World of Warcraft remains one of the most popular MMORPGs ever and received a new expansion on Nov. 28th, 2022, Dragonflight. Dragonflight is one of the best World of Warcraft expansions in years and has had many old-time players returning for the first time in a long while.
Many fantasy franchises have taken to creating MMORPGs likeWarcraft, Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, and Lord of the Rings. These have been huge successes for the franchises and have often been a driving force for the franchise when other content has been dry. However, many fantasy franchises have never attempted an MMORPG that should.
Dragon Age
Dragon Age has slowly been building itself up throughout the years and has some incredible storylines and characters. The character creation also feels unique and would fit a nice transition into an MMORPG.
If there's one issue that the Dragon Age games do have, then it's the gameplay. Sometimes the gameplay can come off as boring and repetitive. Because of this, a new approach might be the way to go for the franchise to stylize itself like many major MMOs.
The Witcher
The Witcher's popularity has steadily risen throughout the years, but lately, the franchise has been receiving a lot of hate. This is mainly on Netflix's side of things and not the video games. Though many gamers are worried about the future of the games given the initial failure of Cyberpunk.
The Witcher has reached a point where it can't progress further into the story following Geralt of Rivia. Because of this, there are only so many places the games can go, and an original story could end up backfiring. Rather than trying to create a new Witcher character with the same type of games as always, the franchise should take a risk and utilize the diverse races available to them to create an MMORPG.
The Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time has always been a major piece of fantasy media. It is one of the best-selling fantasy book series of all time, selling as much as A Song of Ice and Fire despite the former never having a television adaptation until recently. The show has received mixed reviews with most fans of the books hating it.
However, a video game adaptation would serve the franchise exceptionally well and the best approach is an MMORPG. The Wheel of Time has some of the best worldbuilding in fiction and with the diverse cultures and races of the world, there are many possibilities for the characters that could be created. It would also be a much easier type of game to approach than a narrative game adapting the book's plot.
Fate/Stay Night
The Fate franchise has its fair share of video games and even began as a visual novel. Every Holy War is different, but there are always a set amount of classes in each war. These classes are all distinctly unique from each other and could serve perfectly in an MMORPG or even a battle royal game.
The best method to adopt the franchise into an MMORPG might be to deviate away from the typical Holy War story, much like Fate/Grand Order does. This would allow the franchise to provide something new and unique while also giving something fans are familiar with.
Fire Emblem
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Fire Emblem may seem like an odd choice, but given that the Warcraft series could go from being a real-time strategy game into an MMORPG, it wouldn't even be too strange for a tactical RPG to become an MMORPG. Fire Emblem always seems to seize fans' attention again, however, it does manage to lose its fanbase every other game quickly.
Fire Emblem Heroes, a smartphone game from the classic video game franchise, has failed to captivate as many fans as it could, but an MMORPG might be the thing it needs to keep the franchise alive. The worlds of Fire Emblem are incredibly well-written and there are many different classes and races to choose from that would keep the game alive and interesting.
One Piece
One Piece, one of the highest-rated manga, has long since been praised for its incredible story and even more impressive worldbuilding. It's an ever-expanding story that has been ongoing since 1997. Due to the vastness of the world and simply how much diversity there is in it, the game would serve as the perfect MMORPG.
While the manga series is still ongoing, the game could begin at any time and adapt small portions of the world at a time while releasing expansions along the way. This does seem like one of the most likely MMORPGs to happen, and it could take quite a bit of inspiration from Sea of Thieves.
The Cosmere
The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson has been one of the most interesting fantasy universes that have been unraveled for the last couple of decades. The franchise has been growing more and more with major plans for multiple live-action adaptations.
Due to Sanderson's deep love for video games, an MMORPG is far from unlikely. The game could begin on any one of his planets with each expansion covering more story and even going to the other planets in the series. While the Cosmere is still growing, it will more than likely be one of the biggest fantasy franchises ever.
Malazan
Malazan has all the tools to create the perfect MMORPG that feels new and unique, but familiar. The fantasy world was initially a tabletop RPG that friends Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont created together, inspired by Dungeons & Dragons.
They created complex characters, emotional and despairing storylines, and new incredible races. The worldbuilding alone is second to none with many readers considering it the best fantasy world ever created. The world is perfectly crafted, and the two authors have often desired to release the world as an RPG game of some sort one day.
Elden Ring
FromSoftware's Souls games hit popularity at a completely new level with Elden Ring, one of the best medieval fantasy RPGs, which received more awards in a single year than any other game before. The diversity of class selection and crafting a build to the player's gameplay style is already incredibly well-developed.
Elden Ring itself opened up a world with plenty of dungeons and many mini-bosses alongside major bosses. The world is so vast, that in many ways it could have already served as a solid MMORPG. With FromSoftware wanting to expand further and even transform Elden Ring into a larger franchise, an MMORPG is far from unexpected.
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is without a doubt the perfect franchise that needs an MMORPG. The game series has done incredibly well for itself since the beginning but there's only so far it can go from hereon out.
An MMORPG would serve the franchise as a whole nicely by returning familiar races and allowing players to play at these races for the first time. It could be a great opportunity to add more lore to the overall world and with how broad Zelda already is there are many future expansions they can add before they ever need to come up with new ideas.
Source:gamerant.com