MMORPGs A3 Vs. Ragnorak

You may be wondering what an MMORPG is – it is an acronym for Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Most MMORPGs are based on a fantasy setting. Basically, its a very elaborate chatroom, where you have the added benefit of living the lives of your avatars, and killing an endless stream of demons to acquire points and skill levels. The said points and skill levels lets you kill more monsters with greater ease.
It's like playing counter strike on LAN, only you can make do with slower reflexes. You also chat with random people about your age, sex and location, and you almost never come down to any real roleplaying, because that's not something we Indians enjoy – unless you consider an alternative expansion of MMORPG – Massive Men Online Role Playing Girls. See? Exactly like an elaborate chatroom.


A3 is a newly launched MMORPG (by Sify), and the CD can be ordered for free fromhttp://www.a3india.com/new/ or you can choose to download the half a gig game. You start of with a simple character (the standard fantasy ones of mage, knight warrior or archer), and work your way up the levels. This is done by interacting with locals in the game, and by the same old killing of butt-ugly monsters to gain some points. Clans and guilds are formed within the game, as you interact with the other online players, and the best thing about A3 is that you can go ahead and own a shop, or even, if you are a leader in a strong clan, rule a nation! The game is flexible enough to allow you to do almost anything you want with the fantasy world of Hellmarsh.
The first time you start playing A3, you instantly become a fan. You will love the avatar and the world because it is more realistic that other MMORPGs. The regular cutscenes with the locals makes the game more entertaining (hot female merchants with scintillating bodies on the platter). The graphics simply goes a decent few steps beyond ubercool. The characters are in 3d, and the game runs pretty smoothly. The flashes and explosions during the fighting is something that must be experienced at least once.
This is a game for serious fantasy RPG players, because A3 has one of the most detailed histories and mythologies in the game. A3 is basically a struggle of mortals against the immortals, and there is a very evident legacy of the past ages (named like silver and golden) in the game. The game is set in a time of change, where the defeated mortals (defeated in a great war over 200 years before the time in which the game is set in) are out to claim their rights from the immortals. For fantasy freaks, all the detailed background makes the game much more exciting.
On the downside, the game requires regular updates, which can only be done over the internet, and this is a time consuming process. Play the game, but preferably play it in a cybercafé.

Ragnarok is an MMORPG that was launched in India a little time ago by Level Up! Till recently, you could order the CD for free from www.ragnarok.co.in but now you have to pay a hundred bucks, but that's only on delivery, and some prizes are up for grabs too.
Ok, here is the dirt, you choose a character, personalize it exactly like a yahoo! Avatar, and you get thrown into this fantasy world (called Rune Midgard) where you let your character live its life through your keyboard. The cool part is that you meet a lot of people, you live out a few fantasy lives, and once in a while, the people in the game meet up for real life parties. These avatars are pretty cute, and you get to earn money and skill points within the game, gain a profession (anything from a sorcerer to a thief is possible), become a part of a guild (the sorcerers and thieves guilds), and when you get bored, invent spectacular ways to get your character killed. Like Sims, only random people over the net are playing with you, in a fantasy setting. The graphics are pretty cool, especially if you have a comp with good specs, the gameplay is smooth if you have a decent cable connection to the web, and the entire experience is pretty gratifying if you are into fantasy fiction like the worlds of Moorcock or Tolkein.
On the bad side, being in India, the if for good specs, the if for cablenet, and the if for an affinity for fantasy are all pretty big ifs. The investment of resources and energy does not really justify the experience, but it wouldn't be such a bad idea to find a Ragnarok café in the neighborhood (there are quite a few springing up now) and play for a while just for kicks


Ragnorak Vs A3

Graphics: A3 is the clear winner in this department, and requires lesser resources too.

Help: The help is a very important factor in MMORPGs so that the gamer gets familiarized with the environment. A3 offers a far better built in help than Ragnorak.

Popularity: You will find more people playing Ragnorak than A3 as of now.

Glitches: Ragnorak has far fewer glitches than A3, but that may be because A3 is still in the developmental stage.

Background info: A3 has a richer, more detailed historical background than Ragnorak.

Interface: The Ragnorak interface is easier to master than the A3 one, which is often pretty confusing.

Gameplay: Because of the variety of possible actions, less people are likely to cheat through the levels in A3 than Ragnorak – A3 does not get boring as soon as Ragnorak.

Wow! Factor: Actually you will go wow! after the first look at both the games, but the wow! will hang around for a longer time in A3