MMORPGs - A Return to the Classics

There has been a rapidly growing trend over the last year or so that’s been pushing video games in general to ‘return’ to the classics – the days of old. I guess the entire video game industry goes through this phase every once in a while, usually when the industry is running low on good ideas. The shift towards ‘returning to the old ways’ is best observed just by looking at the most recent game releases. Perfect World Co just released a single player action RPG called Torchlight which was designed to resemble Blizzard’s Diablo games. Torchlight is currently a singleplayer game but an MMORPG version is expected to launch in the coming year. TorchLight though isn’t the only game trying to copy Diablo though – Esteria Mythos was released recently in North America and it looks and plays a lot like the original Diablo game and also a bit like Mu Online.

Both Dungeon Fighter Online and Battle of Destiny are fine examples of relatively new MMORPGs that are trying to ‘return to the classics’. Both of these games were designed to look and play like retro arcade beat em’ ups like Gauntlet Legends and Streets of Rage. I don’t know about you – but I loved these games as a kid, so I don’t mind the sudden interest in returning to the classics. I’m not sure though if ‘new age’ gamers who never played the Diablo games will appreciate these side scrolling beat’ em ups. I mean – why would a new age gamer want to play these kinds of games when they could be playing much better looking 3D MMORPGs like Runes of Magic and Dungeons and Dragons Online, as after all – most of the gamers that play Dungeon Fighter Online / Battle of Destiny – play those games almost purely for nostalgic value. It’s like getting a 10 year old today to play the original Donkey Kong arcade game – he’s going to think it ‘sucks’ and go back to his Call of Duty game.

Even on the non MMORPG front – games seem to be going through the ‘return to the classics’ phase. Bioware just released their epic RPG – Dragon Age: Origins which was designed from the bottom up to be a spiritual successor to the classic Baldur’s Gate 2. Btw – for those of you who haven’t played Dragon Age: Origins yet – do check it out. It’s one of the best single player RPGs…. ever.

Electronic Arts Embraces the Free to Play MMO Genre

Electronic Arts is one of the first big Western game developers / publishers to embrace the rapidly growing ‘free to play’ micro transaction based industry. Free to play MMORPGs / MMO games are huge in Asia and have only started to become popular here in North America and Europe. The few ‘extremely’ popular free to play game in the West are MapleStory, Shaiya and RuneScape – but that’s about it. Everything else is pretty small – but still growing. Electronic Arts finally entered the free to play business with the launch of Battlefield Heroes – a cartoony MMO third person shooter from the enormously popular ‘Battlefield’ franchise. The game is technically still in the ‘beta’ phase – but it’s still extremely functional and popular. It’s actually one of the best free to play shooters out there.

After the enormous success of Battlefield Heroes – Electronic Arts decided to launch BattleForge – a 3D Fantasy MMORTS / Card game hybrid – as a free to play game. BattleForge was originally developed and planned to be launched as a standalone ‘pay to play’ PC game, but EA made a solid decision in launching it as a free to play title. The fact that the game is free to play allows it to reach a much larger audience. So far from both of these free to play titles have done very well since their launch. Hopefully EA will continue to develop new free to play titles.

Sony actually decided to ‘experiment’ in the free MMO business as well. They launched Free Realms about a year ago and have since enjoyed enormous success with it. Free Realms is a casual / social MMORPG geared towards teens – but just about anyone of any age can enjoy Free Realms. I know Frogster has been on the ball with free to play MMORPGs – as they are the folks behind Gates of Andaron and Runes of Magic – both World of Warcraft clones. They have also developed a whole bunch of browser games. Hopefully though – more Western companies start embracing the free to play industry.

More Story Less Grind - The Big MMORPG Complaint

Most free to play MMORPGs have two things in common – and that’s a lack of story and a whole lot of grind. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if 99% of MMORPGs didn’t suffer from this exact same problem. After playing through Bioware’s dark fantasy epic RPG – Dragon Age: Origins I realized how much depth a good plot can add to a game. Obviously – these low budget free to play games can’t come close to matching anything Bioware can churn out – but it would be a welcomed change to see an MMORPG really ‘try’ to have a story. I know pay to play MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online do have a lot of story – but those are premium high budget games. I’ve yet to see a free to play MMORPG with a solid story. At least us cheap gamers can still play some of these pay to play MMORPGs – as most of them have free trials.

Don’t even get me started about browser games though. As not a single browser game I’ve played has even remotely tried to weave a story. At least free to play MMORPGs make crude, poorly translated attempts. Even more high budget browser MMORPGs like Earth Eternal, Runescape and Adventure Quest Worlds have fairly pathetic in game stories. Even though these games lack a story though – they sure as heck have a lot of one thing – and that’s grind! At least our beloved MMORPG developers have never let us down on that front.

It’s sort of sad to associate the word ‘RPG’ with the term ‘MMORPG’ as traditional single player RPGs are usually rich with story while Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games aren’t. I guess regular ol’ MMO games can be forgiven – as they’re not role playing games. I mean – it makes sense for MMOs like Rumble Fighter, Nanovor and BattleForge to lack in depth stories – as they’re not RPGs. Anyway, that’s enough ranting for now, I guess I’ll have to hope more Western game developers get into the free to play MMORPG business – as Western game companies tend to make ‘higher’ quality games – at least in my opinion.

Latest Wave of Free MMORPGs

In the free to play MMORPG market – it’s really not uncommon for games to…. ‘copy’ each other. It’s actually a rare occasion when a developer goes out on a limb and actually creates something unique – as it’s more profitable these days to just copy popular established games than trying to make something entirely different. One growing trend for free to play game developers lately is to shamelessly copy Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. I say ’shamelessly’ because these games copy nearly every aspect of WoW – from graphics to gameplay. I’m actually really surprised Blizzard isn’t trying to shut these knock offs down – as they’re total WoW clones. Anyway – without further adu here is the WoW clone List!

#1 Runes of Magic – Runes of Magic is free to play shameless WoW clone MMORPG. Probably the most shameless of all of them – as it’s one of the first games to COMPLETELY copy World of Warcraft. Words cannot describe how similar Runes of Magic is to World of Warcraft. The developers must have been running WoW on one computer at all times while developing the game. I guess this isn’t exactly a ‘bad thing’ though as WoW is a good game – so copying a good game and making it free to play is a good thing in my book.

#2 Gates of Andaron – Gates of Andaron, also called 4Story in some parts, is yet another game which was surely inspired by World of Warcraft. Gates of Andaron was developed by a company called Game Forge – who also made Metin 2, Air Rivals, NosTale, Gladiatus and Bite Fight. The game’s graphics and interface are nearly identical to Blizzard’s game and the combat feels unusually similar as well. Though Gates of Andaron isn’t nearly as polished as World of Warcraft the game is still a great alternative – especially since it’s free to play. Personally, I like Runes of Magic a bit more than Gates of Andaron, but both are great games.

#3 Talisman Online - Talisman Online is a relatively old 3D Fantasy MMORPG that was certainly inspired by WoW to a degree. The game isn’t nearly as shameless as Runes of Magic and Gates of Andaron – but anyone who’s played Talisman Online and World of Warcraft should be able to quickly notice the unusual similarity between the games. I do remember the spell icon for frost bolt in Talisman Online was IDENTICAL, not similar… IDENTICAL, to the frost bolt icon in World of Warcraft – and I doubt it was a coincidence.

Hopefully in the near future more game developers focus on creating…. unique games rather than regurgitating more and more clever WoW clones. It would certainly be a welcomed change in the gaming community.