Fiesta is a free to play MMORPG that is based on the usual formula expected of the genre, but with a few distinctive features.  Probably the best feature is the ability to participate in Kingdom Quests, which are scripted instances for up to 15 players.  This somewhat cutesy looking MMO also has plenty of community features and keeps the gameplay lighthearted.  The game’s friendly atmosphere makes it a cozy place to hang out, although there is definitely big monsters to fight as you can see from the trailer below.

Gameplay

Community

Fiesta is very newbie friendly as you get plenty of instructions in-game and there are community features abound so you don’t feel lost and alone.  There Guild Academies, which are created automatically with every new Guild.  Guild Academies are for new players levels 59 and below and can be joined at any time without invitation as long as the Guild Academy is not full.  Guild Academies give you free stuff as you level up and can give you a simple buff as well.  You can also chat or ask for help from your Guild Academy.  Above level 59 you’re welcome to join any real Guild.  The only real advantage of a Guild is that all Guild members can deposit any item into the Guild’s storage area, which makes it easy for Guild members to pool or share resources.

Kingdom Quests

One of the more fun parts of Fiesta is the ability to join Kingdom Quests (KQ).  KQs are timed instances that have a big boss at the end that needs to be defeated to win the KQ.  Up to 15 players can join a particular KQ, although there are several KQs that run everyday.  The first KQ you’ll encounter is for levels 5-16 and is called “Counterattack of King Slime”.  Guess who the final boss is for that KQ?

So when a KQ starts everyone starts partying up as being in a party lets you see your allies status bars.  This is helpful to see who is getting damaged a lot so your party’s cleric(s) can heal him.  You also get to see your party members in your mini-map.

As everyone goes forward, you’ll encounter rather tough monsters that take several hits to go down.  Several of these monsters are elite.  It’s really fun to work with 14 other players to bring down these tough beasties.  It’s even more fun when you go up the big final boss at the end as it can feel like an epic showdown.  The best part is that everyone that is still alive by the end of the KQ gets a nice item reward.  Not to mention all the experience you get.

PVE

You can go solo or party up when do regular quests or just grinding out mobs.  This part of the game is pretty standard fare.  The quests are the usual “go kill X number of mobs” or “fetch me X amount of item” type quests.  Granted, I haven’t played much past level 30, but I guess they made KQs to give players a welcome break from the usual repetitiveness inherent of MMOs.

Shops

The nice part about Fiesta’s economy is that anyone can setup shop anywhere, at anytime.  You can setup shop to buy or sell items.  People usually setup shop when they go AFK or go to sleep, which makes your character be productive even when you’re not at your computer.  The best part is that everything you pick up from defeating monsters is useful for making other stuff or to use yourself, which keeps the game’s economy alive.

Graphics

The graphics are 3D, but have a distinctive cartoony feel which works well for the game’s style.  Characters and monsters are well animated and appear like they’re alive.  Spells and special attacks have decent effects that are not overdone or underdone.  They’re decent and can get a bit more flashy with the higher level spells that higher level players like to show off.

Audio

Nothing to write home about in this category.  The music stays in the background and is generally soothing.  Frankly, I barely noticed the music as I was concentrating on taking down as many slimes as I could in the King Slime KQ.

The sound effects for spells and special attacks are passably ok.  The higher level spells I’ve seen don’t sound as epic as they should.

Conclusion

All in all, Fiesta is a relaxing, community-driven MMO that is fun to play once in a while.  Kingdom Quests are a nice addition that helps build more collaborative gameplay.  Some of the bigger monsters seem really interesting to behold, but you won’t see them until much later in the game.  While the audio and graphics won’t really impress any hardcore gamers, Fiesta is a nice place to hangout.

Go on and try Fiesta.  It’s free just like all the other games I’ve shown on this website 🙂