Online Roleplaying Games

[T-Nemesis]

Can anyone here recommend any good online roleplaying games for the PC?
A few people have told me Forgotten Realms do good online games, And after playing Baldurs Gate on the Gamecube I have decided to have a look at some of there PC games.

Any recommendations?

[Knives]

Ragnarok Online is a good MMORPG.

We run a free server.

Come visit us at irc.enterthegame.com #QuadROPUB

[T-Nemesis]

Dont you have to pay a subscription to play Ragnarok?

Are there any Forgotten Realm MMORPG's at all?

[Knives]

If you have IRC Come visit us. We run a private RO server. Meaning FREE So. Yeah come by and check us out. If you don't have IRC You can get if fromhttp://www.mirc.com

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Ragnarok Online is a good MMORPG.

We run a free server.

Come visit us at irc.enterthegame.com #QuadROPUB

That's not one of those wacky chat/rpg thingies is it? I had a buddy who was right into that stuff. I dunno, I think I would have to pass on a game that didn't have a proper combat and character development in place. As for the orginal posters query about MMORPG's set in the Forgotten Realms- you can't do better than Neverwinter Nights. Do a search for Neverwinter + Nights + forgotten + realms and you'll get loads of hits.

[Knives]

It does have a character Development system. You get a choice of different characters. Skills, the works.
Here are some acctually ingame screenshots. (don't mind the korean. If you play on our server it translates it all to english.)
http://img.ragnarok.co.kr/game/ScreenShot/magic_01_small(2).jpg
http://img.ragnarokonline.com/game/screenshot/screenshot_3_small.jpg
http://img.ragnarokonline.com/game/screenshot/screenshot_4_small.jpg

Anymore questions come check out our IRC channel.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Ah yes, now I know why I recognize the game. Never played it- and I hate to sound close minded, but it never really interested my with the cutesy/ anime style it has going for it. Oh well, that's cool that it's free though- no complaints there!

[matthewcraig]

I've always thought massively-multiplayer games should have their own category here on PCGR.com Tough to know what these games are like without playing them for a while.

[Friend_Bear]

Online RPG depends on your personal preferences to *rpg* if you like constant quests, tedious levelling etc....then Everquest or Final Fantasy XI would be a choice even though I personally hate FFXI.

If you like hack and slash style rpgs then theres still Diablo 2 but personally Sacred would be the one to choose *once* and I mean *once* all the insane bugs are fixed, otherwise NWN is a good choice also Dungeon Siege is another good choice.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Uh, hate to break it to ya Friend_Bear- but there are definitely servers that mimic Everquests leveling and economy, and skill systems to a tee. City of Arabel requires a HUGE amount of time into the game to level- there's not hack and slash either. That's what is so versatile about NWN- you can find a whole slew of different servers catering to almost any taste. PvP, Persistant, Hardcore RPG, Deathmatch, Hack and Slay, capture the flag... If you can think of it, it's probably been done already.

[Friend_Bear]

I know Steve, and unfortuntely most of them suck, its about time things changed for the better.

I tried NWN in during the first 5 minutes joined a server that automatically boosted my character to maximum level and insane skills, I mean! come on thats a little bit overboard. If NWN didn't have all these hacks an stuff then it would be totally awesome online, of course the ideas and gamemodes offer a lot now if it could only be done securely.

I want an online rpg that could be either hack and slash or classic, persistant large game world with dynamic levelling and decent skill system and offers a decent challenge for pure single player and co-op multiplayer, the user has the full choice.

I've never seen City of Arabel so I don't know, but as for online games i'm looking forward to World of Warcraft hopefully it will be something fresh.

[DBS]

I am thinking of picking up Sacred as I do enjoy these type of action rpg games as well as my Morrowind/Arx style. I see it is on Gogamer now...hmmm

Just ordered Far Cry a few days ago there...Gogamer loves me

[Suicides-by-Steve]

I tried NWN in during the first 5 minutes joined a server that automatically boosted my character to maximum level and insane skills, I mean! come on

That's generally a Deathmatch Server. You'll also notice arenas scattered throughout the world set up so people can duel against each other. Not always, but generally.

As for hacks? If you save server side- there's no such issues.

WoW? There's nothing fresh there... It's subscription based- that's all I need to know. Guilds Wars (http://www.guildwars.com)- now HERE'S something fresh.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

I am thinking of picking up Sacred as I do enjoy these type of action rpg games as well as my Morrowind/Arx style. I see it is on Gogamer now...hmmm

Just ordered Far Cry a few days ago there...Gogamer loves me

If you can- get Divine Divinity. It is identicle to Sacred- but it is THE best RPG I have EVER had the pleasure of playing. Period. The music, the plot, the doses of humour, mixed with your ascension to godliness is astounding.

[moya]

What the..? I knew something didn't feel right this morning! I must've woken up in a sinister alternate universe where brown is the new black, horses walk on their hind legs, and SbS proclaims Divine Divinity to be the best RPG he's ever played.

Ah, but you jest... Surely?

[Suicides-by-Steve]

What the..? I knew something didn't feel right this morning! I must've woken up in a sinister alternate universe where brown is the new black, horses walk on their hind legs, and SbS proclaims Divine Divinity to be the best RPG he's ever played.

Ah, but you jest... Surely?

Nope! Though I like NWN and Morrowind for what they offer, I have NEVER felt so in tune and as one with the avatar in DD. The plot is good, the MUSIC (http://www.kirillpokrovsky.com/frame-right.htm) is awesome- by far the best soundtrack I have ever heard. Just listen for yourself- check out Scorching Winds- in the game you've just come back from the dead as a god, reborn in the Wastelands, and are seeking vengence upon all evil-doers... MAN, the music sets the pace for sure- I was sitting there hacking and slashing away at all the evil trying to stop my ascension while listening to this tune and I felt that I was THERE! I was damn near screaming at the screen saying, "I have COME, see me WREAK vengence for my fallen comrades, you savages!!"

The variety of quests and side-quests are superb. Being reborn as a god is totally cool- and like I said, the humour is pretty funny at times. Put it this way, as soon as Beyond Divinity hits the shelves, I will be gobbling this one up. BD has real-time generated quests, dungeons, and items and should offer a whole WHACK of replayability. The first one does too (randomly generated items), but one thing I would have to warn anyone about before diving headlong into this game would be the inordinate amount of known bugs... they can be a real ***** at times. I also suggest not playing with a NoCD crack- they will stop the game dead in its' tracks, right at critical points in the game where a plot-advancing movie is to be played. If you can get it- do so. You will be FAR from disappointed.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Oh yeah, and anyone who plays the game, be on the lookout for the magic word PXRTLZMX (or something like that)... The various ways the different characters pronouce the word is really funny.

[moya]

I found DivDiv to be a pretty good, though very generic and cliched RPG. Certainly not in the same league as Gothic 2 (which, admittedly is also pretty hackneyed) or Morrowind, or even Wizardry 8 or Fallout. And I'm going to have to call you on the ascension to godhood being "astounding" - you just go up a few levels then get dumped in a desert where you have to hack your way through a neverending swarm of Imps and Dragonriders. Hardly what I'd call astounding...

[Suicides-by-Steve]

LOL True. LOL Okay, but it's not everyday that the character you're playing is raised to godhood. I like it. I like it a lot. I'm certainly glad that I didn't pass this one by. And since I'm a sucker for New Age/ Ambient music, the soundtrack totally blew me away. As for being cliched, and generic, yes. However, the simplicity of the game, and the replayability also excites me. Never since NWN have I wanted to replay a game a couple times again and again looking for new characters class combos or side-quests I may have missed. Beyond Divinity should be the friggin' bomb. Sacred be damned!!

Gothic 2- eh. Third-person tomb-raider stuff- with no room for character development. You make a character- you're eventually forced into a mould- wizard or warrior. Blah.

Morrowind- well, despite the awesome character development- the plot just really doesn't make me want to play the game again. It's not simple, and it requires alot of time put into the game to finish it. DD has a complete game time of 20 hours or so, making a new experimental game with a new experimental character class/combo feasible.

Wiz8- well, not really comparable. Party-based system and all.

The simplicity of DD, combined with a deep skill set makes the game VERY worthwhile, while the big-seeming production values round out the package. The music, sound, voice-acting, plot and so forth make it as smashing as Morrowind or NWN IMO.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Just an edit: This game combines the simplicity of Diablo with the deep character-building development of Morrowind and NWN in one package. It's great!! Simple as that.

[Renzatic Gear]

I kept telling ya, man...but you wouldn't listen! Now you finally know, and I intend on picking up the Beyond as soon as it hits the shelves, too.

Oh, and my favorite track from the game is probably Roads Shaded By Green Eaves. It made what is a pretty normal staple of CRPG's, running around town looking for stuff, into a really atmospheric little journey..in fact I wanted to sit in the first town simply cuz of the music. Anyone that says that sound isn't as important as graphics or gameplay doesn't get it, the sound can make something bleh into something awesome.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

I kept telling ya, man...but you wouldn't listen! Now you finally know, and I intend on picking up the Beyond as soon as it hits the shelves, too.

Oh, and my favorite track from the game is probably Roads Shaded By Green Eaves. It made what is a pretty normal staple of CRPG's, running around town looking for stuff, into a really atmospheric little journey..in fact I wanted to sit in the first town simply cuz of the music. Anyone that says that sound isn't as important as graphics or gameplay doesn't get it, the sound can make something bleh into something awesome.

Cheers! I agree. However, the track Whispers From A Council Past (23) supersedes Roads (05) and exemplifies the pinnacle of Kirill's work. Next I would have to vote for The Flags Of Freedom Fly High (16), and finally Bitva. I carefully examined each and every tune from the soundtrack and have to say these are the BEST of the bunch.

Oh BTW RG- Puppy has a new album soon. "Optimissed" is the newest from the Underworld Soundtrack.They release a new album in May/June.They are playing live in Chicago and Pennsylvania in the summer. Wanna meet me there?

[Renzatic Gear]

Oh BTW RG- Puppy has a new album soon. "Optimissed" is the newest from the Underworld Soundtrack.They release a new album in May/June.They are playing live in Chicago and Pennsylvania in the summer. Wanna meet me there?lol, like I said on ICQ..I barely even have time to sleep anymore, so I doubt I'll be able to make a trip up to Pennsylvania or Chicago for a concert...but I'll see how things go over the next couple of months before I give a final answer.

Those tracks are okay, but my favorites are (03) Tangible Suspense, (05)Roads Shaded By Green Eaves, and (43) Winds of Sand. There's quite a few more, but those are the standout tracks from the game in my opinion.

Edit: Oh yeah...you'll like the Beyond Divinity soundtrack. It's a bit darker, but it's still much in the same style.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

lol, like I said on ICQ..I barely even have time to sleep anymore, so I doubt I'll be able to make a trip up to Pennsylvania or Chicago for a concert...but I'll see how things go over the next couple of months before I give a final answer.

Those tracks are okay, but my favorites are (03) Tangible Suspense, (05)Roads Shaded By Green Eaves, and (43) Winds of Sand. There's quite a few more, but those are the standout tracks from the game in my opinion.

Edit: Oh yeah...you'll like the Beyond Divinity soundtrack. It's a bit darker, but it's still much in the same style.

It funny I just popped in a PC Gamer CD to check out the first issue ever, and I was amazed to find that it actually had the Beyond Divinity demo on it! I' definitely not going to argue about which soong is better since the whole soundtrack is top-notch and very high quality. I need to find out if he's (Kirill) the soundtrack for Riftrunner (Beyond Divinity).

[DBS]

I owned DD, played it, liked it, got stuck, sold it. Re-purchased it again as there was merit to owning it and I am going to reload it soon. I did pick up Far Cry and so far I am liking it and still winding up KoTR, and Morrowind Tribunal is coming to a close with Bloodmoon ready to begin soon. I have not been thrilled with Gothic 2 for some reason I can not figure as I really dug the original.

Currently I am working on:
Far Cry
Starfleet Command 3
Insane
and still fire up Madden 2004 now and then.

On the GC I am currently working on BG- Dark Alliance with my son.

[moya]

True, there is a fairly deep and varied system of character development in DivDiv. But it all becomes essentially meaningless as soon as you hit the wastelands and you just have to hack or blast your way through thousands of foes. (Did you get to Josephine's section of the final castle? Can you say "Deathknight"?) Also, by that time you generally have the uber-weapon (Holy Sword or whatever) which means most things are just one-two hit kills, so it degenerates into a very Diablo-esque clickfest.

Meh, it's just a shame that the endgame lets it down - the rest was really a pretty good RPG. I'll probably buy Beyond Divinity as well, but I hope it's less combat-orientated than DivDiv.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

You know, I agree. The endgame was a HUGE let down. But the overall presentation was excellent. I had the Noble's Sword, so the game became UBER easy as soon as I snagged that weapon. Fire, Poison, Spiritual damage, including a whole whack of attribute bonuses. Good game over all- and again, I can't wait to play BD.

Oh, and DBS? I played Dark Allaince too- just a tad bit too short, but over all it was quite the click-fest.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Those tracks are okay, but my favorites are (03) Tangible Suspense, (05)Roads Shaded By Green Eaves, and (43) Winds of Sand. There's quite a few more, but those are the standout tracks from the game in my opinion.

Edit: Oh yeah...you'll like the Beyond Divinity soundtrack. It's a bit darker, but it's still much in the same style.

Classic tunage indeed! I added the tunes you and I suggested, and scrapped the rest- turns out that it's the Best of Kirill Pokrovsky (http://www.kirillpokrovsky.com/).... I can't wait to dissect Beyond Divinity (though from what I hear, it's pretty low-key).

[The War Gamer]

well its not out yet. . . . should i tell you . . . ok Guild Wars coming out before X-mas it is massivly online player game great graphics everything go to http://www.guildwars.com/
it will tell you all about it

[The War Gamer]

I forgot to add that the story of how it was made, rumor is that the three designers that made Starcraft, Diablo,Diablo 2, and warcraft left blizzard and made guild wars.

[Ethion]

In selecting a Multiplayer RPG there are a number of important questions you need to ask yourself.

1. Do you want massively multiplayer or small groups. Numberous single player style RPG games have group oriented play and match up servers.

2. Do you want Player vs Player, PvP?

3. Do you like solo oriented or group oriented play?

Some options

If you like small groups; Neverwinter nights, diablo, sacred, dungeon siege are a few good ones. These are all one time fees with free team play. Most of them can be completed in less than 100 hours but have lots of replay value looking for rare stuff and playing at harder difficulty settings. Some are are pvp some aren't. This is an option you can select when you play.

If you want a massive multiplayer game, these are ones where there are 100-1000s of players in a persistant world, then some of the leading ones are

Everquest (huge non pvp, lots of high lvl content, you can play for years and not finish it. Very group oriented),
Dark Age of Camelot, (PvP teams, good content, You can play for a long time but the high lvl content revolves mostly around conquest via PvP teams. )
Lineage II, (new game with awesome graphics. Emphasis is PvP. I only played the beta)
Asheron's call II, (large world, PvP is optional, I didn't care for it. thought it was too easy.)
Star Wars Galaxies, (large world, optional PvP, lots of good content, great for solo or casual play, strong crafting system, possible to max out the game pretty quickly, lacking high lvl content)
Anarchy Online, (large world, PvP areas, very deep game sometimes overwhelming for new people, had a bad launch and bad rep. You can play solo or team, Lots of content)
City of Heros, (my current favorite, non PvP, soloable, not a lot of high lvl content, lots of quests and story development. More action orient then many)

These all cost around $10-15 per month.

Some new ones coming soon that you should watch for in the large scale games are World of Warcraft and Everquest 2. Both of these will be huge and likely have many new people.

If you have questions I've play them all and more.

[Blackheart]

If you value gameplay over graphics then try Ultima Online, i play on a free server. Go to www.wtfman.com/shard/ for info. Just if you join dont expect all the players to be all nice, our server is made up of the players that dont care for others, its big fun.

[Aku]

Just if you join dont expect all the players to be all nice, our server is made up of the players that dont care for others, its big fun.

Fun indeed. Sounds just like the kind of people I want to party with, LOL!

[Deliani]

For god's sake, someone FINALLY mentioned Ultima Online... Another great UO server (that also has a very small player base) is my brother's, at www.uocubed.com... Always looking for new players :P

[Blackheart]

Yeah i dont see how somebody could leave out UO, the shard im on IPY has an average of 500 people. Thats 500 people on like at 7 and 8 in the morning on a tuesday. at peak hours theres like 700 to 800.

The address has changed, it is now: ipyshard.com

[Static_Fred]

If you value gameplay over graphics then try Ultima Online, i play on a free server. Go to www.wtfman.com/shard/ for info. Just if you join dont expect all the players to be all nice, our server is made up of the players that dont care for others, its big fun.

So UO can be played for "free" if you log into someone elses server? This sounds weired considering the developers of MMORPG's usually keep some of the gaming info stored onto their servers to prevent you from doing this.

[Blackheart]

Well let me explain kind sir. All you have to do is dl the main prog just to patch up the game so everybody is on the same version of the game. You then dl a prog named UO Gateway, and that is used to log on all the different free shards. You find IPY on the list of free shards, and login. All the people that manage the game are not payed, so they cannot be sued. All the money that we donate to the game goes into the server making it faster and better. I guess you can call it a non profit organization, so it all goes into the game. In a few days they are moving the actual server to tx i think and upgrading so it should be very very good. any other questions just ask

[Static_Fred]

Well let me explain kind sir. All you have to do is dl the main prog just to patch up the game so everybody is on the same version of the game. You then dl a prog named UO Gateway, and that is used to log on all the different free shards. You find IPY on the list of free shards, and login. All the people that manage the game are not payed, so they cannot be sued. All the money that we donate to the game goes into the server making it faster and better. I guess you can call it a non profit organization, so it all goes into the game. In a few days they are moving the actual server to tx i think and upgrading so it should be very very good. any other questions just ask

I've always been interested in UO, i just didn't want to dish out the monthly fee for a game that everyone said was "going under" (i think people have been saying this for years, but the game is surviving).

So on the server that you play, can you purchase land and housing? Is all the content included on these free servers that are in the official servers such as crafting skills and so on?

One more question, do you have to have all the add-ons to play on this server?

[Ethion]

These servers have some of the features of the real game. Basically someone has reverse engineered the server code and created a server. It's upto the person running the server to create most of the world. I think you get the map but you create the spawns, the dialog, and a bunch of other stuff. I made a server once upon a time, a lot of fun I might add. I think I had some pretty neat quests and stuff on my server. However it wasn't nearly as fully functional as the one from ultima online. I'd guess however that some of the free one are very good after someone has worked on it long enough. Each free one can be different too so try a few to see if there is one that you like. Basically any feature in the production game can be in a free one and even some things that aren't in the UO servers. I remember in mine I was able to create my own skills and crafting stuff. It was possible to have various custom dialogs and stuff. I even had one that gave me access to various god like powers.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Sounds rather illegal to me. Sounds like you guys are playing a "cracked" version of the game, using simple client software to get around official servers...

[Blackheart]

First of all if it was illegal, how would we not have been caught yet? IPY was featured in a gameing magazine. So people know about it.

You can buy houses, and the prices are high for houses to make them seem like an accompliment. There are all the same skills, except the new ones like necro and chivilry. IPY is like UO was in 98 and 99 before Trammel if you know what that is.

There are addons such as looms, forges, anvils, all that.

[Ethion]

UO is a game that involves a server part "the world" and a client part. When you buy the software you get the client part and they you connect to the server. EA then charges you for playing the game on the server on a monthly basis.

Now what some people have done is looked at the protocols that the client uses and implemented their own server. I played with several of these. The source code is available for them. They appear to be written from scratch and each implementation is different. Some offer better functionality then others. Also they run on windows or linux in most cases. The server software is mostly a shell however. There is a database that you need to build that populates the world with mobs, objects, dialog, and a number of other things like skills and tradeskills stuff. There is some limitation imposed by the server implementation but it is very flexible. Setting up a unique world from scratch is a huge task and one that arguably isn't better than the real UO server.

Now is it illegal? I'm pretty sure it isn't and even if it was it's way to late for anyone to enforce it. Basically if you are aware of someone doing something "illegal" with your software and you don't do anything you are implicitly saying it is ok to do that action. You can't after several years of turning a blind eye suddenly try to say this isn't allowed. Well you can but the court will almost certainly reject your claims.

Further, I'm not sure they can legally stop it or they would have. Both UO and EQ have similar server software that has been developed by people out on the internet. Neither of them to be best of my knowledge have stolen anything form the servers in terms of code or anything else that isn't publicly available.

However it is an interesting question. Can they deny you the ability to use a client application with some other server?

[Blackheart]

Well i dont know all the **** that your talking about, im not great with all this but i dont use the UO client to logon i use UO Gateway so i dont think thats owned by OSI the makers of UO.

[Ethion]

the client is the software you are running on your PC. You are running the UO game software right? You are just accessing a non OSI game server.

Arguably OSI could say that they own the software and any reverse engineering of the protocols or tampering with the software is illegal. If this were the case and they enforced it then yes you would be running the software illegally. The developed the software, the protocols and the server. Obviously they are entitled to define how that software is used and to collect fees associated with the use of their software. You don't usually own software you own a license to run it as the manufacturer specifies.

If you want to get technical. Course as I said earlier they may not have their license agreement written that way and since they haven't enforced it they are acknowledging that it is ok.

[Blackheart]

ditto...

Well really i dont care if it is or isnt legal, i dl games and music illegally all the time. it acctually makes the games and music better.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Now is it illegal? I'm pretty sure it isn't and even if it was it's way to late for anyone to enforce it. Basically if you are aware of someone doing something "illegal" with your software and you don't do anything you are implicitly saying it is ok to do that action. You can't after several years of turning a blind eye suddenly try to say this isn't allowed.

Hey man, it's not my company. If EA wants to enforce action upon the owners of the servers, I'm sure it could be entirely possible- if they have the time, money, and resources to go after these folks (probably in Romania or Korea somewhere). However, I'm not gonna get my panties in a bunch over this- however, it's worth pointing out that if it IS illegal (almost assuredly), then users can expect no official help from EA when a server-side worm comes and erases their HDD's!!