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Are MMORPGs Evil?
The awesome potential of Xbox Live and MMORPGs is too great for me to not try one.
The one form of game that I really have never gotten into is Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games or MMORPGs.
Now I used to like to play Dungeons and Dragons in elementary school and I like playing traditional Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy and I like playing games online. (I will like it a lot more once my cable modem is up and running.) So if you look at the concepts combined you think that I would love MMORPGs to death. But in all truths I have been critical of them and has my reservations about if they would be right for me.
One thing about MMORPGs like EverQuest is they are not really games in the traditional sense and they are engineered to be addictive and habit forming. The pourpose of EverQuest is to reward the addict player who spends every waking moment playing and punishes the casual player who doesn't want to spend the constant attention that having a EverQuest account requires.
Actually an Exgirlfriend of mine is now dating an EverQuest player and he has turned down a night of sex to go home and play EverQuest at the right time because his guild was going to go slay a dragon or something. I guess the thing that I love about Final Fantasy is that it does not care that I take a day off and I have never had to turn down sex or face the threat of loosing face in the virtual world.
My High school pal over at EvilNinja.net summed up his mixed feelings about the pending Macintosh version of EverQuest.
My point is this: EverQuest has broken homes, driven apart friendships and families and has been blamed for at least one suicide. And now that I've got a PC and have finally lost any interest in ever even trying it, it's coming to the Mac.
Jane of GameGirlAdvance has wrote about her disenchantment with Dark Age of Camelot. Specifically it's limited social interaction and emphasis on combat and repetitive tasks.
EverQuest has been called EverCrack for it repetitive tasks and heroin like addicts. EverQuest make playing computer games look bad.
The nerdly of all nerd news sites Slashdot had a really good article on EverQuest and how it can stop being fun and start to be a job but with out pay.
In fact a player has to pay $12.95 a month to play EverQuest so you need to pay that every month just to keep them from deleting your account. But EverQuest generates millions of dollars in revenue every month by the hundreds of thousands of EverQuest users who shell out 13 buck a month just for the privilege of playing the game.
Hell EverQuest actually made a version of it that has better service and they now charge 40 bucks a month!! to thousands of EverCrack addicts whom need their fix in bigger doses.
Of I forgot to mention Final Fantasy X1. The thing is that we will probably not see FFX1 in the US or Europe because it requires the PS2 HD and FF X1 is the only game that uses it. But I could be wrong. FFX1 could come out and blow every other online RPG out of the water or it could be another bomb like the Final Fantasy movie.
Besides Sony is making a version of EverQuest for the PS2 and is only bringing out Star Wars Galaxies (AKA EverCrack with new StarWars flavor) on Das Xboxen.
EverQuest is not the only MMORPG in existence just the biggest and most evil.
Of course the biggest advantage that Xbox Live MMORPGs have over PCs and other consoles is that everyone has voice chat, a good hard drive, a good internet connection , good video hardware and a close system architecture so hackers can't cheat and screw up the game for everyone. I mean we are talking about Gibsonian Cyberspace level of coolness and the MMORPG might be the killer product that will sell the Xbox in Japan and solidify Xbox Live as a major factor in the world of gaming.
(Here is an interesting tid bit about Xbox Live. The makers of Unreal Championship just announced that they are going to tweak and optimize the engine of the game and have it released as a patch available on Xbox live and Xbox Magazine. This is the first major update patch to a console game of it's kind and is possible because of the Xbox HD and Net connections. )
So EverQuest is not an option and the Sims Online is out because I gave up on all forms of The Sims.
So to my knowledge there are two potential Xbox Live MMORPGs that I should consider.
The first being Phantasy Star Online for Xbox. PSO is the first MMORPG on any console system.
The majority of PSO is hacking and slashing, leveling up and buying more powerful weapons. But unlike the Gamecube and Dreamcast version of the game it features full voice and none of the hacked items of the Dreamcast version.
PSO was developed by the legendary Sega developers Sonic Team and actually has a definite US release date of February 28, 2003. It costs 40 bucks for the DVD and 8 bucks a month to play. But I think that you can stop playing it for a month and they will not delete your character.
So that is a lot more attractive than Star Wars Galaxies and it's Cracktacular habits.
I think I could get and play PSO with not having to sacrifice what ever left of a life that I have left also it has been tried and tested for a while so everyone knows what to expect. I have never played a game that I didn't love from Sonic Team except Sonic Shuffle but that is a fluke. Sonic Shuffle was so bad that trying to find the fun became the new game challenge.
So I have about a month until PSO for Xbox comes out and it is a serious contender. Not to mention that Phantasy Star 2 on the Sega Genesis was one of the finest RPGs that I have ever played.
But the game that I really want to be out right now is True Fantasy Live Online (it will probably undergo a name change before it ships in the US). Damn this game looks cool!
Is being developed as a joint effort with Microsoft and Level-5 the company that made Dark Cloud on the PS2.
It isn't mission-based like Phantasy Star Online where you get together a group of four and then go out and kill monsters in a linear level. Instead it will be a completely open wold where you can do what you want and kill time in a huge multiplayer world. But you can get together with pals and go out and kill the god damn dragons if you really want to.
The art work looks like it will follow Japanese RPG sensibilities and look lush and made 100% for the Xbox. A bunch of images can be found at this preview at RPGRadar.com.
No word on when it is going to be out and how much it costs or if it costs will cost at all. If I were at MS I would make True Fantasy free to play for all who subscribe to Xbox Live and buy the game or price it in the 8 buck rage of PSO not the $40/month of EverCrack deluxe.
I am bummed that there is no definite word on when True Fantasy Live Online will ship except some time in 2003. That could mean 12/2003 or who knows?
I will probably go with PSO for Xbox Live and then give True Fantasy a try when it comes out. But I know that it is just a game and I think I can actually play an MMORPG with out becoming a total EverCrack Addict selling my body on street corners for my next EverQuest fix.
Jake at January 14, 2003 
Games
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Posted by: Jake at April 19, 2003 11:58 PM
there is a new MMORPG called planetside. it doesn't have levels or anything, so it shouldn't be as evil as everquest. here is a review of it:
http://www.techtv.com/xplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3451663,00.html
Posted by: Theodopolis at July 5, 2003 3:49 PM
Heard from a PS2 employee, that when the FFX1 comes out, it will be with the PS2 hard drive. They have other games in the works that will utilize the PS2 hard drive as well.
Posted by: marineblade at October 3, 2003 6:04 AM
Yes I talked about this in a newer post.
http://www.8bitjoystick.com/archives/jake_final_fantasy_xi_online_march_2004_hundred_bucks.php#001759
That post is almost a year old
Posted by: Jake at October 3, 2003 7:14 AM
Hey, Everquest isn't as addictive and evil as you think. First, im canceling my subscription to it soon to get Xbox live and hopefully True Fantasy Online. And as for the suicide and all that, any game can cause that, its just recognized on online games because the people disappear off of it. The reason the person killed themself was first because they were depressed already, and second they lost some character or something. That could happen in any game.
As for True Fantasy Live Online, that seems like a real kickass game. Can't wait til it comes out!
Posted by: areofae at November 18, 2003 4:57 PM
Don't get PSO. Its like EverCrack, but a little cheaper, and a lot slower. Considering its already out, I'm hoping you write another review on how addictive that crap is.
Posted by: Azule Locke at December 17, 2003 1:57 PM
Nah I don't really have the time in my life to get into a MMORPG. I am just too busy to invest the time needed. I mean I might if I did not have a Girl friend
Posted by: Jake at December 17, 2003 3:04 PM
I hate this evil game it ruins lives. Sony should be sued for doing this to people. The public should be made aware how addicting this game is.
They should rename everquest to Methquest. Sony
or their associates made this game to profit
from and at the expense of families. Parents do
not understand what this is about. Children are
becoming addicted to this game right under their
parents roofs.This is so sad.
Why isn't this been put on Dateline or some other
news program to alert people?
Posted by: Bonnie Remley at September 21, 2006 12:16 PM
