Title: Ragnarok Online
Console: NDS
Genre: RPG
Language: Japanese
Company: GungHo
Summary:
Story: 5. Still in the middle of the game, so this is tentative… But this story is just ridiculously uninspiring thus far.
Characters: 6. Still in the middle of the game, so this is tentative… Characters talk too much meaninglessly and don’t get much done. :|
Graphics: 7. Imported graphics from the PC game, so not much to say. They did a pretty good job of doing that at least. I think they should’ve done a more careful job with matching the overall feel of the original though.
Sound: 6. Some boring original tracks added along with mediocre DS-engine versions of the original BGM. Could’ve been worse, or better. Was hoping for better.
Gameplay: 6. The first things I noticed is that the automatic aim sucks and you have to be pretty accurate with your stylus to hit things from a distance, which is a real bummer for my favorite Archer/Hunter class. Of course, you can take advantage of this element and thus you can physically dodge enemy attacks whereas in the original game, you’d be on automatic target.
It is nice to have AI players to team up with too so it’s like having a party without waiting for people to get online. But the skills are all adjusted too and some of them are really annoying to use. The hotkeys system is a hard thing to transfer from keyboard to stylus, but despite their efforts, I’d still prefer the keyboard.
Replay Value: 7.5. Still playing, so can’t quite say much, but at least the leveling system is good enough that you can play for ages just for the sake of it being RO.
Overall: 6. As an avid player of the original PC version for many of its earlier years, I was actually quite hopeful for this game since I imagined it would be like playing the PC version, just offline and with AI as your teammates. I was sad to be disappointed with the experience, and the fact that it doesn’t even have 2-2 classes, but it was good for the nostalgia trip at least.
It’s just that it’s lacking so much that the original RO has, in terms of basic gameplay system, items in the game, skills, classes… There really isn’t much excuse for not putting them in, other than lazy gaming developers looking for a quick buck in making a game based off a famous MMORPG. Well, considering the no-name company as well, it’s sad to say I couldn’t expect much.

I’m sad to say I’ve given up on this game altogether. I read up on a bunch of other people’s progress on the game instead, and wasn’t impressed with any of the outcomes.

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