By Rickee Charbs (Jammart), OnRPG Journalist

Lunia has gone through some pretty hefty content additions since its release under Ijji, a wonderful company that really keeps their games up to date. They usually release new characters to the game soon after KLunia (Korean Lunia Online) does, which is a great feat as every character needs to be heavily translated. Anyway, the previous article on Lunia characters regards some new-esque characters, but this one will present the characters fresh from KLunia. The real “new” characters, if you will.

These very recent character additions to the game are extremely popular, and continue to grow in popularity due to their unique abilities and overall appeal. These two characters are Ryan, the bounty hunter, and Kali the demon dark bard from another dimension. As much as Ryan and Kali have been hyped, hype for a very new character is taking the lead. That’s right, this article will also feature Asuka, the dual claymore wielding school girl! Now, you may be very impatient to try this character out, but she is currently only available in KLunia. Your eagerness will have to be put on hold, but she will be ready soon for English players if ijji keeps up its steady speed. Plans of a tamer and a blacksmith character have been revealed to Lunia fans everywhere, but they are too far under developed for me to give you any information of, let alone an introduction. Now, let us start character rundown number two!

Ryan Hunt [Bounty Hunter]

It is pretty obvious that this character was developed to please gunner-class fans. Ryan has no use in the game’s storyline, as he fails to make an appearance anywhere in the game (much like most of the new character added in the game). His background states that he only became a bounty hunter so that he could take advantage of his earnings to fine-tune his guns.

He is physically described as one of the tallest characters of the game, wearing a fairly large trench coat, stylish white hair, and two huge pieces of weaponry. Wielding a mini gun in his right hand and a shotgun on the left, Ryan seems to be quite the intimidating character. What amazes me is that he can wield and use both of those guns together with little effort. Apparently he’s too brutal for physics. Some people think he clashes with the theme of the game, but I think the gunner profession fits in just fine with a fantasy setting.

Ryan’s attacks are almost purely ranged, even less than his ranged counterpart Arien. However, his attacks pack a serious punch. He deals the highest amount of AoE damage, so that makes him ideal to take out large clusters of enemies. I also noticed that Ryan’s extremely flashy skills have a downfall: the animations are so long that they delay your skill a little, which can be a little annoying at times. Not to mention of his skills consume a great amount of MP, so levelling his MP related skills are a must. He can be an amazing damage dealer with skills at disposal, but without MP he loses a ton of his strength. People who use Ryan have to learn to be very conservative with their MP. I found him really fun to play, but my hype for the gunner class died down very fast. He is definitely an interesting character in the game but maybe not as unique as he seems. I also found it silly that Ryan has a very ironic last name considering his profession.

Kali Eschenbach [Dark Bard]

Kali is one of the [if not the] most interesting characters I have played in Lunia. Do not let her adorably cute name fool you; she’s actually a demon. That’s right, Kali takes the appearance of an innocent 16 year old girl, but she actually comes from another dimension as a fierce demon. Not much is known of her true daemon form, though, as she tries to hide her origins and her true care-free personality. Kali uses her magical lute to help others, or to defeat enemies using the melody of Pandemonium (remnants of her demon self).

What sets Kali apart from the other characters of the game is her ability to heal her and other player’s MP through song. With this ability she has a near limitless mana pool, which really comes in handy when using her MP heavy darkness skills. She has a few really powerful skills (maybe slightly overpowered) that send damaging musical notes to her enemies. She can stun monsters or make them fall asleep, as well. That being said, Kali is extremely versatile as an offensive and supportive character alike. There is one more thing though: Kali can transform into her demon self! This demon looks really cool and is very deadly on the battlefield, with its own set of melee attacks. She also carries some other fun skills such as the ability to transform other players into skeletons that run fast and heal quickly. The few downsides to Kali are her low defence, HP, and her highly MP consuming skills.

Seeing how Kali is so unusual, it is extremely rare to not see a ton of them lingering around in-game. Do not let this discourage you though. The dark bard is a really fun class and I urge you to try it out if you have the means to! She is obtainable via the item mall or a tedious quest offered by Lynette in town, like all other character card quests.

Asuka [Dual Wield]

Asuka has just recently been released in KLunia. She wields two claymores and takes on the appearance of a school girl mixed with a feudal samurai. Asuka is an all-round speedy character. Her melee attacks are extremely fast, and so are her skills. She is mainly focused at 1-1 combat like Sieg. Some of her skills look great too! Cherry blossom petals float around her during most of her skills, and she even has an area effect skill in which those petals fall from the sky. I will admit she does not look like anything we haven’t seen, but is much rather a blend of Tia and Sieg together. Nevertheless, she seems like an interesting addition to the Lunia character roster, and I look forward to playing as her. Hope you do too! Happy gaming!

By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

If you have the itch on becoming the mysterious ninja but can’t seem to find a game that can fill that starving need immediately, you might find Ninja Wars a ninja-based game something you might sink your teeth into.

You want to become a ninja, boy?

Ninja Wars puts you in the suit of a ninja, the almost mystical shadow warriors. You get to choose to become one of the various colored ninjas found in the game. The color dictates the skills your ninja will have for the rest of your stay in the game.

The good thing in Ninja wars is that you do not spend most of the time trying to figure out the details your ninja will have. Once you get create an account and choose the type of ninja you will get you are then whisked away into the world of people killing each other.

Ninja Wars strips down the whole ninja concept into something simpler and less complex. What you have is a character that has a set permanent set of skills and you must use your wits and cunning to make it past through the others who are also aiming for the top.

Too Simple For Its Own Good

The game’s simplicity is in turn the best and the worst aspect of the game. Its simplicity is good because you would not have to go through a lot of things just to get yourself a text-based ninja. Also, the simplicity streamlines how the game’s battle is progressing thus making battles fun.

However, the game is much too simple for a game that centers on the ninja. This would not be too much of a problem if the game has more items, more skills and more goals that you can attain. The shop has only five items on sale.

The only authentic ‘ninja’ item that you can buy in the game’s shop is the famous ninja shuriken. Aside from that you get different scrolls and that’s that. You have nothing else to use your money on.

The sad thing about the whole thing is that earning gold and leveling up are the only two things your ninja can earn. You don’t get to buy armors or other weapons that are supposed to be part of a ninja’s arsenal. So what’s the point of the shop’s items when you can just spend turns killing other ninjas instead of wasting your gold on scrolls and shurikens that do not really do the job.

Battle System

The game’s battle system is the only thing that has an advantage when in the overall simple design of the whole game. Everything happens fast and almost in real-time as it should be. You get to use your ninja skills on other people and even decide on what how you would like to kill your enemy.

Your ninja skills are another thing of beauty because the damage it inflicts is the same regardless of the level of your enemy. Though the game’s battle system may be fast paced and easily the most noteworthy aspect of the game, the game’s simplicity problem has also reached its battle system.

First and foremost, the rewards of the game are not really something that you look forward to. To level up you would have to kill a certain amount of ‘ninjas’ to advance, the problem is, the only thing that changes when you level up is an increase in life and a different number beside your name in the rankings that show your ninjas level.

Second, the issue about the skill’s damage is also another factor. Though at first it may be cool that you get to kill ninjas that are thousands of level above you with your skill, you won’t really have any drive to do further your ninja because there is no goal that you need to achieve.

Your Kung-Fu Is Weak

Ninja Wars is a game that, as far as ninja-themed games are concerned, shows a lot of promise, but it seems that the game lacks any drive for the player to do more and stay online just to play a game where you don’t have anything to do except kill, kill and kill.

Another thing about the game is that you do not forget to include something that resembles a goal for players to achieve. If the game is as easy as this who would want to even spend their time on something that has no aim.

Even though players like to take things easy it is that goal on achieving something that they consider important is the driving force of why they stick on the game. This is one of the things Ninja Wars has forgotten to include. While winning easily is something we all want, but if everyone can do it where’s the fun on that?

Ninja Wars seems to be a game that is hastily built just so they can say ‘hey! Here’s a ninja game! You want to play?’, as I said, the game has a lot of potential but it seems it is wasted because the game lacks a lot of everything that makes any game a decent game.

If you are one of those people who just want their ninja cravings succumbed regardless of the quality of the game I can suggest Ninja Wars. Though I cannot say how long the game will be able to satisfy your cravings for some ninja-fu. The game is decent enough to at least give you some fast ninja-themed fun.

Pros:
– The battle is fast paced and the statistics gets update after every move you do
– You can get to kill higher level ninjas even if you are level 1
– The game has a chat window where you can talk to other active players in real time.

Cons:
– You only have a limited set of items you can use
– You do not learn skills and stay stuck with your preferred ninja class
– The game gets boring in the long run.