well, lets see, what do we have?

Asherons Call
Everquest
Ultima Online

the new Anarchy Online (anyone played?)

any other big ones?

i played asherons call a bunch last summer, it was pretty fun... opinions?

At the moment Asherons Call.

Anarchy Online is just that right at the moment with the problems of going live today. I just got my copy so time will tell. I think AO could be fantastic.

the one they play in Korea should be the best of all time since it's got almost everybody there addicted to it

Nah, I read a review of the Lineage: The Bloodpledge (the popular Korean one), and checked out their site, and the game sucks. Not only is it very expensive, but there are a grand total of four character classes, buttloads of bugs, no tech support whatsoever, and (if I understand correctly) NO random items, as all high-level members of each class end up with the exact same items.

You can, incidentally, play Lineage if you're in the US, but it blows so hard that no one bothers.

Currently, Anarchy looks very promising, although if you've been reading Penny Arcade you may have heard rumors of it being released too soon. The Star Wars one on the horizon is supposed to be damn cool, too.

a friend plays lineage... it looks boring after playing AC. im seriously debating getting AO, i think ill get it as soon as my OFOTO GC gets here

I've played AC, EQ and AO, but never UO. Everquest I would never suggest to anyone since it's all camping and nothing more... Asheron's Call actually isn't too bad but it got sorta boring and is still too much camping... as for Anarchy Online, it would be the best in the list but do NOT buy the game now as even though it went public today, it'll take a few months to make the game playable as from what im reading and what I saw in the beta... you need a P3/1000 with a GeForce 3 and a gig of ram to get decent FPS, the game crashes constantly... once it started today, the CC registration page wasn't even on a secure server, the missions were around 75% broken in the beta... some ppl can't install the game... and the list goes on and on so basically, if you buy it now, you're wasting your free month while they fix bugs... so wait a while. If you absolutely want a game and Asheron's still offers a free month, just buy that game, its like 10-15$ US and if there's a free months, that's a great deal.

I have been beta testing Anarchy Online since the beginning and this is by far the game to get. Really great. Though there still are a pile of bigs to be worked out, but most of them are minor. Today the game goes live (ran out and got my copy) but Funcom is having some major problems. I would wait a few days and still get it though as I am sure the problems will get ironed out.

just baught AO at electronics boutique (last copy) .

my life is now over as we all know it. this coudl be the best, or worst, or both investment of my life.

I wouldn't call any of the ones you listed RPGs, especially Everquest. And it doesn't have to be all flashy graphics to be a great RPG. The best I've truly played online is at http://www.play.net/simunet_public/hx/hxhome.asp It's a small community and the people there actually ROLEPLAY *gasp*! With the exception of the occasional newbie who either learns or leaves, this is the best RPing experience I've ever had on the net.

~Scheherazade

It's all personal preference really. I personally prefer Everquest. I've been playing it since day one of final (march 16, 1999) and I'm STILL Playing. I used to play UO before hand, and I've tried out Anarchy Online and Asheron's Call and went right back to Everquest.

http://www.lmalla.com if you wanna check out my guild. Some screenshots, etc. I'm the guildleader (Dlgoth) and I designed the site with a two co-workers of mine.

I used to play some online graphical RPGs back before EQ, AC, etc. came out. Meridian 59 and The Realm were the best back then!

The Lineage (the Korean game) used to be hilarious when I first found out about it (seems like a long time ago!). Basically they had everyone on one server. Koreans & English speakers. The game had a feature where you could press the space bar to switch between Korean and English speech. The Korean speakers hated English speakers and English speakers hated the Korean speakers. It was like a huge language war or something. If you spoke English with a Korean gang around, you would be PKed. If you spoke Korean with an English-speaking gang around, you would be PKed. That was one messed up game in the beginning!

Dgmayor, What did you try out Anarchy Online for? 2 days? As thats how long its been out for. Way to really evaluate a game. I commend you.

Well he did say he went RIGHT back Sometimes you just get a vibe from a game immediately and know you won't enjoy it. Like he said, it's all preference.

~Scheherazade

I think you have the advantage of being a small community, which one would have to seek out - as opposed to being readily available to the masses. My guess is you don't have many "phat lewterz/k00l d00dz" to contend with. In that sense I'd say your cast of characters is a lot better than that of EQ, however I think that might be different from the game's feel/mechanics etc.

Personally, I love Everquest, however they should really limit the number of people that could be logged on to a server so as to reduce camping. (I'd also be in favor of monsters dropping no loot if the player is much higher level to prevent farming.) That said, their player base could stand improvement, but every so often I come across a really great roleplayer.

Always interested in a new game though, I will give the one you suggest a try.

Great! Be sure to let me know if you want any help getting started And I've been told my website at http://www.ancient-muse.com can be helpful but there are many other player sites you can find through the web page also.

~Scheherazade

maybe this is a seperate thread altogether but what would the greatest OFFLINE RPG be??

Before we're inundated with Final Fantasies I'd just like to say that I REALLY enjoyed Summoner on the PS2. One of the few offline RPGs to keep my attention long enough to make me want to finish it. A deep storyline (maybe too deep) and a lot of side quests (defenitely too many side quests) and many hours of gameplay (almost too long) with plenty of twists and turns throughout.

~Scheherazade

wishing I had a PS2....

Lodoss War on the DC is quite good - an RPG in the same sense that the original Diablo is, with lots of hack 'n' slash to go around.

I followed AO through beta a bit. It just struck me as a futuristic Asheron's Call, which I also hated.

Just like Scheherazade said though, I just got that vibe and didn't like it. In fact, I was so over EQ at the time of trying it, I was all set for a new game. After playing AO for a little while, I ran straight back to EQ and have been having fun again ever since heh.