Rappelz - A Free MMORPG...and it doesn't suck

Well I have to tell you when I hear the phrase "free to play mmorpg" I think of bad graphics, dull gameplay, and just a poorly developed game. Rappelz though, is one of the best "free to play mmorpgs" I have ever seen. The fact that you don't have to pay to play the game is to me a huge draw for players that want a good quality mmorpg and don't want to pay a monthly subscription fee that all the normal mmorpgs charge. I have divided my review into three categories: Graphics, Gameplay, and Community. Enjoy.

Graphics (9 out of 10)

The graphics in this game are comparable to Lineage 2 or Archlord. It has a anime style to the design of the characters, weapons, armor, and quest dialog boxes. While I like this style of design it can be a bit over done. The graphics are smooth and the textures of the terrain seem to tie together nicely when you have the graphics mode turned up to maximum. The maximum setting has great shading but causes performance hickups if you don't a have a good videocard. The setting just below maximum is high. On the high setting the graphics are not blended quite as well but look crisp and are still pleasing to the eye. Performance also increases to where you can compentantly play the game even if you don't have the best graphics card out there. A very nice clean looking game. Below is a screenshot demonstrating the difference of maximum and high settings.


High Setting (1024x768)	Maximum Setting (1024x768)

Gameplay (8 out of 10)

To start it off there are three races to chose from and they all start with a basic job class. The basic job classes' skills are skills that are specific to the race.

After you reach basic job level 10 you can choose a more specific job classes to graduate to based on what race you are.

**Your character level and job level are not the same thing. Your character level is gained through normal xp for killing monster or completeing quests. When defeating a monster you gain normal xp and job points(jp). The job points are used to level up your job class level and to level up your job class related skills**

I have listed the races and job classes below.

Races/Professions

The first race is the Deva(The Good). The classes you can choose from are the Holy Warrior, Cleric, and Breeder.

Guide - Basic job class. (default)

Holy Warrior - This is the maintank of the game with good definsive and threat management skills. However they have minimal attack power and ranged skills.

Cleric - Clerics are the main healers of the game with great healing and buff spells. They have minimal offensive skills.

Breeders - Breeders are summoners. They have some Holy Warrior skills but not enough to make them a huge threat alone. Thats where their pet comes in to equal out the fight. Breeders have great pet skills.

The second race is the Asura(The Evil). The classes you can choose from are the Strider, Dark Magi, Sorceror.

Stepper - Basic job class. (default)

Strider - This is the fighter class of the Asura. They have high attack speed and high evasion. People often choose to go with the dual wielding for this class due to their high attack speed and moderate attack power. While other people are fond of the crossbow build. They have minimal defense.

Dark Magi - This is the direct damage caster of the Asura. They do big direct damage and good burst damage with spells. They are more fragil than most classes and have low health and defense ability. However, you can overcome the low health with their leach health skills.

Sorceror - This is the summoner of the Asura. They have good pet skills with some magic attack skills. Sorceror's also suffer from low health and low defense.

The last race is the Gaia(humans). The classes you can choose from are the Fighter, Kahuna, and Spell Singer.

Rogue - Basic job class. (default)

Fighter - This is self explainitory. The do big melee damage. Most people like two handed weapons for this class or for the range lovers; longbow. They have low attack speed and defense.

Kahuna - This is the damage over time casters of the Gaia. They excel in damage over time spells, buffs, and debuffs which can make them a leveling machine. They suffer from low health and defense.

Spell Singer - This class is all about variety. They are summoners by classification but have a variety skills such as melee attacks, dot's, threat skills, and more pet support skills. They don't excel in one specific area but if you like variety then you will love this class.

Each races version of classes being different from the other races makes this game more interesting than I figured it would be. At first glance you don't think that there is that much difference in some of the classes but after playing them you can tell the differences are distinct.

The gameplay as a whole is addicting and enjoyable. The quest system is decent for a free to play game as well as the combat mechanics are good.

Another interesting thing about the gameplay is that you can rent mounts to ride so you can cover ground faster. It costs 1000 rupees (easy to get) and you can ride it for 5 hours. I found this refreshing that you don't have to play for 3 months straight saving up for a mount. Below is the basic mount you can rent.

PVP

Rappelz is pvp in almost the truest of senses. At the point, anyone can attack anyone. You can get attacked at anytime on pvp servers, as well as, the carebear servers. If you'd like to attack someone, you just switch your pvp on. You can then attack people who's pvp switch is on or off. There are no safe zones, just a deterrent called immortality points which you get on each pvp kill. These build up over time and cause several handicaps to happen to your character. A lot of people do not like the current pvp system in Rappelz and are wishing for a World of Warcraft or Lineage 2 system. The devs obviously agree because the pvp system is being reformed and could be ready by the next patch. I've posted a small explanation of the immortality rules below, and you can find more information here.

Immorality System

1.You gain a small amount of immorality points every time you turn on PK mode.
2.If you kill someone who does not have PK mode on then you will gain a large amount of immorality points.
3.If a players name is red then they have a lot of immorality points, if their name is orange they have a small amount of immorality points, if their name is white then they have no immorality points.
4.If you kill someone who is more than 10 levels less than you then you gain a lot of immorality points.
5.As you gain more and more immorality points you get increasing levels of wrath. Wrath reduces your defense, attack power, and move speed.
6.You lose immorality points by killing monsters your level and higher. You also lose immorality points by dying.
7.If you have a lot of immorality points then the amount of exp you gain will be lowered.

Epic III Patch

Epic 3 is a huge patch that recently came out that significantly added to the gameplay experience. I have included the Epic 3 patch notes for you to look at what's new in Rappelz that I may or may not have covered in the review.

Content
The Forgotten Portal
-A new area called "The Forgotten Portal" with new monsters. Designed for levels 26 ~ 44.

New monster
-The Frog

More Dungeons
-A new copy of each dungeon has been added to bring the total instances of dungeons up to 4

New Faces
- 2 new faces have been added for each race and sex.

Gameplay
Gameplay speed increase
- Combat speed as well as skill use timers have been increased.

Deal more damage
- All weapons have had their damage increased.
- The base critical hit rate has been increased from 3% to 6%.
- Added the 3 hit rule: After a player crits, the next two hits have a higher chance to hit crit.

Easier To Level
- Experience rates have been increased.
- Job point rates have been increased.

Easier to gain items and money
- Item drop rates have been increased.
- Equipable and consumable item shop items are now tradeable.

User Interface Upgraded
An all new look
- The Rappelz logo has changed.
- Login and character select windows have been changed.
- The loading screen images have been changed.

Streamlined for easier use
- Two hot bars are now visible.
- New chat window and commands.

Easy to use mini-map
- Locations of NPC's and their quests are shown on the min-map.
- Expandable mini-map for easier viewing.

Graphics Updated
Bosses are even more fearsome
- The model for the Taranida summon has changed.
- The models for the Crustalino and Likirus bosses have been improved.
- Attack annimations have been improved

Community (8 out of 10)

One of the major factors in any MMORPG is the community. The community adds to a player's experience, especially with games that are group/raid based. This community in this game is huge compared to other free to play games. Even though the web site contains sparse information about the game and doesn't look the best it could, the forums are chocked-full of information and obviously where the devs spend a lot of their time away from the game. It has over 1 million registered users on its forum and from 700 to 900 active users on the forum at one time. That is the most users online of any free to play mmorpg forum that I have seen thus far.

Also the community in game is friendly. There are always a decent amount of people in game to party with and usually not hard to find someone around your level to quest with. This is in start contrast to months ago when the game was in beta. People are pretty genuine in game and don't mind helping you out with questions as long as your not being a spammer. All in all the community is a helpful and enjoyable to be a part of.

Conclusion (25 out of 30)

This is a great free to play game and has caused me to start playing it in my time off. Why pay a monthly fee when Rappelz gives you a good quality mmorpg option for free. My hat is off to the folks over at GPotato for the development of this game; its fantastic! There is a lot in store for the future of Rappelz and the developers are listening to the players and making adjustments to the game. I can definitely see this game becoming a major competitor in the MMORPG market. What does the future hold? The devs have given us a little hint which I've included here:

2nd Job Change (This is the TOP priority and will hopefully be in before March)

Auction System

Skills for the Uncommon Pets

Monster AI Improvements

Monster Model Updates

Guild Level System

There is also a new PvP System in Development.

Two of the most unique features in the game that I think set it apart from other games in the genre are:

1) Pet system - Every character in the game can have a pet but some classes have pet specific skills to make their pets stronger and more effective. But every class can have a pet. You tame monsters in the game by sealing them in a monster card of their type. You then form the creature by going to a tamer. This puts the pet you tamed in your creature slot. So now you can summon your pet. Your pet will gain about 10% of the xp that you earn when it is summoned and about 1% of the xp you earn if it is not summoned. Later in levels you can evolve your pet which will make them more powerful. I will submit a pet guide on a later date that is more detailed.

2) Dungeon system - On the weekends the dungeons open to dungeon sieges. The first guild that completes a dungeon siege owns the dungeon for a week. When your guild owns a dungeon it collects a percentage tax on all money and lak from the dungeon.

With Saga of Hereos stepping it up in the pay2play and Rappelz really making a great example of what's possible in the free2play market, MMORPG's have a much brighter future in 2007. Sign up today and check it out.

Official Rappelz Site

Download it at Download.com

P.S. Here are some Rappelz videos I found on YouTube to look over.

Trailer 1