Lost Saga MMO Has Awesome Graphics

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”.

A 2D Racing MMO Would be Amazing

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.

zOMG! And 2D Browser MMROPGs

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 :(.

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

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!