Ragnarok Online (game) - My thoughts

The muggle game that I'm going to talk about today is Ragnarok Online. It was recently released as a free to play game on Steam (a muggle application that allows you to play many different types of games, purchase games from there and test out games) and I decided that I should give it a go.

First off, the world you're in, is called Rune Midgard. There was peace for a thousand years among the gods, humans and demons, resulting in the birth of legends about how the peace was formed. A truce was formed between the three groups due to a long and weary war with each other.

Your adventure starts at a time when unrest has once again fallen upon the lands of Rune Midgard, individuals who have forgotten how the peace came about and decided to act for one's own greed.

Anyway, the first thing you'll see when you attempt this game is this.

Once you pressed the "PLAY" button, you'll see a terms and conditions contract where you'll have to agree to proceed. 

First thoughts on the game, the graphics are cute. Little anime looking characters moving around the screen. Well, you should have guessed, from the images of the game before you're even in the game. Maybe it's because I've not had much exposure to muggle games, it took me a while to get used to the controls of this. Apparently, you click on an empty space, a few steps away from the character, in the direction you want him or her to go and it'll follow. You're allowed to create three characters, using a free account and if you're someone who has three different types of jobs that you'll want to try out, that's good. Also, if you want to try out all the different jobs, you could spend money to be a VIP player and you'll get nine slots.

Now, what are jobs? Jobs are basically categories of play style. What this means is, depending on the job you'll pick, the type of skills you'll get to advance, the type of weapons and armor that you'll be able to use is different. You'll start out as a Novice (your beginning job) and once you get to a certain level, you'll be able to choose a job that fits your play style. There are trainers available that will allow you to try out some of the abilities of the particular job, so don't feel pressured to choose one that quickly. The image below shows you the different jobs and what kind of jobs you'll be able to advance to.

It doesn't show you the abilities and such but it basically shows you what you'll most likely be called and how you'll look like in the future. I'm pretty sure there will better articles out there explaining all these, written by muggles too.

I noticed that there are two jobs that deal with the magical section of the world, which is interesting. The developers of the game seem to want to add that aspect into this world of theirs. It's that never ending fascination with magic again.

The objective of the game seems to be your standard, leveling of character, killing monsters and sometimes, other players, trading items for zenies (the name of the currency used in game), type of game. By completing quests and killing monsters, you get to level up your character.

There is a place where you go, to engage quests, gaining exp and sometimes items. The person you go to is called the "Eden Teleport Officer" and after going through the loading page, you'll see something like that picture on the right.

To be honest, every single time I try to maneuver my character through that mess, I'll be thinking in my head, "excuse me, coming through, watch out". That just seems to crack me up.

Anyway, it is a good place to get some quests to level up and at the same time get some equipment to start you off. Well, that's after you go to the academy and learn about some of the stuff in game. I may have just jumped the gun (I used a muggle phrase!) there. This is a good place to go after you've selected which job you want to take.

It does get rather repetitive after a while. Killing monsters, leveling, improving weapons, armor and such but the music, cute graphics and sometimes playing with a friend or two, makes it a rather enjoyable experience.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus

Optical Illusions

Hey all,

It was a busy week as usual but here I am, relaxing at my muggle residence. Did I mention that I've been given this by the Ministry? They loved my paper on muggles and would like for me to continue observing them. 

Anyway, here is something interesting that I've found on that website most muggles are familiar with called, YouTube.

I hope that you've watched it. Anyway, I just think that it's a really brilliant idea. This video is an advertisement for the car but the way that they have presented this appears to hint at the fascination of illusions. Perhaps, this is an extension of the magical fascination these muggles have. I haven't approached a muggle to ask about their thoughts on these fascinations with magic, mystery, illusions and such yet. I'm guessing I might need to phrase my questions right, after all, I can't expose the magical community. 

Anyway, what is shown in the video is called, optical illusions. The idea is that your eyes trick your brain into believing something that is real but in fact, in this case at least, is something just drawn on the pavement. It's a pretty neat idea, isn't it?

These muggles never fail to amaze me. The lack of magic, actually allows them to be creative and think of ways to surprise and make things seem impossible, just like those muggle magic tricks you get from the joke shop.

Anyway, enough of that, I was looking through some muggle slang and let me share with you, the muggle slang of the day, "Download Sabbath". 

What it means is simply a time in which a muggle is unable to do anything else on the computer because of certain critical updates that were required to be downloaded and implemented. It's usually a bulk update. Good thing I have not experience anything like that before. Well, I could always ask Hermione for help. She's a genius. 

I'm not sure if it's a common muggle slang though. I've yet to hear any muggle saying that, well, that's probably because I've not had the chance to visit a muggle workplace. That could be my next project. I'm pretty sure the Ministry would love to have some information with regards to how muggles work. 

We'll see.

As always, leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or just say hi!

Farewell,
Lord Severus