Everyone’s favorite MMORPG is back! Ragnarok Online has finally relaunched in the country with a festival held at the SM City North EDSA Annex this past weekend, and most are anxiously waiting for the official server opening.
In this Fast Five, we’re taking a quick look at how the online game would play out on our local shores.
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Behind the PH revival
During the May 7 event, we got to meet the three key figures who made the revival happen: There’s Kitamura Yoshimori who is the Chief Operating Officer for Gravity, Rithirong Kaewvicheara who heads Electronics Extreme (EE) Thailand and is the official Southeast Asia license holder to operate RO in the Philippines and other neighboring countries as reported earlier, and Johnny Paek who heads Elite Sourcing Global, a multinational Business Process Outsourcing company that specializes in gaming solutions such as technical support and in-game management.
Elite is the partner publisher here in the country and will be responsible for managing the day-to-day game operations together with EE. It’s also worth noting that Paek used to work for Gravity in the past decade, so he does know how things work in Ragnarok.
All three of them have given speeches on the event, highlighting what to expect from the revival of the classic MMORPG.
Safer, more equal environment
Before players rejoice and attempt to try using bots or cheat their way in the game, you might have to go through some heavy security. EE CEO Kaewvicheara touted that this version of Ragnarok has one of the best bots and cheat protection system yet. This may sound true, as RO players from Thailand are having a hard time deploying bots into the system.
From the ground up
In a short interview conducted after the press conference, EE executives were a bit hesitant to share full server details as they are still making checks and tweaks to ensure a smooth gaming experience on launch. What we have so far: Old Philippine RO players and newbies alike will start on equal footing as it will be a totally brand new server once it launches. That means you can’t transfer your old Philippine RO-migrated international RO account back to the new Philippine RO server, and you’d have to create a new account to play the game.
Free to play… Maybe?
There is also a high possibility that the new Ragnarok Online will be launched as a Free-to-Play game according to EE executives, with an added online mall for premium items. Based on what several players we’ve conversed with during the event, they were given a 14-day premium item (Neo Apple of Archer Box) with an alphanumeric code written to redeem once the game starts.
There will be more to come
There’s also room for localization — Gravity CEO Kitamura himself announced that there will be more in-game customizations exclusive to the local market. Other details were not disclosed and will be revealed at a future event.
Thailand was the home turf for EE, and seeing how the MMORPG grew in their own homeland and other Asian countries they’ve re-launched the game made them confident that the Philippine market will openly accept the revival of the country’s most loved MMORPG game franchise. The ending of the Ragnarok Festival revealed only a date: May 17, 2017, which lead to more speculation of those in attendance.
Are you excited for the launch of Ragnarok Online? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Well nahuli na sila ng dating. Ragnarok Mobile already filled us with enough nostalgia, good graphics and a balanced gameplay even though its in chinese (but with unofficial english patch so no problems at all). its already 2017 and the graphics is still in 2d? Minecraft lang? haha
Mga bobong casual gamer, naglalaro dahil sa graphics..
Kung content at gameplay lang naman, wala prn nakakatalo sa RO.. kya kayong mga casual gamer, pag katangahan lang sasabihin, manahimik para di lalo nagmumukang mangmang at tanga.
lolz player ako way back chaos server pa lang. been there done that. wag magsalita kung di mo naman kilala ang kausap mo.
lolz player ako since chaos server pa lang. been there done that. wag magsalita kung di mo naman kilala ang kausap mo.
mag mobile legends ka na lang putangina mo! hahahaha mahina ka kase!
like any other online games i tried, they will be shutdown eventually. exciting at first then you’ll get bored, the next thing maiisip mo nalang sayang yung gastos at hirap papa level tapos mawawala lang.
well, nice to hear babalik to so that new generation of players will experience it as well.
i wish P2P (Pay To Play) nalang yung game, majority naman ng mga players nito ay yung mga students nung araw na walang purchasing power (pero ngaun meron na)
mas ok ang P2P kasi walang “rich kid mode” na bibilhin lahat ng premium items (kasi kaya nya) to make his / her character godly, mas ok padin ung grind fest nung P2P days (hello sa mga batang 50php / 8hrs budget gaming)
Worst RO event ever! I woke up early for it and when I got there, the end of the line was already at the second floor! It should’ve been held at a bigger venue like the Skydome nearby to accommodate the sheer amount of people who went. The staff were very rude, inconsiderate and corrupt as well. Their friends got to go in skipping the line. People had to stand for hours without even getting inside at the end. The huge plastic bags filled with poring dolls weren’t given away – the shameless staff people had the gall to take one or two for themselves while everyone was watching. They could’ve at least sold them as official merchandise. Also, pre-registration was a joke and a total waste of time.
At this rate, I’m having doubts about whether this new server will even be run properly. I wouldn’t mind the P2P scheme if they treat their customers right, but the game hasn’t even launched and it looks like their management is already a disaster.
I think HINDI kc nila expexted n mdami tyong mga pupunta,until now hndi cla mkapaniwala n ganun kainit ang magiging pagtanggap s pagbabalik ng pRO. Nangangapa p cla lalu n ang bagong hhwak n ELITE.
The event has poor management, lines are coming from everywhere. I lined up for an hour or so. I got a badge poster and a head gear coupon but I was there to get an installer or any information about the launch or mechanics but none, I didn’t even wait for the band to play because it was very crowded. I was really expecting the game to put up on their site but nothing.
Sana i-revive din RF Online
yan gusto ko din yan!!!!