There are countless Free MMORPGs out there, most of them made by the same 5 companies, and they are all equal in that they are games with truly no purpose. Some of these games are mildly successful, like Rappelz, while others are just like… Terrible. This list will show the top 3 free MMORPGs that could have been good, but they were missing major aspects of the game which turned them in to epic glasses of fail.

2Moons - Hack and Slash, and then do it some more.

What is 2 Moons?

2 Moons Is a free MMORPG published by Acclaim. Like most of the games of the free MMORPG genre, it is a port of a Korean/Japanese game. This tries to be a crazy PVP, hack and slash, blood splatter game that sets out to change how people look at free MMORPGs, but they fail.

Where did they go wrong?

2 Moons went wrong in numerous ways, but I will mention three here to keep my list short enough for me to live with. Firstly, for being a high combat PVP orientated game, they made their first mistake by limiting the number of times you can respec your character. When you respec your character, you re-specialize your character to be able to do certain things better. While some of my friends tried to justify this by saying it made people choose their skills more wisely, I called BS and just thought they were just trying to make money by selling respec items in their shop, much like Rappelz. Secondly, The game was too solo based. I don’t want to play a MMORPG by myself, having to do solo dungeons until level 40 to do dungeons with my friends. Community is what makes MMORPGs, don’t take it away. Lastly, The gameplay was too grindy. This means that all you did was kill monsters, there were no quests that did not simply ask you to go out and kill X amount of monsters then come back and get another quest to go out and kill X amount of monsters of a different kind. Also, the PVP felt like you were fighting mobs, not like you were fighting another person as in World of Warcraft or Dark Ages of Camelot.

Requiem - Theres blood, wait is there anything else?

What is Requiem: Bloodymare?

As the Requiem website puts it:

Bloodymare is a massively multiplayer online game for mature audiences that will immerse you into a dark world of bloodshed devastated by generations of scientific and magical abuse. You’ll need to fight against the grotesque monsters that stalk the cursed land, and band together with your allies to survive against the stronger, bloodthirsty creatures that only prowl at night. Use a wide selection of weapons and the mysterious powers of Beast Possession to strike down your enemies and destroy evil. Requiem Online offers a refreshingly new approach to the MMOPRG genre with its grim, dark atmosphere and tense, blood splattering action.

Where did they go wrong?

Requiem is solely based off the fact that there is blood and gore in the game. This didn’t prove well for 2 Moons, and it doesn’t do well here either. I will give two reasons why this game failed because honestly, I only played it for about 4 hours before I almost broke my laptop. First, the gameplay was terrible. It just felt wrong, there was clearly no planning going on when they ported it out for the American audience, if it was even a port. Secondly, they try to put too much on the “its bloody so people will like it” mentality. They think that just because blood splatters from everything, we will forget about quests and other parts of MMORPGS. Lastly, the game is also too grindy, read the 2 Moons part of the article.

Shaiya - Christmas lights looked like giant pixel blocks…

What is Shaiya?

Shaiya is another free MMORPG ported by Aeria games. The game is one of those bread and butter MMORPGs that tries to actually do what an MMORPG is supposed to do, have quests, pvp, and some grinding to pass the time. I actually enjoyed this game when I was playing with my friends on Ventrilo, but only because they are funny and make the time pass much easier. When I was playing this game by myself, I wanted to shoot myself in the head, I know I probably sound like some emo-boy by now, but these games really are that bad.

Where did they go wrong?

Shaiya has two EPIC problems with it and the grindy problem that all MMORPGs of this genre share. Firstly, the graphics are TERRIBLE! I played this game during December of 2007 through January of 2008 and every time I went to a town, I had to do a face palm just because the Christmas lights looked so bad, I wish I could find a screen shot! They were like 4×4 pixel blocks strung across things in multiple colors, and they flashed! Lastly, the gameplay got really stale and boring after the first 20 levels. All the creative quests and fun challenges died out and you got those same grindy quests that you get in all of these games when the developers get lazy and don’t want to put in any more content.

Conclusions

I don’t know, I might be totally wrong, I may have been spoiled by the three years of World of Warcraft that I played, but these games just don’t meet the average goodness that will keep me playing the game.

Did I miss a game or totally get my review wrong or do you totally agree with me and have a great experience to share? Post a comment and let me know!