I’m an RPG freak. Do we have that established? Good.
No. I really mean it I’m obsessed to the point of trying anything with the letters “RPG” In succession on it. This led to some really confusing situations at least a few times in the past that I won’t get into.
Currently I subscribe to what one of my journalism professors described as “The Gamers’ Equivalent to heroine”; World of Warcraft. While admitting openly to this, I’ve also managed to not entangle myself into Final Fantasy XI (Despite attempts to do so), and missed the era of EverCrack. However, to quote the manager at the GameStop I work with. “Congratulations, so now you play the worse one? It’s the Devil!”
This isn’t meant to be a review of any sort, just a kind of ‘adventure’ through my MMORPG Experience. Hopefully you’ll read this and come out of it with an increased knowledge on what the MMORPGs were like for me, or an interest or curiosity to try one or more out yourself.
So without further Adieu
Furcadia –
Furcadia interface
Oddly this is how I started learning about this odd little thing called an MMORPG. “It’s kind of like an instant messenger only you get to walk around and play too.” Now Furcadia was, and as far as I know is more of a ‘social game’. The basic idea is that you’re a furry (I didn’t even know what a furry was back then folks, so don’t get your hopes up), and you walk around a social network. There was also this nifty area builder where you could build your own “Dream” , basically a visual chat room. The deal was, I was eleven at the time and this just wasn’t holding my interest for enough time. I needed to BASH things!
SO: If you’re a furry fan, try it out for a bit.
Tibia –
http://www.tibia.com/news/index.php?subtopic=latestnews
I found this little MMORPG while searching for a list of free ones since my mother refused to lend me her credit card for online purchases (The internet is obviously evil) , and I didn’t have that much money to buy anything better to do with my time anyway. After a bit of searching I found this, it was free, and the concept was simple.
Buy Weapons. Hit these things over the head. Level up.
That was it.
Well it was a good concept. But it wasn’t going anywhere. You see, I played at least for a month, and I couldn’t get past level six. Either one would completely disconnect , due to the number of people playing (which is kind of surprising), or there was just nothing to do. Except Kill rats. Lots of rats. In the sewer. Because you were too low level to kill anything else.
Needless to say I got fed up. I know this game still exists, but I don’t know if its any better. The graphics still look the same though, which is to say, look like blex. That led me to something slightly more expensive, and slightly better looking.
SO: If you have absolutely nothing better to do with your time and computer space….
Ragnarok Online –
http://iro.ragnarokonline.com/
A Wedding in the Prontera chapel
A few years later, this was the first paid MMORPG I played. I really don’t have anything bad to say about Ragnarok Online except that for the price , the graphics could be better. It was a nifty little game with good progression (Although getting to 2nd job professions took FOREVER, it was a fun filled forever). There wasn’t much “Role Play” Meaning, it was more “Go wherever Kill whatever level”, or much in the way of static quests, but again this could have changed since then!
So why did I stop playing this? Truthfully, I found a version of it free where you could just, you know, hit a level 2 creature, get all the way leveled, and then go on to endgame stuff. Kind of ruined the magic for me. Plus I vowed never to speak to the person who got me ‘into’ this game again, but lets not go there.
SO: If you have a bit of money to spare and your computer can’t run much better, Ragnarok is a cute little game to play.
Star Wars Galaxies:
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/
The first big paid RPG I bought. I got this when it first came out , and I hated it. I wasn’t a big fan of sci-fi , so the “There’s no magic here folks!” Really annoyed me. That said, their way of progression was cool. Rather than the level system, they went for the “Gain skill levels by performing the skill” way of doing things, which I love much more than the level system. The variety of classes were fun as well! Among the normal classes like “warrior” and “Bounty Hunter” and “Sniper” There were others you wouldn’t much expect. “Tailor” Which let you basically design any kind of clothes you wanted, and eventually “Image Designer” which was basically a cosmetic surgeon. That’s right, you could customize your face , your hair and everything else and the look of those who accepted your changes.
That brings me to my next good point about this. Character Customization was awesome , Literally. No two characters looked alike in this. It took a bit to get your character not looking like a freak, but the toying around was well worth it.
The Piloting system in the first expansion pack was also fun, and how I spent most of my time (I was in a Ti Fighter, shooting those damn rebels!)
So why the hate? Well..Again, not much in the way of static quests, in fact, most of the time I couldn’t tell the NPCs apart from the “AFK” Players, that were just sitting around trying to sell off their stuff. There never seemed to be anyone online to do anything, which, after Ragnarok where anyone was willing to help, was kind of strange!
SO: I moved on again, to the game especially for partying up, though if you don’t mind spending money for what is basically a single player anyway….
Guild Wars:
Now this game was interesting. It had enough quests to keep me interested in the beginning, and the dual class system was great (Mesmer/Necromancer, Monk/Warrior For the WIN!). You could socialize in bigger towns but when you got out into the world it was “Instanced” for just your party to have fun in. Oh! And it was completely free per month after buying the game.
The only problem...There didn’t seem to be anything to do in the middle. The end game content seemed awesome, and the beginning content was cool, but there was nothing to really keep me interested in the middle, and “Kill Char!” really only gets you so far. That said, this may have also been because the people I played with kind of fell apart. I would be interested to know how awesome this game has become with the following expansion packs. I may just go back and try it some time
SO: While the game wasn’t for me at the time, it was definitely a good game IF you have people that want to play it with you.
Flyff:
So after that, I went on to try another free MMORPG. Now, this one I only played for a few days. The character customization was cool, and there was good class progression, just once again those who I played it with grew tired. The idea of this MMORPG was based around the fact that eventually you’d be able to fly. Of course, the people who donated got first dibs, which was kind of annoying. I think I stopped playing this game because the controls were so awkward and the skills were not really that diverse within each class.
SO: Worth a shot, it looks pretty, but there’s probably better out there.
Neverwinter Nights Persistent Worlds:
http://topsites.moddb.com/all/?game=51
My character, Rhynn
After trying the free RPGs again, I picked up a game I had sitting around my house for a while. Neverwinter Nights. Neverwinter Nights is basically a Dungeons and Dragons style game. It is bought initially as a Single Player campaign, but there is also an option to “build your own” and “host your own” server. Some people went all out with this, designing, and writing up full fantasy worlds, employing Dungeon Masters to perform quests and interact with the playerbase, and make what some RPG fanatics dream of. A NON-static world where your actions CAN ACTUALLY CHANGE SOMETHING.
I will not name the world I joined here, but I made some really good friends, met the person I want to spend my life with, and had lots of fun. I’ll warn you though, if you’re a die hard Roleplayer, this can become addicting. I remember skipping school on more than one occasion to be on time for a quest. I’ve been playing in this prestige world since March, and most of the time it was fun.
I however, left this world recently due to the politics and favoritism that comes from having a team of people that are only human, as opposed to AI and therefore susceptible to corruption.
That said, my friends and I are currently working on our own version of a prestige world, which I will be writing about at a later date.
SO: These worlds are definitely fun, but the politics of them can get very annoying, make sure the people you’re dealing with are nice and trust worthy.
World of Warcraft:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com
Confatalis Raiding guild takes down Netherspite in Karazhan
And this is where my journey ends. I currently have been playing World of Warcraft for about 8 months and am happy to say I am NOT addicted. I maintain my school work, and my work schedule and still manage to have fun. This game combines the best of all worlds. They use the skill system along with the level system, have a diverse amount of classes and diverse amount of ‘choose-able’ talents for each class (You can’t choose them all which makes everyone different), and combine the social world of the MMORPG , and the “instanced” method Guild Wars uses, for the more lag heavy, loot and boss fight focused Dungeons (Meaning when you go into a dungeon, only your party will be fighting the boss and competing for loot).
I can not express how much I love this game
SO: After two years of searching I’ve found my niche, Everyone who can and is willing should check out World of Warcraft!
[Taken from a post made by me on www.gamervision.com on 11-8-2007]
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