I've been trying to catch up on all the accounts I have all over the internet, consolidate things, get a bit better grasp and focus, a massive effort is to rake and burn the e-mail garbage in my "catch-all" accounts.
Coincidentally with that, I came across the second newsletter I've ever received from Gravity Interactive announcing the first anniversary of the release of the Korean F2P (free to play) Requiem: Bloodymare for the western hemisphere.
Here's your sign: 
The game is amassively multiplayer online game for mature audiences, graphic, bloody and often player versus player is a an unintended part of the Bloodymare, because of a PvP penalty, which even exists on the PvP dedicated server. I really enjoy the concept, so I do wish I could be more forgiving.
There are some absolutely rabid fanboys of the game, and that is pretty typical of any game. There seems to always be the cadre of supporters that will tear anyone who speaks ill of any aspect of a game (no matter how accurate it might be) to shreds in the forums, over bug reports, what have you. Fanboys often know no mercy and show little regard for open dialogue. That should tell you how I feel about their ilk. :)
Checking back on my accounts there, I have been around off and on since 24 may '08, starting in open beta, and fortunately I hooked up with a great, motivated group of players to guild with. Unfortunately for me personally, I often can't contribute enough to a group myself, time constraints, to be of benefit to a guild of hard-chargers. But, being with them got me into the toughest places, earliest, and we put the game through it's paces.Sadly, when the game went "Live", they added, not just an Item Store for microtransactions, but also a tiered subscription option. That isn't too terribly unusual, though it's preferable to only have one or the other. The kicker with RB though, is, general chat is cut off if you are not a subscriber. This causes some real issues with people beginning the game, no global chat channel, less chance of being picked up by a guild of veterans, and less community interaction. The good part is, this cuts down on the usual crop of gold-selling spammers.
.Since the US (generally speaking) gets updates for this version of RB after Korea, content releases aren't a huge secret, and this market is usually an update behind the original.
There are, if you're interested in jumping into RB, some great reasons to do so now. All the races, that weren't available to test in either beta, are available now. One playable race wasn't even in the game until after it was live for approximately three months. The tiered subscription options have taken a reduction in price, so if you want to go that route, it's cheaper now than a year ago. However, this could be taken as a sign of the global recession hitting all markets, or in particular this game and potential issues with longevity.
Overall, we're going to award Gravity Interactive, Inc.'s Requiem: Bloodymare 3.5 out of 5.
Requiem: Bloodymare, and related material are © Gravity Interactive Inc., and are used here under "fair use" for the purpose of review.
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