Yearly Archives: 2010

Vanilla Gate Review: Left With Questions

Vanilla Gate Review: Left With Questions
By Eline Stiekema, OnRPG Journalist

 

It’s hard to explain what Vanilla Gate is about. I’m afraid the exact storyline of this game is a secret which is well kept by the developers, because I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. The website isn’t very helpful either. The only clue we can derive from the site is the following: “Main character gets into the planet Vanilla by chance. He has to go back home along with losts that he meets there and there are ancient cultural stuff that is needed to explore and get potal to go home.” Okay, we’ll see.

 

Getting started

Downloading and installing the game is easy, and creating a character isn’t much of a problem. There’s not a lot of choice in hairstyles, clothes and attributes, but the stuff you can pick looks nice and there’s enough room for variation. But then, you are going to want to find out how to play, who you are going to fight, what problem must be solved, and why. This turns out to be a bit of a problem. Reading the information on the website is usually a good start, but it seems like the developers haven’t been able to put the game info into comprehensible English.

 

 

Ingame Vanilla Gate

 

You can also do the tutorial, which is more helpful, but also kind of boring and repetitive. You learn the most important controls, but the orders the ‘drill instructor’ gives are often a little unclear, and you have to repeat certain moves until you get them right. When you can’t make it because you don’t understand what it is exactly that you have to do, your time just runs out and you have to start again. At one point I got so frustrated that I quit the tutorial and just started playing the game.

 

Gameplay

There are three modes of gameplay: single, team and quest. Each mode has its own rooms. Unfortunately, often the rooms are either full or busy. There are many rooms that seem to have been created for one person, which I found very surprising, because I didn’t manage to create a room myself. Neither the Help topic, nor the game manual provided a solution for this problem, so it’s still a mystery to me.

 

If there isn’t a room you can join but you want to play, creating your own room seems the only way. Sadly, playing is still not an option once you have created your own room. There you are, in your own cute little room, which you have restricted to two players… waiting. Yes, now you have to wait until player two joins in. This can take quite a while, because Vanilla Gate doesn’t seem to have that many players. To kill the time, you get to solve math assignments for extra points. Yes, seriously: math. They call it a quiz but it’s only doing randomly generated sums. For hours, if you aren’t lucky enough to find a partner. 52-60=? 43-39=? 134+55=? Boring!

 

I tried to find a solution for this, so I looked on the forum, which was full of complaints from players dealing with the same issues. I didn’t see anyone providing a solution, except begging for friends on the board so they could play together. In the chat I asked if there were other players waiting to join a room, but half of my message was cut off and I didn’t get a response. So I created a new ‘single’ room and just waited. Eventually, someone joined in and we could finally start.

 

Smash Bored Vanilla

Smashing Heads for Fun

 

We didn’t have any idea what was expected from us, so we just started beating each other up and that proved to be the right thing to do. It was fun, but it wasn’t anything special.

 

I also tried doing a quest. At first this was fun, but it soon got repetitive because I was stuck on the first level, although I did everything right and scored the highest possible amount of points. The same level just started over and over again. I also couldn’t find a solution for this problem. I played the first level from each of the three quests that are available, but didn’t get further. Very weird.

 

Beaten

Beaten by the game

 

 

General Recommendation

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that makes Vanilla Gate stand apart from other games. It’s just a bunch of stuff that has been done many times before, wrapped in an obscure storyline. Nothing seems to be new or original. And the questions concerning what the game is about remain unanswered, just like a number of questions about problems that arise when playing. Vanilla Gate is quite fun to pass the time, but it’s likely to get boring really quickly, because it has a lot of repetitive elements. Graphics and sounds are also disappointing. Although I’ve had moments when I really enjoyed this game, I would not recommend it.

 

The Good:
– Simply fun to pass the time.
– Styling of character is simple, but looks nice.

 

The Bad:
– No clear information about the game or solutions to arising problems.
– Takes a long time before game starts, with boring sums to pass the time.
– Sounds and graphics are overall kind of disappointing.
– A lot of repetitive elements.

Hero:108 Online

In Hero: 108 Online, humans and animals lived together in harmony until High Roller, a mischievous guy, was unceremoniously banished from the Eastern capital. High Roller grudgingly wandered the Hidden Lands and developed a deep hatred for the people who cast him out.
 
Fate, often a playful catalyst, intervened and High Roller was struck by lightning, gaining the amazing ability to speak to animals. With his new powers, High Roller brainwashed his new furry friends into believing that humans are evil and began his plans to avenge those who exiled him.
 
High Roller’s massive Animal Army now rages war on all humans, attempting to drive them out of neighboring kingdoms.  So, just when you thought woodland creatures were harmless they descend maniacally on your world causing havoc and unrest.  As part of the squad of heroes, overcome the chaos and bring peace to the Animal Kingdom!

Why MMOs Will Never Be Scary

Why MMOs Will Never Be Scary
By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

 

MMOs have been very successful in a limited number of genres, primarily fantasy and science-fiction. However there is one genre developers have completely failed to incorporate into an MMO. Try as they might there has been no successful release with an even relatively authentic experience.

 

I’m talking about the horror genre. While there have been attempts such as, Gravity’s Requiem: Bloodymare, Joymax’s Dark Eden or even Hanbitsoft’s Hellgate: London they have failed so far in terms of truly bringing out the ‘horror’ experience they have promised to deliver. Personally, I really commend their attempts of something that I imagine to be impossible. I think that MMOs could never offer anything resembling a truly horrific experience, save for a few surprised jumps here and there and even that’s pushing things.

 

Fear Poster

 

I asked around to see if the MMO community thought the same about the failure of the horror genre in massively multiplayer games. After some time I stumbled across several reasons, some of which I hadn’t even thought of before my investigation.

 

Reason 1: the Idea of what is scary goes against the concept of MMOs

Fear is generally felt the greatest when a person is alone. What is more scary than alone in a dark world full of monsters that are out there ready to eat you. The fact that you can never be alone in an MMO is one reason why MMOs automatically fail at being scary.

 

Being alone in an MMO goes against everything this type of game stands for. It is practically second nature for MMO players to get together, form parties and beat up whatever monster they meet. MMOs thrive in player populations and in-game communities and MMOs are usually set up so group gaming maximizes the game experience.

 

Reason 2: the sense of helplessness is thrown out of the window in MMOs

You are never helpless in an MMO. There are always ways for you to beef up your character to protect itself from the oncoming horde of beasties you meet in a dungeon. As long as you are well prepared before setting out you will never be scared of dying in-game.

 

Think of those single player games like F.E.A.R. or Fatal Frame. Regardless of how prepared you are for the monsters you face, there is this sense of helplessness nagging at the back of your head because it seems that you are just prolonging the inevitable.

 

In F.E.A.R. you have guns, big heavy guns, but what can they achieve when you can’t even hurt the unseen enemies attacking you? In Fatal Frame you have the camera to beat the ghosts, but how long would you last until the next safe point? Always wondering how many shots you have left until you run out and just have to run, and hope for the best.

 

Fear Scissors

Clocktower – one wrong move

 

 I haven’t even included Clocktower into the mix. That game really puts you at odds where your character does not have anything to defend herself against a psycho with big scissors, one wrong move and it’s bye-bye for you.

 

Reason 3: MMOs are made for open-world gaming

One of the reasons why good single player horror games are scary is due to its good storytelling nature. The story is restricted to only one path which makes it all scarier, this adds to the helplessness feel of those kinds of games. The horror builds up as the story unfolds and you’re your character finds out why they are in their current predicament and how they can escape from it.

 

Good stories and how they are delivered add to the creep factor of why they keep us awake at night. MMOs on the other hand are not made for such things because it restricts players on a set path, which in turn makes the MMO lose the ‘freedom’, or sandbox sensation that the developers are gunning for.

 

 

Blood Spatter

Beautiful Blood Spatter

 

MMOs are better suited for open-world gaming where players can react freely and do as they please in the game even if there’s an overall storyline that is unfolding.

 

Examples of good open-world gaming MMOs are World of Warcraft and Age of Conan. Both games have a good lore as a backbone yet it doesn’t restrict a player of their actions in the game.

 

Reason 4: MMOs do not culminate fear and dulls the emotions

The core gameplay of MMO’s is repetition. You keep on grinding on the same set of monsters on the same dungeon until the experience points don’t even move your experience bar up one percent. This practice dulls your emotions enough that if you do get to play another MMO, you don’t even flinch at the sight of the angry demon spewing hellfire in your face.

 

The only thing this kind of gameplay fosters is the excitement of finally leveling up. Fear on the other hand is a culminating emotion where it has to be fostered so that when that climactic moment comes, you practically scare yourself so much that you can’t even shut off the lights in your room for a week.

 

Reason 5: MMOs can’t foster the proper scary ambience

The lack of an MMO’s capability to foster the proper scary ambience is one of the reasons why MMOs will never be scary. One reason is that you are provided with faceless characters that do not really illicit any kind of emotional attachment whatsoever.

 

The lack of emotional attachment to your character is one of the integral connections that are needed to provide that ‘scare’, while it may be true that the cardboard character system does invoke a sort of ‘personal touch’ in your character you’d still find it hard to be scared.

 

Dark Eden

Dark Eden isn’t scary

 

 Horror MMOs such as Dark Eden and Requiem: Bloodymare are decent examples of attempts into the horror genre. The problem with these games is that they feel like an MMO far too much to provide the scary nature that they promised to deliver.

 

I find it impossible for an MMO to be scary. The concepts behind these two games are polar opposites which would never ever meet. MMOs thrive on the impersonal relationships of game characters and their environment while Horror needs its audience to be connected to the environment as much as possible.

 

With these reasons I strongly believe that MMOs could never bring out a true ‘horror’ game. Companies may try to do so and they may finally hit that mark, however until that time comes I’m sticking to single player games if I want to be scared.

Racing Star: Come On Baby! Review: The More Absurd The Better

Racing Star: Come On Baby! Review: The More Absurd The Better
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist

 

If you’re into hardcore racing games, this game probably isn’t for you. Racing Star: Come on Baby is a MMO Racing Game that features babies who look more absurd than cute. The cars in the game are more cartoonish than realistic, which shouldn’t be a surprise since we’re talking about babies here. The in game vehicles revolve around running rhinos, box-type cars and other crazy vehicles.

 

Racing Star is a casual game that lets you pick a room to compete with various players. If you are familiar with games like Krazy Kart and Gunbound, the game respects and uses the same matchmaking feature. This makes it easier for players to challenge each other easily.

 

Starting up

Much like any other MMO, you’ll be asked to create your character before logging in. The character customization features are rather limited and you will be forced to pick between pre made babies from different countries upon starting the game. Babies also have their own pre made stats, which states their efficiency towards certain fields. After naming your baby, you’re all set. It’s a bit of a drag since most players demand a diverse character creation interface. I know we’re supposed to be focused on the vehicles here but it’s not like they’re driving Porsches right?

 

Racing Cute Wagons

Racing in bizarre cute wagons with silly characters

 

Yep, definitely an MMO

Your baby levels up as you race with other players, although unlike regular MMOs, levels are separated via ranks namely A-E in their specific bracket (Newbie, Pro, etc.). It’s actually refreshing to see a new form of level after playing countless MMOs. I guess I just didn’t expect to find it here.

 

Come on baby! Race like you’ve never raced before!

One thing about Racing Star is its impressive set of game modes that will keep players racing like crazy. Aside from the practice mode which lets players learn the in game controls, you can also play in single player mode, which lets you dash through the various courses of the game without having to worry about being overtaken. It’s a good way to learn the game, especially since most racing simulators have it. When you think that you’re ready, then it’s time to battle it out with other players online.

 

As I said, you can either join or create new rooms in order to challenge other players online. Experience points and in game money are acquired by participating so you might want to get started soon. Up to eight players can join a race in progress. You can disable a few slots for a tighter battle between specific racers, giving you a good dogfight experience to the finish line.

 

Not the peaceful type

If you’ve played games like Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing, you’ll be quite familiar with the in game controls and item usage. Just because you’ve successfully overtaken another player doesn’t guarantee you a spot until you’ve witnessed his rage. Racing Star babies have cannons planted within their carts, allowing them to shoot you back to last place if you’re not careful. They can also pick up items as well as reserve them in order to gain the upper hand. It’s a very old feature, and may I say that I’ve missed it a lot. Thanks Racing Star.

 

War Paint Racing Star

Wear your war paints for this game

 

Baby Licenses? Cute…

Once you earn enough experience points to level your baby to a certain extent, you will need to participate in a license exam to test your skills. Once you pass the exam, you’ll gain access to more features. Kind of reminds me of Gran Turismo and Grid. It’s a huge grind to make, but it definitely makes it a lot more fun. Baby licenses, sheesh! What will they think up next? There are various licenses in the game which you must satisfy in order to level further. A bit challenging but if you could take the Ragnarok class tests, then this will definitely be a piece of cake.

 

Item and Medal Shops

The item mall is the best place to get something to personalize your character with. Aside from a hefty selection of gear and costumes, you can also buy emoticons to make the experience worthwhile. The items in the item shop can be purchased through in game cash (corn) and real money. Some of them have certain effects that can affect your game play (in a good manner) so choose wisely. As for the Medal shop, medals are acquired throughout the tracks in the game. These medals can be used to purchase certain items that can aid you in your “race-capades”. Keep a sharp eye out for those medals, because you’ll need them.

 

Graphics

The graphics are pretty much your average everyday MMO graphics. Most of the elements look pixilated but quite acceptable since your eyes need to be locked on the road to avoid sudden drifts to kingdom come. The racers look a lot like their featured artworks (in the character selection screen) so, no problem there. All in all, I’d say the graphics are pretty amazing. Pretty normal, but definitely amazing.

 

The verdict

For an annoying baby game, Racing Stars: Come On Baby! does have a lot to show. It has a variety of awesome game modes as well as a bunch of combat features that will ensure a breathtaking dogfight between players. The visuals are pretty good and can be run with low-end computers, allowing it to build up its community of gamers online. So far, if I didn’t hate their faces so much, it would’ve been a dream game LOL.

 

The Good:
– Modes of gameplay
– Licenses
– Item mall
– Fun to play
 

The Bad:
– Annoying characters
– Bad character customization field (complete lack of it)
– Graphics may need to be tweaked
– Lack of items to buy.

Mytheon Official Closed Beta Begins

Mytheon Official Closed Beta Begins

 

True Games Interactive, an international multi-player online game developer and publisher, along with award-winning developer, Petroglyph, have launched a closed beta for their highly anticipated online, multiplayer action/RPG with strategic game play .  Until now only a limited number of fans had been allowed into the game but now the companies have begun distributing closed beta keys and are inviting Mytheon fans to join in on the closed beta test.  


Mytheon Beta Begins Join Key

 

“We know that our Mytheon fans have been dying to get their hands on the game, but we have hand-picked those who had access to this point”, said Peter Cesario, director of product development and new business at True Games.
 
“Development is an ongoing process and we now feel that the game is at a point where we are ready to really have the community that has been growing and building, come in and play-test the early game as we progress towards open beta and the official launch. We are very happy to get some early feedback that will give us an opportunity to make even more improvements.”
 
Players can join the closed beta by going to Mytheon’s official website and clicking on the “Sign up to play” button to obtain a beta key. All beta keys will be delivered via email a short time after registration.
 
Players who join the closed beta will find an experience like no other. All beta test players will experience the excitement of classical mythology come to life when battling a giant Cyclops or challenging the god Hephaestus to control their fate. During the closed beta test period, players will have several opportunities to play alongside the developers and give direct feedback. There will also be several contests communicated through the game forums and patch client at various times. 

Mytheon Fantasy Myth RPG Setting

 

Mytheon is an online, multiplayer action/RPG with strategic game play where players experience classic mythology come to life and challenge legendary gods to define their own fate. Players, or “Stonecasters”, are powerful humans imbued with the ability to cast spells, summon minions, and erect structures that aid them in battle. An assortment of classes are available that approach combat differently and offer a range of unique, cinematic abilities.

Tales of Fantasy: Class Preview

Tales of Fantasy: Class Preview

 

Tales of Fantasy is a massively multiplayer game that centers around the conflicts that emerge between competing factions. The below article presents more details about all the classes.
 
In Tales of Fantasy, we have 2 Main Class Divisions – Fighters and Spellcasters.
 
The 4 Basic Classes:
– Warrior and Rogue (belong to Fighters)
– Mage and Healer (belong to Spellcasters)
 
The 8 Final Classes:
– Gladiator, Sentinel (belong to Warrior)
– Marksman, Assassin (belong to Rogue)
– Summoner, Archmage (belong to Mage)
–  Druid and Priest (belong to Healer)
 
Details
 
Skilled Warriors: A must have in any good party, the muscle bound class once again provides a steady bedrock on which to build a successful team. Whether they happen to be offensively (Gladiator) or defensively focused (Sentinel), when they’ve got your back, and possibly the front as well, no opponent lasts long.
 
Elusive Rogues: The class of choice for vanguards and scouts, the Rogue will advance to either Marksman or Assassin in the future. As a Marksman, no target, however minute or distant, will escape their eagle eyes and deadly accuracy; as an Assassin, no one will see it coming until it’s too late.
 
Powerful Mages: Masters of the elements, these cunning mystics are not to be trifled with lightly. Summoner and Archmage are the final step on the path of a Mage and they both open the door to great power. Summoners rely on their connection with nature to call up powerful, nightmarish beasts to fight for them, while Archmages utilize their vast knowledge of the arcane arts to rain pain and suffering on all who oppose them.
Benevolent Healers: The true heart and soul of a team, no one lasts long in a fierce battle without them. Healers are a fairly straightforward class, healing the wounded and dying, but their importance to the team can never be understated. Healers have a choice to either advance as a Priest, furthering their control of healing magic, or they can choose to follow the very essence of life itself, Nature, by becoming one of the mysterious Druids. Druids can shape-shift at will – either into an agile monkey, an elegant deer, or a sturdy bear.
 
Leveling your classes:
Once at Level 20, players will be faced with the choice that will decide their path in life. Once you have decided, visit the relevant NPC in the main city. All paths lead to power, it is up to each player to decide how to wield that power.
 
When you reach Level 25, the obvious allure of this game becomes apparent as players can then hop on their mount and begin galloping through the land!

Mounted Combat Tales of Fantasy Classes Healer

Space Conquer Review: I Have A Bigger Spaceship Than You

Space Conquer Review: I Have A Bigger Spaceship Than You
By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

 

Space Conquer is a browser based MMO made by PLAYNITUDE. The game centers on building up your colony to eventually become the strongest leader on your little planet. The game boasts that it’s the first of its kind to incorporate space to land warfare without having a graphically heavy interface.

 

Something new?

When it comes to space browser games, the warfare that happens is usually exclusively done either in space or in the planet’s surface. While there is a browser game that does have land and space warfare as part of its battle system it does have separate space and land units. However, in Space Conquer the lines of space and land battles have been erased and your units can now attack another player regardless of where they are. Spaceships can destroy land based fortifications unlike in other browser games where you need to have land units to do such things. The battle system really is not that much of an upgrade. You still have a game that has the same goal as the other space-centered browser games, manage, earn and conquer.

 

Interface

The game’s interface is heavily interlaced with images and some animated graphics. This is quite a sight especially if you are used to browser games with minimal support from the interface graphic-wise. You see that the interface is not just your point-and-click text type of browser game. Normally, a browser game that is graphics heavy is a welcome change from the usual text heavy browser games. The downside of this kind of browser game is that the heavy graphics would take its toll in the gameplay.

 

Planet Overview

 

The problems of a heavy graphics game are not lost in Space Conquer. As expected, the game time is slower compared to other less graphically heavy games. The transition in-between actions in the game are slow compared to what it would normally take. Although the inconvenience is minor they would eventually annoy you if you play the game long enough.

 

Still Incomplete

There are areas in the game that are still not translated and that there are still grammatical errors found riddling the game. This would never really affect your overall experience but if you really like to nit-pick the little details then it would sure to annoy you a lot.

 

 

Gather Materials

 

The translation and grammar issues that riddle the game are just one reason to see the game in a bad light especially considering that the game is catering to the international gaming crowd where English is the primary language of communication. This only shows that the game still needs a lot of fixing.

 

Game Balance

Space Conquer has no game balance issues whatsoever. Normally, browser games offer a big advantage for players who buy their premium service because the game is first and foremost a business. However Space Conquer does not really offer any large advantages to the paying player all except for a measly 10% increase in various aspects of the game. The game does provide certain features that are blocked from the free-to-play players such as the fight simulator and simplified interfaces. However these add-ons are merely for comfort and convenience more than army strength increase.

 

 

Build Locations

 

Though it may be seen that it would be a waste for anyone to invest money on such minor increases, it is a good thing gameplay-wise that there is very little difference between paying players and free to play. This gives those who choose not to pay a fighting chance against the paying players.

 

Conclusion

For a game that boasts of having something new in the genre, the game feels more generic. The overall gameplay is similar to majority of games being released which have the same theme. The only thing that the game has to its advantage is that it has its own advertising video which normally you wouldn’t see coming from a browser based game. The whole game still needs to be polished if it wants to be on par with majority of the games out right now. The game still needs to grow and in an industry that has a lot of competition, it has to grow fast. The game is still young, with its live launch last year.

 

 

All Your Base

 

The extensive use of graphics in the intervals and during game play is an indirect way of telling you that you should get the premium if you want the game to play in a simpler interface. Of course, the game has to prove itself to be worthy of anyone’s money and honestly there are better games out there.

 

The game has nothing more to offer aside from the space-to-planet warfare. If you are a person who has already played a lot of browser based games of this sort, you would just be wasting your time. However, things would be different if you new to the whole genre. Space Conquer is a good game to begin with in terms of space-themed browser based games. The graphics-heavy interface and the simplistic linear gameplay is a good training ground for players who would want to immerse themselves into the game. Not only is the game newbie friendly the lack of any game imbalance issues gives new players enough breathing room if they go head to head with those who paid for the premium service.

 

All in all the game is good for players who just started out while I would suggest the more experienced and jaded players to find a different game to invest their time on.

 

Pros:
– There game has a lot of visuals compared to normal browser based games
– Game page automatically updates after construction
– Purchasing premium points does not affect the overall game balance.

 

Cons:
– There are still areas in the game that are not translated to English
– Loading time is slow and very much affects the smoothness of the gameplay
– The gameplay is slow-paced so expect long wait periods per construction.

N.E.O Online Official Release Date Revealed

N.E.O Online Official Release Date Revealed

 

PlayOMG has announced that N.E.O Online is scheduled to launch at 7:00PM, March 2nd (PST). N.E.O Online will provide an all-new gaming experience that enriches the elements of traditional MMORPG. Set in the mystical world of Gaia, players take on the role of an adventurer who is tasked with solving quests and fighting against monsters across the wonderland.

Due to the class-free system, players can choose very different paths for developing unique heroes. The Chaos system allows players to change the world between peace and chaos status, where players are free to join regional PvP battles and earn better rewards. Not only was the launch date revealed but exclusive events were announced, too.

The events will include:
– Cash Items Giveaway: Players that create character will receive an exclusive package consisting of helpful cash items.
– Take the poll to get PlayOMG bonus points for shopping in the item mall.

Those who are PlayOMG members or have social accounts including Facebook and Yahoo, are welcome to play the game. For more info on the game feel free to visit the Official Website at: http://neo.playomg.com

?N.E.O Online?Release event page:
http://neo.playomg.com/event/20100212/index.html

 

N.E.O. Online - Release Date Announced

Immortal Empire

Immortal Empire is a free to play multiplayer tactics roleplaying game developed by Tactic Studios Inc. and is available for download on PC on Steam. In Immortal Empire players can control their own party of immortals, using them to destroy any creatures that might stand in their way. Solo play consists of a campaign with a mysterious storyline, but players can also enjoy playing with or against each other in Gauntlet or Versus modes. Take on any challengers and defeat every wave of enemies in your path in Immortal Empire.

Features:

Varying Immortals: Immortals like the Banewitch, the Druid, and many other types will allow you to outfit your party to your liking.

Automated PvP Matchmaking: PvP matchmaking is automated and will allow you to quickly find other players to battle against.

Dialogue Choices: As you make choices with different dialogues throughout the game they will influence the relationships that are built.