Frogster's hodge-podge MMORPG Runes of Magic has progressed to the point where they're just about ready to let everybody in for a taste, announcing the launch of the open beta on December 15th.

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It's always nice to see a game take the soccer formula and put a twist on it. Mario Strikers does this very well and we seem to have a new contender in the mix. In this first trailer for Kickster Online Street Soccer we get a brief glimpse of some of the character creation and gameplay you can expect from the game. The best part is that there will be no retail version of the game. That's right, the game will be free-to-play. Expect it in the near future for PC.

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Okay, so Runes of Magic bears a passing resemblance to World of Warcraft. The original Taiwanese creators of the game were big fans of Blizzard's MMO, so it makes sense that there would be some similar elements. Yes, the graphics, fonts, and interface all channel the wildly successful MMO, and sure, some of the character classes and abilities are very much like those you'd find on Azeroth. And yes, perhaps the first monster I saw taken down in the demo I attended this morning was a minotaur creature called a Tauren Patrolman. While at times it stretches the very limit of the word homage, Runes of Magic isn't a WoW clone. If anything, it's a game that seeks to harness the best elements of all MMORPG games into one, adding a few innovative new elements in the hopes of becoming one of the most compelling free-to-play online RPGs in existence.

Rather than focus on what's similar to WoW, let's take a look at where the game differs instead.

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Frogster has provided a bit of information on the character building system for their upcoming fantasy MMORPG Runes of Magic, which features a rather interesting dualclass system of character creation, allowing players to combine the powers of two classes into one character. Players can choose both a primary and secondary class and swap them out as they wish, sort of like Final Fantasy XI, but unlike FFXI they can learn secondary abilities for each class that can be used no matter which class they are playing as their main. The example given in the document, found in full after the jump, is of a character with a Rogue secondary being able to use "Training: Assassin's Weapons" to throw daggers.

The game also features a talent point system similar to World of Warcraft, allowing players to spend points as they level to focus on their powers and abilities. It sounds like an interesting system that will make for some nifty tactics in both PVP and PVE situations. I'll be checking out Runes of Magic at the Games Convention in Leipzig next week, so keep an eye peeled for more information on this rather intriguing little MMO. Hit the jump for the full document and some shiny new screenshots.

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