Ragnarok Online
Encyclopedia
Ragnarok Online often referred to as RO, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game
or MMORPG created by GRAVITY Co., Ltd. based on the manhwa
Ragnarok
by Lee Myung-jin. It was first released in South Korea
on 31 August 2002 for Microsoft Windows
and has since been released in many other locales around the world. The game has spawned an animated series, Ragnarok the Animation
, and a sequel game, Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of The Second
, is in development. Player characters exist in a world with a player environment that gradually changes with the passage of time. Major changes in the features and history of the world take place as episodes in the RO timeline. Player characters interact in a 3D environment but are represented by 2D character sprites for front, back, side and diagonal facings.
Ragnarok Online is divided into a series of maps, each of which has its own terrain and native monsters, though many monsters are present in multiple regions. Transportation between maps requires loading the new map and monsters are unable to travel from one map to another.
There are three major nations in Ragnarok Online, the first of which and where all players start is Rune Midgard. The Schwaltzvalt Republic, an industrialized neighbor to the North, was added in Episode 10 and Arunafeltz, a religious nation is the subject of Episode 11.
Areas from Norse mythology are included, such as Niflheim
, the land of the dead, and Valhalla
, where players can become Transcendent Classes. New map content is constantly being added to game in the form of Episode updates.
Recently, all of the official Ragnarok Online servers
are undergoing massive game system changes, which has been titled "Renewal". Renewal brings along a lot of changes to current game mechanics, perhaps the biggest ones being the revamping of the stat system, by changing what each stat does and what it affects, and also the introduction of 3rd Classes. There are various other changes that come with Renewal, including interface
and hotkey alterations, as well as skill changes.
Renewal has different versions, according to the server it is being implemented in. The 2 major versions are called the kRO (Korea
n Ragnarok Online) and jRO (Japan
ese Ragnarok Online), titled after the server in which the version was created. The differences between each version were made by the corresponding branch of Gravity
in order to please their players, rather than having an overall brand of Renewal, which might only please a minority.
. Additionally, numerous equipment are exclusive to particular classes.
All players start as a "novice". As the name implies, the novice is a tutorial job that allows a new player to get the general feel of the game. Upon reaching a certain level (dependent on their desired job), a player has 3 options: 1) he/she can change into one of six "first classes" 2) choose one of the "expanded classes", or 3) become a "Super Novice". Upon reaching another level goal, first classes can change into a "second class". It should be noted that each separate first class allows two options for a second class. For example, the "Swordsman" (first class) can become either a "Knight" or a "Crusader". Once a player reaches base level 99 and job level 50, they can "rebirth" their character (not applicable to expansion classes and Super Novices). A rebirth brings a character back to base level 1 and job level 1. Reborn characters generally work the same as regular characters up until the second class. Instead of a second class, reborn characters can become a "transcendent second class", a job which has more "skills" and a larger number of "status points" to work with compared to second classes. The experience curve for transcendent jobs is significantly higher.
Korean servers added a third job class that can be reached from either a second job character or a rebirthed transcendent second job character. If the player skips rebirth and transcendance (and the time spent thereof) to go directly into the third job class, the skills and stat bonuses acquired through transcendance cannot be retroactively obtained.
A player will evolve and change jobs multiple times over the course of playing, though the number of changes will be determined by choices made by the player.
and Hankook Recording Studio, with some tracks by NEOCYON and others. The game's music spans a wide variety of genre
s and musical styles, including trance
, techno
, jazz
, rock
, and orchestral. New tracks are added to the soundtrack as with every new area added to the game world.
"The memory of RAGNAROK" Ragnarok Online Original Sound Track is a best-of soundtrack
album
featuring background music in addition to remixes and vocal arrangements of certain pieces. The game's official theme song, "You & I," is also included. It was developed by
SoundTeMP and released by Gravity in 2006. The album features vocal arrangements of certain pieces, performed by Lee Seung-Yeon, Lee Jeong-Hee and Seo Ji-Hae. The album's booklet features text in Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese. This is a Two-Disc set and is available online from Amazon.
. Depending on the version, users can pay by a monthly subscription or buy pre-paid cards.
shops have become an increasingly favored revenue stream over monthly subscriptions for online multiplayer games, especially in the Asian MMO market. As such, the Kafra Shop (an Item Mall) was added to iRO (International Ragnarok Online) on June 19, 2007. Users are able to purchase Kafra Credit Points with U.S. dollars as a currency for the special items limited to the Kafra Shop.
This service appears on most other localized servers of Ragnarok Online such as jRO (Japanese Ragnarok Online), mRO (Malaysian Ragnarok Online), pRO (Philippine Ragnarok Online), rRO (Russian Ragnarok Online) and kRO (Korean Ragnarok Online), using the currency of the respective countries for points. In addition, upgraded forms of normal equipment can be rented using Kafra Points.
The use of free servers has resulted in a higher reliance on the Kafra Shop item mall for revenue stream. Many localized versions of Ragnarok Online have implemented free servers during 2007-2008.
allowing players to experience the game on the road. Each version focuses on the main aspect of the super novice, acolyte, thief, merchant, mage, archer, gunslinger, taekwon, ninja, and swordman class based on the version of the game they have. Players are able to advance their characters using the attributes STR, AGI, VIT, LUK, INT, and DEX. Though not placed in the server, players control their character and complete a series of quests or tasks. As players earn zeny, (the in-game currency
), they are able to send the zeny to their real accounts. Along with that, a ranking
is present where characters are ranked by the amount of zeny the character has.
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
or MMORPG created by GRAVITY Co., Ltd. based on the manhwa
Manhwa
Manhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons . Outside of Korea, the term usually refers specifically to South Korean comics. The term, along with manga, is a cognate of the Chinese manhua...
Ragnarok
Ragnarok (manhwa)
is a manhwa created by Lee Myung-jin and published by Daiwon C.I. in South Korea. There are currently 10 volumes in circulation, published in English in North America by Tokyopop from May 21, 2002 to April 6, 2004....
by Lee Myung-jin. It was first released in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
on 31 August 2002 for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and has since been released in many other locales around the world. The game has spawned an animated series, Ragnarok the Animation
Ragnarok The Animation
Ragnarok the Animation is an anime and aenimeisyeon series based on the MMORPG Ragnarok Online, produced in the first quarter of 2004 and was broadcast on TV Tokyo of Japan. In 2005, it was broadcast on SBS in Korea. It has 26 episodes...
, and a sequel game, Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of The Second
Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of the Second
Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of The Second is an upcoming remake of Ragnarok Online 2: The Gate of the World the MMORPG created by Gravity Corp...
, is in development. Player characters exist in a world with a player environment that gradually changes with the passage of time. Major changes in the features and history of the world take place as episodes in the RO timeline. Player characters interact in a 3D environment but are represented by 2D character sprites for front, back, side and diagonal facings.
Setting
There are three major nations in Ragnarok Online, the first of which and where all players start is Rune Midgard. The Schwaltzvalt Republic, an industrialized neighbor to the North, was added in Episode 10 and Arunafeltz, a religious nation is the subject of Episode 11.
Areas from Norse mythology are included, such as Niflheim
Niflheim
Niflheim is one of the Nine Worlds and is a location in Norse mythology which overlaps with the notions of Niflhel and Hel...
, the land of the dead, and Valhalla
Valhalla
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...
, where players can become Transcendent Classes. New map content is constantly being added to game in the form of Episode updates.
Recently, all of the official Ragnarok Online servers
Game server
A game server is a remotely or locally run server used by game clients to play multiplayer video games. Most video games played over the Internet operate via a connection to a game server...
are undergoing massive game system changes, which has been titled "Renewal". Renewal brings along a lot of changes to current game mechanics, perhaps the biggest ones being the revamping of the stat system, by changing what each stat does and what it affects, and also the introduction of 3rd Classes. There are various other changes that come with Renewal, including interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
and hotkey alterations, as well as skill changes.
Renewal has different versions, according to the server it is being implemented in. The 2 major versions are called the kRO (Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n Ragnarok Online) and jRO (Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Ragnarok Online), titled after the server in which the version was created. The differences between each version were made by the corresponding branch of Gravity
Gravity Interactive
Founded in March 2003, Gravity Interactive LLC was created to host games for North America developed by GRAVITY Co., Ltd.. It is based in Marina del Rey near Los Angeles, California. Gravity was initially provided with several servers from Gravity Co., and began beta testing of the International...
in order to please their players, rather than having an overall brand of Renewal, which might only please a minority.
Job system
"Jobs" are one of the most important aspects of Ragnarok Online. The job a player chooses will determine his or her strengths and weaknesses both in a party and outside of one. The job system initially consisted of 13 classes, which has increased to over 50 via several updates. Each class specializes in certain skills corresponding to archetypes in a role-playing gameRole-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
. Additionally, numerous equipment are exclusive to particular classes.
All players start as a "novice". As the name implies, the novice is a tutorial job that allows a new player to get the general feel of the game. Upon reaching a certain level (dependent on their desired job), a player has 3 options: 1) he/she can change into one of six "first classes" 2) choose one of the "expanded classes", or 3) become a "Super Novice". Upon reaching another level goal, first classes can change into a "second class". It should be noted that each separate first class allows two options for a second class. For example, the "Swordsman" (first class) can become either a "Knight" or a "Crusader". Once a player reaches base level 99 and job level 50, they can "rebirth" their character (not applicable to expansion classes and Super Novices). A rebirth brings a character back to base level 1 and job level 1. Reborn characters generally work the same as regular characters up until the second class. Instead of a second class, reborn characters can become a "transcendent second class", a job which has more "skills" and a larger number of "status points" to work with compared to second classes. The experience curve for transcendent jobs is significantly higher.
Korean servers added a third job class that can be reached from either a second job character or a rebirthed transcendent second job character. If the player skips rebirth and transcendance (and the time spent thereof) to go directly into the third job class, the skills and stat bonuses acquired through transcendance cannot be retroactively obtained.
A player will evolve and change jobs multiple times over the course of playing, though the number of changes will be determined by choices made by the player.
Audio
The background music of Ragnarok Online currently consists of over 100 individual tracks, composed, arranged, recorded and mixed by SoundTeMPSoundTeMP
SoundTeMP is a Korean team of video game music composers. Formed in 1992, they have been creating soundtracks for MMORPG computer games. By 2002, their work in Ragnarok Online made them famous...
and Hankook Recording Studio, with some tracks by NEOCYON and others. The game's music spans a wide variety of genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s and musical styles, including trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
, techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and orchestral. New tracks are added to the soundtrack as with every new area added to the game world.
"The memory of RAGNAROK" Ragnarok Online Original Sound Track is a best-of soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
featuring background music in addition to remixes and vocal arrangements of certain pieces. The game's official theme song, "You & I," is also included. It was developed by
SoundTeMP and released by Gravity in 2006. The album features vocal arrangements of certain pieces, performed by Lee Seung-Yeon, Lee Jeong-Hee and Seo Ji-Hae. The album's booklet features text in Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese. This is a Two-Disc set and is available online from Amazon.
Licensing
While Ragnarok Online is both developed and run by Gravity in South Korea, its various official overseas versions are licensed and run by regional ventures. This has led to a multitude of regional differences in the game, such as localized or translated text, special in-game events, and the payment model.P2P servers
The original payment model, pay to playPay to Play
Pay to play, sometimes pay for play, is a phrase used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities...
. Depending on the version, users can pay by a monthly subscription or buy pre-paid cards.
Kafra Shop
Microtransactions and virtual freemiumFreemium
Freemium is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services...
shops have become an increasingly favored revenue stream over monthly subscriptions for online multiplayer games, especially in the Asian MMO market. As such, the Kafra Shop (an Item Mall) was added to iRO (International Ragnarok Online) on June 19, 2007. Users are able to purchase Kafra Credit Points with U.S. dollars as a currency for the special items limited to the Kafra Shop.
This service appears on most other localized servers of Ragnarok Online such as jRO (Japanese Ragnarok Online), mRO (Malaysian Ragnarok Online), pRO (Philippine Ragnarok Online), rRO (Russian Ragnarok Online) and kRO (Korean Ragnarok Online), using the currency of the respective countries for points. In addition, upgraded forms of normal equipment can be rented using Kafra Points.
F2P servers
There are official "Free To Play" servers where players can play Ragnarok Online free of charge, with a few differences in game play. Major differences are the limited use of the Kafra Teleport service, upgrading weapons and armor never have a "safe zone" in which the player cannot break the Weapon/Armor, items have had their costs changed or been removed entirely from the game, the Acolyte skill Teleport has been modified, and prices on certain NPC items received a moderate increase. Notably, characters may be any job class, access any map, attain all skills, wear any gear, and progress to all levels without payment of microtransaction fees. Changes vary from server to server. Some free to play servers also provide premium account plans with various ingame benefits.The use of free servers has resulted in a higher reliance on the Kafra Shop item mall for revenue stream. Many localized versions of Ragnarok Online have implemented free servers during 2007-2008.
Ragnarok Mobile
Gravity Co. Ltd. released 8 separate games for the mobile phoneMobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
allowing players to experience the game on the road. Each version focuses on the main aspect of the super novice, acolyte, thief, merchant, mage, archer, gunslinger, taekwon, ninja, and swordman class based on the version of the game they have. Players are able to advance their characters using the attributes STR, AGI, VIT, LUK, INT, and DEX. Though not placed in the server, players control their character and complete a series of quests or tasks. As players earn zeny, (the in-game currency
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
), they are able to send the zeny to their real accounts. Along with that, a ranking
Ranking
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either 'ranked higher than', 'ranked lower than' or 'ranked equal to' the second....
is present where characters are ranked by the amount of zeny the character has.
See also
- Gravity Corp., the game's developer
- RagnarokRagnarok (manhwa)is a manhwa created by Lee Myung-jin and published by Daiwon C.I. in South Korea. There are currently 10 volumes in circulation, published in English in North America by Tokyopop from May 21, 2002 to April 6, 2004....
, a manhwaManhwaManhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons . Outside of Korea, the term usually refers specifically to South Korean comics. The term, along with manga, is a cognate of the Chinese manhua...
that served as basis for the game - Ragnarok The AnimationRagnarok The AnimationRagnarok the Animation is an anime and aenimeisyeon series based on the MMORPG Ragnarok Online, produced in the first quarter of 2004 and was broadcast on TV Tokyo of Japan. In 2005, it was broadcast on SBS in Korea. It has 26 episodes...
, an animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
based on the game - Ragnarok Online 2, a sequel to the game
- Ragnarok Battle OfflineRagnarok Battle OfflineRagnarok Battle Offline, or RBO, is a beat 'em up game for Microsoft Windows created by dōjin soft developer French-Bread. The soundtrack is composed by Raito of Lisa-Rec...
, a doujin brawler - Ragnarok DS, a Nintendo DSNintendo DSThe is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
game based on the MMORPG
Reviews
- Ragnarok Online at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
- Ragnarok Online at Arabmmo