Fiesta Online is an MT-MMORPG. Purchasing items from the Cash Shop is not necessary to enjoy the game, but it sure does help.

Fiesta is set in the fantasy world of Isya which was created by random chance in the middle of the sea according to the game's lore. Why are the adventurers of Isya fighting? Who knows? The lore doesn't seem to know as the goddess Teva seems to have taken care of all the bad guys already. [source]

This is my first real review and as the site isn't completed yet you can't comment on it so I can say whatever I want and get away with it! Unless, of course, you register on the forums.

Content

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In the lower levels there is a TON of content to go through: Quests, "Kingdom" Quests, tutorials, etc. I've played to the mid-30's range and have yet to run out of quests to do although as far as the story-line goes I have no idea WHY I'm doing these quests other than the quest-giver's whim.

• Quests: It's very simple to find quests in this game. If you open the map (press 'M' on the keyboard) then you'll see the location of all portals and NPCs on the map. If an NPC has a quest for you, it will have a red 'Q' above their icon. Alternatively, a green 'Q' means you're currently on the quest and a purple 'Q' means you can turn a quest in.
• Kingdom Quests: These quests are designed for large parties and are instanced quests. Players rally together to fight off otherwise impossible odds (for the level range). Kingdom Quests are designed for 15 or more players and give a lot of EXP as well as treasure chests for completing the quest. The treasure chests can contain weapons, armor, or usable items such as potions and refining materials. The biggest flaw of Kingdom Quests is that the kills for the quests relating to the Kingdom Quest dungeon do not count for everyone in the Kingdom Quest. The kills only count for the person/party with the killing blow.
• Professions: This game's implementation of professions is odd at best. At lower levels I can't find any reason to even bother with them. The professions themselves don't become useful until you get to the tier 2 or tier 3 level and that can take ages. For most people you're probably better off skipping them until you're higher level. For the curious you can choose between "stone" making (used in refining or upgrading weapons), scroll making (self-buffs), potion making, composition (turn low level items into higher level items), and decomposition (turning higher level items into lower level items).
• Environment: If you look at the world map, it looks tiny. But if you run around trying to get to level 20 and realize of the 100 or so maps the game has that your journey to level 20 only consisted of 5 of those maps...it seems huge. And it is.
• Combat: Kills are awarded to the person who took the last HP away from a monster. See that boss you just did 99.9% damage to? Joe Blow just got the credit for killing him even tho he was AFK the whole fight because he got a lucky hit off at the last second for the last 0.1%.
• Guilds: Fiesta's approach to guilds is fairly normal until you look at the Academy aspect of it. Academies are designed to help new players by offering them rewards of money and items for leveling up. A guild's academy members also have the advantage of being helped by the guild's full members. There is a handy "warp to member" button for the guild's senior members that allows them to teleport directly to the location of whatever academy member they choose. Rewards for leveling are set by the guild's academy leader.
• Refining: You can upgrade your weapons in Fiesta in order to make them both more powerful and a lot prettier looking (each level of upgrade provides a new graphical effect to the item). There are 3 worries when refining: 1. The refining will fail. 2. The refining will fail and your weapon will degrade to a lower level. 3. The refining will fail and your weapon will be completely destroyed (read: gone forever, buy a new weapon). There are cash shop items to prevent degradation and destruction of your weapon, but no cash shop item guarantees success when refining.
• Story Line: If you find one, please let me know.

Community

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As with most other F2P games, the community is somewhat lacking. The game is plagued with spammers in every major city and most players would rather laugh at you than help you when you're in need. Those who have achieved "high-level" status are usually too self-absorbed to help the "lesser" inhabitants of the game (especially if you aren't doning the latest cash shop threads), but there are always diamonds in the rough. I've met several people in Fiesta who are very kind, helpful and genuinely fun to hang out with.

Graphics

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Fiesta has a curious way of drawing me in with its cuteness. The game is presented in 3-D in a cell-shaded anime-style. I'm a sucker for all things anime so I'm particularly fond of this game's graphics; however, there are some major draw-backs to this game's overall graphical design.

• For the Epileptic: Fiesta has a really neat "Glow Effect" setting that when turned on makes the game look really snazzy. The draw-back to this? The game also has a tendency to flash like crazy in certain areas. This problem only seems to occur on certain hardware/software setups so I can't say it's a global issue, but it's something to be wary of if you're prone to fainting at the site of flashing lights. It is easily fixed by disabling the glow effect.
• This Area Not Accessible: One of my biggest frustrations with this game is its liberal use of invisible walls to prevent characters from going into areas they aren't supposed to (e.g., walking out into the ocean or something crazy like walking down a hill any other way than the road). Invisible walls are not cool. Ever.

Apart from the above I'd say the game is pretty solid as far as graphical presentation.

Music

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As much as I'd like to say the music is great, I can't. I spend most of my time playing this game with the sound off because apparently I can't play the game's sound without it being choppy on most occassions. From what I have heard though I can say that Fiesta has some pretty up-beat music and for those that can hear it without the choppiness, I'm sure it's great.

Sound Effects

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See above regarding choppiness. On the rare occassion that my sound is working properly, I can honestly say that this game has the worst "critical-hit" sound effect ever. It's like having a can of shattered Christmas-balls struck against the side of your head each time it happens. No thanks. Apart from that, the rest of the sound effects are pretty average for an F2P MMO.

Controls

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First person controls! Yay! Not really. While this game does support movement via WASD it leaves a lot to be desired. There is no strafe key and no "walk backwards" key. Each of W, A, S, and D makes your character run forwards, left, backwards, or right respectively. What I mean by this is that they actually turn and run in that direction. Sounds OK at first but if you've ever played an MMO that uses real FPS controls then it's a pain. Luckily while fighting your character will turn auto-matically and face the necessary direction to cast or melee. There is no "You are facing the wrong way!" message which can be an even bigger pain.

Learning Curve

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Incredibly short. There are some quirks that take longer to get used to than others but overall the in-game tutorials and tips are quite good for getting the game's feel down. The only thing that really takes time is the same as what takes the most time in any other game: learning how to effectively play your class.

Conclusion

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So that's it! Is the game fun? Yes. Could it be improved? Yes. Is it worth a download? I can't say no. This game is not for everyone, it does become a grind-fest after a certain point, but for those who are into that sort of thing then it's wonderful. As for the "Free" in the title, let's just say the game is a lot easier with cash shop items.