MaxL
Posted 2009-01-30 09:37:30 MST
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Runes of Magic Review
This week... MaxL reviews the new kid on the block of MMORPGs! Runes of Magic!
A free MMO you say? And it's actually not half bad? This seems to be the case with Runes of Magic a free Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game. The game is being talked about all across the mighty internet with word that it's fairly decent for being a free game and get this... it's still in open beta!
Read more and see pictures after the jump! (WARNING: POST CONTAINS LARGE IMAGES)
A free MMO you say? And it's actually not half bad? This seems to be the case with Runes of Magic a free Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game. The game is being talked about all across the mighty internet with word that it's fairly decent for being a free game and get this... it's still in open beta!
When first starting Runes of Magic (which will now be referred to as RoM) I was under the impression that I was playing just another WoW clone trying to cash in on a highly popular trend of MMORPGs. After playing for a bit I realized that RoM has taken the basis of WoW controls and utilized them to their full extent, which is great because if you already know how to play WoW you won't take very long to learn how to play this game.
The character customization is really good, you can choose everything on your character from the exact hue of hair colour to the exact size of feet you want your character to have, and with plenty of face choices to choose no character should ever look the same (especially with height options as well!) The downside is that there are no races available in RoM yet and being a big fan of fantasy realms I was eager to try playing as a Dwarf or Elf but these races do not exist yet.
 Even though the character customization can be a bit generically cheesy, you can rest assured that almost all the characters will come out different.
The graphics are fairly good for a free MMO and are not exactly as good as World of Warcraft but are close behind. The landscapes can feel a little boring at times and a lot of buildings you can't even enter. All being said the graphics are not terrible and are quite good for a game that you do not even have to pay for.
The gameplay is quite good for a free game, normally in a free MMORPG you would expect to farm large amounts of monsters for grinding without any real substance. In RoM there are several quests right from the start of the game so you should never have an excuse to grind for experience. The fighting is basic MMORPG style and is almost exactly the same as WoW so you shouldn't have to worry about getting used to some new system.
 With a user-interface that any veteran MMO player has surely gotten used to by now, picking up RoM will be a breeze to get used to.
Another cool feature is the fact that you can multi-class between 2 different classes which is a feature not really prominent in many of today's MMORPGs, although I have not tried this feature it seems like a good idea and opens up lots of possibilities for character customization and can make characters more well-rounded or more adaptable for raiding content.
I've been told there is raid content in RoM, I haven't experienced or seen it yet but I have seen the game make use of instances for smaller side-quests. Raid content would be pretty cool with the multi-classing ability, but I am really not to keen on this subject yet.
The community so far is great, I've been used to playing massively popular games where everybody seems to have an attitude while in this game everyone tries to help each other out to the full extent that they can help each other, everyone is very friendly and it's fun to just chat with them while you are making materials for professions...
Speaking of professions, unlike WoW you can actually practice all of the professions in this game! So you can mine, gather herbs, chop wood, etc all without having to make several characters or run to an AH. You get to master in one of the professions but still get to use all of the others!
The downside to the professions are that they are major grindage, you basically run around searching for the materials and then click click click... It's not very fun and you will find yourself getting bored very quickly when you are in need of materials (especially when some of the quests require you to gather items).
 Although the rest of the gameplay is fairly solid, harvesting materials can be a bit of a bore.
Runes are a primary function in the game and function much like jewels do in Diablo and WoW, you find Runes almost anywhere and they can be used to upgrade your armor and weapons!
Unfortunately this game DOES have a cash-shop and it DOES have P2P features like paying to get better EXP rates or to help you level better. It also has several aesthetic options which are pretty much useless unless you can't stand the fact that your pants and shirt are clashing with each other and do not match. In my own personal opinion, I think that cash shops should only be for aesthetic values and not for gameplay... It unbalances the game and makes it easier for people who are willing to dish out money. That being said, the makers of the game are people too and do need money and a cash shop is a good way of getting gifts from donating.
 If you don't like the colour of your character's clothes you better be ready to fork over a few dollars to the cash shop...
There aren't many bugs considering this game is an open beta although sometimes I notice a slight buzzing noise from the right speaker of my headphones when I play, if I restart the game SOMETIMES it will go away but not always.
All in all RoM is worth a try but many will be discouraged by it's large installer (It's about 3GB) and long download/update times... If you can tough it out you will be in for a treat with a game that one day will probably rival World of Warcraft just because of it's large amounts of content and lack of a monthly prescription.
TL;DR
PROS:
- WoW-like Interface
- No Grinding!
- Multiclassing
- Good Community
- Free!
- Is in Open Beta and is very promising.
CONS:
- Cash-Shop
- Long Download and Update Time
- A few technical bugs need to be worked out (but it is a beta)
Final Verdict: 8/10
This is probably the best free MMO I have played to date. Even with a cash-shop I am still having a good amount of fun and there is a lot more to come seeing as this is just the beta. Excitedly, RoM players and myself are eagerly waiting for more and more content to release for this game. Feel free to discuss your opinions of this game in the comments section!
Click Here To Visit The Runes of Magic Website!
Thanks to Hannibul for the screenshots!
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