RF Online Wrap Report

Audience Response

Kyle "Laeth" Rowley: Pre-release, RF Online had a huge amount of hype, and as you know, was one of the most anticipated games of this year. When you have such a huge amount of hype for a game, it's always going to be tough for it to follow up and get the review scores people are expecting. There is no point in trying to hide the fact that RF Online didn't do as well as a lot of people expected it to, because we would just be lying if we did. We always knew that RF Online would probably appeal to a more niche market than most mainstream games - that being, fans of the anime / manga scene and PvP-heavy Korean MMOs. As such, the reviews were going to vary from person to person depending on their taste in games and how they prefer to play their MMOs.

The events team is working hard to provide extra entertainment for the players, and has a whole host of in-game prizes available to individuals and races.

Obviously, certain aspects of the game were better received than others; the mass PvP style gameplay went down a treat with both press and gamers alike. On the other hand, it was the leveling that players have to go through to get to that stage in the game that put our scores as low as they were. We got the impression that some of the reviewers didn't take the time to develop their character enough to get into the Chip Wars, which is without a doubt the most appealing aspect of the game.

Looking Ahead

Kyle "Laeth" Rowley: As for the future of RF Online? Well, like I said earlier, we have a lot of new exciting content that we will be implementing into the game over the coming months. As some of you may or may not know, we're currently in Episode 1 and are running GIGA3 on our live servers right now. We now have the first section of the GIGA4 / Final update on our test server, which we are expecting to go live shortly.

In addition to this, we hope to implement a system that enables us to hand-pick certain members of the community to act as representatives within the RF Online gameworld. We want to involve our community as much as possible with the game and it's development, and this is just another way in which we plan to do this.

Personal Thoughts

Michael Rowland: When I first played RF Online all the way back in the Korean version, the most memorable time was trying out the big weapons for the first time. Yes, it took me a number of hours to work out how to equip and use them, but persistence paid off as I started blowing the furry skin off those Chooties and various beasties in the gameworld. The mech (MAU) units had a particular place in my heart, even more so when I tried the big level 48 mech on our own test server. I soon moved allegiances to the Accretia and their awesome siege cannon; this piece of equipment transforms itself out of your body using you as a base platform, but providing you with extra firepower and defense. Seeing a chain of these lined up at beta was an awesome spectacle and one that will stick with me for a long time.

I can't forget the Cora with the fantastic looking ladies and armour sets. These girls look fantastic in matching battle bra and panty sets, and of course their mighty two-handeds.

I've partied up with a number of players during the live game, and had great fun battling it out on Crimson Coast, getting that vital experience gain with my fellow gamers. They don't know who I am, so it's always good to watch everyone's play style and have a chat about the game, seeing what they like and think about it. It's a great vantage point to see what really needs addressing, and gives me something to investigate come Monday morning.

I would like to say the next few weeks and months will be interesting ones for the high-level players and crafters. Get ready for an explosion of variant and high-level weapons courtesy of your local craftsman, plus some interesting new battle dungeons for all levels to explore. The events team is working hard to provide extra entertainment for the players, and has a whole host of in-game prizes available to individuals and races.

It's an exciting time ahead, and we hope the new content will attract more players to Novus. Be sure to keep an eye out for a trial account to see for yourself.

Michael Rowland

Associate Producer, RF Online

Codemasters

Kyle "Laeth" Rowley

Community Liaison Officer, RF Online

Codemasters

[Wrap Reports are intended to complement reviews by providing a post-release viewpoint that often isn't seen, the developer's. Since introducing this format in November of 2003, it has been our pleasure to publish quite a few, primarily within the RPG and online world categories, with selected action and strategy games also represented. A complete list of the previous ones may be found on the next page. - Ed.]