The perfect MMORPG for empty wallets and rural internet
Game: Flyff (Fly for Fun) | Developer: Gala Lab (formerly Aeonsoft) | Platform: PC | Release Date: December 2004 (in Germany in 2006) | Model: Free2Play
Mary Marx: Sure, I could also write about WoW or FF14, but I want to tell you about a very special love-hate relationship. Do you remember Fly For Fun (Flyff)? This Korean MMO was released to the world in 2004 and came to Europe in 2006. A year or two later, I must have come into the game through my sister’s friends.
Flyff was essentially an extremely simple game: Everyone started with a sort of tutorial class (Vagrant). From level 15, you could choose from four classes (Mercenary, Assist, Mage, and Acrobat), and from level 16, you could choose one of two specializations.
The story was rather shallow, and the fighting itself was not exactly groundbreaking. But back then, we had a lot of time and no money (which is now, almost 20 years later, the opposite – minus the “a lot”) and played everything we could get our hands on.
The worst part about Flyff, the reason for my love-hate relationship, was not the monotony but the negative leveling. If I died in a fight against a monster, I would lose experience points. If my negative experience points fell below zero, I would level down. This led to hours of work sometimes going down the drain with just a few mistakes.
Why do I still remember Flyff as a nice experience? It’s because of the people I played with. Not only the friends of friends, in whose guild I made myself comfortable, but also the hours-long grind sessions with my best buddy (who I recently was able to be a witness at his wedding).
It was simply perfect for relaxing. Moreover, Flyff was probably the only online game that ran somewhat smoothly with my best friend’s rural ISDN connection.
On the next page, we continue with a touching story from Middle-earth, by MeinMMO author Ody.
