R.O.S.E Online (Rush On Seven Episodes)

"Not just another MMO"

I've played a lot of MMOs in my days, from EQ, to Redmoon, Lineage 1, Ragnarok Online, Elemental Saga, Final Fantasy XI, Priston Tale, Maple Story and Lineage 2. Of of which had one thing in common. They were boring, and did not give you enough incentive to keep playing. Well, maybe not RO, but it still became pretty boring.

Now ROSE online came into the scene, that's changed.

gameplay 8/10

The one thing I like about the gameplay is there's incentive for the player to keep playing. It doesn't make you gain hundreds of levels like in Redmoon. But rather it keeps the leveling quick, so you can buy items and equip them right away as long as your stats let you. The items in stores are fairly prices, not overpriced like the items in Lineage 2. I can distinctly call that when I played Lineage 2 i spent about 3 weeks leveling up my character, and got about 18 Levels out of him. I spent about 3-5 hours playing ROSE and got the exact same thing. The fast leveling allows you to get better equipment quickly, so you start looking pretty cool fairly quickly into the game. The enemies killed also have very high drop rates, so you will never really be stripped for cash. Unlike Lineage 2, where the enemies rarely drop items and money, and the money they do drop is mismal, while items cost about 100mil. ROSE online's fast money, and level are great this adds more incentive to keep playing ROSE. It's also free at the moment, so enjoy that while you can.

In other MMOs, you team up to gain more experience quickly. In Lineage 2, it is impossible to solo the game. It is the exact same story in Final Fantasy XI. You won't even be able to past level 20 in Lineage 2 without partying up, and impossible to level up at all in Final Fantasy XI if you don't party up. This turns people away. In ROSE, it is the same story, but the party system is done out much better to give more benefits from teaming up with friends. You have a party level which allows you to fit more party members into your party, and it heals you every time it levels up. So if you have a level 7 party level, then you can fit about 15 people in your party, and experience is split equally among them. This works out to some degree, most people keep the party around 5-6 so they still have good experience gain. It gives you something your items are also shared, so if a party member kills an enemy, you can pick up their item if they don't pick it up. Pretty useful.

graphics 9/10
Certainly not the best graphics out there. But very pretty none the less. Everything is very cute, and colorful. The partical effects are nice, and make your attacks look much more powerful. There is a noticeable night and day, which adds more detail to the game.

The best part is this game runs great even on a low end machine. Mine of course is not, but a friend of mine plays it on his integrated laptop graphics chip, and it is still playable. Although it's not the best looking on that computer, but the frames are high enough that it is playable. This adds a lot. When playing Lineage 2 or Final Fantasy, my machine wouldn't be able to run it maxed, and loading times were horrid, which lowered the playing quality of the game. ROSE online doesn't seem to have any load times, the start only takes about 2-3 seconds to finish loading, which I consider excellent. You get right into, or right back into the game play quickly.

sound 7/10
Music is very childish, but not to the point where it bothers you. Certainly not me. Most of the time, I forget it's even playing. The monsters have their own individual sounds, your weapons have a unique sound to them. This is average sound at best, but certianly not bad. Good variety of monster sounds give the monsters their own unique flavor. It's not going to deter you from the game.

replay 10/10
There is total of 4 job classes, and within those four there are 2 choices each to change your job. So that makes a total of 12 different jobs to choose from. Giving lots of re playability to ROSE online. There is also a huge skill tree for each job class, which keeps battles very interesting. There are many many quests to keep you occupied while you level up. This MMO is unlike many, where it doesn't require hours upon hours of gameplay to get powerful. So when you get super powerful with one character, you can start on the the next right away. Also lots of equipment and items to choose from. There is lots of replay value.

Overall, ROSE online is a very good MMO which keeps you hooked like World of Warcraft. Of course, it is not as addictiing of a game as WoW, but the free factor plays a lot. So if you are looking for an MMO which is fun, addicting, and free, ROSE online is that game. You can get it at www.roseon.com

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/05