Since the MMORPG genre started, countless games of this type have been released. Especially many old MMOs were quite cumbersome, and that’s also true for the first MMORPG by MeinMMO author Nico, who could only reach his highest level with a magazine.
Which old MMORPG is it about? In 2010, the MMORPG Last Chaos was released in Germany. It is a typical MMO with various classes like the Knight, the Titan, the Healer, or a simple Rogue.
In my circle of friends, Last Chaos was a big topic. Some classmates eventually convinced me to give it a try. What followed were many enjoyable hours with friends, family, and the first experiences in a pure online world.
Another old MMORPG has been granted a Reforged version after 20 years:
Last Chaos was cumbersome and had one of the most peculiar systems of all MMOs
Why was Last Chaos so cumbersome? The most important gameplay element of any MMORPG is, of course, leveling and looting. Additionally, it’s about spending time with friends or new online acquaintances. Last Chaos had a system that made leveling incredibly cumbersome. It taught me that while I like MMOs and grinding, not in the way Last Chaos wanted me to.
One of the biggest problems of the game was the lack of quests, which are usually used for leveling. In Last Chaos, the “fastest” way to reach a high level was to mindlessly hit countless monsters.
With minimal XP per defeated foe, it was an enormously time-consuming endeavor. At least that’s what I was told, as the biggest problem arose at the beginning of my journey.
The problem of skill points: To unlock skills with the class, the respective master had to be visited in a city.
With skill points (SP), the skills were then bought there, and of course, SP were earned by defeating monsters. The catch was that the SP were not sufficient during the normal leveling process to obtain all the skills needed for the endgame.
How did Last Chaos solve the problem? Instead of increasing the SP rate, there was a mechanic called “freezing.” The character was frozen by their own guild, so there was no XP left for them.
The most efficient way to farm the important SP was achieved by freezing at around level 17 to then defeat thousands of monsters in the dungeon of the desert world. The highest level at that time must have been around 90.
This mindless grind of monsters to farm SP endlessly was simply not for me – even though I really tried to like it with countless characters and in many hours of my life.
I only reached my highest level through a magazine
How did that happen? One day, I received news that the latest issue of Computer-Bild-Spiele, a magazine about gaming, contained a code for a Last Chaos character. The special thing about the character was that he started at level 35 and already had several thousand points for skills. My highest character was around level 28 after I lost interest in farming SP.
So I bought two issues with my pocket money and created one character with each. When I finally could start the actual leveling process, I realized that nothing had changed in the old grind cycle, even at this level. Continuing that for hundreds of hours was just not for me.
One of the worst MMORPGs, but still something special
Why is it so special? As mentioned at the beginning, Last Chaos was my first real online game. The first time talking to strangers via Teamspeak. The first real money spent on stupid in-game stones, which could upgrade the weapon, but with a certain chance could fail and destroy the item forever. All these were special experiences.
In the end, I was able to play Last Chaos for so long only because I had a lot of fun with my brother, cousins, and friends. That comforted me through the next boring grind.
I also learned to love MMORPGs with Last Chaos, at least the social aspect. Simply defeating monsters is still not for me today, but MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV have lured me in for several thousand hours, even though there were also initial difficulties: Final Fantasy XIV does everything at the beginning to put you off – but sticking with it is worth it!
