Joint Article by Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), Mohammed Abubakr (Abubakr), Rickee Charbonneau (Jammart), Jeffrey Kerkdijk (Hyarume), Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), and Ben Lamb (BGlamb).
Do you remember the good old days when an Atari or a good old Nintendo ruled the world? The world of games has progressed dramatically in the last few decades. Some games have been able to survive every generation, even with the arrival of MMOs, and the games are still being loved by many gamers.
Everybody has his own favorite game. You can expect answers like Mario and Zelda, but games such as Space Invaders, Sudoku and Mahjong are also quite popular. Have you ever considered your favorite game might be an MMO? Or, to put it like this, if you would be dumped on a desert island with only T1, what MMO would you take along with you?
The team of journalists at OnRPG gathered around the virtual campfire in the writer’s lounge and pondered hard. For some it was an easy decision, and others had to weigh over all the games’ pros and cons to consider their choices. And here they are:
Maple Story: My own little story…
Written by Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), OnRPG journalist.
As the writer of the article, I decided to tell my own little story first.
My favorite MMO is Maple Story. I remember the first time seeing the game at a friend’s place. He was playing it and it looked very appealing to me so I decided to try it out. I asked him for help and that same day I made my first char on Maple Story. It was the winter of 2005…
Maple Story was my first MMO. I was eleven years old and I did not have much knowledge of games or the internet. I remember being really mad because my character had been deleted after something that they called a Closed Beta.
Things progressed and I started to gain more and more knowledge about the game and I also decided to learn a bit more about the internet, since I did not have any experience with it before playing Maple Story.
Maple Story became a part of my life and I made lots of friends in the small community it had back then.
After a holiday in 2006 I found out that I couldn’t access my account anymore. I was confronted with the term ‘hacking’ for the first time in my life. I decided to make a new account and start at a new server (Broa). The account I made back then is the same account I am currently using to check the game from time to time.
I was aging and it felt like Maple Story decided to do the same. I started to experience new things in the game which I had never really experienced before. One of these things was ‘love’. I had met a nice girl and as a silly twelve year old it felt like I was really in love with her without even knowing what love exactly was. We decided to marry in-game, but on the day of our wedding she decided to dump me. I remember crying for days because of this and my friends at school did not understand it at all.
Now, years later, I am still playing this amazing game from time to time. You might wonder why this game has had such a meaning to me.
Maple Story isn’t just a great game because of the appealing graphics, the nice skills and the fast-paced combat. The community of Maple Story has kept me playing the game for such a while; From the people hanging out in Henesys to the guilds and the Party Quests. Maple Story has everything I ever wanted of a game.
– Maple Story Game Profile Page on OnRPG
– Maple Story Official Website
CrossFire
Written by Mohammad Abubakr (Abubakr), OnRPG Journalist.
Unlike the rest of the OnRPG writing team I (Mohammad Abubakr) haven’t chosen to write about an MMORPG. Instead, I chose one of my favourite online FPS games: CrossFire. First of all, I would like to say I don’t have a favorite game. Instead I have a list of some of my favorites…
CrossFire is one of the best free to play FPS (first person shooter) games I have ever played. I had been playing a lot of MMORPGs but I couldn’t find a good game to stick with! So, I decided… Why not leave MMORPGs for a while and try a FPS? This is exactly what I did.
After searching around, I chose to try CrossFire. Some of the reasons why I chose this game, and not the other FPS games was:
1. I had already tried most FPS games.
2. I had been wanting to try this game for a while, but forgot about it.
3. My friend also played it.
I found CrossFire very easy to learn and get good at. Even during my first games, I was easily able to keep over a 1:1 K/D (Kill Death Ratio). Maybe because I had been playing other FPS games for a while? Anyways, this game is very easy compared to other FPS games, at least I think so.
In CrossFire there are a lot of maps and game modes to choose. You can play a simple team death match or try the exclusive Ghost Mode! Just by having all these choices, I know I wouldn’t get bored of this game for a while.
I won’t get into the features too much, as you can just read the review on OnRPG.
– CrossFire Game Profile Page on OnRPG
– CrossFire Official Website
Why is Trickster Online my favorite MMORPG?
Written by Rickee Charbonneau (Jammart), OnRPG Journalist
Not only am I captivated by its beautifully colorful 2.5D graphics and high quality background music and sound, but it is the simplicity of this MMO that really gets my attention. The controls of Trickster Online are extremely easy to use; thus the game has virtually no learning curve.
I also love the casual aspect of this game-levelling up remains a challenge whilst still not sucking up all of your free time. The episode quest storyline is fun to follow, and it also boosts up your experience points and offers some very hefty rewards. Furthermore, new events are run weekly that also offer some bonus experience and items.
That being said, this game is mostly quest-based. Never will you run out of quests to level up, but sometimes grinding may be more suitable. There are card quests (quests completed by hunting specific monster cards dropped by the monster in question), party quests (cookie-cutter quests hunting monsters in groups), key quests (special quests offered after you have completed a majority of the quests in a certain area), and finally the episode quests that I’ve previously mentioned (quests that follow the storyline of Trickster and can sometimes give you enough exp to level up 20 times or more).
My final reason for loving this game so much is the publishing company behind it all: Ntreev. Ntreev is a very elaborate MMO publisher that really tends to their player’s suggestions and desires. There new events, items, quests, and cash shop updates every single week. There have also been three large updates to the game that offered some huge map revamps and character updates.
If you decide you want to try this game for yourself, do not get discouraged at this MMO’s lack of customization. With the huge variety of items in this game, you can make your character look unique. You may believe that this requires cash shop coins, and that is true in most cases. However, Ntreev runs events very often that offer cash shop coins as a reward-sometimes every player can be eligible for a cash shop coins prize.
This is why Trickster Online is my favorite MMORPG.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
– Trickster Game Profile Page on OnRPG
– Trickster Official Website
Final Fantasy XI
Written by Jeffrey Kerkdijk (Hyarume), OnRPG Journalist
Final Fantasy XI is the game that until now I loved the most. It was mainly because of its amazing community. Final Fantasy XI takes place in a world called Vana’diel, the saga of the creation of the world and the the rise of the beast men. In the world of Vana’diel you start the game with your own custom character. Pick one of the six available jobs at the beginning of the game and you progress through earning levels to level a job up, doing some quests and storyline missions along the way. At level 18 you can get a sub-job after the completion of a quest. You can change jobs at any time, but they have to be leveled separately, this can be a tough and annoying thing to do. I hated leveling some sub-jobs. The graphics are decent and the music is great. In the end Final Fantasy XI is a great game, the community is awesome and the storyline is amazing.
I would recommend this MMORPG to everyone.
– Final Fantasy XI Game Profile Page on OnRPG
– Final Fantasy XI Official Website
Why Wizard101 is my favorite MMO
Written by Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), OnRPG Journalist
Wizard 101 is my favourite MMORPG for plenty of reasons, the main one being that it is unique and offers a completely different approach to an otherwise stale genre. Instead of trying to copy and mildly expand on World of Warcraft’s success, the developers have approached an entirely different audience and created a game that appeals not only to that demographic, but also has enough depth to reach out beyond it.
When I first entered this MMO’s unique wizard world, I was surprised by the style that oozed out of the fantastic universe. Sure the graphics aren’t as intensive as Crysis, but they still managed to absorb me into the world and that is something that can be very hard to achieve in any piece of entertainment. The game also had a very warming feel to it. When I played Wizard 101, it felt like I was in Disneyland. All of my problems felt somehow removed by this wonderfully designed game.
Its approachable nature makes the game easy to get involved with. The general gameplay just feels so polished and perfected; it’s hard to shake your head at any one aspect of it. Fighting monsters has never been so much fun, as the card based battle system lends itself well to the world and also to the design and feel created by KingIsle.
Talking about KingIsle, how about we bring up the idea of passionate developers? I’ve never seen developers care about their game and their customers so much. The updates are fantastic and the personal customer service is something of a rarity nowadays, as more and more companies care less about the people actually buying their game.
With a community that heavily supports this title, what’s there not to like? It pulled me in immediately and I think it will do the same to anyone else who gets within its range. Be it the uplifting people that play the game, or the inspiring developers that make the game, be it the unique gameplay or the stylish worlds you’ll get taken to, there’s something for everyone here regardless of age, and that’s why Wizard 101 is my favorite MMORPG.
– Wizard 101 Game Profile Page on OnRPG
– Wizard 101 Official Website
Nexus TK: Kingdom Of The Winds
Written by Ben Lamb (BGlamb), OnRPG Journalist
There was a long time in my life when the chance to play an MMO was an extremely exciting, but completely untenable prospect. A slow PC, a slower internet connection and a lack of credit-card pushed the entire genre, rather ironically, into the realm of fantasy for me. The first time I managed to dip my toe into those fantastic and addictive waters was with a little-known Korean MMORPG called Nexus TK, and though I have played many other MMOs since then, none could recapture the magic of that first time.
Whilst being strictly two-dimensional and grid based, with primitive graphics, Nexus was not without a certain visual charm. The Eastern/medieval vibe was instantly appealing and the sprites were cutesy enough to bring the characters to life. I found myself revelling in the different emotes my avatar could use to communicate and spent most of my early time in the game dressing myself up and conducting conversations with enormous melodrama.
The idea of role-playing was intensely encouraged by the developers, who rewarded the creation of unique guilds by writing them into the plots and building them fabulous headquarters. More than this, there are twelve ‘sub paths’ available as specializations of the four basic classes. Each of these created and run by the players themselves and provided with unique items, powers and quests by the developers. Rogues could become Spies or Rangers, warriors could become Barbarians, and so on.
After a couple of weeks, my healer-class character, a Poet, auditioned for the guild of Muses with a one-man rendition of Romeo & Juliet (featuring much running about between piles of costumes) and was rewarded with a mentorship by one of the guild elders and a fancy jesters hat. Whilst not running quests for my new guide, I entered many of the (also player-run) competitions. Some of these were for poetry or fiction, but most were community events held at set times which would usually see a modest turnout and large cash (gold) prize.
Apparently there was some game play where you ran around killing things for exp, but I ended my three month stint at about level 5, with a huge wardrobe of fancy clothes and accessories bought with the hundreds of thousands of gold won with only my pen-tip and participation. Far richer, however, was my wealth in friends.
– Nexus TK Game Profile Page on OnRPG
– Nexus TK Official Website
We hope you’ve enjoyed this article and that it has inspired you to broaden your horizons and consider what your favorite MMO might be. Because eventually these too will become ‘golden oldies’.
