RF Online - Free To Play

[jpub]

Following in the steps of other games, RF Online, a *very* Anime-themed MMO, has switched to a Free-to-Download-and-Play mode.
www.rf-onlinegame.com/fre...step-2.php
If nothing else, it's *pretty*.

Note that RFO is exceedingly PVP-heavy, and is somewhat inaccessible to the average player. I'm going to tough it out for a day or two, but really, if you're going for a PVP-heavy game you're far better off with Guild Wars.--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

[Morganite]

Oooh.
I remember seeing some ads for this and thinking it looked really pretty, but didn't really need *another* monthly cost game at that point...
Looks like they're going to be supporting themselves through selling items for RL cash. I'm not sure I really like that, particularly not in a game with serious pvp aspects... (Not that I care about pvp anyway.)
Still, at some point when I have time and drive space available, I might try it out now due to the sheer pretty factor.
-Morgan."Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[jpub]

Thing to note, if you try to play a Warrior class, there's a really goofy translation fault in the tutorial.
Just remember: "Prick" = "Thrust"
(And yes, I know the jokes that you can make from that.)--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

[Logan Darklighter]

I tried out RF online for awhile last year.
Ehh.. meh...
It's really a shame too, I tried REALLY hard to like this game. It is SO pretty, and the music is wonderful. There's a very interesting Science-Fantasy premise to the whole universe too. (For example, this is post-humanity. We're so far in the future that standard homo-sapiens as we know it no longer exist. And the 3 races in the game are various offshoots.)
I still love the opening and incidental music and have some of it downloaded.
It's physical design and character design (though limited) are outstanding. Weapon designs are very cool. Effects are too.
Too bad about the actual gameplay sucking so badly.
MAJOR COMPLAINTS:
1) You can NOT customize the keyboard! If you don't like using the standard AWSD movement keys, you are stuck. I use my mouse left-handed and I want my numberpad on the right-hand side of the keyboard to be my movement control area.
But that doesn't seem to matter to most hardcore RF players because the game seems set up for "point mouse and click to make character go there" gameplay.
I HATE that style of play. Especially tactically.
2) So - in order to get to the REALLY good stuff in terms of content, I have to spend 30 levels farming my ass off? And then it's PVP all the way?
er... NO! That's why I play City of Heroes, so I don't HAVE to do that! It's why World of Warcraft is something I still love in spite of various areas where I have to grind, because I don't HAVE to do that in WoW to have fun!
Remember that concept? Fun? As in - this shouldn't be a JOB? Because that's what it felt like getting a character to level 20. I couldn't go any further than that, really.
And speaking of WORK versus FUN....
3) Wait a minute... so in order to gain the big money I am going to need for armor and weapons and such, my faction needs to be in control of this central mine area. And I need to get a mining tool and basically... leave my character in AFK mining mode... for 8 hours? Er... FUCK NO!!!
Minor complaints:
1) Limited Emotes - this game, despite being very anime, and very pretty, is not very RP friendly.
2) Wait a minute? I can't jump? At ALL? With any character? Mind you, this does prevent one of my "favorite" annoyances in both COH and WoW, the hyper hopping in place teeny-bopper. But it's also really weird.
3) Wait a minute... you mean all that pretty water and oceans in the distance and I can't get there because a) I can't jump and b) I can't just walk off of high territory to lower territory? Boy you people really have us on rails here, don't you?

I really cannot recommend this game. As I said - it's a real shame. SO much wasted potential! It's sad, because if you took those visual and design elements that I liked and applied them to a game like WoW or Everquest, you'd really have something.-Logan
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"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
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[jpub]

Yeah, I have to agree. Spent the afternoon/evening on this, and I'm passing it on.
If you want a free-to-play MMO, get Guild Wars. I can't say enough good things about that game.--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

[Berk]

I was involved in the beta test of this game.
While it looks very pretty standing still there are several, jarring problems associated with it that utterly wrecked my immersion in the setting.
Animation for all of the models is very wooden, and movement is restricted to a very obvious 'grid' .. this is to prevent anyone from actually being able to catch someone should they start running away before you can strike them. Even the slightest ledge is unsurmountable. If the angle of descent is less than about 50 degrees it may as well be a bottomless pit.
To be honest, it suffers from Korean Cafe Game Syndrome, just like Lineage 2.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Florin]

I did a free month on this game and then dropped it quick. In addition to the above mentioned problems, there's also the horrible localization, and for some insane reason, no word wrap. If a word won't fit in the chatbox, it get's cut off and restarted in the next line. Sort of li
ke this.
Also, from what I read it's possible to grind for 30 levels then find you character is unplayable because you didn't get your skill level in a certain area high enough at lower levels.--
SuPer Administrative Restricted Desktop Access? This is madness!
No Maya, this is SPARDA.
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[Berk]

I can't believe they never fixed the wordwrap. That was the number one complaint of the beta testers.
Christ on a crutch.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[jpub]

I can't believe they haven't fixed a typo that caused game-breaking confusion SINCE LAUNCH.--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

[Berk]

Horrible. Simply horrible.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Bob Schroeck]

---

I can't believe they haven't fixed a typo that caused game-breaking confusion SINCE LAUNCH.

---

Out of curiosity, what was the typo, and the context?-- Bob
---------
One of the primary differences between the Left and the Right is their attitude toward the Future. The Radical wants the Future to have gotten here yesterday. The Reactionary wants the Future quietly shot and the corpse buried where no one can find it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[jpub]

In the middle of the the warrior tutorial, when they teach you skills, they tell you to put a skill called "Prick" in the second slot. However, someone had renamed said skill to "Thrust" and no one bothered to correct the text. Fun, huh?--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh yeah, that'll mess people up.-- Bob
---------
One of the primary differences between the Left and the Right is their attitude toward the Future. The Radical wants the Future to have gotten here yesterday. The Reactionary wants the Future quietly shot and the corpse buried where no one can find it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.