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Post by Shoe on Dec 5, 2008 8:18:59 GMT -5
Personally, I hate MMOs.
Really, that's how I feel, at least for the modern MMO. I used to love them to death, but after playing so many, I found myself thinking, "Hey, wait a minute. Quests, grinding for experience, and totally moronic players? I think I've seen this before!" Not to say they are all bad, but they all follow that general formula from what I've seen, and unless they have a nice world to explore, I'll probably play it for about a month at the most. Not to mention that they completely eat up your time if you aren't careful. WoW was a slightly different experience against other MMOs, however. It had many more options and seemed to allow more freedoms than others, while there are those that are way too strict, like Runescape. Nevertheless, I didn't play long (although, I was only playing with the trial). Also, I get tired of the typical "point and click" gameplay function they have in just about every MMO I've played. It would be much more enjoyable to me if I actually felt like I was driving the car rather than sitting in the backseat giving instructions. But, I digress. I know the fun of MMOs is doing things with your friends. Although it did keep me interested, I soon bailed out anyway. The problem with that is, when I go back, they're gone, too. Man, that's depressing. There was LotROnline, which had a wonderful community and a great world. I was randomly invited into a Fellowship, and before I knew it, those guys were my best of friends. Then the trial ran up. Anyway, when you see an MMO that plays out like an action/adventure game (similar to Crystal Chronicles for instance), let me know. I probably won't see that, though, until I produce it myself, but that's much farther down the line of life for me. Meanwhile, my story is giving me all the pleasure of an MMO, so I'll just enjoy writing them until then. Then again, only until I finish them will I have the ability to produce such a game, and only if they provide me enough money. But, hey, Eragon was pretty bad, and look at how well those books are selling. Twilight, too. Geez. Not saying mine are horrible, but if those guys can do it, I'm sure I can just as well.
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Post by emvee on Dec 5, 2008 10:51:23 GMT -5
An MMO that plays like Crystal Chronicles? You should try Phantasy Star Universe (PC/PS2/X360). It can get pretty repetitive too, but it offers a lot of customization, and actually rewards grinding. Example: In Phantasy Star Online, to level spells up you needed to find the corresponding level disc of the same spell. On Universe, the spell levels up with use. Not only that, but you can craft weapons with specific elements, give yourself weapon techniques (Killer Moves) that also level up with use, etc. It isn't the best, but it's worth a play, for sure.
As for my MMO experience, I agree it gets insanely repetitive and sometimes impossible to progress. My first MMO was Everquest on the PS2, and while it was a blast to play with friends, it was horrible to go alone. The world was interesting though, and the controls were great, so it was fun. I moved on to FFXI, and while I absolutely adored the environment, the gameplay offered little. I mean, sure, I could be a catgirl thief (and I was), but getting to the real meat of the game was an endeavour in itself! Level 30 required to access 75% of the job classes? No thanks. Dancer just isn't worth that.
I too moved on to WoW, and while I thoroughly enjoyed being able to solo a healer from 1 to 40, levelling got repetitive unless you wanted to devote 3-6 hours to a dungeon with four other people fighting for the loot. I didn't like that, so as soon as I got my mount, I just traveled and worked on my tradeskills. Alchemy for the win, baby. After I tried several free alternatives, only to find you have to give them money still to make the experience enjoyable. I'm sorry, I don't like the idea of paying real money for digital items.
Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine is in closed Beta right now, but I managed to get a key. It looks interesting, but I'm sure it'll regress to the same grinding seen in all online RPGs. I'll report back when I get to play it. It's downloading right now, and won't finish for hours x.x.
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Post by Toshi on Dec 5, 2008 18:00:07 GMT -5
I've played a lot of MMOs in my time. I don't hate MMOs, but I've grown to dislike them more as time went by, and the experience just led to the same reason why I stopped playing them.
The first ever MMO I played was a fascinating game called Survival Project. Seriously, that had it spot on, and a lot of people liked it because it was unusually addictive. It was wonderful to play with or without friends, because regardless, it was recommended you were part of a party from 2 - 8 players to complete your quest (8 player quests were the best though). The battle system was great, there were plenty of game modes to try out, and it was all action packed fun, the sad thing though was that it had to close down a couple of years ago. It was a sad sight to say the least, because it was purely magnificent, and I never played an MMO quite like it myself. I hit the 1-Star rank level on this game.
The next one I moved onto was Maple Story. I've been shot a few times because I played this, but come on, we can't deny that this was a great MMO at the time. I played it with plenty of friends who were pretty much online the majority of the time, so it never became a bore at first, but as friends started zooming off up in the levels and others started to not find it as interesting, things kinda fell apart, and I usually found myself playing alone anyway. What also put me off was the leveling. Jesus. Lv200 cap, yet they expect you to spend a good 48hrs game play just to level up once from lv55-56? Come on! Despite it though, I did return to it recently, but that also didn't last very long. Ah well. I quit this when I was lv56 on Global, but I quit again at lv18 on the European server, then found a private one and hit lv172 before it got boring again.
I've played a fair variety of other good[?] MMOs though, as follows; Trickster Online (Lv80+ quit), Grand Chase (lv40+ quit), Wonderland Online (Lv11 quit), BOTS (Lv21 quit), La Tale (Lv20+ quit), Ghost Online (Lv30+ quit), Adventure Quest (Lv70+ quit), Dragonfable (Lv29 quit), Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (Lv120+ quit), ROSE: Online (Lv80 quit), Runescape (Lv91 quit), Adventure Quest: Worlds (Lv5 quit), S4 League (Lv11 quit), Angels Online (Lv33 quit).. yeah, quite a handful.
Though with such a handful of games I've played, they've all been for the same reason. It gets tedious if you play them alone, which is what I stupidly end up doing. Some modern day MMOs lose that spark thanks to other players, who pretty much worship the games that much, they somewhat spoil your experience as well.
What we need is an MMO that suites everyone, and one that everyone can just play together without having advantages or disadvantages compared to each other. There's nothing more annoying than seeing all these high level friends who you can't even play along with.
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Post by Sanjo on Dec 5, 2008 22:42:01 GMT -5
I've never been a huge fan of MMOs. I used to play Runescape, then quit the next day because it was too dull for my tastes (sorry Toshi  ). I stuck with Dragon Fable for a while, but then I didn't have free time and I lost interest. S4 was also on my list, but that was a one-time deal as well. However, I do agree with Toshi. If there were one that was actually largely appreciated and was fun for me and my friends, then I would probably play it. If they could create a regional server where only certain areas of countries could play in, or if you could create a server just for you and your friends to be a part of, then I would be ecstatic. They probably already do something like this, but I've only seen it on legit games and not those that are free (for the most part, anyways). |
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Post by Shoe on Dec 6, 2008 12:08:30 GMT -5
That's an interesting idea, actually, Sanjo. But, you would probably have to pay for it anyway. Servers cost money. I'm not entirely sure how much, though I suppose it depends on the game. Either way, keeping it open would surely pile up on the bills. That's most likely the reason you wouldn't normally see them on F2P MMO games.
Something else that absolutely turns me away from these types of games are the kind where you have to pay for a few pixels or rendered models that usually don't do anything but make your character look snazzy. But, Mat already covered that. Then there are the games that make you pay a monthly fee and pay for extra junk. Those should be outlawed, if they even exist at all, or if they aren't already.
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Post by Toshi on Dec 13, 2008 8:29:12 GMT -5
I used to play Runescape, then quit the next day because it was too dull for my tastes (sorry Toshi ). Oh hey, don't apologise to me, I found it really dull after so long as well, I just had that stupid patience which helped me get so far. =| |
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Post by red.yoshi on Dec 14, 2008 0:44:54 GMT -5
That's an interesting idea, actually, Sanjo. But, you would probably have to pay for it anyway. Servers cost money. I'm not entirely sure how much, though I suppose it depends on the game. Either way, keeping it open would surely pile up on the bills. That's most likely the reason you wouldn't normally see them on F2P MMO games. Something else that absolutely turns me away from these types of games are the kind where you have to pay for a few pixels or rendered models that usually don't do anything but make your character look snazzy. But, Mat already covered that. Then there are the games that make you pay a monthly fee and pay for extra junk. Those should be outlawed, if they even exist at all, or if they aren't already. Actually, they don't cost a penny. They're illegal, and formally known as Private Servers. These servers can sometimes contain harmful key loggers or other malicious ware which could harm your computer. However, private servers that have such programs embedded are usually made to obtain information from you corresponding to the game the private server was made for. Not all private servers are like this though. I played one for Ragnarok which was actually fairly large, and no harm done to my computer. In order to run your own private server, you need the private server, a client of the server (which you distribute to other players,) a router, knowledge of port forwarding said router, a fast internet connection, and a fast computer. This makes you "Host," and you usually can do whatever you want in the server. And I mean whatever you want. Once again, let me warn you that this is ILLEGAL. D; |
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Post by Toshi on Dec 14, 2008 10:53:23 GMT -5
Taken from Wikipedia (Note: They do not offer legal advice)
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Post by Twi on Dec 14, 2008 15:34:02 GMT -5
I play WoW. Still do. Level 77 at the moment.
I've played a few of them free MMOs, the first being Maple Story which Toshi got me into. It was good with friends, mainly because you'd just be idly killing for hours and chatting. On your own it was an absolute nightmare. Silently sitting. Jumping and attacking the same enemy for hours and hours and hours to level once and be like every other class because there's only one real build that's any good and only one armour set with varying colours.
Toshi has drawn me into a lot of those free ones, and each one has lost my attention after around level 20. The problem with these free ones is they release it barely finished. Like huge chunks missing, and release it slowly to keep people drawn in. Whilst this does work, the fact that there is so little to begin with means there's little to actually hook you in the first place, and it's just an endless grind.
WoW I found was different. Whilst there is still the whole kill x of this that and the other, the quest based nature makes a nice story to follow from the huge lore that the Warcraft series has. The amount of variety in character looks, armours, weapons makes everyone different. I have yet to see a completely identical person of me. There are plenty of troll warriors, but none across all 77 levels that have had the same hair, tusks, armour, weapons etc. The Talent system means each class is essentially divided into three subclasses, and that can be how you like to suit your play style. There is just a huge amount of stuff in it, the quests are awesome especially at later levels. The 5-man, 10-man or 25-man dungeons and raids are extremely fun, and if you can get into a good guild then the community is good.
I just find it a lot more open, challenging, engaging and most importantly fun than any other MMO out there. You can get a free trial from their website, and if you do and you're in europe, join Laughing Skull-Horde server and I'll guide you round and stuff. If you're in US then...
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