For many, Ragnarok online has been a huge part of the early 2000s. Introducing the
MMO genre to large amount of people and
have seen big success especially in Asia
and even after a decade, the popularity of
the game has remained strong which as
expected, resulted to spawning of a
sequel for this much beloved game
However for many the new games has not really justified being the sequel of
the OG version, with complaints ranging
from the character design to
world-building mechanics. And after only
several years further development has
stopped leaving Ragnarok Online without
a real successor. It took a while but
after another half a decade a new game
was finally released while keeping the
spirit of the original through dream
square's
Ragnarok mobile eternal love. The success of the eternal love has caught the eyes
of other developers and even if the
player base has dwindled for the past
month
as expected of an MMO, or in any game
actually, there are still thousands of
players in EL and thousand more are
waiting for a new game. Enter the Ragnarok First Love from Tencent and Ragnarok
Birth of new generation from gravity. Two
new IPs has suddenly pop up thanks to
the global success of eternal love. But
with these two new games still being
a mobile MMO, this begs us the question.
What are the differences among these
three?? Well stay put as we try to discuss
and compare these games
First things first let's discuss the
very obvious the graphics. Although the
differences in graphics fidelity among
the three games are not as mind-blowing
as between the OG version and eternal
love, it cannot be denied that the newer
games took advantage of the newer
technology, which makes it graphically
superior although quite minimally. With
Tencent's Ragnarok first love as an improved
version with the same art style as
eternal love, well gravity's new generation
having a more unique art style which has
thicker character outlines. Giving it
sometimes 2d look reminishing of the OG
version even though it's full 3d by
itself. The art style preferences between
the FL and NG depends on one's preference but
there is a clear improvement in
graphical quality from EL to the
newer games, with the expense that newer
games needs more demanding Hardware
Up next
is about the game UI. As for the moment
EL is still using straight horizontal
bar for your skills and items which is
not really optimized for mobile usage.
Both FL and NG on the other hand has
adopted the standard skill wheel for
easier skill usage. With the items that
can be popped in and out on the top of
the skill wheel. A little quality of life
improvement there but an improvement nonetheless. Also it is very much worth
noting that the newer games give us back
the ability to rotate the camera
at will unlike in EL with a fixed
camera perspective. Both FL and NG
can do 2.5 D which was the setting on the
original RO and a full 3d perspective if
you so desire. It is arguably the best
improvement we got from these newer
versions of the game. Now let's talk more
about the more important topic which is
the world, map designs, and monsters. All
three games features the world map of
the OG version but we also have
different interpretations on each area
of the map. In eternal love aside from the
towns which are almost copied from the
original version. each grinding maps are
notably different, with different monster
locations and adding
new mini bosses such as the orc baby.
New generation
it also features its own take with its
map design but the difference here is
that each region has been a lot bigger
as instead of having map area a single
area, two or more maps are actually
covered in a single area. Giving new
generation a larger world to explore
before hitting the portal and loading
screen. Given that the area is not really
as big as if you actually combine those
two or more regions in other versions
but this design gives us a more bigger
world to explore and more monster in
each area to grind, and with this, it's
not surprising that the monster location
are also different compared to the og
version, but so far we have not seen new
kinds of mini bosses added like what EL
have
Last but not least we have the first
love from Tencent. And oh boy how
Nostalgia
hit me hard with this map design copied
one is to one. Not all maps are present
but those that are in game are easily
recognizable. The skull design in Byalan
island, the screaming ghost in Payon East
how about the archers village in North of
payon, or go to the portal and enter the
Payon dungeon with only zombies,
skeletons, poporings, and familiars
being your enemy. This literally makes me
quite love this version so much as it
brings back old memories on the countless of hours
I have personally spent grinding in both
payon dungeon and in Byalan island. The
monsters are also so far being
faithfully located to its original
version. But they are still bounded in an
area rather than being able to roam all
over the map. With this the bosses are
also expected to be the same from the OG
version and are located also in the same
place. The boss or rather known as MVPs
by the way are implemented way better in
first love and new generation. With
multiple HP bar and no crazy one-hit
skills, it literally needs an army to beat
a single MVP
About the Quest system, in both EL and
NG, the new games mostly features the
fetch and kill quest with occasional
cutscenes far in between on first love
however I think it has one of the best
quest system in all mobile MMO someplace
so far aside from the faction class that
we have FL also features quest which
requires you to infiltrate areas using
different disguises from being a
poisonous for to be in EEPROM none there
are unique twist in each of the quest
giving it a fresh feeling every time you
do one but what makes it a lot better is
about the quest that map's you play as
some Opie character just like this quest
that features the Lord Knight singer and
himself being able to 1vs1 Edgar and
having a glimpse of transcendent skills
gives you a sense of excitement that you
yourself will be able to use those
skills in the future what more is that
each of the quest really gives you a
glimpse on the lore of Ragnarok
such as about the death of the princess
of Brant era which and the other
versions can only be found out by
reading birthdays it is far from the
witcher level kind of quest but it is a
huge improvement compared to all other
mobile MMO beings still related with the
quest system we now go to the class
systems all three versions has
faithfully copy the original classes
though at the moment we haven't really
seen the two - two classes in FLNG
all versions also have some added skills
compared to the original which they do
as a form of balance to each game the
difference on the other hand is on how
job change is being handled in eternal
love you have all the job masters in
Frontera adventures HQ which you go talk
and crew TV series of quests to advance
in you join it followed a newer version
of original game with all the job
masters in is good to change for first
job while I think the quest for the
second job is still not yet complete as
you just need to talk a person and
defend to advance
in first love again I am very delighted
to see the class advancement quest
following the earlier versions of the
original game like how you need to go
through a maze in easel to become a
swordsman a new needing to complete some
quest and given to become a mage the
quest requirement is not completely
copied but may have actually improved on
it same is also true with the second job
where you go to printer a Knights HQ to
become a knight or go to works
Assassin's Guild to become an assassin
it's amazing doing this quest and I am
just thoroughly impressed with the quest
system of this game up next we have the
grind Ragnarok has not always been about
you being maximal immediately but more
on your journey towards the max level
this makes the grind a very important
aspect of the game as mobile games
however auto brain features has always
been a mainstay and all three games has
its own unique version of stamina system
to limit the amount of AFE grinding you
can get per day of course you can extend
it with some cash items which brings us
out to the next topic if is it paid to
win well I don't really want to cover
this topic much but all I can say is to
keep your expectations low I myself is
willing to buy some things in the cash
shop to support the dance and enjoy the
game but I don't really expect to be
even near the top the last one we have
is the crafting and weapon system all
three games features a crafting system
which lets you use miscellaneous rocks
to craft equipments anujan however it
also added a new mining feature to get
different kind of ores to craft an item
at the same time this also adds an
energy system but two covers over time
which is shared between mining and
crafting and may also be used on other
mechanics added in the future for now
though it does feel soft baked and serve
just as an annoying diversion what I
love however is that in Ujjain marks the
return of the 200 weapons which are not
really present in the other two games
with this you have the ability to choose
between being able to do a much
damage with 200 equipments or being able
to have other effects like higher
defense with a use of 100 weapons plus
an offhand this little mechanic gives a
great impact on how you play the game a
little more not also is that in new
generation your weapons can actually be
seen on your back if you are not using
it not really such a groundbreaking
element but it is a sweet little detail
I really love about it so that's it for
now there may be other things I fail to
mention but so far I have covered the
major differences among the three games
what you think about it which from
decoration are you most awaiting the
play tell us in the comment section
below
peace
