So what is there to say about Arx? Well to start they get a lot right and they miss the mark on a fair number of things. For the good the systems they've implemented, the coding is solid and it is regularly being updated to include fun new features that always seem to include at least one cool new feature. The player base is phenomenal and despite having the same occasional bad egg that is endemic to mu*s period, the rest of the playerbase is overwhelmingly warm and supportive eager to draw you in and help you get settled. The rosters that they wrote up (yes this is a roster game love it or hate it) are generally stellar and feel like they were natural tie ins for when the game first started up. The setting despite the flaws (which I most assuredly will touch on later) has great promise and a lot could come from it. Not to mention the investigation and action system are pretty cool (even with your actions more often then not resulting in a booby prize rather then what you'd been aiming for initially. The ooc intent and tldr fields seem to be ignored if you don't write up things just right.)

The Meh: Okay lets start out with those roster characters, they did feel absolutely amazing there in the beginning of the game, but now they feel a little out of date, but the story runners seem unwilling to let the world evolve naturally so even if run into the ground completely they keep a level of undue prominence when it comes to the nobility. The next meh is once more on the roster system, no one is ever vetted for anything. We've seen multiple High Lords (one of the highest org leader positions) given to players completely new to the game which generally is throwing them in way over their heads. Skills are done on a white wolf esque system with 5 dots in a skill being the capping point for 99% of the players. However with the easy availability of exp, everyone is sitting at 5's in all their core stats for their concept from peasant to high lord. Thus everything is scaled to every character being at a level described as 'best in a generation' meaning if you plan to not be exceptional you are going to be fucked over because all dice checks in the story, prp's and general contests are scaled to these monsters rather then the average person. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing.

The Bad:Okay so the bad, every game has its bad and Arx is no exception. First and the most prominent thing, goddamn this story. It's not beyond saving but a couple years into it and they've hit a DBZ spiral of ever increasingly powerful bad guys. Not threats from within the compact, nope, they are all existential civilization/world ending threats. Which when you've seen two world ending magical big bads, can you really find it in yourself to approximate terror at the third and fourth? It's had a level of exhaustion not dissimilar to Warhammer 40k, where yes every thing you face is unknowably bad and ready to end everything. The next is a bit of a minor thing, but still it rubs me the wrong way. The world is most assuredly on rails and there is no getting off this train, ever. The part that bugs me here isn't that its a thing, but the fact that the admins aggressively denounce that (even having banned a player who suggested it). There is definitely a favorite game going on, and it doesn't take long to see who the favorites are as they are rewarded with all the shiniest toys and roles (which again is denied, but the actions are speaking louder then words). Which all in all if what you're doing and what they're doing are on two separate paths, it doesn't matter but if they cross over into your lane, be prepared to be thrown into the back seat. Lore is changed at a whim and when it is pointed out anyone who disagrees with that is told that they are wrong, and that it has always been like that and they were just engaging in bad rp, despite ample evidence of the imms having gone with the old lore in the first place.

Overall its a pretty fun place, you stick to your small corner you ignore the world about you and toss aside any notions of autonomy or being able to make a difference that wasn't pre-scripted and you'll have a blast. Run counter to one of the roster characters or favorites and you're in for a bad time. I'd give the game an overall 6/10, the story about 3/10, setting an 8/10, the pbase a 7/10 and the imms themselves a 4/10. Give a shot, you could have a blast here. I know for all the negatives I've listed I don't plan on quitting any time soon.