 | ValentineRain |
| | I apologize in advance for what will certainly become a hideous wall of text.1.F2P or P2P?It better be damn good if I have to pay for it.
And not World of Warcraft.2.Action RPG (like dragon nest or lunia) Real time RPG or Turn Base RPG (these are actually rare...Examples: Final fantasy IX (not Mmo), Atlantica) or Shooting RPG (like S4)Don't care. I tend to get more involved when it isn't just 'sit on auto attack until the monster is dead' though.3.Cute graphics (a bit like hmm...Maybe Ether Saga or monato esprit) , anime graphics (like lunia or Ghostx) or realist graphics (like Perfect world or Aion)Don't care, as long as it's good at whatever it's going for (if it takes the cute route, it needs to actually look cute and not cartoony and lazy. If it goes for the realistic graphics thing, it should likewise not look like crap.)4. With diferent races (Like Rising force (Bellatos ,acrecitas , or Elf things)) or only one race (like Fly for fun, (Humans only.))Don't care. Races aren't as important as character customization in general. If there are three, but every elf human and orc look the same, it's still not as good as a game that only has one race but control over what it looks like.5.What classes would you like to play as?Magic classes. I usually go with the healing ones but DoT ones work just fine.6.Is the storyline Vital? or you just ignore it?In an MMO? It's a distraction.7. Weapons, should they be amazingly huge and irealistic (Like cloud's Buster Sword) , normal weaponry (like Broadswords and such) or it doesnt matter?Don't care.8. Should the game have good graphics? Average graphics? or that really doesnt matter?Refer to question three.9. 2D games , Scrolling games , or 3D ?Don't c- wait, is scrolling like Maple Story or Grand Chase? Ew. Ew ew ew.10. Want to sugest any game?Not World of Warcaft.11. What was the game you played for longer? and you're favorite?World of Warcraft... and World of Warcraft. v.v;
Hence why I won't play it.12. What's you favorite colour?Cheese.Okay, I realize I haven't been all that helpful so far, and I HAVE played a fair share of MMO's so here's a rundown of the ones I can remember, complete with helpful links to the homepage of each so you can do additional research.World of Warcraft-Easily the greatest MMORPG of all time, no question. This is the one time an American company has taken something Asia does better than us and spanked them with it. Seriously. Everything you've ever complained about in an MMO is fixed here, and everything you've ever loved about them is one hundred times better. Unless you love dysentery. I always found it lacking in that department.
The catch is that this game will eat your life. You'll wake up two years later and realize you don't remember anything about it. Then GO BACK TO PLAYING. Most people ignore the "video games are an addictive curse to our children" ranters. So do I. But this game IS. It's crack in video game form. If you value your value-less soul, avoid it.
Oh, and the monthly hit to your wallet is a caveat as well.Trickster Online-- Adorable, and I have very fond memories of it.
Sadly, all of the new content is for obscenely high-leveled characters. Quests aren't very evenly dispersed so while it was amazingly fun at first, everything past level 30 is pure grinding. What's worse is they seem to have gone back and re-done all of the areas I thought were perfect when I got obscessed with the game.
Rest in peace Trickster, old friend. Your lack of compelling content and succumbing to MMO-Grind syndrome has been your downfall.Fly for Fun-I remember this one vaguely. I think I got to a decent level (20 ish?) then got incredibly bored. It has an interesting flight system, to it's credit, but is filled with a lot of monotonous grinding. You won't even be allowed off of the ground until you do a good bit of it. And stuff (was) incredibly expensive at early levels. If you actually cared (I didn't) you'd probably have to spend several more hours grinding just to have the money to buy good enough gear to grind somewhere else.
That being said, I haven't touched this game in years. Maybe it has better content now. I dunno, ask Fade, I think he would.
Fun fact: I believe this game used to be called Fly for Free. At least that's what the old Xfire banners I found it by said. Maybe they changed because people searching for it always wound up on Priceline.Perfect World- I really liked this one for a number of reasons. It had a very good flow of quests up until about level 40. Apparently then it sort of ebbed off but I didn't get far enough for it to make a difference. Best of all? It had this great feature in the quest window that would not only tell you who wanted to give you a quest, but their EXACT COORDINATES. You could then take those coordinates and put them into your map, which would then make a clearly visible blue arrow point to them. It's the one feature I wish World of Warcraft had. It'll probably be patched in at some point though....v.v;
It also had a very nice character customization interface. Very thorough, and you could even change what you looked like at any time for a few days if you weren't satisfied when you started out. Even afterwards you could pay some cash to get it changed if you got tired of it.
The graphics were also really nice, especially the gorgeous water effects.
Oh wait, I need to say something bad to discourage you all now... um... Well, a lot of the features were really only available to people paying for them. After all, they had to make money somehow since it was F2P. There was a pet system where they'd fight for you but it only worked for one class, even though it was visible for all of them. Caused a lot of confusion. Also, at least on the server I played, as soon as you hit level 30 you could be killed in PvP anywhere but towns. Some griefers made for a terrible time trying to complete quests.
I personally LOVE PvP and rarely play MMO's without them anymore, but they aren't everyone's cup of tea it seems.Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online- Okay, first strike against it. The name is way too damn long.
I was in the closed beta test for this game. Everyone has access to a nice skill leveling system that's quite customizable. There are no classes so you can tailor your character to how you play, and aren't pegged to a certain setup from the beginning. It's main gimmick... I mean feature...involves negotiating with demons, who may offer there service to you and...wait...isn't that just another name for a pet system?!
On the downside, though there are mounts available, until you get them you have to deal with an absolutely, inexcusably abysmal running speed. There is almost no character customization, and a very steep learning curve. As of writing, PvP is present but very buggy, so if you like that you might have to wait a while before it actually works.
Other than that, a solid choice, especially if you'd prefer the darker, post-apocalyptic tone over the cutesy anime games. (Like me! ^.^ ) It was very successful in Japan, from what I've been told.
There were some translation issues, but were mostly cleaned up after the closed beta. (I remember one cutscene was still written in kana for the US release.)Ether Saga- I will be honest with you. I didn't play this game for more than 2 hours.
It's the most damn adorable MMO I've ever seen. To the point that it is painful. The cuteness burns. It's physically painful.
If you don't feel like grinding, though, this is the MMO for you. It has the quest pointer feature from Perfect World I described above, with an added bonus: It will freaking walk you to your objective if you don't feel like it. Let's say Quest Giver A wants you to fetch him 5 evil mushrooms of dysentery from the forest humpixy. Click a button and your character will start running to the zone with forest humpixies. Kill a few, click another button and your character will run back to Quest Giver A. Rinse and repeat.
Did I mention it was cute?Runescape-No. Just no.
It's dead. It's been dead for years. Let it go.Grand Chase-An odd mix of Maple Story and Super Smash Brothers.
It isn't as fun as you'd think. Stuff is expensive, character creation is as cut-and-dry as it gets, and the game revolves around you getting a stupid quest, finding a room full of whiny 12 year olds doing the same quest, and running through the level mashing the same keys over and over until you get what you want, all while the whiny 12 year olds continue to whine. It's an action RPG, which is great, but more of a button masher than one that requires real skill. It's fun for a few hours, then gets boring.
Also, it's being run by NTreev. Go figure.Maple Story-I'm glad I never really got into this one.
It's as aged as Runescape. I don't even know if it's there anymore. Who cares? Let this one die too. Keep your fond memories of this classic, don't kill it faster by trying to relive them.S4 League-I actually really, really like this game, though I'm confused why you guys consider it an MMORPG. Sure, you gain levels, but for the sake of balance it does nothing except restrict you from lower level rooms. For pretty much everything else it is purely third-person shooter action. Skill based, reliant on aim and not numbers.
That being said, I love the art style and gameplay direction. Sadly, the missions are broken, at best. It's a pain trying to farm money to buy weapons that don't suck, and they like to release weapons that are extremely overpowered (read: the handgun), let people whine about it for a few months, then when the whining reaches a fever pitch nerf it down to being completely useless. Then call it balanced.
So yeah. Balance issues and broken quests are what bring the game down. If you can look past these admittedly minor issues you- OH AND THE LAG IS GOD AWFUL! If someone has over 100 ping, they become immortal and can kill you without dying. It's possible to increase your ping just by running a lot of internet-intensive programs like instant messenger, or having dial-up.
Fortunately the North American servers are opening soon. As in, any day now, sometime this summer. Lower ping for me at least. ^.^
Whether you guys play this or not, I probably will. I like feeling awesome.Lunia-I think I've given myself selective amnesia to block the memories of this horrible event from my mind. Actually, I just looked this up on Youtube and it looks like an entirely different game than I remember, so apparently the developers of this game agreed with me and gave it a massive overhaul. Either than or I got it mixed up with another equally terrible MMO.
Bad translation, ugly graphics, and it's most 'redeeming' quality was terrible, repetitive combat sequences.
Kill it with fire.Shaiya-I played this one for a little while. It's solid. Graphics are decent, gameplay is decent, translation is decent, PvP is decent.
Doesn't do anything spectacularly, but doesn't epically fail. I'd still choose Perfect World over it since they're in the same vein.Twelve Sky-Actually kind of archaic now, but much like Shaiya is average in every respect. I don't really remember much about it, which can only mean it was unspectacular.
On the bright side, they're apparently giving this game a massive overhaul as well, because Twelve Sky 2 has also debuted.
Does anyone else think Twelve Sky 2 has too many numbers in it?Last Chaos-See Shaiya. Didn't impress me, there's better available. Not a terrible choice, but unless you hate yourself, just go with the obviously better options. If you do hate yourself, you probably deserve it and I think I'll hate you too, just to be safe. Go play Maple Story.Tibia-I think this one was a british MMO. I don't think it even exists anymore. I just added it for a laugh.
It's probably the single most dated MMO I've ever played... everything is kind of clunky, but in that charming, old school kind of way. Did I mention it was ugly?
I played it when it was considered fancy though, and am really just adding it in here to say I've experienced it and that it really isn't a valid option anymore.
*moments later*
I just checked. o.0; It still exists.
Whatever, still isn't a valid option. I remember it fondly but just trust me. Archaic doesn't even begin to describe it.Final Fantasy XI-I personally didn't play this one, which is surprising considering it's IP.
From what I can tell though, it's community is unimpressively small and impotent, like Fa-...nevermind, I won't make that joke. <3
I doubt anyone wanted to move ToA to this anyway, but I thought I'd throw that out there.
I had a good friend that played the hell out of it, which is why I know as much about it as I do. This game had de-leveling when you die. You'd loose a certain amount of EXP on death and could possibly loose entire levels from it.
Other than that, a very solid game, and I believe it was released with the same community in Japan and America, though I could be wrong and maybe they just added the translator for the hell of it.
Okay, that's all I can think of for the moment. I probably have some experience with some other ones but I don't remember. I'll add something if I think of it.
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Beware :O
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