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Game Name: Runes of Magic
Game Genre: MMORPG
Game Website: runesofmagic.com
Game Developer: Frogster
Developer's Website: http://frogster-america.com
Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows 2000
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or equivalent
Memory: 512MB
Video Card: GeForce 2 MX
Graphics card: DirectX 9.0c compatible with 128MB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 5.3GB
Internet Connection: Cable/DSL

In my everlasting quest to find a free-to-play replacement for my Final Fantasy XI addiction, I ran across Runes of Magic. It was said to be WoW-Like, and of good quality. So I downloaded the game, updated the client -- This took forever. And why? You would think they would make the initial download up-to-date... -- and began playing.

During setup, I was sad to find out you could only be one of two races. You can either choose human, or elven. I would have liked to have had a little more customization with my character, or at least the choices. Personally, I like it when one race it more equipped to handle certain classes than others. However, I dealt with it and chose to be human. During this process, I also found that there are classes that only human characters can become, as well as some that only elven characters can become. This annoyed me a little, as I like to have the options, at least, to make my character whatever I would like. But again, I dealt with it.

Next came the character customization. There were actually several options here to allow you to customize your characters looks so that you do not look like every other character in the game. You are even given several skin colors you can choose from, including those that are not naturally occurring. This was a plus for the game, in my own opinion.

After making my character, naming him (Enormity, of course), I began to play Runes of Magic. Immediately, I seen something I do not like in almost every MMORPG I've ever played. Markers above the NPC's heads indicating quests and quests' progress. I know that most players really like the helpful indicators, but to me, this takes all of the fun out of exploring the game's environment. It pretty much takes you out of the game. When they are not marked, you are forced to interact with all the NPC's, as you do not know which have quests, which have information you need, and which are just there to fill in space. This causes you to learn the full story of the game and to get more engrossed in the storyline that you are to play a part of. So again, in my opinion, this is a negative.

Moving along, I began to play the game, leveling my character. This brought me face-to-face with another annoyance. You seem to level by doing quests instead of by fighting monsters. Again, I know for a fact that a lot of players like this, but I don't. The quests are entirely too easy to complete, and, for the most part, do not require you to form a party in order to accomplish the quest. I can't tell you how much that irks me. First off, quests should be there in order to provide either nice equipment that you cannot get from normal mob drops, or to propel you through the storyline of the game. Experience points should not be a major factor of these quests. Second off, one of the nice points of any MMO is player interaction. You should not be able to solo everything and level several times a day.

Unfortunately, I was able to play this game and solo everything to become level 18 on one class, and level 13 on another class, before logging off that first day. To me, this is ridiculous. Especially when the max level you can achieve is level 55/55. So I am over 25% to max level on my first day, and did not join or form a party at all. And almost all of the leveling I had done was by questing. Again, there are entirely too many quests, and too much experienced gained by quests. And all of the mobs are way too easy.

The second day I played, I joined a guild. I figured this would give me something to like about the game. And I must say, from what I've seen of the guild (which is not everything), I do like the guild setup. There is a ranking system the guild owner can control. The guild owner can name each rank themselves to more go along with the theme of the guild, which is a nice touch. There is a guild castle that can be erected and entered by guild members. You can decorate the castle with furniture, statues, buildings, and more. The castle has a vault in which can be stored items to be used by guild members, materials used for upgrading the guild and guild castle, etc. And of course, there are guild wars. However, I have not had the chance to participate in one yet, so I cannot comment on them. I do like the guild system a lot, though, from what I have seen. I haven't seen this much thought go into a guild/clan system in any of the games I have ever played.

The guild members were helpful as well, taking lower level guild members through dungeons that would have been too hard (instance dungeons - one of the rare places in the game I have found you need a party), answering questions, and trading items. I liked this interaction in the game, but do believe it's one of the few times you have much interaction with other players.

The house system is alright as well. Your house is free, and you have 10 slots in which you can put furniture in your house. One slot for the chest you receive with the house, which can hold 20 items, and 9 more for whatever you like. You can buy decorative furniture from the NPC, or you can buy diamonds with real money to buy furniture than enhance your experience gain or talent point gain, or furniture that help you in other way. You may also buy house upgrades with diamonds to give yourself a two story house made of mud or wood. Unfortunately, for some reason, upgrading to a bigger house does not give you more furniture spots. I think that's a bit ridiculous. Why buy a bigger house with real money when there is absolutely no gain in it? But anyway, the option is there.

With your house, you get your own house maid. Your house maid lets you change your classes, opens your bank box (yet another storage box that the bank offers), and a little more. She's not really of too much use, but she's there.

Talent Points~ I've mentioned them above, so here's what they are for. As you level, you acquire skills that pertain to your class. To level these skills requires talent points. You get talent points by defeating mobs or by completing quests, and you get a load of talent points whenever you gain a level. But you must be careful how you spend your talent points, as you will not have enough to raise every skill to its max. And every time you do raise a skill, it takes even more talent points to raise it next time.

Diamonds~ As I've mentioned, you buy diamonds with real money. Sometimes, you can catch them on sale and get more for your money. Diamonds can be sold in-game for gold (depending on how you pay for the diamonds), or can be used in the in-game item shop. In the item shop, you can purchase items that you cannot get anywhere else in the game. Here, they also have daily offers and weekly offers where they put items from the item shop on sale. You can also use diamonds in your house by purchasing house energy with them. You can use the house energy to add more furniture spots to your house (which will use so much energy per day), or to rename your house. You can also purchase more bank slots with diamonds.

Rubies~ When you make a purchase in the item shop using diamonds, you will gain so many rubies (depending on how many diamonds you spent). There is a rubies tab in the item shop where you can spend these. Most people believe that there is nothing worth purchasing there other than backpack slot tickets. I agree with them. But these by themselves are pretty much invaluable.

Mounts~ When you first start the game, you will receive a free mount for one day (a horse). After it expires, you can no longer summon it. However, you can attain them other ways. You may rent mounts from the stables, or buy them from the item shop. Mounts are extremely nice to have when you have to run any great distance. Most mounts go between 60% to 65% faster than you do on foot.

Classes~ You can have only two classes in this game. Just one more thing that makes me miss Final Fantasy XI, where you could train every single class with just one character, and switch between them whenever you chose to. Anyway, once you hit level 10, you can go to the Class Hall to learn another class. Once you choose your class, you're stuck with it, for the most part. (You can always buy a fruit of forgetting from the item shot to delete a class.) The second class will become your sub class when you choose it, and will not gain any experience until you make it your primary class. You can do this in the class hall, or at any house maid. You can switch your classes around as much as you like, whenever you like, so long as you do it through these two. Your sub class gains no experience or talent points at all while it is the sub class. Only your primary class gains these things.

As of right now, I am level 30 on my main class, and level 13 on my sub class. However, I have erased my sub class twice. Once when it was level 18, and once when it was level 15. So that is a total of 46 levels on my sub class. And I've only played a little over a week now. Remember that there are only 55 levels for each class. And through all of this, I have only been in 3 parties where I needed to be in a party for something I was doing. All of the other parties I've been in were so that I could help other lower level players.

The controls for this game are not hard to get the hang of. There are mainly what you would expect if you've played any MMORPG's before. There is also a "Move To" function for those that are lazier than some, where it will auto-run you to a position or NPC of your choice. But all-in-all, the controls are good and allow you to easily do what you need to do in-game. However, one thing I do not like is that when you set your quick-keys, you must log out to the character selection screen, or else it will not save them if you simply exit the game or get disconnected.

The weird thing about this game is that, out of all the negatives I've said about this game, I seem to like it a lot. I will continue to play it and probably make a guild of my own. I can't really say what it is I like about the game that makes me like it enough to continue playing it. I think it's more of helping those of a lower level. Maybe I like to feel important. lol! But whatever it is, I'll see where it takes me. Heck, maybe next week, I'll be level 55/55. I've really got to e-mail the game makers and make some suggestions. Well, if you play, let me know!