I came out of the portal and rounded the corner. Surrounded by hills, a green valley stretched out in front of me, occasional trees scattered along the descent. A glint of light in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned around. In front of me were maybe twenty robots, stood still, holding something like a pneumatic drill. Everything was stationary, the drill unmoving, the mechs near identical. Turning a bit more, I gasped out loud, my heart and stomach sank. On the hillside stood hundreds, hundreds, of Accretian robots, all facing the same way, all holding frozen machinery. So I gave a speech.

Korean MMOs are famous for their grind, and entirely unapologetic. Their reason for being is to allow a player to plough through levels, existing to fight and fighting to exist. Kill twenty of these, then twenty of those, then twenty of the one over there. Levels tick by, abilities slightly alter, drops are picked up, used or sold, skills are tweaked, and the world sits still around you. RF Online, at least in this respect, is different.