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Does anyone remember the "golden age" of free MMOs/MMORPGs?

Real

Real

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,423
I'm talking prime AeriaGames, GameNGame, JoyMax, Webzen, Nexon, and a ton of Asian and Western developers that created fly-by-night games by the dozen and looked to see what stuck? Lots of Eastern imports, but it seemed like you had a new game to try every week with not much barrier to entry.




 
Magneto

Magneto

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,449
Tales Weaver !!

talesweaver-private-server.jpg


I spent so much time playing with a ton of lag. That game was so cool, and the OST <3

 
Kickfister

Kickfister

Member
May 9, 2019
1,791
S4 League was a gem of a shooter and nothing similar has ever existed and it makes me incredibly sad.
 

Favio Bolo

Banned
Aug 17, 2020
387
i remember Cabal online, Lineage II and Ragnaron Online (spent years on this one, my fav mmo ever)
 
Theswweet

Theswweet

RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
6,418
California
I'd argue that the MMO genre (and MMO-adjacent) is healthier than it's ever been at the moment. WoW, FFXIV, PSO2, ESO, SWTOR, Destiny, etc.

There's a lot of activity in the space it feels like.
 
Dukie85

Dukie85

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,535
Back when Mabinogi was the new shit, and there was actual quality free MMOs all over the place. RIP...
 
Okabe

Okabe

Is Sometimes A Good Bean
Member
Aug 24, 2018
19,939
It's lunch time

You and 4 friends got an internet café 5 minutes away and an hour until class begins

Oh we playin some Gunz the duel baybee
 
Orayn

Orayn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,973
I enjoyed Drift City a lot, I wound up playing it before Burnout Paradise came out and that game completely clicked with me because of it.
 
kosmickitten

kosmickitten

Member
Jul 2, 2019
154
I played sooo many of the ones like Trickster Online, Rose Online, Flyff... honestly, I can't even remember the names of them all lol.
 
kurahador

kurahador

Member
Oct 28, 2017
17,565
Played ROSE Online when it was on free beta with my friends. Super fun time, even though the game is dogshit really. I remember one of its innovation at the time was setting up shop, so you will see alot of these shops in cities and just have fun browsing.
 

Deleted member 11976

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,585
GunZ was fuckin awesome. IIRC people found ways to break the game but the developers were just like "oh ok you want to do side and back flips nonstop? cool that's the game now."

I also remember really liking Granado Espada (Sword of the New World) because it had a novel concept of controlling a party of 3 characters simultaneously. The music also was really great.

 
Taco_Human

Taco_Human

Member
Jan 6, 2018
4,237
MA
I remember playing Rakion, that was fun for a minute

Edit: ALSO SILK ROAD, omg I remember
 
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Kickfister

Kickfister

Member
May 9, 2019
1,791
Real said:
Such a good feeling game to traverse, shoot, and play in. Didn't feel unfair and getting a kill with the game's weapons felt so rewarding.
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My man! No other game has blended melee and projectile weapons so well imo. There's a decent private server out that removes all the pay to win stuff, but naturally if you don't live on that game you're gonna have a rough time these days. I'd love to get something new and similar to that game some day.
 
Mark It Zero!

Mark It Zero!

Member
Apr 24, 2020
494
MU Online was huge here between 2002 and 2006. Walk into a cyber cafe back then and every single monitor had either MU, or Counter Strike.
 
Dukie85

Dukie85

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,535
I remember playing 2moons religiously, and I absolutely hated PVP MMOs.
 
ConfusedOwl

ConfusedOwl

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,125
Canada
PepperedHam said:
So much time spent on the OnRPG forums scooping up every new free MMO for my friend and I to play. 10th grade was a heck of a time.
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I posted on that forum a decent amount actually. I remember when AeriaGames was getting a bunch of their users to spam adverts for their games on there and the users on OnRPG returned the favour by spamming the Aeria forums. Petty forum drama lol.
 
EntelechyFuff

EntelechyFuff

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Nov 19, 2019
10,226
What are the first party console manufacturer's policies around F2P MMOs like this?

I'm sorta surprised to see how they all kinda vanished--would've expected that they would carry on quietly in some smaller way.

The only ones I ever messed with were Flyff and Wizardry Online--which had an interesting player jail mechanic where you went to like...an actual jail cell IIRC.
 
Dukie85

Dukie85

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,535
I tried playing Tree of Savior for a while, but man... the MMO genre's not the same to me anymore as it was back in the early/mid 2000s
 
Nista

Nista

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,100
Nope, I only remember the golden age of online games where you had to pay by the hour. Oh the phone bills!
 
GalaxyDive

GalaxyDive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,669
Theswweet said:
I'd argue that the MMO genre (and MMO-adjacent) is healthier than it's ever been at the moment. WoW, FFXIV, PSO2, ESO, SWTOR, Destiny, etc.

There's a lot of activity in the space it feels like.
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EntelechyFuff said:
What are the first party console manufacturer's policies around F2P MMOs like this?

I'm sorta surprised to see how they all kinda vanished--would've expected that they would carry on quietly in some smaller way.

The only ones I ever messed with were Flyff and Wizardry Online--which had an interesting player jail mechanic where you went to like...an actual jail cell IIRC.
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I'd say that these are related qualities. While basically every massively online game in the AAA space used to be premium subscriptions, the bulk of them are now F2P. Anything else has been edged out of the market (well, or pushed to mobile).
 
BeatnikGunso

BeatnikGunso

Member
Oct 25, 2017
620
as a poor kid that got a laptop for the first time in highschool I lived on f2p MMOs and private servers man I fucking lived on them. I swear I played every single f2p mmo that popped up.

I played the my version of perfect world like everyday afterschool for like months
 
Clydefrog

Clydefrog

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,765
Hawaii
Ultima Online is having a bit of resurgence with UO Outlands free shard right now. They completely re-did most of the skills, added an entire new world map and continue to add content after being up for nearly 2 years. There is about 1300 players on at any time and the world really feels alive. Feels weird to play UO again but it's really, really fun. https://uooutlands.com/
 
krae_man

krae_man

Master of Balan Wonderworld
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,603
This is the only free MMO I played:
9KhEATn.jpg

It sucked. But hey it ran in a browser so it killed time good while I was bored at work.
 
TheAggroCraig

TheAggroCraig

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 6, 2017
5,913
It seemed like every other week my friends and I were trying a new MMO.

ROSE Online (my favorite of them all, and the only one I put a lot of time into, and on private servers later
Gunbound (I loved this and hope Gunbound 2 isn't trash)
Water Margin
Gunz The Duel
Trickster

And probably a bunch of others I don't remember.
 
Noel

Noel

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
147
Connecticut
Gunz the Duel, Soldier Front, Gunbound, and Maplestory were some of my favorite experiences I've had growing up. I still play Soldier Front (RivalSF), Gunbound, and Old school Maplestory (MapleLegends) on private servers every now and again, but nothing could ever replace the memories made during those years.
 
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