Author Topic: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)  (Read 7127 times)

RichLife

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Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« on: November 01, 2014, 05:35:34 PM »
I'm a pretty avid gamer, so I know it can turn into a costly hobby. My Steam collection aside (all bought on 50% off or more) I enjoy playing massive multiplayer games because playing by yourself does get boring after a while. I've played quite a few of them, some for longer and some just a short while. What I'm growing increasingly annoyed with though is that many keep sticking to the old subscription model. Some will not let you play at all without it, and others will make it so damn impossible you soon give up and either cash out or quit playing. Now today I want to share with you one of the rare few who doesn't do that. Sure, it has 'premium' currency, but you can perfectly go without if that is your thing. Now I'm hoping that some of you might share your own knowledge on what else it out there which I might not have discovered yet, as I do like to do some 'tourism' and explore what else is out there. It's sort of like an online vacation :)

Anyway, the game I'm playing now is called Lusternia and some of you may be shocked that this is in fact a text game. Like whoa, isn't that a bit old school? Actually, this game is surprisingly modern and in constant development. They're doing this big overhaul right now which is going to make the player versus player combat in the game a little easier to get into, but without taking away the challenge. Suffice to say I and many other players are pumped about this.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Lusternia is a big fantasy world with lots of unique story where you are a mortal person who can eventually ascend to demigodhood. There are various races to play, you have different organizations (cities or communes) your character can live in, and within that there are several guilds to pick from which give you your class. Roleplaying is very big in this game so if you like that you are in for a treat. You're always in character and this can be really immersive. It makes you think about who your character is, and you can express them in so many ways. Design your own clothes and items, write books and plays, worship a Divine (they're played by volunteers so you can actually interact with them), and just so much more. It's a big sandbox basically. Sure you have levels but if you don't want to do that everything else is available to you right from the start. And they also got the influencing system which lets you fight with words.

There is just so much else really cool but I'll stop myself before this turns into an essay that nobody will read. Instead, let me just end by saying if it sounds interesting do check it out, I always love to see new players and I'm someone who will jump up to help them make sense of it all. The community as a whole is great for that, I've made a fair number of friends and even attended a player meet-up :)

That said, who else knows some cool free to play games which I might have a look at? Also if you end up playing and you need some help, feel free to PM me.

arebelspy

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2014, 09:55:38 PM »
Wow, thanks for the flash back/memories.

I haven't played a MUD in, well, decades.
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libertarian4321

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2014, 02:44:16 AM »
Some good games like World of Tanks or LOTRO are "Free to Play."  However, they are better and easier to play if you buy at least some items.

MoneyCat

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2014, 07:24:18 AM »
"Defiance" is a free-to-play game that isn't too bad.  It takes place in the same world as the Syfy channel TV show of the same name (which was created by the same guy who created "Farscape").

ioseftavi

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2014, 05:54:19 PM »
If you're open to arena style shooter games, Team Fortress 2 is very good. 

It's a team based FPS, but different classes have different abilities and different weapon sets.  I'm a fan.

Beric01

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2014, 08:27:43 PM »
I've played some FTP MMO's in the past. The problem I've found with MMO's, at least the ones I'm attracted to, is that there's a strong encouragement to always be online. And as a highly competitive person, I find myself particularly susceptible to this type of urging (I also have a fairly addictive personality). I found MMO's hampering my social life, so I mainly stick with single-player and co-op games with friends which I can put down at any time if some activity comes up.

The great thing about games is how consumerist everyone else is, so that you can profit off of that. I rarely pay more than $5 for a game, and never buy a game that will give less than 50 hours of playtime. With Steam sales I mainly buy games that are 2 years or older (If it was a good game, a few years old won't change that). Even better, as most games these days are released in an unfinished state, after 2 years you can buy a bug-free game with a ton of reviews out, and hopefully any expansions included as well!

b4u2

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2014, 06:38:37 AM »
Are you looking for just PC games?

HipGnosis

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2017, 08:39:17 PM »
I play recently in the online game. They have a beautiful logic and graphics ... the most important is that there are a lot of them and there is something to choose. My children are very fond of playing these games
Which games?

Magy Lin

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2017, 05:57:47 AM »
Game called Cut the Rope

StudentEngineer

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2017, 12:31:10 PM »
I played Runescape for the longest time.  The free version still has loads of stuff to do and you can use in-game currency to purchase membership, negating the need to spend money on the game.

Anyone else play rs?

Hargrove

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2017, 05:57:55 PM »
Holy cow, haven't even been reminded of Lusternia in ages. I was there near the start of it. Combat was so lopsided that the Celestines just waited for the next Magnagoran to have a sudden change of his serial-killing heart, stop killing people for a week, join Celest for a week, quit, explain why Magnagora wasn't evil...

I think ultimately my problem with it was that impacting the world was primarily fighting, and fighting was primarily a coding challenge, and the challenge was to make a graphically inferior videogame out of it so that you could interact successfully when (inevitably) the situation turned to combat. The game could be fun, and I loved the flavor of Celest, but Celestines were burning out so quickly even their Divines were burning out.

I hope it's totally awesome, because it could have been totally awesome.

I played Lusternia, Aldebaran, White Sands, and a RTS (with a big "R") called Planetarion once upon a time.

Lis

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2017, 11:34:22 AM »
I played Runescape for the longest time.  The free version still has loads of stuff to do and you can use in-game currency to purchase membership, negating the need to spend money on the game.

Anyone else play rs?

Hi fellow scaper. I have a love hate relationship with that game - been playing for 13 or so years now, on and off. My pc is old and doesn't handle it that well anymore, but I'm hoping to replace it later this year and maybe get back into RS. I'm currently a member (bought the year long membership in December)... not sure if I'll do it again next year. But yeah, there's plenty to do as a free member in RS for a while, though they do tease you with how much more there is with a membership. Definitely worth getting your basic skills up first as a free member anyway.

StudentEngineer

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2017, 06:57:56 PM »
I played Runescape for the longest time.  The free version still has loads of stuff to do and you can use in-game currency to purchase membership, negating the need to spend money on the game.

Anyone else play rs?

Hi fellow scaper. I have a love hate relationship with that game - been playing for 13 or so years now, on and off. My pc is old and doesn't handle it that well anymore, but I'm hoping to replace it later this year and maybe get back into RS. I'm currently a member (bought the year long membership in December)... not sure if I'll do it again next year. But yeah, there's plenty to do as a free member in RS for a while, though they do tease you with how much more there is with a membership. Definitely worth getting your basic skills up first as a free member anyway.

Cool to see another rs'er here!  Yeah I started 11 years ago and haven't played much in the past 2-3.  Actually was a pmod at one point.  PM me your username and I'll add you whenever I get back on :)

Lan Mandragoran

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2017, 08:10:36 AM »
Moba's are super fun and generally free, also most paid content is aesthetic.

Lol is my preferred one, but DOTA is really good to. 

katsiki

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #14 on: September 21, 2017, 08:18:38 AM »
This may be somewhat OT but...

Did any of you BBS and play some of those games (doors)?  Legend of the Red Dragon was one of my favorites ~20 years ago.  The game in the OP made me think of it.

cnash1303

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #15 on: September 25, 2017, 07:12:34 AM »
Moba's are super fun and generally free, also most paid content is aesthetic.

Lol is my preferred one, but DOTA is really good to.

Dont forget Heroes of the Storm. Plus they give out free stuff all the time.

Sjalabais

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Re: Free to play games (that do not force you to pay)
« Reply #16 on: November 19, 2017, 11:52:41 AM »
I play World of Warships a lot. A lot. I was still playing Age of Empires 2 when a friend finally convinced me to try WoWS and I'm pretty much fully immersed in it.

Yes, throwing money at it will give you benefits.

No, you don't need to do that.

It's a pretty paced, strategic shooter. Lots of different stats to learn about these ships, and you'll also get a very neat insight into your personal stats. There's a crate system implemented that'll test your resistance to gambling, but - as I said - being firm on the f2p-thing is not a problem.