While it does lend itself towards anime lovers, it is wonderfully done and I believe that everyone will find SOMETHING they enjoy about this game. You'll receive days, if not weeks, of pleasure from Ragnarok Online.
Ah ... what to say about this one? It came to me at the right time, played the classic RO back when it was at its peak (alongside this industry btw), it had everything someone could hope in a MMORPG, the gameplay was very fluid and engaging meanwhile there was a lot of options with so many different jobs to chose from. The heart of the game was in its party system, since it was extremely slow and hard to progress and level up alone, but forming group with different players that had different skills it made easier (and more fun). Though, there was still jobs that solo well for those that prefer that style of play. The interesting aspect from this game, now looking back at it, when you log on into the world of Ragnarok, you had no clue of whats going on besides a quick tutorial early on, and after moving on from it and teleporting to start the journey for real, you were on your own, no one would tell you where to go or what to do, and in the early ages of the internet, where information was scarce, essentially every player in the whole world was exploring this universe at the same time, there was no shortcuts and no clear path to success, but the feeling of finding new stuff by your own or overcoming challenges were much more rewarding than nowadays. And talking about the world, it was very well done, very iconic cities and dungeons, with maps that had were separated by their own environment (forest, deserts, grasslands) all integrated very organically in the world map. There were 3 end goals in the game, first it would be to get to level max and rule PvE (player vs environment) where people would usually hunt MVPs - the strongest and rarest boss monsters from the game, or they would go for PvP (player vs player), but the real star and the biggest differential was the War of the Emperium, the weekly event that happened on special maps where group of players would fight in a system of attack/defend castles and those who hold those fortress by the end of the event would not only receive special prizes but also would have the name of their group on display in the central hub of the main cities for everyone to see their greatness. Those events would simply load the serves, it was an epic madness. Finally, the graphics are very charming and hold up well today as they are different from anything you can find and the soundtrack is a masterpiece, simple as that, I still listen frequently to it even 20 years later! Those that were lucky to be in the right place at the right time 2 decades ago know about how impactful this game was in the west, even if their fall was tragic (for many reasons mainly pay to win practices in western serves) and has been pretty much dead in the west for a couple of years, the game endure far longer than most of the MMORPG ever did, and to be honest, it will endure till the end for those that played Ragnarok when it was in its glory days, Im pretty sure I will still have great memories from playing for as long as I breath. Needless to say, this is my favorite game ever, technically speaking is not perfect, but in terms of impact in my gaming life, no other game comes close.
This review of mine is based on the classic online ragnarok released in 2004 here in the west. This was the best game I've ever played, it had everything a kid like me at the time liked, a fantasy world to explore, epic guild battles, a perfect community to make friends, and of course an unforgettable soundtrack to this day.
A great game for those looking to try out the Korean style of MMORPG, but it really fails to rise to the standards needed to compete with the current heavy hitters in the industry. On the plus side, Gravity is gracious enough to give all of their potential players a free 15 day trial to see if Ragnarok just might be that MMORPG that they have been yearning for.
In this light-hearted whimsical title from one of the largest online gaming companies in South Korea, Ragnarok Online combines simplified RPG controls, bloodless combat, anime art and addictive social communities to create a truly unique online experience.
This is by far the best MMORPG that has ever been created. Former RO Player from 2004 - 2010 I enjoyed this game like no other game. Once you got hooked it was near impossible to get off. Back then there were no quests and you were pretty much on your own. This required excellent communicative skills to make friends, find a guild or join a party. Your goal was to gear up for "the event of events", named WoE (War of EmperIum), where guilds had to fight other guilds over a castle (one of many castles) and break the Emperium (hence the name) at the core of the castle to take ownership of it. Loved it. Best time of my life. 10/10
Ragnarok was one of the best MMO I played and also my child hood memories. Although the game is not perfect it was a lot of fun leveling with friends. I remember the days where knights were camping to bowling bash the moonlight MVP, or knight solo baphomet MVP with counter attack. Hell even priest can solo a baphomet. The gameplay was obviously broken but the sense of community that people joined up to camp for MVP for loots, community of traders, 1k teleport priests, or people helping each other level up in the exponentially exp grind fest made this game amazing.
However, since the introduction of kafra shop and renewal system, it's become clear that this game is really a pay2win milking off old legacy. The stats does not matter as much as it used to be and now it's relying too heavily on having the best gears that will cost an arm and leg. Classic did rely on good gears but stats were much more meaningful in calculation. Nevertheless, a skilled player can still do armor/weapon switching or potion stuff effectively, but the iRO server can be very laggy sometimes rendering that somewhat useless. Also the endgame MVP bosses cast too much 1 hit kill spell and it's not as fun anymore because it's all about using Sura to tank and Geneticist will dps it down with ACID bomb, which you either grind to make one to use real cash to buy from kafra shop. There's not much other strategies than just 2-3 dudes spamming 1 or 2 buttons in the game. And the playerbase has gone down quite a bit, now we only have 3,000 users and a lot of them are bot grinding for strawberries SP recovery item. The only way to buy mana (SP) potion is to use real cash through kafra shop, which I personally think it's ridiculous.
If you're new player or ex-veteran thinking about coming back, I would not recommend this game as it has changed quite by a lot. The community is somewhat still there but small. The free eden gear for new players are decent, but it's going to cost over 2 billion zeny to gear up something decent. Most items are sold to NPC for only 10-500z, and a lot of that are going back towards potions because you don't even have decent gear to help reducing potion usage. So you will probably end up spending real money to buy Kafra point and sell it for zeny or grind for days and maybe get lucky with an expensive card or so.
This is meant for iRO only. Maybe you'll get different RO experience playing on different servers.
This review is towards international RO. All versions of RO including Private servers have parts in the review as well.
If you are new, You cannot get anywhere without spending immense amounts of $$$ in RO. Even if you don't spend, It will take you TOO LONG and not one insane player who has normal job would even want to go this path. Even when you get to end game, you still spend more $$$ competing against pay2win players in Guild versus Guild settings. There is too much questing in this game that give horrible crap rewards save for a few in end-game content. Class Builds have no variety and you end up with cookie cutter builds popularized by self proclaimed RO professionals who have stuck to this game for 10+ years.
**** occupied by a few famous iRO trolls which you see everyday decked out in end-game gear. Average geared players who know what they are doing can own these noobs pretty easily. This pvp system has no rewards and compensation other than the fact that you kill someone, a party of **** pvp players end up trolling you until you never log in to PvP again. The satisfaction and fame you get after killing a low leveled noob or a god itemed, MvP stacked player is ALLLLLLL you get.......seriously, pvp very unactive, booster and not noob - friendly BUT a good ego booster if I say so myself.
What I loved about this game though is WoE. Not one standardized MMO like WOW can compare to it. It only occurs 2 days a week for 2 hours. Another version of WoE is WoE TE which occur for only 1 hour in a week. you duke out with Guilds and can bring your allies along to topple another guild.
It is very hard to maintain a competitive guild for WoE as the rewards themselves do not cover the cost. As such, Guildmasters and their trusted slaves shell out deep pockets to keep a guild running. As a result Guilds who have stayed for years are saturated with end game gears where the most broken of all are MVP cards and God items. The only time RO populations spike is when WoE happens. This is when WoE only players log in to this game for a set duration and log out, lol.
The community I would rather say is very helpful and can lend out tips when asked. Some of these helpful players are two-faced though. These well liked players secretly buy and sell gears and money with real $$$ when it is illegal to do so and any other shady activities. GMs indirectly protect these guys because they are the ones mostly keeping the servers running.
I could go on and on about the flaws in this game but I will stop here.
In conclusion, very old game where you must spend $$$ to be active. End game is stale and RO is dead.
Horrible game, it's just another point and click grindfest, nothing that hasn't been done billions of times before by other games. I played this game for a long while and had to resort to botting to get anything in the game and just to level up.
I am playing the pRO(Philippine Ragnarok Online) or Ragnarok Online for almost 2 years now. And, before I that I played lot of MOBA and FPS games. One thing that got me interested in Ragnarok Online is its War Of Emperium. It is Guild War as most MMORPG player knew. I spent hard cash just to get my character ready for WoE. But after I tried playing my Ranger for WoE, I got disappointed because I cant PK or do anything useful in WoE. Most offensive skill can one shot me even I am in full gear. And, this really disappoint me and its about a year since my character got updated with new gear. Seriously Gravity Corporation or however you people in charge on updating this game, this is not how you make multiplayer PvP game. A character that has both offensive and defensive skill can not have one shot kill skill. Long range character that don't have defensive skills should have damage boost to one shot people from a distance. Support type character should have mana and speed boost. You should indicate what weapon(s) and gear(s) that can be effective in WoE and what update they were released. Do not Hieroglyphics these stuffs because WoE and PvP is not the same as questing RPG. Gears should be easy to find and the game should make since even for newbies.
SummaryRagnarok Online is an massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Norse mythology. Users can create characters and venture off alone or in groups in far-flung fantasy worlds full of adventure. Players can select from a wide range of job classes that suit their individual playing style. Each job class comes with a unique array...