SpiritVale

This game is honestly trash. The bans are completely random, and there are bots everywhere. They keep saying they’re going to fix the bot problem, but you can still see bots running around all over the place. The GMs are cocky as hell, including Phil. Their problem-solving is absolutely terrible, and they can barely answer players’ questions properly. On top of that, they don’t even allow players to speak out or expose how the GMs actually work. The game concept is good, but the management and problem-solving are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful. There have been issues since Day 1, and even now, nothing has really improved.

THEY HAVE A BUG WHERE IF YOU REACH CERTAIN LEVEL YOUR ACCOUNT WILL GET RESTRICTED FROM TRADING, AS OF NOW IT'S NOT FIX YOU CAN CHECK THEIR DISCORD SO YOU CAN SEE PEOPLE ARE HAVING SAME PROBLEMS

Way too many important problems for this to stay at "mixed" reviews

I don't typically write reviews. There really isn't even a point to write this review. Its just more wasted time trying to enjoy something in my own way. The greatest cringe moment was when a community member said "This game wasn't designed for solo play because there is a trade market" Yet, there is absolutely zero incentive to communicate with others in this game. Most every person I ran into didn't have an English name nor attempted to respond to me. I'd love to learn another language just to speak to my fellow gamers, but were they even real? I started playing this game after the developer disabled the trade system because their vision is to never wipe the game. The game was really fun because it brought back memories of Ragnarok Online. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this game because the developer does not focus on player retention nor options that allow a disabled player to enjoy the game solo. The entire game before the "group tower" was completely farmable as a first class Knight. I enjoyed the challenge, not the other players. I thought to myself, "I want to feel rewarded for slowly doing higher content" but the reality is "You are rewarded for killing noob ♥♥♥♥ that drops nothing you want, or go farm the ultra noob ♥♥♥♥ to get a card you will replace anyways" Earn insane amount of EXP from killing low level mobs and watching new players awe at your ability to play the game by pecking the keyboard with your nose. So lets go to higher level places and actually play the game, woohoo! I felt alive as a Knight being able mob entire dungeons and slowly kill them. I felt denied that nobody wanted to party with me despite being able to pull the entire dungeon. "You gotta advance! Nobody will party with you unless you advance" Well ♥♥♥♥ that. I ain't going to go play a different class when the developers tease something I actually want to play. I don't want to sit there and look at every junk item drop to think, "dang, maybe I should make another class to actually use this." I had hope when the trade system got enabled that it would spring me back to life. I was excited, only to find that everything from these zones was worth ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Only super carebear cosmetic mounts and stuff have any value to offload. Theres no way I want to sit there and go through my stash or look at every junk item just to feel rewarded for farming it. The only rush is when you get a pet or something, but its usually just garbage looking thing I don't give a rats ass about. THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THIS GAME IS THE ART DIRECTION. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD IT IS THE MOST COLORFUL AND ABSOLUTELY BLINDING GAME IVE EVER PLAYED. I HAD FAITH IN THIS DEVELOPER BUT THE FIRST THING HE DOES AFTER TURNING TRADE BACK ON IS MAKE IT SO ANYBODY CAN JUST STEAL YOUR MOB PACKS UNLESS YOU DO MORE DAMAGE THAN THEM. I PUT UP WITH ALL THESE COLORFUL ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SPELLS AND ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BORING ASS PLAYERS RUNNING ON TOP OF ME JUST TO SEE THEM BE MORE ANNOYING ON THE FIRST REAL UPDATE SINCE TRADE GOT DISABLED. HURRAY, WE HAVE A MARKET NOW, BUT ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO PLAY. LET ME JUST ADVANCE TO WEAVER OR PALADIN AND RUN AROUND DOING THE SAME THING ONLY FASTER. GETTING THE SAME GARBAGE OVER AND OVER. IM SURE IT WILL BE EXTREMELY FUN TO DO THAT, JUST TO MEET PEOPLE WHO STILL WONT PARTY WITH YOU UNLESS YOU HAVE EXACTLY THE TYPE OF GEAR THEY WANT TO SEE YOU HAVE. I DONT EVEN THINK I WANT TO COME BACK WHEN DRAGON KNIGHT IS RELEASED. I WASTED ENOUGH TIME SUPPORTING THIS COLORFUL PUKE OF A GAME. IF YOU EVER HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE "Hook" JUST IMAGINE THIS GAME LIKE THE IMAGINARY FOOD. THE DEVELOPER CARES MORE ABOUT PEOPLE TAKING THIS COLORFUL SLOP INTO THE REAL WORLD. GAMES TO ME ARE A PLACE TO FIND INSPIRATION, YET I FOUND ONLY RAGE. Now I remember why private RO servers were fun. It wasn't the economy, it was the people. It was ruling the castles and beating the living ♥♥♥♥ out of the carebears. If this game was inspired by Ragnarok Online, then why is the economy more of a focus than player interaction? Why did I waste a week of my life actually enjoying the challenge when the average player wasn't even real? I think the only response I got from a real player in a dungeon was "NO" when I said "Lets party, I can pull for you!" You guessed it, they then said something in another language. I didn't care to translate it and simply determined that humanity is doomed. Yeah I played the game "wrong" and maybe it wasn't for me, but if this is what gaming is for MMOs, I'll make something better. LONG LIVE THE DECEPTICONS! errr... i mean TILL ALL ARE ONE! - Optimus Prime GG

wasting 341hours just to get banned without explanation and proof. poor comunication and stupid management

This is definitely a scamming game development team. They abuse their power as game publishers to issue unwarranted and unjustified bans. Even if you appeal, they will completely dismiss your words. You can easily get banned by them at any time. Recently, players with high-value in-game assets have all been hit by their so-called 'shadow ban' system via trading and the marketplace/vending house. While you can still technically play, you are completely restricted from trading or giving away your assets to anyone, and it is a permanent ban. They refuse to unban you with the ridiculous excuse that wealthy players might engage in RMT (Real Money Trading)!! LOL... If you are planning on trying out this dev's game, my honest advice is to drop it. They are completely dishonest, and you'll just end up wasting your money on the game and cosmetic items.

Spirit Vale scratches a surprisingly specific itch. The gameplay itself is fairly limited, but what’s there is fun. The bosses, grinding, and Spire content provide enough of a gameplay loop to keep you coming back, especially if you enjoy watching your character slowly progress and become stronger. Unfortunately, the biggest problems with the game have less to do with the core gameplay and more with how the game is being developed and maintained. The lack of professional development experience really shows. It feels like every major update comes with a new way to break the game, and it can take several days before those issues are properly fixed. Bugs are one thing, but consistently breaking existing systems with updates becomes frustrating after a while. The lag is another major issue. Update after update, performance seems to be getting worse rather than better. It can make otherwise enjoyable content unnecessarily frustrating. The handling of botting, macroing, and cheating is probably the most damaging issue. Players can openly abuse these systems for days without consequences, which ruins the experience for legitimate players. There simply don't seem to be enough Game Masters to handle the player population, and the lack of effective automated detection makes the problem even worse. Overall, Spirit Vale has a fun core gameplay loop, and the bosses, grinding, and Spire are genuinely enjoyable. There is a good game underneath all of this. But the constant technical problems, worsening lag, and seemingly inadequate response to cheating make it difficult to recommend the game without some serious reservations. Fun game, questionable execution. The potential is there, but the development and moderation issues are holding it back significantly.