Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love

Ragnarok Online is an MMORPG, released in 2002, reaching success and popularity among many players around the world. The original Ragnarok Online (2002) was developed and published by Gravity. Due to the success and popularity of Ragnarok Online, different expansions and video games were released.

Among the expansions and games released related to Ragnarok Online, in 2018 Ragnarok M: Eternal Love was released. Ragnarok M: Eternal Love took inspiration in Ragnarok Online, while modernizing its gameplay and graphics.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Graphics

Perhaps one of the differences that brings out the most attention of players, the difference in graphics between Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love can be easily noticed. Ragnarok Online featured 2D character sprites set in a 3D environment, a graphical style often known as 2.5D graphics or sprite-based graphics. Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, on the other hand, features a completely 3D environment, in the sense that both the environment, or background, as well as the characters, are 3D. In this sense, Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is a completely 3D video game.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Art Style

Despite the graphical differences in the sense that Ragnarok Online is a 2.5D game whereas Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is a completely 3D video game, Ragnarok Online may wonder what are the differences in style between Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love. It is interesting to note that despite the graphical differences between the two games, both Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love feature a quite similar art style, or visual style. In this sense, the game characters of Ragnarok Online can be easily recognized in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love. For example, the Novice class of Ragnarok Online, which carries its characteristical backpack, also carries a backpack in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love. Town guards also have a very similar style, as well as locations, and famous monsters of Ragnarok Online, such as Poring.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Soundtrack

While Ragnarok Online is known for its typical graphical style and action RPG gameplay, Ragnarok Online is also famously known for its high-quality soundtrack. Many Ragnarok Online fans often remember their favorite soundtracks of the game. It is interesting to note that Ragnarok M: Eternal Love features the same soundtrack as Ragnarok Online, in the sense that the characteristical music that was present in Ragnarok Online can also be found in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Sound Effects

Regarding the sound effects of Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, it is interesting to note that not only is the soundtrack of Ragnarok Online present in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, but also the sound effects of Ragnarok Online are also present in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love. Some examples of identical sound effects that can be found in both games are the sound of Poring monsters, the sound of character attack animations, the sound of leveling up, among other sound effects.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Gameplay

Ragnarok Online is played from a top-down perspective, such as other action RPGs of the 2000s. In this sense, Ragnarok Online is played mostly with a mouse and keyboard, in which the player clicks with the mouse to move the game character and to attack monsters. Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, as a mobile video game, is played mostly with both hands on the touchscreen, in each one hand is used to move the game character and thte other hand is used to move the camera. This traditionally mobile gameplay experience is present in the 3D game mode. Ragnarok M: Eternal Love also featuers a 2.5D game mode, similar to the original Ragnarok Online, in which players can press once in the touchscreen to move the game character or to attack a game monster, in a gameplay style very similar to the gameplay of the original Ragnarok Online.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Camera Perspective

As mentioned in the gameplay aspect in this article, Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love feature different camera perspectives, but Ragnarok M: Eternal Love features the option to change camera perspectives. To be more precise, Ragnarok Online featured a mostly top-down camera perspective, similar to other action RPGs of the 2000s, as well as the ability to rotate the camera. However, in general, the top-down perspective was kept. Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, features a completely 3D camera, in which players are able to see the ground, the sky, and the surroundings, in the 3D mode of the game. Ragnarok M: Eternal Love also features a 2.5D game mode in which the gameplay can be played in a top-down camera perspective, much similar to the camera perspective of the original Ragnarok Online, and this camera can also be rotated while the top-down perspective is kept. It was quite thoughtful to include both of these camera modes, as players looking for an experience similar to the experience of the original Ragnarok Online will greatly enjoy the 2.5D camera mode of Ragnarok M: Eternal Love.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: UI

One important difference between Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is the difference in the UI (user interface) of each game, often referred to as the HUD (heads-up display) in video games. However, in my opinion, although the UI of Ragnarok Online and the UI of Ragnarok M: Eternal Love are different, in the sense that the UI was modernized, there is a clear similarity regarding the placement of each UI element, a detail that is greatly appreciated by veteran players of the original Ragnarok Online such as me.

Some of the UI similarities between Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love are related to the placement of some important UI elements. For example, in both Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, the HP (health points) appear in the top-left corner, the map appears in the top-right corner and the chat window appears in the bottom-left corner. Regarding these important HUD elements, there is a clear similarity and resemblance between the original Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love. In the sense that Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, a more recent game, provides the same location for important UI features, it also provides Ragnarok Online veteran players a familiar feeling when playing a new video game.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Immersion

One of the most subjective aspects to compare between different games, the immersion is also perhaps one of the most important aspects in video games. Many players enjoyed Ragnarok Online due to its role-playing game immersion, through friends, parties and guilds, as well as gameplay sound effects. It is interesting to note that Ragnarok M: Eternal Love much of the familiar gameplay of Ragnarok Online as well as its sound effects. While there is an important difference in the sense that Ragnarok Online features 2.5D graphics while Ragnarok M: Eternal Love features completely 3D  graphics, the feature to be able to completely move the camera in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, allowing players to see the sky and their surroundings, is a very useful feature regarding immersion. While Ragnarok Online features a classic gameplay and camera, Ragarok M: Eternal Love allows game characters to navigate the Ragnarok M: Eternal Love game world in a completely 3D environment. Many players who played the original Ragnarok Online wondered what it would be like to play in a completely 3D environment in the world of Rune-Midgard, and in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, they can.

Considering that Ragnarok Online features its traditional 2.5D graphics, while Ragnarok M: Eternal Love features a completely 3D environment and graphics, I would say that these two different games feature different types of immersion. Ragnarok Online features immersion in the sense of a classic game and a nostalgic experience to some, while Ragnarok M: Eternal Love features immersion in the sense of a 3D game world in which player characters can adventure, as well as nostalgic elements of the original Ragnarok Online.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: World

While Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love both feature expansive game worlds in which player characters can adventure, there are some interesting differences. Ragnarok Online is a 2.5D action RPG video game released in 2002, and its environments reflected that. Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is a 3D mobile video game released in 2018, and features a completely 3D game world in which the game characters can adventure. Perhaps due to the advancement of technology as well as the different camera perspectives featured in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, it seems to me that locations and environments in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love are much more expansive and bigger in size. In this sense, walking across Prontera in Ragnarok Online was much faster than walking across Prontera in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love. In this regard, it seems to me that the game world of Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is more expansive.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Similarities

Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love feature many similarities, such as gameplay, art style, soundtrack, sound effects, as well as visual effects, such as the characteristical portals connecting different game environments. There are many visual similarities between Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, such as town guards, Kafra NPCs (non-player characters), monsters such as Poring and Lunatic, as well as environments and locations, including major game cities such as Prontera.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Differences

While Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love feature many similarities, there are also differences between these two games. One important difference is that, at the beginning of Ragnarok Online, players are able to choose the attributes while creating game characters, while in Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, this is not possible. Another important difference is that in Ragnarok Online players firstly create their game characters, and throughout the game choose the class for that character. In Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, the character class is chosen at moment of character creation.

There are also some additions, that were not present in the original Ragnarok Online, such as weather effects. For example, it is possible to rain in Prontera, one of the major game cities of Ragnarok Online, something which was not seen in the original Ragnarok Online.

Ragnarok Online vs Ragnarok M: Eternal Love: Nostalgia

Many players remember their early days playing Ragnarok Online and have fond memories of playing with other players in parties in this MMORPG, trying to defeat strong monsters, complete quests, and create the strongest guilds. Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love are different games, but although they are different games, can they provide a similar experience to players with nostalgia of the original Ragnarok Online?

In my opinion, while Ragnarok Online is a very unique video game, Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is very efficient at providing a nostalgic experience to veteran players of the original Ragnarok Online, especially because Ragnarok M: Eternal Love features the same overall same gameplay, art style, locations, soundtrack, sound effects as the original Ragnarok Online. Due to these similarities, Ragnarok M: Eternal Love can indeed provide a nostalgic experience to veteran Ragnarok Online players.

On the other hand, while Ragnarok M: Eternal Love retains the same overall gameplay of Ragnarok Online, in the sense of fighting monsters, character development and adventuring, Ragnarok M: Eternal Love features a gameplay more similar to other 3D MMORPGs, as well as a more expansive game world, while the original Ragnarok Online, due to its 2.5D graphics and top-down gameplay, featured a different gameplay and less expansive game world. In this sense, Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok M: Eternal Love do not feature exactly the same gameplay, as they are indeed different games. However, Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is an excellent choice for fans of Ragnarok Online looking for a similar, although unique, experience.

In other words, Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is a unique video game, clearly inspired by Ragnarok Online, although with additions and improvements. Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is not the same game as Ragnarok Online, instead it is a unique video game with similarities and nostalgic aspects, and also a new experience.