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Wizard101 vs. Free Realms
mikey11111
Member Posts: 13
in Wizard101
Which do you think is better?
My vote goes to wizard101.
Comments
Having never played Free Realms, I'm going to say Wizard101 is better. This is largely going off of SOE's reputation. They try to nickel and dime you for every cent you've got in a subscription game. Let them have their hands on an item mall game that is supposed to nickel and dime players and the results could be truly frightening.
If all Free Realms has is what little is on their web site, then Wizard101 would be far and away the superior game. But Free Realms surely has more than what meager details they show on their web site. It's a web site made by SOE, after all, which is the worst commercial web site I've seen, and has been that way for years. Thus, they don't put many details on the site, and it's likely that a fair bit of what they do put on the site is wrong.
Years ago I played Infantry after SOE picked it up, and the instructions on the web site for the Ambush zone listed eight items that you could use in the zone. The actual game also had eight items that you could use in the zone. The sets were disjoint: none of the items on the web site were in the actual game and vice versa.
It's kind of like asking whether apples or oranges are better. They're both fruit, but completely different and the answer is completely subjective, due to their differences. You might like oranges, whereas I might like applies. Wizard101 is very different than Free Realms.
Free Realms - Personally, I think of Free Realms as kind of a colorful, 3d version of a flash games site or arcade. You can do all sorts of things like race cars (or crash them, as the case may be), fight monsters, buy pets, etc.., but there's no overall cohesiveness. It really does offer a "free" experience in that you're pretty much free to do what ever you want.
Wizard101 - In Wizard101 there are flash mini-games one can play for a change of pace or to refill your potion bottles, but the core of the game is an overarching storyline with significant quest grinding and a pretty cool and unique combat system that is surprisingly deep for a kid's game. Wizard101 does have item and title collecting, PvP and housing, too, all of which offer variety, but the core of the game is still the story with questing and combat.
As an adult, I like Free Realms enough to play it occasionally, but not enough to pay for it. I like Wizard101 enough, however, to pay for it, even if I don't play it that often. My 10-year old son absolutely loves Wizard101.
~Ripper
Both games include various flash minigames. In wizard they are in an arcade like area where you play one of 8 different mini games to refill mana. In FreeRealms games are spread around more and tied mostly into various jobs/classes.
Generally I think that wizard 101 had more straight up minigames but the quality of the minigames in freerealms was better. That is probably a debatable opinion.
Freerealms however also offers various instanced and non instanced 3d minigames. Things like racing, demo car games, or combat instances. There are also various open area games. Like running around and finding boxes, or melting snowmen, or delivering mail. I'm not sure how many of these there are but early on I ran into several.
Wizard 101 combat system plays out in an arena map in the world areas. You play a card like game where cards are spells. It is actually very fun and what I find most interesting about the game.
In freerealms combat is pretty similar to an MMO. You have abilities you use, and you carry items like heal potions of smoke bombs. You can have upto 5 abilities and 5 items. Combat is all done in instances and the instances have a lot of scripting which makes things interesting.
I'd say that wizard feels more light weight to me. The card game aspect is great. The minigames were soso at best.
Freerealms is larger and more involved feeling. Some of the minigames were great. The game feels more developed and polished.
Oh one more point as the poster above points out. Wizard feels like a much stronger story line. Also wizard quests all have voice acting which both are suprisingly lacking from freerealms. Also wizard has more chatter and seems to be a more social game. Freerealms just doesn't seem to have good tools for players to socialize.
Anyway since both are free to play at least initially check them both out
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Ethion
I dislike FreeRealms pretty strongly so I can't really compare the two, but I will say I am hooked on Wizard101 and have barely played anything else since I discovered it.
The combination of strategy, planning, and chance on which the battle system rests can lead to surprising and dangerous situations in fights that would amount only to lifeless trash grinding in most games. More importantly, the deck system totally removes drama and blame from the equation, because you can never be sure what abilities your teammates have access to at any given time.
Because of this and other factors, everyone is constantly playing together, hopping in and out of open battles, saving each other, and getting each other killed, and no animosity ever arises from it.
FreeRealms is worth trying for its mining game (a cute take on the Bejeweled model, which for its smidgen of charm sticks out like a sore thumb) and is worth a look just to see how patronizing and cynical SOE really is at its core. It is a depressing experience and a genuinely evil piece of work, absolutely not for children.
einexile the meek
Vacuos, Winterlong, Vaciante, Eicosapenta
Atlantean, Tyranny, Malton
Wow are we perhaps a bit antisoe and a little bit overly biased here....
I agree that wizard 101 combat is a great deal of fun and I'm finding myself kinda addicted to the game. However, free realms minigames are much better then wizard 101 and a great deal of fun. I really like tower game, the racing game is fun, the scripting in combat games is also very good.
Which game is better for kids? I think maybe a lot depends on the kid. Some kids will probably not like wizard101 because it is strictly story driven and has really only one thing to do, play the card game. I don't know about you buy my kids tend to like to explore more and just do different things. I think this is where free realms excels you can roam whereever and explore all sorts of stuff and are even rewarded for just exploring. But you can also play any number of fun entertaining games.
I kinda think that Free Realms is perhaps better for younger people generally where Wizard 101 might actually be better for older people? Esp as you level up and it become more challenging. Wizard101 combat definitely requires more thought...
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Ethion
Another anti SOE post that is wrongly biased... both games are free and want you to spend money. But having played both I have not spent any money on Free Realms but I have spend $10 on Wizard 101. The major different between the two games is that in Free Realms you don't have to pay anything to play the game. Where in wizard 101 you have to pay to play. Really wizard 101 shouldn't even be called free to play no more then say vanguard would be called free to play. Basically in wizard 101 you start out with a few areas you can play in when you try to zone to any area other then the half dozen free ones you are required to have a subscription or pay crowns to unlock the zones.
Also there are many items you can buy with crowns that are amazing or you can buy items for gold but they are priced so high you would never be able to buy them without converting crowns into gold. Not that you would really want to buy those items as they are really overpowered. Although maybe when you are high enough to make the money to buy them they might not be that overpowered...
In free realms by contrast you can pretty explore the entire game and level up most of the jobs to max level for free. You can also find items that are comparable to anything you can buy. The only thing they tempt you with are pets since you can only rent pets without spending real money. For money in free realms you get extra classes you can play and it unlocks some instances and quests that are associated with those new jobs. Free Realms is really free as opposed to Wizard101 which is not.
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Ethion
Another anti SOE post that is wrongly biased... both games are free and want you to spend money. But having played both I have not spent any money on Free Realms but I have spend $10 on Wizard 101. The major different between the two games is that in Free Realms you don't have to pay anything to play the game. Where in wizard 101 you have to pay to play. Really wizard 101 shouldn't even be called free to play no more then say vanguard would be called free to play. Basically in wizard 101 you start out with a few areas you can play in when you try to zone to any area other then the half dozen free ones you are required to have a subscription or pay crowns to unlock the zones.
Also there are many items you can buy with crowns that are amazing or you can buy items for gold but they are priced so high you would never be able to buy them without converting crowns into gold. Not that you would really want to buy those items as they are really overpowered. Although maybe when you are high enough to make the money to buy them they might not be that overpowered...
In free realms by contrast you can pretty explore the entire game and level up most of the jobs to max level for free. You can also find items that are comparable to anything you can buy. The only thing they tempt you with are pets since you can only rent pets without spending real money. For money in free realms you get extra classes you can play and it unlocks some instances and quests that are associated with those new jobs. Free Realms is really free as opposed to Wizard101 which is not.
Wizard101 isn't called F2P, at least not by KingsIsle. It's never been F2P. It simply has a non-expiring free trial and a hybrid revenue model that includes components previously associated to F2P games.
Oh yeah - and Free Realms isn't really free. Saying it is is a little misleading. Tell your kids that they can play for free all they want, unless they want a pet (and kids do want them), want to do additional quests, want to play a second character, want to play one of the classes that has to be paid for, or want gameplay advantage giving items they can't get for free (cash shop only items, btw, per this interview: "We sell a mix of items at the Station Cash marketplace. Some items are cosmetic, like potions that turn you into a cat for a period of time. Others do affect your gameplay, like weapons that have greater damage."). Free Frealms is just as much a "freemium" game as Wizard101. In Wizard101, even free players can have up to 6 characters/account, which opens up a lot of fun primary/secondary class combinations, even though the areas they can play them in are rather limited.
That being said, with there being 4 additional worlds beyond Wizard City (currently Krokotopia, Marleybone, Moo Shu and Dragonspyr), as well as at least one other world on the way, I'd much rather see all of Wizard City open for free instead of just parts of it, except maybe the Death School instance, since that seems to stand alone). There's a ton of content in the parts currently locked out.
~Ripper
Someone earlier said that "all there is to do in Wizard101 is the card game"
Yes, but the card game is built into the story as a means of combat. Sure, you can "go play the card game", but at the same time you are experiencing fantastical worlds, silly characters (with voiceovers!), and play with your friends. I would say this is really where the big difference between W101 and FR sticks out. In w101, you're in an immersive world, whereas in free realms, yeah, you're free to do whatever, but most of that whatever happens in instanced areas where you're playing by yourself.
Also, with the recent addition of housing, you can also do that!
I completely agree. the humorus story line and well done card game are more then enough to draw me into this game. This is something I find seriously lacking in Free Realms. But one more correction in freerealms you can group up and do instances, and they scale to your group so it can be challenging.
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Ethion
Another anti SOE post that is wrongly biased... both games are free and want you to spend money. But having played both I have not spent any money on Free Realms but I have spend $10 on Wizard 101. The major different between the two games is that in Free Realms you don't have to pay anything to play the game. Where in wizard 101 you have to pay to play. Really wizard 101 shouldn't even be called free to play no more then say vanguard would be called free to play. Basically in wizard 101 you start out with a few areas you can play in when you try to zone to any area other then the half dozen free ones you are required to have a subscription or pay crowns to unlock the zones.
Also there are many items you can buy with crowns that are amazing or you can buy items for gold but they are priced so high you would never be able to buy them without converting crowns into gold. Not that you would really want to buy those items as they are really overpowered. Although maybe when you are high enough to make the money to buy them they might not be that overpowered...
In free realms by contrast you can pretty explore the entire game and level up most of the jobs to max level for free. You can also find items that are comparable to anything you can buy. The only thing they tempt you with are pets since you can only rent pets without spending real money. For money in free realms you get extra classes you can play and it unlocks some instances and quests that are associated with those new jobs. Free Realms is really free as opposed to Wizard101 which is not.
Wizard101 isn't called F2P, at least not by KingsIsle. It's never been F2P. It simply has a non-expiring free trial and a hybrid revenue model that includes components previously associated to F2P games.
Oh yeah - and Free Realms isn't really free. Saying it is is a little misleading. Tell your kids that they can play for free all they want, unless they want a pet (and kids do want them), want to do additional quests, want to play a second character, want to play one of the classes that has to be paid for, or want gameplay advantage giving items they can't get for free (cash shop only items, btw, per this interview: "We sell a mix of items at the Station Cash marketplace. Some items are cosmetic, like potions that turn you into a cat for a period of time. Others do affect your gameplay, like weapons that have greater damage."). Free Frealms is just as much a "freemium" game as Wizard101. In Wizard101, even free players can have up to 6 characters/account, which opens up a lot of fun primary/secondary class combinations, even though the areas they can play them in are rather limited.
That being said, with there being 4 additional worlds beyond Wizard City (currently Krokotopia, Marleybone, Moo Shu and Dragonspyr), as well as at least one other world on the way, I'd much rather see all of Wizard City open for free instead of just parts of it, except maybe the Death School instance, since that seems to stand alone). There's a ton of content in the parts currently locked out.
~Ripper
My point wasn't that free realms didn't have things you can buy. I mean if it didn't could the game even stay in business?
The point is that there is a free game there that can give you many hours of entertainment without spending a dime. W101 on the other hand gives you about 4-5 hours of play before you run out of quests and zones. Sure you can endlessly play it but really the story line is one of the main attractions. Sure there are jobs you can't play which have their own quests and minigames. But that doesn't detract from the fact that you can play pretty much everything in the game with the jobs you have access to for free. As to the items in the cash shop unlike the items in wizard101 you can get them for free in the game. They are not overpowered or special and people have gotten them from drops in the game. In w101 every shop has at lease 2-3 items that are super expensive. easily 10x the normal item prices. Those items are very overpowered and there to temp people to buy gold with crowns. Or there are also shops where you can buy items directly with crowns.
So really how is FreeRealms any more money oriented then W101? In my time playing Freerealms I never spent any money. Where in a little over a week I have spent $10 on W101 and will be spending more probably before the weekend.
edit: I want to correct something I said that is wrong. I didn't notice the first time I looked at the cash shop in freerealms that the items for sale there are all open to level 1 players. Those items are definately overpowered just like the W101 items. However at level 20 you can get items that are better then the cash shop, but for a lvl 1 person they represent a substantial advantage.
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Ethion
FreeRealms is going to have several areas which are subscriber only, they just haven't opened yet. The free part of that game is probably a bit bigger physically, but it is peppered with subscriber content - from challenges within each minigame to gated instances to crafting processes. (For example you can mine for free but blacksmithing will cost you extra, even though it is basically the same whack-a-mole and mouse wiggling exercise as other crafting procedures.) I am all for the cash shop model where items are concerned, but the limitations are everywhere and the constant sales pitching frankly reminds me of 20th century porn sites.
It's a shame that part of the first world in Wizard 101 requires payment, because the rest of the game is large enough to make those limits pointless and it breaks up groups & may cause some embarrassment, but the free area is not insubstantial and the variety of both boss & trash encounters keeps many players going for weeks, plus they have access to PVP except for the ranking system. In fairness, a 101 subscription is also more expensive.
I do have a bias against Sony proper but held some admiration for SOE before this, because they have taken chances on problematic games and have never canceled an MMO. I've subscribed to all their games but one, and only canceled EQ 1+2 in the last few months. I had been looking forward to FreeRealms and was happy to get into the beta, but it has brought to mind the NGE, their neglect of Planetside and The Matrix Online, the sleazy TCGs, and the semi-legalized RMT in Everquest 2. I'll grant most of these things probably can be credited to cluelessness and fear rather than cynicism.
The problem with FreeRealms is not just the money issue, it's the whole premise promiting it as the libertarian alternative to World of Warcraft when it is almost exactly the opposite. This is your world! You can do anything you want! Look here, these totally awesome teen stereotypes are having a dance party! In FreeRealms, YOU ROCK! This stuff is straight from the most poisonous kind of children's programming, it will demonstrate (correctly) to all but the most vacant of children that grownups are liars, and I find it disgusting.
One of your first experiences in this game will be to pick out a pet. You are permitted to name it and shown how to care for it, and then without explanation the pet is taken away. Guess what comes next. And I reach the wild conclusion that this horrorshow of an MMO is cynical and evil because of my hatred of the people who made two of the greatest games of all time. Hats off to you for reading between the lines there, buddy.
einexile the meek
Vacuos, Winterlong, Vaciante, Eicosapenta
Atlantean, Tyranny, Malton
For Wiz101's target market, you'd be surprised how long the free content can entertain -- it's limitless, really. My niece (who showed me the game at XMAS) is still playing for free to this day. She enjoys rolling characters and fighting mobs. Her younger sister does the same.
I have not tried Free Realms yet, so I cannot speak to the post topic... however, Wiz101 can be considered a F2P game for much of its target market... in my opinion.
The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.
Maybe for some people... For me it took maybe 4-5 hours to run through the free content till I hit triton or cyclops ave which were both charged. I was also disappointed to see that every zone doesn't cost the same. The first ones were 750 crowns which wasn't too bad but it seems to go up with future zones. I bought $10 in crowns, 5000 I think. I have only used them to unlock zones. I'm on the egyption area and unlocked my first area. I think I'm down to less then 1000 crowns left. I have played W101 for 28 hours and most of that has been in the last 7 days.
One thing that is true however is in the starting areas there is a free to play arena. That could keep people playing for a long time. Playing against other players in this game is fun and you get tickets you can use to buy nice items.
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Ethion
Maybe for some people... For me it took maybe 4-5 hours to run through the free content till I hit triton or cyclops ave which were both charged. I was also disappointed to see that every zone doesn't cost the same. The first ones were 750 crowns which wasn't too bad but it seems to go up with future zones. I bought $10 in crowns, 5000 I think. I have only used them to unlock zones. I'm on the egyption area and unlocked my first area. I think I'm down to less then 1000 crowns left. I have played W101 for 28 hours and most of that has been in the last 7 days.
One thing that is true however is in the starting areas there is a free to play arena. That could keep people playing for a long time. Playing against other players in this game is fun and you get tickets you can use to buy nice items.
LIke I said, I'd like to see most, if not all, of Wizard City opened up. I think it would be a ton of content. That being said, I can see people reaching for their checkbooks when they hit a closed off street more than I can when they hit a new world, since they'll have a feeling of accomplishment from having completed the first world. So, from a business perspective, what's better?
Personally, i spend money on Wizard101 because my son and I like it. I don't spend money on Free Realms, but it's not because I don't have to, so much as I don't want to...
~Ripper
heh, no argument there. I prefer W101 myself. I find FR is too much a kids game for my tastes although I do like that tower game but I can play that for free till my hearts content :P I might play it a bit more since I think they did some pretty good scripting in the combat instances and I want to see how that progresses but I think I'd prefer to play eq2 vs FR all things considered, while I like playing W101 for the change and because it is kinda straight forward, soloable and simple.
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Ethion
Maybe for some people... For me it took maybe 4-5 hours to run through the free content till I hit triton or cyclops ave which were both charged. I was also disappointed to see that every zone doesn't cost the same. The first ones were 750 crowns which wasn't too bad but it seems to go up with future zones. I bought $10 in crowns, 5000 I think. I have only used them to unlock zones. I'm on the egyption area and unlocked my first area. I think I'm down to less then 1000 crowns left. I have played W101 for 28 hours and most of that has been in the last 7 days.
One thing that is true however is in the starting areas there is a free to play arena. That could keep people playing for a long time. Playing against other players in this game is fun and you get tickets you can use to buy nice items.
Do you get tickets from unranked matches? If so, what is the benefit of a ranked match? As near as I can tell there aren't any items that have a wear requirement involving pvp rank.
I just fought fought a level 33 player in a ranked match. I'm level 23. It took me over half an hour, maybe 40+ minutes, to beat him, and it was damned close. Not to toot my own horn, as I have had my ass kicked by players several levels below me. This game is just bloody amazing.
einexile the meek
Vacuos, Winterlong, Vaciante, Eicosapenta
Atlantean, Tyranny, Malton
I find them both fun to play and waiting on free realms to get housing and fishing in soon. LOL the op should have guess the outcome of droping this post free realms vs. wiz 101 in the wiz forums .. never would of guessed it would get bashed lol...