Conquer Online

Conquer Online Review

Conquer Online is a PvP focused 2D Fantasy MMORPG. The game is very similar in terms of core gameplay to other games by the same publisher, but has some of its own unique aspects. Gameplay is fast paced and the number of job advancements are plentiful, so it shouldn’t be too hard for Conquer Online to hold a player’s attention.


Publisher: TQ Digital
Playerbase: Very High
Graphics: Low Quality
Type: MMORPG
EXP Rate: Medium
PvP: Open PvP / Guild War / Scheduled Tournaments
Filesize: 462 MB
Pros: +Varied PvP options. +Fair selection of classes and job advancements. +Helpful ‘auto movement’ feature. +Impressive skill animations. +Very high level cap with 3 rebirths.
Cons: -Dated graphics. -Poor English translations. -Repetitive gameplay. -Poorly designed interface.
Conquer Online is certainly TQ Digital’s most popular game, as the game has well over 60 servers, and some of the servers are so full that players can’t even log into them at times. The game originally debuted in China back in 2003 and currently has more than 10 million registered players world-wide. Visually speaking, Conquer Online looks a lot like TQ Digital’s other games (Zero Online, Eudemons Online, The Warlords, and Crazy Tao). Even though the graphics aren’t top notch, practically any PC can run the game smoothly. In terms of class variety, Conquer Online has a lot more to offer than other games by the same publisher, as other games from TQ Digital usually have two or three playable classes, Conquer Online has six, and they are:
Ninja- Ninjas are the fastest and hardest hitting class in Conquer Online. They can deal massive amounts of damage in a short amount of time, but they have the least hit points and defense of any class.
Archer - Archers are swift characters that can attack enemies from a distance using their bows. They have powerful attacks but are vulnerable in melee range. Their skills allow them to hit multiple targets as well, which make them very capable at dealing damage.
Trojan- Trojans are all out melee damage dealers. They can deal massive amounts of damage with their dual weapons, but they have low defense compared to warriors.
Warrior - Warriors are similar to Trojan’s but are more balanced in terms of attack power and defense. They are very capable of both dealing and absorbing damage.
Taoist- Taoists are the primary spell casters in Conquer Online. They can be built to be either supportive ‘Water Taoists’ or offensive ‘Fire Taoists’. They generally have low hit points and melee combat, but more than make up for that with their powerful magic.
Monk - Monks are a mix between warriors and Taoists as they can hold their own in front line battles as well as support their party members with some spiritual magic (Buffs/ Supportive magic)

Conquer Online is a 2D Fantasy MMORPG by TQ Digital. If you’ve read any of my reviews for Zero Online, Eudemons Online or Crazy Tao you might remember how I commented that all of TQ Digital’s games are unusually similar, and unfortunately, that’s true for Conquer Online as well. The game just feels too much like TQ digital’s other games, but if you haven’t played any of their games before, then Conquer Online is certainly worth playing, as the game has a huge playerbase and a boat load of features.

Ugh! Customization…
Upon installing Conquer Online and logging into the game, I was quickly disappointed by the game’s character customization. Like Zero Online and Eudemons, Conquer Online has virtually no character customization. Players can only select their gender and class, and that’s it. Well, players can also choose either ‘big’ or ‘small’ as their character’s ‘size’, but after trying both, I’m confident that ‘size’ does absolutely nothing. Customization aside, I was impressed with the number of playable classes in the game; most MMORPGs rarely have more than four playable classes and games by TQ Digital usually only have two or three, but Conquer Online has five (they’re listed on the overview page!).

Interface and Graphics
After making my character and upon entering the world of Conquer Online I was immediately surprised. The game’s graphics were blocky and unappealing. The game’s login and character creation screens were a bit deceptive, as they looked really polished and I was bracing myself for a good looking game. I just wish that the developers spent equally as much time developing the game’s overall interface as they did polishing out the character creation and login screens. Conquer Online’s interface, as it stands, is terrible, as It feels like it’s straight from a windows 98 game. I don’t mean to bash on any good games for windows 98, but the fact is that MMORPGs need to get with the times if they expect to compete, especially older games, as they can’t compete in terms of graphics with MMORPG heavy weights like Runes of Magic and Atlantica Online.  My last remotely interface related complaint with Conquer Online has to do with the game’s monster sprites. The game seems to recycle them quite a bit, as more difficult monsters on a map tend to look almost identical to their lower level counterparts, just with a different name. This problem isn’t unique to Conquer Online, as other MMOs do it as well, but I seemed to have noticed it a lot more in Conquer. Graphically speaking the game isn’t anything too impressive, but the lower tier visuals means the game is compatible with many more PCs, as not everyone has access to the top of the line computers.


Core Gameplay
I couldn’t think of any witty sub headers to use for this paragraph, so I apologize in advance. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Conquer Online is its core gameplay. The game’s combat is fast paced and surprisingly fluid, skills and spells have great animations and the game has a lot of playability. Upon reaching level 120 players can be ‘reborn’ and start the game all over again at level 1, but with access to better attributes and special skills this time around. Even if you never get to play a ‘reborn character’, it’s always reassuring to know that a game has enough things to do and experience to gain to keep players from quitting. Players can rebirth themselves up to 3 times, and each time players rebirth and max out they become more powerful. The game’s experience rate is fast enough to keep players from getting bored to death but not nearly as fast as TQ Digital’s other titles. Like in all of TQ Digital’s games, ‘XP Skills’ are an important aspect of the game. Every five minutes or so players can use special skills called ‘XP skills’ which can deal devastating amounts of damage. Unlike TQ Digital’s other titles, ‘XP Skills’ in Conquer Online are actually balanced and don’t break the game. This feature spices up the game’s combat and makes the grinding feel less of a chore. Another neat little feature that Conquer Online has is a player housing system where players can store some of their extra items and even invite other players to come visit them. Aside from actual PvE content, Conquer Online offers a lot of “little things” that keep players coming back for more.

Open PvP? Heck Yeah!
I’ve always been a fan of games that were PvP friendly, and I’m pleased to say that Conquer Online has quite a bit of fun PvP options. Firstly, there is an open PvP environment, meaning anyone can be killed at anytime by another player. There are repercussions of course to prevent players from mindlessly PKing everyone they see. Upon accumulating 30 PK points, players will have a 30% chance of ‘losing’ 1 piece of equipment upon death. The more PK points a player accumulates the more severe this penalty becomes. The second PvP mode in Conquer Online is the ‘Guild War’ which allows guilds to compete with other guilds for control over certain areas in the game. The winning guild is usually rewarded with a large number of CP points, which can normally only be obtained through the game’s cash shop. Lastly, Conquer Online also has a series of PvP tournaments that are weekly and monthly. Weekly tournaments are every Saturday while monthly ones are on the first of each month. The game also has a special PvP tournament every Sunday where the 20 most powerful male players and the 20 most powerful female characters on the server compete. There simply isn’t enough room in this review to discuss all of the PvP modes in detail, but needless to say, Conquer Online has a lot of interesting PvP options that are well worth checking out.

Final Verdict – Good
If you can look past Conquer Online’s graphics the game is certainly enjoyable. The game’s combat is fast paced and fluid and it offers a myriad of fun PvP options. It also has a massive playerbase and simple gameplay. The only real complaints I had with the game are its poor visuals, lack of character customization and the recycling of monster animations. If you’re looking for a new game to try, Conquer Online is worth checking out.