Do not write off FreeRealms as a kid’s only game, think of it as a whole family game.
The target group are tweens and early teens, but there is plenty of games, quests, professions that would interest those above and beyond. Take me for instance, I am in my 40’s and I am looking forward to release of FreeRealms. I had my Sixteen year old try the game and he enjoyed it and said he would like to play it again with me.
I know some just might not like it, and that is fine but before you decide FreeRealms is not for you, you really need to try it. I have found though, that playing FreeRealms is relaxing, non stressful and very fun! There is plenty of little things to make you smile and although the scenery is very colorful, it is also very beautiful.
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The world is alive with animals, cows that bump you when your not looking and NPC’s who are interacting with each other, so pay attention to everything around you.
Some of the laughter I have found in FreeRealms was stopping long enough to see what these NPC’s were chatting about.
The world has been thought out very well and there are many little touches every where in this game which give it that fluid polished feel.
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The day my beta invite came in my email was an exciting one for me, I have been curious about FreeRealms since it was presented last year. Unlike other games I have beta tested, there was no day long download to do before I could play, it was very quick and simple. There was a very small down load to get and install, then I was ready to use my browser to enter the game. You simply go to FreeRealms.com and log in, create a character for your self, ( current choices are humans and pixies for now). Then click the big green PLAY NOW button, another window opens and you are in the game.
There is a quick tutorial to introduce you to some of the controls and mechanics, then once in the main world you have a “introduce your self” type quest which will expose you to some of the different professions which are offered in the game. After that, you are FREE to do as you wish, which is the key to FREE-Realms!
As for my self, I have become very used to games where there is a progression of sorts through the different areas. Where you have to do quests in an area to progress to other areas, this is not the case in FreeRealms. You are Free to explore the world, which is quite large and open, meaning you can travel from one end to the other without having to zone. The current map shows many other area’s already planned for FreeRealms, which really makes this an extensive world. You are Free to play mini games, or work on a profession or play the TCG game.
The choice is yours! There is no set paths you have to follow in order to have fun in FreeRealms.
They do have quest lines which are geared to helping you advance in a given profession, and people you will need to seek out to start a profession, but the thing is you are Free to do this at any time!
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There is no waiting or need to level up before you can start one. You are also not limited in the number of professions you wish to take on either. The only limitations you will find are between what is offered for “free play” and “membership only”, and I will get into that later on here.
A break down of a day of adventure in freerealms:
I pop into the world and take a look at my quest journal to see where I might have left off or if any of the quests which I have picked up is something I want to do at this time.
I decide that I want to work on my Brawler skills a bit and bring up a quest that I have for that. I don’t have to do this quest if I wish to work on my Brawler skills, I can enter any of the combat instances that are offered. Some are just mobs who wander around while others are preset areas.
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The active quest then shows me a green dotted path to the place I need to go, there is also directional arrows and a shaft of light to lead the way.
Once there I can click and bring up the objectives for this instance and see how hard it might be. It takes only a few moments to zone in and I am ready to fight. Now if my son was online he would have been offered to come with me because we had started a group with each other.
Nice thing about grouping, you can group with 4 other people and always stay grouped!! Once the group is formed, it will remain there until you leave it. Logging out or if the worse happens, crashing out, you can still come back and find your self still in the group. Also if you or one of those in the group enter a combat instance, everyone is offered the choice to go, your not just sucked in. The neatest part of this is that once your done, you are returned to the same spot you left!!
Outside of getting coin and items for completing a combat instance you also get stars and vault vouchers.
The stars are used to increase your skills in one of your combat skills. The stars you gain in a profession are used to increase that skills in that profession by transferring the stars to the skill. The stars you get while in Brawler form, you can use in that profession and what ever you gain while working on your Ninja is used only for your Ninja skills.
This was something I did not learn about till later when I was checking out what everything did on my UI. Most is self explanatory and just needs a bit of exploring to figure out. Some parts like the shards, ( which I am still trying to figure out ) when I get anything that fits here I do place them.
The vault vouchers can be used by traveling to Sanctuary and heading down under the bridge to the vault area.
One side is for free accounts the other is for member accounts.
You enter and pay out 60 vouchers, a wizard will then summon chests for you to open in a set time period, so the more you can open the more you can get and there is some large chests he will call forth. It is a neat and fun way to gain gold coins and items.
Now what to do?
I scan through my quests and decide I just want to go play one of the many mini games to pick from, like tower defender.
Oh what the heck I have not really worked on any of my mining skills so off I go to Snowhill and up into the mines to play the mining game.
As soon as I click on the mini game I automatically change outfits and profession.
This goes for just about any part of the game, if I go into battle I will change into the last fighter class profession I was using. Doing some cooking? I change into my Chef outfit.
The only time I have not found this true is when I go to train my pet. I need to open up my profession window and click on pet trainer. Once properly dressed can I train my pet and increase his trick skills and further my self along the path of pet trainer. I did write up a guide to pet training which will show up over on Thebrasse.com some time in the near future.
I will say this about pets and pet training. It is something you should put off doing for a while. Explore the world first, gain some coin because its not cheap keeping up a pet with feeding and bathing. The supplies are costly and when you got other items to buy such as healing and mana potions, cooking supplies, other cool looking outfit or gear, you will find your self running short of funds in no time.
Geez…I wonder what my friends are doing?
It is very easy to keep track of friends in FreeRealms. Once a person is on your friends list you will be alerted that they have come into game. You can whisper to them, teleport to them and also see where any of your friends are in game, they show up on the map for you.
Why pay a membership if I can play for free?
There is none! There is plenty offered at the free play level to keep anyone very busy for many months. But..for a meager $5 bucks a month you can do so very much more. There is more professions which open to you, more quests, higher level mini games to play. For those of you out there with Station Pass, your already at membership status!! You also get more slots for characters!
I know I will be getting a membership, just so I can try out the archery profession. Being a long time ranger from Everquest, Everquest 2 and even a Hunter in WoW ( closest thing to the Ranger class), if it shoots a bow, I am all over it! I will be doing a review and guide to Archery just as soon as I can get my hot little pixie hands on it.
Currently FreeRealms is still in invite beta stage but very soon it will be in open beta for everyone to try. Just visit the page, install the small executable file, sign up and head on in. Really, this game is perfect for young , first time gamers, and us old gamers. It is perfect for those who are casual gamers who just don’t have a lot of time to devote to playing a on line game. I would encourage everyone to at least give FreeRealms a try, I am positive you will be surprised at what fun and entertainment you will discover there!
