So, I've been reading too many novels with game elements. Guilty. As a result, I really want a game, preferably a grindy-as-fuck-mmo, with skills that level solely through use. Wanna level fire magic? Use fire magic. Etcetera. Not too particular on the rest, just... well, you know how it is. Read enough of these novels and the games sound really entertaining to play, even if it isn't the most user-friendly system around. Note that I don't mean a skill-points system; I've read some of those novels too, but those are easy to find so don't need help with that. Attribute grinding optional, imagine having both of those at once would make for a really unfriendly system. Still, I'll give it a go. Graphics aren't really important to me; hell, if it was active I'd be happy to play one of those sprite MMO's to rid myself of the skill grinding urge. ...Really just wanna scratch the itch, here. I've played a couple of these games a long time ago (Conquer Online being a particularly memorable one) and I know they're annoying but goddammit the itch won't go away.
shin megami tensei: imagine online had that system for the player's stuff. i dont think the english version is still around, though. i miss my Alice.
Mabinogi? Mabinogi's skill mechanic. Though not solely raised through use, most requirements require the skill to just be used. The more frustrating skills require them to be used in specific conditions and I have no idea if they changed it in the current version.
NA server (the last international one too) went down in 2014, and the Japanese server went down in 2016. There was a project to create the infrastructure to make a custom backend to host a private server, but I haven't seen any update from them recently. Edit: found a CN server that has an english patch, but man, the server isn't amazing
Huh, keep em comin guys, I'm reading. There's just a lot to look into with all of these. One thing I gotta say, this thread has introduced me to some new games, which I hadn't expected. Typically looking for MMO's these days is more an exercise in being reminded "oh yeah, that existed". But some of these I've never even heard of.
Reading through, Mabinogi sounds almost exactly like it's ripped out of a reincarnation game novel. True? It's apparently pretty unknown because I'm not finding a lot of info on it. Looks neat, though I imagine with a premise like that the community leaves something to be desired.
that is unfortunate. there aren't very many good games with a decent pet system. hope they decide to do something in the future, SMT's at least very well known for not knowing when to stop making sequels, so there's always a chance for an Imagination 2. (this time with costumes that have durability AND duration, that way it'll get destroyed regardless of how well you take care of it)
I can only say you should give it a shot. Try chatting with people or joining an active guild (the ones shouting into the world). I met good people because I was a bard that played music in town squares, accepted duels(pvp), was a part of a guild that was very active, and wasn't afraid to organize something with people I met. I wonder how it is now. Well community aside there is a main quest that I don't want to spoil because it gives you POWERS and rebirth is a real mechanic here. If you focus only on skills, that's enough. There is a lot to do in the game. I met a lot of people and I've watched how they fight. Lot of people develop their own fighting style from their skills and I personally was happy with what I came up with. Give it a chance and have fun with it.
I'm looking for a modern skill grinding mmo right now and stumbled onto nuf, so I had to reply. Phantasy Star Universe was my favorite skill grinding game. Unfortunately Sega has shut down their servers for it, but with a modded client you can play offline, or even connect to the private server Clementine. Clementine is still in development though and potentially subject to wipes. PSU is an Action RPG with public spaces that allow for social interaction with so many people it made your internet choke just trying to keep track of them all, like an mmorpgs main city. All the combat was in instanced missions with drop in drop out multiplayer access for a small group of people(the precise limits evade me at the moment, but less than 10). All the skills in the game are combat skills. Skills in PSU are called Photon Arts, and they level up through use, generally on a per hit basis. PAs become more powerful as they level. At breakpoints(11,21,31,41) PAs will go through additional changes, finally capping at 50. Technics become larger, capable of hitting more targets, higher chances of inflicting status effects with stronger effects as well, slower casting, and extremely awesome to look at. Bullets get range, damage, status effects, and some interesting miscellaneous effects like rifle bullets get knockdown at 41 or shotguns get more bullets in their spread per tier etc. Weapon PAs often gain additional combos at tier changes, and are the fastest leveling as a rule with exceptions. You also level your characters level, and your equipped type(read job or class or role), the best gear is through rare drops or purchased from others or crafted from rare drops, and weapons get enhanced(called Grinding). Skill grinding was by far the grindiest part though, and unless you only wanted a few skills to use, you would be grinding them well after capping the rest, except perhaps melee specialists. Clementine seems to offer substantially faster PA grinding at the moment, still the grindiest part though. ========================================================== RF Online is an MMORPG with skill grinding, I liked alot before it changed management. Ultima Online defined MMORPGs before WoW made MMORPGs something any sheople might play, and is based around skill grinding, and still exists. Ditching the Online requirement nets you a great deal more options. I'll recommend the Disgaea series by NIS. Or almost every other NIS game. Now, I'm off for more research of my own.
Eden Eternal is similar to Mabinogi when it comes to the grind fest straight out of a game novel. But if you want something extremely complicated you could try "Path of Exile". Here's the problem, Mabinogii takes a lot of time, and sometimes you may have to use real cash to buy pets for inventory management (like in overlord when they needed premium stuff for personal reasons). Regardless the game is free, old but still amazing. It's still filled with bugs now and then due the lack of care by nexon. As for item wise and equipment wise, you can go through the game without ever buying anything with real money, people sell stuff overpriced a lot of times but the community (at least in Alexina server which is a big community) are kind enough to help out new players. So don't be shy there. As for skills, levels doesn't matter. People can go past 9b total lvls and still be bad at the game if you catch my drift. The skills raise by using them, not by raising your level, which is the main reason why level is unimportant unless ya go for achievements in the global pvp drama. You can choose anything and be anything. So don't be surprised if you see elves suddenly getting close to you like giants do and slaughter you on the spot with multiple and different class skill trees (though I can hardly call it class since you can use any skill as long you cleared the requirements for it.) And it also is a game that makes you explore, just like Tibia. Meaning, not everything is as what it looks like. Secrets are everywhere. Npcs who you think are useless can give you amazing skills depending on the title, weapon, skills and even anything that you have. And the wiki the community gave doesn't cover everything, after all, players themselves love to keep secrets to surprise others. If I were to say how much the wiki covers in any internet page of mabinogi, only 5%. So do explore and take your time reading the lore, which is good on its own way and its comparable to a light novel. Just avoid Emain Macha, old lore in there was brutal and the game itself (despite being for children) ain't exactly for children, it's dark as hell.. Specially when you make the goddess wear bunny suits or enslave the -censored- out of her for goodies or her body. So just consider that anything's possible and dont judge the game due bad graphics. This game will take your life away so I recommend it for advanced players. Eden Eternal is a lot easier, Not a grind fest like Mabinogi but it's a good place to start and try things out. It's similar to most MMOs like mapple story where you pick a single class and get specified roles, but it carries Mabinogi's element of having to use abilities in order to raise them rather than counting on level. The game itself isn't exactly the best but its what I'd recommend to beginners that want a game similar to novel like games without having to break your head over it. Community here are real -censored-.. Watch out for red players since they will kill you. And last but not least, Path of exile. This game is rather... Complicated. Lore wise is easy to understand, but it's game mechanic? Ha, you'd need to be a science teacher to know what you're doing here. Anything can work, anyone can do anything. It's all up to the player to decide what they want to do here. In a way it's similar to mabinogi, but it's got a level cap (just like in overlord) and a lot of people can choose between Hundreds and I mean hundreds of perks, abilities, equipment with effects/stats, and god knows what else to change the gameplay of your character. Let's not even bring abilities or class abilities here, it's a huge headache. I only recommend this game for people who want to break their heads, rage harder than dark souls considering that characters can actually die in this game permanently (which I will explain soon) and even the looting system is a -censored- to begin with. Lets start off with the looting system, it's literally hell. Pray to the god of RNG to get good results. Anyone can get anything, but doesnt mean anyone will get the same thing friends did. Just like in overlord. There is legendary, unique, common, rare, and even one of a kind items that are contested in both PVE and PVP. But let's put it like this, items here are hell. Abilities, perks, class wise. All of these 3 will give you another headache and a migraine considering that not only positive effects from your items affect them, but also the negative ones too. That includes enemy's, Ally's and even your summoned army(zerglings everywhere if you're a summoner, literally. It feels exactly like starcraft or being actual overlord cause of this. Hell, you can even equip items to guardians you make and the effects of those items apply to both you and them. Or even revive monsters that you defeat, taming basically and their auras(AOE effects) or abilities will improve or screw you.), companions or even golems can affect you. Let's not even talk about the abilities, perks or class traits and its own stats, it will just give you cancer from over thinking about it. So allow me to put it simply, customization wise, this game is for veterans only. It's probably the hardest thing you will find out there and anything can kill you no matter how stupid it looks. Hell, I even met a player who plays like Singed from lol. And it works, I was a summoner and still died to these guys with a bunch of 1k units rushing at him. TwT He only walked for the win. Don't get me wrong, I played my army like a starcraft veteran, and I know well not to chase a singed normally otherwise my units would of died faster. As for game difficulty, there is normal, easy and hard and ruthless.. Then there is multiple servers. Classic, Theme based based on the year and even Hardcore servers. If you go to any of the classic or theme based dying is not that much of a big deal other than exp or maybe loss of units like guardians for those summoners (and special mobs). But hardcore? One life, one death. You get automatically booted from that server back to standard(classic). So if you go to hardcore server, Know well that dying wise will strip you away from the whole server community from hardcore to standard. And no, standard items cannot migrate to hardcore, (only cosmetic wise that you buy to deco your character or hideout), but you can take the items you gained from hardcore to standard. So there is some gain at least. And just as you guessed, hardcore servers gain more benefits in loot terms than standard. So you can imagine the market the community itself made. Expect things to be pricey on hardcore, after all, nobody wants to die there. I only recommend this game to veterans only, if you don't know what you're doing, if you're a casual, stay away from this game. It will strip your soul/life and put you in the shame corner. Thats how little you will feel in this game. It's also a coop game so you can drag your best friend to go through the whole game and gather loot/equipment together thankfully. Just make sure you're on the same server, seen a lot of victims of this mistake. Oh and the best part? The game is free. All of it. Premium is only cosmetics. Enjoy fellow masochistic gamers :> Or sadists of PVP who want to give hell on the arena as you feed on their salty yummy tears of their despair. -coughs- Apologies. I'm still salty over that singed. Regardless, enjoy and have fun :> Your's trully, Lunato Mercury
Elder Scrolls Online. Use abilities in a skill tree to level that skill tree as well as those abilities up. Once you've reached a saturation point, new abilities in that skill tree will open up as well as evolved versions of your abilities. Counts for everything from your race, class, armor, weapons, guild abilities, crafting and so on.