Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Favorite MMORPGs

Everyone has an MMORPG or two that they really love. Most people really like their first MMORPGs, I know I do. The first MMORPG I played was the original EverQuest game from Sony Online Entertainment back in 2000. I absolutely loved that game and felt really immersed in it. It’s actually the only MMORPG that I felt Immersed in. But that’s largely because it’s the first MMORPG I played and have a bias towards it. I think most people love their first MMOs. But there are a few MMORPGs out there that I can always go back to and enjoy.

One of the MMOs I can go back to and enjoy is MapelStory from Nexon. Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking, but MapleStory is easily one of the most popular free MMORPGs for a reason. It has so much content. The reason I can always go back to it and play it is because there are so many playable classes in the game. Since the Evan update, I think the game has 15 or so starting classes. Many more if you count all of the job advancements. So every time I go back to MapleStory, I just roll up a new character and try a new class. Plus the game has transformed itself from a grind based game to a quest based MMORPG over the years. It’s not nearly as “grindy” as it used to be when it launched. Another reason I love MapelStory is that Nexon does an awesome job keeping it up to date. Just look at Combat Arms, Vindictus and Mabinogi too – they’re some of the most in depth and constantly updated MMOs out there. Keeping a game regularly updated keeps users coming back for more.

Another free to play MMO that I really enjoy that I can go back to often is Alliance of Valiant Arms from ijji. Why? Because it offers something different than other tactical MMOs – real progression. Games like Sudden Attack from GameHi and Operation 7 from Netgame are fun for a while, but they get boring after a while because they don’t have any real progression. You can rank up in those games, but ranking up doesn’t really get you anything. Same with Wolfteam and Soldier Front. There’s no point to ranking up. Alliance of Valiant Arms on the other hand has a boat load of unlockable medals, achievements and skills. It’s one of the few MMO Shooters, aside from perhaps Battlefield Heroes, that has a skill system. Plus it’s not an MMORPG, so the game doesn’t take a huge time commitment.

Another free to play MMO that I can go back to for fun is Lost Saga from OGPlanet. In my opinion, it’s the best brawler MMO. It beats both Zone 4: Fight District, Rumble Fighter and GetAmped 2 because it has more variety. The game has some 15+ playable characters, each with their own distinct set of skills and abilities. I mean how awesome is that? Plus the anime inspired graphics are really well made, giving the game a unique look.

Anyway – What’s your favorite free MMORPGs? Perhaps that a poor way of wording it. What MMOs do you regularly go back to?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Pirates of the Burning Sea is now Free to Play

Sony Online Entertainment announced that Pirates of the Burning Sea would go free to play. The announcement came in September, 2010 – just a month or two after EverQuest 2 went free to play as well. It looks like Sony is really beginning to embrace the free to play space – but what made them do it? I think their success with Free Realms really got the ball rolling. Free Realms was their first truly free to play MMORPG and within a year of launch, the game reached an audience in the millions. How successful EverQuest 2 or Pirates of the Burning Sea will be as a free to play title remains to be scene though. It’s too soon to tell right now. I suspect that once Electronic Arts launches Star Wars: The Old Republic – Sony will have to make Star Wars Galaxies free to play too – as there’s no way the 7+ year old Star Wars MMO can compete with the latest and best from Bioware. It’s just not possible.

So what pay to play MMORPG will go free to play next? Turbine really got the ball rolling with Dungeons and Dragons Online a year or so ago and raised the stakes by making The Lord of the Rings Online free to play too. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons – The Lord of The Rings Online was successful as a pay to play game. It didn’t have to go free to play to survive – the same way Archlord, RF Online, DDO and Rose Online did. These MMOs were failing so bad as pay to play MMORPGs, that they HAD to go free to play in order to survive. Unfortunately, some MMORPGs failed so fast they didn’t even have a chance to try the free to play model – most notably APB. Ragnarok Online also recently went free to play. Gravity launched an official free to play server called Valkyrie. It’s not too popular, but it’s cool to see the game as a free to play title.

So which pay to play MMORPG will go free to play next? I feel that Warhammer Online is it. Warhammer Online will go free to play before other games because Electronic Arts has already begun embracing the free to play genre with Battlefield Heroes, FIFA Online and Tiger Woods Online. They’ve already launched numerous free to play titles and they will likely convert Warhammer Online to a free to play game within a year or so. Especially if the playerbase declines further. NCSoft will hopefully do the same with Lineage 2. Why do I think so? The playerbase for Lineage 2 has been in decline in the U.S. For years. The game is also free to play in Russia and South Korea already – so going free to play in the West wouldn’t be such a huge event. I suspect Lineage 2 will go free to play within 2 years. So with so many free to play games, why pay for pay to play MMORPGs?

With so many games going free to play and so many triple A free to play games launching (Think Vindictus), 2010 has been a great year for F2P. I suspect 2011 will be even better though.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Unique Ideas for MMORPGs

It seems like there are more and more fantasy MMORPGs coming out each and every month. Legend of Edda and Iris Online should be coming out late September. Vindictus began its early access open beta on September 15 and The Lord of the Rings Online went free to play on September 10. Fantasy MMORPGs are growing like crazy. But what about sci-fi MMORPGs? Aside from perhaps Zero Online from TQ Digital, CosmicBreak from CyberStep, Clone Wars Adventures from Sonly Online Entertainment and GhostX from GameKiss there aren’t any sci-fi themed MMORPGs out there. The genre definitely needs more attention. You’d imagine a sci-fi themed game would be easier to develop, as its an untapped market and the sci-fi genre is enormous. Time traveling, space battles, diplomacy and more. There are so many awesome sci-fi concepts that developers could use to make their games interesting, but MMO developers seem to be sticking with fantasy themed games.

Another untapped genre for the free to play space is Superhero MMORPGs. Why aren’t there any of them? There are a few pay to play ones like City of Heroes and Champions Online – but there isn’t a SINGLE free to play superhero themed game. Why? Disney has been embracing free to play MMOs quite a bit with Club Penguin, World of Cars, Pixie Hallow and Pirates of the Caribbean Online – so you’d think they would make a superhero themed MMORPG, but nope. I say Disney would make a superhero themed game, because they own Marvel Enterprises, and Marvel is the huge comic company behind well known superheroes like Spiderman and Iron man. So what’s Disney waiting for? They could make a ton of money if they made a sweet superhero themed game. They could even make it a browser MMO like Pirates of the Caribbean Online.

Another genre that developers need to pay more attention to is the third person MMO shooter genre. As is, aside from Battlefield Heroes, MicroVolts, S4 League and GunZ, there aren’t any other third person MMO shooters – but there are a ton of first person shooters. In fact, there are already a boat load of upcoming MMOFPS games like Karma: Operation Barbarossa and Genesis A.D. But there aren’t any new third person MMO shooters. I’m actually a fan of MMO shooters in general, but it sucks to see such little variety in the genre. Especially since 99% of MMO shooters are counter-strike like tactical MMO shooters where people die in 1 or 2 hits.

Think any other MMO genre deserves some more attention? Leave it in the comments below. I’m curious what you all think!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Nanovor MMO Evolves Thanks to Unity

When Nanovor first launched, it wasn’t a very exciting game. Players had to download the nearly 500 mb client and battle using bug-like creatures in a mostly 2D arena. Worse still, the background was solid black. No color, no flavor, and certainly not much depth. Even at that time I was asking myself, “couldn’t this have been done on a browser?”

Well it looks like the answer was ‘yes!’ Smith and Tinker, the development studio behind Nanovor, has recently launched a brand new version of the game called Nanovor Evolution. The new version has replaced the old one, meaning there’s no going back. This has upset a small pocket of veterans, but it was a logical step in taking the game forward. Nanovor Evolution was designed using Unity, a powerful yet easy to use game development tool. Now, Nanovor only requires a tiny browser plugin rather than a huge client. Better still, the graphics and gameplay have been vastly improved. The character designs, background, and environments are now fully three dimensional. The game can now compete directly with other turn based MMORPGs and pet themed MMORPGs like Bakugan Dimensions.

Nanovor Evolution is only the latest in a series of free to play browser based MMOs and MMORPGs to utilize Unity. Cartoon Network’s FusionFall was perhaps the first major MMORPG to use Unity and it has better visuals and more high quality content than most client based MMORPGs! Games like Nanovor Evolutions have superior graphics than client based MMORPGs like Hero Online from Netgame and Dragon Oath / Zentia from ChangYou. There’s also Tiger Woods Online by Electronic Arts. That’s a major video game publisher throwing its weight behind Unity. The game has beautiful golf courses, and can be played in short bursts thanks to the auto-save feature which remembers player progression through a course. Silverlode Interactive, the studio behind the MMORTS Saga also has a Unity based browser game. It’s called Captains of DarkTide and is set at sea. Players can command a variety of ships, visit distant ports, and fire broadsides against one another.

Unity is not just a browser game tool, it can be used to create large single player games as well. But for a variety of reasons, I believe it will generally be put to use to create browser games that look and play as well as traditional client games. When more and more studios discover the versatility of the tool, they will flock to it. How long till social MMORPGs and facebook games use Unity? The developers of Nanovor Evolution already have several job listing on their site for Unity developers. Expect other companies to follow.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

New MMORPGs with Amazing Graphics

September so far has been a great month for free to play MMORPGs. Why? Because so many awesome free to play MMORPGs with top notch graphics are being released. Unfortunately, there aren't many new 2D MMORPGs, but there are tons of 3D ones. The Vindictus early access open beta begins September 15 and Vindictus is easily one of the best looking free to play MMOs out there. Nexon really out did themselves this time, as the graphics in the game are vastly superior to games like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and Dragon Age: Origins which were both praised for having top notch graphics. When I first saw Vindictus I was surprised to learn that Nexon publishes it, as Nexon is best known for MapleStory, Dungeon Fighter Online, PopTag!, and Mabinogi – four anime MMORPGs which look like they’re designed for kids. Vindictus on the other hand is more like Requiem from Gravity than anything else, as it has blood graphics. The game was built on the Source Engine, which powers many of Valve’s games – including Alien Swarm. I think the only other free to play MMO that uses the source engine is K.O.S. Secret Operations from YNK interactive. But that’s an MMOFPS – while Vindictus is an MMORPG.

Aside from Vindictus the next major MMORPG release comes from Turbine as they released The Lord of the Rings Online as a free to play game on September 10. Prior to September 10, the game has been pay to play. In fact, the game has been running successfully as a pay to play MMORPG since April, 2007. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons Online, which Turbine also launched as a free to play game, The Lord of the Rings didn’t NEED to go free to play. The game was very successful as a pay to play title, and Turbine is taking a big risk by making it free to play. I hope the game is a big success though. I’m downloading it right now to play, but it’s taking forever as the game client is like 8GB in size.

Another cool release this month is MicroVolts from RockHippo productions. The game is an online Toy Shooter that looks and plays a lot like Valve’s Team Fortress 2. It’s an MMO third person shooter that looks and plays like S4 League, except with a more distinct anime look. The game is pretty original as it has a third person view while most MMO shooters including the popular Combat Arms, Soldier Fromt and Operation 7 all use first person views. Plus the game isn’t another “Modern tactical” game, where players look like Swat members. Instead, the game is cartoony and takes place in various areas inside of a house. Players are technically dolls, so they’re really small. This makes the level’s really different, as it’s easy to hide in corners. It’s one of the more interesting MMO shooters. My only complaint with the game is that there’s some serious lag issues for North American users.

Another new release for September is Maestia from Big Point. It’s a 3D fantasy MMORPG that looks really incredible. The visuals are between Karos Online and Aika Online. I was surprised to see BigPoint published Maestia, as BigPoint is better known for browser games such as Dark Orbit, Sea Fight, And Deepolis rather than client based titles. Regardless, Maestia looks awesome and it’s coming out September 15.

Aside from maybe Iris Online and Legend of Edda, that’s it. Those two games are also new, but they aren’t anything too impressive – in terms of graphics that is.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

2D Browser Based MMORPGs

There are a ton of browser games out there from 3D titles like FusionFall and Pirate Galaxy to text based strategy MMOs like Urban Rivals and Astro Empires. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many actual 2D MMORPGs with persistent worlds. I believe zOMG! From the same guys that made Gaia Online is one of the only ones. ZOMG! Is actually a surprisingly good game. This is coming from a guy who doesn’t like social games like IMVU or Gaia Online. So aside from perhaps zOMG! There aren’t that many 2D browser based MMORPGs – ones that have persistent worlds. There’s no shortage of games like Evony, The Seventh Dragon, Caesary of Grepolis though. For some reasons companies keep churning out these garbage strategy games. I say garbage, only because most them are just clones of each other. Seriously. Tribal Wars and Travian were the first two browser based strategy MMORPGs – everything else just copied them. Shamelessly too.

How awesome would it be if say MapleStory were browser based? It’s definitely possible. Heck that game COULD run on Flash, as the graphics aren’t too advanced. I’m sure many client based 2D MMORPGs could run perfectly fine on the web browser, especially since the Unity Web Player is incredibly powerful. Unity Web Player powers great looking browser games like FusionFall and Captains of Darktide. So it could definitely power simpler 2D MMORPGs. That is, if the Unity Web Player even supports 2D development. But if all of these epic looking 3D browser games are launching, we should start seeing some good looking 2D games as well.

Neverland Online from HiThere is one example of a persistent world browser based MMORPG that works well. The game is quite fun and has a strong emphasis on pets. It actually plays a lot like Zodiac Online from EnjoyMMO and Monster Forest from AsiaSoft. Graphically, the game looks just as good as many client based 2D MMORPGs. The problem is there are so few games like Neverland Online (graphically). Most browser based games nowadays are either 3D (through the Unity Web Player) or text based with still images. 3D games aren’t bad either, but I’d definitely like to see more companies embracing 2D graphics, as I find them easier on the eyes.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

MMOs In North America are So far Behind in Content

Why are MMOs in North America so far behind their Asian counter-parts in terms of updates and expansion packs? MapleStory for example in South Korea has way more content than the English version of the game. Heck even less known MMOs are MUCH further developed in Korea. FreeStyle Street Basketball (A basketball themed MMO) for example is published by GameKiss in the U.S. And is SO far behind the South Korean version of the game. Heck, FreeStyle has been in the U.S. For over 3 years now and still lacks full court gameplay – which is something the Korean version of the game has enjoyed for 4 years! It doesn’t make sense. Why can’t the developer release this game mode and other content updates in North America sooner? I can understand that major expansion packs need to be localized before release, but for a sports MMO like FreeStyle, adding this feature should be easy.

Even MMOFPS games like Combat Arms and Sudden Attack are way ahead in updates in South Korea than in the U.S. Nexon publishes Combat Arms in America and GameHi publishes Sudden Attack here. In fact, Nexon recently bought GameHi, but that’s a discussion for another day. Since both games already have English versions, how hard could it keep the game up-to-date with the Korean version? Seriously. The Korean Version has SO many more weapons, maps and game modes. It’s not like this stuff has to be re-programmed or re-developed. The code is already there, it just needs to be implemented. The fact that all of these games are SO Far behind their Korean counter-parts is absurd. Game developers are only hurting themselves by doing this, as the more “fun” a game is, the more players it will attract.

Things are getting better though. Nexon released Vindictus in the U.S. Only 6 months after it was available in South Korea. So the gap between major game releases and updates is shortening. Plus, game developers are starting to self publish their games world-wide. ChangYou for example, a Chinese MMORPG developer, launched Zentia, Dragon Oath and Blade Wars in North America and Europe recently. Since they also developed the game in China, they’re doing a good job keeping it up to date. Another thing I noticed is that the ijji version of Soul of the Ultimate Nation (S.U.N.) is behind the Webzen version of the same game. The ijji version is designed for North America while the Webzen version is WORLD-WIde. So North American users are starting to flock to the Webzen version of the game, as it has MORE content and updates. It’s silly that the game is competing with itself, but this shows that MMORPG players WANT to play more up-to-date versions of their favorite MMOs.

Like I said though, things are getting better, so I’m not too worried. I just find it weird that North American games are so far behind their Korean counter-parts.