MMO's I have played
Runescape (Played when you could choose "classes")First MMO I ever played. Believe it or not, Runescape set my gameplay standards for future MMOs. Runescape may not be pretty, but the content is clever and the design of the game is very well structured. A friend of mine let me play on his membership account; membership is actually worth 5 bucks a month.
What really made me enjoy the game was the style of Runescape's quests. They weren't kill "Kill X to help the villagers!", they were actually quests that required thought (or a walkthrough). Runescape's magic system, in retrospect, was actually very clever. Instead of having an MP bar, spells would be cast through runes.
Runescape may not be pretty, but it's been damn well made.
Maplestory (Beta Player)It's fun with friends, but way too much of a grindfest. You spend the entire game killing monsters to level up, but you don't feel that way because you're really trying to get your awesome next-tier item.
Ferentus (played this for 2 days)This game is weird. It's like an amalgam of Ultima and Diablo. Not much to say.
Silkroad Online (Played until those bullshit Seal weapons came out)I liked this game because it was very pretty and had a unique skill system. The whole trade run escort system is extremely fun until you reach level 2, at which player thieves can kill you unfairly. Much fun was had until the servers had a rollback.
Rappelz (Grindfest)grindfest. pets are ehh.
SpaceCowboyOnline/AirRivals/ACEOnline/Flysis/whatevertheshitit'scallednow (fuck corporate bureaucracy)I loved this game. It was the perfect example of an arcade flight-sim. Screw realism, SCO went for fun. Epic mothership raids,
Nation based and
skill-based PvP , and a refreshing change from sleep-inducing grinding convinced me that this was a game worth its salt.
There were several glaring problems though; lack of dual-core support and not being able to use your graphics card to play slowed down gameplay. Nation balance was a very touchy issue, and the grind at higher levels is painful. Gear (aircraft) balance went through a "flavor of the month" routine.
Now, the game has been ruined with the the new publishers' attempts to make into a thinly veiled grinding MMO. Mothership raids are a guaranteed victory. There's no challenge in them anymore.
GunZ (No game is complete without hackers and kids who play this game 15 hours a day)Terrible game. K-Styling is complete bullshit. Shoot once and teleport halfway across the map.
Gunbound (Not a terrible game, just a little stale after a while)This game was ok. The style and art are aesthetically pleasing, and it's somewhat creative in its design. Stat bonuses were annoying though; it forced players to play on avatar off zones.
Granada Espada (beautiful game, too bad it's grind heavy)GE has a unique "party" system, but everything in the game suffers from samemodel syndrome. It's a beautiful game though, but the grind killed it for me.
Combat Arms (CS clone)CS clone. Hackers.
WarRock (Battlefield clone)Eh. no comment.
S4 League (This game was actually fun. fuck the new updates)One of the few games that I enjoyed playing. S4 League does an excellent job of immersion and throwing realism out a 50-story window. Fuck physics when you can do crazy-ass jumps and flip out like ninjas on crack. The user interfaces, the death animations, the clothing, the characters all contribute to form a sense that you are participating in the fictional S4League.
S4League handles player entrances very cleverly, by having them load the environment first, and then sticking them into the waiting room all the way at the top of the map. It allows a fair game start because it eliminates the need for people to load the map.
S4 League has several major issues though. The game uses a peer to peer system to connect, which leads to lag armor and heavy bitching. Weapon balance was a bit awkward, but still tolerable. Corner-shooting is bordering on exploit, but the devs have stated that it is a feature.
The newest update killed it for me though. Weapons are now rental, so you have to keep playing in order to keep them.
