For me its:
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Ultima Online
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Final Fantasy XI
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Ragnarok Online
UO was a game I just recently discovered and it’s fantastic, best sandbox experience I’ve ever had in a game.
FFXI was another recent discovery. It took the formula from Everquest and made it better. The game is even less grindy today with the QOL changes.
RO was a big part of my teenage years. I love the look of the game, it reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics. It’s a great casual game to just pop into and grind out some levels or explore.
spoiler
I am gonna be honest I bounced off of basically every other MMORPG after that. Really ruined the genre for me, especially playing that game’s evolution into a F2P WoW-clone like many others in the genre. I had put hours into MANY others (and some very obscure ones, anyone here played Ryzom?) but didn’t really stick with any for more than a trial month. Then I got into Dota…
I played on the Basalisk emulated server a couple years ago, classic SWG got me interested in Ultima Online since so much of it’s inspiration was taken from that.
The EMU servers are great, I just don’t have that kind of time to spend on games anymore.
In the OG, I played a Bounty Hunter / Carbineer / Ranger chasing down motherfuckers in the middle of nowhere and leading Krayt Dragon hunts. Back when hunting a jedi actually meant something because there was only like a dozen of them on any given server and they were all sweaty no-lifing weirdos.
I have yet to see any MMORPG with a more robust class or crafting system than OG galaxies.
I had a marksman too I think iirc, carbines or heavier blasters, I didn’t make much progress at the time outside of just mucking around.
Now UO I have a house in. So my goal if I come back to SWG again is to get a house and fill it with stuff.
Loved Galaxies. I was young when I played it, so I was constantly rerolling my character before I ever got to the real meat of the game, but it was such a vibe. Getting XP because people sat by my campfire, chatting in between mob respawns while half the group switched to Entertainer gear and danced/played music, there’s never been anything like it since. I usually played Rifleman but I was never fully convinced that any of my abilities actually did anything because the game’s feedback was so bad.