The mentality of Eastern and Western people is radically different, and sometimes what seems white to the Japanese, the Englishman sees black and vice versa. The cultures of East and West are so diverse that it looks as if there was an impregnable wall between them for thousands of years, which collapsed only recently. It is not surprising that much of what is loved, for example, in Korea, seems strange and incomprehensible in Europe. However, anime cartoons conquered the eastern and western audiences at the end of the last century. The subsequent conquerors of our hearts were anime games.
FINAL FANTASY XIV ONLINE
Final Fantasy XIV failed miserably, so A Realm Reborn faced the most challenging task – to restore a pretty tarnished reputation. And Yoshida Naoki’s team succeeded quite well, which is why the project heads our top.
If you played FF XIV, you probably remember that it all ended with the expectation of a meteorite falling, threatening to smash the World. It happened because A Realm Reborn was created from scratch.
The terrain has become much more diverse, from FFXIV left only a few little things as a tribute to its predecessor. The first ten levels will have to run on quests mostly.
You, of course, are strong and beautiful, which you never cease to be reminded of. But there are thousands of them, so already at the tenth level, you will be taught how to work in a team in dungeons, which is essential not only for pumping but also for the plot. At the same stage of development, you can change the class if the initial choice no longer seems right to you. And after five more levels, the road to the big World opens. It is also nice that you can do it almost without a grind.
BLADE & SOUL
Korean MMORPG Blade & Soul immediately attracted those who love to contemplate the beauty. The graphics in B&S are excellent. The style is also well developed and, in many ways, reminiscent of manga. Here you will find cute boys flapping their eyelashes, not very far removed from girls, harsh warriors playing with unrealistic mountains of muscles, and buxom beauties, whose frankness of attire seems to know no bounds.
However, you can choose clothes in Blade & Soul based solely on your taste and not on the characteristics since they do not exist. Bonuses give only weapons and accessories. So you can play not only a warrior but also a stylist.
You are given a choice of four races and nine classes. Among the latter are both ranged and melee warriors quite familiar to fans of the genre and very funny ones. For example, a summoning master can enlist the help of a tiny fluffy fiend – a cute cat that tears enemies to shreds.
As for the quests, everything is quite prosaic. You can not even read, but just run where they say. But the battles are dynamic and spectacular. In 2021, the project switched to UE4 and received a new class, dungeon, and combat style.
RAGNAROK ONLINE
MMORPG veterans probably remember RO from 2002, when the project started in World. Now, the game is supporting the project in the Federation, and not without success – the game regularly receives content updates, new monsters, locations, and valuable loot.
You will find a short Scandinavian story packaged in a cute anime setting and many adventures – from large-scale guild wars for control of castles to starting a family.
ROYAL QUEST
The cult anime MMORPG Ragnarok Online cannot be left alone. In 2015, Katauri released its exact clone, Royal Quest.
The local World is vast and open, and monsters roam everywhere and pounce on everything that moves. They can also steal the loot. NPCs are not devoid of a sense of humor and are always trying to persuade the player to do something for them. Of course, there are also quite exciting quests, sometimes, you even have to think about the moral choice, but still, the relentless grind on an industrial scale becomes the basis.
Otherwise, everything is usual: several classes, gradual leveling, dungeons, showdowns in duels, and guild battles. All this is wrapped in a pretty nice, though not original, wrapper.
TREE OF SAVIOR
Even though the Tree of Savior project came from the same machine as the Ragnarok Online MMORPG anime and was initially even known as R1, the result was not a clone of the legendary RO but rather an ideological successor.
However, one should not expect something fundamentally new. If you caught the peak of popularity of Ragnarok Online and sometimes smile nostalgically for these times, then in Tree of Savior, the general style and isometric camera will immediately catch your eye.
But the plot, of course, is different in the game. Something terrible happened in the fairy-tale land: a sacred tree growing in the capital’s center began to destroy everything that its shoots could reach, turning into bloodthirsty monsters. The connection with the gods has been lost, and the World is in danger of catastrophe.
KRITIKA: REBOOT
MMO action offers gamers the to plunge into the World of spectacular and dynamic battles in the style of epic anime. Here you will find growth swords, super guns, mind-blowing acrobatics, crazy hairstyles and costumes, and other must-have attributes of the genre.
As part of a team, you have to go to clear dangerous dungeons, and the faster your party clears the dungeon, the more generous the reward for it will be. At the end of each dungeon, a gigantic raid boss awaits you, the battle against which will be an excellent test of your reaction and understanding of local game mechanics.
KURTZPEL
This sessional action game features team-based battles against epic bosses and many PvP battle formats. The basis of local combat is the filigree execution of combos unique for each class and the timely avoidance of enemy attacks.
A unique feature of the game is the class system, which is called Karma here. They are divided into two types – Breaker (breaks the enemy’s armor and has a good defense but does minor direct damage) and Slayer (a lot of damage, little armor, and HP, bad damage to armor). You can take any 2 Karmas with you into battle, and you can switch between them right in the middle of the battle.
NOSTALE
A free-to-play client-side MMORPG that takes players to the enchanting Eastmile Island. Controlling a hero with a top view, the gamer will have to hunt for monsters, complete intriguing tasks, and team up with other users.
Most of the activities fit the genre, but NosTale has its characteristics. For example, the possibility of choosing a profession and its further development. The player can join a family (similar to a clan) and fight powerful monsters. Another highlight is the transformation into a new form with the help of specialized specialist cards. To put it simply, you can additionally get one more class in addition to the main one.
MY POCKET STARS
My Pocket Stars – Pokémon in the anime world. In this browser game, gamers are invited to assemble their team of hundreds of different pets. Acting as a trainer, the player will take care of and upgrade their animals, and together with them, they will explore the mysterious dungeons in which monsters are hiding. The user often has to interact with other gamers – team up or measure strength in the arena.
A game with bright graphics will appeal to both anime lovers and those who encounter this style for the first time.
SWORD MASTER SERIES ONLINE
The series includes two browser games based on the cult anime Sword Art Online. Its original plot is a cheat for Igrodelov. The bottom line is that the main character gets into the virtual World of MMORPG along with other guys. Death in him means death in reality, so he is forced to fight monsters, levels up, and team up with other comrades in misfortune.
And therefore, the developers did not even have to think about how to interpret Sword Art Online in the form of a computer game. All-inclusive: PvE, PvP, dozens of familiar characters, open World, clan system, strong bosses, etc.
BLEACH ONLINE
We continue our march through online games based on popular anime, and this time Bleach is on stage. In the story, the player assumes the role of a schoolboy Ichigo, who, endowed with the powers of the gods of death, is forced to fight evil spirits and protect ordinary people. The original series has 366 episodes, and those who have mastered them will be able to enjoy the gameplay entirely.
In Bleach Online, the player will have to assemble a team of the same atypical schoolchildren and take part in numerous battles in which the placement of the squad plays a paramount role. The game’s events repeat the anime series, and in fact, Bleach Online is more of an interactive cartoon than a full-fledged MMORPG.
CLOSERS
Have you ever imagined, as a schoolboy, that you would suddenly have a sole superpower? If yes, then welcome to Closers! You no longer have to sit in boring lessons because now you automatically become more excellent than all your classmates combined. Your task is much more global than memorizing a paragraph from a textbook.
This is the kind of student you have to manage. Gone are the days when he hesitated at the blackboard and got discouraged by the amount of homework. He discovered supernatural abilities in himself and attracted the attention of the Soyuz coalition, which prevents cataclysms and protects humanity from an alien invasion. You have to join this organization and, together with the rest of the superheroes, hold back the foreign invaders planning to attack the Earth shortly.
ELSWORD
As soon as you find yourself in a new world, you will have to join the global mission to save it. Previously, it was empty and lifeless, but suddenly, out of nowhere, the El stone fell to the ground and created a miracle – everything that prevented living beings from appearing here was destroyed, and peace and grace reigned. But after centuries of idyll, the stone was stolen. In general, you can imagine what it threatens.
The gameplay of sophisticated fans of the genre will hardly surprise you. You have to fight for world peace in the guise of one of the six heroes initially proposed. Each of them has distinctive features and abilities, some quite familiar to MMORPG veterans, others quite unusual. However, the good news is that excellent equipment does not solve everything here – to show yourself well in battle, you need to jump, dodge, and hit in time, not forgetting about combo attacks.
Many free-to-play projects sin by imposing donations, letting the player understand that he will continue to graze his back until the end of his days without investing his honestly earned money in a shareware game. In Elsword, of course, there is an opportunity to donate, but this is not so noticeable in the gameplay, and there is no feeling that the developers are forcibly trying to get into your pocket.
AURA KINGDOM
The Aura Kingdom is an adorable and colorful anime-styled online game. In addition to an eye-pleasing picture, the project can offer a relatively wide selection of classes, and pets, each of which has its abilities and exciting PvE content. But for those who like to fill in the first number to a living person, it can be tedious because there are problems with PvP – there are no large-scale battles.
The developers decided to get hooked on the project from the first minutes, allowing the player to taste all the delights of the game at high levels. We are accustomed to the fact that a tutorial is when a character is thrown into the World naked, barefoot, and only able to hit a small and harmless monster with a stick uncertainly. In the Aura Kingdom, they approached training completely differently: they immediately offer you an excellent, pumped character dressed in the latest fashion and give you a chance to see his abilities in all their glory.
DRAGON NEST
If you choose a game’s primary criterion is fun and kawaii, then you may not notice any minuses in Dragon Nest. The combat is excellent – those who are used to standing still and methodically pressing the right buttons are in danger of death and very fast. The choice of the class depends only on how much you have to strain and how quickly you rush across the battlefield.
For those for whom the gender of the character is a matter of fundamental importance, disappointment may await: each class is tied to a gender. For example, men who love to throw lightning, like Zeus the Thunderer, in the World of Dragon Nest will have to transform into a pretty girls, and girls who want to master the noble art of healing will have to try on a male image. However, due to the general grace and brightness, there is hardly anything here that can be taken too seriously.
MAPLESTORY
MapleStory is a fun and dynamic 2D MMORPG released in 2003. Here, characters of different classes travel and seek adventure on their pretty big-eyed heads. Even killing bosses and killing monsters looks childishly cute.
The tasks before the player are simple: you need to swing, complete the usual quests and destroy hostile mobs. The interface is also simple and intuitive. Players have plenty of opportunities to interact with each other: a chat, group tasks, guilds, and trade. Of course, without PvP, too, can not do. However, in MapleStory, you can not only beat each other but also love – if you suddenly ignite tender feelings for another character, you can make a marriage proposal. And all this is entirely free.
MABINOGI
Mabinogi is an MMORPG developed by Nexon and released in 2008. You have to explore the World of Erinn, full of different exciting things.
There are no classes in the game, so what abilities a character will have is not a foregone conclusion. Unlike most similar projects, the character in Mabinogi ages over time, so it needs to be periodically rejuvenated. The NPCs in the game don’t just hand out quests left and right. Their speeches are often instructive and appeal to the best human qualities. Your answers in the dialogues determine how much they will trust you. You won’t be able to get into the inst just like that – you will have to sacrifice in the form of an item of equipment: the cooler it is, the more complex the inst will let you in.
Combat is far from the only exciting activity. The choice of peaceful affairs is enormous: if you want to milk the cows and shear the sheep, if you wish to, get a fishing rod and meditate by the pond, and if you are drawn to art, you can play music.
LA TALE
La Tale is a kind and bright anime MMORPG platformer from Actoz Soft, released in 2008 (in Asia two years earlier). In the beginning, as expected, you are offered to create a character, but the set of settings is somewhat limited. Classes are pretty enough – as many as seven pieces. The specifics of each of them will be apparent to anyone who is at least slightly familiar with the genre.
The essence of the game is a hopeless grind, quests, and the purchase of new clothes. Quests are monotonous and sound like: kill so many of those guys. But there are tasks like tearing off their tails and bringing them to me, which is much more difficult because not every monster will let you tear off your tail, even posthumously. However, grind games have enough fans, especially when the level of cuteness goes off scale, even with murders.
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2
MMORPG from SEGA, where players travel through several realms, clearing them of dark spawn. The game is distinguished by an unusual universe in which there was a place for both sharp-eared inhabitants and high technology and an atypical combat system for the genre, like the one found in classic animated slashers.
The game has four races and several unique classes. Everything of value, including cosmetic items, can be earned by grinding. In 2020, PSO2 opened free servers to the whole World and finally received an official English localization.
SWORDS OF LEGENDS ONLINE
Chinese animated MMORPG based on the Tale of the Ancient Sword. An excellent game, available in China for five years, finally enters the Western market, accompanied by Gameforge.
Players wait for classic PVP and PVE activities, group dungeons, locations, characters, and stories with an oriental flavor. The game will be distributed on a one-time purchase model.