Grinding is what makes your game appear longer than it actually is, it's the same reason you have it in single-player games. Without it you would rush through the content and there would be nothing more to do after a few days/weeks/months.
And it is kind of logical that you buy stuff to make your avatar stand out in the crowd~ if you decide to waste weeks on a game you kind of want to have your own persona in it and not some copy/paste of everyone else of your level.
Pretty much, most of these free games give you extremely limited customization then give you a ton of purchasable customization.
Dis - your posts make my head hurt
Perfect World let you make nearly any face possible, but everyone wears the same armor as everyone else their level through 100+ levels. People could spend real money to do things like purchase wings that looked different, or a mount that was different, but everyone had to wear identical armor as others their race.
Welp, for starters the game looks very polished, great graphics. Sickeningly cute, what with the NPC portraits all having big heads and small bodies. The translation isn't too bad, better off than many grind MMOs (possibly because it was in Japanese, rather than in Korean). Fetch quests aplenty - one series had me running back and forth around town about 7 times to finish. Kill X quests are currently satisfactory, having me kill only 5 of this, or collect 5 of that. I can probably expect the number requirements to ramp up significantly later on.
Movement is fucking slow so expect lengthy walks around town to hunt down NPCs for quests. The map is extremely helpful in town, marking all the interactive NPCs.
One thing I don't like is that the quests I've found thus far have minimal reward, 50 exp (out of possible 10k at lv6 or so?) is a really shit reward. Quests are also level locked, meaning you can see them when you talk to the NPC, but can't start them until you hit the level.
4 main classes, with the Pirate class probably unlocked at some point in your character's life, through a quest maybe. I started as a Explorer, which is a ranged class, can wield dual flintlocks or a rifle. Ammo is finite but it's very cheap to buy 500 pistol or rifle bullets. Health herbs and MP herbs are on a cooldown timer for every item of the same type i.e. if you use a HP herb, you won't be able to use any other HP herb until the timer cools down. A bit sucky to be honest, especially when you could be swamped in mobs, but the resting position does heal you very quickly after battles.
You can build your own ship (:^:), fit it with parts and what not and must employ some crew before you can set sail. I'm currently grinding to get 1250 Gelt (the currency) for the supposedly best crew, but you can level your crew up anyways. I've heard that once you set sail you can travel to other islands but I'm not sure.
EXP is divided between Land and Sea EXP. Yeah, so basically you get double the grind. I do like the sound of ship battles but I get all worked up.
Skills are bought as books, you use them on yourself and then you apply skill points to level each skill up, although the progression of skills is locked by level (e.g. can't increase so and so skill until lv8). Apparently you can reset your points but I haven't got that option yet.
Audio is meh at best, I do like the start up music, very uplifting. Unfortunately sound effects are extremely quiet, and nothing I tweaked helped to increase volume. You can control your character with WASDQE ala Guild Wars or WoW, but I stuck with Mouse control.
Overall, it's a nice time waster, but nothing of it is particularly outstanding (save for ship battles), so I'll probably drop it soon.
How is ship movement? I vividly remember Tales of Pirates where it was the same as land movement (and you could earn more gold than you could shake a stick at by trading goods and picking it up from the water) and that was very silly. Is it at least somewhat interesting?
Am I correct in assuming there's a cash shop of some kind? if so is it the kind where you make your character look cool or is it of the more 'balance-destroying' variety where if you want the 'best-of-the-best' you have to spend real money.
Also PvP? I'd hope I can take on other players in the high seas
I'm actually rather enjoying Dungeon Runners. Don't suppose anyone else around here actually plays?
I give it a spin every so often. Not bad for a mindless hack-n-slash, though it can't really hold my attention for long at a stretch. It's improved for freeloaders over time, since you can get some of the upper item tiers, it's just annoying to get a rainbow drop you can't equip and see 50 other people with the exact same thing only with the tag that lets free players equip it.
I'm actually rather enjoying Dungeon Runners. Don't suppose anyone else around here actually plays?
I give it a spin every so often. Not bad for a mindless hack-n-slash, though it can't really hold my attention for long at a stretch. It's improved for freeloaders over time, since you can get some of the upper item tiers, it's just annoying to get a rainbow drop you can't equip and see 50 other people with the exact same thing only with the tag that lets free players equip it.
but can you sell those rainbow items and buy the exact same thing for free players with that cash? Because that would be fun.
How is ship movement? I vividly remember Tales of Pirates where it was the same as land movement (and you could earn more gold than you could shake a stick at by trading goods and picking it up from the water) and that was very silly. Is it at least somewhat interesting?
I haven't actually tried ships yet, since I'm still grinding for cash to employ the 'best' type of sailors. Not sure what the difference is between the 6 types (ranging from weak to super strong according to their names) of sailors but hey, 1250 Gelt isn't that much for a grinding game.
re: Airan's great Florensia write-up.
Am I correct in assuming there's a cash shop of some kind? if so is it the kind where you make your character look cool or is it of the more 'balance-destroying' variety where if you want the 'best-of-the-best' you have to spend real money.
Also PvP? I'd hope I can take on other players in the high seas
There will be a cash shop, I'm not sure what it would sell since I'm not planning to buy anything and thus haven't paid attention to it, but I would imagine the usual grinding game stuff like time-limited buffs, exp multipliers, possibly special clothing. I doubt there will be game breaking equipment for sale, clothes and buffs should be enough to keep the kids that are able and willing to pay happy, while exp multipliers are there for the hardcore grinders, which are probably kids too.
As for PvP, there's 1v1 and Party v Party. Guild v Guild will be implemented sometime in the future (probably the Release version). There's a neat option to reject all 1v1 requests automatically, a tickbox in the options screen. Helps to avoid misclicking during a grind.
From what I've read at the official forums, PvP for my Explorer class is all about spamming skills that have a stun effect. As well as stun skills, critical hits can also deal a chance for stun, as well as knock back your victim.
I believe that the 4 main classes have 2 advanced classes each, but you pick one depending on your weapon choice e.g. If you choose Rifle as your Explorer's preferred weapon, you will advance to Sniper class, who has very long range and extremely damaging attacks, but shit defense. Dual Pistols moves you to Excavator (...) class, who apparently functions as a quick damage dealer with good hit and run abilities, such as traps and explosions.
[edit]Oh, I'm certain there will be ship battles, whether it's AI or PvP I've yet to see for myself. The videos on youtube look promising though.
If you ever played Secret of Mana on the Super Nintendo, and thought it would be totally awesome if they could make that sort of side scrolling, action-adventure fun into an MMO, then Aeria Games' Pi Story might be just the game you're looking for. To give you that chance, they have just started open beta, and further, in the most time-limited offer ever, they are giving away 50% bonus Aeria Points (the tender of their cash shop), if you buy before noon US Pacific Time (3PM Eastern Time). So if you're a fan of any of Aeria Games' MMOs, and the sale is still on, check it out.
Myth War II
Even though the original is still available, they released a new version with slightly better graphics and some gameplay improvements that will perhaps bring a smile to the face of a fan? Besides that it's the same old, but that isn't necessarily bad.
Thanks for the info. Maybe I should subscribe to IGG some time to get these updates as well.
Angels Online
Free to play
A 2D game with sprites where you control a cute little character and can deploy robots and all sorts of pets to fight with you against an endless stream of cute mobs. The game looks horribly dated and the features it offers hardly make the game unique. See also: Wonderland Online.
There's also Godswar Online, but that isn't even in Alpha and it already looks like shit. I'll add it to some part of the list if they're further in development.
The previously mentioned Asda Story has just concluded its Closed Beta, the server was wiped, and there will be an Open Beta starting soon (slated for first week of August).
Stoneage 2, a "relaxed MMORPG" set in prehistoric times. Looks like you can capture monsters. The style is an exact copy of the Pokemon art from the old games.
Stoneage 2, a "relaxed MMORPG" set in prehistoric times. Looks like you can capture monsters. The style is an exact copy of the Pokemon art from the old games.
This sound accurate enough?
Stone Age 2
Free to play
A casual MMO set in the stone age. You can get pets and let them do the dirty work for you. Zombiemambo says the art style is exactly like the old Pokemon games. The game is aimed at the youngest among us, what with this stuff on their site: color me.
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And sweet jesus, that were a lot of games I missed before, thanks for linking them people.
OH! Out of curiosity, did anyone get into the Concerto Gate beta while it was going on? Since it fits into the free category, I figured this would be a good place to ask. I'm very curious how it was.
OH! Out of curiosity, did anyone get into the Concerto Gate beta while it was going on? Since it fits into the free category, I figured this would be a good place to ask. I'm very curious how it was.
Ohhh, yeah. I was kind of surprised at that myself. The original game it was a sequel to was apparently a pretty successful standard MMO from them, and for some reason they decided to go the free route with its successor. That's why I'm so curious about it. I'm really hoping THEY won't be making your standard grind heavy, storyless free MMO. Oh, and it's not just their name on the website, it's their game. They're the (or at least one of the) developers.
And off Massively: An even more interesting concept in Concerto Gate is the 'terra-generating' system. Depending on certain player actions the world landscape will morph and deform. This includes the ramifications from activities like mining and deforestation.
Yeah, I really do want to hear more about this if anyone was in beta.
Ohhh, yeah. I was kind of surprised at that myself. The original game it was a sequel to was apparently a pretty successful standard MMO from them, and for some reason they decided to go the free route with its successor. That's why I'm so curious about it. I'm really hoping THEY won't be making your standard grind heavy, storyless free MMO. Oh, and it's not just their name on the website, it's their game. They're the (or at least one of the) developers.
And off Massively: An even more interesting concept in Concerto Gate is the 'terra-generating' system. Depending on certain player actions the world landscape will morph and deform. This includes the ramifications from activities like mining and deforestation.
Yeah, I really do want to hear more about this if anyone was in beta.
I've played Final Fantasy. Son, there will be grinding. :P
Not sure if it's been linked before. I severely doubt it, but anyways: http://stoneage2.aeriagames.com/
Stoneage 2, a "relaxed MMORPG" set in prehistoric times. Looks like you can capture monsters. The style is an exact copy of the Pokemon art from the old games.
That is visually adorable. Hmm, turn based combat... I think I'll give it a spin.
Glal on
0
omega71Too old for a title, too ornery to care.Sacramento, CaliRegistered Userregular
edited July 2008
I played Stoneage 2 for a total of fifteen minutes, and promptly uninstalled it.
Please for the love of all things good, do not play this game at all.
The combat is utterly retarded, the graphics while cute and all, are primitive as all get go.
And everything about that game screams "Made for a 5 year old, but broken enough to never be played at all"
This is an online card game that is in open beta right now.
You play as one of two classes with a few more to be opened up as you go along I believe.
Classes are Clerics (healers) and Illusionists (uhm illusion magic)
The gameplay plays out like a cross between YuGiOh and MtG where, high card beats your low card, but you have to have enough mana in your mana pool to summon your creature.
But here is the catch.
Each mage has a total of five different pools to choose from during the game, you can summon cards out of each pool (Fire, Water, Air and Earth, plus a fifth related to the specific mage type) depending on how much "mana" you have in there.
Gameplay can go pretty fast, and sometimes it can be pretty annoying especially when playing against a Cleric, but it is fun, and incredibly easy to figure out.
Also there is a single player mode, and a campaign mode if you want to learn the game before going online with it.
Also for CCG nuts like me, Richard Garfield is behind this as well as Alexey Stankevich, creator of Astral Tournament and Astral Masters, and Skaff Elias who helped out with MtG and the very awesome when it was out Harry Potter TCG.
Oh and sadly there are no screens on the main page, but it should run fine on any low end rig.
Ohhh, yeah. I was kind of surprised at that myself. The original game it was a sequel to was apparently a pretty successful standard MMO from them, and for some reason they decided to go the free route with its successor. That's why I'm so curious about it. I'm really hoping THEY won't be making your standard grind heavy, storyless free MMO. Oh, and it's not just their name on the website, it's their game. They're the (or at least one of the) developers.
And off Massively: An even more interesting concept in Concerto Gate is the 'terra-generating' system. Depending on certain player actions the world landscape will morph and deform. This includes the ramifications from activities like mining and deforestation.
Yeah, I really do want to hear more about this if anyone was in beta.
I've played Final Fantasy. Son, there will be grinding. :P
OI! There is more to it than just grinding... :x:lol: I just mean in comparison to something like RO, or Maple Story, etc.
OI! There is more to it than just grinding... :x:lol: I just mean in comparison to something like RO, or Maple Story, etc.
My theory is that grinding is not boring if the things you have to do are fun. I didn't really mind grinding Cards in FFVIII because the actual gameplay appealed to me. Grinding herbs in WoW was boring, because the walking around and clicking on herbs was boring as hell.
Making grinding entertaining is something that takes a good deal of forethought.
Unfortunately nobody ever does.
I don't mind grinding if ever minute passing I wonder if I'll survive another minute. The whole 'kill 667 million bores at one hit a pop' deal is boring and time consuming.
Realistically free mmo's should have 0 grind, it benefits them not from monthly subscriptions to have grind so they might as well skip the largest crutch of any p2p mmo and just make it enjoyable.
Making grinding entertaining is something that takes a good deal of forethought.
Unfortunately nobody ever does.
I don't mind grinding if ever minute passing I wonder if I'll survive another minute. The whole 'kill 667 million bores at one hit a pop' deal is boring and time consuming.
Realistically free mmo's should have 0 grind, it benefits them not from monthly subscriptions to have grind so they might as well skip the largest crutch of any p2p mmo and just make it enjoyable.
I thought I already explained that the longer people play their game the more profit they make on it? If Trickster had no grinding what would be left of it? 200 quests and a few end bosses. Everyone would be bored and doing other things in a few weeks.
It also takes less development time to just spawn up a few dozen rabbits and have you kill them endlessly. Free game + Free Gametime = Least effort possible! a lot of the time. Not always, but a lot.
Posts
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Grinding is what makes your game appear longer than it actually is, it's the same reason you have it in single-player games. Without it you would rush through the content and there would be nothing more to do after a few days/weeks/months.
And it is kind of logical that you buy stuff to make your avatar stand out in the crowd~ if you decide to waste weeks on a game you kind of want to have your own persona in it and not some copy/paste of everyone else of your level.
Dis - your posts make my head hurt
Perfect World let you make nearly any face possible, but everyone wears the same armor as everyone else their level through 100+ levels. People could spend real money to do things like purchase wings that looked different, or a mount that was different, but everyone had to wear identical armor as others their race.
And as for Dis, I agree with this guy:
It's a cutesy grind MMO, but it has ship battles which I hope to try out eventually.
Movement is fucking slow so expect lengthy walks around town to hunt down NPCs for quests. The map is extremely helpful in town, marking all the interactive NPCs.
One thing I don't like is that the quests I've found thus far have minimal reward, 50 exp (out of possible 10k at lv6 or so?) is a really shit reward. Quests are also level locked, meaning you can see them when you talk to the NPC, but can't start them until you hit the level.
4 main classes, with the Pirate class probably unlocked at some point in your character's life, through a quest maybe. I started as a Explorer, which is a ranged class, can wield dual flintlocks or a rifle. Ammo is finite but it's very cheap to buy 500 pistol or rifle bullets. Health herbs and MP herbs are on a cooldown timer for every item of the same type i.e. if you use a HP herb, you won't be able to use any other HP herb until the timer cools down. A bit sucky to be honest, especially when you could be swamped in mobs, but the resting position does heal you very quickly after battles.
You can build your own ship (:^:), fit it with parts and what not and must employ some crew before you can set sail. I'm currently grinding to get 1250 Gelt (the currency) for the supposedly best crew, but you can level your crew up anyways. I've heard that once you set sail you can travel to other islands but I'm not sure.
EXP is divided between Land and Sea EXP. Yeah, so basically you get double the grind. I do like the sound of ship battles but I get all worked up.
Skills are bought as books, you use them on yourself and then you apply skill points to level each skill up, although the progression of skills is locked by level (e.g. can't increase so and so skill until lv8). Apparently you can reset your points but I haven't got that option yet.
Audio is meh at best, I do like the start up music, very uplifting. Unfortunately sound effects are extremely quiet, and nothing I tweaked helped to increase volume. You can control your character with WASDQE ala Guild Wars or WoW, but I stuck with Mouse control.
Overall, it's a nice time waster, but nothing of it is particularly outstanding (save for ship battles), so I'll probably drop it soon.
Am I correct in assuming there's a cash shop of some kind? if so is it the kind where you make your character look cool or is it of the more 'balance-destroying' variety where if you want the 'best-of-the-best' you have to spend real money.
Also PvP? I'd hope I can take on other players in the high seas
I give it a spin every so often. Not bad for a mindless hack-n-slash, though it can't really hold my attention for long at a stretch. It's improved for freeloaders over time, since you can get some of the upper item tiers, it's just annoying to get a rainbow drop you can't equip and see 50 other people with the exact same thing only with the tag that lets free players equip it.
but can you sell those rainbow items and buy the exact same thing for free players with that cash? Because that would be fun.
I haven't actually tried ships yet, since I'm still grinding for cash to employ the 'best' type of sailors. Not sure what the difference is between the 6 types (ranging from weak to super strong according to their names) of sailors but hey, 1250 Gelt isn't that much for a grinding game.
There will be a cash shop, I'm not sure what it would sell since I'm not planning to buy anything and thus haven't paid attention to it, but I would imagine the usual grinding game stuff like time-limited buffs, exp multipliers, possibly special clothing. I doubt there will be game breaking equipment for sale, clothes and buffs should be enough to keep the kids that are able and willing to pay happy, while exp multipliers are there for the hardcore grinders, which are probably kids too.
As for PvP, there's 1v1 and Party v Party. Guild v Guild will be implemented sometime in the future (probably the Release version). There's a neat option to reject all 1v1 requests automatically, a tickbox in the options screen. Helps to avoid misclicking during a grind.
From what I've read at the official forums, PvP for my Explorer class is all about spamming skills that have a stun effect. As well as stun skills, critical hits can also deal a chance for stun, as well as knock back your victim.
I believe that the 4 main classes have 2 advanced classes each, but you pick one depending on your weapon choice e.g. If you choose Rifle as your Explorer's preferred weapon, you will advance to Sniper class, who has very long range and extremely damaging attacks, but shit defense. Dual Pistols moves you to Excavator (...) class, who apparently functions as a quick damage dealer with good hit and run abilities, such as traps and explosions.
[edit]Oh, I'm certain there will be ship battles, whether it's AI or PvP I've yet to see for myself. The videos on youtube look promising though.
It's a shame because it was a fun little game
Old news...
Silly Flagship Studio has sunk...
I pity those silly supporters who paid that US$150 Lifetime Subscription for HellGate London...
Official Site:
http://pistory.aeriagames.com/
I know nothing about it other than what's in that massively post.
Also, Myth War Online is in the list, but I don't think the sequel (Myth War Online 2 of course) has yet.
Official Site
http://mw2.igg.com/
It looks almost exactly the same as MWO I, so maybe it should just replace that entry.
Ghost Online is open beta as well.
Official Site:
http://ghost.netgame.com/
I haven't tried any of these, and they all look like crap so there ya go
And I can't imagine that type of game being anything close to fun with the type of lag usually associated with Korean grind fests.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Myth War II
Even though the original is still available, they released a new version with slightly better graphics and some gameplay improvements that will perhaps bring a smile to the face of a fan? Besides that it's the same old, but that isn't necessarily bad.
Thanks for the info. Maybe I should subscribe to IGG some time to get these updates as well.
--
I also remembered why I didn't like IGG~ Most of their games are utter failures
Wonderland Online/url]
Free to play
A cutesy 2D game with sprites. It seems to focus mostly on community things and fighting is just one of the things you can do. Fighting is done in some sort of Tekken/Street Fighter kind of way. The game looks very dated in all aspects they show on their website.
Angels Online
Free to play
A 2D game with sprites where you control a cute little character and can deploy robots and all sorts of pets to fight with you against an endless stream of cute mobs. The game looks horribly dated and the features it offers hardly make the game unique. See also: Wonderland Online.
There's also Godswar Online, but that isn't even in Alpha and it already looks like shit. I'll add it to some part of the list if they're further in development.
http://stoneage2.aeriagames.com/
Stoneage 2, a "relaxed MMORPG" set in prehistoric times. Looks like you can capture monsters. The style is an exact copy of the Pokemon art from the old games.
Stone Age 2
Free to play
A casual MMO set in the stone age. You can get pets and let them do the dirty work for you. Zombiemambo says the art style is exactly like the old Pokemon games. The game is aimed at the youngest among us, what with this stuff on their site: color me.
----
And sweet jesus, that were a lot of games I missed before, thanks for linking them people.
And off Massively:
An even more interesting concept in Concerto Gate is the 'terra-generating' system. Depending on certain player actions the world landscape will morph and deform. This includes the ramifications from activities like mining and deforestation.
Yeah, I really do want to hear more about this if anyone was in beta.
I am mainly waiting for the next Square MMO Codename Rapture...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture_(video_game)
Please for the love of all things good, do not play this game at all.
The combat is utterly retarded, the graphics while cute and all, are primitive as all get go.
And everything about that game screams "Made for a 5 year old, but broken enough to never be played at all"
The game is called Spectromancer ( http://www.spectromancer.com/ )
This is an online card game that is in open beta right now.
You play as one of two classes with a few more to be opened up as you go along I believe.
Classes are Clerics (healers) and Illusionists (uhm illusion magic)
The gameplay plays out like a cross between YuGiOh and MtG where, high card beats your low card, but you have to have enough mana in your mana pool to summon your creature.
But here is the catch.
Each mage has a total of five different pools to choose from during the game, you can summon cards out of each pool (Fire, Water, Air and Earth, plus a fifth related to the specific mage type) depending on how much "mana" you have in there.
Gameplay can go pretty fast, and sometimes it can be pretty annoying especially when playing against a Cleric, but it is fun, and incredibly easy to figure out.
Also there is a single player mode, and a campaign mode if you want to learn the game before going online with it.
Also for CCG nuts like me, Richard Garfield is behind this as well as Alexey Stankevich, creator of Astral Tournament and Astral Masters, and Skaff Elias who helped out with MtG and the very awesome when it was out Harry Potter TCG.
Oh and sadly there are no screens on the main page, but it should run fine on any low end rig.
OI! There is more to it than just grinding... :x:lol: I just mean in comparison to something like RO, or Maple Story, etc.
Unfortunately nobody ever does.
I don't mind grinding if ever minute passing I wonder if I'll survive another minute. The whole 'kill 667 million bores at one hit a pop' deal is boring and time consuming.
Realistically free mmo's should have 0 grind, it benefits them not from monthly subscriptions to have grind so they might as well skip the largest crutch of any p2p mmo and just make it enjoyable.
http://islesofscion.net - Updated every day!