Review

I found, to my surprise, that most people in ROSE are pretty decent people, at least online. No one tried to steal items or money from monsters I'd defeated, or tried to PK(player-kill) my character, or even heckle me all that much. So after I got over being all silent and broody and started talking with people, I had a lot more fun. ROSE has a nice, pretty laid back community of clans, and I chatted with a couple of clan members that seemed genuinely interested in what I was asking about the game and about how they felt about it. One random person who I didn't even know dropped me off some armor and a helmet from their cart while I was trudging across a desert, and yet another person made me a dashing beret to wear. Not because I had anything of value, just because. I think that's awesome. (Thanks, CrayolaFX and Random Cart Driver!)

           

The battle system in ROSE is pretty bare-bones. Left click enemies to select and attack, and utilize your F-keys(you have 4 sets) to cast special skills and spells. You can use items in the middle of a battle, which is nice, because you're going to need them: some of these monsters have almost unfair critical hit counters. More than once I've been left furiously clicking away at a piece of fruit because some dewy-eyed raccoon sucker-punched me after a long pattern of predictable hits.

 

This leads me to the other thing about ROSE that intrigues me: its storyline is set up in such a way that there is no neat and tidy one-shot answer to your quests. It is quite happy to string you along on one quest only to lead to an abrupt dead end in the story, with a few vague clues about what is to be done next. And string you along it will. Its disappointing at first to see that you've put in all that work for seemingly nothing, but the promise of a solution looming on the horizon is usually enough to encourage you to set aside your reservations and plunge ahead.

 

The time in between quests is by far the most tedious part. Leveling up without the addition of bonuses given at the end of certain quests is long, repetitive process, and can be frought with frustration if you're in an area with monsters that are a titch too difficult for one player. Just because this isn't geared towards hard-core players doesn't mean its mind-numbingly easy. I died several times before I settled into the controls, and on the newbie island I saw quite a few around me falling prey to initial clumsiness. Navigating ROSE is a trial at times since even tiny amounts of lag can send you doing 180s over the same spot of terrain until you settle in the right location. There is no easy way to move around at lower levels in ROSE. It's all click and go here, click and go here, until you get where you need to go. Which is a real shame, because it would have been a heck of a lot easier and less tedious to point a joystick in the direction you wanted to go. Alas, no luck.

 

I'd have to say I really learned something from this game. While its colorful and cutesy style might not be typical of all or even most MMOs, the enjoyment I had adventuring with other players is probably common. Most people, really, are pretty decent. The only real complaint I have about ROSE is that it stretches on and on with no end in sight. Which, I'm told, is the point of MMO's, but I'm half English major and I'd like a little plot resolution once in a while.

 

But I guess that perpetual adventuring is like real life too.

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