History VideoGame / RagnarokOnline

* LevelAte: [[MeaningfulName Lasagna]], it's a hometown of playable Dorams. The continent that Lasagna is on? It's called ''Pasta''. The two fields just outside Lasagna, is referred in-game as ''Ravioli'' Plain and Ravioli Forest, full of gigantic cheese, vegetables, fruits, and sweet treats. The dungeon accessed via Ravioli Plain is simply called Lasagna Dungeon, following the town's name, but still match the theme by having an entrance that looks like a stack of donut and ice cream while the dungeon inside looks like a cave filled with tomato soup.

* LightningLash: Electric Wire, whip-class weapon that's literally just a still electrically-charged wire, and the more bizarre Electric Eel, which is a, well, electric eel used as a whip-class weapon.

* RandomDrop: For example, the dolls you get from certain monsters.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Kiehl]]

** The Thief needs to complete a quest to gain the ability to... throw rocks. ''And another one to just pick them from the ground''.

** Gunslingers have the frighteningly-powerful Full Blast skill if properly built, as well as Gunslinger Mine to work around those pesky ninjas' Cicada Skin Shed. Not only they have a insane DPS with Desperado and a mighty finisher with Full Blast, he also doubles as a debuffer, removing an enemy's weapon (''at long range''), inflicting status with the Mines and decreasing DEF with Coin Fling.
* LevelAte: [[MeaningfulName Lasagna]], it's a hometown of playable Dorams. The continent that Lasagna is on? It's called "''Pasta''". The field just outside Lasagna, is referred in-game as ''Ravioli'' Plain.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The game has a 'Teen' rating, but loitering quietly in the background are nudity, sexualized youngsters, BDSM, gore, and maybe even implied rape elements. It might have something to do with the game using pixel sprites rather than 3D ones; how else could they have gotten away with a boss monster that's a cute little girl who wears ''nothing whatsoever below chest level''?

* BreakableWeapons: Renewal now allows all weapons to break unless they have "unbreakable" effect (during pre-Renewal only a small few kinds of weapon cannot break), along with some skills and weapons that can damage them, rendering them unequippable until repaired. Annoyingly, there is no durability gauge or notification unlike ''VideoGame/RagnarokIILegendOfTheSecond'' apart from the name of the weapon outlined in red.

** And then we have Merchant-class characters who use the ingame money to use their skills. Perhaps they thought about "money is power" a bit too straight...

* FireIceLightning: And Earth, among others. Lightning is known as Wind in the game.

** Female novices (whose sprite, despite its bust, is by size implicitly youngest of all the classes) who display this despite their ''metal breastplate''.

* IceMagicIsWater: The "water" spells all come in form of ice-themed attacks such as Cold Bolt and Blizzard. The exception is Water Ball, but you have to be standing in water for that skill to work.

* RegeneratingHealth: HP and SP regenerate over a period of time. Sitting down, using certain gears/cards and/or having passive skills, like Increase Health Recovery, speed up the regeneration rate. Additionally, the Taekwon Master can sit next to a member of the Taekwon line in their part and use the command /doridori (which has the character shaking their head).

** Similarly, Nameless Island's dungeon, full of hordes of zombies and evil spirits, have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Gc_CrVs8o an orchestral choir]] as its BGM.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: In order to pass the guard and enter Rekenber's underground lab, all you need to do is equipping Grandpa's Beard and Geek Glasses. And he'll ''always'' let you pass.

''Ragnarok Online'' is a Korean MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame established in 2001 by [[Creatr/{{GRAVITY}} Gravity Co., Ltd.]] Originally an adaption of the {{manhwa}} ''Manhwa/{{Ragnarok}}'', ''RO'' was eventually released to several countries, yet mostly stayed popular in Asia. Most Korean online {{Role Playing Game}}s afterwards have had a nasty habit of almost [[FollowTheLeader copying the game to a T]]; it might have popularized the free beta idea as well, not to mention, possibly, the more-or-less standard licensing architecture foreign online game developers tend to use when setting their games up overseas. In a rather sad twist, more people play Ragnarok than ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''... if you count all the illegal, mostly free private servers.

''Ragnarok Online'' is a Korean MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame established in 2001 by Gravity Co., Ltd. Originally an adaption of the {{manhwa}} ''Manhwa/{{Ragnarok}}'', ''RO'' was eventually released to several countries, yet mostly stayed popular in Asia. Most Korean online {{Role Playing Game}}s afterwards have had a nasty habit of almost [[FollowTheLeader copying the game to a T]]; it might have popularized the free beta idea as well, not to mention, possibly, the more-or-less standard licensing architecture foreign online game developers tend to use when setting their games up overseas. In a rather sad twist, more people play Ragnarok than ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''... if you count all the illegal, mostly free private servers.

At 2018, the original PC game gets a mobile 3D reboot named ''VideoGame/RagnarokMEternalLove''.

** There's a saying kicking about the community. You can always tell for certain a female character has a female player, if [[HairDecorations her character is running around with lots of different hats]] despite their statistical effects.

* LaResistance: Secret Wing, an organization with a goal to take Rekenber Corporation down from its domination over Schwartzvalt Republic. Interestingly, it's sponsored by Schwartzvalt Republic's president and Kafra Corporation.

** Soul Linkers can also use the Dagger of Counter, which can turn them into {{Lethal Joke Character}}s.

** Water Ball, an extremely powerful Wizard spell, requires the player to be standing on a water cell or certain other skills in order for them to use it. However, if a monster has it, you can expect a lot of hurt even when they're standing on dry land.

* RegeneratingHealth: HP and SP regenerate over a period of time. Sitting down and/or having the passive Increase Health Recovery skill speeds up the regeneration rate. Additionally, the Taekwon Master can sit next to a member of the Taekwon line in their part and use the command /doridori (which has the character shaking their head).

Since 2004, Gravity has been developing a sequel to ''Ragnarok Online''. The first attempt was ''VideoGame/RagnarokIITheGateOfTheWorld'', but was scrapped in 2010. In its place came ''VideoGame/RagnarokIILegendOfTheSecond'', which has launched in South Korea, Southeast Asia, and internationally.

** The new monsters in the [[https://irowiki.org/wiki/God_Items_Quest_3 God Items Quest 3]] are blatant references to [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure Heartcatch Cures]]. [[http://db.irowiki.org/db/monster-info/2443/ The pink one (Aira)]] for example, is essentially Tsubomi!

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:Khalitzburg.]] Even better part: [[https://static.idrowiki.org/image/klasik/card/4136 This]] is how she looks like in Glast Heim. ''More than '''12''' years later'' since then, via a much newer quest dungeon that allows you to see Glast Heim's past, it's revealed [[https://static.idrowiki.org/image/klasik/card/4609 THIS]] is how she originally looked like.

** Also, Maestros have now a Skill called Melancholy/Gloomy Shyness. [[http://irowiki.org/ow/images/b/bb/Gloomy_Shyness.png That's the icon of the skill]]. Why is it important? [[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya That's why.]]

** The new Guild Dungeon for [=WoE=] Training Edition has [[http://forums.irowiki.org/showpost.php?p=1245419&postcount=3 monsters]] who are blatant references to [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure Heartcatch Cures]]. The pink one (Aira) is essentially Tsubomi!

* BreakableWeapons: Renewal now allows weapons to break, along with some skills and weapons that can damage them, rendering them unequippable until repaired. Annoyingly, there is no durability gauge or notification unlike ''VideoGame/RagnarokIILegendOfTheSecond'' apart from the name of the weapon outlined in red. There's a worse degree of breaking: attempting to refine a piece of equipment to increase its performance permanently has a fat chance of destroying it.

** In addition, some servers will reward the player with a (sometimes) custom item, usually quite good, for donating to the server or buying limited edition swag.

* DualWielding: Assassins can wield a katar in either hand, or a combination of swords, daggers, axes, and/or knives. Gunslingers can also use [[GunsAkimbo a pair of handguns]]. And because books are either weapons or shields, a Sage/Priest could end up dual-wielding ''books''.

* EvolutionaryLevels: Porings. The poring species of monster has an ill-defined evolutionary tree, including Poporing (green), Drops (yellow), Marin (blue), Ghostring (a ghostly poring), Angeling, Deviring, Mastering, Arch-Angeling. More keep getting added, too, like Metaling and Stapo...and the Pouring, Bombring and Pori Pori/Poring the Conqueror/Bring It On to liven it up...and with the Port Malaya update, the [[http://ratemyserver.net/index.php?page=re_mob_db&mob_id=2316 Jejeling]], fashioned after the Philippine-exclusive "Jejemon" phenomenon.

** The whole of the Republic of Schwarzvald has a rather German flavor.
** Rachel is Israel.

** Port Malaya is the Philippines.
* {{Fireballs}}

* FullContactMagic: Spell Fist is about the power of a ''level 10 Bolt spell'' for a Sorcerer, and ''they'' can upgrade that skill further.

** Played straight since Renewal. [[http://rode-r.doddlercon.com/monster/ Take a look at this monster list]].

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: The NPC for the Soul Linker job change [[OlderThanTheyLook looks like a kid]], but is 300 years old.

** Sages have a random skill called Hocus Pocus/Abracadabra that has a chance of doing just about anything in the game including summoning [=MVPs=]. This was abused for nearly a year to level characters quickly to 99 before players got upset about the ease of grinding off Lord of Death for those who have access to the skill, and in response, Gravity nerfed MVP mobs to give no EXP.

** A headgear called Dark Bacilium looks very similar to [[Franchise/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron]]'s helmet.

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:Khalitzburg.]] Even better part: it took more than 12 years for the reveal.

** It's heavily implied that the only way to get through Hazy Forest is by '''eliminating''' the gardeners, who all ''don't seem to have done anything wrong''. The BGM for the map? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPwLX3mIT5o This.]]

** Water Ball is an extremely fast, easily spammable, high-damaging Water spell - more so for Rogue classes, who can actually copy an overleveled version (level 10, while the version used by Wizard classes only goes up to level 5). The catch? First, you can't spam it unless you're either standing on water or have a Ninja or Sage slave to help you. Second, if you're using it on a non-PvP scenario, take a guess on what's the Element of most monsters that lives near or in the water. There's a hidden sewer in Glast Heim (Sewer lv3) that's the perfect place for leveling up Water Ball Wizards/Rogues, at least.

* PlayerVersusPlayer: Both in the form of normal PvP arenas and the War of Emperium. Some servers set themselves to PvP in the open world.

* TraumaInn: Most inns let you save and rest to regain health. But why would you need to do that when there are faster - and free - alternatives at hand? They also tend to be out of the way.
* UnidentifiedItems: Equipment obtained from monsters are only listed as generic "Shoes", "Armor", "Sword", etc and cannot be equipped until you appraise them with the Maginifier item or skill (only for Merchants).

** Quests. Most [=MMOs=] generally have you follow a linear path with quest hubs and [=NPCs=] giving tips on what to do for the next step. For Ragnarok Online's expansive world, there is no clear direction except for the next city (and sometimes not even that). The cities and maps themselves are huge compared to the player sprite, so looking for the next objective can almost be looking for a needle in a haystack - unless you had the foresight to go look up the guides beforehand, of course. Even the addition of the Quest note board sometimes doesn't really help as the notes can be just as vague as the NPCs, although at least now you don't need to go all the way back to the NPC if you forgot what the NPC said.

* PettingZooPeople:
** The Malangdo Cats are basically just bipedal cats. Players get to be them in the form of the playable Doram.
** Similarly the Dog people found in Mora Village are bipedal dogs, except their feet are plantigrade rather than digitigrade.

** Water Ball is an extremely fast, easily spammable, high-damaging Water spell - more so for Rogue classes, who can actually copy an overleveled version (level 10, while the version used by Wizard classes only goes up to level 5). The catch? First, you can't spam it unless you're either standing on water or have a Ninja or Sage slave to help you. Second, if you're using it on a non-PvP scenario, take a guess on what's the Element of a monster that lives near the water. There's a hidden sewer in Glast Heim (Sewer lv3) that's the perfect place for leveling up Water Ball Wizards, at least.

** Not to mention overpowered monster only spells like Power Up and Earthquake, or the fact that monsters can blatantly disregard the rules of a skill, such as Bomb, which cannot be cast directly on top of players or monsters. Monsters will cast it right on you anyway.

** On the southeast of the Biolabs' third floor, there's a stair going downwards. The problem is, it's covered in water. Then, the Biolabs 4 update came and to access that floor the players must enter the warp on above-mentioned stair.

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:Khalitzburg.]] EVen better part: it took more than 12 years for the reveal.

** Maybe this is a bit subtle, but Lighthalzen Somatology Biolaboratory's official name is "Regenschirm", which is Germanese of "Umbrella". Remembering what happened there, most likely it's a reference to Umberella Corp from Franchise/ResidentEvil.

** Invaded Prontera map, as its name implies, is not a pleasant map. It's a darkened Prontera full of Zombie Guards and Legion invaders. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsFogfC4fO8 The BGM zig-zagged this trope, with low notes at the start, but then the guitar riff kicks in, until it reverts into low notes again near the end.]]

** The Dead Branch item and its more potent sister, the Bloody Branch. These summon a random monster to to the location of the user, with the latter having a great chance of calling up something nasty(read: a boss).

* VendorTrash: Monsters drop a lot of rubbish you can sell to vendors. The key part of this, however, is that many of this 'rubbish' actually has worth to another player, for example for quests or crafting.

* LostTechnology: The Juperos Dungeon have tons of robots that still active.

** Nifflheim is portrayed as the village of the dead. Its field's theme? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWzSm0ZvwjE A house music.]]

* SoundtrackDissonance: Abyss Lake dungeon is one of the hardest dungeons in the entire game, full of high-level dragons that can wipe out your party quickly. It has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy_1YJ7dzPQ this]] as its background music.

* CuteMonsterGirl: Tons. From topless half-women, half-snakes, to ghostly apparitions and spirits.

** Sages have a random skill called Hocus Pocus that has a chance of doing just about anything in the game including summoning [=MVPs=]. This was abused for nearly a year to level characters quickly to 99 before players got upset about the ease of grinding off Lord of Death and nerfed MVP mobs to give no EXP.