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Wonderland Online

Wonderland Online is a 2D anime-themed retro MMORPG packed with classic RPG features including turn-based combat, an open class system, companions, professions, and more.

Publisher: Internet Gaming Gate
Playerbase: Medium
Type: MMORPG
Release Date: May 11, 2008
Shut Down Date: January 15, 2019
PvP: PvP Duels, Guide Siege Events
Pros: +Cute anime-style retro graphics. +Classic RPG gameplay. +More than a dozen starting characters.
Cons: -Retro-style graphics. -Poorly translated dialog. -Repetitive gameplay and combat.

Overview

Wonderland Online Overview

Do you have what it takes to survive a shipwreck? Find out in Wonderland Online, a 2D retro-style MMORPG. Choose from more than a dozen characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Help out the locals, grow stronger, and learn the skills needed to survive. Collect weapons and gear, or craft your own, to help you face the dangers and threats lurking in every corner such as bandits, rock golems, and even cute little baby bees. Work together with companions, pets, and other players as you explore exotic islands on your quest to finally make it back home.

Wonderland Online Key Features:

  • Classic Turn-based Combat – experience retro-style graphics along with traditional no-fuss turn-based combat that classical RPG’s are known for.
  • Companion System – choose from a variety of companions and pets to accompany you on your journey.
  • Professions – learn profession skills that can reward you with special tools and items.
  • Crafting – create better items by combining items of lesser value.
  • Siege System – battle it out with other guilds in weekly guild sieges where one team defends while the other lays siege to their city.

Wonderland Online Screenshots

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Wonderland Online Featured Video

Wonderland Online 3.0 Trailer!

Races

Wonderland Online Races

Elves – adept in the use of magic and possess powerful ranged units. Resources are produced within their buildings.

Orcs – a brutal and warlike race that overwhelms enemies through strength and sheer numbers. They can construct palisade fortresses as they move across the land.

Humans – a versatile and balanced class that requires more micromanagement than the other two classes. Humans gather and mine resources from their surroundings.

Full Review

Wonderland Online Review

By, Marc Marasigan

Wonderland Online is an anime-themed 2D retro-style MMORPG set in 2D areas based on exotic locations around the world such as Ancient Maya, China, and Egypt. The game’s story revolves around survivors of a shipwreck trying to make it out alive in unfamiliar lands. Players take on the role of one of these survivors. The game’s graphics are anime-inspired 2D, similar to Ragnarok Online—right down to the cute glob-like monsters in the starting areas. Even the audio is reminiscent of old-school RPGs that came out more than a decade ago. The outdated graphics might put off some players but as a 90’s kid who grew up playing Final Fantasy, Zelda, and Tales of Destiny the retro-style graphics still hold a certain charm for me, plus the artwork looks great. The game dialog, however, is a different matter. Most of the dialog is written in broken English, which is understandable but still in dire need of an overhaul.

Shipwrecked

Players start the game by selecting from a list of available servers and channels and are given two character slots per server. The game doesn’t offer specific class choices but uses an open class system where each character receives different starting stat bonuses along with character-specific skills. Players are also required to distribute 5 starting points during character creation. Character creation is a simple affair of picking from 14 pre-made characters, choosing from four elemental affinities, naming your character, and finally customizing hair, eye, clothing, and skin color using RGB sliders. The chosen element also determines the type of skills that players unlock as they progress through the game.

Once players have created their characters they are transported to the deck of what seems to be a cruise liner. This is where all new players start out and where the story begins. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t offer any kind of tutorial and newbies are left to figure out how to move and interact with NPC’s by themselves. Players are free to roam around the deck and speak with the NPC’s out and about. Speaking with the captain triggers a cut-scene vaguely reminiscent of Titanic, where the ship collides with something and everyone makes a hasty retreat to the life boats. Everyone except the player’s character who is accidentally knocked out during the collision and left for dead. Players wake up on a deserted island where they meet with a “castaway” who shows them the way to the next island and where their adventure begins.

Meet The Locals

Wonderland Online is pretty standard as far as MMORPG’s go with all the features that players would expect from a typical RPG, including pets, companions, as well as a crafting and profession system. And like every other MMORPG Wonderland Online also has players completing quests and errands for the locals while moving from one area to the next. Completing quests and killing mobs rewards the player with experience points and in-game currency, along with the occasional item. What’s different about the game is that it features a turn-based combat system typically found in classic console RPGs like Final Fantasy, instead of the point-and-click tab-targeting system usually used by most MMORPGs. Unfortunately, that’s the only unique aspect of the game.

Looking for Company

Surviving in a strange land is difficult enough without having to face it alone, just ask Tom Hanks and his buddy Wilson which, by the way, is referenced to at the beginning of the game. Wonderland Online features a pet system that allows players to capture and recruit mobs, as well as some NPC’s to accompany them in their travels and even provide much-needed help during combat. Pets can be either monsters or NPC’s. Apparently, in Wonderland humans can become pets and can even be asked to carry you much like mounts in other MMORPGs. Players can have four pets following them at any given time. But a pet can only be chosen as a mount or as a battle pet, which can be set-up from the Group menu. Pets can be captured in combat and its not that different from catching Pokémon. Human pets, on the other hand, can be recruited by completing quests.

Survival Skills

Leveling up starts out fast but eventually becomes tedious, not to mention a lot more grindy as the player reaches higher levels. Like Ragnarok Online, players are given the option to be reborn and play the game again once they reach level 100. The current level cap is at 190 after rebirth which makes for a whopping 289 levels. Players gain stat points every time they level up. These stat points can be distributed across 5 personal stats, namely: STR, CON, INT, WIS, and AGI; and 2 status stats, namely: HP and SP. HP and SP automatically increase as the player levels up but can be helped along by manually adding stats to them. Skills, on the other hand, are automatically unlocked at certain levels and are determined by the element that players chose during character creation. Regardless of element type skills come in three varieties: Physical, Magic, and Assist. Skills are improved through constant use and will gain rank when used a certain number of times. When a skill reaches a certain rank it unlocks a stronger version of itself. Since skill power is determined by a player’s stats, the general rule is to specialize in skill-types related to your build, such as Physical for STR-type players and Magic for INT-type players for example. Although there’s nothing to stop you from creating a magic-wielding warrior if you choose to do so.

Get a Job!

Simply killing monsters might be enough to survive but learning other skills aside from hacking mobs to bits does have its perks. Fishing, for example, rewards players not only with fish but also with other rare resources such as ores, gems, and more. Aside from fishing, players can also learn Alchemy, Collection, Cutting, and Mining. To start learning, players must speak with the certain NPC’s and complete their quest requirements. Unlike other MMORPG’s that only allow one or two professions at most, Wonderland allows players to learn all of the available professions provided that they’ve completed the required quests. Like normal skills, profession skills are improved with constant use. Collecting resources from Mines, for example, will improve a player’s Mining skill while fishing will improve their Fishing skill.

Joining the Fight

Wonderland Online allows players to fight with any player at any time as long as they both have their player-kill (PK) option turned on. Turning on PK lets players fight with NPC’s. Players can also join ongoing fights by clicking on fighting players (indicated by a dust cloud) and clicking on “Join Battle.” Players can also join guilds or team up with their friends to participate in Siege events which are held once a week. Players are divided into two groups, with one group defending the city and the other group attacking not unlike the Agit sieges in Ragnarok Online.

Cash Shop

Like every other free-to-play game out in the market Wonderland Online gives players the option to spend real-world cash in the item shop to gain an edge over the free-playing community. Wonderland Online’s cash shop contains the usual pay-for-convenience items like boosters and special potions and nothing too overpowered or game-breaking.

The Final Verdict – Good

Wonderland Online has been around for quite a while and would have rivalled Ragnarok Online in its hayday. Unfortunately, it can’t really compete with more modern MMORPG’s which have done away with the slow and grindy turn-based combat in favor of faster action-packed combat systems with massive combos and flashy effects. I’m not saying the game isn’t good. Poorly translated dialog aside, the game has everything players would look for in a good MMORPG. Personally, I like the references to popular movies like Castaway and Titanic and even find it kind of funny. If retro-style games are your thing, or if you’re a 90’s kid like me looking for a quick hit of nostalgia then by all means give it a shot. Just don’t expect to be blown away or anything.

Screenshots

Wonderland Online Screenshots

Videos

Wonderland Online Videos

Wonderland Online Official Trailer

System Requirements

Wonderland Online System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Window 98/ME/2000/XP/vista
CPU: Pentium 4
RAM: 256 MB RAM
Video Card: Graphics card with DirectX 7.0 support
Direct X: DirectX 7.0
Hard Disk Space: 1.8 GB available space

Music

Wonderland Online Music & Soundtrack

Coming Soon!

Additional Info

Wonderland Online Additional Information

Developer: Chinese Gamer International
Publisher: Internet Gaming Gate

Closed Beta: April 09, 2008
Open Beta: May 11, 2008

Release Date: September 1, 2008

Shut Down Date: January 15, 2019

Development History / Background:

Wonderland Online was developed by Chinese Gamer International, a Taiwanese development studio, and published by Internet Gaming Gate in North America. Pre-production for the game began in 2003 and formal development began a year later. The game was first published in Taiwan on December 14, 2005 and was initially subscription-based before switching to a free-to-play microtransaction business model on May 16, 2006. Wonderland Online was also released in other Asian countries including mainland China on April 7, 2006 as Drift Illusion. The game retained its original title on its subsequent releases in Japan on December 3, 2007, Thailand on January 28, 2008, and finally North America on May 11, 2008. European servers were later added to the North American version on August 26, 2008.

Wonderland Online shut down on January 1, 2019. The official closure notice was posted on their forums on November 15, 2018.