General Discussion

I've been looking for an asian-themed (particularly Japanese) mmo lately, but of course, I haven't been able to find anything above the level of low-budget L2 clones.

Is there anything of actual quality, with a Japanese style, available in states? I've played FFXI and enjoyed it, but it's way too group oriented for my taste. And PSU... well... yeah. If only it were an actual mmorpg.

Aside from those, are than any decent ones in existence or at least in development? So far the only one that I know of is Dragonball, but I've heard it was being developed by a Korean developer (sigh...). Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Particularly, I'd love to find something with a modern-Japan setting, as I've always wanted to visit the country. I was really excited about Shenmue online when I first heard about it, but alas, I guess it's gone for good.  On that note, I made the mistake of trying a modern-Japan styled mmo called "Ran Online" and that's something I'd just like to forget entirely :P.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any info.

Originally posted by alacres

I've been looking for an asian-themed (particularly Japanese) mmo lately, but of course, I haven't been able to find anything above the level of low-budget L2 clones.

Is there anything of actual quality, with a Japanese style, available in states? I've played FFXI and enjoyed it, but it's way too group oriented for my taste. And PSU... well... yeah. If only it were an actual mmorpg.

Aside from those, are than any decent ones in existence or at least in development? So far the only one that I know of is Dragonball, but I've heard it was being developed by a Korean developer (sigh...). Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Particularly, I'd love to find something with a modern-Japan setting, as I've always wanted to visit the country. I was really excited about Shenmue online when I first heard about it, but alas, I guess it's gone for good.  On that note, I made the mistake of trying a modern-Japan styled mmo called "Ran Online" and that's something I'd just like to forget entirely :P.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any info.

l2 and the other cloans are 90% korean....wait for aion

hehe, I was going to suggest Ran-Online...But I didnt want to cause anyone Pain.

IM not aware of any MMO set in modern Day japan.

Futuristic, I always thought 'Ghost in a shell'  would make a fun MMO.

Sorry not to be of much help

Torrential

No worries, thanks for the input just the same :).

It looks like I'll just have to wait for the day that a reputable gaming comany decides to try something new *cough* before I can hope to see a modern-japan styled mmo. I always thought an online version of Final Fantasy 8 (or 7) would be pretty cool since I liked the setting in both of them. It's not exactly present day or anything of course, but they have a resfreshing style about them.

And I agree; a ghost in the shell mmo would be really interesting. I'd just hope that they'd take a more sandbox-ish approach vs. the tired WoW model. I'm dreaming right? lol

Also, I know I'm changing the subject here but aren't you a DAoC veteran Czzarre? I haven't been on the DAoC forum for awhile but I remember you posting there quite a bit, awhile back.

The reason I was asking is because I and a few buddies of mine are planning on giving it a shot once again, and I was curious as to how the classic cluster was doing these days. Is the population still pretty steady on the Alb side?

If you don't play anymore, feel free to ignore the question entirely :P.

dunno if i should say the one I know... lol.. because is a bit old.. and is just a expansion of it... if you want to know.. just ask again to know it lol.

Originally posted by Pelu

dunno if i should say the one I know... lol.. because is a bit old.. and is just a expansion of it... if you want to know.. just ask again to know it lol.

Ha, no need to worry about age with me. Some of my favorite mmo's are at the better end of a decade by now lol.

So, sure, I'd love to hear your suggestion :).

The amount of mmos coming out of Japan is very small.  Mainly because MMOs usually do poorly in Japan.  Probably the 2 most successful in Japan have been 2 Korean MMOs, Ragnarok Online and Mabinogi.  So far we have only seen 2 ports from Japan.  FFXI and Phantasy Star.  We are also gonna see another one soon Florensia. 

However, Korea is starting to develop more PvE based mmos.  Probably at the forefront is Aion and Ragnarok Online 2.