Felspire Browser MMORPG Review

Felspire is a browser-based MMO that takes place in the magical world of Eremos where, like every MMO, it’s up to you to defeat evil. The story is bland and practically nonexistent, but not more so than you’d expect from a browser game. The gameplay is also just about as fun as you’d expect, with a nice bit of flair from PvP arenas, although the game is heavily detracted from by the intensive auto-questing. This is remarkably similar to other Chinese browser games such as Magerealm and Siegelord.

After a relatively simple login the game presents a rather standard character customization system. While there isn’t a whole lot in terms of customization, you can choose between male and female characters and you can customize enough to stand out. The real impressive aspect here is the class system. The initial 3-class system expands to about 15 specializations once you level up.
The gameplay itself works. It’s nothing really beyond pointing and clicking, but an impressive amount of armor and weaponry is present. PvP is a real surprise in a game of this scope, although not much skill is involved because of the simplicity of Felspire.

However, the auto-complete system is out of hand. In the time that between creating my first character, switching tabs, and then switching back I had missed the entire intro and had leveled up. Many browser games, and even some MMOs, have automated systems. Most of these just include automated walking, but there are exceptions. Felspire on the other hand is the exception. Not only is walking automated, but so is combat and full-on questing. After starting the game I didn’t have to touch anything for a full 15 minutes, and my input was only required after arriving at the game’s hub. I understand some automated gameplay to pass over boring parts of the game, but these issues could be solved in other ways (i.e. not including stretches of the game that are known to be boring). At the very least this system needs to be toned down.

I’m aware that being a browser game, Felspire is prone to issues that are caused by the browser of choice rather than the game itself. However, after testing the game on multiple browsers I still could not get the in-game map to work. There were a few loading issues here and there, but the issue with the map was the most prevalent. One positive aspect of Felspire, and other browser MMOs, is that they're Mac compatible. There aren't too many Mac MMORPGs out there, so Mac users should be glad to see more and more browser games get released. This certainly applies to Linux users too. In fact there are probably less Linux MMORPGs than Mac MMOs!

Felspire is an average game all around. While it isn’t particularly bad, it’s not great either. It doesn't bring anything new to the browser MMORPG market, but the game does have technologically impressive 2D/3D graphics for a browser game, but the graphics still don’t look that great. Combine this with a bland story and a ridiculous amount of automatic gameplay and you get a pretty average title. At least they give you a kickass sword to start with. I'd much rather play a western developed browser game like Aberoth or AdventureQuest Worlds, but that's just my 2 cents.

MMORPGs Launching Quickly in North America

New MMORPGs and MMOs that launched in South Korea and China are making their way fastest to the West than ever before. Just recently Perfect World Entertainment launched their newest game – Forsaken World into closed beta here in the West. The game is STILL in closed beta testing over in China. So the game was localized and launched in BOTH regions at around the same time. I say “around the same time” because it was out in China first, but not by much. Nexon, the company best known for MapleStory and Dungeon Fighter Online, launched Vindictus in North America within 6 months or so of launching it in South Korea. The time it takes for an Eastern game to reach Western shores have been decreasing steadily for quite a few years now. Loong: The Power of the Dragon from Gamigo is yet another example. Unfortunately, things haven’t always been this way.

Digimon Battle from WeMade Entertainment for example, launched in North America some 5+ years after it launched in South Korea and China. Darkeden from JoyMax launched in the States nearly 8 years after it originally debuted in Korea. Just recently PWE launched Heroes of Three Kingdoms in North America, but it had been available in South East Asia as “Redcliff” for numerous years. It’s only recently that games have begun launching in different regions at “around” the same time. Black Prophecy, an upcoming MMORPG from Gamigo is scheduled to launch in both North America and Europe at around the same time too.

Unfortunately, there are still hundreds of games available only in South Korea and China which haven’t launched in the West yet. Luckily, some of these games – JX2 Online, Battle of Destiny, Super Dance Online and Hot Dance Party (Steps) are all playable from North America, even though they are published in South East Asia. Most games not released in America have IP restrictions preventing foreign users from logging in. Beanfun for example has half a dozen games available in Taiwan that aren’t yet available in the West. Luckily, they’re bringing the Japanese MMORPG Lucent Heart to North America real soon. But there are so many other games available in Asia that have yet to be announced in North America.

Even though the gap between new MMORPGs announced in Korea and coming to the West is decreasing, I feel that a lot of the older games are never going to make it to Western shores. It’s unfortunate because many of them would probably be really successful here. I mean just look at games like Silkroad Online from JoyMax and Conquer Online from TQ Digital – both of these Eastern games are huge hits in the West. Legend of Edda, FreeJack and Zentia for example are all really popular here in the West. These titles are new, but even older games “relaunched” here are big. Just look at Fantasy Earth Zero from GamePot USA. It’s an older Japanese MMORPG but it’s a big hit!

Bring some older Chinese MMORPGs and Korean MMORPGs to North America! After all, American MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons Online are available all over Asia already!

MMORPG File Sizes

One thing I’ve noticed is as MMOs get more complicated and their file sizes seem to keep getting bigger and bigger. This is most certainly a big problem, as some MMORPGs are just so big that no one has the patience to download them. Well, not “no one” but I think games like Runes of Magic from Frogster and Age of Conan from Funcom are screwing themselves over because of their file size. Runes of Magic is 6+GB big, so installing and patching the game can take 3+ hours – and that’s on a FAST internet connection. Anyone on DSL will probably end up giving up well before the game even finishes downloading. The same thing applies to Age of Conan – that game is a MONTER. It’s 20GB big – which means on a fast internet connection the game will take almost 12 hours to fully install and patch. If the patch servers are busy, it could take even longer. I think the “sweet spot” for games is 1.2GB or less. Anything above 2 is really pushing it. Dungeons and Dragons Online is a whopping 4GB on “High res” mode, but at least the game lets players download a normal version which is 2.8GB – a cool 25% smaller in size. Games like Star Citizen will be pushing 100+GB too. MMORPG File sizes are just getting way too big.

Perfect World and Jade Dynasty are both under 2GB, yet they both look great. Dungeons and Dragons Online which is TWICE as big isn’t twice as good. Heck, many of the more successful games are LESS than 1GB. Look at Eudemons Online and Conquer Online from TQ Digital. Both games have a crazy big population, but the games are under 800MB. The Lord of the Rings Online on the other hand is a top notch game, but it’s a WHOPPING 10GB big. What on Earth is Turbine thinking? I think one easy solution to these huge file sizes is to download only portions of the game. For example, let’s say when I download Fists of Fu or Fiesta Online from Gamigo – instead of downloading the ENTIRE game’s content, I should only have to download the first 10 dungeons in the game. That’s it. As I make my way to dungeon #7 or 8, the game can begin download the next 10 dungeons in the background. That way, everything is done uninterrupted, and if I decide that Fists of Fu isn’t for me, I wouldn’t have had to wait until I downloaded the entire game!

The thing is, games like Grand Chase, Lost Saga, FreeJack and Zentia don’t really need to worry about this little issue as these games aren’t exactly huge to begin with. I think only games that are over 2GB in size should bother doing this. Though I’m sure other games would benefit too. Imagine being able to download and install an MMORPG like Battle of the Immortals, Heroes of Three Kingdoms or Metin 2 in a few minutes? This could easily be achievable if players could download the first few zones in the game, and have the game automatically download and install more zones in the background while you play. I think Guild Wars from NCSoft actually does this, and if I remember correctly the MMORPG free trial for World of Warcraft does it too. I don’t think ANY free to play MMORPGs do it though.

The problem really isn’t a game’s size, as most modern hard drives today have 250+GB with new hard drives having over a TB. The problem is the annoyingly long time it takes to fully download and patch a modern day MMORPG. So breaking the game down into pieces and having the game download more content AS you play would mean people can jump into games easier. There’s no reason newer MMORPGs like Kitsu Saga andLegend of Edda don’t have this built in. I can see why really old games don’t have it, but new ones should. What are your thoughts on this? I think I’d be willing to download and play more games if I didn’t have to wait so dang long to download them!

MMOs You can Play 5 Minutes a Day

When people hear the term “MMO” or “MMORPG” they instantly think the game is ridiculously time consuming. There’s also a stereotype out there that MMORPG Players have no lives. Both of these statements are false. Not every single MMORPG consumes a person’s life. There are countless casual and social games which can be played for a few minutes each day. Browser based MMORPGs especially are designed to be played in short intervals. Games like War of Legends, Caesary and Heroes of Gaia are a few examples of some MMOs that can be played 10 minutes a day. A lot of “hard core” client based MMORPGs like Dungeons and Dragons Online and Grand Fantasia can certainly eat up a person’s entire day, as these games are BUILT to consume a lot of time. As I mentioned earlier though, there are plenty of games designed for casual players.

Facebook Games such as Farmville, Ninja Saga and Nightclub City for example are also designed to be played in short bursts. It doesn’t even make sense to play these games for hours at a time, as these games involve lots of waiting. Personally, I know a lot of non-gamers who play Happy Aquarium, Pet Society and Restaurant City. These Facebook Games are actually a rapidly growing market. I think they’re so successful because they attract both gamers and non-gamers. Plus, these games don’t involve any actual skill; players only need to click around every few hours to progress in these kinds of games, while actual in depth MMOs like Ace Online and Dragon Oath actaully take some sort of skill and understanding of game mechanics.

There are also a few browser based chat MMOs like IMVU, WoozWorld and Gaia Online which are designed for those looking for more of a social experience than a gaming one. Players in these kinds of games don’t have to play for hours at a time, but can instead play in short 30 minute bursts. The purpose of these games is to make friends and meet new people online – not slay monsters and complete quests. There are client based MMOs like Lost Saga, Audition Online and ShowUp which can also be played in short bursts. The reasons these games don’t take up too much time is because each individual round only takes 10 minutes or so in these MMOs. “Rounds” in League of Legends on the other hand, can take upwards of an hour – sometimes much longer.

So enough with these stereotypes. There are MMOs out there that can be played in short bursts. Not every MMORPG player is a bum who plays games all day.

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.

MMORPG Culture - Roleplaying, Marriage and Casual players

There’s a lot of little things in MMORPGs which I never really understood. One of the big ones is why do people Roleplay in MMORPGs? What’s the point? I can see it being fun if EVERYONE participated, but that’s rarely the case. In PvP heavy MMORPGs like Darkfall, Perfect World and Eudemons Online it’s even more difficult, because people can PK you anywhere in the game world. If everyone isn’t participating and roleplaying, it’s sort of easy to get distracted, especially when someone is jumping up and down and spamming “NOOB” as you try to roleplay the scenario out. Modern day MMOs just aren’t good platforms for roleplaying. At least the MMORPGs. MMOs like Second Life work well in roleplaying, as these games are designed for it. MMORPGs are designed with game mechanics in mind, not roleplaying, so it makes sense that the vast majority of people that play MMORPGs play them for the mechanics. Roleplaying in Second Life can definitely be fun. Especially since you can roleplay in any environment! Sci-fi, fantasy, modern-day, anything! I guess I understand roleplaying, but I find it silly when people try to do it in games like Fiesta Online and Fists of Fu, as these games are NOT designed for it.

One really silly thing in A LOT of MMORPGs is marriage. Yes, Marriage in MMORPGs. A few games that support marriage are Ragnarok Online, MapleStory and Secret of the Solstice. Many other free to play games support it as well. I know Frogster recently updated their flagship game Runes of Magic to add support for marriage as well, but even less known games like Grand Chase and Trickster Online from Ntreev have in game marriages. My question is, what’s the point? The person you’re marrying is probably a dude anyway, as there are no girls in gaming! Girls in MMORPGs… Psh! What a funny concept! I jest of course, as with half the world’s population being female, it would be ridiculous to say girls don’t play video games, as they do. But I can’t see why people marry each on in game. There’s absolutely no reason for it. In most free to play games, you actually have to pay for the privilege to marry someone as well, so not only is it pointless, it costs money! Some games actually give you bonuses for marrying, which is the only reason I could think of to get married in a game.

What are some other weird phenomenons that occur in MMORPGs… Hmm. How about casual players vs hardcore ones? Most games have both kinds of players, I tend to be a hardcore player, as when I play a game, I usually play it for many hours each day. It’s really the only way to get ahead. I can’t imagine playing a game like Atlantica Online from Ndoors or Cloud Nine from Netgame for only an hour or so a day. In like a year, you would be nowhere. It would take weeks to level up! Do you folks consider yourselves casual or hardcore players? I’m Curious!

One MMORPG Server

Every MMORPG should combine all of their servers into one big server. This would instantly make every free to play game better as the one combined server would have more players. More players means more interaction. I’m tired of running around dead MMORPGs with only a handful of people ever online in each server. Games with low playerbases like Asda Story, Cabal Online and Cloud Nine would all benefit from this. Even games with higher playerbases would benefit as more players on a single server would enhance the overall experience of any game. There would obviously be some hardware concerns, as having all those players on one server would be difficult. The obvious solution would be to divide players into different channels. The only games that do this are MapleStory and WonderKing.

Just think of all the possibilities if every MMO did this. ALL players could interact with each other. Each game could have an auction house that included buyers and sellers from every channel. Finding people to group with would be easier. PvP would be more intense. Overall, MMOs would feel more MASSIVE, which is what they’re supposed to be. Just think about it. How much more fun would Battle of the Immortals, World of Kung Fu or even Secret of the Solstice be if they only had one server? Players would be divided into numerous channels to avoid lag. Overall, MMORPG players would be able to interact more as everyone would be on the same one server.

As an MMORPG gamer I absolutely hate seeing an empty game. No matter how great a game is, no matter how great the graphics are or gameplay, it means nothing if an MMORPG has no playerbase. The most popular MMORPGs remain popular because they already have a large playerbase. Large playerbases just make games more fun.

Anyone here agree with me? Post your thoughts below!

Interface in MMORPG Games

Without a doubt, one of the most ‘overlooked’ features in any MMORPG is its interface. Even an MMO with solid gameplay and graphics can be ruined if it has terrible interface. Nowadays, there a few features which I expect from any new free to play MMORPG. One example of a must have feature in any MMO these days is a map that clearly marks every quest location as well as quest NPC. Having to run around just to find new quests can get terribly annoying. Plus finding where certain quest monsters are can be equally tedious. Luckily, games like Grand Fantasia and Perfect World address these issues quite well, as they both have great maps. Runes of Magic as well as Gates of Andaron do a swell job in this regard.

The actual hotkey bars and interface ‘look’ also has to look ‘modern’. The interface in games like Eudemons Online and Magic World Online are just so dull and old. They remind me of games like Diablo and Baldurs Gate. Both of which are great games, but they’re old. Luckily though, all newer MMORPGs are starting to put more detail in their interface. Cloud Nine and Karos Online, which just came out recently have solid interfaces. Hopefully this trend will continue and even browser games will keep upping the aesthetics of their interface.

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.