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Advice wanted: First MMORPG for SP RPG fan
dbhankins
Member Posts: 7
After a brief bout with the pencil, paper and polyhedral dice of AD&D back in the 80's, I've ignored RPGs until the last couple of months. Now I've discovered CRPGs, and have been enjoying a number of single player titles such as Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, Chrono Cross, Xenosaga Chapter 1 and Knights of the Old Republic.
Now I think I might enjoy an MMORPG, but I'd rather it had certain characteristics:
MUST:
- A battle system similar to FFVII, FFX or Xenosaga but tuned for multiplayer - plenty of choices to make during combat, menu/selection based actions, something like ATB bars but nobody has to wait for anyone else in order to act. Something like Starfleet Command, where weapons have charging times, would be ideal.Must not be a Diablo-style hack and slash, nor should it be like Rock-em-Sock-em Robots where you tell them how to act ahead of time and don't actually control the battles. (I'm told EverQuest is the latter)
- Have actual fun and interesting gaming to be done. Must not be a glorified chat room (e.g. Sims Online) or a glorified scavenger hunt (most MMORPGs, I'm told), or just constant meaningless battles.
- Accessible to new players. I must not have to spend real-world money to buy game items just to have a chance of surviving.
- Griefers and cheaters are rare and promptly dealt with by sysadmins.
- 3D, in the battles if nowhere else
- Windows-based. No Xbox Live or Sony Online fees on top of my MMORPG monthly, please.
- Honesty. It should not, in particular, promise to be all SF and then turn out to be fantasy or have a large fantasy component. I've read that AO is like that, and I've seen some single player games like that (Anachronox, Fear Effect).
- Purity. Should be either all-SF (Deus Ex), or all fantasy (Morrowind), or an even mix (Final Fantasy, Star Wars). For some reason I find Star Trek's esper stuff offputting.
- Leavable. There shouldn't be any set number of hours I have to play every week just to "keep up", Nor should I have to play for two hours just to reach a save point.
- A Formula 1 or NASCAR MMORPG
- A good overarching world story that unfolds across the months or years
- The ability to add NPCs to your party
Is there anything out there that's close to that?
Dan
Comments
As far as I know there is nothing like that out there. Should be pretty easy to check out all of the SF MMOs, there arent many.
Sorry buddy but your standards may be just a little to high. With the crap people are dumping out to make a profit a scavanger hunt is pretty much all you get, or then its not really an mmorpg anymore (ex. Rakion, Guild Wars to some extent)
allways remmeber:
you're special,
just like everyone else.
I was hoping that Final Fantasy XI might fit the bill. Is its combat system not a variation of ATB?
Dan
No. It's something completely different. The closest you may find for that type of game may be The Realm Online but they've stopped updates on the game over a year ago.. how it's still running is anyone's guess.
Ya the only one that comes close is EVE. Even it doesnt really fit the bill but its your best bet I would think. The only thing is it had a pretty steep learning curve. Do the tutorial though and you should be fine. You can find free downloads and a free 14 day trial key by searching for EVE trial in google.
Eve Online Exodus? Looks like an MMO version of Privateer or Freelancer. Interesting. This sounds close enough to what I'm looking for that I might well give it a go. And I loved Frontier and Freelancer.
Is the combat system thought-based or twitch-based? One of the reasons I specified the kind of battle system I was looking for is that I've tried real-time combat online games that pit me against other players, and, frankly, I get my &$$ handed to me every time (America's Army). My survival time on the newbie maps there could be measured in seconds, not minutes.
Is the combat in Eve Online Exodus against other players or against the computer? Computer-controlled enemies I can beat.
Still looking for a semi-turn-based MMORPG, though.
Dan
Eve Online Exodus? Looks like an MMO version of Privateer or Freelancer. Interesting. This sounds close enough to what I'm looking for that I might well give it a go. And I loved Frontier and Freelancer.
Is the combat system thought-based or twitch-based? One of the reasons I specified the kind of battle system I was looking for is that I've tried real-time combat online games that pit me against other players, and, frankly, I get my &$$ handed to me every time (America's Army). My survival time on the newbie maps there could be measured in seconds, not minutes.
Is the combat in Eve Online Exodus against other players or against the computer? Computer-controlled enemies I can beat.
Still looking for a semi-turn-based MMORPG, though.
Dan
Its a PVP and a PVE game. But its setup so you can avoid comabt altogether if its not your thing. Later on you may need some buddies for protection once in awhile if you dont take a combatative approach. The combat is semi twitch, you add various weapons onto your ship (the size and type of ship denote the number of weapons and addons you can attach) and when you leave the station and head into space, there will be an icon on your interface of that weapon. When you are locked onto a target and in range, you click the icon of the weapon you want to fire and it will begin to continuously fire until the enemy is dead or you tell it to stop. Some weapons like missles are on a wind-up timer though, and you need to launch them manually after they have reloaded.
There are plenty of safe and newbie areas where you dont need to worry about evil players coming and killing you, off the bat most of the enemies youll encounter will be NPC pirates. The community is very friendly too so if you need help with something, theres almost always someone who can give you can answer.
EVE is a very deep game though, and it can be a little slow at the beginning. Its not a game for everyone, especially if youre more into action oriented games. If you do like it though, be prepared to sink a lot of time into it
Double.
Reread what he said, he said "No Xbox Live or Sony Online fees ON TOP of my MMORPG monthly fee..."
Eve Online Exodus? Looks like an MMO version of Privateer or Freelancer. Interesting. This sounds close enough to what I'm looking for that I might well give it a go. And I loved Frontier and Freelancer.
Is the combat system thought-based or twitch-based? One of the reasons I specified the kind of battle system I was looking for is that I've tried real-time combat online games that pit me against other players, and, frankly, I get my &$$ handed to me every time (America's Army). My survival time on the newbie maps there could be measured in seconds, not minutes.
Is the combat in Eve Online Exodus against other players or against the computer? Computer-controlled enemies I can beat.
Still looking for a semi-turn-based MMORPG, though.
Dan
With the newer updates I did a lot of my skills in the black market and trading. I hardly fought in EVE because my objective wasn't about killing, but about making money and providing people with needed things.
What will he do next?
Reread what he said, he said "No Xbox Live or Sony Online fees ON TOP of my MMORPG monthly fee..."
wth does that mean?
You arn't going to find anything similar to want you want, because what you want is a single player rpg. The closest thing I can think of is FFXI. But still, most of any of your wants wont be satified because what your looking for wont be in an mmorpg.
There are a ton of free trials out there right now, which really is your best bet as you are new to the genre.
You better have a credit card if you're gonna play any decent game anyways, here is a list of some free trials that I had some fun with.
Saga of Ryzom www.ryzom.com 14 day free trial (this game is really special)
EVE Online www.eve-online.com 14 day free trial. I think that's the link, this game is widely hailed as superb.
Horizons www.Istaria.com 14 day free trial. This game gets a bad rep but was one of the more enjoyable games I have played, best community and crafting system ever, period.
FFXI doesn't have a free trial (cheap bastards) but it has a huge and faithful subscriber base. It's a fantastic game but the grind is a tad rough.
Any of the games on the top 20 or so of MMORPG.com will entertain you for a time, have some fun with the free trials and come play EQ2 when you want to play the best game out right now in my humble opinion.
Don't waste your time with FFXI.
Here's the answer to your question... PLAY THEM YOURSELF!
Then only you can decide what YOU like. It's like coming to me and asking if I like the color green, I say yes, so now you go around saying you like the color green too.
It just doesn't make sence to me when people ask the same questions over and over. Please go to each game, read their site, then ask questions.
What will he do next?
Reread what he said, he said "No Xbox Live or Sony Online fees ON TOP of my MMORPG monthly fee..."
wth does that mean?
I'll try to explain...
Yeah...I suppose what I want is a single player RPG with an MMO component. One with an ATB-based battle system tweaked, but not replaced, for MMO.
Eve Online sounds close enough that I'm giving it a go. I've created my character and am working through the tutorials.
Dofus sounds pretty close too but it fails the 3D criterion and I'm not sure I like the FFT-style grid-based battle system.
Dan
So I should put hours in playing (and in some cases paying) every one of the dozens, if not hundreds, of MMORPGs out there to find one I like?
I thought that was why things like reviews, polls, forums and awards existed - so that one could find someone who shares one's inclinations and has already tried some of the things one is interested in choosing from.
Believe you me, posting to ask for advice was not my first choice. I spent hours Googling, searching sites like GameSpot, MobyGames, gamerankings.com and MobyGames for professional and community reveiws and ratings. I read the marketing stuff and searched forums on a few MMOs that looked promising. And I wasn't able to find reviewers or players who were interested in the same things about an MMORPG that I was.
So I decided to explain in detail what I'm looking for in an MMORPG, and see if anyone knew of one that fit or came close. I'm certainly not asking anyone to tell me what to like. I'm explaining what I like, and asking if anyone knows something that matches that.
Over and over? I only asked once. If you mean, that the same questions get asked over and over, then I have a request - do you have links, sites to search, or productive Google search terms? If someone has posted before looking for the same things in an MMORPG that I am, and got helpful answers, then I'm very interested in reading those posts.
Dan
Thanks for the pointers, much appreciated. I have a few comments/questions:
Saga of Ryzom looks almost perfect, but I look upon its mostly-auto-attack combat system with a skeptical eye. Should I not?
I'm trying Eve Online right now, based on advice here. Looks very Elite/Frontier/Privateer/Freelancer-like - which as far as I'm concerned is a good thing.
Horizons is, from what I've read, auto-attack based. Thanks but no thanks.
I checked out FFXI before posting here. I was disappointed to find that it lacked ATB battles and instead has auto-attack.
After reading your post I checked out EQ2. The combat system appears to be a mix of auto-attack and frantic Diablo-style button-mashing hack-and-slash. Am I wrong?
Thanks again for the pointers, the advice is appreciated.
Dan
P.S. Is it just me and my browser (Firefox), or does the preview function here not work right, stopping after the first few characters of the post?
So I should put hours in playing (and in some cases paying) every one of the dozens, if not hundreds, of MMORPGs out there to find one I like?
I thought that was why things like reviews, polls, forums and awards existed - so that one could find someone who shares one's inclinations and has already tried some of the things one is interested in choosing from.
Believe you me, posting to ask for advice was not my first choice. I spent hours Googling, searching sites like GameSpot, MobyGames, gamerankings.com and MobyGames for professional and community reveiws and ratings. I read the marketing stuff and searched forums on a few MMOs that looked promising. And I wasn't able to find reviewers or players who were interested in the same things about an MMORPG that I was.
So I decided to explain in detail what I'm looking for in an MMORPG, and see if anyone knew of one that fit or came close. I'm certainly not asking anyone to tell me what to like. I'm explaining what I like, and asking if anyone knows something that matches that.
Over and over? I only asked once. If you mean, that the same questions get asked over and over, then I have a request - do you have links, sites to search, or productive Google search terms? If someone has posted before looking for the same things in an MMORPG that I am, and got helpful answers, then I'm very interested in reading those posts.
Dan
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/gameId/0
There's a huge list... look at the list on the main page, see what the top games are, read about them.
What will he do next?
Yeah there's a huge list. That's part of the problem - how to winnow the list without spending weeks or months trying them all out.
Okay, so I looked at the top games on the main page. Here's what I found:
Almost every game there is either auto-attack, Diablo-style button-mashing frantic hack-and-slash, or some combination of the two. The combat system details seem to be uninteresting to reviewers and those details are usually not mentioned on the games' websites, either.
So is it any wonder I went looking for advice from other players? It's clear that an MMORPG that fit my preferences would probably be something less popular, and therefore harder to find, than the top-of-the-charts hits.
Dan