When I started trying out free to play MMO games, years and years ago, most of them were a big grind with pretty graphics, not always something you'd really want to stick with. I suppose that idea has stuck with the FTP titles over the years. However, many FTP games have broken out of this mold, many offering quite a different experience than you'd expect. Some of them better than some premium MMO games out now. FTP games, these days, are of such a higher caliber than they were years ago, stunning graphics, great game-play and many neat additions to games that add a bit of flavor and change from the norm. There are many FTP diamonds in the rough, you just have to dig around to find them.
A lot of the eastern MMO games that are coming out have more of a western feel than ever, most of them have a need system which may add in interesting pet or zodiac systems, something different. These little bits of flair are the things I really love about the eastern games. The translations might not always be the best but more and more we're seeing a much better job at it and thus making more fun games available to the western audience.
The biggest things I have problems with would be with bag space limitations and open world PvP. However many of the eastern MMO games entice you with free gifts every so often, making you itch to open shiny presents and gain levels. Which I noticed many, lately, boost you up to around 20 to get more of a feeling of being tied into the game. In the western FTP models it is entirely the opposite, in my opinion. You feel that you need to pay more to fit in and be at home. Things like not having access to an auction house unless you pay for it, locked out of content unless you pay for it and so on. I think this is what pushes me away from most of our FTP games that started out as premiums.
Anyhow, there are certainly some very fun games out there that are free to play and I thought I'd list a few gems I've had the chance to mess around with, not all are new but they are new to me. These are all full of questing, pets, companions, mounts, dungeons and all the stuff we look for in MMO games.
Of course I've mentioned Prius Online. My new love. I don't know what exactly draws me to this game but it's a combination of things I like. Plus I enjoy the class I picked out. The only drawback would be that the world has open PvP at 25, something that could very well push me from the game. I only like PvP when I want it, we'll have to see how many griefers bother me though. This game has a built in auction system, enchanting system, mounts, housing, quest tracker, companions, team based pvp as well and currently no cash shop- soon though. I've not had to pay a dime and the game is fantastic. I've enjoyed it thoroughly, while some of the cut scenes are not too impressive, the storyline has an RPG feeling to it. While this is new to us, just now going into open beta, I've read the game is actually around 3-4 years old in Korea. Interesting!
While I'm only in my twenties in Battle of The Immortals (a.k.a BoI), it is a very fun MMO. At first it was hard to get use to the camera angle, similar to Diablo with a zoom in ability), but the game has some neat things about it. For someone who loves everything PETS in a game, well, you can tame just about anything, it just takes patience. The combat was fast paced and I got lots and lots of shiny gifts. In my first play session I hit 20 and I am sure it will slow down now, but it was a whirlwind of fun up to this point. Plus, it is a PWE game and I really love all their games that I play.
Another I have barely had a chance to play around with, just character creation, would be ARGO online. It really looks like it has potential. A battle between steam punk and fantasy. Very nice looking game, I can't say much about the game-play but from what I have read it looks top notch. Battle from vehicles and mounts, backpacks are special in this game and a lot of really cool things to check out.
There are so many wonderful choices out there now and so many ahead of us. I absolutely love it. When I first started MMO gaming there were not so many choices, not even a fraction. It is nice to be able to pick and choose.
-kaozz
I know you're a bit over-loaded with games at the moment already, but if you ever find the time to give another a shot, have you every played Ashen Empires? Started out as Dransik yeeeears ago, to the point of there being a Dransik Classic and Ashen Empires going on at the same time.
ReplyDeleteEverything you do gives you experience, both to your over all level xp, as well as that specific task you are doing. If you use swords a lot, you'll level up swords. (Nifty thing is, it is not based on kills, but damage actually done. So if you have to bail as the fight isn't in your favor, you'll still keep the xp on the damage you did to him.)
You can do a lot, but it does have that old school vibe to it. To be honest, I only really play the game for the crafting stuff. Mainly it's farming options. I dunno. Just being able to log in, plant a few rows of cherry trees then letting em grow as I do something else is kinda relaxing. I used to plant ten at a time then edit whatever I was writing at the time (in the day) as it provided a nice break of game and actual work lol
At first it's quite the trek to even start planting stuff, but when something does finally start to grow not only you get double the xp of a failed attempt, but it feels good to know you're doing it right. Add in that you can actually forage for feeds with a stick as you wait for the plants to grow and you have a self-perpetuating system!
I am downloading Prius right now. Since I've kicked the Wow monkey off my back I am interested in trying out some new games.
ReplyDelete@ Encrazedcrafts- I will definitely keep that in mind, it looks really interesting. Poked around their site last night. Sounds like it has a lot of options, something I really like in an MMO.
ReplyDeleteI really need to narrow things down but I have been just trying to explore and see what many of these FTP gamers offer.
@ Mister K- Awesome, I hope you enjoy it! I get like that with WoW sometimes and there are plenty of alternatives out there. Sometimes you just have to look around to see what suits you best :)