A look at Anime MMORPGs

Since most free to play MMORPGs are developed in the East, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many of them are Anime MMORPGs – visually speaking. In fact, most free to play games available here in the West through publishers like Aeria Games, OG Planet and Alaplaya are all developed in places like South Korea, China and Japan – where Anime is popular. To give you guys a better idea of where these MMOs come from, the most well known Korean MMORPG developers are Nexon (Think Vindictus and MapleStory) and Webzen (Think Soul of the Ultimate Nation). The most well known Chinese MMORPG developers are probably Perfect World Entertainment (Think Jade Dynasty and Battle of the Immortals) and ChangYou (Think Zentia and Dragon Oath). The biggest Japanese MMO developer is probably Square Enix with Final Fantasy 11 and maybe CyberStep with Getamped 2 and CosmicBreak.

Anyway, with so many anime inspired MMORPGs available from the super cute Luna Online to the more serious yet bright themed Cloud Nine, MMO gamers have a lot of choices available to them. In my opinion though the best anime MMORPG is probably MapleStory from Nexon. After that, other great anime inspired MMORPGs are Mabinogi, Fiesta Online, Secret of the Solstice and Grand Chase. I think more than half of the free to play MMORPGs out there are anime inspired. The first free to play MMORPG which I’ve played is Ragnarok Online from Gravity. Back when I played it, it wasn’t free to play, but I played on a private server. The game is free to play now, at least one one official server – Valkyrie. I’m actually not a fan of Japanese anime television / manga, but I still enjoy playing anime inspired games. I really love the art style – more so than realistic games actually. I mean, realistic MMORPGs like Karos Online and Sword 2 are good, but I just prefer the look and feel of anime inspired games more.

There are a lot of other anime MMORPGs which I didn’t mention here. If you know of any awesome ones that I didn’t bring up, leave their names in the comments below! I’m actually currently playing Grand Fantasia from Aeria Games and it’s a lot of fun. It’s definitely one of my favorites!

Soul Master is an Interesting MMORPG

Yeah, I’m dedicating this entire post to an MMORPG called Soul Master from GamesCampus. Why you ask? Simple. It’s one of the most creative / original free to play MMORPGs I’ve ever played. It’s in closed beta as I write this, but I’m very impressed by it. It’s a unique mix between an Action MMORPG, a strategy MMORPG and Pikmin. It may sound a bit weird, but it all works together really nicely. Progression is a bit linear, much like Lunia from ijji and Fists of Fu from Outspark, The progression is actually EXACTLY like Fists of Fu / Dragonica Online, as players need to complete a stage before being able to advance to another one. Come to think of it, it’s just like Dungeon Fighter Online as well. Each level can be played in numerous different difficulty settings. The toughest a level, the more rewarding it is.

I also like the graphics in Soul Master too. They’re anime inspired and bright. I don’t know why, but I have a thing for brightly themed games. I guess it’s why I enjoyed Bright Shadow from GamePot USA and Cloud Nine from Netgame. I also tend to like anime MMORPGs for some reason. It’s weird, because I don’t even watch anime in real life. The fast paced gameplay in Soul Master is actually a lot of fun too. They actually a lot like GhostX from GameKiss, as players can rack up combos with each attack. Come to think of it, I’ve grown very fond of action games lately. I guess the slow paced combat systems in other MMORPGs bores me after playing so many action MMORPGs lately.

Even though Soul Master is in closed beta, I recommend MMORPG Players give the game a try. Even though it’s yet another 3D MMORPG set in a fantasy setting, it’s quite original. You actually have to micro-manage your individual units as well as your character to do well. It’s the only game that mixes action MMORPG elements with strategy. The PvP is really neat too, because it takes an enormous amount of skill. PvP MMORPGs like Aika Online are fun too, but they don’t take a lot of skill. It usually comes down to whoever has the best gear wins, but in Soul Master that isn’t always the case. Sure, better gear helps, but whoever micro-manages better ends up winning. If you already have an Asda Story account, you can use that to log in to Soul Master, as it’s by the same publisher. Anyway, props to the developers behind the game for making something unique.

Anime MMORPG Graphics

Is it just me or do anime MMORPGs just look nicer than realistic 3D MMORPGs. I’ve never been a fan of anime, but I find MMORPGs that have sleek anime graphics to be visually satisfying. Games like Cloud Nine (Netgame) and S4 League (Alaplaya) for example look really awesome. The graphics aren’t at all realistic, but the art style is gorgeous. Not all anime MMORPGs look nice though. MMOs like Grand Chase from Ntreev and Fly For Fun from gPotato don’t look nearly as awesome. I guess its because the graphics in these games are a bit more jagged and low quality. No fault of the publishers of course, as both of these games are quite old now. I can safely say though I prefer Cloud Nine style anime graphics over Runes of Magic style Western cartoony graphics. I don’t think Cloud Nine is a better game than Runes of Magic, but I like the art style much better.

One interesting thing about this issue is that realistic 3D MMORPGs like Karos Online from NHN and Last Chaos from Aeria Games will age much faster. In 5 years these games will look terrible in comparison to the new 3D games, while anime inspired MMORPGs like S4 League will still look good. Obviously newer games will always look better, but my argument is that anime inspired games age better as its much harder to improve anime style graphics than realistic 3D graphics. Here’s some interesting proof. MapleStory which is a 7 year old game now still looks good visually while an older 3D game like Rappelz is beginning to show its age.

Anyone else with me on this? I find it weird that I think this way because I don’t really like anime, but I love anime graphics and characters. Unfortunately there aren’t enough good anime inspired MMORPGs out there. All the best MMORPGs are 3D and more realistic. Think Dungeons and Dragons Online and Allods Online.

Anime MMORPGs Look Great

I don’t know about you guys, but for some reason I really like MMORPGs with anime inspired graphics. I’m not wapanese or anything, but I find brightly themed games to be easier on the eyes. Heck, I don’t even watch anime, but I still like the visuals in anime MMORPGs. Games like Cloud Nine and Lunia look absolutely gorgeous. Sure, these games don’t look nearly as ‘impressive’ as 3D MMORPGs with realistic graphics (ie.. Atlantica Online and Karos Online), but they’re just overall more pleasant to look at. Don’t get me wrong, both Atlantica Online and Karos Online are top notch games, but I just prefer the visuals in Cloud Nine over any 3D other 3D game.

If you look at all the MMORPGs out there, the most successful ones seem to be either ‘western cartoony’ or anime inspired. Games that try to have realistic graphics (ie.. Age of Conan and EverQuest 2) aren’t doing so hot. To be fair though, there are boatloads of free to play games with anime inspired graphics that are also doing rather poorly, but my point is some of the most successful games have brightly themed cartoony graphics. A few examples off the top of my head are MapleStory, Runes of Magic, Allods Online and even World of Warcraft. MapleStory is easily one of the most successful free to play MMORPGs on the entire market. Its a very simple 2D MMORPG with side scrolling gameplay.

One reason why ‘cartoony’ games tend to do well is that they age better than realistic games. EverQuest for example looked great when it was originally released back in ~2000, but the game looks terrible today. MapleStory on the other hand, looked fine when it was released in 2003 and still looks fine even today. Since release the game’s graphics haven’t changed one bit. Heck, they don’t need to change because ‘cartoony’ graphics, especially 2D graphics don’t seem to age as fast as realistic 3D MMORPGs.

What do you guys think? Which do you prefer Anime / Cartoony graphics or realistic 3D graphics?