Nin Online

otimo game, repitiliano

I found some of the mechanics really fascinating. In particular, I love the fact that you can rent houses inside the village - not in some separate, barely accessible area like in other MMOs, but right in the very center of the village, visible to everyone. I also think it’s brilliant that villages have actual elections for the mayor (Kage/Kami or whatever), who then appoints a whole set of key roles within the village (police, medical team, intelligence services, etc.). Even the exams required to rank up (from genin to chunin) are organized manually. It has fantastic RP potential, though from what I’ve seen it’s not particularly appreciated by the playerbase which, unsurprisingly, focuses more on PvP. If the game ever reached 1000+ concurrent players, I’d have doubts about the scalability of these systems, but for now it’s not an issue. Speaking of PvP, the combat isn’t completely bad (all abilities are instant or can be cast while running, there are various teleports, etc., making fights very dynamic), but the limits of a tile‑based 2D engine are obvious. It’s not always easy to tell whether an ability will hit the enemy, and hitting diagonally is impossible. On top of that, there’s the classic MMORPG PvP problem: you inevitably get smacked around by other players until you reach max level (and even then you’ll still get smacked because others have more experience, but that’s another story). The PvE side, on the other hand, is underdeveloped. Most quests are awful, asking you to kill hundreds of tiny monsters driven by laughable AI (they just walk toward you to melee you; at best, some teleport onto you every few seconds). There are some nicer quests (and I find the daily espionage ones fantastic), but they’re the exception. Leveling from 10 to 20 is pretty miserable. I know they recently added some quests to improve the experience, but I haven’t tried them. Starting from level 20, every 10 levels there’s a quest arc that gives a lot of XP. Unfortunately, these arcs aren’t particularly interesting, and they also force you to pay ryo every time you want to visit the area to do them. Which means, obviously, that if you die on your own (or get murdered by some lunatic), you have to pay again. And making money in this Ninja world isn’t exactly easy. As for the community, I found it very friendly and welcoming to new players, except for a few individuals who, in another era, would clearly be locked up in some criminal asylum (yes Sushi, I’m talking to you. How much does it excite you to kill anything that moves, including newbies who are just trying to farm? Get help). To conclude: it’s a peculiar game, and it’s very possible that someone might not like it, but I give it credit for its world‑building and village‑management aspects.