S4 League Review - One Man's Look into this Sci-Fi Shooter

S4 league is a brightly animated, anime-inspired 3rd person lobby-based MMO shooter from AeriaGames. The game was formerly published by Alaplaya, but Aeria acquired the game after a 2014 merger. Gameplay is extremely fast paced, players are able to select a wide variety of looks for their character, and there are numerous weapons available, ranging from conventional guns to a scythe. This game is available in North America, South America, Europe, and most of Asia through Aeria Games. There are no IP blocks so everyone can enjoy the game on the same service.

S4 League First Impressions:
The game opens with a very, very crisp looking logo and goes straight to a tutorial introducing the controls and various game modes. After completing the tutorial, the game has the player enter their ID. The actual story is almost completely irrelevant and isn't ever really addressed.
Players can select from 7 different game types, not including a practice mode. The gameplay is unique in its own way, especially when the character is sprinting, and is reminiscent of Destiny (although this game predates Destiny by a half decade). In terms of a visual style, the characters and their texturing have an anime feel, but possess nostalgic Final Fantasy-like qualities as well. S4 League's art style is what really sets it apart from other MMO shooters.

S4 League does what most games aspire to do in terms of character customization. Male and Female are the main selections, but after that, the options are nearly endless. Many players will go for straight Final Fantasy copies, with many characters emulating Lightning or Cloud, but others will go for entirely unique looks with brightly colored hair and eye catching outfits. These clothing and skin options also offer stat changes ( as well as a unique look. This aspect of the game continues to improve as the game updates because the game's creators offer little gifts with each update called “capsules”. These capsules have a variety of gifts in them from outfits to weapon skins. It can be something as simple as a new look for your character or it could be a substantial HP boost with a piece of clothing. They're also available when your team is victorious in certain game modes. This adds a new level of depth that most games simply don't have.

The maps are laid out appropriately for each game mode, but it's nothing special. With game modes like Touchdown, which is essentially a capture the flag game mode, larger maps keep things more balanced, while other modes like Deathmatch are much smaller and meant to keep the game fast paced and exciting. There's also a map series that the game designers have kept going through the duration of the game's existence, so it is nice that the game keeps in touch with its roots.
The texturing and color is fantastic, but the game did experience problems in terms of changing framerate, causing it to lag and question the integrity of the players in the lobbies. Meaning that the players in that match are cheating and it's really obvious. Games that were free of players modding didn't have this problem.

Shadowing as a whole was ok, but slightly inconsistent. For example, if a player uses a larger melee weapon such as a sword and runs around the edge of a wall, it will poke through the walls and make some odd shapes on the ground; like a shadow that runs the opposite direction of where the light is coming from.

Lastly, the sound is spot on. I had just normal earbud headphones and found the sound to be very balanced and not too loud. The announcer at the beginning of each mode is a nice addition to the stellar editing and soundtrack that the game possesses.

Gameplay Summary:
S4 League is very fast and very intense, right from the get-go. From the time the announcer introduces the game mode, a player will no they're in for something crazy with the fast-paced, well-orchestrated music. New players may struggle initially, but the concept “thrown to the wolves” is very appropriate when discussing this game. Since the game requires characters to progress based on match experience or premium purchases, it may be a bit disheartening to a new player, but it is manageable. The fast paced action reminds me of GunZ 2 or the original GunZ.

Another fun quality about this game is even though it's a sci-fi action shooter, players that prefer melee weapons can use things such as a shield breaker or an energy sword instead of a rifle or machine gun. Fortunately, with the ability to rapidly switch weapons, most players will find they prefer a hybrid style rather than just a brute or assassin-like style. This is most true when a player utilizes the sprint/slow time feature while playing. It's what propels most players toward a kill move and really separates who gets the kill and who is left waiting to spawn.

Practice mode is definitely recommended, especially if a player prefers a traditional gun, just to get used to the firing and targeting system. Another way to get accustomed to the controls would be play a less strenuous mode such as Touchdown, that way the player can gradually feel the game out without getting killed regularly as they would in a deathmatch.

Minor Details:
Although the majority of the players are honest and play normally, there are more than a few hackers out there who will make the gameplay experience quite frustrating.

Premium play isn't a requirement, but it certainly does seem to help a lot of players. These players act normal and play normally, they simply have better skins and weapons. Again, similarly to the hackers, this can be slightly discouraging to a new player. However, it will eventually balance out as a player gains experience and makes substantial upgrades to their characters and their abilities. Some things don't necessarily make sense, like a shirt carrying a weapon boost or If you're a new player, expect a wait when you're first joining a lobby. Some of the lobbies such as deathmatch or siege are full of clan players. Since this isn't the largest MMO community out there, it can take some time to get a match.

Conclusion:
S4 League is a good game that could be a great game with a few simple fixes to the community and player matching system. The game itself is wonderful and I experienced no problems until I actually started interacting in matchmaking.

The game needs a few more maps, that's a definitive answer. While game modes like Chaser and Deathmatch have a good selection, some other modes like Touchdown will get repetitive with the lack of variety. Still, S4 offers unique gameplay unlike traditional tactical shooters like Alliance of Valiant Arms and CrossFire.

Those looking to rank up quickly will have to be persistent. As the old saying goes, “practice, practice, practice.” That really is the best way to address the gap between seasoned players and veterans. Learning corners and being an intelligent player will reap its own rewards.

This is a good game, but some of the players are broken and it really is distracting. Whether it's through a boot option or a new reporting system, hackers and modders need to be taken out of this game. Players shouldn't affect a game that much, but the inability to even spawn safely in some modes completely took me out of the game. The game plays the way it is intended to and is good for consecutive hours of playing. In addition to a great soundtrack, the actual story is super intriguing and I highly suggest looking up some of the fan art and accompanying stories that have come to fruition because of this game.

Side Scrolling MMORPGs 4TW

Why is it that just about every side scrolling MMORPG has been very successful? For a long while MapleStory from Nexon was the only side scrolling MMORPG on the block – at least until Ndoors decided to embrace the sub genre with their WonderKing game. Ndoors is probably best known for the turn based MMORPG Atlantica Online, and that’s it. I think a few months after Ndoors released WonderKing, Nexon actually bought the entire company. I think it’s because Nexon saw WonderKing as a thread to MapleStory’s dominance. It’s safe to say that after Runescape from Jagex, MapleStory is the most profitable and most popular free to play MMORPG on the market. WonderKing isn’t nearly as big of a success as MapleStory has been, but the game definitely carved out its own slice of the 2D MMORPG market.

WonderKing isn’t the only new side scrolling MMORPG to release chasing after MapleStory’s success. Fists of Fu from OutSpark is a 2D action MMORPG that’s trying to mix MapleStory and Dragon Saga style gameplay. Whether it’ll be successful or not remains unknown – as the game launched into open beta recently. I doubt it’ll be as successful as Outspark’s flagship anime MMORPG Fiesta Online. For those that didn’t know Fiesta Online is by far the most successful game OutSpark has. I think Secret of the Solstice (The Ragnarok Online clone they have) is their second most popular, but Fiesta is leaps and bounds ahead of Secret of the Solstice. They pretty much abandoned their other MMORPGs – Project Powder and Wind Slayer. They for sure abandoned Dance Groove Online and Blackshot. Hopefully these two games launch through another publisher.

Aside from the growth of side scrolling MMORPGs, games like Forsaken World from Perfect World Entertainment and War of Angels from Neowiz have attracted quite a bit of attention. Many Perfect World, Battle of the Immortals and Jade Dynasty fans have been flocking to try Forsaken World. Too bad the game is still in phase 1 closed beta, with full release being severla years in the future. Suba Games has been pushing Mission Against Terror quite hard lately. I just wish they’d get around to releasing Priston Tale 2 sometime soon, as that game has been on hiatus forever. The worst thing about it is that it’s already released in Europe through Gamerkraft, who also publishes FreeJack. I’m also waiting for Netmarble to release Koongya Adventure in the U.S. Instead of releasing it, they recently launched Uncharted Waters Online instead. It’s not a terrible game, but it’s too much like Voyage Century for my taste. On the positive side, Uncharted Waters Online is one of the only Japanese MMORPGs out there. Yeah, it’s developed in Japan. I think Lucent Heart (Beanfun) and Dynasty Warriors Online (Aeria Games) are some of the only other Japanese MMORPGs.

Anyway, I’m getting side tracked here. I think it’s clear that side scrolling MMORPGs are incredibly popular. I suspect that both WonderKing and Fists of Fu will prove to be a success in the near future.

Where Are all the Japanese MMORPGs?

Japan has always been big on both video games and anime, but they’ve been very weak in MMORPGs. Japanese game developers like Square Enix and Konami are world renowned for their triple A games, but it seems like Japan is well behind countries like South Korea and China in the MMORPG space. Sure Square Enix has Final Fantasy 11 and Final Fantasy 14, but it seems like out of the 200+ free to play MMORPGs available in the U.S. Only a handful of them are Japanese developed. Games like Uncharted Waters Online from NetMarble and GetAmped2 from Cyber Step are Japanese developed, but for every Japanese developed MMORPG I can name a dozen Korean ones. The video game industry in Japan is big. And by big, I mean HUGE. Two of the biggest video game companies are based in Japan – Nintendo and Sony. To be fair, Sony Online Entertainment does have several MMORPGs in North America – Like Vanguard, Pirates of the Burning Seas, EverQuest 2 and numerous other titles – but none of these games were actually developed in Japan. So it wouldn’t be fair to call them Japanese MMORPGs.

So why isn’t Japan big on MMORPGs? I think it’s because they’re not great at developing these kinds of games. Don’t get me wrong – I love Japanese console games, but I’ve tried playing Uncharted Waters Online and strongly disliked it. Mostly because the interface sucked. Fantasy Earth Zero, which is published by GamePot USA is also one of the few Japanese developed MMOs in the U.S. The game isn’t bad, but it’s really old. The graphics just look ridiculously out dated. CosmicBreak unfortunately suffers from the same problem. The game is decent, but it just looks REALLY old. Pandora Saga looks a bit nicer, but it’s not at all popular in the U.S. – but that’s because it’s being published in Malaysia. U.S. Users can still access it though, because there aren’t any IP blocks in place.

The problem with Japanese MMORPGs is that they’re all incredibly old. Final Fantasy 14 and Dynasty Warriors Online are the newest MMORPGs developed in Japan. The rest of the titles available in North America are just really old games re-launching in North America. I actually had a chance to play the Final Fantasy 14 beta, and I was very disappointed. The game suffers from the same problem Uncharted Waters Online has – a terrible interface. Aside from the clunky interface, there’s a ton of lag while navigating the menus, that it’s just frustrating to play FF14. Hopefully Square Enix fixes these issues before launch. I Can’t say the same thing about Chinese MMORPGs. I mean, sure some Chinese developers like EnjoyMMO and TQ Digital make low quality games, but Perfect World Entertainment and ChangYou are well known for their very high quality titles. Forsaken World for example looks absolutely incredible – and I have no doubt that the game will be successful, as the company’s other games have been a big hit – See Perfect World, Jade Dynasty and Battle of the Immortals.

Anyway. Hopefully we can see some more Japanese MMORPGs here in the West.

Why Are Some New MMOs Terrible?

You’d think as time goes on and technology improves, newer MMOs would be…. better? I’m not talking about gameplay, as whether a game is good in terms of gameplay is completely subjective. I’m talking about a game’s graphics and mechanics. Just look at Mission Against Terror from Subagames which just launched in North America in September 2010. I hate to say this, but the game is absolute trash. You may be thinking – sure it released in North America in 2010, but it could have been available in Asia for much longer, much like Digimon Battle from WeMade Entertainment, Monster Forest from AsiaSoft, and Uncharted Waters Online from Netmarble. – but that’s not the case here. Mission Against Terror LAUNCHED in Asia in late 2009, making the game less than a year old.

That means Mission Against Terror is newer than Alliance of Valiant Arms from ijji, newer than Wolfteam from Softnyx, newer than Combat Arms from Nexon and much newer then S4 League from Alaplaya, but if you looked at the game you’d think it was at least 7 years old. Visually, the game stinks. Unfortunately, we like to pretend graphics don’t matter, but graphics do matter. How about in terms of gameplay? Wolfteam and Combat Arms each have 25+ weapons available in their item stores, Mission Against Terror has like 8. In terms of level designs, the game fails even more. The game’s developer – Kingsoft just COPIED, literally copied, the famous De_Dust2 map from Counter-Strike. I’m not suggesting that the two maps are similar, I’m saying there are identical – because they are. What about the game’s music? Sure, I didn’t go into the game expecting a splendid musical score like the ones I found in Ragnarok Online or Sword 2, but I expected something. To my surprise, the game literally stole the Pirates of the Caribbean main theme. It plays in the background randomly while you’re gaming. How shameless can you get?

Mission Against Terror, sadly, isn’t the only new game to disappoint. Avalon Heroes from Alaplaya also sucked. Erebus Travia Reborn and Fists of Fu from Outspark were both bad games too. I say bad because there are better alternatives to all of these games. Fists of Fu isn’t a terrible game by itself, but compared to very similar games like Dragonica Online from Gravity, Fists of Fu does suck. If Dragonica didn’t exist, Fists of Fu would be decent. I know this article was a bit negative and I’m not always so angry, but seriously – Mission Against Terror is such a bad game it hurts.

I’ll end this post with a bit more positive stuff. Company of Heroes Online from THQ is a blast. I played the game during its beta and really enjoyed it. If you never heard of it, it’s basically Company of Heroes (The retail PC game), except with more features. Yeah, they made it completely free to play and added more features. Craft of Gods recently went free to play and it’s a decent game too. I would never consider paying for it, since it’s a pay to play MMORPG gone free to play, it’s decent.

Do Graphics really matter in MMORPGs?

I’ve been playing MMORPGs since Ultima Online first released in 1998. Lately I’ve been more into free to play games, but I’ve been around the block quite a bit on both the free to play and pay to play neighborhoods. I absolutely loved Ultima Online, which is was by Origins Systems but is now by Electronic Arts. After quitting it I moved onto EverQuest from Sony Online Entertainment and Dark Age of Camelot from Mythic. Two other pay to play titles. It wasn’t until after I quit World of Warcraft that I got into free to play games. The first one I really liked was Ragnarok Online from Gravity, and it certainly did not have good graphics. In fact, I think it’s safe to say Ragnarok Online has much worse graphics than most MMORPGs. It’s a 3D game but with 2D sprites. After playing and enjoying Ragnarok Online I played a bunch of other free to play games.

LaTale from OGPlanet and WonderKing from Ndoors are examples of two other good MMORPGs with low end graphics. These two games naturally have bad graphics because they’re 2D side scrolling MMORPGs. Both of these games are critically acclaimed, but they have really old graphics. On the other hand, gorgeous looking fantasy MMORPGs like Neo Online from PlayOMG and Neo Steam from Atlus Online are okay games at best, even though they have solid graphics. I don’t think there is any correlation between how good a game’s graphics are and how good the actual game is. Of course there are good games with great graphics (think Atlantica Online, Mytheon and Forsaken World for example). I’m just tired of people saying that good graphics are the most important aspect of a game, when gameplay is much more important.

I think far too many games today are focusing more on graphics instead of gameplay, when in reality gameplay is much more important. Look at Battle of the Immortals from Perfect World Entertainment for example. It focuses much more on gameplay than anything else and it succeeds. It’s a really popular free MMORPG and actually one of the best MMORPGs out there. Why you ask? Because the developers care more about gameplay than graphics. The graphics in it are second rate at best, but the gameplay feels a bit like Diablo 2, which is incredibly fun. Maybe I’m just a sucker for action MMORPGs, but I really do like Battle of the Immortals. It has an awesome MMORPG Pet system and a large game world.

MMORPG Playerbase is Important

I hate signing into a shiny new free to play MMORPG and seeing the game’s servers completely empty. This applies for MMO games as well. I remember logging into Martial Empires (It’s a sequel to Martial Heroes) from Gamigo the other day, and I was pleased to see a very active in game world. Players running around grinding and completing quests everywhere. The game also let players speak in global world chat, so it was always easy to communicate with others while grinding. Plus a trade channel made commerce in the game really easy. I found the global chat to be a lot of fun, as just talking to others was a way to keep myself busy while I completed quests. Unfortunately after Gamigo announced they would ban all U.S. Ips from accessing the game, so I stopped playing it.

After I stopped playing Martial Empires, I downloaded Beach Volleyball Online from a new MMO publisher – Digital Radiance Entertainment. As the name suggests, the game is a volleyball themed MMO and its the only one out there. After playing FIFA Online and Project Powder, I’ve grown to like sports MMOs. I didn’t like Beach Volleyball Online at all though. The core gameplay feels slow paced and broken. The graphics are also terribly glitchy and on the low end. Where the game fails the most though is its incredibly low playerbase. The game markets itself as both a sports MMO and a social game, but unfortunately with such a small playerbase, it is by no means a social MMO. It kinda tries to do what ShowUp did with the whole social aspect on top of the core gameplay.

After uninstalling Beach Volleyball Online I downloaded and installed Blade Wars – the new 2D MMORPG from ChangYou. It looks and plays a lot like Dragon Oath, except with a cool combo based combat system. The core gameplay was pretty fun, but the game had a terribly low playerbase. Seriously. I hate playing empty games, because I feel as if I’m playing them for no reason. I’d much rather play a game with an incredibly high playerbase but poor graphics and gameplay than a great game with no players. That’s just me though.

There’s a reason I go back to playing games like Alliance of Valiant Arms, S4 League and League of Legends when I get bored of other games. It’s because they all have very healthy playerbases. They’re popular games that are rarely empty.

Sci-fi MMORPGs – The Untapped Genre

There are a ton of great fantasy MMORPGs. Games like Allods Online, Aika Online and Twelve Sky 2 just to name a few. There are so many great fantasy MMORPGs out there, both 3D and 2D. The problem is though, there are very few other types of MMORPGs. Fantasy games seem to be the standard amongst free to play MMORPGs. I’d actually love to see more sci-fi themed games, as I’m a huge fan of Sci-fi in general. Some of my favorite television shows include FireFly, Star Trek, Babylon 5 and so on. I know Cyrptic has Star Trek Online, but from what I’ve heard it stinks. I know there are a few other random Sci-fi MMORPGs like RF Online and Megaten, but both games leave me wanting more.

RF Online used to be a pay to play game but it went free to play. After it went free to play, the game sorta went no where. A lot of pay to play games that went free to play became super successful, especially Dungeons and Dragons Online, but other games like Archlord (Webzen) and FusionFall (Cartoon Network) have done decently as well. RF Online is sort of a joke now, because when you first create your character, you start off with some of the best weapons in the game, so you can 1 shot everything and anything near the newbie areas. In fact, I found myself 1 shotting enemies significantly higher level than my character. Starting off with absurdly powerful gear is pretty stupid, because it ruins progression in the game. I remember completing a quest that gave me a new weapon that did 100-120 damage, but my started weapon did 2350-3205. Seriously. What’s the point? The leveling is really fast too, because of your absurdly powerful weapon. It felt a bit like Tantra Online, as that game also has really fast experience.

There are a few decent sci-fi themed MMORPGs like GhostX from GameKiss and Anarchy Online from Funcom, but unfortunately no real triple A titles. There are a bunch of low quality 2D sci-fi MMORPGs as well. Games like 2029 Online and Galaxy Online from IGG. These game’s aren’t terrible, but they’re low quality, and it shows. I don’t think anything is as bad as Age of Armor from Snail Games or Project of Planets. Is there future of MMORPGs really more fantasy games? I really think the sci-fi genre is the most untapped in the MMORPG space. There’s only so much you can do with the fantasy theme (Orcs. Goblins, Warriors, Mages…). With Sci-fi developers can do so much more. You could call Eve Online a triple-A title, but it’s a pay to play game. I’d like to see a triple-A free to play sci-fi MMORPG!

MMORPGs That Will Never Release

I hate seeing awesome new MMORPGs sitting in perpetual closed beta, or perpetual “coming” soon status. Some of the games I’ve been waiting for will unfortunately never see the light of day. One of those games is Dance Groove Online from OutSpark. The game had its first closed beta 7 months ago, but since then there’s been zero update. The official site says “open beta coming soon” but it’s been that way for 7 months now. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to launch anytime soon. This sorta sucks, as I’m a fan of games like Audition Online from T3Fun and even Dance Online from Acclaim. These rhythm based dancing MMOs are surprisingly fun. I was looking forward to Dance Groove Online because the game was developed by Electronic Arts, so it was bound to be very high quality, as EA’s other free to play games including FIFA Online and BattleForge are quite amazing. It seems like Outspark will never launch Dance Groove Online, just like they never launched Blackshot and Erebus: Travia Reborn.

Another MMORPG that looks like it’ll never release is Huxley: The Dystopia from ijji. I’d bet anything that this game will never come out. The game was originally designed and planned out as a console FPS, but for some reason decided to be a pay to play MMOFPS. In its latest development the game decided to be free to play and announced that ijji would publish it. After two closed beta, the game has been in “coming soon” mode for over 5 months now. This is too bad, especially since Huxley looked pretty original compared to ijji’s other MMO shooters, which include Soldier Front, Genesis A.D, Karma: Operation Barbarossa and Alliance of Valinat Arms. The reason why Huxley was different is that it had persistent world MMO elements and actual RPG style progression. The only other game like that was PlanetSide from Sony Online Entertainment and that is a pay to play game with a free trial.

Yet another game that’s likely to never release is Altis Gates from IGG. It’s supposed to be some cool new turn based MMORPG, but its open beta has been delayed twice now and the second time it has been delayed “indefinitely”. When Open betas MMOs get delayed, it’s never a good sign. Hero:108 Online delayed its open beta for only one day just recently, but when a game delays “indefinitely” it’s always a bad sign. Uforia recently delayed Camon Hero indefinitely, so I’m a bit upset about that. Camon Hero looked awesome, but I haven’t lost hope on that one yet. I’m starting to get worried about Land of Chaos Online from Alaplaya, which has no defined open beta date. Not having a clear beta schedule is also a bad sign.

If I missed any other MMORPGs that will never release, let me know in the comments.

Back to S4 League and Combat Arms!

I tried getting into Eve Online the other day, but once again failed. This is like my fourth failure, as I’ve downloaded and installed the game four times now only to quit within a few days. Luckily I can try the MMORPG free trial every time, so it doesn’t cost any money. Luckily, every time I quit playing an MMORPG I can always go back to playing S4 League and Combat Arms. Two MMOFPS games that have been my “fall back” games for quite a while. Whenever I get bored of playing an game, I just go back to these two titles and I’m good to go. I’ve been playing these games for years and yet S4 League from Alaplaya and Combat Arms from Nexon keep me coming back for more. It doesn’t really make much sense, as you’d imagine an MMOFPS would get boring after a while, but it just never does. Of course I try new games as well, it’s just that when I quit playing the new MMOs I try, I can always go back to these games and have fun!

I remember going through like five random new MMORPGs in one day. I played Neo Online, Pet Forest, and Azuga: Age of Chaos from PlayOMG and unfortunately none of them kept my attention. I played them for a few hours each actually, so I gave them a fair chance. Then I jumped right into Luna Online from gPotato. I already had an account with them back when I used to play Rappelz, so trying Luna Online was convenient. Luna was a bit weird though. The game played off as a cute MMORPG, and the whole cuteness of it made the game feel awkward, as players were younger kids, but NPCs were adults. I dunno. I just felt I couldn’t connect with the world. Right after playing and quitting all of these games I jumped in MapleStory from Nexon, which is my third “fall back” MMORPG. A game that I feel I could play often without ever getting tired. MapleStory is my favorite side scrolling MMORPG by far and also my favorite 2D MMORPG. The game just has so much to do, it’s hard to get bored of it!

I honestly can’t answer why these games are entertaining, even after I’ve played them to death. Even after playing Atlantica Online from Ndoors for months, I was able to jump right into S4 League for some instant fun. The thing about MMOs that make them so fun, is that you can jump right into them. MMORPGs on the other hand, you need to grind for a while before you can get to the fun late game content which includes PvP and raiding. In PvP MMORPGs like Kingdom Heroes and Aika Online, you need to play for a month at least before you can experience the fun PvP content towards the mid-end game. So players do need to commit a lot of time to those games before they can get to the fun bits.

I’m sure some of you guys have your own “fall back” or “back up” MMOs / MMORPGs as well? Mine are S4 League, Combat arms and to a degree MapleStory. What are yours?

Downloading Eve Online.. Again

I’m going to give Eve Online another chance. I just created my 14 day MMO free trial account and I’m downloading the game right now. I’m downloading at a cool 3MB/s so my client should be done in 13 minutes. Eve Online is a gave I’ve always wanted to get into, but for some reason never could. Twice I quit the game before finishing its tutorial. Yeah, the game is that intimidating. I’ve read a lot about it on MMORPG review sites and aside from Ultima Onlineback in 1999 it is by far the most ‘open” and PvP heavy pay to play MMORPG ever. Players can kill each other just about anywhere in the universe. Neat huh? Unfortunately even though Eve Online sounds really cool it has one of the steepest learning curves ever.

One aspect of the game I dislike is that older accounts are ALWAYS more powerful than newer one. The skill progression system is pretty random. Players gain skill all the time, even when they’re logged off with no max skill cap. With the amount of skills in the game, it’s impossible for anyone to master them all, so players tend to specialize. I mean, you could master them all, but it would take like 20+ years. Older accounts have ultimately more learned skills than newer ones – no matter what. Most MMORPGs including free to play ones like Gates of Andaron from GameForge,Neo Steam from Atlus Online and even Magic World Online from EnjoyMMO are built so no player late game is more powerful than others. The whole older accounts have more skills thing is pretty silly in my opinion. Luckily though, there are so many skill trees, it doesn’t make sense for anyone to even TRY learning everything. EVERYONE specializes, so a 1 month old player could have more skill in one type of skill than a player who has been playing for years.

Eve Online has so many interesting aspects that I really want to dive into. The game supposedly has one of the coolest in game economies ever. Even more so than Luminary: Rise of the Goonzufrom ijji, which had a stellar in game economy. Heck, I remember reading a big Eve Online bank scandal in The New York Times. How many other big in game scams get published in such a reputable paper? None. Eve Online also has a massive Corporation vs Corporation PvP system. Players can band together and form Corps which are guilds in game. These Corps can band together to form alliances, and alliances can control various outposts and territory in space. It’s not uncommon for thousands of ships to be in one area at once to battle it out. Yeah, Thousands of players. The only other game with that kind of massive PvP is Aika Online from gPotato, which boasts 1000 vs 1000 PvP.

Anyway folks. I’m almost done with my free trial download. I’ll make sure to let you know if I get passed the free trial this time!

Playing MMORPGs in Korea

One of my buddies here in the U.S. Is moving to Korea later this year. Sorta sucks, but at least I can still talk to him via skype and play MMOs like Dragon Oath and Neo Steam with him. Internet 4tw I guess. Korea is pretty awesome considering all of these free to play MMORPGs originate there. Well not all of them, but most, as Electronic Arts recently entered the free to play arena with FIFA Online and Battleforge. Even Sony Online Entertainment began embracing free to play with Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures. Some of my favorite free to play MMORPG companies though are Korean. Companies like NCSoft and Netgame for example are high quality MMO developers. NCSoft is probably best known for Guild Wars and Aion while Netgame is better known for Hero Online, Scions of Fate and Cloud Nine.

Come to think of it… a lot of the MMORPGs I play are developed in China. I used to think 99% of free to play MMOs came from Korea, but chinese developers like Perfect World Entertainment (Ether Saga Online, Jade Dynasty, Etc) and ChangYou (Dragon Oath and blade Wars) are pretty big companies. Perfect World Entertainment is huge in China and probably one of the biggest MMO companies in the U.S as well with their American division. So I guess its sort of a misconception that free to play MMOs are exclusively from Korea! Chinese MMORPGs are big too!

Anyway. I bet there are a lot of awesome MMOs available in Korea that aren’t out in the U.S. Yet. I know Netmarble (Korean MMO company) launched a global English portal, but they only have one game available at the moment – Mini Fighter Online. The Korean portal on the other hand has games like Koongya Adventure, Wego and numerous other titles that haven’t even been announced in the U.S. Yet. Vindictus is already available in Open Beta in Korea through Nexon as well. That game is highly anticipated here in the States, but it won’t be released until Fall, 2010. So North American and European users will have to wait. I guess one of the perks of living in Korea is that there are a lot more free to play games available. I wonder if pay to play games in the U.S. Like Lineage 2 and Aion are free to play in Korea? I think they actually might be.

Anyway. Yeah. Living in Korea sounds pretty interesting, but it would sorta be impossible for me, as I don’t even know the language. My buddy who’s moving there is Korean so it makes sense for him. Anyway, I’m about to go play some League of Legends with my Korean buddy.

Social MMORPGs Are Ridiculous

I tried playing one of those social MMORPGs the other day. I think it was Secret Builders and the game was so bad it’s ridiculous. There are so many browser based MMORPGs out there with an emphasis on social interaction. Games like Littlest Pet Shop Online, Habbo and OurWorld for example play almost exactly like Secret Builders. Players simply walk around and, get this, chat. That’s it. All of these games rely on people interacting and chatting with each other. I mean, the game has a cool historic component to it, where you can learn history by completing quests, but I predict no one actually cares about this bit.

I can’t believe so many people play these games. When I played Secret Builders, the game was absolutely packed. Every single map in the game had players in it. Think about Secret Builders is, it’s not really a game. In 3D MMORPGs like Soul of the Ultimate Nation from ijji and Rappelz from gPotato, you can at least kill monsters and gain levels in standard MMORPG fashion. In these social MMORPGs though, the only thing you can really do is talk with others. Unfortunately, since these games are designed simply for chatting, most guys look for girls to talk, but these people don’t realize that there aren’t any girls on the internet, so they’re just wasting their time.

I wouldn’t mind these games so much if they had more things to do. At least social MMOs like Gaia Online and eRepublik have a purpose. Same with ShowUp from Snail Games. It’s a dancing MMO but with a social component – not a social MMO with a bunch of crappy flash games on the side. I guess on the positive side Secret Builders has a housing component to it same as OurWorld, which is a good way to stay busy, but I feel these games don’t offer enough to “do”. I gave both of these games a sincere attempt, but I couldn’t stay hooked on either. I’m not condemning these MMOs, as they do have larger playerbases, so people clearly see things in these social MMOs.

If you have any social MMOs – enlighten me. What am I missing? Why do you guys play these games?

MMORPGs With a Twist

I’m tired of playing cookie-cutter fantasy MMORPGs like Last Chaos and Grand Fantasia from Aeria Games. Now these games aren’t terrible, but they aren’t original either. When I play generic fantasy games, I always feel as if “I’ve been here before”. Class names, environments and gameplay mechanics just feel way too similar. It’s not just fantasy games either. I’m tired of playing very basic MMORPGs that do nothing to push the genre forward. I want to play games that are genuinely different, because as is most games are way too similar to each other. Luckily there are MMOs and MMORPGs out there that satisfy my desire for creativity.

Games like Savage 2 and League of Legends for example are top notch original titles. Savage 2 is a unique mix of third person shooter and MMO strategy. The game is broken down into two teams – the Beasts and the Legion. Basically humans vs monsters. Each side has 1 player called the commander who plays in a top down real time strategy style camera view, like in Starcraft and Age of Empires. The commander is responsible for spending the team’s resources on constructing buildings, researches and defenses. The players on the team are the foot soldiers who must secure resource and strategic points. It’s a game that requires a lot of team work and even though it sounds complicated, it’s not. It’s a really easy game to learn that everyone should check out. The second game I mentioned is League of Legends from Riot Games. It plays like DotA from Warcraft 3, except with much crisper graphics. The visuals are definitely anime inspired, but they look gorgeous. They’re more “Western” anime than Eastern, sort of like Battlefield Heroes from Electronic Arts and Team Fortress 2 from Valve. The gameplay is very complicated, but it’s a really fun game that’s worth learning.

Another MMORPG with a twist is Land of Chaos Online from Alaplaya. It’s called Loco for short and plays a lot like League of Legends. It’s actually League of Legends meets Savage 2, as the gameplay is done entirely in third person. It’s an action MMORPG as well, so combat is always fun and interactive. No boring point and click stuff. The game is still in closed beta, so there are a lot of bugs, but from my experience with the game, it’s a very original title. I can’t decide if I want to recommend it yet, because I get a lot of lag in the game. It’s weird, because I don’t lag at all in Florensia, which is also published by Alaplaya.

On the more traditional MMORPG front, I recently played Neo Steam from Atlus Online and Kingdom Heroes from Aeria Games. Both are neat titles, but I liked Neo Steam a bit more. The game is largely a traditional fantasy game with Steampunk MMORPG elements. Come to think of it, Steampunk is a very under utilized setting that deserves more exposure. Kingdom Heroes is a fun game too. The game’s soldier system adds some variety to the otherwise bland grind oriented genre. The game’s intense PvP keeps things interesting too.

Anyway guys. I definitely recommend checking out the games mentioned in this piece. If you know of any other MMORPGs with a twist, leave their names in the comments.

Browser MMORPGs Worth Playing

There are easily thousands of browser based MMORPGs out there, but most of them are garbage. Obviously with so many games some at least a handful of have to be good. I’ve actually played hundreds of them and out of all the browser games, not counting the mega popular RuneScape, I’ve played one of the best is Dark Orbit from BigPoint. I’m not the only one that thinks this either. The game has some 30,000+ players online at any given time. I believe the only other browser MMO with this kind of playerbase is RuneScape, but I’m excluding that from this list because everyone already knows about it. I’m trying to list games that you guys may not have played and should play. Other than Dark Orbit, another really neat browser game is Pirate Galaxy. It’s actually a really new game but has incredible 3D graphics. It’s a sci-fi MMORPG as well that has some of the best graphics of any browser game ever. Seriously though, it has better graphics than Earth Eternal and Fusionfall which are other good looking browser games.

Next up on my list of browser MMORPGs worth playing are a few strategy MMORPGs. Odds are most of you have heard of or even played Evony, as they’ve been advertising EVERYWHERE. But have you guys heard of War of Legends or even The Seventh Dragon? There are so many other good browser based strategy MMORPGs out there. Games like Caesary, Tribal Wars and Travian for example are all well worth checking out if you’re into the whole strategy genre. Many of these games are actually better than Evony, because they have more variety.

Another really awesome browser game that’s worth playing is Adventure Quest Worlds from Artix Entertainment. It’s a surprisingly in depth fully fledged MMORPG on the browser. Like Dark Orbit, the game has tens of thousands of players online at any given time. I find that incredibly impressive for a browser game. Plus, the game has so much content as well as a high level cap. Adventure Quest Worlds is one of those games you can sink a hundred hours into and still have a lot left undone.

I hope you found this list at least somewhat helpful. Go try one of the games I mentioned, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. If you have any other good games worth mentioning let me know.

Eudemons Online vs Conquer Online - MMORPG Comparison

TQ Digital publishes a bunch of free to play 2D MMORPGs, but out of all their games I think Eudemons Online and Conquer Online are the best, with Zero Online a close behind. Eudemons Online focuses more on pet based gameplay while Conquer Online is more of a PvP MMORPG. Both games have only a handful of playable classes, but they’re both good MMORPGs if you can look past their graphics. People looking for really nice 3D MMORPGs with top notch graphics won’t be a fan of either game, but those who actually care about fun gameplay will likely enjoy both games.

Graphically speaking both games are extremely similar. In fact, I would say that both games run on the exact same graphics engine – in the same way Dragon Oath and Blade Wars run off the same graphics engine. So neither game really wins any points in this department. Plus, both games are 2D meaning that the developer spent more effort on gameplay than graphics.

Gameplay wise I feel that Eudemons is much faster paced. The experience rate is fast paced, so players will be able to get to the fun late game content in a relatively short period of time. In Conquer Online, it’s the opposite. Leveling up takes a while, but players have a stronger sense of progression, as each level feels more rewarding. The skill system in both games are pretty similar and the core gameplay mechanics are also very similar.

In terms of system requirements, both games can run easily on lower end machines. I believe the system requirements only a demand a Pentium 3 CPU and a low end graphics card. The benefit of a game with low end system requirements is that the game is more accessible by players. Games like MapleStory from Nexon and RuneScape from Jagexy are as successful as they are because they have low system requirements.

Both games are fun and worth checking out. I prefer Eudemons Online over Conquer Online, both games are worth the download.

Bad Team Mates in MMOs

Don’t you hate it when your team in an MMO just sucks? The other day I was playing League of Legends and I had 15 kills and 1 death, but I still lost because my team was terrible. This is especially frustrating in games like League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth and DoTA as each game can take upwards of an hour and a bad team can really ruin a game. These kinds of MMOs are very team oriented as well, so if you end up with one terrible player, the entire game is ruined.

The whole ‘bad team mate’ problem exists in a lot of MMOFPS games as well. In games like Alliance of Valiant Arms and WolfTeam, it can be very frustrating to lose a team deathmatch due to ‘noob’ teammates. I don’t even want to begin counting all of the games I lost due to terrible team mates in Alliance of Valiant Arms. My kill/death ratio is almost always 3-1 in these games, and I always end up with terrible team mates. Luckily, the terrible team mate problem isn’t a big deal in MMOFPS games, as each round only takes 10-15 minutes, so there’s no real time invested into each game.

Having bad team mates also sucks in sports MMOs like Freestyle Street Basketball and Smash Online. In these kinds, you NEED to work well with your team in order to win. So no matter how ‘leet’ you are, if your team sucks, it’s over. No one player can, regardless of his or her skill, can truly ‘carry’ the team to victory. This isn’t a big deal if the other team has a bad player as well, but that isn’t always the case.

Having ‘bad team mates’ is the worst when raiding in MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Runes of Magic. One bad player can easily get an entire raid of 20 people killed. And dying while raiding is incredibly frustrating, especially after investing 2+ hours into a single run. Sure, you could always regroup and ‘try again’, but getting wiped can really lower morale, which can in turn lead to more wipes. The thing about raiding is, when you have so many people working together, the odds of one person screwing up increases.

The only way to avoid dealing with incompetent players is to play alone. But playing an MMORPG entirely alone is kind of lame, especially since these games are meant to be played cooperatively. You could also play these games ONLY with friends, but I don’t think I have friends online ALL the time, so I have to play with random MMORPG players sometimes, even if they do suck.

Grand Chase Needs More Variety

Grand Chase isn’t a bad MMO. It just needs a bit more variety. The game is currently being published by Ntreev, and is basically a cooperative dungeon crawler. Players work together with each other to complete stages and beat bosses. It actually plays more like a cooperative Mario game with RPG elements than anything else. The only thing Grand Chase is really lacking, in my opinion, is variety. As is there are a fixed amount of stages in the game. Once you clear them all, there’s little left to do. It’s almost like playing Lunia after beating all of the episodes. The most obvious remedy to this is for Ntreev to release more content, but that can take a while. I feel that next time Ntreev adds more content and levels to the game, they should make it much more difficult. Players shouldn’t be able to finish all of the late game stages with such ease. Players should need groups of top tier players and excellent cooperation to beat levels. This is an easy way to extend the game.

Another way for Ntreev to add more variety to the game would be by adding additional characters. As is the game has a good selection of classes, as they offer 8 playable characters, but more would always be better. Realistically speaking though, Ntreev could add more job advancements to the game. As is characters progress in an extremely linear way. Players should have more control over their character’s growth through more variety in terms of total skills and job advancement choices. Job advancements should branch out into 3 possibilities at each advancement, maybe try something like Ragnarok Online, rather than the current system where players advance in an incredibly linear way.

I’m not trying to say that Grand Chase is a bad game, because it’s not. Ntreev makes some of the better free to play MMOs out there in my opinion, as both Pangya and Trickster Online are great titles. I’m just suggesting that the game would benefit from more variety. Games like Lost Saga and League of Legends are amazing because they have so many different characters, so more variety is almost always better.

MMORPGs I Keep Going Back To

There are a select few MMORPGs which I seem to always ‘go back’ to. Games that whenever I’m really bored I re-download, install and play. Just yesterday I downloaded Gates of Andaron again. There’s really nothing too special about Gates of Andaron, as like Runes of Magic and Allods Online, it’s a WoW clone. But for some reason I always go back to it. I really can’t explain why, I guess I just like the gameplay. I do have some major complaints with with the publisher though – most notably the lack of policing in game. There are so many spammers in the game constantly filling up the chat channels with advertisements.

Gates of Andaron aside though, there are a bunch of MMOs which for some reason I always go back to. Another one of those games for me is GunZ, by ijji. This one isn’t exactly an MMORPG, as it’s an MMO Shooter, but it’s definitely one of the best in the genre. I love the fast paced gameplay and unique set of weapons in the game. How many other MMOFPS games are there with anime-like gameplay where you can run on wall and deflect bullets with your sword? Not too many. I also like that the game has low system requirements, so I can play it on any of my computers, even my laptop. Though I recommend staying away from all MMO shooters on a laptop, as you NEED a mouse and keyboard to do well in these games.

Another free to play game that I go back to regularly is FreeStyle Street Basketball. This one is probably the most surprising, as I don’t even like sports games, so I find it interesting that I love this sports MMO so much. I guess it’s the simplistic and fun gameplay. I mean, I find other sports MMOs like Fantasy Tennis, Football Superstars and Smash Online to be really boring. I really don’t know though. I do know that the game is well worth checking out and if you haven’t played it, go on GameKiss and download it right now. You won’t regret it.

Are there any free MMORPGs that you guys go back to? If so, leave them in the comments below! =]. Aside from the games I mentioned, I also go back to Diablo 2 every now and then.

MMORPGs Should be More Compatible

Anyone else wonder why so few MMORPGs are compatible with Linux and Mac? I’m not a developer, so I don’t understand the development bits, but how much more expensive could it be to make a game compatible with these other popular operating systems? As of now there are only a handful of mac MMORPGs out there and even fewer Linux MMORPGs. After windows these two are the next biggest, so you would imagine that game developers would ensure their games be compatible with them. I mean, a game that runs on more systems would reach a larger audience, thus make more profit through their cash shops (for free to play games) and subscriptions (for pay to play).

There are a handful of games that run well on all the major operating systems (Windows, Mac and Linux). One of them is Savage 2 from S2 Games. The unique MMORTS game that plays a bit like Fantasy Earth Zero, but without a persistent world. Then we have Runescape from Jagex. It’s not surprising that Runescape runs fine on Linux and Mac, as it launches through the web browser and uses Java.

Another compatibility issue many games have is that they have high system requirements. If I was a game developer, I’d make sure my game ran smoothly on 99% of PCs, that way my target audience is larger. If you look at all the MMOs out there, the most successful and most popular free MMORPGs are the most playable – the ones with low system requirements. MapleStory, Ragnarok Online and Gaia Online for example all have low system requirements. On the pay to play front games like Age of Conan and Vanguard which each require super computers to run have extremely low playerbases, while World of Warcraft which runs fine on mediocre machines is doing well. There’s definitely a direct correlation between system requirements and playerbase. Developers need to stop making gmes only 10% of the population can even run. It doesn’t make sense.

I know this is a bit of a rant, but I dunno. I think MMOs and games in general should run smoothly and easily on everyone’s PC. Developers need to find a nice all in one solution. This isn’t a problem for consoles, as everything is standardized, but console MMORPGs would never work.

There are a LOT of Old MMORPGs Out There

I’ve always known MMORPGs were big business, but I didn’t know so many older MMORPGs were still in service today. I figured the MMO business was a lot like technology. As games gold older, they were shut down and replaced by newer games. This is definitely true for console games, but some older MMORPGs still exist today. I guess it’s because a lot of these games can introduce new patches and expansion packs.

Anyway, the first game I wanted to mention was Ultima Online. The game originally released in 1997 and is still around today. The game has enjoyed countless updates and is still updated regularly. The game was developed by Origins Systems back in 1999 but was bought out by Electronic Arts later. Ultima Online is widedly considered the first popular MMOPRG ever. The game isn’t free to play though, so that sucks. It is an MMORPG free trial game though, so users can play it for 14 days without paying. Back when the game first released, it was the most hardcore PvP MMORPG ever. EverQuest is an older game too, but it was released in 2001. It was the first real fully 3D mmorpg.

After Ultima Online, Tibia, the 2D MMORPG, is still around. Tibia was also released in 1997 but has much simpler 2D graphics. Unlike Ultima, Tibia is free to play, making it one of the longest running free MMORPGs ever. Much of the game’s content though is only available to paying members.

On the more free to play front though, RuneScape and Ragnarok Online are some of the oldest MMORPGs still in service. Both boast over 50 million players world-wide. 50 Million is a huge number, considering World of Warcraft has only 12 million subscribers. That’s not a 100% fair comparison though, as both of these games are free to play and WoW is pay to play. Plus the 50 million number is registered accounts, not active users.