Thanks for the suggestions.
So far I've tried Silkroad Online, Rappelz, Guildwars: Factions, and R.O.S.E. Online.
Guild Wars: Factions is slick, but it doesn't provide the traditional MMORP experience that I'm looking for - it feels more like a single player game or something similar to Phantasy Star Online. I love the asian setting though.
Silkroad Online is fantasic too, but it can be a real pain to log on to a server (at least nine out of ten login attempts will fail due to "server traffic"). Great visuals, traditional MMORPG gameplay. Seems to have decent depth too. Again, I love the asian setting, and it's far more evocative, appealing and magical than the similar setting of Guild Wars: Factions. Seems a bit jerky and juddery in highly populated areas.
Rappelz. Ugh. Initial impressions are: shoddy, murky, clunky. Extremely unappealing visuals. The gameplay might be decent, but I couldn't bear playing it long enough to find out.
I think that I'll be sticking with R.O.S.E. Online for now. I'm a sucker for cute super-deformed Manga/anime art styles and this game is a great example of the style (in an updated N64 Zelda kind of way). I've only tried the game for twenty minutes, but it struck me as quite appealing. Might ultimately prove rather shallow. I gather that this game used to be pay-to-play, but it has recently switched to being free-to-play, which is nice.
So far I've tried Silkroad Online, Rappelz, Guildwars: Factions, and R.O.S.E. Online.
Guild Wars: Factions is slick, but it doesn't provide the traditional MMORP experience that I'm looking for - it feels more like a single player game or something similar to Phantasy Star Online. I love the asian setting though.
Silkroad Online is fantasic too, but it can be a real pain to log on to a server (at least nine out of ten login attempts will fail due to "server traffic"). Great visuals, traditional MMORPG gameplay. Seems to have decent depth too. Again, I love the asian setting, and it's far more evocative, appealing and magical than the similar setting of Guild Wars: Factions. Seems a bit jerky and juddery in highly populated areas.
Rappelz. Ugh. Initial impressions are: shoddy, murky, clunky. Extremely unappealing visuals. The gameplay might be decent, but I couldn't bear playing it long enough to find out.
I think that I'll be sticking with R.O.S.E. Online for now. I'm a sucker for cute super-deformed Manga/anime art styles and this game is a great example of the style (in an updated N64 Zelda kind of way). I've only tried the game for twenty minutes, but it struck me as quite appealing. Might ultimately prove rather shallow. I gather that this game used to be pay-to-play, but it has recently switched to being free-to-play, which is nice.