MMORPG.com's Free Zone writer Richard Aihoshi examines the history of Allods Online's development, as well as the recent brouhaha surrounding the release of the game's item shop in this latest article.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Although many people probably recognize these opening words from famed author Charles Dickens' classic novel A Tale of Two Cities, I suspect relatively few realize they aren't meant to stand alone as a single sentence. Rather, they begin a lengthy one that touches on a range of feelings associated with life and the human condition in the Victorian age.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Read A Tale of Two Allods.