src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/31549/preview">
By Danny "Ralsu" Gourley
style="font-weight: bold;">About This List
Please refer to the
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/Top10F2P">Top Ten
Free-to-Play Games Portal to find out how to get a game you
make or like on this list.
Week in Review
I played more Deco
Online than anything else on the list this week. I was
able to form a better opinion of it for my efforts.
After about 6 hours of game play in
style="font-style: italic;">Deco Online, I am
now ready to say that I fully expect it to play out like
style="font-style: italic;">Fiesta Online.
It's a newb-friendly "starter" game. It has a fun tutorial, decent
controls and interface, and a very nice class system. Sadly, it turned
into a pure grindfest the moment I hit the real starting area after
completing the tutorial. This is how extreme the grindfest is: a quest
sent me to a field of monsters appropriate to my level where I
purchased more quests in order to grind toward level 22, the level at
which
I was invited to return to town to see the non-player character (NPC)
who sent me to the field.
Deco
did not really attempt to keep the story feeling cohesive. Instead,
players are asked to believe that NPCs hire a field marshal who then
subcontracts adventurers. Players buy scrolls and read them to get
quests. It may say that NPC A wants some fungus in order to make a
special potion, but you never deal with NPC A. You get the quests in
the field from the merchant and return the collections to him as well.
It felt very artificial.
All of that said, the class and skill systems are a lot of fun, so I
will probably keep playing Deco.
On top of that, the translation is better than average. I'd give it a
4/5 on translation. Even so, Deco
plummets to #9 in this list.
Mythos
Another major change this week is Mythos
losing its #1 position again. This time, I can't foresee it moving back
so soon. In case you missed it, the drama started when
href="http://forums.mythos.com/showthread.php?t=20647">rumors
have surfaced that Flagship Studios is in real financial
jeopardy and the future of Mythos
is uncertain. Then Flagship's Taylor Balbi refuted the
accuracy of one article that claims he admitted the developer is out of
business, but
href="http://forums.mythos.com/showpost.php?p=148548&postcount=175">he
also carefully stated that he did not deny it. The whole
thing ended with
href="http://forums.mythos.com/showthread.php?t=20719">an
official announcement confirming massive layoffs and the
effective death of Hellgate:
London.
While the official announcement did not tell me a whole lot about the
fate of Mythos,
href="http://forums.mythos.com/showpost.php?p=149302&postcount=1">this
statement from Travis Baldree did:
I can't speak at any real length about our immediate
plans just yet - but let's say that we hope to have you back up and
Beta testing for us in one way or another sometime soon....I'm not
exactly sure how long Mythos in its current form will remain up, since
it is effectively a testing server.
And what this means to me is that the
style="font-style: italic;">Mythos
that was being crafted lovingly by Flasgship Studios is dead in the
water. Until I know how (if?) the game
will progress, I can no longer be so sure that it will continue to be
stellar. And if it becomes vaporware, it certainly can't be the best
game out there. Welcome to the bottom slot,
style="font-style: italic;">Mythos.
The List
Next week, I will play 4Story
and Atlantica Online.
Meanwhile, I keep playing some
betas of other games, most of which I can't write about yet. I found
the North American client for Cabal
Online. That is still on the list for me to try, too.
Here are my Top Ten Free-to-Play Games for this week.
Disclaimer:
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed are those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of
the Ten Ton Hammer network or staff.
Free-to-Play Games
July 17, 2008
1
2
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/31567/preview">
NEXON
With the rumors about Mythos
circulating and Flagship not denying them,
style="font-style: italic;">Mabinogi rises to
the top again.
2
3
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/35119/preview">
I stand by what I said about Rohan
last week; I almost wish it were
pay-to-play so it would get better support from gamers and more
attention from the media.
3
5
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/32333/preview">
href="http://domo.aeriagames.com/">http://domo.aeriagames.com style="font-weight: bold;">) Aeria Games &
Entertainment
Dream of Mirror
Online has a fun class system that lets players combine
the skills of a couple of classes to make the character they want.
4
7
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/33602/preview">
( target="_blank">http://www.dungeonrunners.com style="font-weight: bold;">) NCSoft
Dungeon
Runners is pure hack-and-slash fun. I am finding you can
solo very well, too.
5
4
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/30840/preview">
target="_blank">www.wakfu.com style="font-weight: bold;">)
Ankama
Wakfu
closed beta went on for French speakers for a while. Now the English
version has been going for quite a while. Does this mean the game has a
lot of bugs? Or is Ankama just very thorough?
6
9
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/30838/preview">
Online
- ( href="http://mwo.enjoymmo.com/" target="_blank">http://mwo.enjoymmo.com style="font-weight: bold;">)
Goldcool Games
Magic World Online
is on this list because of the story. Period. People who enjoy a story
and don't require cutting-edge graphics should download the game today.
7
7
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/30841/preview">
( href="http://warriorepic.com/">http://warriorepic.com style="font-weight: bold;">)
Possibility Space
Warrior Epic
could be another hack-and-slash game in the style of
style="font-style: italic;">Dungeon Runners.
Hopefully more details will surface soon.
8
10
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/36886/preview">
( href="http://www.runesofmagic.com/">www.runesofmagic.com style="font-weight: bold;">)
Frogster
Runes of Magic
will start beta soon. Expect a preview from me.
9
6
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/37572/preview">
( href="http://www.joymax.com/deco/" target="_blank">http://www.joymax.com/deco/ style="font-weight: bold;">) JOYMAX
Deco Online
has a fun skill system that lets players advance their favorite skills
and be unique.
10
1
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/30839/preview">
- ( href="http://www.mythos.com/">www.mythos.com style="font-weight: bold;">) Flagship Studios,
Inc.
Mythos
is better than any other game on this list--if it really comes out. At
this point, we can't be sure.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Dungeon Runners Game Page.