Flyff (short for Fly for Fun) is a fantasy MMORPG by Korean development company Aeonsoft (Now Gala Labs). Flyff is a fairly typical party-oriented grinding game where no character can do everything, and efficient play requires working in groups to level up by killing monsters, or Masquerpets. Its main distinctiveness lies in its flying system; flying is the normal method of transportation for characters above level 20.
DEVELOPTMENT:
In December 2002, Aeonsoft developed the first provisional prototype of the game, at the time called Clockworks Ltd. In September 2003 the company changed the name to Flyff and started the first closed beta in Korea. In July 2004, it won the Game of the Month award from the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Over the next year it was launched in three more countries: China, Taiwan, and Thailand. In October 2005, the US received the closed beta, which ran for a month before Flyff was commercially launched in December.
The Story of Madrigal and the Three Clown Gods:
Chapter 1: Birth:
Five Gods - Raon, Herness, Iblis, Shade, and Ishirut, decide to create a world full of magic and inexhaustible energy. Herness creating water, Shade creating earth, Iblis creating wind, Raon creating fire, and Ishirut creating Lightning, together they construct a world called Roika.
The Human Race was made and spread across the world—they began to grow and proliferate. The Creators smiled at the life they had created and continued to bless Roika's inhabitants.
The Creators soon grew tired of watching over the life they had created, preparing to leave Roika. Not being able to stay, the creators created a powerful being named Rhisis, in their own image, who was then tasked with protecting all life on Roika.
Chapter 3: War of the Gods:
Chapter 3: War of the Gods:
One day, Rhisis drew energies from three aspects of herself and created the Three Clown Gods.
She created Bubble, who represented Rhisis' joy and purity. She created Shade, who represented her fear and rage. She created Iblis, who represented nothing more than her apathy and neutrality.
Shade, feeding on the very aspect she was created from—Rhisis' anger was consumed by the dark nature of the Shadow and started to lust for power and the control of Roika so Shade set about to destroy Roika and the mortals who lived there. There was one who stood in the way of Shade's domination on Roika and that was Bubble. To get rid of Bubble, Shade deceived Iblis by telling lies about Bubble's intention's to control Roika. Convinced by Shade's statements, Iblis went after Bubble and created a race of creatures known as Masquerpets. She sent them to destroy Bubble, but Shade controlled the Masquerpets and went after the people of Roika instead and Shade furiously severed a section of Roika and sent it afloat. She had hoped that the people living on this chunk of continent would soon perish. However, this chunk of land became known as Madrigal and with their own ingenuity and the help of the Dwarpets, the Humans survived, rebuilt their cities, and began to strive once more.Chapter 4: Rebirth:
Ages passed and the people of Madrigal began to grow strong and to once again thrive. Unfortunately, peace was never quite realized and Shade's evil Masquerpets still roam the lands.
Gameplay:
Players control an avatar which spends most of its active time fighting and most of its inactive time running a shop. Characters choose character classes at level 15, and sub-classes at level 60. The game refers to these as the first and second job changes. The job changes are obligatory - when a character reaches the requisite level, experience gain stops until it completes one of the job quests. At level 120, the character may become a Master, returning to level 60 with enhanced powers, to work its way back up to level 121 and become a Hero. In v15, Heroes can level up to the level cap of 129. As of v16, Heroes can now level up to the level cap if 139.
Levels are gained based on experience, which is acquired primarily by killing and secondarily by performing quests. Quests mostly involve killing specific Masquerpets and collecting quest objects they drop. Each type drops a different type of quest object. A typical early quest is the one called "Party of Is," which requires one to kill Pukepukes, collecting 7 Chupims. At each level, the character receives skill points, which may be invested in skills available to its job(s). There are two types of skills, those used for attacking and those used for protection and/or enhancement. Some skills have a cool-down time. Some skills can cause status effects, confusion, stun, and bleed being the most common. Skills must be chosen carefully, as it's not possible to acquire maximum levels in all skills available until level 60 Master. The other source of character improvement is acquiring objects - particularly improved equipment. Masquerpets drop money (called penya in game), equipment, and consumable items (food, potions) as well as quest objects. These can all be traded, and gameplay involves a lot of buying and selling to collect desired equipment. Most equipment has a minimum level at which it can be used, so characters below Master level are likely to replace their equipment regularly.
Classes:
At level 15 the user may choose from 4 jobs, each offering a different gaming experience. At level 60 each class splits into 2 complementary classes. When the user hits level 120 they may choose to go for the Master class. For this, the user’s level is reset to 60 and they will need to re-level to 120. The Heroes of Madrigal are the highest level, 121. To become a Hero, the user must complete a quest demanding the collection of rare items. After Hero is gained, a player may continue leveling to level 129 Hero before they can no longer level again. In Version 16 the level gap was changed to 139, 150 in the Philippine Version.Combat:
Combat in Flyff comes in three styles, melee and ranged and Magic. Skills are available to all classes with different skills being available to different classes. All combatants are dependent on food or healers. Health, fight power, and magic power bars are replenishable through food, vital drinks and mana refreshers. Some classes depend on assist's to heal them with magic.
Player versus player (PvP) fighting is allowed on all servers without penalty in the form of dueling. Both players must confirm first, except in the PvP Arena, a free-for-all environment found on all servers. However, player killing is allowed on the Demian server only and comes with a high penalty.
Lord System:
Introduced in version 12, the Lord system allows eligible players to be voted as the Lord of their server for 2 weeks. While a Lord, a player may introduce a number of events on the server. Also, players are now taxed anywhere from 0 to 20% on all NPC purchases and returns and a portion of all taxes are given to the Lord. The other portion is given to the winning Tower Siege guild. To qualify as a candidate to become a Lord, players must have obtained Hero or Master Status. 10% of the eligible voting public must participate in the vote for a Lord to be chosen. To vote for a candidate, a player must be at least level 60 and must have logged in to the game within the last 30 days. Each player may only vote for one candidate.Party System:
The party system encourages cooperative gameplay by increasing experience and booty for those who are in a party. A lone player does not benefit from or harm a party. A party starts as a Regular Party, where experience is on Level and distributed evenly to party members found in the same location. At level 10 the party is changed to Advanced. Now the party experience can be changed to Contribution and will be distributed by the amount of damage done. Originally intended to hold one of each 2nd job class, an Advanced Party may have 8 players.Guild System:
Flyff is a community-based MMORPG, and guilds are an important feature. Within a guild players may use guild chat. Guilds are a good way of socializing on Flyff. Many in-game activities are guild-based. Guilds have a chain of command: the Master/Leader, Kingpins, Captains, Supporters, and Rookies. Guilds may choose an emblem and cloak to represent themselves and they have the use of a warehouse. A large amount of the end-game content is guild-related.
This is a weekly event, held on Saturday in channel 1 of each server, which tests the mettle of each guild competing. It is a "free-for-all" environment. A total of 8 Guilds may enter. Each Guild may have 10 players. To compete the Guild leader must place a bid with the NPC Frankie. The 8 highest bidders compete.
This is a guild dungeon that any level guild may enter. Each guild may do it only once, so many players form a new guild to do the Clockworks War then disband. If the user fails, he may redo until he completes.
The couple system is a marriage-style connection between a male and a female character that was implemented in Version 13 to encourage cooperative gameplay. Two characters forming a couple are granted special buffs and with each new couple level gained, they receive gifts. Gpotato has received numerous complaints about the system only being available to Male/Female couples, as some critics find this homophobic, but so far, no changes have been made.
The Mentor/Pupil system, implemented in Version 15, is a system that allows any player level 91 or above to take on a pupil, provided that they have completed the mentor qualification quest. They are then eligible to form a Mentor/Pupil bond with any character who has not completed their second Job Change. This bond provides a special bonus to experience gained by both mentor and pupil, so long as they are both logged on to the same server. Additionally, every time the pupil reaches certain level marks, the mentor gains 'Mentor Points'; as the mentor gains more of these points, additional pupils may be taken on, to a maximum of 3 pupils when more than 100 Mentor Points are gained. These additional pupils grant increases to the experience bonus of the mentor; the other pupils' experience bonus' remain unchanged.
While no action apart from the initial bonding is necessary to the Mentor/Pupil relationship, mentors are encouraged to help their pupils with advice, quests, and/or occasional gifts. If a pupil or mentor becomes dissatisfied, they may cancel the bond at any time, with or without the other party's approval. If a mentor loses all of his or her pupils, their Mentor Points return to 0, and must be regained in any new Mentor/Pupil bond.Other Game Systems
Events:
Events involving rare drops and extra experience are held almost every week by the GM team. Maintenance is held every Tuesday evening (gPotato) and Wednesday Noon (FlyFF PH), keeping the game fresh.
Introduced in version 11, the Collector System gives the user something new to do. With the use of a Collector the player can collect rare and unique game items. From Suit Socket Cards to flying clouds, collecting can be a lucrative pastime. Note that the Collector System Without Batteries is released in the early version of FlyFF.
The game allows players to open their own private shop: a shop in which they can sell their inventory for whatever price they see fit. Other players are then allowed to enter such shops and buy items, and all the money is then transferred to the owner's inventory.
Introduced in version pre 9, the Raised Pet system has come to be important to the game. There are seven types of Raised Pets, which start out as eggs and can be dropped by any Masquerpet level 20 and above. To evolve a pet one needs to complete the quest given by the NPC Pet Tamer. The pets must also be fed to keep them alive. Each Raised Pet has five levels and three appearances. A player accompanied by a pet receives additional points in their statistics depending on what pet they use.
Monsters are each associated with a particular one of the five in-game elements. Each element is most vulnerable to one other element, and least vulnerable to another. Weapons and armor can be "elemented" conferring advantages vs monsters of some types and disadvantages vs others. Many aggressive spells are also elemented.
The micropayment system is used in Flyff. This game is free to play for life. Users wishing to support the game can do so by loading up, exchanging for 'Game Cash'. These Game cash can then be exchanged for premium items not easily found in the game, including clothing, potions, different kinds of scrolls and pick-up pets.
Game mechanics:
Aeonsoft employs its own in-house core technology. The world object engine uses load balancing middle-ware, multi-thread and parallel game logic processing. The 3D flying engine uses faster process with vector and collide mesh and 3D space divided by Octree System. Its network sync engine utilities packet optimization by object move estimation, client-side sync calculation, and object move calibration processes.
Version updates:
In February 2007 Version 8 - "Heroes Rising" was released, a significant change was made to the skill system. This new system was not well received by the public. Also in that update, Ivilis Temple was implemented for levels 40~75. In September 2007 Version 9 was released.The Pet System was added. The user interface was redesigned and the upgrade system was tweaked. The last big change of 2007 was in December Version 10 was released, focusing on the end game and players who had reached level 120. The Hero and Master classes were released and Volkane Dungeon for levels 110-plus.
In February 2008 Version 11 - "The Awakening" was released The Awakening was introduced and the Collector System was added. Gone since February 2007, the PvP arena was re-added. Also introduced was the premium area Azria, with monsters level 73-115. A large update in October 2008 Version 12 was released.Added the Lord system, a dungeon called The Forsaken Tower with its Secret Rooms, and Rangda the roaming giant.
Eight months later, in June 2009, Version 13 - "Life's A Beach" was released. The Rainbow Race, where players must race from place to place to complete seven mini-games in random order, was one of the main attributes of this update. This chapter also brought the user a premium area called Coral Island. Towards the end of that year, in November, Version 14 was released. This update brought with it new territories to the north. New quests for the mid level rang and for the high levels also. All new instance dungeons, safe upgrading options and transportation devices "full size Wings" were also introduced.Version 15 - "Twilight of Darkness" - has been released at April 14, 2010, and has introduced a new region known as the Valley of the Risen, as well as many other new features and tweaks.
Flyff Version 16: The Rise of Muran was to be released November 3rd to the U.S but was delayed to November 15th but it was delayed again to November 30th. This new update will feature a new level cap for heroes, an all new 3rd job evolution, and of course new monsters.
Music:
The entire ingame music was composed by SoundTeMP (Korea) in 2003.
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