Hope you guys enjoyed this whimsical trip to the past to cover one of the most hidden successful (teenager focused) MMOs of all time. I think you guys will really like the next one too :). Huge thanks to Ridge for sending me the wallet and supporting the channel! Here’s the site if you want to check them out and show support! www.ridge.com/NERDSLAYER (Code:NERDSLAYER)
hi, this might interest you but gamigo just recently closed down many of their game at once, can you do a in depth cover for them ? why they decided to do that
If you do Planetside please be sure to check out Planetside Forever, an emulator of Planetside 1. They are getting up there and they have games on Sundays.
Freerealms in my opinion gave a benefit that most games to this day miss. A sense of common place. What I mean is that you didn't have to be so tied to a central questline to play, it wasn't oriented to one gameplay style or theme, and it was sociable and free to do what you want (within reason that is), a lot of games to this day miss that especially MMOs. There are no real places to hang out, explore and just escape without having to be so involved in gameplay due to a battle or sudden event. It's like GTA online where you can just exist, have fun and throw your cares to the wind. That is what I feel we lost when they shut the game down really.
@@Samurai-no4wu not in the same way ff14 still requires you to grind out a story cause ff14 was a rpg first mmo second while free realms was a social hub with rpg elements
I didn't realize just how much this game was ingrained into me until the theme came on and I immediately whistled along. It's been 10 years and I still had it in my mind.
Damn I miss those Halloween events, parkour, parties at that one player’s houses, the expedition teams to find coins for the backpacks, that fairy place, the beach, the cake monsters, briarwood, the other creepy place, the soccer game, the derby game, the pirate ship game, the cooking game, the snowball fights, THAT ACCURSED CARD GUN THAT TURNED PEOPLE INTO CARDS THAT I COULD NEVER GET, the rickroll jukebox, the planet/ sun mount, I just miss a lot... I didn’t even know the game shut down until a year later.
YES! Those HUGE house parties that some daughter of a SOE employee would throw, right???? Rachel something? I miss this game a fuckton even today, I remember how heartbroken I was in 2014 when I heard the news. I prayed it was an april fools joke but nope, it was reality. Worst part, My computer was busted and in the shop when the sun finally set in free realms for the last time. I never got to say goodbye to my friends, I didn't get to gather their outside information. I lost good friends that year.
@@dietdogwater6422 she was the daughter of a SOE employee??? I just thought it was some rich girl who spent a lot of time building. Rachel Bubblegum or something idfr all I remember are the parties and random fights that would happen at her houses. I still miss this game dearly and the friends I made on the game hell even miss that scammer that scammed a pink T-shirt off of me
I had a dream once as a really young kid where the squirrel from the commercials dragged me into the computer and killed me or something. One of the very few nightmares I've ever had and it made me scared off this game for a long time afterwards.
It’s weird seeing Free Realms being talked about by a huge channel. I played from 09-2014. It was always an active and fun base of players. But the game went away before streaming took off so it never really got the notoriety it deserved!
I miss this game honestly. It was a ton of fun when I was a kid. I used to have a lifetime membership and I would have loved to be able to visit again before it's shut down. :/
Back when i was in middle school i very vaguely remember playing the shit out of the demolition derby they had in the game. I recently remembered it immediately after waking up for some reason and promptly spent the next hour trying to find it again lmao.
Originally this game required you to choose a First and Last name for your character and it was around the time the Brian Peppers mugshot went vial so I named my character Brain Peppers... After playing on that character for a few weeks I logged on one day and my name changed to Brain Salt. SOE never sent any notifications about why the name change or even alerted me to it they just changed it so I was stuck playing as Brain Salt for months afterwards lol
Was it only the first and last name though? My character was named Ariel Earthyorder, and I also made an email that I use to this day from it. I thought it was first name and two words combined for last name. You can also rename the character with money for a custom name though
man i remember this game like it was yesterday. i had the lifetime membership and played it non stop during middle school. glad to see there’s some community led projects to keep it alive.
While it's very interesting and enlightening to take apart these stories after the fact, it can also instill a sense of dread, when I see the clues laid out and you find that a game I have been playing for years is exhibiting these exact symptoms and realizing that the writing might already be on the wall...
It's even worse when a game that hasn't launched yet is showing the same early problems that many of these games exhibit, yet everyone is hyping it up as "the next big thing" and "the one that will finally kill WoW" etc. The big problem with MMO's and live-service games is that they are expensive to keep running, and when the company decides they can't afford to / don't want to keep running the game any more, they turn the servers off and it just goes poof, and you have to hope there's some players out there dedicated enough to create a private server to take over. MMO and live service game devs should really give more thought to their game's afterlife too imho and have a plan in place for post-shutdown.
Poor kids today will never know how great it was to be a kid in the mid 2000's. Wizard101 was my go-to game and it really helped my childhood, but Free Realms was the game I would go to if I wanted to dress up a dog. LMAO! I honestly can't remember what I did which would be of any importance, but I know I liked the snow section of the world the most and I was obsessed with the mounts.
I remember really enjoying Free Realms. Spent around 7 months playing and running a combat guild (bows were my jam) but eventually my account got hacked and SOE was HORRIBLE with customer support.
I came here to leave a heads-up about Free Realms: Sunrise, but I'm so glad you covered it already! I've been following the project since April 2017 and even had the opportunity to be an alpha tester. I'm so excited for beta to launch and to finally be able to play again
I'm sorry for being a downer, but i have no faith in that project lol. There's been so much shit mudding the waters over the years. As much as I would love the game to come back, my hopes aren't high. All i remember from being on the server somewhere around 2017/2018 was people begging to be let into beta testing and things being radio silent for months.
You don't know how much it saddened me when the announcement came that it was going to shut down. I was so bothered that I tried to generare a theory that it was a joke purely because it was closing on April 1st. I liked the freedom to choose what you wanted to do. Fight enemies, find treasures, participate in races and/or demo derbies, play a plethora of mini games that aren't linked to a class, and build your up your own house/lot. The theme still has me smiling. It's so relaxing and nostalgic. Edit: I forgot to mention that I already know of Free Realms: Sunrise. I wanted to keep looking into the possibility of the game being re-released or remade and, eventually, came across information about FRS and their Discord server.
I had that exact same feeling when i heard that Dawngate was shutting down. I re-read the goodbye blog post 6 times over because my brain kept thinking that it was some kind of jape or joke made in poor taste. One of the very few times where i actually felt my gamer heart break.
The only thing I remember from this game was the squirrel mascot. Other than that, I've never played the game, but looking at it now, something tells me I would've loved it. I even signed up for the FR Sunrise beta.
Finally! Now only Fusionfall left, my favorite childhoood MMO, I loved it so much seeing the cartoon characters grown up in a dangerous world etc etc, it's a shame that the fans resurrect has died and I do expect a great video(as always) from you
There was a private server for Fusion Falls it lasted for like a year before some kid ruined it by reporting it to CN because they wouldn’t add their ideas to Fusion Falls
wow now I remember the ads for this game, but 3 million? Thats crazy man. I never knew a single soul who played it. Or even talks about it to this day, like runescape and wow players do
@@faridrv3889 Yeah, I signed up for the beta right away. I think what's really making me depressed is how little I remember of it, I used to love that game but I could only really remember the ninja outift and the tree with the pond, I remember I had a ton of friends on there yet I can't remember a single one of them individually. I'm an autist and it feels like nowadays I can't even make friends anymore, only time I ever had any success with people was back then
@@christianblocker1782 yeah, ninja outfit is one of the few things i remember too. I'm sure you will meet lot of people when beta will open. looking forward to it myself.
The first game I ever played was Free Realms, I spent probably close to 10 years trying to remember the name of the game after I stopped playing it. Finally a few months ago I remembered the name and the nostalgia hit hard. Loved that game so much
Really informative video. I enjoyed seeing the game placed into the context of the MMO space as a whole. Free Realms was truly an enigma and, perhaps, a bit ambitious for its time. I think there is a lot of value in what it left behind.
This is the first game you covered on this series that actually affected me. This game was a huge part of my childhood, and was the first game I loved enough to actually pay for membership (with my mom's credit card of course). I remember that the very early days of the game was pay to win since there were some weapons you could buy with real money and they were the best weapons in the game, they eventually balanced the combat but never removed the op weapons if you bought them.
This game reminds me a lot of Wizard 101 and World of Warcraft at the same time. If I knew about this game all those years ago, maybe I would've given this game a chance. Well, I suppose I could drop by Free Realms: Sunrise when I find the time to play through more than just what I own on my GoG account. Great video as always man!
What a welcome surprise. Never played this game, but it looks like something I would've back in the day. I like the art style quite a lot. SOE seems to have a cursed touch when it comes to MMOs though. Some really bad memories.
This game was so important to me as a kid. I still get intensely nostalgic when I think about it or am reminded of its soundtrack. I feel like a huge aspect of Freerealms importance was just the social factor - being able to trade, chat, have house parties, do quests and dungeons together ect. I felt like I made so many real friends who were also just other kids, just through the simple chat box. My character was Brendan Sharppaw. RIP 🙏🏻
Damn I remember playing this game YEARS ago! I was in one of the most popular guilds at the time; Mystic Mayhem. Had a lot of fun & memories as this was my first MMO game. I was gutted when it was finally shut down. However some people are bringing it back via an project called ''Free Realms: Sunset'', they have an Discord server too with quite a few members.
Man this game. I bought a lifetime membership with this years ago back when you could use the point cards for sub time. Grabbed a bunch at Walmart and used on a triple points day to go wild.
Do you plan on ever doing a case video for Need For Speed World? The shutdown of that game was pretty shocking to me since i really really enjoyed it and lots of my friends played it aswell, it was quite popular from what i understood but EA pulled the plug so i would love to see a detailed video as to why that happened.....
I'm wholeheartedly glad that you made a video of this unique gem. Free Realms was one of those childhood games that I've spent countless hours on, and it just feels like there's no other game with the same heartwarming charm as it. When the Sunset of Free Realms was announced, some thought that it was going to be a big April Fool's joke. But when everything in the Marketplace was reduced to 1 SC and all the membership restrictions were lifted, I knew it was inevitable. I still wonder what the game would have turned out like today if it had never shut down. I'm looking forward to Free Realms: Sunrise. Now, I never played the first PlanetSide, but I was surprised when I found out that PlanetSide 2 and Free Realms shared the same developer. It's interesting, considering how intense the gameplay is in PlanetSide 2 compared to the laid-back gameplay of Free Realms.
Who remembers Crystal Bluegem? The most popular Free Realms player ever. I remember people would flock to her games, and she would be surrounded by players all the time. My favorite free realms memory was her "security team," taking her away from a swarm of fans. One of my friends in the game was part of that security, and she asked me to join their security team. Bc of this I got to meet Crystal, it was the equivalent of meeting like a hero, or the president. 10 year old me was star-struck, but this girl. She was so popular due to her famous games, and supposedly, her father was one of the creators of the game
Yeah, every MMO has one of those players. I remember playing another one called Super Hero Squad Online and one guy by the squad name Count Bureaucratic Penguin (RUclipsr by the name of MrGamesRus) had literally every hero ever and everybody knew him. I had the honor of having him on my friends list lol
what sucks about game that shut down, it becomes lost media, only small stuff like music or videos archived online will show a hint of its existence. not all songs i found through online have every song saved and if it shows itll be low quality. i was able to find 2 original ones and upload them 💀 someone gotta archive em
Holy shit my childhood, however I remember stopping playing at a point where they locked some previously free classes behind a paywall. I remember ninja and mailman being one of them. My friend started playing and he wanted to be a ninja, but the game tossed him a paywall, which was weird since I played for free and I had my ninja maxed out. Then we realised newer accounts can't access some classes anymore, they retroactively put them behind a paywall. At that point they also vastly changed the combat, there would no longer be "regular" enemies, but batches of very small enemies surrounding big ones, along with other changes. I really didn't like that (Tera also did such a thing, as I found out when I came back to it after its initial f2p release) I didn't care for any of it and slowly stopped. EDIT Oh shit battlefield heroes too!?!? Damn childhood double whammy, though I never cared for it as much as FR. It had actual p2w elements from the get go.
Played this game for a hot minute back in 09 and man it was a very unique, fun and laid back game, Kinda reminded me of hanging around Oakvale or bowerstone messing around with the mini games and villagers from the fable series.
idk why this makes me feel unwell. i can see my child self sitting & playing this as if i’m sat behind myself i can see everything so vividly it feels like it was last weekend or something i was sat in my grandparents’ living room playing free realms surrounded by all these people who are no longer in my life, remembering the exact subjects of conversation going on around me as i played that one racing part in the game.. horrible feeling.
Omg i was trying to find out what this game was like a year ago and never found it so i gave up and here it is i played it when it was popular, thanks for this nostalgia rush and the awesome wallet i bought from your last ridge sponsor
Bro I love this series it's crazy how many of these games I've experienced between me and my dad who was an avid mmo gamer I experienced almost all of these mmos it's very entertaining to see what happened to them great vid
yo I played this game as a really young kid and I completely forgot what the name was, which made me sad cause I always wanted to revisit it cause there was something special feeling about it... kinda sad to hear it's full on dead
free realms, Adventure Quest and club penguin was my childhood. Those were the games i played before minecraft came along then it just kept going. The free realms theme song just hit me so hard on the nostalgia and me cry.
Haven't seen or even heard a single passing mention of the game since early 2008. The game seemed to have just completely disappeared into the void here in europe after the initial beta testing. So i'm rather surprised to see how different of a game it turned out to be and how long it lasted compared to other freemium mmo's of that time period.
I had a dream when I was a kid about the halloween part of this game when everyone would transform into vampires and werewolves, (I was always a werewolf), that there was this giant purple cat who was my mom, or something. I miss this game.
You missed one really large event that happened. The Combat Upgrade. Sounds familiar from SOE right? They did a pretty heavy revamp of the combat system, and while it was good in some ways, it was overall not that great and seemed to lose some players (myself included). My ex and I played the crap out of Freerealms, and spent a pretty good amount of money on it. The TCG was fun, the minigames were fantastic (crafting especially), and the dungeons were great. I would say its biggest failing was its target demo. It was straight pointed at tweens. Though, a tiny bit too simplistic for tweens. With very little effort, Soyny could've really made a classic. It was the PERFECT secondary MMO.
So my game design professor (name is Joseph Shoopack) worked on this game and had this to say Quote “it’s a pretty accurate analysis. It was the only kids game we did and monetizing the audience was a challenge. The 20 million users were actually “accounts” and it was so easy to make an account that if kids didn’t remember their password they just made a new account so it was not unusual to see some people registered for 5 or even more. So the 20 million was never 20 million people.”
I still remember long nights playing with probably my best online friend at the time who was dying from cancer and we would always go to seaside beach. One day he told me that it was getting so bad and the only reason he even got online was to play with me. There would be times where I wouldn’t see him online for maybe a week and man those weeks were hard for me since I always assumed he passed. He came back for one day and we talked for 6 hours at seaside beach and never saw him again… Rest well in heaven Christian…
8:25 Final Fantasy 11 did that before 14 did. FFXIV did the on-the-fly class change because the director for FFXIV 1.0 was the same as the one for FFXI. And FFXI was released back in 2002.
Free Realms is what started my MMO addiction. Nothing has ever compared to it. It was exactly what I wanted in a game, casual and lighthearted but if I wanted combat, it was there. There was one summer in middle school where all I did was wake up at 7 am and play the game literally all day until like 10 pm. It's like you never ran out of things to do, I guess cause there were so many mini games and so much world to explore. I can't wait for Free Realms Sunrise to launch, I've been following the discord since the beginning. I hope its soon!
sammmee dude i remember I had two gfs and then one time they both met each other shit was awkward. its a shame thats my only real memory of the game because freerealms was legit my childhood
Man I miss this game a place to just hang out and make friends instead of constantly grinding to have the best stuff. Im currently playing OSFR freerealms now to just run around and reminisce. If Freerealms Sunrise every comes out I cant wait to experience it all again.
Sometimes I wish there was a series that would explore games before they die because damn would I like to play some of the games appearing in death of a game.
This channel has covered some of my favourite games during the last decade. Hellgate London and Free realms will live on in my heart. Great uploads as always
God i remember these commercials from way back when i was watching CN and saw it lumped together with Wizard 101. Those were the days I want to live again.
I used to play this when I was 12 with a girl I met here on youtube back when they had an inbox system! It'll always have a special place in my heart 😭💖
I shit you not, when this video came out was TODAY years old that I remember that FreeRealms was a normal MMORPG. I played it 100% social back then, as a dumb kid, so I only remembered it as that and nothing else. So this geniunely blows my mind seeing actual MMO gameplay.
Great analysis as always. One other point that I think is worth pointing out is that one of the major marketing strategies of Free Realms was that it was free. By 2014, an enormous amount of of MMOs with much more depth were also free, many of which had monetization that was less obnoxious. That effectively took a lot wind out of their sail. And while I know they boasted massive numbers--and I'm sure they did have many registered accounts--I'm pretty skeptical that there were millions of "active" players towards the end of its lifespan. I remember logging in to Free Realms back in 2013 for old time's sake and being surprised at how desolate the community was. Thanks for the great video. It really brought back memories of a different time--the gaming industry has changed so much in the last 10-15 years.
God I'm so excited for sunrise. I had this magical obsession with freerealms as a child, like you mentioned. To me it was basically like WoW for kids. I didn't even find out about it through a friend, I saw the name of the game on a GIFT CARD at a grocery store. Their lack of monetization in-game was probably counteracted with parents buying physical gift cards, which is a far less uncomfortable experience than putting your credit details into an online game, at least for 2009.
That was my house that I built that featured on their FR yearbook at the 10:30 mark MEMORIES :( I remember showing my mom and being so excited that my house featured on their yearbook. Ahh memories memories....
I had a lifetime membership. Bullshit, I’m still alive and I can’t play. 😢 My favorite time on this game was halloween, when they did the Werewolf vs Vampires event.
Always sucks when a game like this goes down. I used to play something called Super Hero Squad Online. Had every hero at max level, had basically the dream account I wanted since the game's inception. What happens next? Game shuts down a few months after I have achieved all that. Sucks. If anyone who's played that game is reading this, my squad name was Sailing Breaker Admiral. Do let me know if you've ever interacted with me in the game!
Free Realms was such a massive part of my childhood, Had their lifetime membership and completely maxed out ninja with all the rare cosmetics. Finding out the game went down was a pretty big blow and I hope a private server pops up soon.
Hope you guys enjoyed this whimsical trip to the past to cover one of the most hidden successful (teenager focused) MMOs of all time. I think you guys will really like the next one too :). Huge thanks to Ridge for sending me the wallet and supporting the channel! Here’s the site if you
want to check them out and show support! www.ridge.com/NERDSLAYER (Code:NERDSLAYER)
I see your Allegiance footage. That game was fantastic. Too bad the concept never really took off.
And thus the mystery intensifies!
Yoo Battlefield Heroes, I recognize that jingle anywhere
hi, this might interest you but gamigo just recently closed down many of their game at once, can you do a in depth cover for them ? why they decided to do that
If you do Planetside please be sure to check out Planetside Forever, an emulator of Planetside 1. They are getting up there and they have games on Sundays.
Freerealms in my opinion gave a benefit that most games to this day miss. A sense of common place. What I mean is that you didn't have to be so tied to a central questline to play, it wasn't oriented to one gameplay style or theme, and it was sociable and free to do what you want (within reason that is), a lot of games to this day miss that especially MMOs. There are no real places to hang out, explore and just escape without having to be so involved in gameplay due to a battle or sudden event. It's like GTA online where you can just exist, have fun and throw your cares to the wind. That is what I feel we lost when they shut the game down really.
such a perfect description
It was the best game I’ve ever played to this game and the standard I hold RPG’s to
FFXIV does this good
@@Samurai-no4wu not in the same way ff14 still requires you to grind out a story cause ff14 was a rpg first mmo second while free realms was a social hub with rpg elements
I agree. Thats partially why gta has done so well since its release. If more companies did this, itd be so much better.
I really like how even now, the style of free realms makes it look good to this day. It's so stylized that the graphics don't look too old
Yeah I thought FusionFall achieved that to an extent as well; ageless graphics...
@@Swxre fusion fall aged very poorly with the chibi versions of the characters, but they always looked super scuffed...
@@bloodfrostgaming9204 Well to each their own
I didn't realize just how much this game was ingrained into me until the theme came on and I immediately whistled along. It's been 10 years and I still had it in my mind.
I can only vaguely remember commercials for this because of that flying squirrel. Glad to know this wasn't only a fever dream
I’m afraid it was ... this video isn’t real either
Same here
Exactly what i was thinking. I remember the fox but not the game 😅
Dude same, I remember the commercials as a kid.
*only* ?
Damn I miss those Halloween events, parkour, parties at that one player’s houses, the expedition teams to find coins for the backpacks, that fairy place, the beach, the cake monsters, briarwood, the other creepy place, the soccer game, the derby game, the pirate ship game, the cooking game, the snowball fights, THAT ACCURSED CARD GUN THAT TURNED PEOPLE INTO CARDS THAT I COULD NEVER GET, the rickroll jukebox, the planet/ sun mount, I just miss a lot... I didn’t even know the game shut down until a year later.
YES! Those HUGE house parties that some daughter of a SOE employee would throw, right???? Rachel something? I miss this game a fuckton even today, I remember how heartbroken I was in 2014 when I heard the news. I prayed it was an april fools joke but nope, it was reality. Worst part, My computer was busted and in the shop when the sun finally set in free realms for the last time. I never got to say goodbye to my friends, I didn't get to gather their outside information. I lost good friends that year.
@@dietdogwater6422 she was the daughter of a SOE employee??? I just thought it was some rich girl who spent a lot of time building. Rachel Bubblegum or something idfr all I remember are the parties and random fights that would happen at her houses. I still miss this game dearly and the friends I made on the game hell even miss that scammer that scammed a pink T-shirt off of me
@Lotus bruh i don’t remember her name-
@@girl-di3nn RACHEL BUBBLEGUM IM DEADDDDD😂😂😂😂😂😂 Crystal Bluegem!! yes omg
My god, this is too much nostalgia, the beach is so memorable for me
This game was literally my childhood. I used to play this with my little cousin after school all the time
Same but I was the little cousin
If OP is the big cousin and the one above me is the little cousin. Then who am I?
@@shinqqing5161 The chair
@@shinqqing5161 A furry.... probably
RIGHT?? I already signed up for Beta
I had a dream once as a really young kid where the squirrel from the commercials dragged me into the computer and killed me or something. One of the very few nightmares I've ever had and it made me scared off this game for a long time afterwards.
S tier comment lmao
What kind of drugs were you taking when your were a kid?
@@ThrilexzApostlez PediaSure
jesus christ dude
Funniest shit I’ve read lol
It’s weird seeing Free Realms being talked about by a huge channel. I played from 09-2014. It was always an active and fun base of players. But the game went away before streaming took off so it never really got the notoriety it deserved!
I miss this game honestly. It was a ton of fun when I was a kid. I used to have a lifetime membership and I would have loved to be able to visit again before it's shut down. :/
I remember playing this game while my parents were getting divorced
me too.....
played this before mine did god those were better times
Sorry to hear that man.
Heavy
Fucking same
You unlocking sum wild childhood memories my guy
I legit thought I was the only one who knew about this game
The nostalgia hit hard
I swear this video brought up distant memories of seeing the commercials as a kid
seasides song still plays in my head.
Back when i was in middle school i very vaguely remember playing the shit out of the demolition derby they had in the game. I recently remembered it immediately after waking up for some reason and promptly spent the next hour trying to find it again lmao.
Originally this game required you to choose a First and Last name for your character and it was around the time the Brian Peppers mugshot went vial so I named my character Brain Peppers... After playing on that character for a few weeks I logged on one day and my name changed to Brain Salt. SOE never sent any notifications about why the name change or even alerted me to it they just changed it so I was stuck playing as Brain Salt for months afterwards lol
Brian Salty xD
Was it only the first and last name though? My character was named Ariel Earthyorder, and I also made an email that I use to this day from it. I thought it was first name and two words combined for last name. You can also rename the character with money for a custom name though
They changed it to Brian Peppers to Brain Salt because they were salty XD
I guess you could say SOE was being salty XDDD
that would make a crazy band name tbh
*Hears the FreeRealms music*
I’m not crying you’re crying!
man i remember this game like it was yesterday. i had the lifetime membership and played it non stop during middle school. glad to see there’s some community led projects to keep it alive.
Freerealms was a unhealthy amount of my childhood really get nostalgic from its soundtrack
While it's very interesting and enlightening to take apart these stories after the fact, it can also instill a sense of dread, when I see the clues laid out and you find that a game I have been playing for years is exhibiting these exact symptoms and realizing that the writing might already be on the wall...
Truly awful feeling. Especially if you sank a lot of time in
Don't play MMOs or live service games. Problem solved.
It's even worse when a game that hasn't launched yet is showing the same early problems that many of these games exhibit, yet everyone is hyping it up as "the next big thing" and "the one that will finally kill WoW" etc. The big problem with MMO's and live-service games is that they are expensive to keep running, and when the company decides they can't afford to / don't want to keep running the game any more, they turn the servers off and it just goes poof, and you have to hope there's some players out there dedicated enough to create a private server to take over. MMO and live service game devs should really give more thought to their game's afterlife too imho and have a plan in place for post-shutdown.
Which game? I am curious.
@@Beast2245 @Vally Guild Wars 2
Goodness, I can't believe how long ago it was Free Realms died, it feels like just yesterday. Big part of my childhood, that was. RIP. :(
Poor kids today will never know how great it was to be a kid in the mid 2000's. Wizard101 was my go-to game and it really helped my childhood, but Free Realms was the game I would go to if I wanted to dress up a dog. LMAO! I honestly can't remember what I did which would be of any importance, but I know I liked the snow section of the world the most and I was obsessed with the mounts.
Holy crap I remember the Free Realms commercials as a kid
You were a kid? What a loser.
They were some absolute bangers
I remember really enjoying Free Realms. Spent around 7 months playing and running a combat guild (bows were my jam) but eventually my account got hacked and SOE was HORRIBLE with customer support.
Bro this takes me back to the wizard 101 days.
I came here to leave a heads-up about Free Realms: Sunrise, but I'm so glad you covered it already! I've been following the project since April 2017 and even had the opportunity to be an alpha tester. I'm so excited for beta to launch and to finally be able to play again
Cant wait for FRS. I've missed this game so much, and so happy to see people still spreading the news. 🧡
Ive been in the discord group since early 2019, I'm so excited for it to come back out again.
I'm sorry for being a downer, but i have no faith in that project lol. There's been so much shit mudding the waters over the years. As much as I would love the game to come back, my hopes aren't high. All i remember from being on the server somewhere around 2017/2018 was people begging to be let into beta testing and things being radio silent for months.
@@7907-u8hyeah i dont think itll happen,
Pain. All my homies know pain.
You don't know how much it saddened me when the announcement came that it was going to shut down. I was so bothered that I tried to generare a theory that it was a joke purely because it was closing on April 1st.
I liked the freedom to choose what you wanted to do. Fight enemies, find treasures, participate in races and/or demo derbies, play a plethora of mini games that aren't linked to a class, and build your up your own house/lot.
The theme still has me smiling. It's so relaxing and nostalgic.
Edit: I forgot to mention that I already know of Free Realms: Sunrise. I wanted to keep looking into the possibility of the game being re-released or remade and, eventually, came across information about FRS and their Discord server.
I had that exact same feeling when i heard that Dawngate was shutting down. I re-read the goodbye blog post 6 times over because my brain kept thinking that it was some kind of jape or joke made in poor taste. One of the very few times where i actually felt my gamer heart break.
Club Penguin is the reason I don't play online games anymore. The loss of a game that I loved and could never play again was too traumatizing.
That's the danger they never warn you about with MMOs. One day they can just disappear. Marvel Heroes was my game. RIP
Your option to being burned by love is to never love again...weird way to appreciate a genre you probably liked.
Kinda cant help but agree. Even fan resurrections die due to 'complications'. Would be a better world without copyright, IP, patents etc.
@@papabones8753 Well, I only ever liked Club Penguin and Webkinz.
Dark Sectors online mode was the same thing for me.
Miss this game so much dude. Took my childhood for granted 😔
The only thing I remember from this game was the squirrel mascot. Other than that, I've never played the game, but looking at it now, something tells me I would've loved it. I even signed up for the FR Sunrise beta.
Finally!
Now only Fusionfall left, my favorite childhoood MMO, I loved it so much seeing the cartoon characters grown up in a dangerous world etc etc, it's a shame that the fans resurrect has died and I do expect a great video(as always) from you
There was a private server for Fusion Falls it lasted for like a year before some kid ruined it by reporting it to CN because they wouldn’t add their ideas to Fusion Falls
OH MY GODDD FUSIONFALL, I LOVED THAT GAME TOO! God, both FreeRealms and FusionFall were big parts of my childhood
Fusion falls got remade
Shoot, I remember this game. I was a Ninja at heart, but I absolutely loved the demo derby, racing, and TCG. I even had one of the physical decks.
wow now I remember the ads for this game, but 3 million? Thats crazy man. I never knew a single soul who played it. Or even talks about it to this day, like runescape and wow players do
on the other hand I played the game a lot and have never met someone in person that has ever played it
one of my old childhood friends introduced me to this game.
now that I know I can't go back to it in any capacity...a part of me feels dead.
I feel sick to my stomach, why do I feel so strongly about it lol
Have you seen the end of the video?
@@faridrv3889 Yeah, I signed up for the beta right away. I think what's really making me depressed is how little I remember of it, I used to love that game but I could only really remember the ninja outift and the tree with the pond, I remember I had a ton of friends on there yet I can't remember a single one of them individually. I'm an autist and it feels like nowadays I can't even make friends anymore, only time I ever had any success with people was back then
@@christianblocker1782 yeah, ninja outfit is one of the few things i remember too.
I'm sure you will meet lot of people when beta will open. looking forward to it myself.
Free Realms Sunrise is a project that’s gonna bring it back and has made lots of great progress over the years, the game will be coming back :D
I played an unhealthy amount of this. One of the first MMO's I played seriously.
Man this made me feel pure, undiluted nostalgia
Right so much time spent into getting rares and doing quest and other shit … was like a whole lifestyle
The first game I ever played was Free Realms, I spent probably close to 10 years trying to remember the name of the game after I stopped playing it. Finally a few months ago I remembered the name and the nostalgia hit hard. Loved that game so much
Really informative video. I enjoyed seeing the game placed into the context of the MMO space as a whole. Free Realms was truly an enigma and, perhaps, a bit ambitious for its time. I think there is a lot of value in what it left behind.
This is the first game you covered on this series that actually affected me. This game was a huge part of my childhood, and was the first game I loved enough to actually pay for membership (with my mom's credit card of course).
I remember that the very early days of the game was pay to win since there were some weapons you could buy with real money and they were the best weapons in the game, they eventually balanced the combat but never removed the op weapons if you bought them.
This game reminds me a lot of Wizard 101 and World of Warcraft at the same time. If I knew about this game all those years ago, maybe I would've given this game a chance. Well, I suppose I could drop by Free Realms: Sunrise when I find the time to play through more than just what I own on my GoG account. Great video as always man!
I remember saving up to buy Domo, having him follow me around as a pet for a day, and then forgetting my password and never playing again.
What a welcome surprise.
Never played this game, but it looks like something I would've back in the day. I like the art style quite a lot. SOE seems to have a cursed touch when it comes to MMOs though. Some really bad memories.
Clear my meetings, Linda. Something just came up
This game was so important to me as a kid. I still get intensely nostalgic when I think about it or am reminded of its soundtrack. I feel like a huge aspect of Freerealms importance was just the social factor - being able to trade, chat, have house parties, do quests and dungeons together ect. I felt like I made so many real friends who were also just other kids, just through the simple chat box. My character was Brendan Sharppaw. RIP 🙏🏻
Damn I remember playing this game YEARS ago! I was in one of the most popular guilds at the time; Mystic Mayhem. Had a lot of fun & memories as this was my first MMO game. I was gutted when it was finally shut down. However some people are bringing it back via an project called ''Free Realms: Sunset'', they have an Discord server too with quite a few members.
I remember I wanted to be apart of you guys so bad 😭 especially the mvs
DUDE NOOOOO NOT FREEREALMS fuck man is this what it is to feel old? I remember back on the ps3 that was the coolest shit
Dude, I love your videos and I appreciate this so much. This game meant a lot to many people and feels forgotten. Thank you for remembering it!
It's always that extra bit satisfying when you cover a game I personally played or had interest in.
Man, I remember seeing commercials for this. What a throwback
Man this game. I bought a lifetime membership with this years ago back when you could use the point cards for sub time. Grabbed a bunch at Walmart and used on a triple points day to go wild.
I was ready for this,but my feels weren't...
Do you plan on ever doing a case video for Need For Speed World? The shutdown of that game was pretty shocking to me since i really really enjoyed it and lots of my friends played it aswell, it was quite popular from what i understood but EA pulled the plug so i would love to see a detailed video as to why that happened.....
I'm wholeheartedly glad that you made a video of this unique gem. Free Realms was one of those childhood games that I've spent countless hours on, and it just feels like there's no other game with the same heartwarming charm as it. When the Sunset of Free Realms was announced, some thought that it was going to be a big April Fool's joke. But when everything in the Marketplace was reduced to 1 SC and all the membership restrictions were lifted, I knew it was inevitable. I still wonder what the game would have turned out like today if it had never shut down. I'm looking forward to Free Realms: Sunrise.
Now, I never played the first PlanetSide, but I was surprised when I found out that PlanetSide 2 and Free Realms shared the same developer. It's interesting, considering how intense the gameplay is in PlanetSide 2 compared to the laid-back gameplay of Free Realms.
I used to solo MMO's as a kid and this was one of my favorites. Just exploring the world of an MMO is one of my favorite aspects
Who remembers Crystal Bluegem? The most popular Free Realms player ever. I remember people would flock to her games, and she would be surrounded by players all the time. My favorite free realms memory was her "security team," taking her away from a swarm of fans. One of my friends in the game was part of that security, and she asked me to join their security team. Bc of this I got to meet Crystal, it was the equivalent of meeting like a hero, or the president. 10 year old me was star-struck, but this girl. She was so popular due to her famous games, and supposedly, her father was one of the creators of the game
Yeah, every MMO has one of those players. I remember playing another one called Super Hero Squad Online and one guy by the squad name Count Bureaucratic Penguin (RUclipsr by the name of MrGamesRus) had literally every hero ever and everybody knew him. I had the honor of having him on my friends list lol
6:43 "The teenage market that hadn't felt such a veteran touch-"
*EDP would like to know your location*
all it took was one advertisement of this game on Cartoon Network website and now Free Realms became one of my favourite childhood games
what sucks about game that shut down, it becomes lost media, only small stuff like music or videos archived online will show a hint of its existence. not all songs i found through online have every song saved and if it shows itll be low quality. i was able to find 2 original ones and upload them 💀 someone gotta archive em
Holy shit my childhood, however I remember stopping playing at a point where they locked some previously free classes behind a paywall. I remember ninja and mailman being one of them. My friend started playing and he wanted to be a ninja, but the game tossed him a paywall, which was weird since I played for free and I had my ninja maxed out. Then we realised newer accounts can't access some classes anymore, they retroactively put them behind a paywall. At that point they also vastly changed the combat, there would no longer be "regular" enemies, but batches of very small enemies surrounding big ones, along with other changes. I really didn't like that (Tera also did such a thing, as I found out when I came back to it after its initial f2p release) I didn't care for any of it and slowly stopped. EDIT Oh shit battlefield heroes too!?!? Damn childhood double whammy, though I never cared for it as much as FR. It had actual p2w elements from the get go.
Played this game for a hot minute back in 09 and man it was a very unique, fun and laid back game, Kinda reminded me of hanging around Oakvale or bowerstone messing around with the mini games and villagers from the fable series.
FreeRealms? Holy shit you just brought back so many memories from me on this game
Oh man this is hitting to memories I forgot I had. Remember I grinned out all the combat classes and hung out on a popular beach to show off.
Nerdslayer uploading on my birthday. what a great gift
WTF sameee
April 30th?
Downvoted for calling attention to yourself.
idk why this makes me feel unwell. i can see my child self sitting & playing this as if i’m sat behind myself i can see everything so vividly it feels like it was last weekend or something i was sat in my grandparents’ living room playing free realms surrounded by all these people who are no longer in my life, remembering the exact subjects of conversation going on around me as i played that one racing part in the game.. horrible feeling.
Omg i was trying to find out what this game was like a year ago and never found it so i gave up and here it is i played it when it was popular, thanks for this nostalgia rush and the awesome wallet i bought from your last ridge sponsor
Bro I love this series it's crazy how many of these games I've experienced between me and my dad who was an avid mmo gamer I experienced almost all of these mmos it's very entertaining to see what happened to them great vid
Battlefiels Heroes... well I am ready for one hell of a nostalgia trip next time, since that was the first online shooter I ever played.
Oh my God actually a video talking about it this was one of my favorite computer games as a kid and I still think about it to this day
this was my favorite game and my heart is still broken.
This was definitely my favorite MMO growing up. A shame that I never got a chance to experience being a member. Thanks for the vid,
yo I played this game as a really young kid and I completely forgot what the name was, which made me sad cause I always wanted to revisit it cause there was something special feeling about it... kinda sad to hear it's full on dead
free realms, Adventure Quest and club penguin was my childhood. Those were the games i played before minecraft came along then it just kept going. The free realms theme song just hit me so hard on the nostalgia and me cry.
Haven't seen or even heard a single passing mention of the game since early 2008. The game seemed to have just completely disappeared into the void here in europe after the initial beta testing.
So i'm rather surprised to see how different of a game it turned out to be and how long it lasted compared to other freemium mmo's of that time period.
I had a dream when I was a kid about the halloween part of this game when everyone would transform into vampires and werewolves, (I was always a werewolf), that there was this giant purple cat who was my mom, or something. I miss this game.
You missed one really large event that happened. The Combat Upgrade. Sounds familiar from SOE right? They did a pretty heavy revamp of the combat system, and while it was good in some ways, it was overall not that great and seemed to lose some players (myself included). My ex and I played the crap out of Freerealms, and spent a pretty good amount of money on it. The TCG was fun, the minigames were fantastic (crafting especially), and the dungeons were great. I would say its biggest failing was its target demo. It was straight pointed at tweens. Though, a tiny bit too simplistic for tweens. With very little effort, Soyny could've really made a classic. It was the PERFECT secondary MMO.
I asked for a video on this game months ago on my old account. Happy to see it done perfectly, Love you
So my game design professor (name is Joseph Shoopack) worked on this game and had this to say
Quote
“it’s a pretty accurate analysis. It was the only kids game we did and monetizing the audience was a challenge. The 20 million users were actually “accounts” and it was so easy to make an account that if kids didn’t remember their password they just made a new account so it was not unusual to see some people registered for 5 or even more. So the 20 million was never 20 million people.”
I still remember long nights playing with probably my best online friend at the time who was dying from cancer and we would always go to seaside beach. One day he told me that it was getting so bad and the only reason he even got online was to play with me. There would be times where I wouldn’t see him online for maybe a week and man those weeks were hard for me since I always assumed he passed. He came back for one day and we talked for 6 hours at seaside beach and never saw him again… Rest well in heaven Christian…
8:25 Final Fantasy 11 did that before 14 did. FFXIV did the on-the-fly class change because the director for FFXIV 1.0 was the same as the one for FFXI. And FFXI was released back in 2002.
Free Realms is what started my MMO addiction. Nothing has ever compared to it. It was exactly what I wanted in a game, casual and lighthearted but if I wanted combat, it was there. There was one summer in middle school where all I did was wake up at 7 am and play the game literally all day until like 10 pm. It's like you never ran out of things to do, I guess cause there were so many mini games and so much world to explore. I can't wait for Free Realms Sunrise to launch, I've been following the discord since the beginning. I hope its soon!
Lol I remember having a freerealms “gf” that was embarrassing
Hey boo long time no see
Got some bad news for ya, that wasn't a girl...it was a 40yo man
@@Label07 hahaha probably
sammmee dude i remember I had two gfs and then one time they both met each other shit was awkward. its a shame thats my only real memory of the game because freerealms was legit my childhood
i had several freerealms bf’s 🤚🏻😂😂😂 lmao
Thank you so much for mentioning the FRS community and bringing awareness to such an amazing project
Damn, I had good memories with Battlefield Heroes. I can’t wait for the next video!
Yeah the game was amazing. Sad that all good things must come to an end.
Man I miss this game a place to just hang out and make friends instead of constantly grinding to have the best stuff. Im currently playing OSFR freerealms now to just run around and reminisce. If Freerealms Sunrise every comes out I cant wait to experience it all again.
Sometimes I wish there was a series that would explore games before they die because damn would I like to play some of the games appearing in death of a game.
This channel has covered some of my favourite games during the last decade. Hellgate London and Free realms will live on in my heart. Great uploads as always
I'm just glad someone else acknowledged that mabinogi exists. I swear that game was a gem of an mmo.
God i remember these commercials from way back when i was watching CN and saw it lumped together with Wizard 101.
Those were the days I want to live again.
Please make video about Spiral Knights - I really loved that game.
I used to play this when I was 12 with a girl I met here on youtube back when they had an inbox system! It'll always have a special place in my heart 😭💖
I shit you not, when this video came out was TODAY years old that I remember that FreeRealms was a normal MMORPG. I played it 100% social back then, as a dumb kid, so I only remembered it as that and nothing else. So this geniunely blows my mind seeing actual MMO gameplay.
I have literally never heard of this game, and I spent most of the last 15 years looking at almost every MMO that came out.
Great analysis as always. One other point that I think is worth pointing out is that one of the major marketing strategies of Free Realms was that it was free. By 2014, an enormous amount of of MMOs with much more depth were also free, many of which had monetization that was less obnoxious. That effectively took a lot wind out of their sail. And while I know they boasted massive numbers--and I'm sure they did have many registered accounts--I'm pretty skeptical that there were millions of "active" players towards the end of its lifespan. I remember logging in to Free Realms back in 2013 for old time's sake and being surprised at how desolate the community was.
Thanks for the great video. It really brought back memories of a different time--the gaming industry has changed so much in the last 10-15 years.
wow that outro gave me a nostalgia shock.
God I'm so excited for sunrise. I had this magical obsession with freerealms as a child, like you mentioned. To me it was basically like WoW for kids. I didn't even find out about it through a friend, I saw the name of the game on a GIFT CARD at a grocery store. Their lack of monetization in-game was probably counteracted with parents buying physical gift cards, which is a far less uncomfortable experience than putting your credit details into an online game, at least for 2009.
I'd love to see a video on the mighty quest for epic loot. :)
That was my house that I built that featured on their FR yearbook at the 10:30 mark MEMORIES :( I remember showing my mom and being so excited that my house featured on their yearbook. Ahh memories memories....
You should definitely start an alternative series about a game done right and go over why certain games are good. Idk I think it’s a good idea.
The intro music is always a comfort. Ready to sit back and listen to a great analysis.
I had a lifetime membership. Bullshit, I’m still alive and I can’t play. 😢 My favorite time on this game was halloween, when they did the Werewolf vs Vampires event.
I knowwww!!!! I had a lifetime as well 😭
Always sucks when a game like this goes down. I used to play something called Super Hero Squad Online. Had every hero at max level, had basically the dream account I wanted since the game's inception. What happens next? Game shuts down a few months after I have achieved all that. Sucks.
If anyone who's played that game is reading this, my squad name was Sailing Breaker Admiral. Do let me know if you've ever interacted with me in the game!
@@crylune Damn that takes me back. used to love maining wolverine in that game.
Free Realms was such a massive part of my childhood, Had their lifetime membership and completely maxed out ninja with all the rare cosmetics. Finding out the game went down was a pretty big blow and I hope a private server pops up soon.
My childhood consist of Free Realms, Battlefield Heroes and Club Penguin
Oh my god I remember this. All I remember doing is going crazy over the pets you could have, I loved that cat