Conquer Online is Really Popular

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.

Dancing MMOs.... EVERYWHERE

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.

Soul Master Dead. But It's Relaunching

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.

2D Browser Based MMORPGs

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

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

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

Pay to Play Games that Need to be Free to Play

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

2D Browser Based Games

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?

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!

Fists of Fu vs Dragonica Online

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

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

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

Dungeon Fighter Online is Finally Here

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

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

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

Free 2D MMORPGs You Never Played

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

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

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

So Many Old 2D MMORPGs.

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

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

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

Back to MapleStory

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

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

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?