Okay, so I'm all for RPG games. I absolutely LOVE them. However; it seems that the gaming community has lacked any decent RPG games for the PC, X-Box, or GBA over the past years (the systems I own). So finally I said to myself, "FINE, I'll submit to the torture of pay to play games and join the MMORPG community." So after trying to decide on what MMORPG to play, I finally came across Ragnarok Online. I was scrolling the Gamefaqs boards and the most popular PC game was indeed Ragnarok. So I went to their site and looked around. I loved the little anime characters (I have over 50 anime DVD's, so...) and the overall theme. Looked kind of like Diablo 2! So I looked at the payment options (one of the bleh's of these games) and saw that there was a 15 day trial (thank god I did this before paying as you'll find out) and then a 30 hour option. I really liked this feature because I am at college and can't be forced to play over some months when I am really busy. But with 30 hours over the course of 6 months, I'd be okay. I was sure I could find time to play over weekends, holidays, breaks, and homework free nights. So I proceeded to download the game and the problems began. THREE main problems with the game: #1: The download (GRRRR!!!) So, you have the option to download a 700 mb all in one file, or 10 separate 70-80 mb files. I was like, "high speed internet, NP!" I was wrong. I let my computer sit that night while sleeping, and upon awakening I was totally excited! Upon revitalization of my monitor that morning I was treated to a "server error: download failed." NOOOOO!!! So whatever, I tried again, same thing and it was in the same spot of the download. Nevertheless, I wanted to play so I did the individual downloads. When they were each running at 20 kb/sec I was kind of worried, but after 2-3 days of hassling with the download I finally had it. YAY!!! #2: The Install/Run (Meh!!) I burned all the separate files onto a CD and went to install them on my laptop. It seemed kind of troublesome but eventually I got the damn thing to install. I run the game, everything looks pretty good, but to my avail, all the floors are completely black. WTF? So I go read the system requirements and find out, OMG, it's not laptop supported. You got to be kidding! What online RPG doesn't allow portable support? The ones that rip you off. Mind you my laptop is a P4 2.8 GHz, 512 RAM and a 9000 PRO 128 mb card. It can run Doom 3 on medium detail with shadows toned down so I don't know why it can't run a POS like Ragnarok. So I'm like, "great..." I come over to the desktop which is more then capable and I finally get this damn thing going (elapsed time: 4 days or so... what a way to waste a break). #3: The Game itself (*barfs everywhere*) Wow, what a piece of crap. So I start my character (which all look the same despite the different hair color, and oh yeah, you don't get the male/female choice unless you register your account that way, so my name was: Chesty LaFrance, who was a 20 year old female with a Size DD bust). So I go into the first building and the floor shows up YAY! So I'm excited now. But it doesn't last for more then a minute or so, because you have to answer a bunch of multiple choice questions this moron gives you. Stuff like, "In Ragnarok Online, Players fight which of the following?" Or, "In what town can you get these services?" Do I give a flying ****? NO! Just let me play!!! Instead if you get 7/10 or less right you have to go to some knowledge room and learn about the game. I get enough learning and tests in school, I don't need more. I went to Gamefaqs and asked for the MC answers but was rudely replied with someone saying, "Maybe you shouldn't be playing the game then." Go figure, I heard everyone online are a bunch of a-holes anyway. So I finally trial and error the questions and got to some fighting part. I chose a thief because I'm really into the whole RPG ninja/stealth thing. I go to this trial fight and get my arse destroyed many times over with some little twerp NPC saying, "ouch too bad, try again!" FINALLY I find a way to skip this entire intro. crap and move into my first town. Pretty desolate. Some NPC’s and a few people just standing not doing anything (probably hacking me or something lol). Anyway I'm thinking Diablo 2 or something of the sort. It plays JUST like Diablo 2 in the fact that you're a level 1 sorcerer against Diablo on Hell. I walk outside the town and see a monster. I'm like, "omg finally we get to the game." I walk over and take a good whack at it, do about 10 damage and I say, "Well alright!" The monster doesn't move, hits me back as does 130. Mind you my HP is around 68 so you can imagine what happened. At this point I just said, "Okay screw it, not worth my time." Uninstalled the game and left it in the recycle bin. I deleted each of the 80 mb files individually and it was SOOOO satisfying. By far the best RPG right there. I upgraded my recycle bin and equipped it with Norton AV, and then hacked and slashed the 10 files... the best part was the boss fight when I deleted the whole 400 mb incomplete file. My recycling bin was beefy and it owned it so bad. My lvl. 19 recycling bin sits on the desktop proud. I rated the difficulty very easy because it was very simple to decide NOT to play the game. And no way would I rate the game hard and let the morons of Ragnarok's staff get the best of me. The learning curve is stupid. If it takes that much time to learn how to play the game, download it, or simply figure out how to do something, give me a break. I know that games aren't supposed to just be a 2 min. breeze, but the oldest games (Netrek, Joust, Mario, etc.) were MUCH MUCH easier to learn. This is pathetic. Do your 15 day trial; it's free might as well. But don't waste your time paying for this, and I have heard the technical support and overall online support is REALLY bad.
The world of Midgard is currently under constant attack from monsters. And it is your job to become the hero, and drive the evil away from the once peaceful lands. The real question is. Is this game really the story driv... Read Full Review
I downloaded Ragnarok Online a week ago. The file's about 200MB but I have a cable modem so that didn't discourage me. I installed it and the various patches and started playing. I've been playing every day after school ... Read Full Review
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