Combat is the same indirect button-pushing affair you've come to expect, emphasizing stats over reflexes, but interesting ideas give rise to more strategic thinking and active timing. For instance, a Hunter's "barbed arrow" attack induces bleeding, and allows a "scourging blow" follow-up to do more damage. However, that follow-up also stops the damage-over-time effect, encouraging you to carefully time blows for maximum efficiency - meaning, of course, greater bloodshed and more enemy heads rolling about on the ground.

Character customization avoids skill trees in favor of "traits" earned by completing quests, slaying monsters, using particular attacks, discovering ruins and much more. Carve a path through spiders and you could earn a permanent title commemorating your hatred of the creepy-crawlies. Kill yet more, and you'll earn a stat bonus.

You'll eventually accumulate a ton of these bonuses - more than you can equip at any one time, in fact. But a visit to any village bard lets you swap your current active bonuses with others you've earned without a major penalty. Similarly, the crafting system lets any player pick from a selection of vocations, each made up of three logically linked trade skills. So far it's a fun and surprisingly involved diversion, but only time will tell if it can avoid the morass of useless items that fill even popular MMORPGs.