Well you 2 followers... I forgot about this site entirely.  However I might actually post more than once this time as I plan on posting about... well pretty much all games, not really just MMOs.  Maybe try and post once a week, more for my own benefit than anyone else.  I should try 1 game a week, and lets start it off with actual MMOs until I run out.

So this week's topic:

SRO

This was my introduction to MMOs and as such I have an unnatural attraction to it.  However it is decidedly different from anything else I've played since then.  I love its graphic style, I love the imbue skills which noone else seems to have, however it had one major problem.  The time required to play that game legitimately is absurd.  I got to 48 without botting or a GT (double xp rate) keeping like a 2-3 skill gap and it still took forever.  I didn't track gameplay hours and it was my first one so I don't know if I've been dulled to the boredom of killing the same th

Captain Anjel's Log                                - by David "AnjelusX" Slauenwhite                         February 15th, 1495 Ahoy mates, another entry for another week, one that takes me off the oceans for a bit of rest and enjoyment. While there’s always sailing to be done, there are times when you need to come off the ship and find a place to relax with your mates or stash some of your booty. Surely the bank vault is a helpful place for storing items of great importance, but we all know you can’t stash everything in there. Not only is it costly to switch out your gear or place your most precious of items. This is where buying some housing comes in, which you can also purchase f

So I decided to try out this game because its named after one of the famous Wuxia (martial art) novels by Jin Yong (most famous for Condor Heroes). This game has absolutely nothing to do with the series of the same name and is instead based on the 10 martial arts sects. Unfortunately, I realized I played this game before except it was under a different name and I think it was run by a Malaysian company rather than Changyou Europe. The only thing that I recognized was the giant eagles that some people can ride, but that would be Legend of the Condor Heroes and not Tian Long Ba Bu. This game is very similar to the JX2 style.

Story:

N/A

Graphics:

The graphics are dated. There are very limited options in terms of looks. You can choose between 3 hairstyles and something like 4 faces. You can choose a character portrait, but it has no effect on anything other than the image you see when you view a person's profile. The background and enemies are rather plain. The effects on skills look decent a

So, a long time ago, Korea came up with a game called Talesweaver. Finally, in the Fall of 2010, they decided to translate the game into English. Unfortunately, the servers are located in Korea still which causes some problems. Its being hosted by gamengame open beta but its still fairly unstable.

Website: http://tales.gamengame.com/

Story:

For some reason villages are facing increasingly more aggressive monsters. No one knows why.

Graphics:

This game is old. It uses 2D sprites with a 3D background. Provided that you aren't playing full screen, the graphics are still fairly nice. Stretching the screen really makes the game show its age but other than that its still fairly decent. Another problem is that most characters look very similar so everyone practically looks the same. If you want different looks, you have to get some high level head equipment and some item mall stuff which is not released in this version yet.

Gameplay:

The game starts off with you choosing a base character. Each

Unlike many of the other games I've played, RF is one of the few PvP games that I have enjoyed for a while. Its been out for a while now and its one of those games that people either love it or hate it. There's rarely a middle ground on the decisions of players for this game.

Story:

The backstory is available online. The only thing you really need to know is that the 3 races (Accretion, Bellato, Cora) are all suppose to be different evolutions of human. If you want a more simple explanation,  Accretions are the tough melee that suck with magic, Bellato are space dwarfs/rangers, and Cora are the space elves.

Graphics:

There is not much area for customization in the game. There's only a few hair and face styles to choose from. Most players around the same level wear similar armor. The enemies don't have much of a variety at first but it improves later on assuming you last long enough to get there.

Gameplay:

The game itself begins with you picking one of the 3 races. Each account

The Item Mall: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Article by Catamount (Dakr, Ikagaili)

Let’s face it,  nearly every free MMO currently on the market has an Item Mall. Some may think that the purpose of micro-transactions (the process of buying items virtually) is a waste of time and money but many game developers see it as a way to produce revenue for their company. There are many great things about an Item Mall and there are many bad things about an Item Mall. Much of it is based on perception and how much money you are willing to spend to get the advantage (if there is one to be had). We’ll start off with the good, move onto the bad and finish with the ugly…

The Good

Seeing as I’m a fan of knowing the good news first, I figured this would be a good place to start off. Believe it or not there are more decent purposes behind the concept of an item mall than we can think of. Without a source of income for the publisher they would not be able run and host the game

Dragon Oath is an MMO published by ChangYou. Before this I have never even heard of them but apparently they're in the works for other MMOs in the US as well. The best way I can describe this is that it is like an updated and improved version of JX2. Although not by much, the little differences make the game feel nearly completely different. The basis for the game itself is similar to JX2, Zhu Xian, and 9Dragons. The key difference is that they don't put any restrictions on joining clans.

Story:

N/A - Something about Song Dynasty or something. Go read it on the website

Graphics:

By today's standards, this is nothing amazing. The character looks are very limited and the only customizability so far is that of your clan's wardrobe. However, each of the clans have a significantly different look which is a plus. Its easy to identify who is what clan and what their general abilities are. Even though this is nice, more customization in general would have been nice. The monsters look fairly different and there isn't much repeat of character models except for mobs that are involved in the special events. There are no repeats for quite some time too.

Gameplay:

Character creation is very

I hate to say this, but from all the experiences I've had with forums, Cubizone is by far the worst. Surpassing those of Acclaim and NDoors. Although Acclaim and NDoors don't pay much attention to the forums, they won't ban users for making comments or suggestions about the game. They will also at least read your post thoroughly. On top of this, I received NO notification that I was banned for an incident that happened about a day after my STEPS Review was published. I just could not log into my account. Now with the recent update to their website, they FINALLY mentioned that my account and email has been banned from their website upon trying to use it with a new email.

After a certain incident with STEPS, I recommend them to produce permanent non-rental clothing into the game without requiring the item mall because dance games without a permanent clothing option makes it impossible for players to show progress and players quickly leave. They responded that they will provide permanent clothing options through the item mall. After that I responded that I will take my desire for a decent dance game else where. The result? They banned my account. All for that one remark against

Age of Armor: Age of Crap

Age of Armor is a free sci fi mmo which has the selling point of mech combat. My first impression of the game (judging by screenshots) was Gundam + MMO = total win + action? Guess not. Complete opposite. You would have more fun playing scrabble than this piece of ..... well you get the picture.

Since I can't really find anything good to say about this game, I'll just bash it. It is hard to find anything positive to say about it, but there is a few things that interest me.

Traffic:

Lack of people actually playing the game. I saw 14 people in 4 hrs. It would have to be the most deserted MMO i have ever played. Heck the only reason people play MMO's is so to interact with other individuals in online gameplay. Heck the background music they use in town is just a recording people talking in a downtown mall (probably to cover up the low server pop and give it a lively feel)

On the bright side, lag is non existant

"Tutorial" or "Story"

The thing that really drives me off is a lack of tutorial for beginners. Well actually they do have a "tutorial" but its 20 seconds long. "Press WASD. Press Tab. Click Mouse. You have a ski

This is my first MMO review in a while and school has been keeping me busy as well. Three Kingdoms is an MMORPG based around the 3 kingdoms era made infamous by Koei, Omega Force, and the Dynasty Warriors series. The game is quite simple but hard to find your way around at first so it can take some getting use to. It has a pretty good idea, but it is characteristic of a certain other game with 3 different groups of people who hate each other so not really an original idea at this point. Some of the other games built off of this idea are Final Fantasy XI, Dynasty Warriors Online, Romance of the Three Kingdoms Online, and RF Online.

Story:

Wu, Wei, and Shu are at war and everyone wants to conquer China. If you want a complete story go read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novels because this game will tell you nothing and the website won't help you either.

Graphics:

The graphics of Three Kingdoms is fairly dated. The disappointment is that the game looks like it was something made back in 2003 or 2004 when it is a 2009 game. The game is an even greater disappointment if you compare it to Romance of the Three Kingdoms Online which is basically a better version of Three Kingdoms. All in