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[Interview] Ragnarok Online II: Can Ragnarok Online II Rock It?

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

Ragnarok Online 2 launched last week with much fanfare. For today's Free Zone column, Richard Aihoshi managed to catch up to  Gravity Interactive's Jason Koerperich, the Director of Game Operations. Find out a whole lot more about Ragnarok Online 2 than you probably knew before and then head to the comments.

MMORPG: First, what would you like readers who aren't familiar with the history of Ragnarok Online to know about it? What were the keys to its popularity in Korea?

Jason Koerperich: Ragnarok Online (RO) officially launched in Korea in summer 2002 after years of public beta in several languages, then here in June 2003.  The game was most popular in the East due to the ease of community play at Lan Cafés and the saturation of the anime culture. The long beta and the expanding interest in the anime culture both helped.  So did the fact it plays very quickly; you can run and gather, and wipe out huge hordes of monsters all in one fell swoop. This unlocked free-form engagement, letting more console-minded players feel at home.

Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The Free Zone: Can Ragnarok Online II Rock It?

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Comments

  • HydrokugalHydrokugal Member UncommonPosts: 13
    Played it for 1h, then deinstalled.
  • MkilbrideMkilbride Member UncommonPosts: 643

    No interest in RO2, but

     

    Ragnarok was not popular in the US? Really? Everyone I knew has played it at some point or the other, for a long time or a little. As far as I knew, it was as popular as RuneScape almost.

     

    Looking @ RO2, it seems generic and another themepark, compared to RO1. Sad they went that route.

    Help get Camelot Unchained made, a old-school MMORPG, with no hand holding!

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13861848/camelot-unchained

  • pantheronpantheron Member UncommonPosts: 256
    i wish i could try it out, all i get is a blackscreen at character creation and no information on the offical forums about it. 

    I play MMOs for the Forum PVP

  • GameboyMarcGameboyMarc Member UncommonPosts: 395
    I think I'm about to uninstall it.

    image
  • The first ragnarok online was an amazing game for it's time, despite numerous balance issues, and some classes clearly being intended for PvP and useless at PvE, or the other way around. Still it was an action RPG and taking place on a 2D field with sprite style anime graphics created a sense of nostalgia for older jRPGs.

     

    I think my biggest issue with RO2 is that it's unrecognizable from the first. Not only in gameplay, gameplay I can understand needs to evolve, but everything else is different to. They could have at least gone with an anime cell shaded texturing feel rather then generic 3D look. The skills while having the same names, feel nothing like their original counterparts, likewise the dungeons feel completely different.

     

    In short, if their goal was to play off the nostalgia feeling that RO1 created, and that RO1s fan base had they failed. If their goal was to create the next evolution of MMO, they failed at that as well. I really wanted to like this game, and probably will still log in now and then, just to compare the new RO world with the one (as some locations are the same), but this clearly will not be my primary MMO.

  • Sinner01Sinner01 Member UncommonPosts: 10
    I'm currently playing this and I believe i'm level 22. It's a fun F2P and I like the diversity in the classes/sub-specs. It won't be a long-term game for me, more of a filler until ARR or ESO releases.
     
  • PurutzilPurutzil Member UncommonPosts: 3,048

    Its a nice looking Generic MMo... but its still a Generic MMo. Take off the RO paint and you won't find anything amazing. Heck, it feels like its trying to cash in too much off the Ragnarok Online name with a lot of the stuff it has which feels so forced. 

     

    Sure, generic MMo wise its not bad at all but its just not that great. Its no where near the original RO and the fact they went the route they did I feel hurt the game more then anything. Technology is available that can use the old RO mechanics and improve them greatly yet they didn't want to do it. Instead they lose the class flavor and just make it feel completely bland. Perhaps if it didn't carry the RO name I would hold it a bit higher (not a great game but still good) but the RO part just makes it feel like a cash in.

  • UkihaUkiha Member Posts: 58

    The only way this game "Can Rock It" is by adding more content (More jobs/Cities/Maps) into the next months (years if it lasts that long lol).

    If it gets at the same quality level of RO1,this game is going to be quite good,but dreaming is free,RO1 had 5+ cities at the beginning(now 32 in total GG),this one has 2.About the community,huh forget it,they can't bring back those good ol' times of RO1... too bad.

  • EPDJEPDJ Member Posts: 130

    RO2 is outright trash, in fact, I find it insulting that they threw this RO2 at us after canceling the previous version. It is a generic mmo with the RO theme and lore. Frankly, I don't even think its on par with a "generic" MMO. The movement and combat system was clunky and the quest/map layout felt like a giant hallway of .. "kill xxx and report back" or "deliver this to xxx".

    It just doesn't have the charm or experience that the original did.

    Frankly, I am waiting to see a video of R1, maybe it will be a true successor to RO.

  • mussolinimussolini Member UncommonPosts: 200

    Forget it Gravity. If u want good games, use my ideas hehe. I have 3 nice browser games in alpha status. I need a sponsor and I can do much better than the nab german companies.

    Sayonara Bye Bye.

  • Sho0terMcgavinSho0terMcgavin Member UncommonPosts: 301
    I'm sorry to anyone who likes/plays this game.  I mean no disrespect.  But, this mmo looks like it runs on the dreamcast.

    image
  • PonicoPonico Member UncommonPosts: 650
    I played RO1 and it was quite a good game. Although grindy, it had a good community. For RO2, I have a lot of mixed feelings... It's sorta fun and sorta boring... Some of the animation is really awesome while some is completely broken. It's not a bad game and it's a bit better than most Free MMO out there but I don't know... It's lacking. 

    image

  • ChristianaChristiana Member UncommonPosts: 28

    Is typical MMO game depend on people play it or not

     

  • jarbyjarby Member Posts: 77

    Its another wow in ragnarok style. Nothing  left there from original ragnarok.  So, my answer is no, no chances for this game.

    Ragnarok however was one of the best games ever. 

  • CoatedCoated Member UncommonPosts: 507

    Ragnarok Online (The first one) was truly a gem.  Its music is still on my all time favorite game music list and that is just one area of a long list of great things. I felt they hit all marks with RO1 and I haven't found a community like it in any game since.

    RO2 is very generic. They missed the mark on just about every area that made RO1 great.

  • moosecatlolmoosecatlol Member RarePosts: 1,530

    Ragnarok was HUGE

    WoWclone #784 will not be.

  • SuntasticSuntastic Member Posts: 9
    Originally posted by pantheron
    i wish i could try it out, all i get is a blackscreen at character creation and no information on the offical forums about it. 

    Sounds like you are forcing anti-aliasing on your graphics card outside of the game. Disable it. If not, then you'll have to make sure all the check boxes in RO2 video settings are unchecked. Like shadow  somehting and some kind of special lighting etc. (Sorry at work and don't know the settings names)

  • melenonemelenone Member Posts: 25
    i played this and there is like 1000 people around me.Dont get me wrong its nothing new but we all played RO.So yes it might survive.
  • JorendoJorendo Member UncommonPosts: 275

    "Level capping a character in RO2 will take much less time than most popular console games would take to finish"

     

    So i can be max level under 4 hours?

     

    I fail to see why there is need to refer to console games. Most MMOers are pc gamers who primairly play on pc and maybe have a console on the side. So why keep refering to the console and try to appeal to the console gamer who doesn't really have interest in playing pc games? Its a whole other audiance. Want RO2 to be like by the console gamer? Release it on the console.

     

    That said i tried RO2 and so far its a nice snack in between. I don't see myself reaching max lvl or play it for long, but it does look and feel nice. Nothing special about it, but it could be worse.

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,505

     

    "We want players to get to level cap because that is when a lot of the daily content and the PvP options really open up.  The levels are for you to learn your class and experience the story; at the cap, you can enjoy the instanced dungeons and the daily quests along with ample PvP options"

     

    Lost me completely right there.  I've played that MMO before.... looking for something different.

     

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