Flyff

Flyff caries tagline “fly for fun”, which may well also be the genesis of its name. As would be expected from such an MMORPG, it has a simple defining feature: flying. The point-and-click title was first released in Korea and has since expanded to Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan. On Thursday, November 3rd it crosses the ocean as beta begins in the United States.

While the game carried a very distinct anime style, as demonstrated by screenshots, we were unfortunately unable to get a direct look due to a flaky internet connection in the convention center.

In North America, Flyff will be hosted on the new website gPotato.com, due to officially launch on November 31st; although you can reach it now. This website intends to offer Flyff without a subscription fee. Instead, they plan to employ a micro-payment model where players buy things in the game with real money.

They did make clear though that payment was not mandatory. Everything in the game could be earned through gameplay if the player chose.

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The English-language version of Flyff is essentially a straight translation of its foreign predecessors. The game itself is doing extremely well in Japan, while they are hard at work switching from a subscription model to a micro-payment model in its birthplace Korea.

As mentioned, the game both promotes flight and a point-and-click interface. This seems a contradiction in terms, but they informed me that players point to change direction while in air, while pressing a keyboard button to change elevation. On the ground, the interface is a more traditional point-and-click; a feature that is more commonly accepted overseas than in North America and could limit its appeal.

Flying as a defining feature seemed a bit flimsy. It is catchy, but would you really play an MMORPG just to fly in inventive ways? From accounts of other press who saw the game in action, they had a slew of very neat methods, but flight alone cannot make a game.

Their rep listed off other features to draw players in as leveling up (there are eighty levels), its anime style, exploration, extensive character customization and PvP while flying.

The game also features a full terrestrial MMORPG game for those players who are not too keen on heights.

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