Fly For Fun Review (Level 1-15)

I remember playing this game some time ago and having difficulty getting to the level 15 mark in order to become a Mercenary-class character. It was tough back then and it was still tough now. Even though I had a few friends to help party me for a short time when I first started the grind from level 1 to level 15, it was still a painstaking process and here’s why: Fly for Fun is designed as a casual friendly game but the leveling is slow and kind of hardcore.

I found myself wailing away at newbie monsters for hours on end trying to get to level 5 and then wailing away some more trying to get to level 10. I spent a few hours a day for several days out of the week participating in quests and gathering up items in order to get to level 15 on Fly for Fun.

To simply put it, leveling in Fly for Fun for new players is not particularly fun, which seems sort of backward for a game with “Fun” in its title. Nevertheless, I can at least say that once players reach level 15 the process gets far easier and much more enjoyable.

This has been a huge problem in a lot of MMOs, but none more-so than in Fly for Fun. I never really understood why the developers went out of their way to make the game with a party system that was designed to repel gamers. Basically, if you’re too high in level you get no experience partying with a low-level and low-levels get no experience partying with a high level. So this means that gamers who need power-leveling will have to look elsewhere to do so...like, a completely different game.

That’s not the worst part about partying as a low-level in Fly for Fun…the main issue comes in with the fact that there just aren’t enough people to party with. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong areas, but initially when you start off as a newbie in a newbie town there are other newbies to team up with. Trying to track down fellow newbs to form a party became a quest in itself and that’s just not cool. There was a few people who did offer up some newbie items, which helped a lot. But alas, there was no one to party with despite all the people crowding up in the main town on the game.

One of the few things that keep the game fresh and interesting are the quests. For the most part newbie quests can easily be undertaken and accomplished but ultimately require the same measure of effort: kill ‘X’ amount of bad guys in ‘Y’ area to retrieve ‘Z’ amount of quest items. You take that formulae and repeat it a few times over and that’s the basic premise of the quest system for low-levels in Fly for Fun.

The one reason why the quests are fairly engaging is that they enforce players to get familiarized with the surrounding maps. Players must retrieve special quest items for most missions, and it involves venturing around and fighting different enemies. While the tactic for fighting each enemy remains the same, the slight change of scenery and the required task of exploring different areas at least mixes up some of the gameplay.

Again, the quests could have been much better had the party system been a little more affording for low-level players. Nevertheless, there are at least enough quests for newbie players to rank-up to level 15 without spending too much idle time grinding away on useless newb monsters.

Whether the other aspects of the game measure up for accommodating newbie players, the real question is whether or not the game is actually fun to play when you start off at level 1. Hitting on weak monsters to level and taking on the quests can actually be fun if you’re joined by a few friends to help you level.

Casual gamers who aren’t joined by a few party members in the beginning parts of the game will probably find it difficult to capture any enjoyment out of the game. However, hardcore gamers might have a blast just leveling up and grinding to get stronger. I’m sure long-time MMORPG fans won’t have a tough time getting to level 15 and job-changing, but good luck if you're new to the genre.

The game is a classic among the MMO community but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s hard as heck to really get into if you’re a newbie or a casual player. The fun factors are present but not really sustainable unless you have friends who accompany you. The streamlined quests work well for new players but some sort of enforcing factor for teamwork and partying for the Vagrant class would have been nice.

For what it’s worth Fly for Fun (a.k.a, Flyff) will continue to be a popular icon in the world of free-to-play MMORPGs, but it would have seemed like by now the developers would have ironed out the starting aspects of the game a bit better for new and casual players. If you can tolerate the slow leveling between 1 and 15, and the lacking in-game player support (unless you have friends on there) you might do better avoiding this game. For hardcore MMORPG’ers Fly for Fun is still a safe bet for free, flying fun, though.