Therian Saga Review

Therian Saga is a pirate-themed MMORPG that is playable online through your web browser. Not a lot of games from the RPG genre focus on pirates, so this game is a new experience for gamers looking for something fresh. The first thing that loads up is a mini cutscene setting up the events of the game. A voice over explains the island you have to explore. It’s only a short scene until the game loads up and you are ready to play. I noticed the game took a long time to load at the start. I’m not sure if this happens to everyone, but the loading times were pretty slow when I played the game.

One of the first things you have to do is choose the type of character you would like to play as in Therian Saga. There are many options for you to choose the appearance for your character. You are free to choose the gender, skin color, and hairstyle and body type. Once you have done that, you can truly begin starting the game. The thing that struck me when I first played the game was its unique presentation. The dialogue window is located on the top right hand corner of the screen. The bulk of the screen is made up for the island map to where you travel on.

I actually didn’t like the presentation of this game at all. The text windows are way too small and everything looked out of place. It would have been better if this game had a more traditional layout with the characters and dialogue situated in the middle of the screen. I found myself looking close to the screen just to see the text and everything. It was quite strange playing Therian Saga because you move your character around on the map itself. It’s not like a huge world has been rendered or anything like that. It’s almost as if you are playing the game looking at a piece of paper of the world map. You could say it’s like playing a board game as the graphics are so simplistic and the minimalist design is noticeable right away.

This is a RPG game at heart and you will literally have to enter dungeons to fight off enemies. A separate screen is loaded up looking at an actual dungeon and you have to navigate though it without getting killed. I admire the unique presentation of this game, although I’m not sure if everyone will be a fan of it. I do like the fact that Therian Saga actually includes a combat system. Much like with most RPGs, the system it turned based. It’s a simple concept as both you and the enemy take turns before you are able to attack one another. Another separate screen is loaded up showing the sprites and animation of the entire fight.

That being said, the fights are not that fun to look at. The characters and enemies don’t move as the only animation that is included is a slashing motion signifying that an attack has happened. This is a shame as the 2D graphics look nice, but there is no animation to it. However, a neat touch is that the combat system is somewhat in “first-person” so you are seeing through the eyes of your own character.

Therian Saga does have some good audio with a decent soundtrack that plays throughout the entire game. The sound effects are nothing special and could have been improved. The sound effects in combat are noticeably cheap, although at least this game adds some type of audio. Some other free to play games are mute which can be very boring. Overall, Therian Saga is an okay MMORPG. The setting is unique as is the presentation. If the layout of the game was fixed, I would have enjoyed this game better. Not to mention the combat could have been more exciting too. The turn-based system implemented here feels like nothing special. This game is worth trying if you are into old school RPGs. It may not appeal to everyone though as the gameplay and visuals are very outdated.