"First one to level 99 wins!!!"

Ragnarok online is an online role playing game that is getting a lot of attention. When I looked at the screen shots for this game I was very excited to play it. While looking at the screen shots I saw a colorful great looking fun looking role playing game that reminded me a lot of secret of mana as far as the art.

The game Ragnarok online must be downloaded so of course this is what I did. The download was manageable and I was able to play. I created my character first and enjoyed the customization as I could pick my hairstyle and color I wanted it to be. I was able to pick my starting stats as well, I enjoyed that as well.

Then I went around town and was able to play the game...

I started out simple and bought some supplies with some tips from other players, I noticed my character's looks changed a little when I bought items and that was pretty cool although it was very simple. I decided to try to fight, but I couldn't figure out where to go. Eventually I found some fields and started fighting.

In this game there are job classes and I was trying to be a swordsman, so I was heavy in attack and such. I found these monsters to be unbearably easy and I leveled up way too fast. After I leveled up for a while I just didn't know what to do. I went to town and they told me to become a swordsman, so I did, I had to take a stupid test but I became a swordsman.

This is where I thought the game would open up and become better. But it didn't, I decided to get into the 2 handed sword skill, too bad all the 2 handed swords were too expensive for me to afford.

I decided to go to a dungeon, a good idea in theory, every dungeon I went to was certain death, and it was very hard to use items. I wish I could press 1 button and just use an apple to heal, but no you have to go through the menu then double click the apple while you are fighting. I had a healing ability that healed me while I walked around, but it didn't trigger in the middle of a battle, which is way too useless.

I got lost in this game very easily, I clicked to go to a dungeon, and it didn't even send me there the first time so I got lost, eventually found where to go and then went in, couldn't use my apples in time and died. Even if I could get through the dungeon there is no reason to, there is no story line at all. All I can do is think about what to do next, I could go into another dungeon and die or I could go into the fields and get bored from killing. Either way I wont like the game.

Also sometimes while in the fields you will find places to walk into, the place will load and there will be nothing there. Just a blank room with nothing in it. They are a waste of time, I'm not sure why they are even there. Im a patient person, but I had no patience while playing this game.

Graphics:

The graphics in this game are very good for the game I would love to be able to play, the environments are colorful, the characters are very well drawn and they are very customizable which I enjoyed as well. The environments are large although not interactive at all they still look pretty good. These graphics aren't pushing your video card but I enjoy them a lot.

9/10

Sound:

The sound was alright. The water had its noises, the monsters had some noises they made, but nothing noticeable really. The game was absent of music it seemed. I didn't find any of the noises annoying but there aren't many noises anyways, I had to make sure I had my speakers on.

5/10

Control

The control was very bad. This is the main reason I didn't like the game, your character moves slow, a running feature would have helped greatly. Clicking on monsters isn't hard but isn't as easy as it could be either. Its hard to use items, especially while fighting. The only thing I particularly liked a lot was the chatting, I thought that was done well, whispering was very easy, you just have to put the person's name in the left chat box, fairly simple. Of course when the only part you like about the control on a game is the chatting features, then there is no reason to play it. There is no reason to chat to people you don't plan playing the game with.

Story:

Because this is an role playing game story should be essential. Tell Gravity that, there is no story here. There is nothing, there isn't anything in the game that gives you any direction. It is kind of like being dropped in the middle of a deserted town full of shopkeepers and such. And a bunch of random people you don't know. You think the npc could at least offer you a tour or something. There is no story in this game and the npcs are most unhelpful.

1/10

3/10

Overall

This game let me down so much. This game had a lot of potential, but because of the lack of a storyline and bad control I can't play the game and have fun doing it. If this game has a storyline I guess it would be “first one to level 99 wins” and that wouldn't be too bad, but people need a little bit of direction. This game is pretty bad.

4/10

This review is in no way exaggerating, you must play the game to find out, there is a free trial if you don't believe me. Download the game and play it, either that or you can listen to me and save yourself some time. This game had too many letdowns, I see a lot of potential in the game, I just wish I could actually play the game with the things I thought it would have.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/05