Free Realms First Impressions - Review

My Review of Free Realms:

Childish fantasy world, brightly colored and saturated. Right from the beginning the website for Free Realms shows you exactly what’s in store when you enter the game: humans, monsters, mini-games, and a relatively large world to explore.

This may be a game directed at children and families, but I feel that if you have a childish side, you can also find a lot of enjoyment here. The game has been developed by Sony Online Entertainment, and it takes the same Station Cash as other SOE games, such as the Everquest series, which you can buy from retail stores or in-game to use to purchase items and pets. The subscription part of the game unlocks more quest, jobs, and items to use, and is a monthly charge of $4.99. No purchase of the game is necessary, you can download and play without ever spending a penny.


Character Creation:
The entire experience of Free Realms is pretty streamlined. Character creation starts in your browser, and it loaded up within a minute for me. Everything before launching the game is flash-based. The actual character creation is a little limited though. You can choose a Human Male or Female, or a Pixie Male or Female. I went with Human Male, since I feel no need to play as the opposite or playing as a fairy.
Choices for your character are standard, but very basic. You can choose between three set face skins, and they are all rather similar. Skin color, clothes, face paint, hair and hair color, eye color, and facial hair are all options you can play with, although everything is set and there is no real customization. They all have very interesting names though, colors being named like “Dark Abyss” (Black), “Tidal Wave” (Dark Blue), and “Shock Wave” (Blonde).

After this you are invited to download the game. The installation file is only 2.4 mb’s big, and after that all downloading is done via the browser and in-game. Before you can actually start the game you must download 71mb’s as of this writing, and following that all content in game is streamed while playing. If you have not downloaded a certain section yet like a mini-game or the trading card game, you may have to wait to download between 1 to 20 mb’s before you can actually start the game. Running between towns and cities is all very streamed though, and although once in a while you see a few megabytes that need to be downloaded, it downloads very fast and I don’t notice it.
Rating: 7/10




Tutorial:
Not much I need to say about this. It’s a little boring but only takes a few minutes. You learn to run around, control the camera, and you get your first profession… or is it second. Anyways, you learn how to fight as well.


Professions:
There are 14 Jobs in total, 9 which come free with the game and 5 you can only start using if you are a paying subscriber. The free jobs are Brawler, Pet Trainer, Card Duelist, Miner, Kart Driver, Demolition Derby Driver, Postman, Chef, and Ninja. Ones who sign up for the $4.99 monthly subscription also get access to being an Archer, Wizard, Medic, Blacksmith, and Warrior. The interesting thing about Free Realms is that you can have up to 3 different characters per account (only 1 if you are not a subscriber), but I’m not quite sure yet why you would want more than 1, because in Free Realms, you are not locked down to a specific one or few professions. Your character can partake in any or all professions and level up accordingly. So depending on what you choose to spend your time on, you can be a level 18 Medic, level 12 Chef, level 3 Postman, and Level 5 Pet Trainer… and level one in the rest of the professions. You do have to go to the correct trainer to start taking part in a specific job.

As you probably noticed, there are a predominant amount of action, or fighting professions. This is handled rather well though, as before you start any fight, you can choose which profession you want to use so that you can dedicate all experience gained in that fight to that specific job. You also want to be aware of which quests you are taking though, as say if you have a quest where you have to heal a certain number of people, but don’t choose the Medic job, you won’t be very successful and will have to enter the dungeon again afterwords. The combat I will get to later.

There is also a 15th but not very well mentioned job, which is Adventurer. You get levels as an Adventurer by doing quests for people, helping NPC’s in towns, and by generally exploring. The more places you discover, the more experience you receive towards your Adventurer profession.

Every job has its own armor and weapon sets. They are all specific, so you may end up having a TON of clothing and items eventually if you take most or all jobs in the game. I definitely recommend not going to Inventory so much, but going to the Jobs section and equipping items that way, so as to avoid seeing a ton of clothes and weapons that are locked and having to scroll a whole lot.

So far, Adventuring has been fun, as well as being a Brawler and Medic. The cooking jobs can also be interesting for a break from questing and fighting. I really enjoy the racing as well, it has a Mario Kart type feel to it, complete with power-ups along the race. I don’t think it’s fully finished yet though, as there is no leveling involved with racing or Demolition Derby, it’s simply an extra game you can play. It’s still a lot of fun though.
Rating: 9/10


Graphics:
The graphics in the game are decent for an MMORPG of this type. Colors are vibrant, the world is large and the characters look good, although textures are obviously rather low-res to support a wide variety of computer configurations, and there is absolutely no support for AA or AF, so because of the low-poly characters and low-res textures, you are going to have to deal with a rather pixellated look whether you have a high-end computer or not. Despite that though, I think the game looks pretty good, and it does what it set out to do: a fun and colorful environment.

I tested it on two separate computers: My laptop with an 8800m GTS video card, which it runs at full graphics at native resolution of 1440x900 without any slowdown whatsoever. My wife’s Aspire One though, with Atom processor and GMA950 graphics runs it rather choppy with all settings turned down. In fact, to even get the game to run correctly on a netbook you need to do some .ini changing, since the game defaults and doesn’t run lower than 1024x768, while most netbooks have a native res of 1024x600. This was actually a little difficult because the installation folder is basically hidden. Going to Program Files\Sony Online Entertainment\ does not show Free Realms. How I got to it was by starting the game so the executable file was running, going to the Task Manager, right clicking Freerealms.exe, and clicking “Open File Location”. This took me to Users\*User Name*\AppData\LocalLow\Sony Online Entertainment\Installed Games\Free Realms, and from there UserOptions.ini has both windowed and fullscreen resolutions you can change. At 1024x600 on my netbook though, it is choppy, but playable, although I haven’t played much past the tutorial. I may have to lower the resolution to something like 720x480 and see if I can further reduce the graphics to make it playable for my wife.
Rating: 7.5/10




Sound:
Sound is pretty standard. There are some annoying sound effects, some well done, the music is good but forgettable. Most people you talk to will not have voices, I believe it’s only a few that have voices, but the tutorials are completely voiced. Sometimes sounds don’t quite fit in, but it’s nothing that will detract from the game too much. Nothing at really stands out though.
Rating: 6/10


Combat:
Combat is interesting in Free Realms. It’s simple, especially at the very beginning, yet can be challenging if you take on too many mobs or start a fight with a rating of 3 difficulty (one rating is easy, 2 is medium, 3 is hard). The combat is not automatic, you either have to click on the enemy or press the hotkey 1 to attack. All attacks and item using have cool-downs, so if you are in a fairly even match or have multiple enemies attacking you, it can get a little hectic constantly smashing the attack button, your special attack when it available again, and depending on how much damage you are taking, waiting to take another health potion. Obviously it’s not going to be near WoW or Guild Wars, but combat can still be fun and exciting. I still have some progression to do so I may update this later when I have become higher levels in some of the professions to give a better idea of all that the combat has to offer.

Combat is going to be an area where non-subscribers will wish they were. Non-subscribers can only use small health potions, which refill about a quarter of your health. But since the cool-down timer on potions is at least a second or two, if you are losing health too quickly you’re going to be knocked out. Medium health potions which can only be used by subscribers will be much more helpful.

Now, getting into combat, combat is completely optional in Free Realms. All combat is instanced, kind of like Guild Wars, but on a very small level. Basically, you run around the world, and there are enemies, but they don’t attack you. You can go up to them, and the option pops up like a mini-game to fight or not, with difficulty, goals, and bonuses to accomplish. No mobs will attack you if you don’t want to fight. If you choose to fight, you are taken to a small arena-type area with you and your party, and either a large number of enemies all at once, some in groups, or sometimes they respawn for a set amount of enemies. There are also dungeons that contain a lot more enemies and usually have quests associated with them, like defeating the Bandit Leader or destroying the Bandit’s Rules (Rule 1, you don’t talk about the Bandit’s… yes that is actually one of the quests and that’s what it says). The dungeons are usually more enjoyable to play through than the simple instancing of enemies, at least for the first time. I would suggest you try and complete all goals though the first time, since the next time you go through the dungeon it is going to be the exact same.
Rating: 7/10 – Simple, but effective.




Minigames:
There are many mini-games to choose from, most you have probably already played if you have ever played browser-type internet games. For harvesting you play a Bejeweled type game, where you connect grains, watermelons, honey, etc. by connecting at least 3 of the same type whether they are connected horizontally or vertically. The more you connect at once, the higher the score. Cooking is many very small games combined, like tenderizing meat (which has wings and moves for some reason), but clicking on it multiple times to hit it while trying not to miss, to something as simple as chopping vegetables as quickly as possible by clicking on it.

The Trading Card Game is rather deep, but not too difficult to understand once you play a game or two. I believe you can buy and trade cards online, and buy booster packs, although I believe they cost real money via Station Cash. If you are a subscriber though, I believe you get a free Booster pack every week or month. It is similar to the Magic the Gathering or any of those other card games that have been out for a long time. I believe you can also buy and collect the physical cards as well in stores, but I haven’t seen them locally.
There are quite a few games, and all are pretty well done. I am sure that almost everyone will be able to find a few they enjoy and won’t mind playing multiple times to gain experience. I have always liked Tower Defense Games, and they have a pretty good version of it here. I don’t believe you get experience from it though, which is too bad.
Rating: 9/10


World:
The World of Free Realms is pretty well done. There are quite a few cities you can travel to, which activate a teleportation stone. So once you’ve travelled to a certain city, as long as you activate the stone, you will be able to fast travel back at any time. That’s not to say that you always need to use it though, since the world is rather nicely detailed with things to do and see in between towns.



There are tiny villages or little areas with NPC’s roaming about with quests you can do. Many of the towns are varied as well, one having a different race that is constantly partying, making their famous drink, complete with their own brewery. Another town is a surfer town on the beach, where Surfer kids have lost their surfboards, ones want you to help clean up trash, etc. Each town very much has it’s own feel and characteristics which is nice to see. The world is in no way a carbon copy of the same terrain and people over and over. Although it can start to feel that way after a while because most people are only humans or pixies that you have to read what they are saying.

Many of the quests are rather simple, either go kill this many things, pick up this many objects, deliver this to so-and-so, very standard MMORPG quests. The nice thing is that you can have up to 30 or so quests at once, so you can very easily make your way around a town, see what it has, pick up as many quests as you like, and make your way completing them as you walk around a second time. I find there is nothing worse than an RPG that locks you in to one quest only. The downside though is that you do max out at 30 quests, and after a dozen or so you may forget what to do where. I suggest trying to finish all your quests in a certain town before moving on to the next one, or else you will quickly get confused about who needs what. It is nice that you can turn on and off directions of where to go for each quest though, so in case you do forget where that person is that you need to see, you can see where they are in the world, if they are in the town you are in or the one previous.

The same sorts of quests can get tedious when doing them repeatedly, but then again, I don’t know many MMORPG’s that have successfully and completely gotten rid of this. Quests don’t have a time limit though, so you can always leave to do something else or play a different mini-game if you don’t feel like running to the next town or across the countryside to complete a quest.
Rating: 8/10




Conclusion:
Well I think that is a pretty good overview of the game with my impressions. I played for a few hours and then registered, I figure $4.99 a month is going to be worth it at least for a little while. It’s a very easy game to pick up and play, and put down. It’s a very casual MMO game, so you can easily go on for half an hour and get a lot accomplished. Don’t expect to get 2 levels in that time though. But you can do SOMETHING. That’s always something I have never really liked about MMORPG’s, the need to sit down for hours to get something accomplished. That being said, if you are a hardcore MMORPG’er, you will most likely get bored with the rather cutesy graphics along with the not-so-deep gameplay. Combat is decent but not amazing, although it does its job and can be enjoyable. Quests are standard but rather easy to do.
If you’re looking for something fun and easy to play, this is a good game. If you’re looking for something for the family to enjoy together or for some of your friends to play with casually, this is a good choice. If you are looking to raid and join a guild, or for something to satisfy your WoW addiction, I can very safely say to look elsewhere. But then again, if you read this review, you probably know that already.

When I have spent a few more weeks with the game, I may update my impressions and improve the review. Thanks for reading!

 

looks like a nice casual game, thanks for the review.

 

Condensing the review down to maybe one or two paragraphs would be a good start.


Thanks for taking the time to throw your thoughts online for us.

 

Then people would complain about how it's not a review... anyways, I figured since I broke it down into different sections it would be easier to find what you wanted about it and not have to read everything.

I don't think any professional review would post up one paragraph as a review of an entire game. Not that I'm calling myself a professional though.

 

Very well done review.

Now I know where to link when someone asks about the game.

 

Looks like an attempt from SOE to replicate the type of MMORPG made popular by Maple Story, I wonder if the craze will last.

It's not that bad looking and keeping it simple should keep the casual gamers interested long enough for SOE to make a small profit.

 

Thanks

Judging by the fact that it has over 3 million subscribers now, and the game is relatively easy to pick up and is very diverse, I have a feeling it'll have people playing it for quite a while.

I'll say it again though, that even though it's marketed as a kids game, I think people of all ages can find a good amount of things to enjoy in the game. I've always liked MMORPG's, I just hated always having to be online and the sheer amount of TIME needed to get good. Casual MMO's fix a lot of those problems.

 

i played it when it first hit only cause i know its coming to ps3 end of year sometme so i stopt cause i didnt want to redo everything lol.

but its great for people that are new to mmos or want something abit diff from other mmos. this has mini games etc that make it more for casuals.

the only thing i didnt like was that chat window would get in the way of some combat etc. but the game is a neat little game that noobs to mmos can get into and get the hang of mmoing

 

I noticed the same thing times, the chat box easily gets in the way, and I have to flick the camera around to click on a target. I usually just tap the "1" button though to attack, I only use the mouse if I have to target a specific thing.

 

I played for about 20 hours. The game is remarkably polished. It's graphically beautiful, loads unbelieveably fast, the UI is the best I've ever seen in an MMO, and there are lots of little delightful details.

However, I have two big problems with Free Realms. First, there really isn't any "point" to it - you just wander around and do tasks, and skill-up, but without any purpose; the world lacks material lore or goals, so after a while I felt like playing was just pointless. Second, there is really no reason to talk to anyone, or party with anyone. There are people around, and the level of conversation is actually better than you find in WoW (to say nothing of Runescape or others of that ilk), but it is fundamentally a non-social experience. Moreover, the game is sharded, but you're always on different shards, so you never see the same people, so there's not really any opportunity to form friendships without going way out of your way to do so.

There are a few other problems, like lack of an auction house (or alternative), a really poorly implemented chat filter, and stuff like that, but these I'm sure they'll fix in a little while. The pointlessness and lack of social mechanics seem part of the design, and are unlikely to get better.

If you want a free (the premium elements of the game are not at all compelling) quasi MMO / minigame portal for casual, pick up / put down play, Free Realms is worth a go. However, if you want a more engaging or social MMO experience, it probably isn't your thing.

 

Yeah, you really don't need to talk to anybody really. I kind of like that though, I don't play games to be social... I have friends for that

 

I found this review on MMORPG.com, I think it's thoughts are pretty similar to mine:

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/376/view/reviews/load/84

 

i downloaded runes of Magic and it is crap lags like crazy and shuts down by itself. When i looked online a TON of people are having the same problem, any shut down problems with this game?

 

I haven't had a problem with shut downs yet.... there is some lag but not a ton, it's certainly still playable.