ArchLord becomes freeware

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 17th August 2007
Comments (15) Stumble
ArchLord, the MMO nobody wanted, is now available for free so you can not want it cheaply.

ArchLord, the MMO nobody wanted, is now available for free so you can not want it cheaply.

Remember ArchLord? No, I don't remember it clearly either. In fact, it would be fair to say that the February release completely passed me by without fanfare and it was, to me at least, just another MMORPG in a sea of games trying to be the next World of Warcraft.

Still, Codemasters loss is a gamers gain and it has just announced that Codemasters is releasing the full game as freeware. The game can now be downloaded, played (including the new expansion), completed, dicarded and forgotten - all for free.

"We are ecstatic to be in a position now to release ArchLord as an entirely FREE MMORPG and this marks a milestone in the games ongoing development. Since its release, ArchLord has grown consistently and we are excited to throw open the doors to players across N.America and Europe looking to play a premium 100% FREE MMORPG. " Ed Relf, Director of Marketing at Codemasters said in a press release.

By the way, if you don't see straight through that marketing spin then it's probably because you've damaged your eyes playing the BioShock demo over and over again. It's pretty obvious that the game is being released this way due to lack of sales. We wouldn't be surprised if it's soon announced that the game will feature in-game adverts, as a way for Codemasters to profit from the game's failure.

Unfortunately, even in the world of free MMOs ArchLord is still not that attractive and there are already some long-established freeware MMOs like Anarchy Online and Sword of the New World which ArchLord will have to compete with.

Still, if you want to give the game a spin then all you need to do is head over to the official website and start downloading the client.

Which is your MMO of choice, or do you prefer to keep your gaming to a singleplayer experience? Let us know in the forums.
Quote iwog 17th August 2007, 09:51
This news is greeted with a resounding meh. As you said there are already several other free MMO's so what makes this one so special?
Quote Jamie 17th August 2007, 10:31
Even if it's free I doubt many people will invest their time in playing this game. Much LOL in this story.
Quote naokaji 17th August 2007, 10:50
well... i dont think many will pick it up...
sure, free is nice, but,
one cant play two mmorpgs at the same time anyway.... (excluding wow due to its feeling of achievement for casuals system)
you simply cant split the time, knowledge, love and dedication it takes to play an mmorpg to its full potential on to several mmorpgs....

also... switching an mmorpg isnt easy... you've achieved so and so much in the one you play currently... so you dont want to give up and start from scratch again.
Quote proxess 17th August 2007, 10:57
It also has to compete with all the gPotato games: Rappelz, FlyForFun, Corum Online, Space Cowboy Online. Also for all those who can't afford to play on original servers of games like WoW or L2 and play on the crappy free servers that lurk around.
Quote plagio 17th August 2007, 11:07
Quote:
ArchLord, the MMO nobody wanted, is now available for free so you can not want it cheaply.

lol
Quote aon`aTv.gsus666 17th August 2007, 11:21
Quote:
We are ecstatic to be in a position now to release [the news that] Archlord...
... is dead?
I won't get it just because it's free and thus the game will be forgotten pretty soon... already?
Quote MilkMan5 17th August 2007, 11:47
What other free MMORPG games would you guys recommend?

I want to start playing them, but not sure what to play.

I know that WoW is good, but what else would you recommend.
Quote DriftCarl 17th August 2007, 12:51
What I am looking for in an MMO is lastability. I will invest my time in a game that I KNOW is going to be around for a while. It is why i liked SWG(before the NGE patch) I enjoyed building up the towns and people coming to my town. No its dead I will never play it again. I play WoW now because its still alive and kicking, and will be for some time. Content is still there and im far from done. I am also in Warhammer Online beta but I just cant force myself to play it. Not that its bad or anything, but that feeling of the character being deleted after beta just puts me off. I know i entered beta to test the game but really I wanted to play it for free :D.

My next game to try will probably be pirates of the burning sea, it looks different to the other MMO's out there and even if it doesnt last very long, it will still be enjoyable for a time.
Quote Vash-HT 17th August 2007, 15:08
Quote:
Originally Posted by DriftCarl
What I am looking for in an MMO is lastability. I will invest my time in a game that I KNOW is going to be around for a while. It is why i liked SWG(before the NGE patch) I enjoyed building up the towns and people coming to my town. No its dead I will never play it again. I play WoW now because its still alive and kicking, and will be for some time. Content is still there and im far from done. I am also in Warhammer Online beta but I just cant force myself to play it. Not that its bad or anything, but that feeling of the character being deleted after beta just puts me off. I know i entered beta to test the game but really I wanted to play it for free :D.

My next game to try will probably be pirates of the burning sea, it looks different to the other MMO's out there and even if it doesnt last very long, it will still be enjoyable for a time.

Thats insane man, Warhammer Online is THE MMO I'm waiting for, I doubt I'll even start another one until it comes out.
Quote Amon 17th August 2007, 16:12
Going to give this a try.
Quote Neogumbercules 17th August 2007, 21:12
I beta tested this game. It sucks. End of story.


One funny thing I noticed though, EVERYONE was one of those moonwhore girl people because every costume I saw for them was super sexy with lots of ass and booby action going on.
Quote iwog 17th August 2007, 23:47
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neogumbercules
I beta tested this game. It sucks. End of story.

so thats why it didn't make any money. And this makes me laugh every time i see it.
Quote Veles 19th August 2007, 02:37
Quote:
Originally Posted by MilkMan5
What other free MMORPG games would you guys recommend?

I want to start playing them, but not sure what to play.

I know that WoW is good, but what else would you recommend.

MMOs aren't generally good games, even WoW isn't that good, it's just popular. The problem with MMOs is they are more like work than play, initially they may be fun, but eventually they just end up being horribly monotonous, and you continue playing because you feel you have to. The most important thing for MMOs is a good community, if you don't get into a guild/group/crew/whatever with a good bunch of people, the game will be a lot worse. I've played a few MMO's in my day, and only two spring to mind that I thought were actually good and worth playing.

1) Puzzle Pirates, can now be played for free, kind of like a limited trial with no time limit, it was a very fun game, but some changes got put in place that made the game not very enjoyable, just around the end of the beta a few years back was the best it was at IMO. Last time I played it was a few years ago, might have changed for the better now, it's certainly got larger at least, but I think that was part of it's charm back in the old days, it was a relatively small community so everyone was friendly too each other instead of everyone thinking "Oh, here's another noob"

2) EVE Online, very cool game, although I had to give it up since I didn't really have the time or money for it, but it was a lot of fun during the few months I played it.

EDIT: Oh, another one, quite unusual, but I thought Shot Online, a golfing MMO, was actually a lot of fun, completely free too, not played it in ages though.
Quote GuardianStorm 19th August 2007, 20:15
i got this game for fairly cheap, and installed it, cursed its complete lack of wide screen handling (game wont even load with a wide screen for me), then tried playing: i found it bad to put it lightly.

most games have some kind of introduction ("go to the the bloke with an exclamation mark above his head" type thing) but Archlord had none. i wandered round (badly movement with wasd is diabolical, clicking with the mouse works, but is annoying after a short while) clicking on anything that might give me a quest or information or anything. i still have no idea what i did to get quests, but i then found my next problem.

The map is unclear: "head to this place and kill stuff". fine. but was this place marked on a map? no. did i have an indicator on a mini-map or even a compass bearing? no.

i tried playing the game several more times but in the end uninstalled it and continued with Guild Wars. If you hadn't guessed, i don't recommend the game.
Quote Amon 20th August 2007, 15:13
Uninstalled.
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