Ragnarok Online Client

Although most people automatically think about World of Warcraft when the term MMORPG is mentioned, Blizzard’s brainchild is not a pioneer of the genre, not by far. Obviously, WoW’s scale and budget were pretty much unprecedented at the time, but most of its ideas and mechanics were borrowed from other games, such as Ultima Online or EverQuest. That’s not to say World of Warcraft wasn’t groundbreaking, because it obviously was, just that it wasn’t an original concept.

Ragnarok Online is an oriental MMO that hit the western gaming community more than a decade ago, and it featured many interesting twists and intriguing ideas. As such, the game sports an isometric perspective and quite the primitive graphics, which only made it more accessible back in the day, not to mention easy on your computer. However, it’s certainly not as intricate or as refined as triple-A MMORPGs, so don’t expect the same complexity.

The game’s story revolves around an ancient conflict between humans, demons and gods, a conflict that scarred the land of Midgard beyond recognition. The lore behind the story is quite extensive, but it obviously falls short when compared to giants like World of Warcraft. However, you can still get lost in the world designed by the writers, as long as you do not mind the anime-inspired cliches and the funny-looking characters.

There are a few classes to choose from, not to mention the character customization screen at the beginning of the game. You can play the role of a swordsman, a thief or a martial arts specialist, while improving your stats to inflict additional damage. Plenty of gear and special items are scattered throughout the land as well, which empowers your character even more. Obviously, you need to fight for these artifacts, usually by killing monsters or solving quests.

Speaking of which, grinding is a pretty important part of the gameplay, because it occupies a significant portion of your in-game time. The fact that you only have to click on the enemy in order to attack can be a bit anti-climatic, at least until you learn new skills to make use of. The primitive graphics engine might not please the modern eye nowadays, although the isometric environments are not at all ugly.

While it is true that Ragnarok Online is not as popular as it once was and the community has shrunk to almost nothing, you can still have a bit of fun with the game. Not only that, but you may even find out how everything was before the MMORPG genre reached its maturity.