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Why Ragnarok Online?

August 9th, 2004. Published under Games. 2 Comments.

A colleague asked me on the way home why I got attracted to Ragnarok Online that much. Well, in my previous blog, I mentioned that since July 28th, Ragnarok Online Indonesia set up a new server, Fenrir, for free. What’s the deal? There are many free games out there. It’s true that RO is not the best game ever. But there were several reasons why I played it in the first place, despite the free price . First, being an online game, it allows me to play with other players anytime as long as I am connected to the net. It is fun to play with real humans instead of with mere computer generated characters on offline games. It adds emotional depth a lot. When emotion gets a role in a game, well, you can’t never stop. Then why RO? Aren’t there other online games. Of course there are. The renowned EverQuest and Final Fantasy XI, as well as the incoming World of Warcraft are probably the best games in this business. However, they cost a lot of zeny oups money to play. More than 10 bucks per week. And you must buy your very own legal copies of the games which have high price tag. RO can be downloaded for free or you can just copy from your friends freely. To play, RO used to cost about 60,000 rupiahs per month but currently is free at the Fenrir server. You see, money does matter.

Beside its international version, RO is localized in some countries and languages: Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Brazil, and some other countries including Indonesia. This is where I live. Every local version has its own servers and of course players. So you can speak your own language with others from your own country. This is what makes RO so popular in Indonesia, especially. Using Indonesian language instead of English encourages younger players to play. I’ve seen many players who are still in elementary school. Lyto, the RO license holder in Indonesia, also performs aggresive promotions. They tries hard to make RO available for playing in almost every Internet Cafe or Multiplayer Game Center in Indonesia. Local server also means faster Internet connection. In other word, less lagging gameplay. In Indonesia, a connection to the net is generally very costly and unreliable. So you will definitely want to connect to the geographically closer server to play smoothly.

Have I assured you? Hahaha, that’s a bullshit. Although the above statements may have deceived many people to be highly addicted and so they can’t stop playing, which means playing 60,000 rupiahs per month plus the Internet connection, the true thing that really drags me to this thing is a girl. Tehehe. A cute little girl who lately became addicted to RO. Well, I’ve been known as a gamer. But I haven’t even played the game where little girls like her can play, then what kind of gamer am I? So, I took the chance, when Lyto offered the free server, and started playing. Of course she didn’t know yet. I don’t want her or my other friends see me as a novice in RO. Absolutely not. First I must build up my characters to a highly respectable level before introduce them to her. I don’t want my friends look down at me or my characters in anyway :D.

I started as a novice, like any other starters in RO. I raised up the character, whom I called Rett (a.k.a. Rett Buttler, the great swordsman in the Rebirth manga), to a decent level as a swordsman. Currently he’s around level 30. Like any other true RPG players, I can’t live all my RO career as a swordsman. Yes, swordsman is generally the toughest character you can get. But beside holding a mighty sword or spear, and being equipped with decent armors, all that a swordsman do is slashing enemies, resting, slashing enemies, resting, repeat. How boring. So I built up another character as a magician. I called him Meguro. Nothing special, because it sounds similar to magician. Actually I prefered Merlin of the King Arthur’s legend but the name was already taken. Meguro just took the test to become a mage that is making a certain solution. The bad news is the ingredients must be gotten from a place that is far like hell. Well, I’d better be patient. When he is ready, the real game will be begun.