The Life of the Ascetic?

We all know of the cliche "What you do not know will not hurt you." And indeed it held true for me during my first adventures in the world of RO. Since this game's character building is based on allocation of points (that you obtain from gaining levels) into your stats, namely strength, agility, dexterity, intelligence, vitality and luck - it was easy to mess up and having a weak character later on. The same point allocation system is also applied to the skills of your job class. Nevertheless I didn't pay any attention to any of that, not yet at least.

As my novice was nearing the minimum level requirement for the Acolyte job change quest, my stats were mostly balanced. I think I put a point when I could to each and every stat, since I had no idea what each of their strengths really was. Then it was time to take the test.

A map of Rune-Midgard, with the capital city Prontera at its center

I entered the so-called church located on the north-eastern corner of the game's capital city Prontera and talked to the quest NPC. The quest was pretty simple. First it involved talking to three people located around the world map but weren't that far that you'd risk encountering strong and aggressive monsters, unless you lose your way XD. After that you'd just have to return to the quest NPC to finish the quest. And so my life as an Acolyte began.

The Capital City Prontera

I immediately trained to gain skill points to try out the skills. Yeah Heal was pretty useful, I thought. It was actually crucial to my survival as I was more like a fighter rather than a healer. I even trained at places like Mt. Mjolnir and the fields near the magical city Geffen - places an Acolyte should not be training unless he's with someone else, bashing every Ambernite (monsters that look like giant snails XD) i see. Then I've heard of this great leveling place which was the Culvert of Prontera. The monsters inside were mainly bugs that loot items dropped by other monsters and gang up on you if attack their comrade. Lol. I think I got to lvl 35 inside that place.

The Magical City Geffen

At around that time there were already a lot of people playing the game. As I was looking around town I overheard (more like oversee XD) a conversation about an excellent leveling place for acolytes. They called it "GH". I later learned that it stands for Glast Heim. Thanks to the useful Warp Portal skill of Acolytes, players can get to the place easily. So I hitched a ride.

When I arrived there were a lot of people, but they were just sitting there or waiting for someone. We were outside a building that seemed like a church. I thought this map was like a town where it would be safe but the music and the dead plants, not to mention the dilapidated structures betrayed that thought. And I confirmed it to be a dangerous place when I saw this huge monster that was actually a black armored knight riding an evil-looking horse. Unsurprisingly, it was called Abysmal Knight.

the dreaded Abysmal Knight that was very popular during RO's early days

What surprised me was how ridiculously strong it was. The people around me started falling down like crazy when they were hit by its attacks. Of course, like the others, I entered the church to seek sanctuary. Or so it seems. The inside of the church was like a scene from Silent Hill - dark and desolate. Good thing I have the Teleport skill XD. There people in here as well but they were moving in the same direction. Must be the training grounds I've heard of. So I followed them. During the short but dangerous trip some characters, lowbies like me, didn't make it, as there were undead monsters that got to them.

When I arrived at the next area, which I presumed to be under the church, I was surprised that there were trees even if they were dead, lol. The place looks more darker than the previous area and soon I learned that it was some sort of graveyard. I was amazed at the number of people in the area. I noticed some people were just sitting around, probably because they were in a party and didn't need to fight. But it dawned on me as they wouldn't dare to attack the monsters here, as they were very strong. Although they moved slow, which worked to the advantage of archers and mages, and acolytes!? I've played games before wherein healing the undead would damage it but I never imagined it would be possible in an online game because I thought it would be imba XD

The Evil Druid was an excellent source of EXP for ranged attackers since it moves slowly.

So now I was more like an Acolyte than ever before, fighting the undead and evil instead of bugs and what-not XD For the next few times I logged in I was there spamming Heal on Evil Druids, Ghouls and Zombies, sitting amidst a group of people to regenerate SP (needed to be able to use skills of course) and running around or teleporting to avoid the occasional Hunter Fly that acolytes and lowbies in general have no chance of winning XD

But then I heard that they were launching a second server, since the occassion of lag spikes due to the stress the amount of people on the server caused. It even came to a point that no one could get in the game because it was full of people, brought on by the bonus exp event the administration held XD So I decided that I would move to this new server, since most of my classmates are moving there as well :D

Welcome to Rune-Midgard

Before July 2003, MMO (Massively-Multiplayer Online) games were virtually unheard of here in the Philippines. But then Ragnarok Online came along. I first heard of this game during the first week of college when people were introducing themselves. I was liek "wow, an online rpg with a local server??"

But I immediately shrugged the idea of playing it as I know that our pc at home was so crappy back then that it would not be able to process even a game with this level of graphics. I think our RAM was 128 mb and our video card was a lowly 64 mb XD

Nevertheless, the game freak in me wanted to dive into the world of Midgard. I remember getting the installation cd from a magazine store. I made an account and installed it,  selected the only available server, which was called Chaos, named after the main protagonist of the manwah "Ragnarok Online: Into The Abyss" which the game was based on. But alas after the character creation screen I was stuck. So the next choice was to try playing it in internet cafes.

Back then there were few internet cafes as they were mostly only for surfing and LAN games. But I managed to find one that has Ragnarok Online installed. Even if the rate was expenive, I had to try. I wanted to see what all the fuss that I keep on hearing in school is all about.

I don't remember how that novice character looked like more so what his name was, but I remember the excitement as I moved around that small island where all novices start off. Moments later I found myself inside a building with several other characters moving around and talking to the different npcs, sometimes seeing angels appear above their head, a sign that they received experience points from talking to the npcs and leveled up.

So I did what the others were doing and found myself reading the tutorials thoroughly XD. After the tutorials I entered a field where there were these round jelly-like monsters, the infamous poring XD. I equipped the items given to me and clicked it. At first I was like "Battles in MMOs are kinda meh." But I quickly got used to it and found myself clicking and clicking, gaining EXP as I go.

Who wouldn't love the cute Poring? XD

After I gained enough levels to move on I had to talk to different npcs that gave information about the job classes available, the swordsman, acolyte, thief, magician, archer and merchant. I didn't know what to choose so I talked to the npc that evaluates what I would be best suited for based on the answers I gave to its questions.

I was surprised when it said that I best become an acolyte, a job class that specializes on healing and strengthening other characters, nothing like me in real life LOL. But meh, so be it. After reading the final lines of the npc I was sent from the training grounds into the town where I would take the job change quest.

Welcome to Rune-Midgard indeed!

The Story So Far

Hi. Lol what a way to start XD The idea of blogging my adventures through the different cyber worlds I've been through has been bugging me for the past few days and now that I'm actually doing it I don't know what to put in. Well I guess these things take time, which is okay, 'coz I have a lot of that right now (too much even).

I guess I'll start off with an overview of what MMOs I've played / been playing. The very first MMO I played, like most of the people here in the Philippines, was Ragnarok Online, which was launched here around july 2003, around the same time I started my college life. This game actually made it easier for me to make friends (in the real world of course), and made it easier for my wallet to dry out XD

The oldest screenshot i could find of my RO days. Sadly, the older ones were lost :(

Then around 2 years later, i think, came the launch of Rising Force Online (RF Online). At the time the only 3D MMORPGS i know of where FF XI Online and WOW XD. And the setting was unique, siding with 1 of 3 races that are at war with each other; I definitely had to try it out. I had a lot of fun in that game as well, so much that I became inactive in RO. Though I had to quit around May the year after (2006) because I needed to focus on my on-the-job training and thesis, not to mention the fact that I felt alienated in the guild that I co-founded (my other co-founders whom i knew iRL quit XD)

First RF Screenshot lol

It was about at this time that I started playing O2Jam, which was an online rhythm game, and was kind of like stepmania where you had to press the corresponding key at the right moment, so that the melody you'd hear would sound right. I think I only have one screenshot of that game because most of the time I played on internet cafes outside the office during lunch break XD I think that was also the reason I got hacked in RO lol.

Not even a screenshot, just my avatar. I must've deleted it ._.

Let's see... Ah yes. Well I remember I stuck with O2Jam until after graduation since I don't want to go back and get addicted to MMORPGS again (yeah right XD). But I yielded to the evil (lol) and decided to try something new. It wasn't really new in the market but I decided to try it anyway since it had a unique school setting to it. Yes, Ran Online XD I don't remember how long I've been in this game though, but I remember I got to lvl 85 I think? Anyway it was fun while it lasted but our crappy dial-up connection back then discouraged me from continuing on playing it ._.

This wasn't even my screenshot, it was just given to me. I wonder why I didn't take any back then? ._.

So after my short time from that game I think I went back to RO to start a new adventure on the server where most of my iRL friends were. We were all in a guild called Annihilation back then. I think the guild is kind of dead now but the friendship is still strong to this day :D Anyway I enjoyed this second RO life much more because of the guild (questing / power leveling with guild mates, siege battles XD).

Then around july-august 2007 there were these two new games that appeared. Granado Espada and Pefect World. I was actually getting bored with RO, despite the fun and challenge of being an int-type ninja, but the Multiple Character Control system of GE and the amazing landscape of PW piqued my interest. When I tried GE I learned that after the open beta period the game would go P2P and that I had little time to earn free 2 months for my account. I had to lvl my party to lvl 20 before the OBT period ends. I didn't make it XD

First decent-ish screenshot of the Mescherchmidt family from who-knows-what server back then.

So I gunned for Perfect World instead XD This game was amazing with its features and graphics. But I only lasted around 8 months! Why? Coz it was so expensive! Even if it was free-to-play you'd have no choice to top-up if you want to continue leveling once you get near the high-level tier. Still, the friendships i made and the times I spent admiring the landscape are priceless XD

First screenshot yet again. My low-end rig does not do justice to the eye-candy it could give >_<

After that I went back to RF to try to start anew, but the game was so different from the first time I played it. I only got so far as lvl 41. It was not newbie-friendly at all. That and there were a lot of jerks even w/in your own race. But destiny made me quit before I decided to. Our broadband + phone line got cut off and the next time I was able to go online at home was december last year. This time I was looking for something new, again XD At first I planned on playing Nostale PH but I ended up downloading the client for GrandChase instead. I actually got addicted to this game because of its graphics and side-scrolling action gameplay. But it was a game that could get lonely since it was on an instance basis. I don't know if things changed now, but last august there were a lot of people using third-party programs that enabled them to finish dungeons in a minute or so where it would normally take of up to about half an hour. Plus my friend iRL stopped playing :| So I quit too.

Yep, the default character is a girl. Elesis, the tomboy-ish swordsman. You get to unlock the other characters as you progress though.

I also got to try out Exteel SEA when it launched its CBT phase, but only for a day. I got tired trying to connect to the game. Our broadband connection's always fucked up and can't enter some sites, even if I restart the connection <_< Its a FPS game wherein you control mechs, so expect it to be cool. I had several screenshots of it but I forgot to copy the folder when I uninstalled it ~_~ At around February of this year, the same time I was playing GCPH, Rohan PH was launched here. Like always I decided to try it out. I only lasted through the whole CBT phase. At first I liked it, but it became quite mediocre for my tastes later on, as the grinding steadily made its presence. But the real let-down for me was the fact that it was difficult to be a support character here, and the constant threat of getting PK'ed is annoying. And I was still committed to playing GC at the time XD

wow the first day of CBT was my birthday lol.

From mid-August until now, I am exploring the world of Granado Espada, again. I didn't use my old account, just because. XD Now I am pioneering under the name of the Tenebroso family in GESEA's Rembrandt server :D

Long story short: I am two-bit, half-baked wanderer XD

Whew what a summary. I guess I'll get to start telling my RO days next.

cout<<"Hello World!!";

Woot. Why, hello there. XD

I've been procra- err i mean thinking about starting this for a long time and now after an hour of surfing I've finally done it. lol.

What i'll be posting here will be my chronicles from the MMOs i played and the one I'm playing now, updates from dA, sometimes game / book reviews (i liked doing that back on my first blog, which will not be named as it is long dead XD), and occasionally (hopefully) pieces of my life lol.

Although it'll take time for me to update, as i am an expert, if not a god (lol) of procrastination, not to mention its already 4:42 in the morning XD