Monthly Archives: September 2010

Final Fantasy XIV Beta Preview: The Game So Far

Final Fantasy XIV Beta Preview: The Game So Far
Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), OnRPG Journalist

 

Final Fantasy XIV is Square Enix’s latest entry in the Final Fantasy series and the second game in the series to be a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). The game aims to provide fans of Final Fantasy XI, the first MMORPG by Square Enix, with a unique yet familiar experience, whilst also hoping to draw in Final Fantasy fans that have never tried the genre. Does the closed beta build show that the development team has hit the nail on the head or does it just sink to the bottom of the sea amid a variety of design flaws?

 

FFXIV

 

Storyline

The Final Fantasy series has always had a predominate focus on telling a story. In fact the creator of the popular series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, once said, “I don’t think I have what it takes to make a good action game. I think I’m better at telling a story.” when asked what type of game he wanted to create during the development of Final Fantasy I. Unfortunately Sakaguchi has since moved on from Square Enix, however Final Fantasy XIV proves that he has left remnants of his magic behind.

 

Once you have created your character with the fairly in-depth customisation tools, you’ll find yourself on a boat travelling to the port town “Limsa Lominsa”. Anyone who has played Final Fantasy XI will be very familiar with the concept of starter cities as, much like in the first MMORPG in the series; Final Fantasy XIV will drop you off in one of three City States, which will act as a hub for you at the beginning of your adventure.

 

Your trip is suddenly interrupted as a storm brews up and monsters attack your ship. Just after you’ve managed to fend off the troublesome fiends, a giant sea dragon jumps over your boat and seems to communicate some sort of message to your character, which leaves you with a lot of questions.

 

This opening scene is incredibly engrossing. Whilst I’m sure my description doesn’t sound as epic as the opening actually is, if you get the chance to play the game, you’ll instantly find out what I mean. This fantastically absorbing storyline doesn’t stop there though. After you land in Limsa Lominsa you’ll do a series of quests that will introduce you to the game whilst also gradually introducing you into the environment and giving the game world some context.

 

You’ll immediately find the quests interesting and you may even find yourself becoming attached to various NPCs. While the game’s storyline appears to focus more on the politics of the world, much like Final Fantasy XII, it isn’t forgetting the importance of having key characters that you can connect to, unlike Final Fantasy XII. Overall, the storyline for Final Fantasy XIV is shaping up to be something special and I personally can’t wait to see where it goes.

 

Graphics

Graphics have always been an important part of Final Fantasy games, with most entries in the series pushing the technical boundaries of their platforms. Final Fantasy XIV is no different. If you have a graphics card that can display high-end visuals, then you’re in for a treat.

If you’re worried about purchasing the game and it not running on your computer then you should know this: I had a NVIDEA GeForce 9500 GS for the majority of the closed beta and I can confirm that even I was able to run the game. Of course I did have to lower the settings drastically and, if I wanted a picture perfect frame rate, I had to turn the graphics down so much that it looked like I was playing a PlayStation/PlayStation 2 game. I was able to run the game on the higher settings, and while the game was playable, my frames per second (FPS) was very inconsistent.

Even if you can’t run Final Fantasy XIV on the highest settings you’re still in for a treat. The character animations are simply fantastic. Never, in any game, have I seen characters move so fluidly. Everything from general movement, to battle animations, is simply amazing. The amount of care that has gone into the visuals of this game is astonishing.

Additionally, the fashion, which seems to have a very Studio Ghibli feel to it, is wonderful, as is the architecture and general world design. To put it simply, this is an environment that has character and essence. The only problem is that the world feels lifeless. While the NPC’s are performing actions, such as flipping burgers, these are just pre-scripted and there doesn’t appear to be any spirit in them. Hopefully this can be fixed by the time the game is released.

 

FFXIV

 

Gameplay

The gameplay has been heavily refined from Square Enix’s last MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI. The battles in Final Fantasy XIV use a version of the series traditional Active Time Battle (ATB) system. Instead of players waiting for the bar to fill up completely and then attack, your attacks only use up a portion of the bar. This means you do attacks in rapid succession, much like in Final Fantasy XIII.

 

While the battle system is incredibly spammy, you have to constantly hit one of the number keys to do basic attacks, there is a fair amount of strategy involved, especially if you’re a caster. If you play a magic role then you need to be very careful about what spells you use and when, as your MP doesn’t refill as in other games. To counter this, casters are given a spell that will replenish your MP however the cool down on this particular ability is thirty minutes. You can also go to an Aetheryte Crystal in a nearby city or campsite to get your health and MP fully healed.

 

At these Aetheryte Crystals you can also activate your Levesquests. Levesquests are essentially quests, however they don’t have any story attached to them and they consist of you killing a certain amount of monsters, or building a certain item. Levequests are supposed to support your levelling up process, which is thankfully very quick.

 

I didn’t manage to get a lot of hands on with the various crafting/harvesting classes, and it didn’t really help that there wasn’t an in-game tutorial to guide me through them, however what I did try out appeared to be very in-depth and I believe that Final Fantasy XIV has one of the deepest crafting systems available.

 

FFXIV

 

Conclusion

Whilst what I did see in this preview build was very well done and finely polished, I cannot help but feel like this is just a standard MMORPG. Apart from the engaging storyline, and interesting battle system, Final Fantasy XIV isn’t really pushing the envelope. Whatever polish there is in the game, is destroyed by the horrible User Interface, which is slow and lacks simplicity. You’ll find yourself having to go through so many menus just to equip items and skills that this simple task will quickly become a chore. It also doesn’t help that there isn’t an auction house, which was one of the best features about Final Fantasy XI, instead you have to check every player in a small “trading” room, to see what they’re selling.

 

A lot of work needs to be done to improve the general user experience, and I hope that Square Enix will listen to their soon-to-be consumers as in its current state Final Fantasy XIV is not worth the buying price yet alone the monthly fee. Considering the game is less than a month away from shipping, that’s not a good thing.

Plants vs Zombies MMO? Or Perhaps World of Pegglecraft?

Plants vs Zombies MMO? Or Perhaps World of Pegglecraft?

 

PopCap Games announced a deal with NCsoft to bring PopCap’s first online multiplayer social game service to Korea later this year. Sadly this will not mean that we’re likely to see games such as “Plants vs Zombies MMO” or “World of Pegglecraft” just yet. PopCap and NCSoft are starting with a collaboration named “PopCap World”.

 

The new platform, PopCap World, is the first product to be developed and released by PopCap’s Shanghai game studio and marks a major milestone for the company in terms of its global online and social strategies.

 

PopCap and NCSoft are starting with a collaboration named PopCap World

 

PopCap World, operated by NCsoft, will launch with 13 of PopCap’s award-winning games such as Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies and Zuma as well as an all-new multiplayer game, Super Zuma, built exclusively for Korean players. All of the games are free to play, with optional, premium paid elements to be added later.

 

James Gwertzman, PopCap’s Vice President for Asia/Pacific, said:

“When Disneyland first opened, it revolutionized the amusement park industry and ushered in the era of the modern theme park. In the same way, we believe PopCap World has the potential to redefine casual games in Korea and beyond by offering players the most immersive PopCap experience yet.”


“Our announcement today is just the beginning. We are very excited about our partnership with NCsoft – their formidable presence in the online market combined with PopCap’s leadership in the casual and social spaces makes for an interesting recipe that we look forward to serving up to players in Korea and beyond.”


PopCap – and flagship franchise, Bejeweled – is widely regarded as a founding father of the casual games industry. Over the past 10 years, the company has solidified its reputation as a games pioneer by innovating new games genres exemplified in games such as the BAFTA-nominated, Plants vs. Zombies. PopCap is one of the few game developers/publishers that has successfully adapted itself to an ever-increasing variety of new gaming platforms and technologies.

 

Most recently, the company has gained notoriety for its success in the mobile and social spaces: its first iPhone game, Bejeweled 2, has been in the top 20 apps since its July 2008 launch; while the company’s first social game, Bejeweled Blitz, launched in December 2008, is one of the top games on Facebook with over 4 million daily active users (DAU). As PopCap prepares to launch its second social game, Zuma Blitz, on Facebook later this month, there is palpable excitement surrounding projects on both sides of the world and how these might eventually inform each other.

 

Mr. Whang, NCsoft’s Vice President for Web Business Center, said:

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with PopCap Games on this new project. PopCap is famous not only for the high quality of their games, they are a very talented developer, but also for appealing to an extremely wide audience. We look forward to a successful launch, and to opening up this new world of fun to both our existing Korean users, as well as a whole new audience for whom this may well be their first online game.”


PopCap games have been downloaded over 1.5 billion times by players worldwide; its flagship title, Bejeweled, has sold more than 50 million units across all platforms. PopCap World will launch later in 2010 with all games localized in Korean.

Jade Dynasty Organizes Global PvP Tournament

Jade Dynasty Organizes Global PvP Tournament

 

Perfect World Entertainment unveiled the captain for Team Vengeance, who will lead the team against nine other countries worldwide for the title of greatest Jade Dynasty PvP team in the world as well as for the grand prize of $27,000. The Jade Dynasty Global PvP Tournament will take place on September 18 – 19, 2010 and the captain from each country will be flown to Beijing, China to compete in front of a crowd of thousands.

 

Kayure Patel also known as Tricey on the Billows server, has been selected to lead Team Vengeance in the first world PvP tournament for Jade Dynasty

 

“We’re pleased to announce that Kayure Patel also known as Tricey on the Billows server, has been selected to lead Team Vengeance in the first world PvP tournament for Jade Dynasty, which will once and for all prove who are the best players in the world,” said Andrew Brown, Product Manager for Jade Dynasty. “Kayure is a natural born leader, having played on the Billows server since September 16, 2009 and has shown impressive skills in his PvP matches.”


Twenty players and five backups will be representing Team Vengeance in the global PvP tournament.

Mythos Online

Mythos brings the highly successful “Hack’n’Slash” formula to an actionpacked online role-playing game. Mythos offers players a virtual fantasy world based on a comic bookstyle atmosphere where they hunt countless monsters in a variety of dungeons. Players may also compete with each other in gripping PvP battles.

Story:

In times past, four races formed an alliance based on the promise of peace and cooperation
– the cyclopes, the humans, the gremlins and the satyrs. However, some human mercenaries were possessed by greed. They attacked the cyclops village and razed it to the ground in a merciless battle to steal a mysterious green gem – the eye of Crom the cyclops. After their bloody victory the human mercenaries proceeded further into the Evergreen Pasture to wreak more havoc by means of the power of the green gem.

However, one brave Cyclops survived the battle and was overcome with grief after the colossal betrayal of trust within the once strong alliance. Consumed by sorrow and driven by an unquenchable thirst for revenge, he is determined to hunt down the human mercenaries and avenge the honor of the alliance.

Big News for World’s First Collectible RTS: SAGA

Big News for World’s First Collectible RTS: SAGA

 

Silverlode Interactive today announced that its flagship game SAGA will be offered completely free as of Tuesday September 14th. Players who register for the game will receive the same fully enabled account that was formerly sold for $19.95 on such sites as Direct-2-Drive. All former paid features such as the ability to form guilds, trade in the auction house and quest with friends will be activated.

 

In addition to free registration, all tournaments (which formerly costed tournament tokens to enter) will be free as well. Players will still win tokens for playing in tournaments, allowing for the purchase of rare and powerful items from the tournament store.

 

Saga

 

The Tuesday Patch will also bring a lot of new content to the game, as well as removing the old alliance restriction, which means players of both the Brotherhood and Order Factions can quest and chat with each other. Some of the additions include raising the nation level cap to 40 and the unit level cap to 15. New territory quests have also been added, allowing players to expand their kingdoms.

 

“We are committed to the ongoing development and expansion of SAGA,” says Silverlode President Jason Faller. “We are focused on continuing as the leader in MMO RTS gaming, and are thrilled to offer SAGA free-to-play at last.”

Sho Online Announces Major Update

Sho Online Announces Major Update

 

Sho Online will be undergoing major changes in September 15, 2010. Players will now be able to level up to level 150. All ratings related to defense, offense, levels, skills, item prices and masteries will be changed and rebalanced accordingly. Additionally, there will be some graphic changes made. All maps will be retouched to take on a brighter image: you will actually see castles glow during nights. Some monsters will be graphically enhanced. A new level 85 set items will be introduced.

 

Sho Online

 

Sho Online flag event and return of the legend event will also take place in time of the update. Each time you pick up a flag, your basic stats and critical hit rate will be enhanced for 1 minute. Also Sho Online will be giving away new items to the returning users. To receive the item, the players must have not played Sho Online for at least a month and a half.

 

For more information, please visit the official website.

Bad Bobby Scams $45000 in Eve Online

Bad Bobby Scams $45000 in Eve Online

 

Eve Online pirate ‘Bad Bobby’ has admitted to scamming in the region of 850 billion ISK from a fund he was running.

 

“Ok. I can confirm that I have scammed something in the region of 850b from T4U and other ventures.” Was the cold hard confirmation of what many investors had feared.

 

Bad Bobby confirms that he has scammed something in the region of 850b from T4U and other ventures in Eve Online.

 

Without getting too technical, the fund was “protected” by a board of 5 trustees, each of which had one fifth of the votes, a majority was needed to remove any items or funds from the trust. Pretending like he wanted to make the trust more secure Bobby suggested to bring in more trustees. In reality the other trustees were puppets under his control so as soon as he got his hands on the majority vote he drained the trust completely dry, stealing what can only be described as “a fuckton of money”.

 

A quick calculation tells us that 850 Billion ISK is enough to buy over 2500 Pilot’s Licences (subscriptions). Using current prices these would be worth over 45,000 US dollars!

 

may you be podded for all eveturnity

 

To the question if he had this scam planned out all along Bobby answered the following:

 

“Yes and no. I kept my options open.

 

I always ran the business legitimately and I would have been happy to continue doing so for much longer. I would have expanded further with expectation that the end of the fleet lag issue (soonTM) would have brought more profits to the IPO. I never had any plans for giving back the isk though. At best I would have run the IPO “forever”.

 

That said I always kept an eye on oppertunities for taking the whole thing. Taking one BPO or the isk for one expansion never interested me, but the possibility that a crisis with the trustees could occur or an oppertunity for creating a controlling majority of shares in the Super Sekrit Corp could occur (as it did) was always kept in mind. Hence the fact I didn’t give Cosmo his shares, which was easy to deny but still brought me closer to a majority. If the vote to create 600 shares had been stopped by the trustees I would have just said “right you are, we’ll do this differently” and business would have continued as usual.

 

The public relations and social engineering aspects of the venture did not require me to make a firm decision on my intent, although I suppose saying “I never had any plans for giving back the isk” was pretty close to “I planned to scam”. Building the reputation, overcomming the issues that came with that, managing public perception of me and bringing a large section of the MD investor population to the point where they stopped thinking clearly with respect to my trustworthyness was equally valid as both a legitimate businessman seeking large volumes of isk at low rates or as a scammer trying to make a big score.

 

Whichever way you look at it, it was a really interesting and challenging project for me that delivered in every way I could have hoped for. I really enjoyed both the legitimate venture and execution of the final heist. Thanks to you all for giving me that oppertunity.

 

I think it’s time to let this story fade into the night, so I’m going to lay off posting. I’ll come back for any interesting questions but I’m not going to strut about MD rubbing people’s noses in it.

 

So long and thanks for all the fish!”


And thus ends another chapter in the Saga that is Eve Online!

Zentia Interview: A Unique Oriental Fantasy

Zentia Interview: A Unique Oriental Fantasy
Questions by Chen Fo Po (cinderboy), OnRPG Journalist
Answered by Susan Revelt

  

Zentia is an upcoming MMORPG published by ChangYou US and also the 3rd title in its English portfolio. Developed by Chinese studio, Pixel Soft, the game is coined as a “fairy tale” MMORPG with a delightfully twisted sense of humor. Judging from the various media releases about Zentia, I am convinced that it looks really wacky and fun at the same time! With players dreading the massive number of Asian-themed MMORPGs in the recent market, will Zentia be successful in convincing players that there is much more to the game? Let’s find out.

 

Zentia Banner

 

OnRPG: Hello, I am Fo Po (cinderboy) from OnRPG. Can you kindly introduce yourself to the readers?
Hello readers! I am Susan Revelt, the Senior Producer for Zentia.

 

OnRPG: Zentia will be ChangYou’s 3rd MMORG to be released in the English market. Any thoughts on the company’s Western odyssey so far?
ChangYou is a young, thriving company with devoted, experienced, and passionate professionals, a team that knows and loves all different genres of games. We are confident that players will find Zentia to be very immersive and will appreciate the uniqueness that the game has to offer.

 

OnRPG: Why the decision to bring in Zentia to the English audience?
Zentia is a unique game that combines the best aspects of MMORPG play with a humorous environment. A game like Zentia is a rare treasure that merits a global audience.

 

Zentia

 

OnRPG: What role do the players play in the game’s storyline?
Players will step into the shoes of one of 22 former immortals who were cast out of the Heavens to clean up the earth. The three immortal brothers who rule the heaven, earth, and underworld had a huge fight. During the fight, the lord of the underworld let loose his demons and other abominations upon the earth. The lord of the mortal world chooses 22 of his followers to help the immortals destroy the demons, and in the process of doing this task, the followers obtain immortality. However, after the lord of the underworld is defeated, the lord of the heavens is not satisfied with the job the new immortals did. He casts them back to the mortal realm, strips them of their newly acquired immortality, and instructs them to finish the job. If the 22 can get the job done they have a chance to get their immortality back.

 

OnRPG: Is there any special meaning to the game’s title, Zentia?
It’s simply the name of the world, but in particular, its inhabitants prefer to think of the name as it relates to the state of the world before havoc was wrought upon it by the lord of the demons.

 

OnRPG: What is the learning curve in Zentia like? Will there be a Master-Disciple system or sorts to guide new players?
Zentia has a friendly user interface that players can pick up fast. We’ve customized the game to be accessible by gamers of all levels of experience. There is also a very fun master/apprentice program in the game. A special instance is available to Master and Apprentice teams. Masters can also get unique titles and special high level items.

 

Zentia

 

OnRPG: There will be 8 classes in the game, can you briefly describe to the readers what roles they play in the game?
These eight classes have unique abilities which provide balanced gameplay.

– Vajra Guardian- Vajra Guardians are the ultimate in staying power and keeping enemy attention. Their high toughness and melee power make them a valuable core member of any team.

– Raksha Warrior – Raksha Warriors trade some of the Vajra Guardian’s durability for the ability to do more damage. Though not as specialized as their counterpart, they can still take a beating.

– Blade Warden- Blade Wardens are expert sword wielders. They are skilled with them in melee, but can also summon and hurl swords made of lightning or ice.

– Master Summoner- Master Summoners are even more versatile than Blade Wardens, though they also have a lack of focus. Their summoned allies can damage enemies while they themselves join in melee combat, stay back and use ranged attacks, or even heal their allies.

– Fire Mage- Fire Mages possess a singular focus and possess the highest single-target damage skills in the game. They can burn down a single target quickly but should be wary of tougher enemies or groups of enemies.

– Stormlord- Stormlords deal less damage than Fire Mages but specialize in lightning skills that can shock several targets at once. They hurt groups more than the other classes, but their damage potential is wasted against a single foe.

– Divine Enchanter- Divine Enchanters possess attacks, but their true strength is making their allies stronger. They can heal them, raise their attributes, and even revive them if they fall.

– Dark Revenant- Dark Revenants can heal and enhance their allies, but they trade off some of this ability for shadowy power that lets them hurt and otherwise hinder enemies. Though they are still in a supporting role, they take a more aggressive stance.

 

OnRPG: Will gaining experience points in Zentia be based more on questing or PvE?
That will be up to the player. It is possible to get through most of the levels by questing alone. It is also possible to explore the environment and gain experience from demons and other abominations scattered over the land. If you really want to put in minimal effort, it is possible to dance your way through the level by auto- following one of the dancing NPCs.

 

Zentia
Dancing NPCs

 

OnRPG: How will players be able to upgrade their characters upon reaching a new level?
Each new level brings attribute and resistance points to be assigned to the stats of the user’s choice.

 

OnRPG: Will there be any instances for players to group up and conquer?
There are so many instances in Zentia. The first really HUGE one that players will encounter is the Heavenly Test. The Heavenly Test is triggered when the first player reaches level 40, level 60, level 80 etc. Each section of the test culminates in an epic raid to open up the next 20 levels of content. I recently participated in the level 40 Heavenly Test during closed beta. It took us nearly 5 hours to fight our way to the top of the mountain. It was one of the best raids I have ever participated in. Even after the next 20 levels of content are opened up players can still do the Heavenly Test raid for the previous level assuming they can prove themselves worthy through a series of quests.

 

Zentia
Questing

 

OnRPG: I read about the unique mounted PvE, where up to 10 passengers can be on the mount at the same time. How does this system work?
Most of the monsters that players encounter can be captured. Some of the monsters can be trained as pets, and a few special ones can be trained as mounts. Depending on the type of mount, 1 to 10 players can ride on it. A fox or donkey seats one passenger, wolves and bears seat up to two, a treant can seat three, etc., all the way up to the dragon that seats up to 10 players. Mounts continue to level up as the player rides them. With each level the mount can learn new skills. Some mounts can even fight while the player is mounted. The fox can shoot flaming birds out of its mouth, the deer shoots a laser type beam out of its eyes and the dragon can be trained to shoot fire.

 

Zentia
Dragon shooting fire

 

OnRPG: What role will pets play? Will the pets be just eye-candy?
Pets provide passive buffs to players. After a monster is successfully caught, it is then re-hatched into a pet. Upon hatching, the new pet will have a specific set of attributes. Each attribute can have a random value within each type of pet. These attributes will give players buffs. The higher the base attribute the better the buff the pet gives.

 

OnRPG: In every MMORPG, there is bound to be a guild feature. Can you tell us about some of the advantages of creating or joining a guild?
You get your own city complete with a warehouse and NPCs that act as quest hubs for guild members only or give extra gifts for leveling. There is a guild tree that can provide gifts on a daily basis, guild only instances, and guild officers get added HP and a special guild aura.

 

OnRPG: Are there any other unique or special features that you would like to share with the readers?
There are many unique features in Zentia, but one of them is the Jail System which has never been done in an MMORPG. In many areas in Zentia, forced PVP is not possible; however, in a PK area, if another player kills you, it is possible to report the player to an NPC judge. If the judge determines that you indeed were wronged, a warrant for the arrest of the other player will be issued. This means that if the offending player shows up in any town, the captors will come for him, beat him up, and throw him in jail. The sentence for griefing is one hour of logged-in game time. If waiting for the offender to show up in town seems like an insufficient punishment, players can buy “wanted posters” from a local warden officer. The offending players name is automatically announced; the player turns red and is forced to accept any and all pvp challenges. Players who kill a red criminal are eligible for justice rewards.

 

Zentia
Rewards

 

OnRPG: With regards to players complaining about the number of Asian themed MMORPGs flooding the Free-to-Play market, what will you say to encourage them to give Zentia a shot?
Zentia offers unique gameplay, numerous and in-depth features that no other MMORPGs have done before. We spent a lot of resources during development on marketing research, testing, and getting feedback from the community to create a game that offers gamers an experience unlike any other. Zentia has humor, freedom of control in the virtual world, endless quests, competitive PvE and PvP systems, a friendly UI, and all of this absolutely free for players!

 

OnRPG: Thanks for your time!
Thank You! It is always a pleasure to talk to OnRPG.

Holybeast Review: Unleash The Beast!

Holybeast Review: Unleash The Beast!
By Jason Gallienne (Jrgsubzero), OnRPG Journalist

 

First, let me tell you the basics. This game uses the point-and-click method of movement and there is no WASD movement. You start off choosing an animal race, which include Bird, Monkey, Dog, Buffalo, Tiger and Dragon. Each race offers different strengths and available classes. For example, Dragon excels in magic and can be one of the three mage classes while a Dog can only be one.  Combat is your basic target and use skills deal but leveling is more quest-based than most free-to-play games.

 

When you first begin your adventure, you’ll be in your animal form. But not to worry, you didn’t customize your character for no reason! After a few tutorial quests and a scuffle with the local monsters you’ll be transformed into a human again along with the ability to switch between the two forms at will. Your beast form evolves as you level as well, increasing your stats. After a few more levels you will be able to take an easy quest that turns you into the class of your choice. You will notice a RP meter where your health and mana is. This allows you to berserk while in beast form, which gives you a limited but large boost to certain stats depending on which berserk you use.

 

Holybeast

 

Out in the Wild

So, now that you know the basics here are some features you’ll need to know about to be successful in the game. First let’s go over the refining system.  During your adventures you may find fragments of an item. Once you collect 10 of these fragments you may take them to a Fragment smelter in town and have him turn it into the item the fragments are made of. In addition to that, you may add clovers to increase the success rate. Next the appraisal system is pretty simple. If you find a non-appraised item take it to the appraisal NPC and for a fee he will appraise it for you. These items have a better chance of either being enhanced or being able to be enhanced. Now you probably want to know about the enhancement system. If you find a jewel and have equipment that can be enhanced, take it to the Enhancer NPC and he will attempt to enhance for you. Just like with the fragment system, you can use a clover to increase the success rate.

 

You may also have a pet but not only is it a companion it can also fight alongside you. Divine Essence is the first form of your pet and it just follows you around but when you evolve it into a second generation pet it can fight and speak. In order to do this you’ll need a pet card and take that along with the Divine Essence to the pet manager. Don’t worry, your pet won’t be an uncontrolled beast, you have a command bar and you can put it on certain behaviors. If your pet is on aggressive mode it will attack any monster it can get its appendages on. When in guard mode your pet will only attack monsters you’re currently fighting. And lastly, when on follow mode it will just keep you company. In addition to all that, a second generation pet will also pick up money and items for you. As your pet battles alongside you it will gain fairy points. Once these points are maxed out and you have found an enhancement card, you make take them to the pet manager and she’ll do the rest. Also, note that your pet can only be enhanced twice. Now if you happen to get two +2 enhanced pets, you may fuse them together to get a third generation pet!

 

Once you get to level 60 you may start getting talents. You unlock the first row of talents known as the sage class, at 75 the legend class, and 90 the myth class. In order to get talent points you must trade in your experience points. You may have a max of 18 talents and they have various effects such as increasing strength, health points, etc.

 

As you get that high in level you may also want to check out the Phantasmal Castle. It’s basically a dungeon where the deeper you go the harder the monsters get. Each level has three warp gates which take you to a different floor as well as one in the middle of the room that takes you to a boss. You can obtain weapons and armor here which range from level 50 items to level 100.

 

And once you’re high level and equipped with nice gear you may want to test your mettle in the Beast Battles. You must go to either Seraphim Tower or Hallowed Tower to enter the battle. You may only be in a party with your own guild members and you may only attack opposing guilds so if you’re solo it’s you against everyone else.  If you win the battle you will get Battle Merit Points which come in either Guild or Solo flavors. The guilds and characters who have the most points every week will be displayed on the battle board at the main town.

 

The Litter Box

With every game comes its problems and here are the ones that bugged me. The game isn’t perfectly translated which caused me to re-read some things several times before I understood it. The community, which is friendly, has quite a few non-native English speakers. The map is cluttered with huge text and is, in my opinion, ugly. The graphics are stylized but show serious age and the font used is very boring.

 

Holybeast

 

Overview

That concludes my review for Holy Beast and I hope it informed you of the game’s mechanics. If you’re looking for a game where your race is an animal and you can choose between animal and human form, then you’ll be hard pressed to find any other game than this one.  Holy Beast has a unique cover but you’ll find many of the same old things inside the book.

 

Pros:
– Unique beast form system
– Friendly community
– Many events

 

Cons:
– Translation leaves much to be desired
– Aged graphics