Around the world in a single day!

Mix a poor, jobless geek at home together with lots of time to spare and what do you get?

Its not hard to guess, just look at the previous 3 posts =.=

Alternative answer = MMORPGs!

I've been playing Rappelz until recently, largely due to the fact that KY was also playing so we could party dungeons together (definitely more fun than mindlessly killing monsters on your own - sure to encourage anti-socialness)

While Rappelz was a not-so-bad MMO, with its nice graphics, pet system and stuff, it got pretty repetitive after awhile.

Other than going all hardcore and playing TF2/L4D the whole day, I started to source for new games to play. And this is what I chanced upon:

Atlantica Online (Wiki)

While at first glance it seems like just any other Korean-produced game (like Cabal/Rappelz/Granado Espada), the actual gameplay and mechanics are worlds apart.

First thing I noticed was the combat - not the typical single avatar running around smashing skulls - but a party of characters that you can customise to suit your style of playing. Plus a turn-based style of battle brings it that much closer to a RTS game.

In a few words, its actually Heroes of Might and Magic meets Final Fantasy meets World of Warcraft.



Next was the setting - not some fantasy world but real life places around the world back in the medieval times - I started off in Sapporo, teleported to Beijing, walked on the Great Wall to Shanghai, teleported to Rome and walked to Angkor Wat, all in a day. The storyline is a bit dodgy, but who cares when you can marvel at the epic rendering of the ancient buildings and landscape. Graphics are great for a free game, comparable to Granado Espada.


Isn't that St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow?

The whole game revolves around its players, and there are lots of opportunities for interactions and PvP, mostly without penalties and the prospect of losing exp and loot. I spent most of my game time competing in the free league where I was matched up against other players of similar level. I certainly used up much more brain juice trying to outsmart opponents and shifting character formations than just grinding away at AI monsters. The game also rewards players for socialising, its way of encouraging social interaction.

The only reason why I decided to try it out was the rating given to it by most MMO sites - it was ranked no. 1 for many. And so far I'm not disappointed =)

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MMORPGs have come a long way. I still remember when I started on MMOs with Runescape (oh, the horrid graphics and those chickens!) and Ragnarok (still one of the best!), followed by MapleStory (I wish I didn't) and Rappelz.

I wonder what I could have done if I didn't play any of those. Maybe I'd be rich by now =x