This week, Richard profiles two upcoming F2P MMOs headed to North American audiences: Allods Online and Prius Online.

Anything new has the potential to be different and thus interesting, so I always try to keep alert to free to play titles that are in development or at least not yet released in this part of the world. Of course, it has gotten much harder to remain decently informed over the years since the number of projects has grown immensely over the past decade or so, and also because most of the studios are located halfway around the world.

It's only natural that my interest is higher for some upcoming titles than the rest, and also that the list changes on an evolving basis. So, here are some thoughts on two that have been able to attract larger than average shares of my interest at this time. Just to be clear, the opinions presented here are completely personal, and are based solely on my particular gaming preferences. I'm also not recommending in any way. Even if I were prone to do that, which I'm not since I believe people should make their own informed choices, I couldn't because I have yet to play either for even a single minute. Given I've never been big on numerical rankings, they're just in alphabetical order. And there are definitely others I could talk about too. Maybe in future columns.

Read the full column here.

The Anima system is no doubt borrowing ideas from the FF series,after all that whole series has introduced more unique ideas to gaming than IMO all the other developers put together and i am not making that up.

First of all on the Russian theme,one word....MAFIA.They have some very sneaky operations over there and i do know somehow through much homework i linked some Russian organization as actual owners or investors of the whole Aeria games organization,witch IMO is bigger than the developer Aioshi mentions.

Onto Prius,again one word>>>>Korean.I have little to expect from ANY game coming out of Korea,ALL there games are the same quality,there is absolutely no reason what so ever to think they or any other developer have changed their ways.If what works over there keeps making money,they are not going to improve one bit.Their games ALWAYS center around the player gear and the mobs,the rest of the game world and content is minimal and really of little interest and not very well implemented.

Expect the exact same animations,the same glowing swords,basically everything the same,they do put some effort into the gear and the mobs,but like i said the rest of the world is cheap 101.

 I KNEW you would say Allods! :)

 I have been watching this game for a while now.

 Beau

I've heard of Allods and have been checking out screenshots and gameplay videos of the game. Plus I wouldn't mind being in the closed beta for the North American version. As for Prius, I've never even heard of it before. Although who knows it might be good. I never heard of Karos  until about a month ago,  now I sorta can't wait for the first beta to start.  To see it for what it truly is, but it does have my interest. Also on my radar is S.U.N. thats coming to ijji. Seems like ijji is getting some good game soon. I've been in the last two Huxley betas and I've been really liking it. So here hope that the other Webzen games are good too.

Based on the little I've read here, I can't say that either of these MMOs is much "of interest" to me. But I'll try to keep an open mind as more information about these games comes out.

Netmarble went with Mini-Fighter because it was easy to convert...geez it's just a little 2d side-scroller, so why not push it out the door?

Originally posted by Wizardry

The Anima system is no doubt borrowing ideas from the FF series,after all that whole series has introduced more unique ideas to gaming than IMO all the other developers put together and i am not making that up. 

Yes you are "making it up". What you said is speculation on your part, something you "made up" based on what you think you know about the gaming industry.

Allods sounds interesting.  Mostly due to the Ship to Ship battles you mentioned, and the fact that you're not STUCK in ships...there's land adventure too.  That sound's pretty cool, or at least different.

Originally posted by Wizardry

Onto Prius,again one word>>>>Korean.I have little to expect from ANY game coming out of Korea,ALL there games are the same quality,there is absolutely no reason what so ever to think they or any other developer have changed their ways.

Um... NCsoft ring a bell? Aion?

Yeah... you're full of crap.

My bet is that the eventual Wow killer won't come from any company based in the US, it will be a foreign one not tied to the restrictive EQ/Wow clone design.  Innovation here has been stimied by pleasing investors with a proven model.

So paying attention to what is being done overseas is important.

Originally posted by KenTsurugi

Originally posted by Wizardry

Onto Prius,again one word>>>>Korean.I have little to expect from ANY game coming out of Korea,ALL there games are the same quality,there is absolutely no reason what so ever to think they or any other developer have changed their ways.

 

Um... NCsoft ring a bell? Aion?

Yeah... you're full of crap.

You're actually proving his point, but you're too daft to see it.  Aion IS just another run of the mill Korean MMO.  I've been playing the beta weekends for a long time now, and it's already bored me.  It's just more of the same Korean-style animation, sound effect, particle effects (BIG BOOM BANG *sigh*), glowy soft graphics and apocalyptic trite story with a grind thrown in the endgame.  No thanks.  I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm sharp enough to notice the same ole' same ole' just wrapped in a big pretty media-blitzed package.

I'm curious to see what comes of Allods.  I'm an American, but I speak Russian.  Is there a Russian server we can play on at the moment?

I don't like WoW style games but I've always wanted to play WoW to high level just because every one else has - it's the strange psychological gravitational effect of having a dominant 800lb gorilla game.

However I can't get past the character models. I've tried multiple times to get into WoW but the models just bug me too much.

I can see allods being a kind of WoW-substitute for me purely for that rather convoluted reason because the background artstyle is WoW-ish and (from what I've seen) i really like the allods charcter models.

Originally posted by Stratford

Originally posted by KenTsurugi

Originally posted by Wizardry

Onto Prius,again one word>>>>Korean.I have little to expect from ANY game coming out of Korea,ALL there games are the same quality,there is absolutely no reason what so ever to think they or any other developer have changed their ways.

 

Um... NCsoft ring a bell? Aion?

Yeah... you're full of crap.

 

You're actually proving his point, but you're too daft to see it.  Aion IS just another run of the mill Korean MMO.  I've been playing the beta weekends for a long time now, and it's already bored me.  It's just more of the same Korean-style animation, sound effect, particle effects (BIG BOOM BANG *sigh*), glowy soft graphics and apocalyptic trite story with a grind thrown in the endgame.  No thanks.  I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm sharp enough to notice the same ole' same ole' just wrapped in a big pretty media-blitzed package.

Funny, because I've been playing the same beta, and it excites me. I've played a ton of Korean MMOs, and this one is the only one that stands out. Now only does it allow a very beautiful atmosphere, but it also has animations that have you interact with the monsters, such as picking them up with your weapon and slamming them down, things you could not do in WoW (which, by the way, the closest thing to interacting with the monster was being blasted back by some sort of attack). There are several animations that make use of your surroundings, such as trying to snatch a fish from the lake, or using a large leaf to protect you from the rain. The music is awesome, combining the right amount of intensity and warmth. The facial details are realistic, and the atmosphere is great, including the design of the monsters, and the feeling of flight.

So, yeah, I'm going to stick with Aion. it may not be for you, but to me, it's anything but run-of-the-mill.

The proof is in the pudding!
The proof is in the pudding!
The proof is in the pudding!
The proof is in the pudding!

lol... sorry, somebody had to do it.

Neither game looks or sounds very interesting to me.

Of course there are more out there... And here I am to point a few out.

The biggest excitement I have is:

Berkanix Online (add a .com to go see the vid or youtube it.)

And the second one is Blade & Soul (youtube is your friend!)

Of course, with Karos Online coming out, it only "looks good" so far... We'll see in 3 days.

And lets not forget The Chronicles Of Spellborn just going free to play.

END

FOX

Hyung-tae Kim is a great artist, and I did like Magna Carta a lot, so I hope Blade & Soul is as good as it looks.

Also, I hope TERA is as well.

Well with Allods ship boarding and changing world, I might be keep an eye on it.

(Oh and if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, then the proof must be in the pudding for you to ingest and digest said proof.) ;)