Ragnarok 2 or Ragnarok Online 2 (RO2) was officially launched on May 1 2013 for North America and other International locations that do not yet have their RO 2 versions. This Ragnarok 2 review looks at the North American Ragnarok Online 2 and compares some of its features with the Southeast Asian Ragnarok Online 2 (also in English) which was launched earlier on January 3 2013.
Following the launch of Ragnarok Online 2 in Southeast Asia, many have been anticipating the arrival of its North American counterpart. The anime-style MMORPG was finally released on May 1 2013 for players in North America and other international locations without their own RO2 versions. Players from countries with an existing RO2 game are prevented from registering for the North American RO2 but the game itself is not region-locked if you manage to get an account.
Credit: Screenshot by iamsy
A screenshot of the International / North American Ragnarok 2
Ragnarok 2 takes place in a fantasy world with the antagonists being some sort of an evil cult that worships a demon goddess. In this Ragnarok 2, you travel the world, fight monsters, complete quests and all the usual stuff. To be honest, the plot isn't the strong point of this game, but there are plenty of interesting features like Khara Quests and Titles, awesome graphics, and lots of cute monsters to keep you engaged in this MMORPG.
The first thing I noticed about RO2 International is its English voiceover! This might not make a lot of sense if you're playing RO2 for the first time, but the SEA version, despite being in English, had its audio in Korean. Go figure.
Anyway, to move on to the features of the game, Ragnarok 2 gives you a choice between 5 basic classes as well as one of four crafting jobs. The available classes and their advancement at level 25 are:
The available crafting jobs/professions are:
Each class comes with its own equipment and the professions also have a costume each that you can choose to display on your character instead of the regular armor and weapon.
Classes and jobs are basically unchanged in RO2 International compared to RO2 SEA.
Credit: Ragnarok 2 Screenshot by iamsy
Characters can pick one of five classes as well as one of four crafting jobs. They're sort of customizable - you get to pick from different hairstyles and face types. I created an Archer with the Artisan profession.
Questing not only includes the usual main quests (with the storyline and all) and optional side quests - these are the bread and butter of most MMORPGs. Don't get me wrong, they're quite fun in Ragnarok 2, but what I love even more are Khara Quests, which are entirely optional but looked interesting enough that I decided to focus on them starting my new character on International RO2.
Khara Quests are pretty weird. Some of them are the regular monster slaying type of quests but others require you to collect a certain amount of potions in your inventory or use a skill X number of times. There are also hidden ones, one of which I unlocked by getting killed.
The best part about Khara Quests are the titles, which are things like "Wrath of", "Poring Hunter", "Pest Killer", and so on that go in front of your name. Some are harder to collect than others, and they are color-coded presumably to show the difficulty (my guess). I collected a few titles that required killing a Boss-type monster with a party (or you could overlevel and come back for it but that's just boring) and it was quite easy to find people who were trying to kill the mosnters too. The screenshot at the side shows me with the Orange "Lurker Hunter" Khara Title obtained from killing one of the first few "boss mobs".
It might be becauase International RO2 is new, so there are more newbies around trying to kill the same monsters. In RO2 SEA, I didn't bother to do these quests becauase I saw few people in the newbie areas.
Also, I noticed that some translation errors or awkwardly named quests were fixed in the international version.
I never thought I would say this but I actually like the cash shop or item mall in International / North America RO2. I thought it was a necessary evil in RO2 SEA but the one in International looks like it was a well thought-out feature of the game. Not only is it better organized, the prices actually make sense.
In RO2 SEA, the cash shop was awkwardly organized and I usually had to scroll through the entire list to find what I want. The organization in the International RO2 item mall was much easier to navigate with mounts, costumes, and power ups neatly organized.
The prices in International / North America RO2 were much friendlier too. Mounts are only $1 whereas in RO2 SEA you had to pay nearly $10 for one. Just to be clear, you can get a mount in Ragnarok 2 without paying real cash too, but there are more interesting ones in the item mall.
Credit: Screenshot by Sy
A screenshot of the International / North American RO2 Item Mall. Great organization and you can get a mount for just $1!
I've only written about a few of the features in RO2 above but it's more than just these. A few others that I've encountered as a beginner are:
I'm sure there are many that I haven't yet discovered in RO2 International. And because RO2 International / North America was just launched this month, you can probably expect more to come.
