2D MMORPGs

Best MMOs of 2010

2010-12-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

The year 2010 is almost over. It has been a pretty good year for free to play MMORPG and MMO players. We got a lot of great new games, and even a few previously pay to play games were converted to free to play. Let’s take a look back at the year and highlight some of the best games.

Something I find very exciting is the growth of genres other than RPGs in the f2p MMO sector. Racing games, Shooting games, Sports games, Strategy games, we saw great new free to play games that fall into all these genres. Let’s start with racing. Need for Speed is perhaps one of the most popular video game franchises of all time. Many gamers will find it surprising that a free to play version of Need for Speed is now available online, for free. That game is called Need for Speed World and can be downloaded on EA’s new f2p portal – play4free.com Amazing right? Need for Speed World has great graphics, realistic cars, and even a persistent world city to explore. There’s a night/day system, and plenty of customization options. Most free to play games are still coming out of Asia so lets take a look at some Asian racers. FreeJack is a parkour themed MMO racing. That means players have to race across urban settings filled with streets, traffic, tunnels, railing, and so forth. Its based on a real sport, but has stylized anime graphics. Its a very appealing game, and the mechanics require some practice to master.

Moving right along, 2010 has been a good year for MMO shooters. MMOFPS games like Combat Arms, Operation 7, or Cross Fire are pretty common and we saw a bunch of new ones come out in 2010. Some of these include Mission Against Terror, K.O.S. Secret Operations, and my personal favorite of the year — Genesis A.D by ijji. Unlike most shooters, Genesis AD has a sci-fi theme, but is more realistic than S4 League. The graphics are top notch since the game uses the latest Unreal Engine. It has some cool mechanics like wall jumps, jet packs, and futuristic weapons. The interface is very similar to that of Alliance of Valiant Arms (AVA), also published by NHN on their ijji portal.

One of my favorite genres, especially as a PC gamer, has always been RTS. Its rare to find a free to play RTS games, but we’ve gotten two great ones in the past two year. Last year we had EA’s BattleForge and this year we’ve got Company of Heroes Online by THQ. Its a world war 2 themed game with fast paced gameplay, and less emphasis placed on resource management and building construction. It comes with a single player campaign so beginners can learn the basics before subjecting themselves to humiliation against other players.

Read the best MMORPGs of 2010 list on MMOHut too! It’s a nice list. There were many other MMOs in 2010, so be sure to check out all of them!

Conquer Online is Really Popular

2010-12-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

Apparently the 2D MMORPG Conquer Online from TQ Digital is incredibly popular. I’ve heard of the game before and have played several other TQ Digital games including Eudemons Online and Zero Online, but never Conquer Online. Just yesterday I decided to give the game a try, as I’ve seen ads for it on a few sites and wanted to see what the big deal was. To no surprise, the game’s visuals were very much similar to both Eudemons and Zero Online. It seems like all the games from TQ Digital run off of the same exact engine game engine. The Way of the Five, The Warlords, Crazy Tao and the other MMORPGs published by TQ Digital are the exact same way. I don’t mean to say this in a bad way, as the visuals in Conquer Online aren’t bad. I say not bad, because even though the graphics aren’t Karos Online or The Pirates of the Burning Sea style “shiny”, the visuals are good enough to get the job done. To be honest, I don’t like it when games dedicate all their resources to trying have the newest and best possible graphics out there. I mean just look at games like Archlord from Webzen and RF Online. Both games launched as great looking MMORPGs, but over time their graphics lost their flare. Both games are considered fairly “ugly” by today’s standards, especially with games like Vindictus and to a lesser degree Dynasty Warriors Online pushing the boundaries of graphics.

The way I look at it – if a game is 2D, the graphics won’t really age that much over time. 2D games most certainly age better than 3D ones. I mean just look at Istaria and Planetside – both games launched as games with ground-breaking graphics, but today they’re nothing special. Personally, I think the visuals in some 2D MMORPGs like WonderKing, MapleStory and Fists of Fu to be great. New MMORPGs with 2D graphics like Angels Online from IGG and Myth Angels Online from UserJoy pull off solid 2D visuals. One huge, huge, advantage (notice how I said huge twice to emphasize the importance?) of 2D games over 3D ones is that they’re more compatible with older PCs. Not every PC in the world can play Alliance of Valiant Arms, but MOST PCs can handle Dragon Raja or Destiny Online from EnjoyMMO. A lot of my friends actually can’t play Runes of Magic, even though they want to. This makes me question whether it was a good idea for the game’s devs to make the game so good looking. This might sound a bit ridiculous, but it makes sense. Games like Final Fantasy 14 which demand absurdly powerful PCs are sort of screwing themselves over. People who want to play these game’s cant, because they don’t have amazing graphics cards – so what do these people do instead? They download and play games that their computers can handle. Games like Mission Against Terror and War of Angels which don’t demand $2,000 PCs to play. Because MOST gamers can’t always keep up with the latest technologies.

Anyway, I ranted for quite a while. What I really wanted to say is that Conquer Online isn’t a bad game. It’s not exactly my cup of tea, as the experience rate is way too fast. It’s almost Jade Dynasty or Magic World Online style throwaway because you can pretty much kill everything on the screen with your most basic attacks. I Think game developers need a better way to eliminate grind from MMORPGs without doing it with a built in bot.

New Wave of Browser MMORPGs

2010-11-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

I’ve talked about browser MMORPGs and MMOs in the past, but it’s outright remarkable how many new browser games are launching each and every week. Even though these numbers are impressive, it’s a bit sad that every single new game launching is pretty much the same old thing we’ve seen before. DDTank – one of the newer browsed based games that launched on Aeria Games and numerous other portals, is a shameless Gunbound clone that makes no attempt to hide that fact. If you’ve ever played Gunbound, it’s downright funny how similar DDTank is to Gunbound. I guess it’s better than seeing yet another WoW Clone – as there are countless WoW clones already. I think 4Story, Runes of Magic and Allods Online are all pretty shameless, but at least these games are genuinely fun to play. DDTank isn’t bad, but Gunbound is much better imho.

Gamigo released the browser based strategy MMO Cultures Online last month, and even though it does make an effort to differentiate itself, the game still looks and feels like every other strategy game. To be fair, it’s a tad bit original as it does mix Shakes and Fidget style slow paced RPG gameplay with Ministry of War style strategy elements. Might and Magic Heroes Kingdoms launched 2 months ago, and the game seemed promising. Too bad after playing it for a few weeks, the game really didn’t offer anything original. For a game built on such an epic franchise, I expected a lot more out of it. I mean aside from a handful of unique browser based MMOs like Urban Rivals, Adventure Quest Worlds and Roblox, it’s fair to say that the genre has a definite lack of originality. I can’t be the only one this burnt out of strategy games…

I think the problem is that every game company is trying to make a quick buck – so instead of investing a lot of time and money into making a new product, they figure that making a cookie cutter strategy game like Grepolis or Travian is the way to go. In their defense, developing a totally original game like Pirate Galaxy or Nadirim could be very expensive. Just look at BigPoint – they spent over $5 million developing PoisonVille and the game has been an utter failure so far. BigPoint is making a ton of money off of Deepolis and Dark Orbit, which were both much cheaper to develop! Making a cheesy strategy game is the easy way out for most developers. Too bad most of these strategy games are failures – as games like King and Conqueror and World of LordCraft simply cannot compete with the more established games.

So hopefully the next few months will bring some much needed innovation to the browser game platform, because as is, I’m really disappointed. I think the only really impressive game that launched on the browser recently is Sacred Seasons 2, but it’s not entirely original either. It plays a lot like an regular MMORPG.

Dancing MMOs.... EVERYWHERE

2010-11-23T11:11:00.001-08:00

Why are there so many free to play dancing MMOs? I honestly have no idea. I think the first dancing game (not MMO, just game) was Dance Dance Revolution. The first dancing MMO I played was Dance Online back when Acclaim Games published it. Ever since they went bankrupt, the game did eventually relaunch as Super Dance Online through Cubizone – a Malaysian MMO publisher. Luckily, the game itself didn’t change much. In fact, the Malaysian version was much more popular than the U.S. Version Acclaim had. For some reason, every MMO publisher decided that they needed a dancing game. Snail Games launched ShowUp (which actually launched as 5Street. It changed its name to Showup much later). Even the Korean MMO juggernaut Nexon jumped onto the bandwagon when they launched Audition Online. Now I played audition Online for a while, and I do have to admit the gameplay and visuals were faily polished. After all, Nexon has always been known for publishing some of the highest quality free to play titles out there. Their current portfolio of titles by itself is very impressive actually. They have Vindictus, MapleStory, Combat Arms, Mabinogi and Dungeon Fighter Online. Notice I left out Audition Online from that list? That’s because Nexon eventually shut audition Online down, but luckily the game didn’t shut down for good. Just as Acclaim Games closed Dance Online and it relaunched sometime later, Audition Online relaunched through RedBana – which is actually owned by T3Fun which publishes CardMon Hero and Aika Global.

Anyway, the purpose of this entry is to talk about how all of these dancing MMOs are all the same. Obviously they’re not all identical, but they’re just as similar as Combat Arms from Nexon and Sudden Attack from GameHi are similar. They’re basically the same games, except with slightly different visuals. Even Perfect World jumped on the whole dancing game bandwagon when they launched Hot Dance Party (Steps). Unfortunately, this one isn’t available in North America. It’s published through Cubizoe in Malaysia, but those in North America can still access it, as it has no IP blocks. I actually played every single one of these games, as I generally enjoy these rhythm based titles, as I think they require a lot of skill. They’re also very much competitive. In fact, you could argue that they’re just as competitive as any FPS or League of Legends style Aeon of Strife game. Unlike FPS games though, these dancing MMOs don’t differentiate themselves in gameplay. They all share the same button pushing DDR style gameplay mechanics. The only thing that really separates Super Dance Online from Hot Dance Party is its visuals. MMO Shooters like Alliance of Valiant Arms and Genesis A.D. Although similar, so have some different gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately these dancing games don’t.

The thing about dancing MMOs is that not a single one is particularly successful in North America. So I’m not sure why there are so many of them. I think Osu! Is the most popular rhythm based multiplayer game, but it’s not even a traditional dancing game. I think it’s popular because it’s actually does something different while everyone else is off copying each other.

Garena Getting into the F2P MMO Business?

2010-11-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

It seems like Garena, the app best known for allowing gamers to compete against each other via a hamachii sort of Lan, is getting into the free to play MMO business. I remember using Garena to play Defense of the Ancients (DotA) with my friends and others back when my buddies didn’t all have CD keys to play on battle.net. Nowadays we can play free to play aion of strife games like League of Legends from Riot Games and Land of Chaos Online from Alaplaya, so we don’t exactly need to use Garena anymore. But thousands of people, mostly outside of the U.S, still use it to play various games with each other. I think most people use it when they pirate games and don’t have CD Keys – playing through Garena allows them to play multiplayer without a cd key or a valid account. Garena is quite big today but it’s slowly transforming itself into an MMO publisher. The company already publishes the MMOFPS Blackshot in both Europe and Asia (No U.S. Version of the game exists. Outspark, best known for Fiesta Online and Fists of Fu was supposed to publish it, but they never did.).

Aside from Blackshot, Garena also has Go Kart, which is the same exact game as GoGo Racer, which GamersFirst published for a short while. The game never launched in North America, as GamersFirst postponed it, along with Parabellum, delayed Go Kart indefinitely. It’s too bad actually, as the game itself wasn’t that bad. I mean aside from Racing Star: Come on Baby, it was the only silly Kart Racing MMO out there. Nexon used to have Kart Rider, but they shut that down years ago (In North America. It remains popular in South Korea). Unfortunately, like Blackshot – Go Kart isn’t available world-wide. Instead, the game is restricted to only a handful of regions. Another neat thing about Garena is that they inked a deal with S2 Games to publish Heroes of Newerth in certain regions as a Avalon Heroes / League of Legends style free to play game. In Europe and North America, the game remains buy to play – just like Guild Wars.

I think the biggest problem Garena has having is the lack of global licenses. If Garena published say Priston Tale 2 world-wide, I think the game would be quite successful. Currently the game is ONLY available in EU and South East Asia. No one in North America can play it. The cool thing about Netmarble and Aeria Games is that they have a lot of games available on the international level. Netmarble for example publishes Uncharted Waters Online, a Voyage Century / Pirates of the burning Sea style game world-wide with no IP restrictions (Except Japan / Korea). Aeria Games has several IP restriction free games too including the new Legendary Champions and Dynasty Warriors Online. Having games without IP restrictions is a big deal, as everyone can play on the same service. Having the game’s audience fragmented only makes the game feel more empty. At least that’s how I feel on the whole MMO IP ban thing. I sort of hope someone offers Argo Online or Luvinia Online world-wide as I don’t want that game to have IP restrictions. Garena offered their VPN / LAN services world-wide, so seeing them publish games is cool, but it sucks that all of their games have so many IP restrictions. I don’t think they have any game published in North America.

Camon Hero Revived as CardMon Hero

2010-11-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

Remember Camon Hero from Uforia? It’s a card based fantasy MMORPG that was supposed to begin open beta testing in early June 2010, but never did. Months went by with no word about when the game is actually going to launch or if it will ever launch. Then – out of the blue T3Fun announced that they would be launching Camon Hero World-wide as “Cardmon Hero”. Uforia left a lot of gamers upset when they completely abandoned Camon Hero back in June 2010. I’m actually not too surprised they pulled a stunt like this, as they’re not exactly well known for their class. Their Game Masters in Mercenary Wars and Red War (two games published by Uforia) are extremely unprofessional. I think the only playable MMORPG they have on their website is NosTale. Everything else they publish is trash. I think Mercenary Wars is actually the worst MMOFPS out there – much worse than Mission Against Terror from Suba Games. Anyway, I’m getting distracted (again). I’m just glad that Camon Hero isn’t dead and it’s actually going to release. The game’s closed beta began on November 9 or so, but there’s no word on when the open beta will begin yet.

CardMon Hero is one of the few card based MMORPGs out there. I think aside from CardMon Hero – the only other client based card game is Wizard101 – but that’s more of a kids MMORPG than CardMon. Plus it’s a turn based MMORPG, Cardmon is a bit more actiony. There are a few browser based MMOs with card mechanics – such as Urban Rivals, but those are completely different than Cardmon Hero. Cardmon Hero is a game that I think will appeal to a lot of people. It has low system requirements, fairly crisp anime inspired graphics, and a ton of unique skills. What I personally really like about EverQuest 2 from Sony Online Entertainment and The Lord of the Rings Online from Turbine is their unique skill systems. Cardmon Hero has a classless system where players have access to EVERY skill in the game. However, players can only equip skills if they’re using the appropriate weapon. Certain skills can only be equipped if you’re using a 2H sword, 1H sword, Staff, Etc. Skills in CardMon hero are in the form of cards. You don’t start with very many cards, so while you’re grinding and exploring, you’re also finding new cards, which are basically new skills. I think the only other MMORPGs without set classes are Uncharted Waters Online from Netmarble and Ultima Online from Electronic Arts.

I had a chance to play Cardmon Hero in its closed beta phase and I was quite impressed. The game has some 100+ skill cards and an equal amount of summon cards for a total of 200+ skills. The thing that makes the game really interesting is that each character has access to hundreds of skills. If you want to use some ranged attacks – simply equip a staff. If you want to use some melee AOE attacks simply equip a 2H sword. Your weapon type determines which skills you have access too, which is an incredible dynamic. Even though the game’s graphics aren’t nearly as pretty as Heroes of Three Kingdoms or Jade Dynasty, the game still offers a lot to do. It’s a game I’ll make sure to play in open beta.

Soul Master Dead. But It's Relaunching

2010-11-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

GamesCampus recently announced that their new side scrolling MMORPG Soul Master would be shutting down and entering the MMO Graveyard. Even though Soul Master is a 3D side scrolling game, much like Dragon Saga, it’s still a game that has appealed to the 2D MMORPG crowd quite a bit, mostly because of its graphics and flat plane style. So even though it’s technically 3D, it plays like a 2D game. The reason GamesCampus gave for shutting the game down was because the game didn’t meet their quality standards. They said that the game will relaunch 6-8 months down the road with new graphics, more content and a better interface. Basically it’ll be completely redeveloped and then relaunched. I guess now that they’re closing the game down, they’ll be able to divert their attention to their other games including Legend of Edda, Shot Online, Drift City, Asda Story. They also publish the World War 2 MMO Heroes in the Sky.

Since Soul Master will be shutting down on the GamesCampus service, but I wonder what’s going to happen to the Gamigo version of the game, for the European market. Gamigo largely publishes European MMORPGs, but they have several games available in North America, such as King of Kings 3 and the browser MMO Cultures Online. Soul Master on Gamigo never launched into release the same way the GamesCampus version did, so whether Gamigo will hold off on releasing the game remains to be seen. It’s always upsetting to see an MMORPG game shut down, whether it’s permanent or just temporarily. Luckily for Soul Master it should be temporary. I played Soul Master for a while and really liked its unique blend of Battleforge style RTS and Dungeon Fighter Online style action oriented gameplay. What really sucks about Soul Master shutting down is that it was a really unique MMORPG. Seeing unique games shut down is terrible, especially when very generic 3D fantasy games like Hero Online from Netgame and Conquer Online from TQ Digital thrive. Though not every generic fantasy MMORPG is thriving – just look at Craft of Gods from Kalicantus and Archlord from Webzen. These once pay to play MMORPGs haven’t exactly been thriving as free to play games, the same way The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online have prospered.

I’m getting a bit side tracked though. I think anyone who bought premium currency through the Soul Master MMO cash shop should be upset. Heck, anyone that even PLAYED Soul Master has the right to be upset. Odds are when the game is relaunched, if its relaunched, player characters will be wiped. So not only did people lose their money in the game’s cash shop, they lost their characters, which I’m sure some people have invested hundreds of hours into. If my MapleStory or Wonderking Online character was wiped, odds are I’d never play those games again. I think everyone who got “screwed” by GamesCampus is not going to play the new Soul Master game again, regardless of how good it is, as getting their characters wiped left players with a bad taste in their mouth. I sort liked the anime MMORPG graphics in Soul Master too. I’m just happy I didn’t commit to my character on there. I’ve actually been playing some Fists of Fu lately from Outspark, and I’d be furious if my character on there got deleted.

When is Altis Gates going to Release?

2010-11-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

When is Altis Gates going to come out? IGG originally promised the game’s release nearly a year ago now. The game was supposed to be a 2D turn based MMORPG which was supposed to play a lot like Myth War 2 Online and Wonderland Online. Too bad the game never made it to release. I’m not ready to completely write the game off yet, as IGG never officially announced that the game would shut down and join the MMO Graveyard. They did announce the game would be delayed indefinitely though, so we could see Altis Gates join the huge list of delayed MMORPGs which may never get released. Come to think of it, IGG has been dropping the ball lately, as they haven’t released any unique MMORPGs or in fact any new games recently.

The only new game IGG launched lately has been Tales of Fantasy, which is a pretty bleh 3D MMORPG and Tales of Pirates 2, which is basically the same exact game as Tales of Pirates, with minor graphical tweaks. I didn’t really like Tales of Fantasy, because even though it has good graphics, the gameplay just looks and feels bland. It’s a fairly generic Chinese developed MMORPG, which brings nothing new to the table. While IGG has been releasing these substandard games, Perfect World Entertainment has been growing like crazy. They launched the mega successful Battle of the Immortals, a killer fun Diablo 2-esque action MMORPG, and Forsaken World. They also launched a major content update to their enormously popular Jade Dynasty game while announcing the “Genesis” update for Perfect World. They also announced a brand new game – Legend of Martial Arts, which will be entering closed beta testing in late November. So why is IGG dropping the ball so much lately? How come they didn’t have any major new game releases?

Well, I really don’t know. I do think IGG has several really well known and popular MMORPGs though. Games like Godswar Online, Angels Online and Voyage Century for example, are all quite popular. How long Voyage Century will remain popular though is something I can’t quite answer – as Uncharted Waters Online – the new ship based MMORPG from Netmarble is now competing with Voyage Century. Uncharted Waters Online is an incredibly popular Japanese MMORPG. And we all know how crazy some Westerners are for all things Japan. Dynasty Warriors Online from Koei has been midly successful in the West already. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Uncharted Waters Online took away some players from Voyage Century. Many of IGGs games have remained pretty stagnant too. Games like Zu Online and Aurora Blade haven’t really received any major updates in quite some time. Even their browser MMO Lords Online hasn’t gone anyway in some time. While on the topic of IGG dropping the ball, they also never released Dreamland Online, which is another game that seems to be indefinitely delayed.

Ever since I played Atlantica Online from Ndoors and Pet Forest from PlayOMG, I’ve been pretty fascinated with turn based MMORPGs. I’m looking forward to trying Altis Gates if it ever does come out.

When is Altis Gates going to Release?

2010-10-30T05:21:00.001-07:00

Well, I really don’t know. I do think IGG has several really well known and popular MMORPGs though. Games like Godswar Online, Angels Online and Voyage Century for example, are all quite popular. How long Voyage Century will remain popular though is something I can’t quite answer – as Uncharted Waters Online – the new ship based MMORPG from Netmarble is now competing with Voyage Century. Uncharted Waters Online is an incredibly popular Japanese MMORPG. And we all know how crazy some Westeners are for all things Japan. Dynasty Warriors Online from Koei has been midly successful in the West already. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Uncharted Waters Online took away some players from Voyage Century. Many of IGGs games have remained pretty stagnant too. Games like Zu Online and Aurora Blade haven’t really received any major updates in quite some time. Even their browser MMO Lords Online hasn’t gone anyway in some time. While on the topic of IGG dropping the ball, they also never released Dreamland Online, which is another game that seems to be indefinitely delayed.

MMORPGs and Graphics

2010-10-25T02:54:00.000-07:00

New MMORPGs like Vindictus, King of Kings 3 and Forsaken World bring a lot to the table – most notably better visuals. It shouldn’t be any surprise that graphics amongst free to play MMORPGs are improving, as technology keeps getting better. In fact, even older games such as Mabinogi and RuneScape have undergone major graphical overhauls since their original release dates. The thing is though – even though graphics keep getting better, some people are being left behind. A lot of gamers out there don’t have powerful enough PCs to handle the more visually intense games. I guess the reason why older MMORPGs like Fly For Fun, MapleStory and Rappelz are still popular is because more people can actually play them.

Don’t get me wrong – MMORPGs like Vindictus that have top notch graphics are great. Heck, I was just playing Savage 2 the other day and I love the game’s graphics. Graphics most certainly do matter in games, it’s just that games that shoot for ridiculously high quality graphics are sort of screwing themselves over. The most popular MMORPGs today aren’t the best looking. Just look at The Legend of Mir 2, Fists of Fu and Fiesta Online. These games are relatively successful, but the graphics in them are nothing to write home about.

I think the company that found the perfect balance between graphics and gameplay is Perfect World Entertainment. They publish Perfect World, Jade Dynasty, Forsaken World, Heroes of Three Kingdoms and Ether Saga Online. All of their games look great and feel great, but don’t require high end PCs. If you do have a high end PC, you can play these games on 1920×1080 resolution with anti-aliasing, shadows and all that jazz, but if you’re on a lower end PC, you can still play these games, just on a lower setting. Perfect World Entertainment is good at optimizing their games to run well on older machines.

I think ChangYou has the right idea between graphics and gameplay too. Their newest game Zentia looks fine on new PCs, but it’s also designed to run smoothly on much older, weaker computers. The same applies for their two other games – Dragon Oath and Blade Wars. Netmarble made sure their Uncharted Waters Online game runs well on older PCs too, which is good. Runes of Magic on the other hand runes decently on older computers, but the problem with it is the download is way too big. No one wants to sit and wait for a 6+ GB game to download and install. I think that’s the game’s biggest drawback. 4Story and Gates of Andaron on the other hand, aren’t nearly as big, which is why they’re able to grab players from Runes of Magic. RoM is a much better game, but the download just takes too long.

So what game do you really like that strikes a good balance between visuals and gameplay?

MMOs That are Aging Well

2010-10-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

As new free to play MMORPGs like Vindictus, Kitsu Saga and Iris Online launch, older games like Shaiya, Last Chaos and MapleStory are starting to show their age. If you compare Shaiya or Last Chaos from Aeria Games to any of the newer titles out – you’ll quickly realize that Shaiya and Last Chaos aren’t aging too well – in terms of graphics that is. The fascinating thing however is that both Shaiya and Last Chaos are still around and being updated. The same goes for MapleStory. In fact, MapleStory is over 5 years old, yet it’s still growing incredibly fast. It’s still one of the most popular free MMORPGs ever – with over 100 million accounts world-wide. Even Rappelz and Fly For Fun from gPotato are still around and growing. It may sound surprising, but Fly For Fun is actually more popular than both Allods Online and Aika at the moment, and it’s over 5 years old. How can a 5+ year old game with lousy graphics be more popular than a game like Allods which cost over $10 million to develop is fascinating. It shows that older MMOs can age well. Another example of an older MMORPG that has aged well is RuneScape from Jagex and Tribal Wars from InnoGames. Browser games tend to age really well, mostly because visuals on browser games haven’t improved too drastically over the years – though Unity wants to change all of that now.

I think the reason some older MMORPGs are still a big success is that graphics aren’t the most important thing in the world. Users are clearly looking at things like gameplay and content when deciding which game to play, and older MMORPGs like Hero Online, Silkroad online and Grand Chase have more content than newer games, as they’ve been around for a longer time – meaning, they had more time to add content, instances and characters to their games. Obviously newer MMORPGs like Fists of Fu, Uncharted Waters Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online have numerous advantages too, but people are clearly more interested in gameplay and content than visuals. Having good visuals certainly helps, as I think so many people became fascinated with Vindictus because of its graphics. The game has solid gameplay mechanics too, but its beautiful graphics are what pulled in users while the gameplay kept them hooked. This theory applies to FPS games too. Just look at Cross Fire from Z8Games – it’s HUGELY popular, even though Cross Fire isn’t exactly a new game. In fact, Alliance of Valiant Arms has 10x better graphics, but it has a smaller playerbase.

Are there any older MMOs you still play? I personally still MapleStory and GunZ, even though they’re both old games with less than stellar graphics. I’m also more interested in gameplay elements than visuals. Because if I wanted “good graphics” I’d watch a movie. When I’m playing an MMO or an MMORPG, I want fun gameplay. Visuals help, but in the end gameplay is what matters.

9Dragons Relaunches on GamersFirst – Woot!

2010-10-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

GamersFirst, the free to play MMO publisher best known for War Rock, Knight Online and Sword 2 recently relaunched 9Dragons. 9Dragons is a 3D martial arts themed MMORPG that the now defunct Acclaim Games used to publish. Playdom – the social games company behind Market Street, Kogaumu, and a handful of other facebook games actually bought playdom in early 2010. The purchase was clearly a mistake, as Playdom shut down the Acclaim website along with ALL of the games Acclaim used to publish (Including 9Dragons). Luckily, GamersFirst saw this as an oppurtunity to expand and bought the North American license to run 9Dragons from Indy21 (The independent Korean game developer who made 9Dragons). I’m actually not too surprised that 9Dragons was brought back to life as it was easily the most popular MMORPG that Acclaim had. I personally wasn’t a big fan of the game, as the graphics were a bit lacking and the interface felt a bit clumsy. For martial arts themed games I’d much rather play Twelve Sky 2 or even World of Kung Fu than 9Dragons. I’m not saying 9Dragons is bad, because it isn’t. The game has a fairly sizable playerbase, so there’s clearly something to the game.

I think 9Dragons is successful because it’s one of the most PvP heavy martial arts MMORPGs out. The game has 9 “clans” and two factions. The factions are at war with each other and the game also features open ended PvP where players can pretty much PK each other anywhere in the game world. Dragon Raja, Conquer Online and Legend of Edda are some of the only other MMORPGs with open world PvP. Plus, the faction battles in 9Dragons should keep things interesting. They aren’t as ridiculous as the 1000 vs 1000 faction battles of Aika Online, but the PvP in 9Dragons beats the PvP in more modern games like Runes of Magic and Heroes of Three Kingdoms. I do suspect that some of the newer PvP MMORPGs like King of Kings 3 may be superior, but only time will tell whether those games will be successful or not. 9Dragons has already proven itself to be a sustainable game over the last 3+ years. The game launched in North America and Europe back in early 2007 in case you guys didn’t know.

My only concern about 9Dragons is that it might not be able to “keep up” with new MMORPGs like The Lord of the Rings Online and EverQuest 2 which both recently became free to play games. Sony Online Entertainment also announced that they will be making Pirates of the Burning Sea free to play too. These are just the pay to play MMORPGs going free to play. There are a ton of triple-a free to play MMORPGs which launched this year including Vindictus from Nexon, Uncharted Waters Online from Netmarble and Forsaken World from Perfect World Entertainment may eventually put 9Dragons out of business. It’s difficult for older games to compete with newer ones with vastly superior graphics. Some people pretend that graphics aren’t important, but the fact is graphics do matter. People tend to like games with better graphics. It’s just the way it is.

So will 9Dragons be a success on GamersFirst or no? Will it be able to compete against newer MMORPGs? I personally think it can’t, but only time will tell.

Great MMORPGs with low end System Requirements

2010-10-03T02:48:00.000-07:00

Have an old low-spec computer but still want to play some free MMORPGs? Well, you can. There are actually a lot of really popular MMORPGs out there that run smoothly on older computers. The graphics for these games aren’t super high end, but they’re still really fun MMORPGs that you can play on an older PC. Anyway, the list below has the top 5 best MMORPGs for low spec computers:

#5 – Grand Chase

Grand Chase is a somewhat old MMORPG from Ntreev – the same MMORPG company behind Trickster Online and Pangya. The game has 3D character models but the game is largely 2D and flat as it’s a side-scrolling MMORPG. It’s one of the highest rated free to play MMORPGs and it runs perfectly fine on most older computers

#4 – Conquer Online

Conquer Online isn’t an old game, but it does have low end 2D graphics. The game is brought to you by TQ Digital and is well worth playing because it has an enormous playerbase, intense PvP and plenty to do. It’s a game most people would look at (screenshots) and pass on because of the graphics, but don’t let the visuals fool you. Even though the graphics aren’t the best the gameplay itself is fun. The game is a bit similar to EuDemons Online, The Warlords and Zero Online – three other games from the same company

#3 – Rumble Fighter

Rumble Fighter is the original fighting MMO. It’s currently being published by OGPlanet and is definitely a fun game to try if you’re looking for a fighting game to play. Come to think of it there aren’t very many fighting games, but Rumble Fighter is definitely an interesting game. It takes quite a bit of skill to master, so don’t give up!

#2 – Lost Saga

Lost Saga is another fighting MMO from OGPlanet, but Unlike Rumble Fighter, it has crisper anime inspired graphics. The game will run on most older PCs, but don’t except to be able to run the game on anything too ancient. Pretty much any Pentium 4 or high end Pentium 3 should be able to run the game. It’s one of the better brawler MMOs. I like it more than Rumble Fighter because it has more characters.

#1- 4Story

4Story is sort of like Runes of Magic and Allods Online, except with worse graphics. In this case worse graphics is a good thing, as it means the game will run better on an older computer. Even though the visuals are worse than Runes of Magic and Allods, they aren’t that bad. In fact, it’s safe to say that 4Story has the best graphics out of all the games on this list! Definitely try 4Story!

Favorite MMORPGs

2010-09-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

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?

Pirates of the Burning Sea is now Free to Play

2010-09-23T23:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Unique Ideas for MMORPGs

2010-09-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

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!

Nanovor MMO Evolves Thanks to Unity

2010-09-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

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.

New MMORPGs with Amazing Graphics

2010-09-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

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.

2D Browser Based MMORPGs

2010-09-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

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.

MMOs In North America are So far Behind in Content

2010-09-04T23:42:00.001-07:00

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.

The Most Popular Free to Play MMORPG

2010-08-29T18:55:00.001-07:00

We all know World of Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment is the most successful pay to play MMORPG. So What’s the most popular and successful free to play MMORPG? You might be thinking it’s something 3D and popular like Runes of Magic…. Dungeons and Dragons Online or Even Atlantica Online, but you’re wrong. The title of the most popular free to play MMORPG belongs to MapleStory – a 2D fantasy MMORPG which I’m sure most of you have already heard of. Since Nexon released MapleStory in the U.S. Nexon has been making a killing from the game. Aside from perhaps Kart Rider in South Korea, MapleStory is the most popular free MMORPG Nexon offers. If you look at Nexon’s 2009 revenues, it’s something huge like $500 million. If you look at World of Warcraft’s revenues, it’s something like $600 million.

This isn’t exactly a fair comparison as Nexon publishers numerous other games besides MapleStory – Dungeon Fighter Online, Combat Arms, Atlantica Online (through nDoors), Sudden Attack (Through GameHi) and Vindictus, but these games aren’t nearly as popular as Nexon’s MapleStory. Still though, I think it’s crazy that Nexon is almost making as much money as World of Warcraft. I suspect that in 2010 Nexon will have more revenues than World of Warcraft’s revenues. Again, I understand it’s not a fair comparison, as I’m coming some 15+ games to one game.

What’s the second most popular free to play MMORPG? Probably RuneScape from Jagex. I know a lot of people hate RuneScape, but the game is absurdly popular. Just look how many servers the game has! Jagex recently launched War of Legends, which aims to compete with Caesary from LeKool and Grepolis from InnoGames. These browser based strategy MMOs are actually really popular too. Nowhere near as popular as either MapleStory or RuneScape though.

So there you have it. The two most popular free to play MMORPGs are MapleStory and RuneScape. I still play MapleStory regularly. I tried WonderKing Online, but it didn’t offer the same amount of variety that MapleStory had (Classes, dungeons, skills, areas, etc). I never really liked RuneScape though.

Pay to Play Games that Need to be Free to Play

2010-08-23T23:42:00.001-07:00

There are a bunch of pay to play games that should no longer be pay to play. Older MMORPGs like Dark Ages and Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds come to mind. Both of these MMORPGs are incredibly old (7+ years old) and are 2D games. With games like Dungeons and Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online going free to play, there’s no reason for these games not to follow suit. Even EverQuest II From Sony Online Entertainment re-launched as a free to play game! So with these awesome 3D MMORPGs becoming free to play, what the heck are incredibly old games like Nexus and Dark Ages doing? Heck Shattered Galaxy and Poxnora should be free to play to. Neither of these games are exactly thriving. The playerbase for these games are all in steady-decline.

If Dark Age of Camelot, Dofus or Warhammer Online went free to play – I’d be playing them right now. They’re all incredible games, just not worth the subscription fee. I mean, why Pay for these three mediocre pay to play games when I could be playing WoW or a triple-a free to play MMORPG like Runes of Magic, Fiesta Online or Vindictus. There are a ton of free to play alternatives for pay to play games, so it’s very difficult for pay to play games that aren’t WoW to compete. I remember logging into the MMO free trial for Pirates of the Burning Sea and I was shocked to see the game completely empty. I know the title launched with a bang, but the playerbase has declined significantly since the game launched.

So why should these older MMORPGs go free to play? Simple. It could revive them. Dungeons and Dragons was ready to shut down as a pay to play game, but as soon as it became free to play, the game became a HUGE success. I mean, HUGE. It’s definitely one of the more successful free to play game soul. Other pay to play MMORPGs like Archlord and RF Online from Webzen did not have the same success. I think that’s because they weren’t as “high quality” as Dungeons and Dragons Online. I’d love to see Warhammer Online or Age of Conan go free to play as these games are really high quality and could be very successful. I actually really want to play Nexus: The Kingdom of the winds again, but I don’t want to pay for it. It’s one of the first 2D MMORPGs I’ve ever played and I really liked it for some odd reason.

Any pay to play MMORPGs you would play if it were free to play?

Great 2D MMORPGs

2010-08-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

What do you think the best 2D MMORPG is? I think it should be clear by now, based on all my other posts, that the best 2D free to play MMORPG is MapleStory from Nexon. Yeah, I’ve praised this game quite a bit, so I’m not going to praise it or WonderKing Online any more, as i’ve done enough of that in the past.. I’ll start talking about some other great 2D MMORPGs.

One of the most awesome 2D MMROPGs out there, that I haven’t really talked too much about in the past, is Trickster Online from Ntreev. I remember I used to play this game all the time back in the day, but ever since I upgraded my PC to Windows 7, I wasn’t able to play it anymore. I think they’re the only MMORPG that doesn’t work on Windows 7. Ntreev makes a lot of awesome anime inspired games. Their other MMORPG – Grand Chase is a lot of fun too. It’s a 2D side scrolling game, but plays nothing like MapleStory or WonderKing. Instead, it plays more like Dungeon Fighter Online. The game is linear and level based, but it’s fun and cooperative. Trickster Online is still one of my favorite games, even if I can’t play it anymore. If you’ve never given the game a chance, do yourself a favor and download it!

Another good 2D MMORPG that deserves some more attention is NosTale from Uforia. I honestly thing Uforia is one of the worst MMORPG publishers out there, but NosTale is a game that deserves some attention. If plays much like any other MMORPG, but it has a great community and a solid progression system. Leveling isn’t too slow and questing feels fun. There’s always enough quests to do, so you’re never out right grinding. If you’ve played Mercenary Wars, Camon Hero or Red War you can use the same account to access NosTale, as they’re all on the Uforia network!

Lastly, I wanted to bring up is Wonderland Online from IGG. Now IGG actually has a lot of 2D MMORPGs, but Wonderland Online is definitely the best game IGG offers. Altis Gates and Dreamland Online might be better, but I can’t say as those games still aren’t released. WonderLand Online is a neat 2D turn based MMORPG with a ginormous playerbase. It’s easily one of their most popular MMORPGs. Tales of Fantasy might be a bit more popular, but I never played it. If you like turn based MMORPGs and 2D games it’s worth checking out.

Did I miss any other excellent 2D games? If so, let me know in the comments!

Nexon Should Make More 2D MMORPGs

2010-08-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

Nexon has had enormous success with their 2D side scrolling MMORPG MapleStory and their arcade MMO brawler Dungeon Fighter Online. The company reported some $550 million in revenue in 2009 and MapleStory is easily their biggest game. With the explosive growth and success of MapleStory, you’d think that they would release similar games, but that isn’t the case. Nexon is committed to releasing “different” games like Vindictus and Dragon Nest. Now, don’t get me wrong, these two games both look awesome, but it seems like all 3D MMORPG feels the same, so I prefer 2D games. In case you haven’t heard, both Vindictus and Dragon Nest are 3D action MMORPGs.

I should mention that Nexon has made an effort to grow their 2D MMO portfolio – especially with the recent acquisition of Ndoors. That’s right, Nexon actually bought Ndoors! They are the guys best known for the turn based MMORPG Atlantica Online and the less known 2D trade skill heavy game Luminary: Rise of the Goonzu which for some odd reason is published by ijji. The main reastson, in my opinion, that Nexon bought Ndoors is because it saw the company’s newest MMORPG – WonderKing Online as a threat to MapleStory. WonderKing, for those that don’t know, plays almost exactly like MapleStory. It has the same art style and controls, but offers some interesting gameplay mechanics that MapleStory just doesn’t have – such as crafting and PvP. Nexon also had a lot of success with their MMOFPS Combat Arms, which is why they decided to buy GameHi – the game developer behind Asia’s most popular MMOFPS – Sudden Attack. So Nexon has bought out other companies in the past.

Instead of just buying other game studios, Nexon should definitely think about making more 2D MMORPGs. Why? Because they’ve already had a lot of success in that department! Both MapleStory and Dungeon Fighter Online are big hits! Why do you think ijji keeps releasing new MMO shooters? It’s because they’ve had success with them. Just look at ijji, they publish GunZ, Soldier Front and Alliance of Valiant Arms. They also have Huxley: The Dystopia, Karma: Operation Barabarossa and Genesis A.D. Releasing soon. These are ALL MMO shooters too! Ijji is sticking with what they know, and that’s MMO shooters. I think Nexon should do the same with 2D MMORPGs.

Any other MapleStory fans agree?

Bad MMORPG Ideas

2010-08-06T13:28:00.001-07:00

There are good ideas and bad ones. Good ideas in the MMORPG industry led to games like Soul Master, Atlantica Online and Battle of the Immortals to get developed. Bad ideas on the other hand led to the development of some terrible games. Games that are so awful that I’m surprised were even developed in the first place. So what MMOs fall under the “bad ideas” category? Read on!

The first “bad idea” MMO that first pops into my head is Racing Star: Come on Baby from Alaplaya. Now get this. Racing Star is a Baby themed racing MMO. That’s babies racing in strollers at speeds upwards of 100 KM/H with cute anime inspired graphics. Now not only is this a bad idea, but it’s an incredibly stupid one. I’d be embarrassed if anyone saw me playing it. Needless to say, Racing Star is no Need for Speed World Online. In fact, it’s a game that I wouldn’t want anyone to have to endure. I played Avalon Heroes from Alaplaya as well, and without a doubt Racing Star is the worst game by this European publisher. Play S4 League or Florensia instead. Two good games by the same publisher. Whoever green-lighted the development of this the atrocious racing MMO racing star should be fired and black listed from any future jobs in game development.

The next bad MMORPG I had the misfortune of playing was Blitz 1941 from TwoWar – the same company who published NavyField. I can say with absolute certainty that Blitz 1941 is the worst free to play game ever. Much worse than Racing Star. The game’s translations are so bad, it’s laughable. Even worse than the notoriously poor translations in Age of Armor from Snail Games and Magic World Online from EnjoyMMO. The gameplay itself is boring too. I’d much rather play mine-sweeper or solitaire than this horrible world war 2 MMO. Save your time and play World of Tanks Online or Tank Ace instead. Both much better tank games. Whoever decided to license this game is a failure.

The last terrible game I want to mention is Crazy Tao from TQ Digital. Why is Crazy Tao bad? Well. Simple. It’s the exact same game as Eudemons and Conquer Online – except worse. It plays EXACTLY like these two other games. All the spells are the same, the controls are the same and the visuals are largely the same – except a bit more cartoony. There is absolutely no reason to play this terrible 2D MMORPG. Stick with Eudemons Online instead. Avoid Crazy Tao at all costs. It’s crazy bad.

So what does this have to do with 2D MMOs? Well some of the games I mentioned were 2D, so It’s relevant to my blog . Did I miss any terrible free to play games? Let me know!

Good and Bad MMORPG Publishers

2010-08-03T04:38:00.001-07:00

With over 200 MMORPGs currently on the market, there are also quite a bit of MMORPG publishers. What exactly is an MMO publisher? They’re the guys who license MMORPGs / MMOs from Asia and bring them to North America and Europe. A common misconception is that publishers are responsible for a game’s development – and this is mostly not true. Publishers are responsible for localizing and distributing a game in a specific region, and that’s it. They don’t make the games they publish. Anyway. I wanted to talk about a few of the major publishers and give you my verdict on them. I won’t talk about any browser games publishers or social games publishers. I’ll focus on free to play client based game companies.

Aeria Games

Aeria Games is easily one of the biggest MMORPG publishers in North America. They publish numerous popular MMORPGs like Shaiya, Last Chaos and Grand Fantasia. They are also the company behind numerous less popular titles like the MMOFPS WolfTeam and the sci-fi MMORPG Megaten – which is based off the Shin Megami Tensei universe. Aeria Games has a very easy to navigate website and a huge selection of games, which I like. My only complaint against them is that they shut down so many good games – like Project Torque and Dragon Sky. Still, they’re one of the bigger and more diverisfied MMO publishers, so I like them.

Verdict: Good

ijji

ijji is a big North American and European publisher best known for their large variety of MMOFPS games. For some reason they REALLY love publishing these MMOFPS titles. Their most popular games include Karos Online, Rohan Online, Soul of the Ultimate Nation, Alliance of Valiant Arms and GunZ. They publish a ton of other games and are releasing other new titles like Genesis A.D. And Karma: Operation Barbarossa as well. I love ijji’s website as it’s easy to navigate. What I love most about them though is their easy to use ijji “reactor” program, which is basically Steam, but for free MMORPGs – at least the ones ijji publishers that is.

Verdict: Good

Uforia

Uforia is a fairly new free to play MMORPG publisher based in California. They’ve grown considerably in the last few years and publish Camon Hero, Mercenary Wars, Red War, NosTale and Three Kingdoms: The Battle Begins. Their website is okay to use, but what I dislike most about them is their selection of games. Both ijji and Aeria Games have a lot of high quality titles, but Uforia… not so much. If you’ve ever played Mercenary Wars of Red War, you’ll agree with me that they are quite bad. Three Kingdoms: The Battle Begins is equally bad, because Uforia hasn’t been able to work well with the game’s developer, so the game hasn’t been updated in ages and bugs aren’t even being fixed. Support on the game’s forums are bad too.

Verdict: Bad

WeMade Entertainment

WeMade Entertainment is a Korean MMORPG company but publishes and develops a bunch of free to play games here in the U.S. As well as world-wide. Their most successful games include Mir 2 and The Legend of Mir 3. Since those games released though, they haven’t done much else to push the genre forward. Their other games like Avalon Heroes and Digimon Battle were playable at best and nothing more. All of their games have poor graphics and a lousy interface.

Verdict: Bad

Well there you have it. A look into four MMORPG game publishers. I’ll probably write about other publishers in the future. What are your thoughts on these companies? Are they good or bad?

Avatar Customization

2010-07-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

Know what every 2D MMORPG needs more of? Heck EVERY MMORPG needs more of? Character customization. In fact, I think every VIDEO game needs better character customization – but MMORPGs in particular, as unique avatars are much more important in MMOs than say a single player puzzle game. Why am I writing about this now all of a sudden? Well, I was playing Conquer Online the other day – a free 2D MMORPG from TQ Digital, and after creating my character and logging in, I saw so many doppelgangers of myself running around. The game has no appearance customization what-so-ever. Once you play the game for a while and reach late-gand, the equipment you wear can make your character look different, but the regular appearance customization in the game sucks. Now, Conquer Online isn’t the only game with this problem. MMORPG character customization across the entire spectrum tends to suck, except for a few exceptions. Perfect World, Vanguard and EverQuest II all have great customization. But most games don’t.

I don’t mind poor customization in MMOFPS games, as appearance customization is pointless in games like GunZ, S4 League and Soldier Front. But in actual MMORPGs, I feel that appearance and uniqueness are very important and should never be over looked. One of the reasons I quit playing Ether Saga Online is because of its lack of customization. I was pretty shocked to see Ether Saga have bad customization, as Perfect World had great customization, and both games are by the same company – Perfect World Entertainment. So what’s up? Either the developers got lazy or they figured no one would notice. Grand Chase is another example of a top notch game that would benefit from better customization.

I’m really curious why so many games have such limited appearance customization? How difficult could it be to program a thousands different hair colors and hair styles into the character creation system? Or how about a thousand different shirt colors and a few hundred body options. In the grand scheme of things, it can’t be that expensive. Look at games like Runes of Magic and Allods Online – both are big budget games that took over $5 million to develop, but both have decent appearance customization at best. If you’re going to spend $5+ million making a game, why not spend a tiny bit more and make it perfect? Both of these MMORPGs are great, but they could be better. Unfortunately, I could say the same for most games, as appearance customization in the free to play space, as is, is disappointing.

Hero:108 Online is an interesting MMORPG

2010-07-28T23:19:00.001-07:00

Ever heard of Hero: 108? No, I’m not talking about the TV show on Cartoon Network. I’m talking about Hero:108 Online – the free to play cartoony brawler MMORPG available on the PC. The one published by BeanFun based off of the popular cartoon network TV show. It’s awesome to see bigger western companies like Cartoon Network actually start taking the free to play scene more seriously. I mean, Cartoon Network has been pretty awesome about free to play, as their last game, which originally launched as a free trial browser game – FusionFall, is now a totally free to play game. What I mean to say is, it used to have a subscription, but doesn’t any more. FusionFall is a gorgeous game too. Even though it’s a browser game it has much better graphics than client based games like Fantasy Earth Zero from GamePot USA and HolyBeast Online from CyberStep. It’s pretty incredible to see such an advanced browser based game.

I downloaded and started playing Hero:108 Online yesterday, and probably the best way to explain it is Lost Saga meets Rumble Fighter which meets CosmicBreak. Yeah, it’s confusing, I know, but the game itself is fun. Why is it fun? Because it’s pure lighthearted random action. The actual combat mechanics are a bit awkward, but once you get used to it things start to get more fun. Much like other anime MMORPGs, the game’s story doesn’t make much sense. Then again, the actual Hero:108 story itself doesn’t make much sense either. Apparently all the animals have gone crazy and are attacking everyone. Yeah. It’s silly, but the game is fun because it can be played entirely on the keyboard. It doesn’t play exactly like Soul Master (Gameplay wise), but it’s similar.

One reason I continue to play Hero:108 is to show western MMORPG developers that free to play works. If BeanFun and Cartoon Network make good money on this game, I suspect they’ll launch more and more free to play MMORPGs based off of popular Cartoon Network shows! I think it’s awesome that Turbine is making The Lord of the Rings Online free to play. Electronic Arts already launched Lord of Ultima, Battlefield Heroes, Battleforge, FIFA Online and Need for Speed World Online. EA has been ON THE BALL with free to play, which is awesome for the gaming community. The one big problem with free to play right now is that not enough people know about these free games. I mean, why pay for second rate pay to play MMORPGs like Age of Conan from Funcom when you could play something equally as good for free?

I’m getting a bit off topic here, but I think Hero:108 launching as a free to play game is good for the entire industry. If you haven’t played it, give it a chance. It’s combat system is fun.

WonderKing or Dragonica Online?

2010-07-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

There are a bunch of awesome side scrolling MMORPGs out there, but the best ones include MapleStory, WonderKing Online and Dragonica Online. There are a few more, but they really aren’t worth mentioning. I’ve played MapleStory from Nexon to death, as I’ve leveled like 10 characters to 40 by now, so I’m a bit tired of it. Both WonderKing and Dragonica Online though are still new territory to me. I mean, I’ve played them both for a while, but not nearly as long as I played MapleStory. When you play one game for so long, you get a bit sick of it, even if it’s a great game.

WonderKing is by Ndoors and it was released in 2009 to compete with MapleStory. It is being published by Ndoors, the company who developed Atlantica Online, but I’m not entirely sure if WonderKing was developed by Ndoors or not. In fact, I’m pretty sure WonderKing has been available n South Korea for many years and only came to the U.S. Recently. Why Ndoors waited so long to localize such a great game like WonderKing is beyond me. Luckily, we gamers in the U.S. Don’t need to wait years to play Vindictus. Nexon is localizing it pretty fast! Nexon has actually been pretty good with localizing their games. Mabinogi and Combat Arms came out in the U.S. Pretty fast. Anyway, WonderKing is a lot like MapleStory in terms of graphics and gameplay, except a bit sharper, visually. There aren’t as many playable classes in it, and that’s my biggest complaint. The number of playable classes in an MMORPG is very important. MapleStory has like 20+ playable classes. Like MapleStory, WonderKing is a 2D MMORPG.

Dragonica Online, although a side scrolling MMORPG, is significantly different than MapleStory and WonderKing. It’s actually a 3D MMORPG, and the first 3D side scrolling MMORPG I’ve ever played. Visually, it’s not as “cute” / “cartoony”, but it still has anime inspired graphics. It looks and feels a bit more mature and the controls are responsive. It’s more of an action MMORPG as well, because players have to get combos to do optimal damage. It also has a lot of quests, so you never need to out right grind. Much of the fighting in it takes place in instanced dungeons rather than in a persistent world, so it’s a bit original in that department as well. Like Dungeons and Dragons Online from Turbine, players can play each dungeon in Dragonica in 3 different difficulty settings. This leads to players sort of being forced to play each dungeon multiple times, which can get boring. In terms of character customization, Dragonica Online has a slight edge, but in terms of variety, WonderKing wins. Dragonica has so few playable classes, which is a big down side to it. On the positive side, with only a handful of classes, the classes are balanced.

So which game is better? Sorry. I can’t say. Both are top notch fantasy MMORPGs that are worth checking out. You should download both and give them each a try.

2D MMORPGs Are Here to Stay

2010-07-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

With the launch of Fists of Fu from Outspark and ever growing playerbase in established 2D MMORPGs like MapleStory and WonderKing I think it’s safe to say that 2D is here to stay. Most newer games nowdays have pretty 3D graphics, but 2D games are still growing incredibly fast – especially the browser based ones. Even though there aren’t too many new client based games, there are new 2D browser based MMORPGs being released regularly. ZOMG from Gaia Interactive for example, is a fast growing 2D MMORPG from the same guys behind Gaia Online. The beauty of zOMG, aside from its name, is that it’s actually a fully fledged game. Not some cheap turn based nonsense. It’s set in a large persistent world, which is pretty rare for browser based MMOs.

Another really awesome new 2D MMORPG is Neverland Online from HiThere. HiThere is a Chinese company most well known for their strategy MMORPG Empire Craft. They also make Age of Ocean though. Neverland Online is a neat turn based MMORPG with 2D graphics that closely resemble that of Zodiac Online and Destiny Online. Two other turn based MMORPGs with anime inspired graphics. I still find it mind boggling that web browsers can support full 2D graphics without any lag. With such awesome technology, I see no reason to download my games, when you can play them on the browser.

I’m sort of looking forward to Altis Gates from IGG, but it was recently delayed “indefinitely”. Luckily, IGG has clarified that “indefinitely” does not mean forever. They still intend on releasing the game, just at a later date. If you’re into turn based games, there’s really no reason not to try it, as graphically, it looks a lot better than Myth War 2 Online and Wonderland Online, two other 2D turn based MMORPGs.

On the fighting MMO front, Netmarble has had some success with Mini Fighter Online – the chibi street fighter style game. I actually really like Mini Fighter Online, as it’s a fun distraction from regular MMORPGs. It’s the only street fighter style MMO. It’s actually pretty competitive, but what’s really neat about it is that it also has an MMORPG component to it. There’s a lobby based PvP area and an actual persistent world. I feel that with everything that’s going on, it’s fair to say that 2D is here to stay.

2D Browser Based Games

2010-07-13T03:34:00.001-07:00

Most of my posts have been dedicated to 2D MMORPGs that can be downloaded, but there are a whole bunch of awesome 2D MMOs that are on the browser. Games like AdventureQuest and AdventureQuest Worlds are two simple examples, but there are many more. I’m surprised the web browser isn’t a more popular platform for MMO gaming, as titles like Quake Live and FusionFall have proven that web browsers can be powerful enough to run 3D games. Quake Live for example is a port of the popular Quake 3: Arena FPS game to the web browser. It’s completely free to play and has great graphics. It puts flash games to shame, as it runs full 3D with fast paced gameplay. FusionFall from Cartoon Network also shows that browsers are a solid platform for MMO gaming, as FusionFall is a hugely in depth game with gorgeous graphics. Heck it has better graphics than older 3D client based games like Hero Online, Cabal Online and Azuga: Age of Chaos.

So what are some great browser based 2D MMORPGs? One of my favorites is zOMG from Gaia Interactive – the same company who made Gaia Online. I like zOMG because its one of the few actual browser based MMORPGs that competes with client based games. It plays a bit like Neverland Online, except with crisper graphics and a much more in depth game world. I say in depth, because it was developed by a great Western studio. I say great Western Studio only because Gaia Online is ridiculously popular. One cool feature in zOMG is that players can use their avatars from Gaia Online in zOMG, so there’s lots of appearance customization. MMORPG character customization tends to suck, so seeing a browser MMORPG with good customization is always neat. There are a few good action games like Dark Orbit, Deepolis and SeaFight from BigPoint, but these aren’t exactly MMORPGs, so I’m going to skip over them for now.

Fallen Sword is another decent 2D browser based MMORPG as is Pet Forest. Pet Forest from PlayOMG is actually one of the few incredibly in depth browser based MMORPGs. Most games on the browser right now are strategy games like Evony or social games like Woozworld or OurWorld, but Pet Forect is different because, like zOMG, it plays like an actual client based game, except with one difference. It runs on a browser. PetPet Park and ShadowTale are also neat games, but both lack a large playerbase. That’s it for this list though. Check out some of these awesome non-download MMOs!

Another Delay for Camon Hero – When is it Coming Out?

2010-07-09T13:40:00.001-07:00

This post will be a little different than usual, because I’m going to talk about an upcoming MMORPG from Uforia called Camon Hero. The game isn’t exactly 2D, but it has great anime MMORPG style graphics. I actually really like the game’s artstyle, but what I look most about it is its original gameplay, as the game mixes standard fantasy MMORPG action with trading card game elements. Most people think “Oh crap. Card based gameplay? It must be slow paced like Wizard101 and Urban Rivals”, but that isn’t the case. In fact, Camon Hero plays more like GhostX and Dragonica Online than anything else. So let me say this just once. Camon Hero isn’t slow paced.

I’ve actually been itching to play Camon Hero for quite a while now. Since the game was first announced actually. But I won’t get a chance to sink my teeth into it for a while, as the game was scheduled to launch its open beta on June 8, 2010 but the game’s publisher – Uforia delayed the open beta indefinitely. It’s now July 9, 2010 as I write this and still no Open beta, not even an announcement of when open beta will begin. This isn’t too surprising though, as I’ve been let down by Uforia on more than one occasion. Red War looked like a promising game, as it was supposed to be inspired by Diablo 2, but it was terrible. I thought Mercenary Wars would be fun, because I generally love MMOFPS games, but I couldn’t stand playing it for more than an hour. NosTale is an alright game, but it’s published globally as well as in the U.S. (through Uforia), and I’d rather play the global version.

I absolutely hate it when MMOs get delayed indefinitely because it makes me think that they’re never going to come out. I guess I think this way because games like Parabellum from GamersFirst and Huxley: The Dystopia from ijji have been delayed numerous times and show no sign of ever reaching commercial release. Nowadays, if an MMORPG an make it to the open beta phase, it pretty much means it’s going to release. So seeing a game in perpetual closed beta is a bad sign.

Hopefully Uforia will get their act together and do a better job of informing their community on the status of Camon Hero. It sucks that they’re so hush-hush about things. If there’s a problem with the developer or the license, they should at least tell their players. Uforia really can’t do much though, as they’re only publishing the game, not developing it. I sort of like Perfect World Entertainment as a company because they self publish all of their games. They can actually listen to play feedback and implement it in their games. I know they added WSAD controls to Battle of the Immortals because players asked for it. Anyway. Time to keep waiting!

Lost Saga MMO Has Awesome Graphics

2010-07-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

Lost Saga, a fighting MMO from OGPlanet, has some really awesome anime inspired graphics. The graphics are actually a mix of Western and Eastern animations, as they blend graphics from games like Cloud Nine from Netgame and Team Fortress 2 from Valve. I’m surprised other new MMORPGs don’t opt for “easy on the eyes” style cartoony graphics, as in my opinion games with brightly colored anime graphics are the best. At least in terms of graphics. I loved the visuals in Battlefield Heroes, Bright Shadow and even Luna Online. One of the main benefits of cartoony graphics is low system requirements. Brand spankin’ new MMORPGs like Martial Heroes and Vindictus look great, but not everyone can play them due to the high system requirements. I figure games like Mabinogi and Secret of the Solstice are popular because they’re easily accessible. Shiny new graphics aren’t always the best, as they require most expensive graphics cards to run.

I think newer games need to start looking closely at games like Lost Saga for inspiration. Lost Saga seems to be the most popular fighting MMO out there and even found its way into the World Cyber Games tournaments. The game is more popular than Mini Fighter Online from Netmarble and Rumble Fighter from OGPlanet. The other reason why Lost Saga is rockin is because of its incredible amount of variety. The game has like 20+ playable characters which can all be leveled up individually. Players can switch between them mid game as well, so if you ever get bored of playing one “class” you can simply switch! Some new games like Heroes in the Sky also have excellent variety, but other newer titles seem to forget that gamers WANT variety. Variety and choice in my opinion is what makes Lost Saga so fun. Gameplay of course is important too.

Seriously though. I appreciate pretty 3D graphics as much as the next guy, but I sometimes think that better graphics do more harm than good. The most popular free MMORPGs today are the simplest ones. Games like RuneScape and Dungeon Fighter Online for example have simple graphics that most computers can run without lag. 3D MMORPGs on the other hand tend to be less accessible all around, at least the newer ones. So MMO Developers. I urge you guys to take a page from Lost Saga’s book and focus on making your games more fun and varied rather than “pretty”.

Fists of Fu vs Dragonica Online

2010-06-27T10:58:00.001-07:00

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.

Are Facebook Games Free MMOs?

2010-06-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

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!

Outspark's Fists of Fu MMORPG Coming Soon!

2010-06-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

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!

Dungeon Fighter Online is Finally Here

2010-06-17T00:28:00.001-07:00

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.

Zero Online is a Fun MMORPG

2010-06-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

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.

Free 2D MMORPGs You Never Played

2010-06-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

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!

So Many Old 2D MMORPGs.

2010-06-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Back to MapleStory

2010-05-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Just the other day I started playing MapleStory again. Yeah, it’s the immensely popular side scrolling MMORPG from Nexon. It’s a game that I’ve been playing on and off for years. I always break away from the game to try something different, but I always end up coming right back to MapleStory. I remember I was really into WonderKing from Ndoors for a while, as it looked and played a lot like MS. I also tried playing LaTale from OG Planet, but alas these games couldn’t hold my attention long. I mean, I liked the PvP in LaTale, but MapleStory just had more content. Plus, I really wanted to try the new Dragon Tamer Evan class in MapleStory, which was added to the game pretty recently.

I’ve only been playing for a day or so and my character is already level 17. I’m surprised how fast I’m leveling because Dragon Tamers are supposed to level “slowly” according to the character creation screen, just like Arans. My last character was a Thunderbreaker and I got to level 38 with him in a week or so. People often complain about the slow “grind” in MapleStory, but over the last 2 years Nexon really sped things up. There’s really no more “grinding” either, as players advance by completing quests. Questing is actually significantly faster than just plain ol grinding.

Before I went back to MapleStory, I actually tried a few high profile 3D MMORPGs including Kingdom Heroes, Grand Fantasia, Dungeons and Dragons Online and Fiesta Online. Unfortunately none of them could hold my attention the way MapleStory can. I think I’m addicted. How is it that Nexon can make such an awesome game but other MMORPG developers can’t? I Guess it’s the simplicity of MapleStory that keeps me coming back. Plus the huge playerbase is nice as well. Anyway guys, I’m going back to Mapling

Browser Games Need to Step it Up

2010-05-26T00:34:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of browser MMORPGs out there. Most of them are 2D, as having 3D graphics on a browser isn’t exactly the standard yet – though games like Quake Live, RuneScape and Pirate Galaxy are really raising the bar for graphics on a web browser. With thousands of browser based games out there, I hate to generalize, but I have to say it. Most of them suck. There are a few that stand out from the crowd, but most of them are just incredibly boring. I had the chance to play a few of these browser games, and I’ll just go ahead and describe the games I played.

The first game I played was Shakes & Fidget. It basically explains exactly like Tanoth and Gladiatus, in that players must wait upwards of 20 minutes at a time to finish quests and slay enemies. All you do is click a button that says ‘adventure in the dungeon!’ or ‘Complete a quest’ and you get moved to a screen with a count down on it. Wait 15 minutes or so and the enemy is killed or the quest is complete. That’s it. How anyone can even classify that as a game is beyond me.

I also played War of Legends from Jagex and was mildly disappointed. The game wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t any better than other strategy MMORPGs. Heck, if anything I would say its almost exactly like The Seventh Dragon, Travian and Tribal Wars. It’s no different. If you’ve played any one of these 2D strategy games, you might as well have played the rest. It’s also a bit like Heroes of Gaia, because players can control their units in battle. I expected more from Jagex, as they’re the guys behind the super popular RuneScape game. I don’t think Jagex actually developed the game though, they’re just licensing it.

Another browser game I played was Dark Orbit. The game is by BigPoint, who also makes Seafight and Deepolis, and it was actually a decent game. I say decent because it has so many little problems. Most notably, paying members have a huge advantage of non paying ones. Since the game is largely a PvP MMORPG as well, it sort of sucks that paying members can easily pwn non paying ones. In fact, there’s no way a non paying member even has a chance. I think if BigPoint did more to balance the game, it could actually be fun.

There are a few good browser games out there though. One new game, Pirate Galaxy, really impressed me. The game has gorgeous graphics and is set in a sci fi universe. I also really liked Grepolis from Innogames, but that’s more so because I’m fascinated with greek mythology than the actual gameplay it self. Browser MMOs really need to step it up, because as is they’re pretty lame. I guess I’ll stick with 2D client based MMORPGs for now.

Only 2D MMORPGs

2010-05-22T03:54:00.001-07:00

There’s one free to play MMORPG publisher that ONLY makes 2D MMORPGs. This company is TQ Digital and they don’t have one 3D MMORPG. I think TQ Digital is the only major MMORPG publisher that only has 2D games. IGG has a bunch of good 2D turn based MMORPGs, but they have 3D games like Tales of Fantasy and Zu Online. TQ Digital currently publishes 5+ games, but out of all their games my favorite is Zero Online.

Zero Online is a sci-fi MMORPG with fast paced gameplay. I like it because the game has an incredibly high level cap (120+) as well as a really high XP rate. I played the game for a couple of hours and really liked it. The combat itself isn’t anything special, but it’s so fast paced that it’s hard to stop playing. Unfortunately the game only has two playable classes and a handful of maps, so the game doesn’t have a lot of variety. I found that the Artillery class in the game is absurdly over powered compared to the melee character. Another reason I like Zero Online is that the game is one of the only 2D sci-fi MMORPG out there.

Aside from Zero Online, TQ Digital also publishes The Warlords, Eudemons Online, Conquer Online and Crazy Tao. The only game from TQ Digital that I strongly dislike is Crazy Tao, and that’s because it’s so similar to Eudemons. The game has no originality. The only difference between the two games is that Crazy Tao is a cute MMORPG, while Eudemons has more realistic 2D graphics. On the positive side though, I think cute graphics look nicer on a 2D platform, but no one really plays Crazy Tao anyway. Eudemons Online is just better in every measurable way.

So if you guys haven’t heard of TQ Digital or haven’t played Zero Online, I strongly recommend you guys give the game a download. It’s only 500 or so MB, so it won’t even take up a lot of space on your hard disk. What do you guys think of TQ Digital?

LaTale vs MapleStory vs WonderKing

2010-05-18T01:04:00.001-07:00

There are three major free to play 2D side scrolling MMORPGs currently out there. MapleStory from Nexon is by far the largest as it’s old and established. The game has been available since 2003. Then we have LaTale which is by OGPlanet, which was released to compete with MapleStory. The graphics and art style are a bit different, but the core gameplay is for the most part identical. The one real difference is that LaTale has PvP while MapleStory does not. Then we have WonderKing from Ndoors. WonderKing sort of combines the fun aspects of both MapleStory and LaTale and adds a bit of its own touch. The game has sleeker 2D graphics, PvP, plenty of quests and more.

Out of the three my favorite is still MapleStory, as it’s been around forever. Since it’s been around so long the game has much more content than its competitors. In fact, the game now has over 12 different playable classes and each of those classes have 3 job advancements, for a total of 36+ playable classes. Plus, Nexon has been updating the game often with more and more new areas and classes, so that’s really awesome. Nexon also has the following games – Mabinogi, Vindictus, Combat Arms and Dungeon Fighter Online.

WonderKing is a far second. The game is certainly fun and well worth the download, but if you’ve played MapleStory before, the two games are just way too similar. You’ll just feel like you’ve ‘been there’ before if you play WonderKing. The PvP in the game is pretty interesting though, but you really have to invest a lot of time into the game to get to the fun parts of the PvP arenas. One issue with WonderKing is that it’s not nearly as popular as MapleStory, so finding people to party with and people to sell your items to may take a bit longer. Luckily though, the game has an awesome auction house system, which is something MapleStory has been missing for years.

LaTale is by OG Planet and comes in third place in my opinion. The game’s artstyle is distinctly different than both MapleStory and WonderKing and come off as weird to me. It’s published by OGPlanet, so you can always use your login for Lost Saga, Hockey Dash and Rumble Fighter for the game and it’ll work fine. In terms of PvP though, LaTale takes the #1 spot. It has the most variety in PvP and it’s also the most balanced, as there’s one option to equalize everyone in terms of level and gear for the duration of the PvP battle. This makes it so PvP actually takes skill and teamwork.

All three Free MMORPGs are good though, so make sure to try them all. I still think MapleStory is the best though, but if you guys disagree, let me know in the comments!

A 2D Racing MMO Would be Amazing

2010-05-15T12:22:00.001-07:00

There are already a handful of free to play racing MMOs available to play from the realistic Project Torque to the more insane battle racing game UpShift StrikeRacer, but there aren’t any real 2D racing MMOs. A 2D side scrolling racing MMO with pitfalls, obstacles and such would be awesome. After all, games like LaTale and WonderKing have proved that 2D games can be incredibly popular if done right. This racing game would need great sleek 2D graphics. I imagine it would be cheaper to develop a 2D game than a 3D one anyway, but I could be wrong.

The 2D MMO scene has been getting better and better, as there are new 2D MMOs coming out regularly, with the newest one being Destiny Online. You also have oldies like Endless Online and DarkEden, which are okay. My two favorite MMORPGs are for sure Conquer Online and Grand Chase though. Both games are distinctly different, but fun. Conquer Online is by TQ Digital and focuses on intense PvP combat while Grand Chase by Ntreev, focuses more on player cooperation through dungeons. I’m actually a fan of both types of games. I also really like Lunia by ijji. That game is amazing. It’s a bit linear but as a fan of RPGs in general, that doesn’t bother me at all.

Anyway, I’m getting a bit off topic =]. There are so many sports MMOs, Racing MMOs, MMOFPS games and more, so why shouldn’t there be a 2D racing MMO? It would be cheap to develop and I can already imagine how fun it would be in my head. Putting a game from my head into reality though would be difficult though. I guess for now I’ll have to be content with the games out there. I’m going back to playing one of my favorite free MMORPGs – Luminary: Rise of the Goonzu. If you guys haven’t played it, do yourselves a favor and give the game a chance it’s quite epic and has an entirely player controlled economy.

The Only 3D MMORPGs I like Are Anime Themed

2010-05-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

For some reason the only 3D graphics I like in MMORPGs are either cute themed or anime inspired. I guess I have a thing for bright cheerful games. I still like 2D graphics the best, but after that I prefer anime inspired graphics. Games like Bright Shadow and Cloud Nine have gorgeous graphics. I really like the ’sleek’ and beautifully rendered anime graphics in these games. More so than the actual gameplay, which is pretty sad. I also feel the same way about Fiesta Online, the most popular MMORPG that Outspark publishes. The cel-shaded anime graphics are really high quality and visually appealing.

Aside from regular anime MMORPGs, I also really like cute MMORPGs for some reason. Cute MMORPGs are usually super bright and chibi, which in my book is instant win. Ether Saga Online and Luna Online are examples of great cute MMORPGs. I actually play both of these games regularly. Even though I like these kinds of games though, I still prefer GOOD 2D graphics over anything in the 3D department. What’s interesting though, is that I don’t even watch anime or read manga, but I still like anime style graphics in my MMOs. How weird is that?

At the moment I’m downloading a new anime inspired MMORPG – Emil Chronicle Online. It’s not exactly new, but it’s new to me, as I’ve never played it before. If you guys want to catch me in game, my name will be xAnimaaa! From what I've read about the game, it's supposed to be a lot like Ragnarok Online. The game is, after all, also published by Gravity. Gravity publishes both Ragnarok Online and Requiem: Memento Mori

zOMG! And 2D Browser MMROPGs

2010-05-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

Browser MMORPGs as a whole aren’t too popular. The only really popular one is Runescape, but that’s not exactly 2D, it’s more 3D. One fun browser MMO I ran into the other day is zOMG! And it’s published by the same dudes behind Gaia Online. The game is also set in the same Gaia universe, but unlike the social MMORPG Gaia Online, zOMG! Has a stronger emphasis on actual MMORPG style gameplay – kill enemies and level up. Unfortunately, most browser based games nowadays are generic strategy MMORPGs like Empire Craft and Lords Online where you build up an empire and battle it out. Not that these games aren’t fun, but I’m just not a fan of them.

Come to think of it, aside from zOMG! There are very few 2D browser based MMORPGs. I mean there are games like MechQuest and AdventureQuest, but these are more single player games than anything else, as there’s minimal interaction between players. The only other real 2D browser MMORPG I can think of is Adventure Quest Worlds, which is actually an awesome game. I don’t count games like Tanoth and Gladiatus, as those games use still images rather than actual graphics. Those games aside, zOMG! And Adventure Quest Worlds are the only real 2D browser MMORPGs.

I suspect this will change in the coming years, as browser based games are getting big. Not just the strategy ones either. Big download sizes in client based games like Runes of Magic and Dungeons and Ether Saga Online are turning a lot of users away from those games. And who can blame them? I don’t want to wait 20 hours to download Runes of Magic. That game is like 6GB big and that’s like 5% of my entire hard drive. Browser games make more sense as they don’t usually require any downloads. 2D MMORPGs are good too, because they tend to be small installs.

Anyone else mad that there are so few 2D browser MMORPGs? I know I am :(.

Mini Fighter Online is Great

2010-05-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

Anyone here ever play a fighting MMO called Mini Fighter Online? If you haven’t, you definitely should. It’s a really interesting fighting game that knocks the socks off of Rumble Fighter and GetAmped 2. Heck, the only other fighting MMO that stands a chance in comparison is Lost Saga, which is neat because of its variety.

Mini Fighter Online plays a lot like Street Fighter, but instead has chibi anime inspired characters. The cool thing about Mini Fighter is that aside from its PvP MMO elements where you square off against other players via Street Fighter style combat, you can also explore the persistent world MMORPG aspect of the game. So it’s an MMORPG and an MMO at once. I don’t think very many games do that. What I’m trying to say is that you can play straight up Street Fighter style gameplay against others across various games modes or you can leave the PvP area and fight enemies outside of town, like you would in any fantasy MMORPG.

The game is published by Netmarble, the Korean MMORPG giant. They actually just launched their global portal recently and plan to bring over Koongya Adventure, Oz Chronicle, Wego, Ys Online and Prius Online over to the North American audience. I’m actually looking forward to all of these games, as Mini Fighter Online is that awesome. I like it more because its unique than anything else. The mechanics are good, but the uniqueness makes it awesome.

Woot! Digimon Battle is Awesome

2010-05-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to downloading Digimon Battle and I have to say I really like it. I think I like it more because I’m sucker for Digimon and turn based games, than the game’s actual merits, but I think its worth checking. The only real issue most people will have with the game is its graphics. It is a 2D MMORPG, but the 2D graphics aren’t modern or ’sleek’ the way they are in newer MMOs like LaTale or Battle of Destiny. If you can look past the graphics though, Digimon Battle is a pretty solid pet raising game. Even though you start off with a single Digimon, you can easily catch more at anytime. The way the game is designed is that players can catch pretty much any Digimon they bump into. One thing that sucks is that the Korean version of the game is much, much further ahead in terms of development. Digimon Battle has been available in South Korea for over 8 years now and came to North America sometime in March 2010. So the game only has 50 or so Digimon in the entire game, vs the some 500+ Digimon in existence.

The company behind Digimon Battle, Wemade, also developers a few other MMORPGs. Interestingly, they are almost all 2D (Yay for 2D!). The other games WeMade develops are Avalon Heroes, Mir 2, and The Legend of Mir 3. If you’re a fan of either Digimon or Pokemon, Digimon Battle is certainly worth the download. Combat is also simple enough that younger gamers can learn the ropes rather easily. Everything is turn based and things start off really easy. In fact, the game never gets too challenging, but the real thrill behind it is trying to build the perfect ‘team’. The perfect lineup of Digimon. Players can field up to three Digimon at once, so there’s room for a lot of variety.

I’ll likely be playing the game for a while, provided that WeMade adds more content to the game. I’ve only been playing for a few days and I’ve already almost maxed out. I’m starting to think that they should have developed the game a bit more before releasing it. Anyone else here play Digimon Battle? If so, leave your username in the comments!

Good Graphics are Over Rated. It's all about Gameplay

2010-05-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

I’ve been an MMORPG gamer since the days of Ultima Online in 1999. For me, a good game has nothing to do with graphics, but rather gameplay and gameplay alone. Since I grew up with older largely 2D games, pretty graphics don’t really mean that much to me. I’ve also been a big fan of RPGs since I first played Chrono Trigger when I was younger, so I have an affinity towards turn based MMORPGs. Unfortunately for me though, the only turn based MMORPGs these days that are 2D tend to have lame gameplay. IGG has two big turn based fantasy MMORPGs – Myth War 2 Online and Wonderland Online. Neither are terrible, but neither are exceptional either. In fact, the only good looking 2D turn based MMORPG is Altis Gates, and that isn’t even out yet.

A few weeks ago I downloaded a game called Tales of Fantasy from IGG. It’s their newest game has boasts some impressive graphics. I downloaded it and logged in and play for a few hours. Aside from the pretty animations and environments, I was far from impressed. In fact, I couldn’t even play it for more than a few hours as combat felt stale and moving around from point A to Point B just took too long. I’m not saying all 3D games are over rated, I’m just saying good graphics are over rated. The most important aspect of a game is its gameplay mechanics. If a game isn’t fun, it doesn’t matter how awesome or realistic the graphics are. One of the few 3D MMORPGs I really like is Atlantica Online, but I like that game because of its solid gameplay mechanics, not its visuals. The company behind Atlantica was actually purchased by one of my favorite MMO developers last week – Nexon. For those that don’t know, Nexon publishes MapleStory, Mabinogi, Combat Arms and Dungeon Fighter Online. The last one, Dungeon Fighter Online, being my favorite MMORPG of all time. That’s a story for another day though.

What do you think? 3D vs 2D? Are graphics in MMORPGs important or no? Let me know in the comments below!