Ragnarok Online

Ragnarok Online
Ragnarok Online logo
Developer(s)	Gravity Corp.
Publisher(s)	Gravity Corp.
Platform(s)	Windows
Release	August 31, 2002 (Republic of Korea) December 1, 2002 (Japan) June 1, 2003 (International / North America) December, 2004 (Oceania) April, 2006 (Spain-South America)
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Ragnarok Online (Korean: 라그나로크 온라인, abbreviated RO) is an MMORPG created by Gravity Corp. of South Korea. Much of the background of the game is based on the manhwa Ragnarok by Lee Myung-Jin. The soundtrack is provided by SoundTeMP. An anime was created, Ragnarok The Animation, which is based on the game. Most of the game's mythos is based on Norse mythology, but contains many references to other cultures, such as that of Japan and Africa. A sequel is currently in development, Ragnarok Online 2: The Gate of the World.

Versions

Currently, there are official versions of the game in Korean (often known as kRO), Japanese (jRO), English (International RO or iRO), Thai (tRO), Chinese (cRO), Indonesian (idRO), Filipino (pRO), Brazilian Portuguese (bRO), Vietnamese (vnRO), and Bahasa Melayu (mRO). There are also versions for players in India (RO India), Oceania (oRO), Germany, Italy, Austria, Turkey, France, United Kingdom and Switzerland (European RO or euRO), as well as a recently released Hispanic version (ROh). The game is continually being revised and revamped, having new features added periodically. Most official licensed versions are now pay-to-play.

Basics

File:Umstairs.jpg

A female Super Novice in the Umbala rainforest.

The MMORPG is set in the world of Rune-Midgard. For the most part, the game lacks a plotline, but there are small side-quests or events set up by the administrators of the game sporadically to add depth and maintain interest.

The game's tutorial does mention that there is a war between man and monsters, an accurate observation given the fact that experience is given to the player when they kill monsters. However, warring is not limited to man versus monster combat, as ingame guilds can fight against each other in the War of Emperium (abbreviated WoE), a battle between several guilds for castles in town, which give them access to dungeons and treasures that are not accessible to people who are not in the residing guild.

The currency of the game is zeny, which may be obtained by the selling of items recovered from defeating monsters. The economy in Ragnarok Online is driven heavily by rare items that are not sold in stores and there is a very large difference in wealth between players, for the most part. The Merchant class offers vending of items to other players, overcharging of items, and even discounts.

There are eight equipment slots - three for headgear (top, middle and bottom), two for accessories, and one of each for shields, weapons, body armor, cloaks and footgear. Currently, only the 3 head pieces show significant external graphic variety. Weapon and shield are the only other items that can be seen externally, but are significantly more limited in variety.

Each character has an HP bar and an SP bar. The HP (Hit Points) bar represents the character's health. When HP is reduced to 0, the character "dies" and is returned to the city that the character had set their save point to. This also results in an experience reduction of 1%, though this does not apply for the Novice class. Skill Points (SP) are needed to use many job-related skills. A character with 0 SP may not use any skills that require SP. Both HP and SP regenerate on their own when the character is at rest (not moving), and at twice the speed if the character is sitting down. However, if the character holds more than 50% of their total weight capacity, they cannot automatically regain HP/SP. The regeneration speed of HP and SP depends on the Vitality and Intelligence attributes, respectively.

The game is very open-ended; after completing novice training, players are free to roam the map at their leisure, with the only restriction being the ferocity of the monsters in a given area. Low-leveled players generally have to stay close to towns, lest the enemies become too powerful for them to handle.

In addition, players have complete control over their Stats (Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Luck) and Skills (class-based) to create the type of character they want to play.

Story

File:Ragnarok comodo city.JPG

A female Mage resting in Comodo.

Template:Spoiler "... A long and grueling holy war waged on for many years.

The war between the gods, the humans, and the demons caused a great deal of damage to everyone involved. After the war, human beings entered into a truce with the gods and the demons.

This uneasy period of peace would last a thousand years. In the times of peace, in the world of Midgard, the humans would eventually forget about the miseries and hardships of war. They became conceited and selfish with little knowledge of their part in the war of the past.

Bizarre occurrences begin to break the balance of peace in several places of Midgard. A roaring sound that blocks the gods, humans, and demons suddenly appears. Unprovoked attacks from wild animals along with earthquakes and tidal waves devastate the people of Midgard.

As the peace begins to break down, legends of the mysterious demons begin to be told by various adventurers. Stories of Ymir, which has been responsible for maintaining the peace for so long, begin to circulate as well.

Excited adventurers begin to search for these pieces. Some search for wealth, others to make a name for themselves and some for their own twisted goals. The search begins without anyone knowing the true essence of the pieces of Ymir...."

Tristan Kingdom

Rune Midgard lives under the King Tristan's reign since humans defeated monsters in the last holy war. The castle is located in Prontera where Tristan lives and organizes the War of Emperium, giving the possibility to the warriors to govern parts of the kingdom and its sub-castles located in Prontera, Geffen, Al De Baran, and Payon.

The Emperium

The Emperium stone is the most powerful piece of Midgard's lands. This mineral gives humans (or monsters) the power of conquest, hegemony and authority. The War of Emperium consists of conquering a castle and breaking the Emperium in training for the REAL Holy War against monsters and evil forces that threaten Rune Midgard.

Munak, Bongun, and Hyegun

Munak was a girl that lived in Comodo 30 years ago, and during an attack by evil forces was kidnapped and killed. Her spirit was replicated and used by monsters to attack humans in the Payon dungeons. Munak's life history is very mystical and rumored. Some people say she always had strange behaviors, others say that she was always a sweet girl. Some monsters have an appearance similar to that of Munak: Bongun, which many say to be always close to Munak; Hyegun/Yao Jun, a very powerful creature that lives in Louyang.

There is a greater rumor that says Munak was loved by both Bongun and Hyegun/Yao Jun. This is proven by both Bongun and Hyegun/Yao Jun's card, Munak is present in them. In Bongun's card, he is looking very nervous when Munak, in the background, is crying about her diary which seems to be lost — in addition, a girl's diary, referred to as "Her Heart," is used to tame Bongun as pets. In Hyegun/Yao Jun's card, he and his Munak doll are sharing a table (much like a Chinese tea ceremony) and he is pouring tea for the doll and himself. As mentioned earlier, Munak and Bongun are close, which explains why they fight together in the Payon dungeons. Hyegun/Yao Jun resides in Louyang (as well as away from Munak, whom he loves), which explains his card. Bongun may have a greater approach towards Munak while Hyegun/Yao Jun has a crush. Another proof that Bongun and Hyegun/Yao Jun admire Munak is from their drops which are often Munak items. In many item's descriptions, Munak is referred to as a "young girl" or simply as a "girl." Also, when the Bongun is captured as a Cute Pet and reaches the "loyal" status, he will often talk about missing Munak, and as one of his "performance" actions, he cries over a portrait of her, which is also one of the items dropped by the Bongun monster when killed. The paper talisman attached to his hat, animating Bongun, is also torn in half, possibly suggesting he attempted suicide in depression; removing the talisman would return him to his being a corpse. Bongun's Pet Armor, the Grave Keeper's Sword, also has a Munak doll attached to it. The story among these three creatures are hard to determine but most believe that it is a love triangle.

As a Mother's Day 2006 special, an event was held to obtain Bongun's Pet Armor, the Grave Keeper's Sword. Throughout the event, the story of the love triangle between Munak, Bongun, and Hyegun/Yao Jun was revealed in full.

Glast Heim

The ruins of Glast Heim are of a former Rune Midgard city that was defeated, destroyed and totally taken by evil forces; many believe all of Rune Midgard will be overtaken if no action is taken. A complete castle, church and chivalry exists in ruins with very powerful monsters around. The ruins are located near Geffen. Glast Heim was planned and built by Al de Baran. Al de Baran was trying to make Glast Heim known as the "Heaven of Earth". Unfortunately, the war with Titans brought this beautiful city to abandonment and for many years it has been haunted by the Dark Lord. There are still many mysteries that lies in this isolated city. One of the real points proving it was built by Al de Baran is outside the clock tower with Bell Tower Keeper A.

The Yggdrasil Tree

Yggdrasil is the source and symbol of life and vitality among the humans of Rune Midgard. Its fruit, leaves, and seeds are items in the game and are used to resurrect players and heal them greatly.

Yggdrasil is found near Umbala, and directly connected to Nifleheim, the city of death.

Niflheim

The place for where all the deceased go; a spiritual plane of sorts. There is a phantom village filled with humans, spirits, and the undead, and a field cursed by immoral humans and dark spirits.

There is a path from Niflheim to the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil.

Cities

Main article: List of Ragnarok Online locations

There are many major cities in Rune-Midgard, the world of Ragnarok Online. Players may visit them by paying the Kafra service to warp them, taking the airship from Yuno or train from Einbroch and Einbech, being teleported by a priest with the appropriate warp point, or by walking through the maps in between.

Al de Baran (most commonly in-game as Aldebaran, but officially "Al de Baran")

Due north of Prontera, with its large clock tower dungeon, Al de Baran is the only path to Lutie: via Santa Claus. The Alchemist guild can be found here. It is a popular gathering spot for many high level characters, lending an aura of conceit to its community.

Alberta

A port city to the east of Payon, and home of the Merchant class. Alberta's port is the only means of accessing Sunken Ship, Turtle Island, Amatsu, Kunlun, Ayothaya, and Louyang, excluding teleportation.

Amatsu

Styled after Ancient Japan, here the pink-white blossoms of the cherry (sakura) trees are always in bloom. One of the city's major attractions is the Tatami Maze. Amatsu was the first product of the Global Project, in which new cities with themes based on countries with licensed RO servers were added in rapid succession. Added to iRO in September 2004.

Ayothaya

Like Kunlun, designed in Ancient Thai style. It features the atmosphere of the former Thai capital in Ayutthaya period. It is home to the Ayothaya Dungeon which is the home of the local monster which is a supposably a shapeshifter. Ayothaya is the fourth and last city of the Global Project. Added to iRO in April 2005.

Comodo

Gambling capital of the southwest, Comodo is a cross between Hawaii and Las Vegas. Night is eternal in the city, as it lies in a cave, and fireworks can be seen in the sky at all times. Comodo's main attraction is the infamous Seal Beach, and its casino. The Bard and Dancer classes can be accessed here. Added to iRO in August 2003.

Einbech

A small mining town reached only by foot or train, and satellite city to Einbroch. In the game's history, Einbech was settled first, and Einbroch was annexed as a factory site. However, Einbroch quickly outgrew Einbech, and lives off of its profits, leaving it a poor mining town. The Einbech Mine Dungeon is located here. Added to iRO October 2005, as a set with Einbroch.

Einbroch

A city made from steel, supposedly one of the first cities in the Schwartzvald Republic to go through an industrial revolution. Einbroch is heavily polluted, and lives mainly off of the profit from work in Einbech. Added to iRO October 2005.

Geffen

Northwest of Prontera, and home of the Magician, Wizard, and Blacksmith classes. Geffen Tower, located in the center of town, holds a small dungeon that once was ideal for low-leveled vitality-based characters until populated with Hunter Flies. Glast Heim to the north is occasionally considered a dungeon of Geffen, as it is nearby and not particularly difficult to reach.

Gonryun (or Kunlun)

Designed in Ancient Chinese style, and also known as Kunlun. In October 2004, Kunlun became the second city in the Global Project to be added to iRO.

Hugel

A small 'Garden City' town that currently serves an entrance to the Odin Dungeon as well as holding the Hunter class. It was added on January 2006 to kRO, but has not yet been implemented in iRO. Located near the Hugel Fields on the Destin's Glorious Kingdom.

Jawaii

Commonly nicknamed the "Honeymoon Island." Most married couples go here to celebrate their marriage; only married players are allowed here. Single players may only reach Jawaii's pub for a drink. Added to iRO in March 2005.

Juno (commonly in-game as "Yuno," but officially Juno)

A large city north of Al de Baran, and the capital of the Schwartzvald Republic, a kingdom separate from Rune-Midgard. The Sage class can be accessed here. In the northwest corner of the city, characters may rebirth and become Transcendant Classes. Added to iRO in May 2004.

Lighthalzen

A city of commerce and research with a surprisingly dark history, Lighthalzen is the home of the Rekenber Corporation, which owns the Bio Labs. Lighthalzen also has a section of slums, in contrast to the rest of the wealthy city. Added in June 2005 to kRO, and implemented in iRO as of March 21st, 2006.

Louyang

Designed in Ancient Chinese style. Added to iRO in March 2005, as the third city in the Global Project.

Lutie

Also known as Christmas Town, Lutie is the home of Santa Claus and contains the Toy Factory. As suggested by its name, it snows constantly and many Christmas-themed enemies and items are found here.

Morroc

A desert-themed city southwest of Prontera, themed after Eygpt. Novices can become Thieves in the Pyramids just northwest of Morroc, and Assassins or Rogues in the temples and dunes south of the city.

Niflheim

City of the dead. There are many kinds of powerful Undead and Demon monsters here, and the city may only be reached through Umbala's Yggdrasil Tree. Added to iRO in December 2004.

Payon

The village of the Taekwon class, often disliked since its remodeling. This city is an allusion to ancient Korean culture and located southeast of Prontera and west of Alberta.

• Archer Village

  A small village connected to Payon, where one can become an Archer. It can also be called the satellite city of Payon. The Payon Caves located here are a popular choice to level first class characters.

Prontera

The capital city of Rune-Midgard, located approximately in the center of the world. It is the center of commerce for most private servers, as well as home to the Acolyte, Knight, Priest, and Crusader classes. Prontera contains the only official church in the game, and is the place to become married. It is the easiest place for many novices to start, due to the abundance of low-level creatures, and most characters automatically enter Rune-Midgard through here.

• Izlude

  The satellite of Prontera, Izlude is the official home of the Swordman class. Izlude's port is also the only method through which one can reach Byalan Island and Jawaii, the latter of which is also known as the Honeymoon Island.

Rachel

Added on 30/05/06 kRO Patch, it is the main city of the Arunafeltz religious country. It appears to be a desert town based on Arabian culture, possibly Turkey. It is surrounded by the desert-scened Arunafeltz Fields. Not far is the illusive Ice Dungeon, with monsters that fit the environment. It has now been implemented completely to kRO on July 10, 2006 (July 11 Korea) as the capital of the country Arunafeltz.

iRO name = Rael /Arnafeltz

St. Capitolina Abbey

A small, solemn collection of shrines east by northeast of Prontera, where the Monk class may be found.

Umbala

A lost village located to the north of Comodo. Home of the self-denominated Utan tribe, and the Yggdrasil Tree, the only path to Niflheim without a teleport. Added to iRO in November 2004.

Music

The background music of Ragnarok Online currently consists of 96 individual tracks, composed and arranged by Lee Seock-Jin, Kwon Goo-Hee, Kwok Dong-Il, Jang Seong-Woon, Park Jin-Bae, and Park Soo-Il of Sound TeMP; and recorded and mixed by Kwon Goo-Hee, Hong Seong-Ho, also of Sound TeMP, and Park Chang-Su of Hankook Recording Studio. Similarly to the game itself, the game's music spans a wide variety of genres and musical styles, including trance, techno, jazz, rock, and orchestral. Although the track numbers go up to 97, a track 32 does not apparently exist.

A limited edition physical two-disc original soundtrack album titled The memory of RAGNAROK will also be released, although at this point in time, it appears to be closer to a best-of album. The album will also feature vocal arrangements of certain pieces, performed by Lee Seung-Yeon, Lee Jeong-Hee, and Seo Ji-Hae. The album's booklet will feature text in Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese.

The album's page is currently taking preorders. A site account is required to reserve a copy. Along with purchase, a player's account will be allowed to obtain the special "Note Headgear," which resembles oversized headphones. Additionally, drawings will be held to give away the Ghostring, Devilring, and Evil Snake Lord Cards.

Conduct

The official rules of conduct is posted on various RO's websites. The rules of conduct for iRO can be found at official website.

• Shorthand messages like "heal plz", "Buff plz" and requests for rare items, cash, adoptions or "tanks" are common, but are disliked by many players.

• Bots are against the rules of most servers. A bot is a computer program that effectively plays the game for the player. Therefore, the bot enables a character to obtain levels and items without the player even being at the computer. Certain companies running officially licensed servers appear to ignore the use of bots, allegedly in order to maintain their steady income. Many players despise the use of bots and will actively try to find bots and report them to the GameMasters. In most versions of Ragnarok Online, getting caught botting will result in a permanent ban on all known accounts immediately.

• Third-part programs that allow for a rapid succession of item or skill use are called macros. These are sometimes plugins for bot programs, and are illegal but are nevertheless used by many players, especially those looking for a cheap advantage in War of Emperium. Another example are so-called "speed hacks" and "packeting".

• Kill-stealing of common monsters or mini-bosses is against the rules and will result in suspension of account. Kill-stealing is defined as attacking monsters that are already engaged with another player. The same applies to looting, where one player takes all the dropped items from another player's kill. Neither of these rules apply to any monsters marked as MVP (Monster Versus Player), which are boss monsters. In many places with a high, disorientating concentration of enemies, such as Orc Dungeon, kill-stealing is common and usually pardoned.

• Private servers are, in the end, illegal in many countries. Some use pirated copies of Gravity's server software, AEGIS. Most private servers use reverse engineered server emulators such as Vidar, Athena (jAthena varients; most popularly eAthena), Prometheus SVN, Freya, and its many variants. These emulators, just as is the case with AEGIS, are not legal as they are product of reverse engineering and theft of intellectual property as well as blatant copyright infringement including but not limited to packet structure and utilizing Gravity's game client. Regardless of legal issues, many private servers have well over 1,000 users playing at any given time, often advertising features such as control panel websites, higher drop rates or Base and Job experience than pay-to-play servers, and spend a great deal of money to maintain them, and are often largely member-supported. Because the Korean version of Ragnarok Online is in a more advanced state of development than the other versions, due to its company being based in Korea, Gravity KR has blocked non Korean IP's from downloading from their official website. Unfortunately for them, many private server players bypass this block by using South Korean proxies to download from the site. Gravity also has not blocked IP's from downloading patches for kRO and Sakray, leaving private server players free to continue playing.

• Game account hacking. This is easily done by installing stealth key loggers on the player's computer. Beware of playing in internet cafés, as the risk that the workstations might be infected by these software is relatively high. Remote installation of key loggers can also be easily done by including a Trojan Horse in a package such as a *.ZIP or *.RAR file disguised as utilities like bots and speed-hacks. There are other ways to steal accounts on private servers, as users are often not very cautious or conservative of their account information.

Cheating

Cheating in Ragnarok Online servers is actually very common outside servers managed by Gravity (licensees tend to be much more lenient to botters or cheaters).

Serious offenses

Methods of serious cheating includes.

• The usage of bots to level or collect items.
• Using an MVP (boss) detector to hunt boss characters.
• Using a speed hack to speed up the character's attack.
• Hexing the game's client to allow the player to open 2 RO program at the same time. Usually referred to as "multi-clienting," this allows players to log into two different accounts at once, although many people use this to utilize all their accounts simultaneously without buying another computer.
• Hexing the game's client to allow damage to be shown in guild wars, or to detect characters using the skills Hide, Cloaking, or Chase Walk.
• Impersonating a GameMaster or Gravity official, or even creating a character with any letters, or words related to the GM staff, such as iRO_ RO_ Gm_.

These offenders are usually punished with a ban, especially in iRO and by other licencees. As an example, the company that holds the franchise for pRO in the Philippines, Level Up! Games, Inc., had difficulties in trying to stop "botting", real-life currency to virtual item trading, scamming, hacking, impersonation of GM's and other forms of cheating since the rules set up for the game were too general, and it was hard to predict player reaction and activity due to the fact that the game is online. There have also been allegations of "inside-jobs" amidst several Game Master resignations and/or AWOLs, although the company has consistently denied this. As the company, game and community grew, rules were revised and more stringent policies and sanctions were implemented. To date, players caught and proven to be violating the rules will have their account either banned for a certain period of time, items wiped out or character leveled down, or account deleted- depending on the gravity and seriousness of the case. However, despite these efforts, various game violations are still rampant due to the difficulty of monitoring activities taking place outside the game.

In order to improve the game and lessen the occurrence of these violations, licensees like Level Up! try to make changes to the game every now and then (in the form of patches)- either by changing the game server's addresses so that it would me more difficult for bot clients to access the games, and other activities like in-game or live events wherein players can either trade their used game cards, and answer trivia questions and complete quests administered by GM's, to win merchandise and in-game items instead of purchasing them through real-life currencies. [1] But it must also be noted that the offenders continually set up countermeasures to deter the new policies of the licensees.

As for hacking, most online games these days now implement the "no-hack compensation" policy, wherein gamers are now given responsibility for their own accounts. When online games started, players used to be compensated either with the character, lost item or zeny being given back. However, due to the proven fact that it would be very difficult to prove and disprove that a player was indeed hacked, most licensees left the case of hacking to the authorities, since most often, the act is in violation of a certain country/area's government laws as well.

Minor offenses

Minor offenses include:

• Attacking a monster (either a mini-boss or normal monster) already engaged in combat with a player, known as kill-stealing even if the monster is not killed. KS-ing an MVP (boss monster) is usually considered acceptable.
• Leading a multitude of monsters to another player, followed by rapidly leaving the area (e.g. by Teleporting or using a Butterfly Wing) or causing the monsters to stop targeting the perpetrator (e.g. by Hiding or Cloaking); the victim will most likely be surprised, overwhelmed and killed; this is known as luring.
• Gathering a multitude of monsters on purpose by a player to increase the amount of experienced gained, which is known as mob training.
• Use of vulgar language
• Harassing another player

Server types

Sakray

Sakray is a term most commonly used to distinguish between the various Korean Ragnarok Online computer servers. The Sakray server is a "test" server, where new features, content, and bug-fixes are tested on a large scale with thousands of users before being placed into a package suitable for licensing to other companies. While the Sakray game servers are mostly stable, it is accepted that the entire virtual world housed within them may change at any time based solely upon the whim of the Gravity Corp. development team.

Urdr

Urdr is the name of the player-killing enabled server created on kRO. Several other licensed versions of the game now also feature an Urdr server.

Parodies

VG Cats has several comic strips dedicated to RO, namely "Working On Your Knees", "Cat's Got Your...Oh Wait...", "Helm, The Other White Meat" and "Magic Beans" (strips 66 and 76, respectively.)

See also

• Ragnarok The Animation, an Anime
• Ragnarok Flash Animation, a cartoon by Gameflier
• Gravity Corp.
• Level Up! Games
• Ragnarok, a Manhwa
• Poring
• Ragnarok Online 2
• Ragnarok Battle Offline

External link

• Ragnarok Online global portal
• RagnaInfo.net Largest international community portal

Game archive and review sites

• Ragnarok Online at MobyGames
• Ragnarok Online at GameFaqs
• Ragnarok Online at Metacritic