In the 24th-century, humans throughout the solar system are connected by Virtunet. An internet provider and media mogul that spans the gulf of space. While once used for politicking between planets it is now readily available to all. Virtunet offers highly immersive VRMMOs and media. Concordat online follows the adventures of a player known as Blue Opensky as they enter the game for the first time. Everything is going well, he forms a bond with his first monster and is leveling steadily with their friends. When other players get involved manipulating from the shadows, Blue and friends are charged with defeating them but every action has consequences. Now the starter area of Meadowsedge is under threat from a group of rogue NPCs that out level Blue and his friend will they stand and fight or will they start again in a less problematic start zone?
My Opinion: 376 pages, $3.09, Available on Kindle Unlimited
A fairly good slice of life story set in a VRMMO. The main character (MC) tries and loves this new MMO and goes on a bunch of adventures and quests with his friends XP grinding, gaining gear, skills, and leveling. The casual nature of the story makes it fairly good, easy to read but not particularly wowing.
The main thing that differentiates this story from others set in a fantasy MMO is the inclusion of battle pets as a key gaming mechanic. Players can tame monsters and evolve them or help them specialize in particular types of magic. There’s a definite Pokemon component to the mechanics with various elements being more or less effective against other types of monster types. Though the story goes further than just pet battles by having the Players fight alongside their battle pets and even gain the use of magic from the types of companions they gain. This added a nice bit of planning to the player builds as they had to think about their personal combat style and what they’d use their battle pets for and plan accordingly.
There’s also a small amount of crafting in the story, which really amounted to making special evolution items and gear. While it added an enjoyable break from questing or XP grinding, it wasn’t a really big part of the story.
On the whole, the casual story really just follows the MC and his friends as they play this game. There is no ‘end of the world’ or ‘trapped in the game’ stakes or anything serious. It’s just a guy having fun and getting into some PvE and eventually a little PvP as he follows some interesting questlines, gets in good fights, captures and tames a few interesting monsters, and decides the kind of player he wants to be.
The place I was slightly disappointed by the storytelling was the resolution of the big battle at the end. It was this big culmination of several storylines and quests and while it tried to be epic in places it felt summarized and rushed in detail in several key places which messed with the tension. Additionally, while it made sense that the MC couldn’t win alone against the higher level threat of the big bads at the end, I would have still liked to see a heroic overcoming of odds rather than an outside force resolving things. It just dampened the otherwise good progression the MC had made through the story. It almost felt like the author was just running out of steam at the end.
Overall, the story was an easy casual read and someone that likes a bit of pet raising or Pokemon elements to their story will find this a good family friendly read.
Score: 7.4 out of 10