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.
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