Sunday, June 27, 2010

Fists of Fu vs Dragonica Online

After playing the new Fist of Fu MMORPG from Outspark for while, I realized that the game is a complete clone of Dragonica Online. The game’s developers just loaded up Dragonica Online and copied EVERYTHING and simply changed the graphics a bit (for the worse). I was sorta looking forward to Fists of Fu, but after learning that it’s a shameless Dragonica Online clone I was disappointed. It wouldn’t be so bad if the game wasn’t a COMPLETE clone, but I can safely say its just as much as a Dragonica Clone and Runes of Magic and Allods Online are Wow clones. I know. That’s a bold statement, but if you play both games you’ll agree with me for sure.

The thing about Fists of Fu is that the game has absolutely no appearance customization. In a way, it’s like Lunia from ijji because you start by selecting a character and that’s it. No customization. The game has 3 classes and 2 characters for each class (male and female). So right from the start, the game disappoints with only 3 character classes. There are two job advancements available later on, but that’s it. Graphically, Dragonica is 3D, but Fists of Fu is 2D with 3D backgrounds. You can’t even move in 3 dimensions, you can only move left and right. Ugh. Luckily, the combat is Fists of Fu is fun and reminds me of GhostX from GameKiss and Wind Slayer from Outspark. I say GhostX because the MMORPG has instances outside of town. No persistent world where you can see other players. Just instances. I say Wind Slayer because like Wind Slayer, the PvP in Fists of Fu equalizes, making things fair.

Fists of Fu is currently in closed beta and it’s not a terrible game. I do think Dragonica Online is better though. Needless to say, Side Scrolling MMORPGs are making a comeback. There are new side scrolling games launching every month now it seems. WonderKing from Ndoors is pretty popular too. As a big fan of MapleStory, I’m liking all of these Side Scrolling games. I sort of Wish Fists of Fu was better though. The individual dungeons themselves are fun, because they each have cool bosses at the end and can be played cooperatively.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Are Facebook Games Free MMOs?

As Facebook gets bigger and bigger (it’s currently the second biggest website on the internet) more and more games will launch on it. Some of the most popular Facebook games these days are Farmville, Mafia Wars and Petville. For the most part these games aren’t MMOs, but they do have cooperative elements, so it wouldn’t be unfair to classify them as free to play MMOs. After all, they are all free and they are online. I actually started playing these “social games” on Facebook pretty recently, and I’m not quite sure what to think of them. It’s not exactly fair to compare them to full blown MMORPGs like Heroes of Might and Magic Online from TQ Digital and Digimon Battle from WeMade, but there are fair comparisons out there.

YoVille for example is a social Facebook that plays a lot like Gaia Online or even OurWorld. Both Gaia Online and OurWorld would be considered traditional free to play browser MMOs, so there is room for comparison amongst these games. As is, Facebook games are absurdly popular. Farmville for example has some 30 million active users on Facebook. That’s on par with mega popular MMORPGs like LaTale from OGPlanet and MapleStory from Nexon. Though it doesn’t quite surpass RuneScape from Jagex yet. Still, 30 million active users. Wow. That’s quite a number. The thing about Facebook Games is that they only started popping up a year or so ago, so within a years time they exploded in popularity and became mainstream!

As I said earlier, I really don’t know what to think of these games. I tried playing both Treasure Isle and YoVille yesterday and neither kept my attention for long. Treasure Isle did keep me entertained a bit longer, but meh. To be fair, I did like Farmville, but that’s only because I’m a fan of the Harvest Moon games. I remember playing the N64 Harvest Moon game for at least 50 hours! The game boy advanced one – Friends of Mineral Town was also a good one. Aside from Treasure Isle and Yoville though, I also gave Social City a try, which was basically a Sim City style city building game. It was a bit too basic for my liking, but the concept behind it was pretty neat. I did get bored of it in an hour though.

I guess Facebook MMOs just aren’t my thing, at least the ones available today. Maybe they’ll get better in the future. Who knows. For now though, I think I’ll stick with my client based MMORPGs. On that note, I just finished re-downloading Lunia from ijji. Since I first played the game a year or so ago, the game has went through a bunch of major updates, so it should rock now. Anyway guys! Later!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Outspark's Fists of Fu MMORPG Coming Soon!

Fists of Fu from Outspark is coming soon! According to the latest news from Outspark, Fists of Fu is going into closed beta sometime during the last week of June. I actually look forward to giving the game a try, as I’m a fan of both Fiesta Online and Secret of the Solstice – two other Outspark games. In case you haven’t heard of Fists of Fu, the game has anime inspired graphics, but unlike Grand Fantasia from Aeria Games, the visuals in Fists of Fu look a bit more Western than other anime MMORPGs.

Gameplay wise, Fists of Fu is supposed to play like Dragonica Online. I actually really liked Dragonica Online, as the action oriented gameplay was a breath of fresh air to the genre. Obviously Dragonica wasn’t the first action MMORPG, but it was a top notch one. I actually think that Outspark is taking a good direction with the game. Fists of Fu is going to be their first action MMORPG, with Divine Souls being their second one. I think its safe to say that a lot of upcoming MMORPGs will be action oriented. After all, some of the most anticipated games, think Vindictus and Dragon Nest from Nexon, are action MMORPGs. Vindictus is for some odd reason especially hyped up. I mean the 3D graphics look great, but no one really knows anything about the game, and yet most people talk about the game on forums and comments as if its the best thing since sliced bread. I can safely say its one of the most hyped up free MMORPGs ever. Will it live up to that hype? Time will tell.

Outspark on the other hand seems to still be focusing on cartoony / anime inspired games. Their most popular game today is still Fiesta Online, and with good reason. It’s a 3D anime inspired game with cool cel-shading graphics. They have a 2D side scrolling MMORPG called Wind Slayer out right now as well, but it’s not that popular. They also have Project Powder, a racing MMO, which isn’t too popular either. I really hope Fists of Fu lives up to my expectations. I don’t think it’s going to be that amazing, but it looks interesting. I like the fact that its lighthearted and a bid comedic. After all, games shouldn’t try to be too serious anyway. Especially cartoony ones.

Anyone else looking forward to playing Fists of Fu? If not Fists of Fu, what games does everyone else want to play? Any cool upcoming games that I should know about? Anyone know any good social games? Let me know!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Dungeon Fighter Online is Finally Here

Dungeon Fighter Online from Nexon is finally released. The game has been in open beta for well over 5 months now and only recently released fully. If you haven’t heard of Dungeon Fighter Online, it’s a 2D side scrolling action MMORPG that plays like Golden Axe. The game’s graphics are 2D and quite poor, but they’re meant to look “retro”. The game has changed significantly since the early Open Beta. The most notable changes include additional content, as the game world has been expanded quite a bit since open beta started. One thing I really like about Nexon is how dedicated they are to their games. I’ve been a long time player of both MapleStory and Mabinogi and Nexon has been doing a phenomenal job keeping all of these games up to date. I think MapleStory was one of the first free MMORPGs ever and one of the most popular. Even though it’s old, it’s been constantly updated, which is why people are sticking with it. Mabinogi too had enjoyed plenty of content updates. I actually quit Mabinogi about 4 months ago, but it’s still a good game. It’s an anime MMORPG, but the gameplay itself is unique.

Anyway, I’ve been playing Dungeon Fighter Online quite a bit over the last few weeks and I love it. I’ve always been a fan of old school arcade action games like Gauntlet Legends and Golden Axe, do Dungeon Fighter Online is a natural fit for me. Even though the game’s graphics are quite bad, they’re original, at least in the F2P MMO genre. The game wasn’t designed to have good graphics. The gameplay is what makes Dungeon Fighter Online fun. The game is a bit linear, sort of like Lunia from ijji, but that shouldn’t be surprising as the game is meant to play like classic arcade side-scrollers. Once you clear all the dungeons in the game though, it could get a bit boring, but there’s enough content in the game right now to keep players busy for many months. Unfortunately though, the fact that the game has a limited amount of content like this is a bit of a turn off for some players. Sure you could keep playing the game, but since each dungeon is basically a “level”, it’s a bit silly to run the same dungeon over and over again. Quests will usually keep you going back to the same dungeon multiple times, but it doesn’t feel too repetitive. Like Runes of Magic and Dungeons from Frogster and Dungeons and Dragons Online from Turbine, Dungeon Fighter Online has a ton of quests to keep players busy.

If you haven’t played the game yet, you’re really missing out. Like all of Nexon’s other titles, Dungeon Fighter Online is free to play, so there’s no reason not to give it a chance. It even has a neat PvP system, so those who like PvP MMORPGs will find something to like in it.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Zero Online is a Fun MMORPG

Zero Online is a fun 2D Sci Fi MMORPG. I think a lot of other MMORPGs would benefit by looking at Zero Online and copying some pages from its playbook. The first good thing about Zero Online is that it can run on almost any computer. The game has very plain, yet appealing 2D gaphics which can run smoothly on a Pentium 3 computer, making the game very “accessible” worldwide. A lot of fancy new MMORPGs like Dungeons and Dragons Online from Turbine and Age of Conan from Funcom have absurdly high system requirements that a lot of people can’t meet. Game developers need to realize, not everyone has a super gaming computer. The most popular free MMORPGs are usually the most “accessible” ones. Games like MapleStory and RuneScape for example. Another good aspect of Zero Online is that it has fast leveling. This one is a bit controversial probably, but I really like games that have a fast experience rate. I think most people will agree with me on this one. No one likes to grind for hours on end just to level up once. In Zero Online you can reach level 50 in under 4 hours. In most MMORPGs reaching level 50 takes 4 weeks.

Zero Online is also win because the game had “job advancements” very frequently. One thing I really disliked about MapleStory, even though it was such a great game, was that job advancements felt way too far away from each other. I think everyone could make it to the level 30 advancement in MapleStory, but very few people made it to the level 70 one. In WonderKing from Ndoors, it’s even worse. The first advancement is at like level 120 or something ridiculous. Job advancements should be easy to reach, as people like upgrading their characters. In Zero Online, players could advance their characters every 15 levels or so, which made the game progess a lot faster. For some reason I really like Zero Online, but I don’t love Conquer Online or Crazy Tao, both of which are from the same publisher – TQ Digital. TQ Digital did a great job with Zero Online in my opinion, but their other games are only so-so. I think Conquer Online is their most popular game though. Their upcoming MMORPG Heroes of Might and Magic Online looks awesome though. But time will tell if its actually good or not. As is, the game has no North American release date, so it could be a while before it releases.

Obviously not every aspect of Zero Online is good either. The game only has two playable classes, which is terrible. Modern MMORPGs should have at least 5 classes and ideally more. I love it when games have lots of classes. I guess it’s a reason why I like MapleStory a lot. MapleStory has like 12+ starting classes, which is awesome. I’d like to see TQ Digial add more characters to Zero Online, as is the game only has two and it really sucks. What’s worse is that the artillery class is absurdly over powered compared to the game’s melee class. So yeah, Zero Online isn’t perfect either, but it’s a good game.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Free 2D MMORPGs You Never Played

There are a lot of 2D MMORPGs out there. So many that I bet I can name a handful that you’ve never heard of. Obviously we’ve all heard of epic games like MapleStory and WonderKing, but what about obscure games like Destiny Online from EnjoyMMO or Great Merchant from AK interactive? These are both ‘unknown’ games that very few people play. The first game, destiny online is actually decent, but Great Merchant is pretty terrible. So if you want to try one of the two, try Destiny Online. Another game that I bet you haven’t heard of is Esteria Mythos from Seed C Korea Inc. I’ve never heard of this one until a few days ago, but it’s a pretty random game. It’s meant to be an old school 2D game, but it just feels too old in my opinion to be good. The biggest issue with the game is that it has a really low playerbase, so just finding others to play with can be hard.

Next is Battle of Destiny from the Malaysian publisher Cubizone. Know how people call games like Runes of Magic and Talisman online WoW clones? Well Battle of Destiny is a Dungeon Fighter Online clone. In fact the games are nearly identical. I’m pretty sure Battle of Destiny is a shameless rip off of Dungeon Fighter Online. More so than ANY other game is a clone of WoW. Seriously. Look at some side by side screenshots, it’s really funny. Another weird unknown 2D MMO is Blitz 1941. The game is a World War 2 tank based MMO by TwoWar – the same company who makes Navy Field. The game’s translations are so bad it’s funny. I can safely say Blitz 1941 has the worst translations of any MMO i’ve ever played. Stay away from this one lol.

Next is Mini Fighter Online from Netmarble. This game is actually pretty fun, so if you haven’t played it you really should. I threw this one on the list because the game doesn’t have as many players as it deserves. Seriously, the game is awesome. It plays like a chibi street fighter MMO. How awesome is that? The more unique aspect of the game though is that it has both lobby style MMO gameplay as well as a persistent world MMORPG section. Another good unknown 2D MMORPG is Wonderland Online from IGG. It’s actually one of the best turn based MMORPGs out there. The game has a community too, which is win. The town areas in the game are incredibly packed! The gameplay reminds me of final fantasy, which is good. Anyway, if I missed any obscure 2D MMOs, let me know!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

So Many Old 2D MMORPGs.

Just look at all the free to play 2D MMORPGs out there. Most of them are really old games. There really hasn’t been any new 2D MMORPGs released since Ndoors put out WonderKing 6 months ago or so. Sadly, the most popular 2D MMOs are really old games like Mir 2 and the Legend of Mir 3. Plus, other old games like Magic World Online from EnjoyMMO and The Warlords from TQ Digital are still popular. There’s nothing particularly wrong with these old MMORPGs, it’s just that I’m upset that there hasn’t been any NEW 2D MMORPGs. It seems like game developers these days are focusing their efforts on 3D games. I really don’t know why they’re doing this either, as some of the most successful free to play MMORPGs are 2D games. Most notably, MapleStory from Nexon which is wildly profitable. Nexon also has Dungeon Fighter Online which I’m sure makes them a lot of money.

MapleStory actually has over 100 million registered users world wide, making it one of the most popular free MMORPGs ever. Obviously not all of these people are active users, but still. 100 million is a dang big number. Aside from MapleStory, the only other REALLY mega popular free to play MMORPG is probably RuneScape. Even though RuneScape isn’t 2D, the game has very low end graphics, which makes me question why so many MMO developers are focusing their efforts on good looking 3D Games. I mean, 3D MMORPGs like Vindictus and Loong: The Power of the Dragon look great, but MapleStory and RuneScape prove that you don’t need good graphics to be successful. Heck, having pretty graphics only hurts a game, as not everyone has high end PCs to even be able to play some 3D MMORPGs. Plus, 3D MMORPGs tend to be much larger in filesize as well, so downloading a good looking 3D game can take a very long time on a slow connection.

What’s the point of this rant? Simple. I’m tired of super old 2D MMOs like Navyfield and Shadow of Legend. I want game developers to put out some NEW 2D MMORPGs. I imagine newer 2D games will have sleeker and more awesome graphics.