Monthly Archives: November 2010

Mythos Update: Arts and Crafts

Mythos Update: Arts and Crafts


One of the features central to the forthcoming Hack-and-Slash MMO Mythos is the comprehensive crafting system. Gamers can break down items looted from one of the dangerous dungeons or stolen from a nasty monster to create more powerful items from the individual pieces. Players have their choice of three specialities in the skill tree: “Terran”, “Sylvan” and “Etheral”. Utilising enhancement bonuses and by collecting skill points, players are able to forge the game’s most powerful items.

 

Spoilt for choice
In every skill tree, there are specialisations for different types of weaponry and armour. For example, in the “Terran” category you can craft items like swords or breastplates. In the “Etheral” category, players have the option to create magical items like a magic wand or garments. Firearms can be made using the “Sylvan” tree. Each category features six enchantments, such as fire damage or poison protection, with which items can be further upgraded. After every hard fought level up, Mythos monster mashers are awarded two skill points. There are over 100 different abilities in the three specialisations for players to choose from. As points are awarded, these options are unlocked and determine what type of items can be crafted. Players can decide themselves about which type of weaponry they want to specialise in, or which skill tree they want to beef up.

 

Mythos players have their choice of three specialities in the skill tree: “Terran”, “Sylvan” and “Etheral”.

 

For the decisive and the adrenaline junkies
After building up their skills, gamers can place a slot in their completed items. By placing crafted heraldries in these slots, players receive a temporary buff, such as increased life points. The temporary buffs are perfect if you find yourself suddenly in some dank dungeon and need to teach an unruly monster some manners. Being clever with your skill points, as well as upgrading with enchantments, is the ultimate determination as to how powerful your crafted items can become. Additionally, when crafting items, gamers can decide how high to set each attribute, for example speed. However, the higher the attribute is cranked, the chances of the crafting process going haywire increase. But with that increased risk, comes the potential for a better end product. Tinkering with your items after the hunt is guaranteed to provide a thrill.

 

 

ArchLord Introduces Dragonscion, The Children of Mightthesis

Archlord Introduces Dragonscion, The Children of Mightthesis

 

WEBZEN Inc. announced today the update of the new race ‘DragonScion’ known as the children of the great dragon Mightthesis for Archlord.

 

ArchLord DragonScion Hero - Tartasandra

 

The update of this hybrid type new race DragonScion will bring 4 new classes to the game. Starting from a class “Scion”, when reaching level 20, players will face the challenging decision of which advanced class to pursue and master. By the evolution system players can choose among four classes ‘Scion’, ‘Slayer’, ‘Summoner’, or ‘Orbiter’.

 

With the upcoming update of the new race DragonScion, WEBZEN will hold DragonScion Beta Key Joint Promotion which will start on beginning of December.
During the beta key promotion period, the beta key holders will not only able to unlock the DragonScion, but will also be given one of the strongest Chaotic Frontier full set of trial armor and more advanced items which will ease the game play. Most importantly, the DragonScion character database will be retained even after the beta trial period.

 

Tony Kim, Head of Global Publishing at WEBZEN Inc. said “The update of the new race DragonScion will provide more excitement and diversity into the fierce battle of the Chantra world. Also the strained relation among the existing 3 races will become more complicated.” He added, “This new race is already very popular in China, Japan, and East Asia, and we are sure it will be also be an epic experience for our Global server players.”

Lunia Online Review – Addictive Combo Mayhem!

Lunia Online Review – Addictive Combo Mayhem!

By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist

 

Lunia Online is an anime-styled MMO beat em’ up cogame that lets players enjoy smashing tons of enemies with minimal effort. The game is arranged in a vaguely sequenced system where players take quests and eventually find themselves on  a continuous chain of missions. The game is extremely fun, especially with the all the characters to choose from. The game play sports the traditional Final Fight system, which makes players crush everything on the screen before proceeding to the next part of the map. The game can be played with the keyboard but if you want that classic gaming feel I’d suggest a game pad.

 

Starting Up

Unlike other MMOs, Lunia Online presents you with  pre generated  character selection  rather than the traditional generic archetype selector. Each character has its own unique set of skills but essentially the same type of game play.  You will mostly be beating up everything on the map. The game also states the difficulty of handling each character. This form of rating allows players to distinguish which characters have easier combos as well as the survival rate of each character when soloing instances.

 

 

Lunia Online Start

Character Select

 

My Familia’

After entering the game world, you’ll be opted to join a family for an extra boost. Families serve as your personal team in the game and are quite essential for your character’s growth. Achievements and bonuses can be shared to family members provided that they are logged in at the time. It’s the lazy man’s way, but hell I’m lazy anyway.

 

BLOCK DAMN IT!

One of the things that caught my attention was the lockdown factor that occurs every time  you get hit by a group of monsters. The game does not have a block option. This makes it hard for players to escape a group attack. Allow me to explain further. During my early levels, I found myself stranded in the middle of a wolf pack. Since most of their attacks don’t knock you down, there’s no invincibility window granted for you to escape the continuous bites draining your HP, and due to the absence of blocking, you’ll probably just stand in place taking damage until a player saves you or die in the process. A block function wouldn’t hurt.

 

Get A Gamepad With Tons Of Buttons

Since directional keys and basic attacks take most of the mapped controls, mapping the skills and essential items in the game can be a pain. Yeah, you’re free to use a game pad, but due to the lack of buttons, players will most likely go back to the keyboard for the extra functions.

 

Quests And Missions

Like I said, quests tend to link every time you finish a mission. This means that the NPC you’ll be meeting for the quest rewards will most likely give you another task after completing your current one.

Missions are instanced and will only be shared with your party members, so it’s best that you recruit team members before rushing in, unless you want to repeat the whole thing after being massacred by mobs.

 

 

Lunia Online Quests And Mission

Questing

 

Lunia’s missions and scenarios are done pretty well. You’d think it’s the same as other MMO beat em’ up games, but it’s not. Aside from the continuous mobs, Lunia’s missions are semi scripted, meaning things really happen as you venture across the instanced map. Much like Guild Wars, you’ll find NPCs joining your crew as you progress. It’s a very immersive way of storytelling, and yet a rare feature for MMOs to possess. Another thing great thing is the in game cinematic or comic strips. On random occasions, a clickable movie tab will be shown, allowing players to access a visual novel interface that explains the current situation. Once again, the artwork is anime-ish… a good way to hook people, I must say.

 

Map

I was really amazed when I saw the World Map, if we can call it that. As you can see, there are episode tabs at the top portion of the screen. This pretty much signifies how long you’ll be playing to finish the story :3. That’s like 70 missions if you count 10 per episode. Worry not though, for the game has enough gimmicks and scripted goodness to remove the linearity of game play. The story is actually pretty interesting if you ask me.

Lunia Online Map

The Map of Lunia

PVP

You can access PVP anytime on the world map simply by entering the PVP Room. This takes you to a list of hosted battles where you can either join or create your own session. There’s a room made for beginners but I wasn’t able to find any newbies to challenge. Your best bet would probably be to level up further and challenge the highbies when you get there. Matches can either be 1-on-1 or 2-on-2.

Lunia Online PVP

Score Board

Graphics and Sounds

Cell shaded anime graphics… a simple and outdated system but still works for most gamers today. The spells look absolutely brilliant, with dynamic light effects that swivel across the screen and emphasize the said skill. The background is vibrant and quite colorful, allowing the character models to blend well with the surroundings. There are a whole variety of monsters and bosses, allowing players to see something new every time they progress further. Nothing rewards you better than a change of scenery right? The sounds are just brilliant. First off, the BGM is just invigorating and is perfect for the whole beat em’ up feel. Secondly, character voices also add to the experience as they accompany the crunchy sound effects that manifest per hit. Superb!!!

 

Lunia Online Graphics

Balls, Balls Everywhere!

The Verdict

I must say, Lunia Online got me hooked pretty fast. With character combos, instanced missions, epic boss battles, what more could you ask for? Perhaps the biggest thing that caught my attention was the game’s moving storyline and visual novel storytelling. It’s quite rare for MMOs to possess this feature and I’m happy to see it again. There are tons of characters in the game, and it’s just sad that some of them are for sale… Hmm…they did say that the others can be unlocked through secret quests, so I guess I’ll be looking for them. I had a few lag problems, but it was pretty easy to endure, especially since I was enjoying the game so much.. Nailing those combos may be a bit hard for newbies, but trust me when I say that it feels kind of nice when you’ve mastered them. Both fun and rewarding, Lunia Online is definitely something to enjoy.

 

Pros
-Quite addictive
-Great Visuals
-Excellent soundtrack and invigorating music
-Combos
-Scripted Missions
-Visual Novel Storytelling

 

Cons
-Some characters are for sale
-Lag issues-Lockdowns
-Long loading times.

Armada Online Review – Pwn with your Own Ship

Armada Online Review – Pwn with your Own Ship
By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

 

Armada Online Cover

 

As an online gamer there have been games that I always return to. Armada Online is one example. The overall idea of Armada Online is that you belong to one of the two factions (Nomad Empire or Allied Systems) and you duke it out in space with your very own ship.

 

You are given different instances where you either go against armadas (the monsters you see on the map) or against other players in some very epic PVP action.

 

Gameplay

Armada Online uses the overhead perspective. The ship’s controls use a mix of the keyboard and mouse. Navigation is locked to the mouse while weapons and other game features are accessed through the keyboard.

 

The controls give  the authentic feeling that you are piloting a big spaceship and not just a fighter ship that can be gunned down easily. The fact that you can time your shots according to your ship’s weapon cool down gives you the captain-of-the-ship experience. In fact, I can say that the game lets you experience how it feels to be a starship commander in Star Trek. You can also opt to go on full auto with your ship’s weapon systems if you’re in the thick of things and you can just concentrate on steering your ship and evading enemy shots.

 

Armada Online Clawlord

 

I can’t really say that the game is free from the MMORPG feel because Armada Online’s leveling system is somewhat similar to what most  MMORPGs have. Each level gives you points for both your ship and captain to allocate for stats and skills. For ships, you get to improve their destructive power with every point you allocate , while captain points allow you to get skills to enhance your ship’s capabilities and give you points to allocate to the three stats (weapon, science and tactical) your captain has.

 

Races

In relation to the captain stats, racial bonuses come into play. Almost all races have stat bonuses in correlation to their race save for the humans (the Terran race in the game). Aside from stat bonuses, these races have certain roles in specific instances that put players into their “groups” determined by their race.

 

Armada Online Races

 

At first glance this may be too restrictive for players who want to have more freedom in their race choices. Players can go against the preconceived ideas of their race by being creative with their skill and stat allocations. While this may take more time than a player would like, the idea on being able to do this gives the twist the game needs to make it interesting for players.

 

Ships

As I mentioned earlier, each race has a specific ship design. While this knocks ship customization down a peg, the ship’s capabilities make playing the game very interesting. Each race has three ship tiers. Starting from the default ship, you can upgrade to tier two and then tier three. Each upgrade tier then gives you two paths to choose from.

 

Armada Online Upgrades

 

There is a difference with the ship upgrades once you reach tier three. While there are four types of tier three ships for each race, you can only have two ship classes to upgrade to.  The ship choices you have at this point are dictated by the type of ship you upgraded to in the second tier.

 

This type of system emphasizes on the importance of your choices in terms of your ship’s advancement. It gives you something to look forward to while enjoying the journey of leveling. On its own, the ships can only provide so much interest. That’s why I think the instances are the other half of the anchor that keeps me coming back for more.

 

Instances

Armada Online has three types of instances that you can play. There’s the co-op, the PVP and the global instances that works like dungeon instances in other MMORPGs. The Co-op instances are separated into the tutorial type (Haven) and the more serious one (the Burn). In the co-op instances all races help out one another in finishing tasks set on the map. In these instances you are only faced with armadas.

 

The PVP instances on the other hand pit the two factions against each other on one map. However you are not only faced with just your enemies, you also have to face armadas that patrol the map. These instances are really fun to play because they  keeps you on your toes. It ‘s really an exhilarating experience to go against other ships in a head to head battle in space.

 

Armada Online Instances

 

Influence, the currency you need to purchase skills, upgrades, crews and equipment for your colony, you earn in these instances are only earned locally and will only allow you to buy powers  useable in the instance you are in. You’ll have to complete these instances to earn global influence, which in turn will provide for the things I’ve mentioned earlier.

 

The third and last instance you can join is the global instance. Everything you earn in this instance (influence and experience points) are usable for upgrades and the like. Think of the global instance as the PVE maps on MMORPGs where you don’t have a time limit or any other goal than to just explore, kills armadas and mine.

 

Armada Starmaps

 

Global Instance and the Colony

The global instance in Armada Online is a huge map. This instance truly feels like you are travelling in space. You get to go through warp holes and even use the star map to plot a course to planets and star systems. The things you earn here are transferable so that you can use them in the development of your colony .

 

Conclusion

Armada Online is one of those games that has successfully infused a complex game concept and simplified it to maximize what makes space themed games like this enjoyable. While the main problem I have is the long delay in-between updates, I am still surprised every time I return into the game.

 

The game provides enough reason for a space buff like me to keep on playing. If you are looking for some old-school space battles then this game is just for you. So if you decide to play– I’ll be seeing you in space, Captain!

 


Pros:
– Simple upgrade system keeps you encouraged to play.
– Gameplay is easy to grasp but is very addicting.
– Provides an authentic space battle feel especially on heavily populated instances.

 

Cons:
– The game takes time to provide update.
– The game only has three game types and can be boring if you’re playing it for a long time.
– The game’s audio can be pretty redundant and boring.