The Return Of Rose Online - or - Always Pack A Spare Pair Of Shoes

If there's one thing that must be obvious to everyone who's been reading this blog of late, it's that what I really need right now is another mmorpg. I mean, I'm juggling the ones I'm already playing so gosh-darned amazingly, it'd be a snap to slot in another and do it full justice, right?

Okay, maybe not. But I'm doing it anyway. Or I will be, as soon as the servers come up.

Rose Online, the game in question, is far from new. In fact it's seventeen years old, with a checkered history of cancellations and changes of ownership. I remember it fairly well from the distant past but only as a name. 

By 2005 I was playing EverQuest II and past the stage of trying every single mmorpg I could get my hands on (Well, pretty much.) and I definitely never played Rose Online, although I do have a vague memory of thinking about it. At the time, though, it wasn't anything like as easy to register accounts with Korean publishers. I imagine it looked like more hoop-jumping than my mild interest merited.

Things have changed, I'm very pleased to say. This afternoon it took me no more than five minutes to go from reading about Rose Online's imminent Early Access launch, happening today, to having the client downloaded and an account registered. 

Of course, when I went to log in at the appointed time of 6 PM, the current owners, Rednim Games, had announced a thirty-minute delay for a last-second patch. The server is up now, but I'm still waiting to get in as I type this, three hours later.

Fortunately, for the purposes of this post, I already had something planned that doesn't require that I actually play the game at all. I was going to make some observations on a few things I read on the website as I was looking to find out what the game is all about.

First, the classes. There are four, which is very normal for these kinds of games. Usually you can predict  what they're going to be without even looking. If, when you do look, the names seem a little unusual, you can easily break it down to the inevitable Fighter, Mage, Cleric and Rogue.

Not here, you can't. Guess what these four do: Soldier, Muse, Hawker, Dealer. It was seeing those class names that got me intrigued. Soldier is obvious but the others?

Muse turns out to be the magic-user but also the healer, depending on which specialism you eventually choose. All base classes split into two separate paths, although not for a long time. As far as I understand it, you don't even get to choose a base class until Level 10 and specialization doesn't come until Level 100! If levelling is at 2005 speed, that could take a year.

Soldier splits into Knight and Champion, which looks like Warrior and Paladin to me. That leaves Hawker and Dealer. Any guesses?

Well, this is a 2005 mmorpg so the basic MMO Trinity is likely to be in full effect. We have our Tank and the Mage is doing double service as Healer and Magic DPS so we're probably going to need a melee DPS and some kind of bow-user. Say hi to the Raider and the Scout. They have those  disciplines covered.

 

So far, so straightforward, discounting the eliptical naming conventions. What's left for the Dealer? Crowd control, maybe? General support?

Yeah, not really. Dealers are crafters and traders. Apparently trading is a whole, separate career option in this game, which "features its own in-game economy which is directly controlled by players. Things become even odder when the time comes for a Dealer to specialize. At Level 100 you have the option of becoming an Artisan, which is fairly self-explanatory, or a ...

Come on. Guess!

Bourgeois! 

Okay, who had that? Brings a whole new meaning to the term "Class", doesn't it? For any number of verry good reasons, no developer would think of calling an mmorpg class "Bourgeois". Except of course, back in 2005, someone did.

To make it even weirder still, the Bourgeois appears to be a pet class. They can hire mercenaries to fight for them. They also turn out to be good for crowd control and support after all, only not in any way you could possibly have imagined: "Bourgeois characters use their financial abilities to gain control and influence over their opponents and to make sure their allies are well supplied."

Seriously? I can play a character who has so much money they can bribe monsters to leave them alone? Awesome! Also, I get to bankroll my party, which sounds a lot less appealling. 

Anything else worth mentioning about the classes? Oh, I don't know... how about their dress sense? 

Rose Online has to be the only mmorpg I can remember that finds it appropriate to include fashion tips in the class descriptions. There isn't exactly a dress code, other than the usual restrictions on armor types, but how about these subtle hints?

"As religious devotees, Clerics prefer wearing neat, clean clothing, and light colored armors."

"Usually, Mages wear armor that makes them look gloomy, evil or eccentric. Sometimes they put on long and pointed hats, making them look like witches..."

"Raiders are sharp dressers and can wear stylish feathered hats."

"Scouts... always carry a quiver, and seem to like wearing animal furs."

"Bourgeois... wear lightweight, yet luxurious clothing that emphasizes their wealth. They can carry an extra pair of shoes for long trips."

"Artisans prefer dark clothing, as well as a broad brimmed hat to block the glare of the sun when they travel."

Doesn't some of that seem weirdly specific?  An extra pair of shoes? Neat, clean clothing? All those hats?

It all sounds jolly interesting, anyway. If the server ever settles down, I think I'll check in and find out for myself if the game lives up to the promise of the website. If I find anything worth reporting on, maybe there'll be a First Impressions post sometime.

Just not tonight. This launch is getting a little too convincingly 2005 for me right now. I think I'll go play something that works.