is there an Anime-style mmorpg that doesnt suck, one that has high production values?

i sort of came to the conclusion that the only good mmorpgs are the ones you have to pay for, and as much as i didnt want to admit it, world of warcraft is still the best one i've played thus far. still, im attracted to the japanese/korean style graphics and stuff. there's nothing to do in maple story... and rose doesnt offer much either... i havent tried final fantasy 11 yet.

so if you think there is an mmorpg game like that right now, or coming soon to the US, post the title.

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Fansubs and Scanslations are the best! But when official releases come out, support the anime industry by purchasing your favorite series! (Geneon -R.I.P, Central Media Park - get well soon, ADV Manga - you're back from the dead?!)

not really anime style, but they(NCsoft) declare it as the most beautiful mmorpg.

http://eu.aiononline.com/en/

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"we are people because of other people"
"I am who I am because of who we all are"

The Emil Chronicle Online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfZcAdVMQKM

and this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7hKwjhFYvs

Well, it might help if you could tell what you disliked about the other games? There are a few differences between western style and eastern style games. So if you can't stomach eastern style ones, you will have problems finding a suitable f2p game for you.

Anyway I suppose you could try Flyff or Dream of Mirror Online.

Mostly from what i've seen there arent any good anime like MMORPGs only good part is that they're usually free. They are all similar to Ragnorock online being that they're just generic point and click with generic races (tank(swordsman,knight, adventurer etc), assassin type class (rogue, ninja, assassin), scout type (archer, hunter, gunman, etc), healer (priest, monk whatevs), magic (mage, warlock, magician etc). Also these games have a too heavy emphasis on grinding, which is dull and boring. So far some of the most original MMOs ive seen on the market are:

Lunia<= anime celshaded with unique WASD keys and action RPG type gameplay, free game. This game is great, first time I played it was like wow this is original. This game is kind of like there are main towns, pvp arenas and "Stages" kind of like group dungeons or instances that you can go through alone or with groups and you can repeat them. (http://global.lunia.com/)

Rose online<= very anime like, and all the characters look right out from FF:Crystal Chronicles (find a private server, the P2P is not worth it) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROSE_Online)

Guild Wars<= although not anime, it's made by an Asian software producer and it's a lot of fun, free too if you buy the disks.

World of Warcraft<= not anime at all, but very cartoony in art style and it's a spectacular game, the environments are gorgeous and it's not a grind based game (altho grinding is an option). It is worth P2P, but you can still play private servers

EDIT: I mention WoW as an original example, but in reality it's not the only one of it's kind. There is also LotRO, EQ2, Vanguard and many others, but they mostly P2P the exception is Guild Wars.

There are a lot other original gameplay type games out there that are free and not ragnarock like, but basically try to stay away from those heavily grind orientated games.

Try Flyff

Very good one (to be free)

the exp rate per kill for flyff sucks, it's one of those grinding games i mentioned.

Lunia is still the best one ive seen lately

Lunia ^^ Almost forgot about that one... kind of had it on my "to try list" a wile ago... seems good.

How about Ragnarok? http://iro.ragnarokonline.com/

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Lineage II ?


SeeYa

Gorath

RF online looks smexy. got hobbits, barbie dolls, and tin cans.

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"Hip-hop was set out in the dark. They used to do it out in the park"

true RF looks nice and has some addiction value, but in its core its still a asian grinder. atleast thats how i feel about it. and sadly i haven't found any decent asian mmorpg that isn't total grinding. lets face it - most asian mmorpgs have dull areas cluttered with some mobs ... and thats it. Most of the time you go out and kill moster A and B for a while, then it gets repetitive and you deside to do some quests. you go to generic questgiver A and he tells you some mumbo about needing something trivial - and now comes the best part... he needs something from mob A or B and atleast 20 something.... sooo now your back at mindlessly killing mob A or B again... i have given up on asian mmorpgs and a vast majority of western mmorpgs as well. things i'm looking forward to (not anime styled) is Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and Fallen Earth. Those three atleast promise some sort of entertainment and new features.

www.flysis.com. Not a standard mmo, but I have been playing it for 3 years now, and the game is just restarting under a new company, so you are on a level playing field.

Although, the game is PVP based, with PVE only serving to level you up.

You mean the original Space Cowboys? My friend was telling me about hte new version, I played the original, it was well... original, just hated the non ship interaction

Yep, SCO.

The non-ship interaction is generally the same. Luckilly, all combat takes place in ships.

P.S, When they lost the server, I lost a lvl 75 Agear with about 400m worth of gear (Could have sold on ebay for more than $1k USD), and about 8-9 level 50 gears.