Since there isn’t a Rakion category, I’m putting this under Gunbound. Rakion isn’t even technically a MMO, for reasons I don’t exactly understand, but it’s still a multiplayer online game. And that’s good enough for me. If it isn’t good for you, go be emo in Underground Altar or something.

Anyway, onto the blog.

Nexon is to MS/Mabinogi as Softnyx is to Gunbound/Rakion.
Comprenden?

So I shall proceed to… talk about Softnyx.

1) Grammar

That’s right – whenever you talk about a Korean game company, the first thing you absolutely must do is pick on their grammar. Right?
…okay, maybe not, but I’m going to anyway.

Three words: see for yourself.

What gets me is that they misspell a word (namely, sowrd and extream) and then go on to spell the same word correctly later.

The grammar in-game is a little bit better, but some of the in-game notices have… strange wording (I have a hunch that they would be correct Korean syntax).

As for Nexon’s grammar…

No way, Nexon actually did something correctly?
Well, it is Nexon America we’re talking about here. They have plenty of native English speakers working for them, right?

2) Bugs and Hackers

Oh boy.

I’ve never played Gunbound, but Rakion is FULL of glitches and the like. It’s also full of hackers. Softnyx does next to nothing about hackers, at least in my knowledge; it just lets us rely on the kick system to boot them from games. Whee.
At the very least, the kick system does get rid of them (though some hackers have anti-kick). It isn’t perfect though – sometimes the hacker IS the game master, and sometimes the hacker is on the game master’s team and the master chooses to take advantage of it for free EXP, money, and wins.
Overall though, hackers have less of a negative effect on a game like Rakion in the first place, since you can just leave and join/make another game if you must.

3) Promises?

Recently I received this email from Softnyx.
Remind you of anything of Nexon’s? Oh yeah… this.

Though they’re about different issues, the basic idea is strikingly similar. Isn’t it?

Now, I’m sincerely hoping that Softnyx actually does do something about this, as that would put it much further than Nexon (who after three weeks still haven’t offered any compensation…) in my eyes.

4) Website URL

This isn’t really an issue, but just something I found slightly amusing.

MapleStory’s website is <http://maplestory.nexon.net>
Rakion’s website is <http://rakion.softnyx.net>

Lol.

5) Events

This is Rakion’s newest event:

(Yay, more bad grammar!)

The thing about this event is that the awards are given to everyone, and they are RANDOM items – including Power User items (which you can only buy if you’re a Power User, which you pay real money for) and I believe Cash items too. Some of them are trash, but some are actually pretty nice.

What’s the closest Nexon has gone to giving out free cash?

The allowance thing? Even if you logged in every day, you would barely get enough to buy one cheap item.
They had a few contests that gave Maple Point awards. Contests that… 20 people won, out of several million players.

So that is something Softnyx wins, even if most of the prize stuff is junk.

6) Pure awesomeness

MapleStory is a great insomnia cure. If I can’t sleep, I can log onto MS, and I’ll want to go to bed after just a few minutes of monotonous grinding.
Rakion is a great coffee substitute. I’ve stayed up till 7 AM playing Rakion without a drop of caffeine. I ended up sleeping till 2-3 in the afternoon, though.

7) PC

Rakion is racist, sexist, and every other -ist out there.

Except for equips, all swordsmen look the same.
So do all blacksmiths (who are extremely fat), all archers (who are all white, blonde, and female), all ninjas (also all female, but they have short hair so if you ignore the boobs it’s less obvious), and all mages (aka midgets).

8) What’s with the company names?

Nexon.
Softnyx.

Is X a popular letter or something?

9) Storyline? What’s a storyline?

This is about all we ever get to know about why we slaughter each other for kills all day.

It makes even less sense than MapleStory, if that’s at all possible

10) Summary

In this day and age, where Nexon’s games are becoming ever more popular, and Rakion is all but dead…
Does Softnyx suck? In some aspects, yes.
Does it suck more than Nexon? Subjective, but I wouldn’t say so. It does do some things right, after all.
Is Rakion worth playing? Most people seem to think no nowadays.
…but I like it 😡

‘n yeah. Pointless blog. My main point in all this was really just (1), which was the grammar but one thing kinda lead to another.

The sky fades from russet as I conclude.