Choose My Adventure: Quartet edition
It's that time again, ladies and gentlemen. After three rounds of letting my fate be chosen by the whims of my readers, I have chosen to do the exact same thing all over again. I'm getting back in the big seat and running through Choose My Adventure with a new list of games, a new set of bonus polls, and a new set of whatever else people expect when I do these columns.
Plus, while the third installment usually has a lot of pressure, the fourth installment is rarely assumed to be anything special. So I feel as if I'm off the hook.
This time around, I'm putting in some old favorites, some candidates that are often voted for but never make the prime time, and some games that might just raise some eyebrows. So let's meet our contestants past the break, and get your votes in here by Friday, March 1st!
Out of all the games on the list, Star Trek Online is the one I've played the most, having grabbed it shortly after launch and getting lost in it for a while. I really like the franchise, I enjoy the implementation that STO has, and I would happily dive back in for another round of Federation-based adventure. I also may be willing to date every single installment with an appropriate stardate.
Yes, I realize that when people talk about Dungeons & Dragons and MMOs at the moment, this is not the new hotness. But it's still going strong, it's still being updated, and it was one of the first games to try switching to the free-to-play model while actually making it work. So maybe it's past time to give the game another round of play.
Allods Online is an odd beast, a game that was widely considered to have subscription-level production values in a time when not everything in the world was free-to-play. It then proceeded to kill a lot of that goodwill by adding some cash shop practices that were beyond restrictive. But that was years ago, and it's more than worth another look. Or a first look, in my case.
If I am to believe some of my co-workers, EverQuest II would be a game that I would love if only I'd ever play it. Unfortunately, my general apathy toward the game's art direction and lore has kept me from ever being too interested. Then again, it's not up to me to decide that the game is what I should play this time around, and it has almost won twice now.
It's unfair to talk about games that put free-to-play on the map without bringing up Runes of Magic. A lot of the furor around the game has died down now, but it still has a solid population and doesn't look to be going anywhere soon. Maybe it's time for it to get its day in the adventure-choosing sun.
I'd be lying if I said that I was a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, but Lord of the Rings Online has long been a staple in the online gaming world. Even if I'm not enraptured by the setting, I can appreciate the game for having a dedicated playerbase and a variety of cosmetic options to help players feel more engaged. Plus, it was one of our first adventure choices, so it's due for a revisit.
Unlike the other items on this list, Aion doesn't have much hold over me one way or the other. It's always been there, intriguing but never enough so that I've felt the need to play it. Perhaps now my horrible apathy will finally be overcome and I'll be jumping into the game wings-first.
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Eliot Lefebvre has been choosing his own adventures for a while now, but now it's time for him to head back to the front lines of Choose My Adventure, the Massively column where you make the choices about what our writer will be doing each week. Come back each Wednesday for a new installment and a new set of choices!
