Exploring Dead MMORPGs (#2)

[@bananaman609]

I’d like to see a part 3, it’s nice seeing obscure and lesser known mmos.

[@mrdarkness4527]

Rappelz was actually my second ever MMO (after Anarchy Online). I had a blast with it back then. The mechanic that allows you to make nearly any mob a pet was really neat

[@hi-im-kerri]

I'm so sorry that was your first experience with Blade Mistress. I played it when it originally released, and when it closed down I followed it through a few privately maintained iterations. It appears someone else has now taken the source code and started modifying it for steam, as "BEAST" wasn't previously a stat and that punching bag minotaur did not exist. I still maintain my own installation of the server on my desktop PC and boot up the game from time to time but it is by no means a solo mmo and it's definitely a product of it's time. A brief history of the game is that it was made by two guys in their garage as a response to the high bandwith requirement of MMOs at the time, they wanted to release something that could be played anywhere by anyone, and they succeeded. There was previously a subscription for playtime too, but that was scrapped early on. There's a lot of interesting and unique systems in Blade Mistress, and particularly the crafting is a joy to play with if you're mathematically inclined (We used to compete for making the biggest swords possible, though they were incredibly inefficient), as was Geomancy (Player created dungeons) and Explosives. Super cool to see it still being played by anybody these days though.

[@Sanguivore]

Sounds quite interesting! :D

[@alexboy6476]

Ok so I played underlight for a solid minute and let me just say that although I would not recommend it to any new players, I personally liked it for the short amount of time I played. But as I played it more, I realized that it is basically a club of old players role-playing by themselves and ignoring new players. It's impossible to actually get into groups and guilds, and usually the older players will just ignore you. And that especially sucks for a role-playing game of its kind that requires other players to train you and your skills to level up. I tried very hard and even made some in game friends, but I eventually run into the fact that unless you either read the entire in game library (which is locked behind an in game level threshold) or get spoon-fed info by another player, you have absolutely no clue what is happening. That includes the current events, past history and lore (that is expected of you to know and understand), proper role-play etiquette to not reference the game mechanics directly to keep immersion, what skills do, and the most basics of playing like how to level up. Leveling up is the actual worst, bc to do it you have to find other players that are "teachers" that have the same class and skills as you. You have to grind the skill to a level cap and then get the teacher to allow you to level up. But most teachers will make you take a test to make sure you understand what the skill is and throw in some role-play with it. Which I didn't even hate at first until you realize that it is like that for every skill. And some teachers will deny you a level up if you don't either completely understand what the skill does both mechanically or in game role-play-wise. And then when you end up having to do a character level up you have to do a big test/quest thing to prove yourself, that is if you can find another player who is high enough level online at the same time as you and then convince them to let you get a level up, then give you the test and then go through the horrible quest system that nobody ever uses bc its broken, or just do it by either the honor system or they actively watch you do it. Genuinely, I want to like this game so freaking bad, but there is really nothing there but an old boys club that lives in its own way too complicated fantasy land with super arbitrary rules that only benefit to keep new players out. And to top it all off, the player base itself of older players (especially the mods) are given the special treatment. And often times treated with a god status. Also being the most Mary sue super strong character with no personality, especially for a role-playing game, is sad. You try to actually make a character and play as them, try to talk to others, maybe learn their character's backstory, who they are in their shard (the character's version of the reality/ waking world they come from) and it just kinda gets ignored. Anyway, sorry to dump this all in this comment section about this super obscure game. Actually only found this video bc underlight actually had an update recently, and I wanted to see if somebody had maybe made a video on it. I'm really surprised that another soul bothered to try it out other than josh strife Hayes and post a video about it. Hope this comment helps with some background on this mysterious game.

[@ThatDudeWeird]

Love these videos. I'm always trying out random MMO's looking for something new and interesting, these are really fun to watch

[@iAmNothingness]

or just try out one bcs it's so bad for shits and gigls :p

[@yourguysheppy]

Underlight guy was super cool. You love seeing MMO veterans who aren't jaded scumbags

[@Kmoten10]

I played rappelz for years it's seriously just a grindathon and the main feature is the pet system (getting a rare pet leveling it etc) the socializing aspect and the fact you really couldn't progress without a dungeon party made the game quite good acctually.

[@createtaylor173]

Would like to see longer gameplays of these games. It ends before you really try anything.

[@rokeart]

Love yours videos man, got me into trying out mmorpg again, its been over 10 years since i played one.

[@Waydots]

Thank you man! I hope you enjoy whichever game you pick up :)

[@waynoshana0526]

I used to play Rappelz back then and spent lots of time playing it. Its actually a great game with much nostalgia. The whole progressions, storyline and job progressions were really great. Not sure if theres something off with the version you tried. But i definitely recalled having a ton of fun with the community throughout. Lots of grinding yeah, but lots of fun too.

[@diegoaespitia]

i find it INSANE that u ran into another player in such an old game. and a dead game at that. like... what was he doing? was Basil just as surprised to see u as u were to see him? how do u play an MMORPG by urself? and such an old one at that

[@subtledemisefox]

Apparently there is a small but dedicated fanbase for Underlight. That's what a lot of comments under Josh Steife Hays' video were saying.

[@Ilusen_Autumn]

Ah, Rappelz. I played that quite close to its English release, and I spent a lot of time on it. The first character I ever made was an assassin, too! But I mainly played a priest-- open invitation to dungeon parties. I would heal dungeons for hours (that non-instanced dungeon near Horizon), just to chat to the other players in the party. That was the main point, to me, anyway-- the socializing. The game at the time was marketing itself on the pet taming system, which I do remember enjoying, both with and without the beast taming class.

[@coreydopson2030]

Ah yes. My old nemesis the bright pink PH texture. Anyone who has worked on a large scale game dev team has been griefed by this.

[@darkjolteon4]

Dofus!!! I'm so excited to see Ankama has partnered with you for that ad! I've been a HUGE fan of Dofus and it's successors ever since I was a kid, and have been playing the games for over 14 years now, on and off. Dofus, Dofus 2.0, Wakfu, Dofus Touch, Waven, you name it. To anyone wondering, the games are extremely underrated, and have a LOT to offer. If you can get over the initial learning curve and get used to the unique mechanics and game design, there's an absurd amount of content and fun challenges to take on, seriously give it a shot!

[@e36_phantom32]

As a long time rappelz player the game is so old that the whole section u went through was quite pointless it use to be do the missions there and graduate with ur class then u move onto your home town but all u had to do is teleport to hidden village the only reason ive played rappelz for almost 10+ years is the pet system which no other MMO has, theres also a class for all 3 races called breeder class this unique class is very expensive to play but u can have 2 pets summoned permanently again that by far the most unique thing about the game its definitely worth a second look if ur into pets.

[@ZombieZoeBee]

Dude your videos are perfect I just put them on while I play wow or runescape and its peak enjoyment lol

[@asham868]

I like Josh's in depth videos a lot, but im really liking this broad overview that you are doing

[@Waydots]

Thanks man I appreciate that, I'm also a huge fan of Josh

[@ДанилаФилиппов-ю5н]

hey man like your content i played rappelz for like 5 or so years daily back in the day. your version looks like a private server to me (all the oneshoting, lots of XP and all the free items) there used to be story quests from your starting location up to the endgame. they were nothing special but still bad luck that your version didn't have it btw i saw some warhammer ROR footage in your videos. will there be a video about it?

[@thekiller131]

I'd love to see a part 3. If you ever do one, consider checking out an MMO called turf battles. Last i checked its not only still online, but was purchased by some people in the comminity and still receives updates despite coming out in the early 2000s. It's not on steam, but it does have a small community that still plays. It is what id describe as hyper-focused on PvP.

[@playablecharacter3871]

I was thinking of doing the same kind of thing recently, going to the least played ones and maybe finding a cool little cult community somewhere. Im playing WoW and getting burnt out on every version and Im like "damn this cant be the best one"

[@RadomirTM]

Have you tried Turtle WoW?

[@timiniho]

@@RadomirTM It's good for what it is but doesn't scratch the itch for me. At the end of the day it's just WoW & while classic definitely is the best version to make new content for, after close to 20 years I'm quite tired of WoW & would like something new to breathe life into the mmorpg genre.

[@kaankaragul5754]

Rappelz had such a potential... Spend lots of hours in it. Just the pet system itself was crazy. Gearing up a creature like you gear up a character and dps and tanking with it... There is still yet a game like that.

[@Rizztomat3]

I've been a dofus player since I was a kid, I was so funny saw a Add about it, cool sponsor ma men

[@landonolson4759]

Keep these videos going man. I just found you out last week and been loving it. Good job.

[@GravyNacho]

Blade Mistress is being continually updated, so check back in someday :)

[@Moonvesper]

love watching these videos and coming across stuff I played 10-12 years ago for like three days

[@PrincessAshley-Kawaii]

Blade Mistress has taken some of your feed back and touched up things helping players understand what to do. They have also touched up graghics with the option to have what you show in this video or newer yet still stick to the time graghics update.

[@ImKyout]

Love the content brother! Keep it up

[@andrelasnier6224]

You should try final fantasy 11 if you haven't try it. That game was my favorite MMO I still remember the people I play with 25 years ago 😅

[@atari460]

Loved that game so much, was way ahead of its time. FYI its still active with around 15k daily logins, don't think it's appropriate for this kind of video.

[@Batusay2006]

Rappelz has a graphic like Silkroad online. It made me nostalgic and willing to run back to Silkroad :)

[@ganderthepanda8146]

Dayum, havent heard the name dofus in like a decade

[@Jekkzur01]

Liked this video just because of dofus!! Game is soo good. Glad they finally made it f2p again. Dofus touch was amazing will be again.

[@MKLEMX]

Amazing video Waydot. Your content is literally my favorite. I'm so glad i found you man

[@marinkaspret7293]

riders of icarus in next part myb,also much love for the videos they are absolutely amazing

[@jetcat5280]

When you mentioned Russian it reminded me of "Allods Online" used to be fun I think I even tried to come back to it

[@CravenEsq]

I used to play Blade Mistress as a kid (for about 2 days), but could never come up with the name after all these years. Time to install some nostalgia again, thanks!

[@_durant]

Its always a treat to see a mmorpg content creator in the current year

[@LikaLaruku]

"It was like a cross between a dragon & a chicken" Ah, so a dinosaur then.

[@kabellion]

Rappelz was the best MMO i've played , but you need to get out the TRAINER ISLAND BRO , is like a tutorial island to show the mechanics ....

[@Wadie87]

Would love to see you try astonia 3 resurgence, it's on steam. Has had multiple versions and servers released and been around since 2000. Also can try astonia 2 aranock. A very old style rpg from around 1997 still with a small active player base.

[@sefacelik6349]

rappelz is a game that needs something like rappelz 2 or remake, the gameplay,universe,pet system,class system,skills etc were way ahead of their time.

[@twiftree2532]

Rappelz. Man, I remember playing that game on my Kmart potato pc. Could barely run it back in what had to be 07-08. Game was alright. Definitely a grind fest. But the depth in skills and characters is what kept me playing for awhile.

[@TemperingFaber3]

nobody mentioning meridian 59, a true gem

[@ZombieDawgs1]

Bro, i never played any MMO. Ehat do u recommend?

[@crissbebout8991]

Would say try darkages but its not on steam released back in 1999 based off of the korean game Legends of Darkness

[@meemigemeemes7875]

Good Video as always Dot!Keep it up I remember playing some of those Games back in the day

[@monsieurpapillon810]

If you're OK with an old french only MMO a bit dead, you could try Slayers Online. It had a golden era years ago, now it's completely dead, awaiting a "reset" which sadly probably won't make people come back.

[@JpRules123]

I used to play that ahaha. The only thing I remember was luring players into the castle at one of the first areas and closing the jail door on them (which you could not open from the inside)

[@monsieurpapillon810]

@@JpRules123 Haha yes, quite good memories of that too :D

[@hummingbirdcity]

I appreciate this. Often, majority opinion isn't guaranteed to be my opinion. I still think Rift is one of the best MMOs ever.

[@miscthings1]

i would want to see you try entropia universe but at the same time i don't want to subject you to that haha. PMG did a video on it

[@NomaDrvi]

I didn't realize i played this game untill i see @4:19 and class choices. It was a generic cash grab mobile game but it wasn't so bad when i was playing. At least servers were full and there was no bug. Kinda sad to see it died.

[@swaggingswagster5357]

Idk if dragon saga (dragonica) is still a game or played but I'd love to see it

[@TheShockyHD]

dude Rappelz was so amazing i miss a pet mmorpg so much

[@kiri101]

Time Raiders was a horrible mobile game engine thing - I've played or seen so many clones with the EXACT same mechanics, movement, text banners etc. The only interesting touch was being able to choose between 2.5D and 3D, although you'll likely find movement is much more predictable in 2.5D Blade Mistress - a bit frustrating to see you interact with this one, it seems relatively intuitive for players of old MMOs and games like Daggerfall. Given the emphasis you mentioned it had on skilling I imagine if those were real players they were AFK beating on that Punching Bag, similar to picking up a new weapon skill in original WoW and autoattacking the training dummies. Rappelz, despite not finding a tonne of engaging content on Trainee Island, actually looks like a nicely well-rounded MMO with lots of early 2000's inspiration [edit: because it came out in 2006 lol]. Hundreds of hours of min-maxing builds and stats, I'm sure! :P The actual Steam listing is weird though - basically a Russian localisation connected to a private server with paid DLC on Steam, I wonder if they even have the rights to distribute it. Underlight - I usually find roleplay in games cringe, but seeing it in this old game makes me realise why: people aren't good at roleplay anymore. In these old MUDs with very simple but rigid frameworks people got good at it. You had a fairly bare environment, and imagination and improvisation were still important active tools in the making of fun.

[@strawberryxanax]

did archosaur make the first one? it looks almost identical to dragon raja

[@Ms_mili]

I'd love to see you review Silkroad Online. I used to play it ages ago in my early teens and now in my 30s I'd love to see fresh eyes on it! I hope you see this and maybe even consider it ❤

[@AzweeeL]

about blade of mistress, the crafting system is pretty cool if you know how it works :))

[@yamaddie]

okay but now you basically have to do Meridian 59

[@ToasterCamperCar]

Very entertaining video. Keep it up!

[@semi_systematic_vods]

I would love for you to review Eldevin. I know JSH has already gone over this in Worst MMO Ever, but I feel your style of reviews differ enough from his that you could bring a fresh perspective. Despite its flaws and dead servers, I have found myself really enjoying the game.

[@itsmeeu7284]

you should try Shaiya, definitely a hidden gem

[@florbazan68]

Love the idea. I hope you find Ragnarok online 2 (if it still exists)

[@StorybooksInn]

really enjoyed this one :)

[@PegasusPT]

Try 4story, it's now a little abandoned, but the private servers are always full of people

[@gloatsticks]

I like your MMO content, thank you!

[@konstantinkunz2256]

Oh yeah I can remember playing Rappelz

[@sylvk7782]

I want to see a tera online review but game got closed and there is only personal servers or console version

[@NathansWargames]

Gala inc really didn't do all that well with Rappelz, to the point they sold the game to Webzen. both Gala inc and Webzen didn't manage the game all that well and after about Epic 9 it kinda died. I played Rappelz for 6 years ( it was such a bad experience using Windows Vista with it at well lol ) when the game was active it was great lots of players, plenty of dungeon activities and in game economy was thriving too but as with most South Korea games greed from the developers killed it, selling items which could be sold in game meaning the economy got busted, when even consumables went from being cheap to millions of in game currency that's what killed it. and not to mention Rappelz has to be 1 of the grindiest games of all time, when I left the game the max level was 160. I stopped playing when I got to 155, getting to 155 took me 6 YEARS. and that was only about 25% the exp I needed to hit lvl 160. I did revisit the game about 4 years ago for a few days to see what happened to it. it still had players ( like 20% of what it had when I played ) but getting a raid together was impossible.

[@LikaLaruku]

Underlight sure does look like Meridian 59.

[@NecroBanana]

The reviews for Blade Mistress say to use their discord for guidance. I can see why you'd need it for that game lol

[@AndromedaApokalipsy]

great series - more please

[@despain8726]

This was amazing. You went from talking about obscure games straight into that ad read. Dofus touch lmfao wtf even is this game bro

[@hawlkman]

I would love to find an mmorpg to play, I played wow for 15 years give or take and quit during BFA, came back during shadowlands but quit after finishing the first raid and sense then have not come back, I tried FF online but the combat felt too slow, I got to end game because people said it gets better late but it never really did, they added more buttons to press but it was still as slow as before. I played guild wars 2 for awhile, got 2 max levels but the end game of that felt massively lacking, gear felt like it barely did anything and a lot of stuff is behind pay walls, I would rather just pay a subscription and get the whole package. I played black desert but its pay to win so I noped out rather quickly. I have pretty much tried every decently popularish mmorpg out there but nothing seems to stick. I still play OSRS every then and again.

[@c97x]

They hire unsustainable amounts of employees, inflate the cost of the technologies, and abandon the game after ignoring feedback for 5 months - every single time - every game, every genre. The games are released in these terrible states and the developers add things like fishing or collecting skins.

[@dondongo12345]

echoes of yore looks like its made of mostly pre made assets

[@HaveButOneLife]

Yeah... you're in fact correct. I've seen a dozen games with the exact same character models, and a couple of them are actually good. They've mostly been used for zombie survival games. I forget what the model pack is called though.

[@MazeElwin]

They're called the synty assets. The are very common with low poly games~ to the point that all low poly games use them. The Character are the most notable, but a lot of the rest is a mixture of bought assets and made assets. Again common in low poly games.

[@HaveButOneLife]

@@MazeElwin Aren't they built with a character creator as well? I own a game with the synty assets... They're not bad.

[@renedamasio]

Someone should really makes vídeos about games that allows you to play as Spellblade 🙏

[@cefcephatus]

Underlight actually looks fun, if the README were actually accessible at the start of the game.

[@sieg9000]

try Jx2 Swordman Online pls, there is cambodia server is English

[@RodrigoLopez-mh4oi]

i used to play rappelz way back, it was amazing, p2w sadly but have fun anyways

[@ThatDudeWeird]

I played it back in middle school, but I don't remember it being that bad LOL

[@Gutigwolfe]

While not a dead game by any means, I think you should try Tibia. I remember seeing it many years ago and never really getting into it. I was always told it was better than RS, but just seemed lame to me as a kid.

[@ceumadorgas9407]

I would like to suggest RaiderZ for part 3

[@pjnorthbay]

new subscriber if no has mentioned it try and find Momento Mori (think that's the name)

[@cybermats2004]

How can people be like "yeah this game will be good"

[@geraldroellano6578]

Pls review helmet heroes

[@genkiuo]

Please try Gaia Online's zOMG MMO. Thanks!

[@MaritimGamer]

Echoes of Yore, oh man. I was pumped for that game and was in testing lol. They borked the pre launch and launch so bad, killed any momentum it could have ever had.

[@HaveButOneLife]

Stay away from games that look too good to be true... it's because they are, since they're using store bought assets.

[@Suds_Mc_Duff]

updates weekly, come check it out again :P all feedback is good

[@MazeElwin]

@@HaveButOneLife 80% of games use store bought assets... assassin's creed being the most know. Reusing and buying assets is normal and should not be shamed. It can cost anywhere for $50- $3000 for a single asset; just better to use asset collections if you dont have that million dollar budget for assets.

[@HaveButOneLife]

@@MazeElwin Assasson's Creed also has professional art teams that model their own meshes alongside the store bought ones. Typically they're only used for design prototypes and then get replaced by original assets from my understanding. I haven't seen evidence of Ubisoft using store bought assets.

[@MazeElwin]

@@HaveButOneLife they dont have to use store bought assets, they're rich~ but they do reuse assets in nearly everyone of their games.

[@ShacolateClown]

Best MMO's imo are 1. Priston Tale 2. Rohans Blood Feud 3. Albion Online

[@Gills420]

lolol i remember when i was burnt out of rs as well. lmao you will crawl back soon dont worry

[@Rightwingextremismisfun]

Have you tried RuneScape?🤔

[@rePAULsion]

... you didn't think to press 'F' to interact? Have you played MMOs?

[@tyronezerby9686]

Rappelz reminds ma of R.O.H.A.N blood fued

[@tyronezerby9686]

Also you should try dark ages. pretty good old school mmo.

[@streetninja118]

Did lost ark steal from rappelz? That is clearly Kharmine....

[@NerdHerdForLife]

BRO FINALLY SPOKE TO ANOTHER PLAYER!!!!

[@uzair_990]

dofus touch can be enjoyable if their maps layout wasnt like that, too much loading while moving from one place to another

[@expertise_ch]

waiting part. 3

[@iB0ltspeedman]

Please try out flyff universe

[@mars0983897]

i expected perfect world international to be here :KEKW:

[@corentinnougues7448]

A french game getting a partnership with a american Channel ? Dangggggg

[@dang476]

He really just said that horrible looking Ethyrial game "looks fantastic".

[@RitzStarr]

Anyone wanting nostalgic charm should play Project Gorgon, not whatever that Blade Mistress junk was.

[@ultimatephoenix5130]

do spiral knights

[@johnharveyempleo]

try MIR4 PLS ?