Luna Online : Preview
We're sure you're noticing a trend in the free to play genre these days and it's not a particularly exciting one... A phenomenon wherein company 'X' produces a ridiculous number of MMO franchises in the hopes that you will eventually take note of one and hopefully invest. On one hand, I applaud this foray into the wild world of MMO capitalism since it exposes the massive multi player genre to the public at large and likewise creates competition for the more dedicated gamers. Competition theoretically means that said company will work harder for your dollar and will hopefully produce a better product in the processes. On the other hand, this projectile vomiting of titles also tends to endear the 'if it works, why fix it?' mentality, which has in turn has given rise to the MMO clone wars. These companies will invariably attempt to produce a cutesy MMO with an Asian-anime feel, a serious MMO probably featuring an ancient Chinese theme, some flavor of sports MMO and a fluffy socialization MMO if that wasn't already included in the cutesy-anime one. One need look any further than Konami as one of the more egregious offenders, and gpotato is rapidly joining the ranks with their newest effort:Luna Online.
Attack of the Clones
That said, clones aren't always such a bad thing and my philosophy tends toward "clone away, just get it right" and that's sadly where most companies tend to fall down. So where dose Luna Online fall in that twilight between Win and Fail? The first thing you should know is that Luna tends toward the cutesy anime genre of free to play, looking remarkably like ROSE Online in terms of graphical implementation with a just a touch more depth concerning character customization. Humans and Elves are the species of choice and that customization is limited to hair and eyes, meaning you'll only stumble across your evil twin every ten minutes instead of the standard one to five. Like most MMOs of the type, this is where you'll choose your initial class and Luna is no exception, nor is it rocket science. The typical Mage, Rogue and Fighter archetypes can be selected and Luna follows the tried and true Asian job model, where you select your class initially and then specialize at level twenty. Overall, it's nothing you haven't seen before so lets pop the hood and look at what's underneath.