One of the best features at Gravity’s booth that immediately caught our eyes would have to be the RO girls. There was only one word we could think of to describe the female Mage: hot. But while some of us were taking pictures with the RO girls some others were posing with Gravity’s stuffed mascots. The giant sized poring, poporing, spore, and wormtail were so cool they almost tempted us to begin out criminal records, starting with theft. Luckily our will was held out for the duration of our stay at Gravity’s booth.

If you haven't heard of Ragnarok Online yet, it's a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) based on the comic by Myoung-jin Lee. What makes it stand out among other online games is the use of 2D sprites in a fully 3D world that features some of the best texturing seen in a game. You'll also notice the environment; instead of the stereotypical bleak and dark world seen in most games, RO has a refreshing, bright, and vibrant atmosphere. The monsters themselves are almost too cute to kill; not even Disney could make a blob of slime so cavity-inducing... cute.

For those who are familiar with RO and have played the alpha version, currently playing the beta, and awaiting beta2, you will not be disappointed with the new features. The current RO world that we all know and love will be expanded to twice its size along with the monster species. And on the same note, the monsters have also been tweaked; Gravity, wanting to make the game more challenging, has given them stronger AI (artificial intelligence). For instance, when one type of monster is being attacked, others of the same species will come to its aid and boss monsters will have their underlings guarding them. This means that players going at it alone will have plenty of difficulty, making parties almost essential when advancing through the RO world.

Current job classes will also sport upgrades; when a player meets certain requirements they can advance in their class (i.e. Acolyte = Priest, Archer = Hunter, Merchant = Blacksmith, etc). As of now only 8 new classes have been disclosed, but Ragnarok representative, Jack Yuan, has hinted that Gravity plans on making around 20+ jobs. A problem I have with this, though, is the requirement needed; a player must have a base level of 99. Considering that most monsters don't give much experience, reaching a base level of 99 is quite a daunting task. Along with that, since the job level is capped at 50, players at most can only max out 5 skills. Being an archer myself, it's not a big deal since archers only have 5 possible skills, but classes such as Magicians and Acolytes have to pick and build their skills wisely.

As many of you have already heard, monster cards will be "the most valuable items" in the RO world. They will have the ability to fortify weapon and armor strength, giving them more attack power and defense power respectively. The rarer the card the better the modification so all those players trying to sell their cards right now may want to think twice about it. Also accompanying the cards is a mini card game where people can play and bet cards as well as other items. Maybe it might run along the lines of Triad or Tetra (Final Fantasy 8 and 9) but we'll have to wait for beta2 to figure that out.

For those players who are tired of being conned, Gravity has expanded the social system in RO, which will affect the economic system of the game. Guilds can make their own rules and have the choice of working with or going against other guilds or parties. Of course what this translates to is massive PKing. Yes, we've waited long enough to be able to PK someone who's scammed us or stolen our loot or kills and now, we will be able to do so. However, it can only be done via the Arena Mode, one of three alternative modes aside from the normal one, where two guilds can duke it out in order to gain territory, but the opposition must mutually agree to it first. But if you don’t want to take it into your own hands RO will also sport a new aliment system of righteous or wicked and famed or vulgar. A player’s choice to loot or their performance in arena battles will affect where they stand on the chart and serious repercussions will follow should they fall towards the wrong path.

All in all the future of Ragnarok Online looks bright. With all the added new features it offers more than just a hack and slash game where the only goal is to advance through stages and gain levels and loot. Instead it incorporates an interactive social system that ties in the entire community giving everyone the chance to connect to others. For those not interested in fighting they’ll have the ability to just chat and socialize with friends or get married if they so desire. It seems as if there’s something for everyone in RO.