This week we took a look at one of the biggest F2P MMOs on the market and found it to be a rather solid experience. Read on to hear all the details.

Before I begin, I should probably let you know a few things that flavour my opinions. One, there is the fact that I have had a strange attraction to Ragnarok Online for as long as time can tell; two, I enjoy complicated games that force me to 'pre-plan' my character (lest I end up becoming some kind of bizarre hybrid, incapable of killing anything); and three, I like cutesy graphics.

Don't judge.

For those of you not familiar with Ragnarok Online, it was basically the epitome of the afore-mentioned cutesy graphics (in sprite form!) characterized by excessive amounts of killing monsters, a ridiculously unforgiving character customization system and not much else (although that may have changed since I've played). What was really bizarre about my infatuation with that old sprite game, however, was the fact that, to this day, I liked killing monsters without a storyline to fall back on, and I liked the idea of pre-charting my entire character's growth, and, finally, I liked the cutesy graphics.

In this regard, when I say that Perfect World reminded me of my bygone Ragnarok Online years, you can get a sense of what Perfect World is all about.

Perfect World Online is one of the biggest F2P MMOs in the market. Developed by Beijing Perfect World, the game is set in the world of Pangu and is heavily steeped in Chinese mythology. While I noted that PW reminded me of my good old Ragnarok Online days, if I had to find a more 'industry modern' parallel, I'd have to note that PW is also very reminiscent of everyone's favourite World of Warcraft.

To backtrack a little bit, one of the neatest things that Perfect World offers that no other F2P game has the resources to offer (and, in fact, very few subscription based MMOs can boast this feature as well) is their very in-depth facial customization, Oblivion style. What I mean by this is that PW offers players the ability to really mess around with the facial aspects of their character creation right up to the precise 'depth' of your chin. In reality, my only problem with the system has to do with my own inability to use these damned tools properly. I honestly can't tell if a face needs more width in the cheeks or if I need to make the lips bigger. While the game does offer their own set of pre-made templates, the templates themselves are all vaguely bizarre in some way or another. It's as if the creators had systematically plucked the cutest anime characters out of their respective shows and then rendered them into the Perfect World game. I was similarly aesthetically challenged by Oblivion, but I worked around this by downloading premade faces, created by some very talented... Oblivion face makers. If Perfect World Online offered players the ability to share face templates with each other, it would definitely help those of us who suffer panic attacks when they see so many sliders.

Upon entering the game, players get punted along the very typical tutorial route, kill this, click that, open that, that's how you do that, etc. Graphically speaking, however, Perfect World is very impressive. I don't mean this in the sense that it's 'impressive for an F2P game,' but I mean this in the sense that, judged from any graphical perspective, Perfect World is a very pretty game. Environments are incredibly lush, the music is nice and soothing (not as cool as Ragnarok Online's music, but nothing ever is...), and the game really strives to set the mood. In fact, I have to admit that Perfect World was one of the first games in quite some time to inspire that mixed feeling of awe and wonder that I recall experiencing with my first MMO. And trust me, I have played an excessive amount of MMORPGs; it's fairly difficult to inspire that feeling after the first few times. If there's anything the game truly excels at, it's definitely atmosphere and immersion.

After I got over that initial rush of goose bumps, I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was to try out this game. What was unfortunate, however, was when I finally settled down into 'gaming' mode. Ultimately, this is when I get past that whole tourist phase; I stop gawking at the scenery every time I see a pretty sky (although I still keep my eyes open for nice pictures), I turn down the music that has begun to loop indefinitely (and listen to my own music), and I really start to engage with the gameplay being offered. In this regard, Perfect World is pretty much a replica of the Ragnarok Online meets the 'level 1-79' World of Warcraft style of play. There are a grand total of six classes specific to three races (two classes per race, essentially); Blademasters and Wizards for Humans, Archers and Clerics for Winged Elves, and Barbarians and Venomancers for the Untamed. If you've played any other MMORPGs,  the classes are pretty obvious except the Venomancer. Blademasters deal damage and tank, Wizards do wizard-y things, Archers shoot arrows, Clerics heal, Barbarians are the more resilient (and less damage) version of Blademasters, and Venomancers are an imitation of WoW's Druid, except they get a pet. A Venomancer can choose between meleeing as a Fox with lots of defence or casting damage spells, all the while utilizing a wide variety of pets to suit their needs. Seeing that the Venomancer was really the only (slightly) innovative class in PW, I decided to go with that. The fact that Venomancers are a race of girls with bunny / fox ears (no males), I really wasn't complaining.

Don't judge.

Anywho, after spending two hours trying to slide these silly facial customizers into the right position, I ended up using a pre-set template with bigger eyes and a different hair colour. Upon entering the game, that's when things got... predictable. I won't say disappointing or anything, because I did enjoy my time in Perfect World, but I definitely have to admit that I'd been through all of this a hundred times before: talk to person X, get quest to kill X number of Y, walk up to Y, press 1 (in this case, F1) to engage auto attack on Y, after a few swings, Y is dead, loot the items (in this case, press F4), repeat. After I got my first spell and I got a few more quests, that F1 just changed to repeatedly hitting F2 (my spell button), and after I got my pet, well, you get the idea. Not only that, but Perfect World is pretty much the Asian work ethic, fine tuned and with animal girls. Levelling starts to take quite a bit of time in the later levels, and the quests remain the same throughout. Players can enter dungeons with their friends, but, just like any other MMO with player-capped dungeons, you get your rewards and you get right back to getting that EXP.

To go back to one of the strengths of Perfect World, they do tote along a very impressive array of cash shop items, and most of them are typically in line with everyday demand, with a few eye poppers here and there. Cosmetic shoes, shirts, pants and gloves range from $1 to $10 (they're permanent) and unique mounts can cost up to $30. There are also two ridiculous battle pets (Venomancer only) that can cost anywhere from $100 to $500 (the pets require 9999 of a specific item which can be purchased via the cash shop only, and the item purchased randomly gives out 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 of that particular item), so you can see how this game makes its money.

In the end, however, while Perfect World is definitely one of the most polished F2P MMO gaming experiences I've ever seen, it ultimately fails to advance the MMO genre as a whole. Perfect World might be 'more of the same' for MMO veterans, but I would definitely advise newcomers to try it out if they don't want to pay a monthly subscription. In fact, for those of you who fondly recall the days when you would spend an entire afternoon killing Mummies for 0.02% per kill, or for the guy who doesn't want to pay a subscription but still wants that 'WoW feel,' I'd suggest you check this game out. It's not perfect (ba dum ching!), but it's definitely a solid MMO.

Christopher "Pwyff" Tom
Editor
ZAM.com