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.

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!