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Legacy Online Review

By Misty Matonis

Legacy Online is unlike any other massively multiplayer you've ever played before. Well, chances are you've never even heard of it, let alone played it. And, if you're a fan of simulation games, frankly, you should be ashamed of yourself. Legacy Online is a must play for anyone who is into sims (the genre, not the franchises), a must play for any hard-core competitor who thinks it's cool to engage in cut-throat business dealings and who is tired of the rudimentary hack-and-slash that most massively multiplayer titles base their businesses on.

Long before EVE Online came onto the scene with its player-driven economy, long before The Sims Online brought the simulation genre to the mainstream, there was Legacy Online. Actually, it used to be called Star Peace, a small title from independent developer Oceanus, but late last year big time Sega came onboard to take this small title to a slightly larger audience. "So, what exactly is Legacy Online and why should I play it?" you're asking yourself. Read on.

I want you to picture Sim City on a planetary scale. Now, instead of running a city, I want you to picture yourself running a business. It's really not fair to compare Legacy Online with Sim City. Where Sim City deals with social paradigms and its extreme effects on middle-aged sims trying to get laid across town, Legacy Online is more of a pay your workers well, kick the ass of your competitors and maybe run an entire town or even the planet type of game. No, seriously. Like Sim City, Legacy Online is a game of interdependence, but instead of being dependent upon AI, you're dependant upon supply and demand on both an AI and player scale. The people want more CDs, so you build a store. If you don't have a CD factory, then you'll need to buy product from another player. If you do own a factory, you can supply yourself with all the CDs you want, but of course you can fully supply yourself with whatever the factory needs, right? Nope? Well, strike up a deal with another corporation and buy what you need off of them. What, the quality of your product sucks and you can't ship product? Time to hit the books, spend some cash and do some research that will improve your product's quality.

It's not that easy. You don't turn into Donald Trump overnight. There's a lot of trial and error involved in the game, and chances are you may find yourself near bankruptcy if you don't actually find yourself bankrupt early on in the game. While the learning curve isn't too steep, and the online tutorials helpful, like any business venture, it's important to learn what the citizens need and how much they need it, what you can supply and how you can supply it, and how to earn that all-important cash so that your company can grow. Once you can figure all of these things out, you're almost on your way towards profitability. There's a few curve balls you should be aware of.

For starters, there are four types of corporation Seals you should be aware of. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Moab are excellent when it comes to chemicals and industry, whereas the Mariko seal is good for technology. Be sure to chose the license that not only suits your style of play, but that you think will also make you the most money.

You also just can't build anywhere. Towns are run by players, who are not only responsible for the zoning laws of the town, but who also set the taxes and, in some cases, provide civic services such as schools and police that make the local citizens happy. The vast majority of the time local mayors look out for the interests of a town's investors, but in rare cases a mayor can be vindictive or selfish, causing not only citizens but investors to flee a town. From time to time you may find your business zoned out of its location and you'll be forced to set up shop elsewhere.

I mentioned taxes earlier. You don't just have to worry about local taxes, but year-end IFEL taxes as well. They can really take a bite out of your wallet if you're a successful tycoon, and has been known to bankrupt more than one not-so-cautious business man from time to time. You will also find yourself researching a lot. Quality and efficiency, and desirability if you're in the commerce field, greatly affect your profit margin. You can have a factory spewing out the greatest product in the world, but if your factory workers are spending most of their time gossiping over coffee and donuts, you're going to lose money fast. High efficiency and desirability will give you more bang for the buck, and high quality goods will move more product. Finding the perfect balance is not just a science, it's an art form.

As you advance in the game, there are two roads you can take. You can advance your level, which definitely requires cold hard cash, and in most cases prestige, which is earned either by leveling, researching or building certain types of structures). Leveling will open up new avenues of opportunity. For example, a newbie Mariko businessman will have the ability to research and begin a CD factory, but you won't be able to research the basics of chemistry until you are at the Entrepreneur level. If your level is high enough, you can actually transcend your planet and set up shop elsewhere with even more option being made available to you.

The other option you can take is you can enter the realm of politics… if your prestige (which also affects people going to your stores) is high enough. You can run for local town mayor, or, if you're thinking globally, president, and help other investors along by zoning well, taxing low, and keeping the citizenry happy. Presidents can appoint Ministers, who work on providing for the concerns within their field. Political positions play an important role in Legacy Online, and ultimately play an important role in your wallet. The most popular person almost always wins, so stick to your promises, make the investors rich, and keep the workers happy and you'll do good.

While the learning curve isn't steep, it's the little nuances of the game that can be difficult to master. The online tutorials only teach you the basics and the game and will help you get your feet wet with a small, profitable company, but the real trick is knowing about the little things that really matter. While a lot of what you really need to know will come from experience, what you don't know can surprisingly be learned from other players. Despite the fact that Legacy Online is a tycoon game, players are never hesitant to help another player out with information, tips and tricks, and from time to time cash. The sense of community is really strong in Legacy Online, making it extremely easy for players to get comfortable and start playing the game.

A number of additions have been added to the game since Sega came onboard that have greatly improved gameplay. The cosmetic overhaul of the favorites list, which can help you keep track of your various businesses, has been improved tremendously. You can now organize your bookmarks into various folders, not unlike what you would do with your Web browser (actually, your Web browser is used within the game client seamlessly). The other positive change that was made was with corporate headquarters. Previously, you were forced to build one headquarter for each type of business you wanted to get into (commerce, real estate, industry and civics), which filled up the map with dozens upon dozens of buildings that precious stores could use. Now, one building handles it all, and thank God.

More important changes have come in regards to businesses themselves, such as upgrading. Upgrading allows you to supply more product to your factory, warehouse or store without forcing you to use up real estate. Previously you were limited to upgrading building up to 20 times. Now, if you so chose and there's a demand for more product, you can upgrade your building 100 times. While each upgrade costs you money, you benefit by lower real estate taxes. But beware: the demand fro a product may be so low that you'll never get a chance to upgrade your building. Location, location, location. Keep your eye on the local market if you're thinking small, and the global market to grow. This will help you build your business with the minimum of expenditures.

Like every massively multiplayer title, there are both good and bad things associated with Legacy Online. From time to time exploits pop up that will allow the cunning investor to make millions overnight. Some features may not always work as it was truly intended, either. Oceanus is not always quick to fix a problem, but they have a low tolerance for abuse and have no qualms about removing a player from the game. They do things a little differently than what most of us are used to, but, to be honest, it's a bit refreshing.

There's also the risk of abuse since so much of the world, while dependant upon investors, is in the hands of a few people who are voted into office by investor players. During the Sega beta, there was a town that was literally devastated by the mayor as he zoned other businesses out and put his business in. my company's fragile economy would have collapsed had I not also invested heavily in other towns. And while this was just in a pre-relaunch beta, it was quite a wake up call. Fortunately, a good planetary president can and usually will resolve these kinds of problems.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems with Legacy Online is the lack of highly detailed sets of tools that would help you best run your business as efficiently as possible. The lack of spreadsheets and graphs informing you about each and every little nuance concerning your company is surprising. One would expect a game of this nature to be as detailed as it possible could with these kinds of tools, but unfortunately we have to make do with limited information. However, quite a number of tycoons have found themselves with extremely successful companies, so perhaps these tools aren't needed. But, it would be a nice addition nonetheless.

Tired of hack and slash? Looking for something that's both cerebral and highly addicting? Have the strong desire to be virtually rich and have the world at your fingertips? The get Legacy Online now! It may not look pretty, but it sure plays sweet.

Originally published on Stratics 6/17/03