written by GirlyNerds Contributor: Alexandria Sese

I won’t lie; the graphics are what keeps me coming back to Ragnarok Online. A Lee Myoungjin’s animation, RO is a 2D anime-based game—and a far cry from WoW’s more detailed look. Despite being 2D, RO offers something that appeals to many gamer-girls: it has kawaii written all over it! From the cute monsters to even cuter character gears, it’s hard not to be amused with this game especially if you still swoon over anything kawaii (yes, guilty as charged here). Even the soundtrack of Ragnarok Online is amazing. Each town, dungeon, and field has different background music–from oriental strings to a smooth rock tune you might hear in a spa.

Gameplay is another story.

As seen in most MMORPGs, players aim to make their characters stronger by leveling up after killing monsters and completing quests. The higher your level, the harder and slower leveling up becomes. And I mean slowwww, as in .001% per kill slow. That’s where alliances with players comes in. RO has party and guild systems as well. With that comes Player vs. Players systems and, the highlight of every week in RO, the War of Emperium (WoE).

WoE is a gamer GirlyNerd’s chance to be a badass. The best players of the server battle each other’s guilds for control of town castles. Want to play out your nurturing side? Be a full supporting priest and keep your guild mates alive. Or maybe you’d rather wreak havoc on rival guilds? Be a fast casting High Wizard and kill off half a dozen players in one spell. There are many roles to choose from and oh so many players to show how girls do it!

Aside from the overwhelming cuteness of the graphics and thrilling Player vs. Player systems, I must say there is nothing much else going on for RO, unfortunately. Honestly, it’s because of the population. Unlike WoW, RO is not densely populated. That’s the main reason why many complain that RO is a painfully slow-paced game. Most of us in the international server (iRO) play solo and it does take longer. However, when I played in the Philippines server when RO in the past, the population was booming and the game was infinitely better. Socialization and alliances were much easier to come by and there was more variety of players. Even without a strong story line as the backbone of RO (as any RPG should have), the game is better with more players.

As of now, I am satisfied with Ragnarok Online. I happen to enjoy ogling at other player’s Triple Poring Hats. If only I could convince more players to not let the cuteness fool them. um, <hint hint>

*

–

[screenshots from iro.ragnarokonline.com]