Caiden’s Core: MMO Developers Cutting Corners

There are a lot of hidden gems in the Free MMORPG market. The best thing is that every month more and more titles come out. Some good, some bad, but there are those that are so close to being great that the smallest errors in game development make or break a players choice to stay or go. Small flaws in an otherwise well rounded game can ruin an entire game. The most frustrating thing, at least for me, is that these flaws or errors are just sloppy mistakes or laziness on the developers part. In some cases I really wonder if some of these companies actually understand that we as players know what is fun for us. Being handed a plate of goodies while being told, “Look! These are fun! Play with them!” really only works in some rare cases. What if we want what’s on that other persons plate? Can I at least have a say in what I get?

Ether Saga Online From Perfect World Entertainment

The biggest thing that makes or breaks my decision to play a game is the flow and direction of an MMO. No, I’m not saying I need someone to hold my hand the entire way, but if you drop a person in the center of an unknown world with the soul purpose of “Go play!”, chances are they are either going to be a little confused or overwhelmed. A game that has this problem is Cloud Nine. Now don’t get me wrong, the game itself is well balanced and on the whole, a lot of fun. However there is a lack of direction in my opinion that makes adventuring and just accomplishing anything feel rather pointless and never ending. The quests are generic at best, revolving around killing twenty or thirty of a monster, turning in and repeating with some other mob. The aspect of game play is completely recycled. You start in a town, get quests, kill monsters in that area, kill the minions of the boss of the area, then kill the boss. Once that is done, move on to the next area and repeat. I am not saying all MMOs have to have a completely different questing system, because let’s face it, people play MMO’s to explore and kill junk in a flashy manner. The problem lies in the purpose. If there is no change, why bother going on? I sat in the PvP so called ‘contested’ zone for over two hours and never once saw another player. End game seemed rather out of reach, and with the rinse and repeat style of moving through the game, it just got rather old rather quickly. The game offers colorful skills, a well made talent system, mounts, pets and more, it is just this tiny aspect that makes me and others not want to bother.

Cloud Nine Combat Screenshot

Other small things are persistent everywhere. Tiny tiny things like interface. I’ve made interfaces before. I know of people who refuse to play games because of the interface. It really takes little effort to make a crisp, graphically pleasing interface. Yet even the most popular MMOs are lacking this. Perfect World and Shaiya are two great examples of otherwise great games with small things that ruin them. Aside from interfaces, Shaiya really only has one efficient way of leveling, AoE grinding. So why play an archer or rogue? They have no AoEs and cannot tank. My friend loves rogues and felt very left out just sitting by a tree while we had all the fun. Again, its small and easily fixed. Perfect World, good classes, nice skill system, quests are plenty…that is until later. I understand it was one of their first titles but it is a common aspect of western MMOs that there has to be more than…well…nothing. The two games are great, I played both for a long time and reached end game, but on the whole it wasn’t enough to keep my entertained.

Shaiya Gameplay Screenshot.

The last game I have to mention is Ether Saga Online. The game is beautiful, but lacks a handful of things to make it great. It actually confused me to the point of leaning back in my chair and tilting my head at the monitor. Perfect World came out before Ether Saga, and it had an amazing character creator. So…what happened? Where did my choices go? Not that it’s game breaking, but it adds up. The first 15 levels are filled with quests with some small amount of story. You have to kill pests, gather things for transforming, kill a small boss and help the locals. However once noobie life is over, it’s quests of repeated ‘Kill: 0/30′ and in some cases, I’ve seen kill requests go as high as 50. Really, if I want to grind with a good game, I’ll play Lineage 2, but if a game is new, it has to bring new cards to the table. Don’t get me wrong, Ether Saga is popular and still a great game, but it’s the corners that were sanded off in a hurry that make picky gamers like me move on.

On the whole, as mentioned before, pretty much every free MMO has an audience, big and small. However to appeal to the masses, developers really have to stop cutting corners. Yes there will be heat from the community for betas and pre-ordering. Yes there is a chance of losing faithfulness in those who are waiting, but if the end product is polished, well thought through and looked at through a players perspective, it will go a long way. My question to you is; What games have you played that made you turn away just because of little things adding up?

Thanks for reading and look forward to next weeks editorial!

By, Caiden

"At the center of all Things..."