Mind you these are first impressions and don't reflect the full scope of a game, but first impressions are important and leave a lasting impact on one's overall experience and willingness to stay. I have played all of these before, but long enough ago that I do not remember them very well, and long forgotten why I ever stopped playing them. Number ratings reflect my opinion and willingness to push forward with the games in question.
Also I'd love to hear your recommendations for MMOs to try, and thoughts on the ones I've mentioned on this post, positive and negative! I'd love to believe I'm just being unfair in some cases, but sometimes an experience speaks for itself.
DC Universe online - 3/10 - The netcode is noticably not up to par with what it should be for an action MMO and it generally lacks a sense of polish so far. Most of the superpowers are locked behind DLC. Combat so far is fun and dynamic, the storyline has been reasonably fun to play through, and it has pretty well thought out controller support. It's exactly the same as when I used to play it on PS3 back in the day, for better and worse. I'll continue to play it for now as I've been promised it gets good rather quickly, but I'm not expecting to stay with it.
Guild Wars 2 - 9/10 - On the flipside this is a SUPER polished experience, everything feels snappy and responsive. Questing is super fun and it seems to have light platforming elements in certain spots? I haven't gotten to a point where combat has gotten a chance to shine as I haven't unlocked barely any of my combat abilities, but I'm very excited to see that point. There's no built-in controller support, which is fine not every game needs it, but I prefer to play my action games with a controller if possible for comfort. It feels so so so much like a singleplayer RPG in how it presents itself narratively and mechanically and that makes my brain light up good. I'm slightly confused by the progression of the game, as it's nonstandard for the genre, but I look forward to settling into it. Big big hopes for this one, very excited.
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis - 5/10 - I wanna rate it lower out of spite because the game I actually wanted to log back into after putting the game down for so long is original PSO2, but NO I have to fucking UNLOCK THAT THROUGH STORY. I ALREADY HAVE A CHARACTER, GAME. I GOT DECENTLY INTO YOUR STORY, GAME. *grumble grumble* Anyway this new version of PSO2 is decently fun and reasonably polished with okay voice acting and what seems to be a pretty solid translation. It was designed primarily for controller, which is nice. My major problem with it is that there are gaping holes in the polish (an example being that my character uses fist weapons, but will pull out a sword in cutscenes) that are extremely concerning as this is the introductory segment of the game where they're trying to sell you on their product. If there's such a lack of care here, it doesn't bode well for the mid-game, which is where games tend to lose me. I do very much want to like this, I'm a fan of the series, but it feels like a pretty middle of the road free-to-play anime mmo so far, so I have low hopes.
Planetside 2 - 6/10 - Tutorial could have gone over the unique features of each class and vehicle, but it's servicable enough for getting you acquainted with the very basics. The game feels and handles very good, and is exactly how I remember it (in a very good way). I got reminded very quickly that I'm not very good at this game, and it's one with a very dedicated playerbase and no matchmaking as it's an open world mmo shooter. This inherently makes it hostile to newcomers. There IS a training area, but it does not push you into that after the tutorial and it's not made particularly obvious that there is one (I just happened to remember that from my time playing in the past). It's something I'm willing to sink some time into, even if only to screw around, but I wouldn't ever describe it as beginner friendly and that's a pretty rough hurdle to overcome for anyone hoping to get good enough to hold their own.
Elder Scrolls Online - 8/10 - It looks and plays like an elder scrolls game, and the character building potential looks absolutely insane. It hits the same happy brain chemicals as GW2 in that it feels like a singleplayer RPG where you can play with other people. I don't happen to like the world of elder scrolls terribly much (it just feels kinda bland to me), but the storytelling is actually very engaging and that extends to the side quests and every corner of the game's content. Also when I got out of the tutorial area, somebody came up to me randomly and gave me a lil bunny companion to join me on my travels, and the general community has been noticably overwhelmingly inviting and friendly, which is particularly noteworthy as I usually don't pay attention to this sort of thing in a game. Also it has controller support which rules, but quickly switching between controller and keyboard for any reason leaves a feeling as though they didn't consider that possibility and didn't design the UI in a way that facilitates an ease thereof. Either way, excited to continue this one.
