*Wow, it's been a while. Winging it, more of a vent but I guess that's what half of the stuff on MMOsite is posted for, anyways.*

Processed meat. Every slice of it goes through a specific, pre-planned, constantly monitered procedure of grinding, preserving, and packaging. It wasn't until recent that I had discovered how much I have in common with sausage when I am playing a modern MMORPG. Thousands of players just like me, being put through the same quests, same gear, same monsters, same "challenges", we're all just minced pig sliding down a conveyor belt., and as per usual, a single game has brought this to my attention: Ether Saga Online.

I started as a Yaoh, in a relatively small town carved from a few trees in which my tutorial phase would take place. It wasn't long before I was sent out to fight monsters, and it was right there, once I saw the monster fields, that I should have known I'd be writing this in the end. The field itself was absolutely swarmed with at least one hundred mobs, probably even more (Well I'm not gunna actually count!). What's worse, I was the only person in the area, which killed my attempt to rationalize it as making sure there's

I believe this is my fourth article this month... man, I don't know if this is "on a role", or just plain obsession. I think it's something to hold me off until Darkfall, maybe... Alright, here I go!

It's a constant idea that continuously grows as all MMOsiters toy with and write about it. I think it's about time I threw in my two cents on the matter. It is basically a common belief that adding a storyline to an MMORPG, something that can give you that... sensation similar to the feeling conveyed in Final Fantasy 7's "Aerith's Death", should make an MMORPG instantly popular. I have, however, noticed that MMORPGs are doing this nowadays, and things remain unchanged. But why? Developers are still going about it the wrong way! I don't think simply adding a storyline is enough anymore, where I had once vouched for that idea. The story is there... but the grind is the same! Are storylines and MMORPGs just complete opposites?

In many games, mainly RPGs, the main character is usually a young nobody who discovers there is something more to them, some popular choices writers take are finding out that their lineage is of royalty, they have some special abi

This rant may be shorter lived than my last few, I'll be seeing a movie soon and might condense this when it's time to go.

What is a game? Something you play when you're bored and want to have fun. When you were a wee one, you may have played tag with siblings or friends. There was really no winner in tag, it just kept going until you all got bored.

When video games were young, they were single player and were played solely for fun. How often did people compare their scores on Mario Brothers?

Nowadays, however, I believe that's been lost within the MMORPG market. This had finally hit me when my cousin had told me what my old guildmates had been doing in WotLK. They were all rushing to 80, both their mains and death knights. I thought, how could they do that? They aren't even enjoying the game! When I had played Burning Crusade, to get from 60 to 70, it took me about a month, whereas it took everyone else five days of bumrushing quests and instances. Why did it take me so long? Not only was I playing with friends on other characters, but I was enjoying everything there was to offer at every step, even taking chatting sessions here and there, dancing with horde in the ne

I'm level 286! 63.4% to go! My sword does 46-90 damage! I have a 23.4% chance of combining these items! You need to kill 567 more mushrooms to complete the quest! I have 54 strength!

I have bigger numbers, therefore I am better than you.

Okay, years before the idea of MMORPGs were even a wet dream for any table-top nerd, would that idea have pitched? If you told a game company back in the  '80s that you wanted to make a game in which you click this same button over and over, at least 20 million times, the button gets bigger and changes color, and it keeps doing this over and over and never ends, would it have gone through? What if you told them you could meet up with the other button pressers and press the button together or, if their button was smaller, you could force them to start back at the smallest button? Still no. Now the button is a freaking ape demon with LAZOR AYEBEAMZ and they put this cheesy and stereotypical anime hero or barbarian warrior wearing a headband and gold shiny armor on the screen with a big gleaming sword and give you twenty different ways to click the button. And there's this tree. HOLY $#!+ THERE'S THIS AWESOME&nbs

Really thought it was the end when Game Networks dropped NeoSteam without a trace, and couldn't believe it when I heard that ATLUS, of all publishers, was taking it up. Atlus is probably most famous for their Shin Megami Tensei series, which is extremely popular in Japan and amongst j-rpg fans of the states. Atlus brings the same quality to NeoSteam with a completely reworked localization and more lenient leveling curve. They've hosted many pre-launch contests (Including a raffle for a hand-made costume piece of a pair of goggles from the game) and the administrators actually talk to the players on the forums which helps keep players hopeful and enthusiastic for launch.

The servers will be up in about 6 hours from now, and I'll be hopping on maybe 3 hours after that. I play ELERD NATION, Reinhardt_Tatzenvier for anyone else who wants to play with me o_-

Got a kickass laptop, ten times better than my old desktop computer. I <3 tax refunds. Been playing S4League, Megaten Online, and Final Fantasy XI. Needs moar hardcore system spec games, gotta break the baby out.

Also been hanging a lot on whirled. Lots of avvy updates since my last mention if you care.

And been doodling. Here n there. Peh.