f13.net forums - So...RF Online?

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July 20, 2025, 12:27:25 PM

we're back, baby

I haven't really heard much about this game from anyone, anywhere. I noticed they've got a 10 day free trial up on Fileplanet. Anyone here tried this yet and have any opinions?

So far I have this much to say: The tutorial *sucks.* It pretty much goes over everything that is blatantly obvious, and does it in one of the slowest, most annoying ways I've ever seen. It doesn't let you control your character while it gives you these 'demonstrations' which pretty much consist of the camera panning, or the mouse cursor slowly moving across your screen and clicking on things.

It *is,* apparrently possible to switch to WASD movement (I thought it was one of those that would get an automatic 'I hate it' because of mouse control. I'm not sure about remapping keys yet though. Looks very Lineage II-ish in the engine and some of the UI stuff, as do a lot of korean MMO's.

It's pretty and....since I played it only long enough to get through the tutorial before going to bed last night, can't say much more about it. My main suggestion if you feel like trying it? Skip the tutorial, get the manual, and read it to figure things out.

PvP (or as they call it RvRvR) starts at level 25, but as of now I struggled 2 days to reach 21 and then I died on the finish line.
It's pretty, it's fast.. and boring as hell.

I'll try to sum up the few things I thought in my 2 days of self-punishment on RFO.

Pros:

- Very fast engine, nice if you like a certain eastern style.
- Fast combat with no downtime at all
- Very cool equipment. Weapons are big and hit like they mean it.
- (Not sure is a pro) There are no healers. No healing class AT ALL. Potions are the only way to heal. And they are very cheap. Actually you spend 40% of a fight hitting your enemy and 60% hitting the potion button. There is no timer on potions so you can drink those as fast as you can pull the trigger. The norm is to have about 400 - 500 on you at every time. It's odd, for sure, but try to see it from this point of view: Every character is the healer of him/herself. Only, they don't heal spending mana point, but money (to buy potions, that are very cheap as already said).
- (Another arguable pro, but lots like it) Quests come to you automatically as you level, and so do rewards as soon as you kill the last x of y.
- The 3 races are really different. It's fun to play them all.

Cons:

- Quests are only: "kill x of y"
- There is no actual gameplay before level 25 other than "kill x of y". It's grinder paradise.
- According to lots of experienced players, the RvRvR battles that take place 3 times a day are very fun on the first 15 days, and almost an annoyance (because your kingdom HAS to do it in order to get money) after that.
- Each class has 3 offensive skills and 3 support skills. But in order to level those skills and improve their output you have to use just one or 2 over and over. And forever. You don't get additional skills until level 30, and you get just a couple. 2 more at 40. They could be 3 instead of 2, but basically combat is: Start fight (auto attack), click the only button related to your only skill, heal a lot, end.
- The "basic stat" system is asinine. Instead of Strength, Agility and so on you get stuff like Melee, Defence, Shield that again improve with use. Only problem, if you forget to use a shield for some levels, your shield rating will be so low that you won't be able to raise it by any means, actually ending up with a broken character. This thing is not known to lots of new players that can't help having to re-roll a new character after 1 week grinding to level 25. Once they realize their char is broken the have 2 choices: Re-roll and prolong the pain, or cancel subscription as fast as humanly possible. Codemasters said they are putting in some "hint screens" that will warn about this. Haha.
- Your character can only change his/her appearance every 6 levels. There are 4 classes and each class has ONLY 1 kind of armour. So, between level 14 and 20 EVERY Fighter (or Ranger, or Specialist...) of a certain race will look identical, except for the weapon (maybe, there are not so much weapons...).

Well, there are lots more "Cons" but I am bored. The world is nice if you like the graphic style and there are lots of cool stuff in the upcoming releases (big ones, like the Lineage 2 chronicles), but as of now RF Online is like a lighter, poorer, more boring version of Lineage 2. The only thing that kept me playing for about a week was the fast combat without downtime and the compelling desire to see the newer bigger weapons.

I gave the beta a go and all I can remember are "cons." I'm sure Falconeer will get back to you after his nap.

Hmm. Sounds like 10 day free trial is just about the right time period for me to check this game out, play until I no longer have fun, and quit. Though the comparison to L2...Lineage II keeps coming out with more interesting stuff, but their huge grind and the slow-paced combat, clunky interface, and other such issues turned me off on it. Plus the screwed up Karma system that makes it impossible to defend yourself if you're red. Oh yeah, and the Dark Elf run animation. If RF Online is gonna lay out big patches like L2 Chronicles, it might be worth checking out someday, at least for me.

Oh, come on! The dark elf run animation was the best bit of that game! I thought I'd pop an artery laughing! And it never got old!

Quote from: Signe on May 22, 2006, 04:44:36 AM

Oh, come on! The dark elf run animation was the best bit of that game! I thought I'd pop an artery laughing! And it never got old!

You have feet!

Isn't this the game where all the factions fight every 8 hours for control of a mine? The winner, of course, gets to mine.

Doesn't sound like that fun.

Quote

So...RF Online?

No.

At least they know that 3 is the correct number of realms for RvR.

Someone ought to tell Mythic.

Quote from: Ookii on May 22, 2006, 12:48:37 PM

Isn't this the game where all the factions fight every 8 hours for control of a mine? The winner, of course, gets to mine.

Doesn't sound like that fun.

Well, at least it's doing what should presumably be 'fun' in order to earn the right to do the boring stuff. Better than if you instead had to mine in order to earn the right to fight, right?

Although I bet that comes along at some point.

Tell us what you think after the 10 day trial, Koyasha. In fact, you should do a lavish write up! I'm sure schild will pay you big... umm... points.

Quote from: eldaec on May 22, 2006, 01:13:39 PM

At least they know that 3 is the correct number of realms for RvR.

Someone ought to tell Mythic.

I was thinking 6 teams and powermatch #1 with #6, #2 with #5, and #3 with #4 in temporary alliances, reshuffling bi-weekly.

Quote from: Signe on May 22, 2006, 02:20:09 PM

Tell us what you think after the 10 day trial, Koyasha. In fact, you should do a lavish write up! I'm sure schild will pay you big... umm... points.

I agree! If you do a write up you could get graced with a pretty blue name and access to the supar sekret forums.

This is your chance to mock posters such as I without my knoweldge of it!

Both Signe and I should just get contributor titles at this point....For sheer ability to post so damn much. Maybe Sky too.

Quote from: Stray on May 22, 2006, 03:44:33 PM

Both Signe and I should just get contributor titles at this point....For sheer ability to post so damn much. Maybe Sky too.

Signe has wonder powers already. I vote Stray for leet powers!

I'm gone for half a year and still 4000 posts above everyone else. Definitely leet. Or pathetic. Take your pick.

No, my wonder powers disappeared when the bad man touched f13 in a bad place. I'm just like you now, Ched... well, except I'm a bit more studly. As for giving me any sort of coloured name... they know better!

Quote from: Signe on May 22, 2006, 04:48:44 PM

I call shenanigans!

I miss my pink name :( It was so pretty and really matches my hair in the summer time. Signe should get a neon brown title. It would go well with her feet.

NiX is such a clever kitty and his pet metrosexual is adorable. Give him his pink... he deserves it. As for my feet... I think they are the cutest feet I've ever seen. Especially the enormous big toes. Unfortunately, they're not my feet. If they were, I'd have them in different poses all the time ala NiX.

PS Do not dare to change the colour of my name for if you do, I shall assplode.

Nix...metrosexual....lol :-D

So far I'm not sure I'll make it the full 10 days. It's Lineage II alright. Some people are telling me it's not built off the same core, it's just cultural similarity, but I don't really believe them, because the game is EXACTLY the same. I mean, shit, some of the icons are identical. The Koreans may think relatively alike, but they are not the Borg. And I don't know shit about Korean law, but if two companies released two games where even the interface is almost identical in the US, one of them would get sued.

I've got a Cora Warrior up to 17, a Cora Spiritualist up to 10, a Bellato Warrior up to 10, and a Bellato Ranger up to 7 or so. Played Accretia for a bit but the mechanized empire isn't my style. I'm trying to get at least one character up to 25 or so, which is where I hear pvp becomes viable, so maybe I can participate a bit in that. I'd kind of like to get a Bellato and a Cora up to 30, but I distinctly doubt I have time to make it during the free trial. There are some cool racial abilities that only come into play at that point - Mechanized Armored Units (MAU for short, they're mechs) for Bellato, and Summons for Cora. There are things I like about the game - in some ways, it's a better Lineage II, and I played L2 up to level 30 or so, if I remember right - but there's a lot I find annoying about it too, primarily the interface.

Worst thing about the game is the chat system. Like L2 in the Prelude, it has no word wrap, the chat box can't be adjusted AT ALL, and it has no opaque background so it's hard to read depending on where you happen to be standing at the moment. Also like L2, the profanity filter cannot be turned off, but it's even more draconian than L2's. It deletes your entire sentence if it finds a word you don't like. And it detects words across spaces and across words. "Ship is slow" for example, triggers it. Why? "p is s". So far I haven't chatted much, and I don't typically swear much when talking in games, but even so, I've had at least one sentence killed by it for no reason I can discern. Whatever word it thinks it found must've been built across two of mine, because I didn't use anything remotely offensive in that sentence.

Something that could turn out good or bad is the potion system. Potions have a 3 second cooldown, and are so cheap you can buy huge quantities of them. There's no healer class for most races, though after like level 30 some of the casters can heal. A little. It changes the dynamic of fighting, but the extremely short cooldown and instant-effect potions seem to make the game too easy. I can take down monsters 5+ levels above me that are marked with RF Online's equivalent of 'skull level' or 'what would you like your tombstone to say?' because pretty much, as long as it doesn't kill me in two hits, I can out-potion it. But some kind of balance that revolves around *not* having a healer class is an interesting idea that this game manages.

The game is pretty, and runs well, even with numerous options turned up high. I imagine this might change if I got a truly massive number of characters on screen, but so far I've managed to go through places with probably 50+ characters AFK Mining and not hit any slowdown. In comparison, EQ raids can still lag me and EQ doesn't look anywhere near as visually appealing. I don't know about the technical side of it, but RF online both looks and performs better, to my eyes. I'll write more later, once I can no longer play. For now, back to trying to get my characters leveled up. Or maybe sleep.

It's not Lineage 2 because as far as I know NCSoft didn't make it. It doesn't matter if the icons are alike. And the koreans ARE the borg. You will grind.

Quote from: Falconeer on May 21, 2006, 04:23:17 PM

PvP (or as they call it RvRvR) starts at level 25, but as of now I struggled 2 days to reach 21 and then I died on the finish line.
It's pretty, it's fast.. and boring as hell.

You quit just in time. I played up to level 31 in the japanese beta. Somewhere in the mid twenties (24 i think) the grind/pain really starts. It's no longer possible to solo effectively at this point. You will have to level in groups for somewhat faster experience. After gaining a level you then have to go spend a few hours beating on even con mobs to level up your skills. Skills will not increase much (if at all) while grouped.

Quote from: Koyasha on May 25, 2006, 03:16:45 AM

I'm trying to get at least one character up to 25 or so, which is where I hear pvp becomes viable, so maybe I can participate a bit in that.

Yes, I tried the same but as of now I fell into cryogenic sleep at 21.
The mindnumbing grind freezed me to death.

And about RFO being a better L2, I disagree.
Especially in the first 40 levels of the game L2 can be even more boring, especially because of the downtime (non-existant in RFO), but thanks to the 4 released Chronicles, L2 is definitely a better game, and the 5th is really promising.
Otherwise, if you just want to compare "just released" RFO with "just released" L2, well, I probably agree with you.
That means RFO could have a nice future for those interested in oriental MMORPGs.

You're probably right about L2's improvements - I haven't played since very early in Chronicle 2. But the better I mention relates in large part to the PvP rules, as far as I can see. RFO has no exp loss for PvP, for one thing. It also restricts pvp to between the races. A questionable improvement - I like open pvp, but L2's karma system makes it impossible for red-names to even defend themselves (unless this has been changed).

The grind is really starting to show. While I felt like I proceeded through the first 15-17 levels or so at a pretty quick pace, I'm now at 19 and it took quite a while to go from 17-19. Even though there's no downtime, it still feels like a very plodding pace. It's odd how a game can keep you in combat for hour after hour with no breaks and still manage to be dull. Refreshing my buffs every 140 seconds doesn't help either. Major annoyance. Overall, I agree - a couple years in, RFO may be quite a good game. They're awaiting a patch...I forget what they called it... From what I gather it's slated to be a lot like Lineage II's chronicles in that it'll bring major changes and a lot of new stuff.

And Schild is probably right, and it likely it isn't somehow based on L2's code, but it's blatantly and totally ripped off. To the point where it baffles me that there isn't a lawsuit or something.

I wrote my own colorful little review a few months ago.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=5864.msg163122#msg163122

Quote

Personal Message (Online)

Reply #12 on: March 01, 2006, 12:30:56 AM Reply with quote Modify message
Okay.

***
RF Online Review...

MMOs are a hard game to review. Getting to know the basic elements of the game can take hours, days, and even more. There are some games you may, in fact, never master, aspects you may completely miss, and gameplay that simply may not appeal to you.

I recognize that games, especially MMO games, appeal to different kinds of people. That's why I am going to focus on some of the basic features of the game, rather then apply some arbitrary numbering scheme.

The problem I have had with RF (Rising Force) Online is that the game simply has too many negatives. Sure, it looks nice, but other games look nicer and deliver better gameplay.

Worst. UI. Ever.:

Most games realize that MMOs are a difficult game to pick up and play, and try to simplify their interfaces while letting the content itself grow more and more sophisticated over time. Games like World of Warcraft and EVE Online are the best examples of this concept: starting easy and gradually moving to ever-increasing complexity.

RF Online is the other way around. In RF Online, the game immediately confronts you with a tutorial. A lengthly tutorial. And there is a reason for this length, one you will recognize five minutes in.

The user interface for this game is TERRIBLE. I think RF Online may win the award for worst UI in an MMO ever.

Basically, the UI looks like someone took a brief look at Diablo (the first one), and tried to copy that. Then they realized that the Diablo UI didn't handle chat so well, so they made the worst chat interface.

When I started playing this game, I brought the user manual into work. So, at the end of the day, I could STUDY.

And I have only begun to cover the problems the user interface has. I have a simple barometer I use in measuring a UI: if a user interface cannot properly handle Word Wrap, something is not finished yet.

Style over Substance:

This game looks pretty. Anime-pretty. Characters and textures have good detail. Surfaces usually have natural ridges. Dust blows in the desert. Etcetera. On a Radeon 850, I was impressed as I first inspected my racial HQ.

The problem is that the style doesn't hold up that well. The armors people wear make everything look alike. What very little customization available has to be sacrificed for better fighting performance. And after awhile, all those fancy textures start to run together, and everything looks the same. Sure, it looks great when your Accretian warrior draws his rocket launcher and lets a smoking rocket smash into an enemy, but after the 1000th rocket it doesn't look as impressive anymore.

Much like Word Wrap, I have another simple test of a game to determine if its combat system is done. If the game does not support collision detection, the game is not done yet. RF Online does not support any collision detection, except with the terrain.

Your faction needs you (to kill ten rats)!:

Once you've finished your tutorial and read the fine manual, its time to get started in the world. Start with your obvious changes to RF Online's weird hotbar, stock up on potions, and get moving on your first quest.

RF Online's quest system, much like the UI, is terrible, but not in a way that requires all upper caps. Quests are extremely, extremely simple: I have yet to see a quest that was not either kill 20 X' or 'Kill X until 10 special items drop'. It says something about an MMO questing system when they don't even have delivery quests.

Potions:

One of the ways in which RF Online varies from the norm is in its use of potions. In most games, Potions or other disposable items are a kind of 'ace up your sleve'. But in RF Online, things are different. See, RF Online basically has no healer class (until you reach high levels). So, all players heal through potion use.

This, initially, sounds interesting. An MMO with no downtime!

Except for the facts that:
1: You can drink a potion every 2-3 seconds.
2: Potions are so cheap, they are practically free.
3: You carry potions in stacks of 99. Many people will carry dozens of such stacks.

You can probably imagine how such a mechanic would affect classic MMO fighting. Which is how this game's combat system works.

PvE combat is better described as 'Potion vs. Environment'. And PvP combat has been nicknamed 'Potion vs. Potion', since you have to either kill someone by depleting all their potions, or do more damage then their potions can heal. If you are the kind of person who like 1v1 PvP dueling, this game may be the worst choice possible.

Grinding:

Potions and their use affects everything in game. PvE combat is the best example of this. Because of the potion mechanic, the game encourages you to take on monsters above your level. Combat against monsters in the environments then becomes an issue of making sure your challenge is something your potions can endure.

Which gets to part of the problem with combat in this game: it is boring. VERY boring. At least in Diablo, you could sort of maneuver a little. But in RF Online, you have to plant your feet and let the bad guys beat on you while you hit your hotkey to drink a potions and another to do a slightly stronger combo move. Again. And Again.

This game clearly shows its Korean roots: the combat is boring and the grind feels like it won't end. Fortunately, the whole process looks kind of pretty, but you'll still find yourself zoning out while you turn off the ingame music in favor of your MP3 collection.

Gibberish:

One of the weird aspects of this game is the monsters and items. I can accept the fact that this is a scifi setting and things might have weird names. But as you look at some of the monsters and resources, you'll be struck by how nonsensical some of the names are. Names for weapons are translated right, for the most part. But a lot of the resources, armor, and especially the monsters are total gibberish, often to the point of being misleading.

My personal favorite is the 'Arghol Drone'. 'Arghol' is the name of what looks vaguely like a Praying Mantis. The Arghol Drone is actually a 'boss' type of that same creature. Which is guarded by large bipedal armored things that look like ogres, tiny flying robots, and things that look like a cross between silverfish and cockroaches several orders of magnitude too large. All of this takes place in a giant ancient temple.

Naturally.

In other cases, the quests you undertake feel like they have been translated poorly, or written by someone in grade school.

This weirdly-cobbled-together feeling pervades the game. Certain things look ridiculous and nonsensical. It's not that the artistic feel is off: its that the purpose behind how the world looks is off.

AFK. Its not just a job, its an adventure:

In many games, AFK actions are one of the dirty little secrets. But in RF Online, AFK actions are often encouraged, if not actually required.

'Specialists', the game's crafter class, practically need to enter PvP areas to acquire resources. But in order to acquire those resources, specialists will need to spend hours and hours gathering those resources. During this time, they will basically be spending their time staring at the screen. Doing nothing. So, most people will be AFK while their avatars gather the wealth their empire needs and the economy demands.

Everyone knows this. And accepts it. PvP players prey on AFK miners to advance themselves in status. And miners make enough in wealth to afford recovery items to recuperate from the loss that accompanies death.

This aspect of the game is 'Progress Quest' bad. At least Puzzle Pirates had minigames.

PvP:

RF Online's fanbase basically agrees that the game really doesn't start until level 25, when PvP begins. PvP is the name of the game in RF Online, the game's story is about three feuding factions opposed to one another trying to run the featured world.

The problem is that PvP really is just more of the same, only with more people. The nature of potions means that PvP is really just a matter of focusing all your attacks on one person before moving onto the next. Since there is no collision detection and you have to hold still to attack, most people being attacked may just run around to stay out of range while they drink potions. The 'capture the flag' elements of PvP combat are interesting, but slow and boring compared to other online games.

Worst of all is the gang-up nature of the game. You would figure that the three factions of RF Online, being not only physically but psychologically opposed to one another, would not work together. But alliances to gang up on weaker factions are the rule, not the exception.

Trying to sum it all up:

The worst part of the game is that the game does have some nice elements. The Race Leaders are an interesting idea that future games like 'Archlord' will be implementing. The game lets you switch between classes in a fairly painless manner. The skill-driven nature of the game means that you can make a character who is as versatile as you want. At higher level, the 'prestige class' nature of the game lets you customize yourself further. And the nature of potions and PvP combat means that ganking doesn't really exist. But the game's basic flaws and problems outweigh its virtues, making the game feel less like a form of entertainment and more like a job.

But this game simply does not feel finished. And I'm not talking about simple ingame bugs, which do exist in the forms of drop rates and equipment you cannot use. I'm talking about fundamental concepts for the gameplay being broken.

In conclusion, I don't recommend RF Online to anyone other then those who enjoy grinding to nice graphics. Other games handle similar content far better. People who are looking to fill a scifi MMO itch have many far better choices. Planetside, Anarchy Online, or maybe even Star Wars Galaxies offer a better experience, with most of the same advantages and a lot fewer problems. Shadowbane is a world that works according to vaguely similar rules in a more traditional fantasy setting, and that is a superior game to RF Online.

Good review, mostly what I would have said, said better. To be honest my interest drifted off before my 10 days were even up, I was going to write something but never quite got around to it, partly because I couldn't articulate the good stuff among the bad. I especially agree with the idea that it feels like there's good things there sprinkled amongst all the bad.

Where is the Demo version? I kind of want to try this trainwreck.

As far as I know, only Codemaster's and Fileplanet have the downloads.

http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/rfonline/trial/

No idea if anyone else is hosting it.

I still haven't been able to bother to cancel my fileplanet account once I get a AC>DC converter so I can USE the f'ing 300gig hd that is sitting by my desk I'll think about it.

800+ k/bs downstream, whee.