Just for some variety and downloaded and tried out Ragnarok Online. I just couldn’t get into it.
I made a female archer, and fiddled around on the character creation screen for a few minutes.
After changing to a redhead with pony tails (one of my favorite looks for some reason, going back to my old main character from Guild Wars!) I was ready to enter the game.
Once in I spent a few minutes clicking various options to see what was available. I noticed an “emotional commands” shortcut and decided that was likely a bad translation. On the other hand, maybe the fact I can “pick my nose” in game means the dialogue was named correctly.
I was hit by a sense of déjà vu approximately 14 seconds into the game. I struggled to remember what other game Ragnarok Online reminded me of and after looking at the long list of free MMOs, I found it: Runes of Magic.
My initial quest was to kill 3 of the bouncing pumpkins in a nearby field:
And then there were 2 more “speak to the guy just down to road a ways”. Not even a ways, I mean like 5 seconds of running got me there.
I find the graphics and interface to be cartoony, enormously so:
After a mere 25 minutes in-game, I decided to uh… do something else. The basic mechanics are there – classes, movement, quests, combat, level up (I made level 2, haha) – but I was not at all drawn into the game or giant in-your-face popups and balloon dialogues. I suspect this game is actually aimed at a younger crowd, or “eastern” audience with fundamentally different tastes and aesthetic expectations, or perhaps both. For me, there is a subtle (or not so subtle) difference between an obvious fantasy setting (WoW, RIFT, LoTRO) and feeling like you’re inside a cartoon. Not even a cartoon, because from what I understand Champions Online is generally well received. This is more like feeling inside a bad cartoon… or manga to be precise.
I hate to seem so down on a game without really giving it much of a chance, but I wanted to quit and watch TV instead. It could very well have a deep crafting system or interesting skill interactions. Or not. At least I can cross this off my list of games to check out, which still leaves me with a few others at some indeterminate time in the future.
MMO Juggler 
I watched a 15 minute first impression video on YouTube and after about 5 minutes in I realized the game was probably just a giant grind-fest with boring combat. Sounds like you came to about the same conclusion after playing 🙂
Yeah I wasn’t hooked enough to keep trying it out. It’s tough for a game to do in a limited time, but I think the good ones show enough of their mechanics off within 30 mins to an hour to give a reasonable feel for what the rest will be like. For example, GW2 in that time will reveal a storyline, unlocking skills for a weapon, skill points, etc. This one was like… press key, autoattack mob, deal with a UI which felt aimed at middle school. That’s great, but I didn’t want to continue. 🙂
I was thinking about testing the new Ragnarok Online too. Played the old RO a few years ago as an Assasine as far as i can remember. However, looks like the old one with improved graphic. The UI is really annoying, same as in the old one. RO 1 felt like a grind, seem’s to be the same with RO2. Thanks for the honest review dude.