Beta testing madness Feb 8 2006

So I’ve been testing both RF Online and DDO last few days, and they are both very impressive games. I’ve already pre-ordered RFO (which gave me a beta test key a week or two ago), so I’ll be playing that for at least a little while, but I’m also quite tempted to get DDO pre-ordered too, as I think I will quite enjoy that when it comes out. They are really different games, but both are really well done. In RFO’s case, it’s actually quite an old game as it first came out in Korea a while ago, and has since been released in other countries in the Far East, with it finally making the jump over to this neck of the woods only recently thanks to Codemasters. It definitely feels like what FFXI should have been, with the decent mix of sci-fi and fantasy that always signified the Final Fantasy series, while retaining its own distinct feel.

As for DDO, it’s a more traditional MMORPG in as much as it can be compared to EQ2, DAoC etc, however it’s ironic that it’s backend, the ruleset it’s based on, could be considered the grandfather of all the fantasy MMORPG’s played today - Dungeons and Dragons. From the table-top roleplaying game, all the way to classic PC games such as Baldur’s Gate, and Neverwinter Nights (a sequel for which is in production at the minute, and looking fantastic), D&D was the basis for them all. And so finally getting to play an MMORPG based on those rules, with familiar monsters, spells and character types, is really exciting. The fact that the game is incredibly well designed, and looks beautiful, is a bonus. And again, it’s Codemasters who are handling distribution over here in the UK, so a big hand to them.

Although this is supposedly the beta-testing phase, most of the serious bug hunting has already been done (both games are in phase2/phase3 of testing now), and as such, despite the occasional server downtimes or reboots, it’s pretty plain sailing, and just gives players the chance to try out the game ahead of its release. I think you can count me down as a regular in both games come their release towards the end of this month (and possibly early March in DDO’s case).