F2P, which game has the best graphics? I know they vary widely in gameplay and content but just thinking about graphics here. Here is my shortlist:

Atlantica Online
Cabal
Perfect World
Requiem

Any I have missed? I found it hard to select a best of my top four and remember this was from screenshots and in game videos only.

Well I would put Runes of Magic in there its got very good gameplay for solo players aswel has clan (guild) players I think it runs of the same game engine has WoW but I cannot be sure....

atm i would say either Atlantica or Perfect World

next week, another one

next month,yet another one

F2Ps  that oneup the previous in the gfx aspect are so oftenly released, it looks like they were done in an assembly line

sadly all of them were,are,and will be bullcraps with horrible horrible horrible gameplay. that never changes nor improves

ether saga online! 

Rohan has won the Tentonhammer  2008 Best of F2P Awards for Best Graphics, posted last January 2009.

And I agree. Rohan has a huge and lovely seamless world with more detailed graphics than the other f2ps. It looks great in 1920x1080 with 16x anisotropic and 4x antialiasing. If you are playing you really need to check out the diversity of the different areas.

Sword of the new world. The gameplay sucks however but the graphics is beutiful. Perfecr world is good too.

Originally posted by Loke666

Sword of the new world. The gameplay sucks however but the graphics is beutiful. Perfecr world is good too.

Agreed. Sword of the New World (Granado Espada) has beautiful graphics for F2P game

Originally posted by arcdevil

sadly all of them were,are,and will be bullcraps with horrible horrible horrible gameplay. that never changes nor improves

Nope, finaly there is 1 for me

After having played Lotro, AoC, Vanguard, EQ2, WAR, etc... (except AoC, all have some slow and boring combat - combat is what we do 90% of the time in mmos, right?) and most f2ps, Rohan is the best fun I had since Lineage 2.

Of course Rohan isn't as story and quest grinding driven as i.ex Lotro, but the game play itself is much better for me (Lotro fortunately compensates the bad&slow combat with a lot of story). The rohan lore, while not as deep as lotro, is very nice; combat is fast and really has a feeling to it - the buttons and commands feel just right, and the township battles are great.

Guilds owning a city can tax all of the transactions within the area and all of the NPCs of that area will bear the controlling guild's crest and name. You can also build cities in Rohan.

Rohan also has a huge and seamless world, and a nice item forging (forge 2 weapons/armors together to make a better item - this can go up to rare and unique items) and item de-leveling system (to use a higher level item at a lower level). And  to complete the forging, things like deeper crafting with harversting are coming (sreenshots of crafting and items have already been posted on the Japanese version, it looks complete and substantial).

Nice graphics, great player and combat animations, with cloth movement simulation.

Sound & music is also a level above the other f2ps.

To top it off, you also have some nice ingame card games to make money quickly, a good fishing system, and a player exchange that allows you to exchange and sell your ingame items and gold to other players and convert them into points that allow you to purchase all of the items in the cash shop, giving you complete access to everything for free if you want.

A couple videos to get an idea of gameplay:

Rohan Online City Siege (note the city building intro)

Rohan Online Township Battle (music not ingame)

Rohan Online Party Play (the sample also gives you an idea of ingame music)

Rohan supports guilds of max 1024 players, battles are set to 1000 players max (I have no idea how this works out with normal graphic cards, would probably be laggy as hell, don't know).

Perfectworld would also be at the top of the f2p games, if it wasn't for that 1 second delay when you press a button that completely breaks the combat feeling.

As for Atlantica, it is turn based. I am looking for real time dynamic mmos, so this doesn't interest me. All of the other f2ps (except maybe Requiem) are subpar and/or using small zoning areas - no open worlds.

graphic alone?

Twelve Sky 2 www.youtube.com/watch

Runes of Magic www.youtube.com/watch

Requiem www.youtube.com/watch

Three Kingdoms Battle Begins www.youtube.com/watch

Thanks guys, it’s good to see just how great F2P (Item Sale MMO’s) are doing graphics wise, it does set a standard subscription games need to live up to. Also thanks to Upskirt Power for introducing me to a very important side of the Graphics engine I had not considered before. :D

Savage 2

Anarchy Online

Sword of the new world, looks better than most current pay to play mmorpg, if only the gameplay was as good as the graphics :p

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Sword of the new world, looks better than most current pay to play mmorpg, if only the gameplay was as good as the graphics :p

 

Agreed.  The game looks great.  The world has many possibilities... it could have been amazing. 

Originally posted by BigMango

Great post.

Nice, I was looking for a PvP-F2P game.

I have one question,  the item-mall in Rohan. Is it very Item-mall dependent or can you enjoy the game without paying a dime?

Originally posted by Najtro

Originally posted by BigMango

Great post.

Nice, I was looking for a PvP-F2P game.

I have one question,  the item-mall in Rohan. Is it very Item-mall dependent or can you enjoy the game without paying a dime?

Rohan is pretty well known for its over priced cash shop which you will need to use after a couple months.

Originally posted by Najtro

Nice, I was looking for a PvP-F2P game.

I have one question,  the item-mall in Rohan. Is it very Item-mall dependent or can you enjoy the game without paying a dime?

The short answer is: it depends how you want to play and what you want to get out of the game. Furthermore, you can purchase everything in the item mall with ingame gold and ingame items.

Yes, can you enjoy the game without paying a dime. This is what I do.

Now for the longer answer:

1. The leveling curve is very steep at the higher levels. The mall sells items to get better xp. There are also items to get better xp for parties, so if you join a party that has an xp scroll or join a guild with players who supply those it won't cost you anything (this is what many do, joining dungeon parties with xp scrolls).

2. You will need the mall if you want to compete at the top in pvp. If this isn't your goal you will still have a lot of fun without the mall.

The downside of the Rohan item mall is that it sells items that make you stronger (imho item shops are fine, but when they sell items to get stronger it breaks the pvp balance). But there is a BUT

As I said above, you can purchase all of the item mall items with ingame money. Players can sell their ingame items and ingame gold on the Rohan exchange for "Rohan Points" (this is what you also purchase with real money and these points allow you to buy item mall items). You can also make ingame money fast with the ingame card games, fishing, etc... and convert this into Rohan Points in the exchange to buy item mall items.

It costs a 1 time setup fee of 5$ to get access to the Rohan player exchange, then you can sell your ingame gold, ingame items and also your ingame characters if you want. Rohan has legalised the whole gold trading situation to the players advantage .

-> So, the bottom line is : real money is not "needed" in rohan as you can convert ingame items&money (for a 1 time 5$ setup fee), but it makes it faster for those who want the shortcut (and of course if you don't intend to compete at the top you don't need the mall at all).

edit for SgtFrog: also, the cash shop prices were high 8 months ago but they have now  gone down a lot. They are also constantly running timed sales several times every day to get some items cheap (again, won't cost you a cent if you use the player exchange).