Yearly Archives: 2010

Allods Will Support Add-Ons (And More)

Allods Will Support Add-Ons (And More)
Big changes are coming to Allods Online! We’ve already mentioned mounts, the increased level cap to 42, the 200+ new quests, and the entirely new zone, Gipat!

However, the Allods Team is pleased to announce that some of the most exciting changes that are being introduced are suggestions that originated directly from player feedback!

Perhaps one of our biggest changes to Patch 1.1 is the official support of add-ons in Allods Online! We are extremely excited to see what type of add-ons the Allods community will create to further improve players’ gaming experience!

Allods - A very slick target of target system has been implemented

By popular demand, Allods will be implementing chat bubbles! This means that anything that a player says will now appear above the player’s head in the form of a bubble. Don’t worry – channels like whisper and guild are protected, and players will have the option to turn the bubbles off.

But that’s not all! Just to mention a few more key changes, they’ll also be introducing a target-of-target system, new animations, new and improved audio, more hotkey capabilities (we’re looking at you, summoners), and the option to invert the Y-axis on your mouse.

Allods - Chat Bubbles

New end-game content to Patch 1.1 includes three new bosses to Gorluxor’s Tower! Players will now be able to test their strength against Zalmar the Twisted, the elusive Orcish necromancer Strina the Fierce, and the vampire that’s harder to kill than a cockroach, Armando de Doucer.

WAR Loses Its Producer

WAR Loses Its Producer

 

According to his Twitter page Josh Dresher, producer of the troubled MMO Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, has been layed off.

Warhammer Online - Josh Dresher already has new career prospects

Judging by some of his messages he did not see this coming at all. When asked Josh said he was unaware if more people were let go, he was taken out of the office before he could find out.

We have strong reason to believe however that several other long time Mythic employees were let go at the same time. Warhammer Online is not doing well!

Warhammer Online - Josh Dresher was layed off

 

We’re glad to see that Josh already has a new career planned out. Those damn Vuvuzela’s could do with some tuning!

We wish Josh and anyone else who lost their job at Mythic recently all the best. And I think we need to wish Mythic all the best as well, tough times are ahead for them.

Pirate Chronicles

Pirate Chronicles is a next generation browser-based mmo  game with historical fantasy, RPG, city-building, business and strategy elements. Players can start the game immediately without installing any client or plug-ins, and the game can work on any platform that has a browser, even on an iPad. Players are also able to play the game on facebook for easy access and socialize with real friends.

Pirate Chronicles will provide players a magnificent adventure, a chance to become a business owner, an opportunity to reshape history and become the king of pirates! Players can recruit pirate crew, trade resources, build great pirate bases, battle other pirates, fight in arenas, and much more.

RoM Introduces a New Dungeon

RoM Introduces a New Dungeon

 

The upcoming update ‘Warnorken Castle’ adds a new dungeon to Runes of Magic

The next update will bring Runes of Magic players face-to-face with gruesome challenges in the new Dungeon ‘Warnorken Arena’ which will throw open its portal in June.

The Warnorken Castle is known to the inhabitants of Taborea as a place of no return, and with good reason. The arena beneath the castle serves as the setting for the enigmatic Baron Reuen von Jura’s terrifying contests.

Here is where he sets gladiators and wild creatures against each other in fierce battles for the amusement of high-ranking audience members and himself alike. Players can enter this high-level  dungeon in groups of six to confront the four most dangerous arena champions, one by one.

The first creature groups of players will encounter is the mighty dragon Manticos, which was captured by the bloodthirsty Baron von Jura and has lived ever since in the gloomy depths of Warnorken Castle. It was here that he was tamed by the malicious Annelia and now seeks to annihilate any warrior foolish enough to enter the arena. After two further battles the infamous Reuen von Jura himself finally sets foot in the arena.

Many rumours surround the once heroic Baron and his sudden transformation into a feared overlord. Players will soon realize that bringing him down on his home turf is no easy undertaking. However, it is the encounter with Annelia, or ‘The Puppet Master’ as she is known throughout Zandorya, which marks the highpoint of the dungeon. She earned this foreboding name due to her intangible yet far-reaching influence on Warnorken Castle.

Just what surprises does she have up her sleeve for those foolish enough to challenge her?

 

This Warnoken Gladiator looks pissed!

Runes of Magic – This Warnoken Gladiator looks pissed!

APB’s Review Embargo Ends a WEEK After Release

APB’s Review Embargo Ends a WEEK After Release

 

John Walker over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun has written a great piece about the embargo on the review of APB.

“We were informed that the Key To The City was in fact for previews only. We were told that reviews can be “finalised” when we have the released version of the game, which we’d get on 29th June. And then they added that reviews are embargoed until 6th July.

This is extraordinary. They are attempting to tell press that they cannot write a review of the game for a full week after the game is available for the public to buy.”

Very interesting move Realtime Worlds, but perhaps not entirely realistic?

We’ll see what happens around the 29th!

 

All Points Bulletin - Don't break the embargo or these chicks will kill you!

All Points Bulletin – Don’t break the embargo or these chicks will kill you!

Read the full article at Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Pangya Celebrates CeciliaÂ’s Birthday

Pangya

 

Ntreev USA announced today that it will launch a special 2-week event to help commemorate Cecilia’s birthday. Starting today, and running through June 30th, players can partake in the fun with the opportunity to win unique in-game prizes that celebrate Cecilia’s June 23rd birthday.

As she is getting into her late twenties, Cecilia has been trying to keep her birthday a secret. But no secrets are safe on Pangya Island!

Pangya - Happy Birthday Cecilia


Pangya – Happy Birthday Cecilia

Someone found out about her birthday and the entire island began preparing for her birthday party. Cecilia thanked everyone on Pangya Island for being so wonderful, and then made it clear that she didn’t want a birthday party. Cecilia decided to show her gratitude to everyone on Pangya Island by giving away special prizes.

When the event begins at 12:00AM PDT, players will receive a Cecilia Birthday title when they log into the game. During the event, players will be able to purchase birthday items for Cecilia’s birthday in the Pangya Shop, including Cecilia’s Birthday Hat, Cecilia’s Specs and Cecilia Comets. Hats and glasses are available for Pang, while Comets are available for points. Many of Cecilia’s outfits are even being offered at a 30% discount during her birthday event! Get her a nice new outfit and help take her mind off her age, while scoring some cool new in-game items! 

Pangya - Happy Birthday Cecilia - Limited Time Gifts

Pangya – Happy Birthday Cecilia – Limited Time Gifts

“We wanted to be able to reward all of our loyal Pangya players by involving them in the celebration of Cecilia’s birthday bash,” said Chris Lee, CEO at Ntreev USA.  “This is a great time for both our current fans and new players to participate in the 2-week event and win some unique in-game items in the process!”

Karos Online has Soccer Fever!

Karos Online has Soccer Fever!

The whole world has gone soccer crazy, and Karos Online is no exception! From today until July 7th, players can collect soccer balls while hunting monsters in NHN Corporation’s free-to-play fantasy MMORPG.

 

Karos Online - Soccer Fever has brought unique uniforms to Karos Online

Karos Online – Soccer Fever has brought unique uniforms to Karos Online

Exchange 5 balls to receive one of six different combat-enhancing potions, or turn in 20 for a cool limited-edition soccer uniform. There are three uniform styles in all, each with a useful speed and/or attack buff. If you want that extra edge against your rivals, then get into Karos now and get hunting. Don’t drag your feet — on July 7th your chance for gear will disappear!

Karos Online - Soccer Fever

Karos Online – Soccer Fever

Also starting today, guild masters are now able to forge an alliance with another guild. Guild alliances are formed by mutual consent, and the benefits include sharing of selected privileges to assist with guild PvP, and a cross-alliance chat option.

Wise players know that unity brings strength, and now it’s even easier for Karos guilds to strategize and cooperate… which is fortunate, because the Great War is escalating. Something huge is looming on the horizon, and very soon it will arrive to break the weak, glorify the worthy, and transform the battlefield. Watch this space!

Dekaron Review: Old School is Old School

Dekaron Review: Old School is Old School
By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

 

Only a few games have included “action” into their description. Dekaron (2Moons in other countries) is one example. The game is 3D and takes place in a world where humanity is on the verge of extinction. Only the Dekaron, or the resistors of evil and the protectors of humanity are equipped to fight against the monster horde.

 

Storyline

Dekaron’s storyline isn’t really original. I must admit that the game’s humanity-against-the-world storyline provides it enough reason to pump-up any player. However, with an MMORPG like Dekaron, you wouldn’t really care for the story.

 

Dekaron Fight

 

Game Controls

Dekaron makes use of the typical MMORPG controls. Dekaron’s game controls keep things simple for new players. The intuitive game controls also provide a smooth platform so that players can easily move through the series of skills they’ll eventually get as they progress through the game.

 

Characters 

The job classes in Dekaron are gender and race locked and it doesn’t have any character customizations either. This is a definite let down for Dekaron. Games that have no customization feature like Dekaron are a rare and dying breed. Actually, I personally think that when a game has no character customization it’s really showing its age.

 

Assign 

 

I think that  Dekaron’s solid player base is the only reason that the game is still floating. Though I can’t really be sure if that’s all there is to it. I’ve seen a lot of high level players in the game still roaming the low level cities.

 

Skills

Dekaron’s character skills follow the skill tree system. You can actually plot the skills you want your character to have. This makes it easier for new players to have a bird’s eye view on what skills they should be getting.

 

The game’s skill sprites are not something you can look forward to. I think it was amusing to see how your characters unleashed their skills for a minute or two but then it got boring. The game’s skills are also connected to the character’s stat build. So there will be times that you will find yourself facing a similar looking character but with a stronger or weaker string of attacks.

 

Character Stats

 

Leveling

The game’s leveling system is similar to a lot of f2p games out right now. The game has balanced out the experience gain you get from grinding and questing. The usual course for game’s like Dekaron is to just grind if you reach the higher-level tiers. The game is very much suited for PVE grinding.

 

Graphics and Art

Dekaron’s graphics were a disappointment when I saw the start screen and it didn’t get any better. The game is using a very dated graphics engine that you only see now in very old games. The graphics will not suit the younger generation of gamers unless they have nostalgia for old school. The game’s details aren’t that good and you can actually see how rough some of the game’s backgrounds were made.

 

The graphics of Dekaron does not match the current MMORPG pool and that’s one of the reasons why the game has such a low number of new players. However, the game has a lot of beautifully done artwork. From the cities to the loading screens I must say that Dekaron’s artwork is superbly done. However the artwork can also trick people into thinking that the game looks as good as the art you are seeing.

 

Dekaron Jump 

 

Dekaron uses the “dark” and “serious” environment setting. This suits well with the game’s theme. That is why if you are a player who is used to bright and cutesy games you better avoid Dekaron.

 

Areas and Monsters

One of the things I liked in Dekaron is the vast amount of areas you can go. The amount of maps and dungeons you can venture into increase as you level. The maps can satisfy anyone who has the craving for dungeon runs and monster grinding in different areas.

 

I think this is where the game pushes the “action” aspect of Dekaron. The number of maps, the ease of the controls and the amount of monsters you can kill is a good mix in providing an “action” based MMORPG. However, the game is not for players who are easily bored with repetitive game play. While it may be true the game has all the elements that make a very action-paced MMORPG, the problem is that the game can’t deliver everything it promised.

 

Upcoming Updates

Dekaron recently had it’s long awaited update. The update introduced a lot of new elements that may attract a lot of players into playing the game again. However, as the updates are for higher levels so I don’t know if this will attract new players but it sure will satisfy a lot of loyal players.

 

Inventoy 
Updated: new gear please

 

The updates include high level dungeon maps, an increased character system, new set of skills for higher levels and of course better looking characters. However as I’ve mentioned only characters who have maxed out the level of their character can use of the update. So it will take a while if you just joined or you haven’t been playing the game as long.

 

Conclusion

I personally think that Dekaron still has a long way to go. The game needs to upgrade a lot if they want to compete with other f2p MMORPGs. . One sign that a MMORPG is slowly slipping is the lack of any new players joining. It seems that a lot of the players still playing Dekaron are the high levels and gold farmers.

 

The game needs to do something to attract a new crowd but with the current graphics quality, I don’t think that’d be possible. Also I don’t think that the game delivers a decent action-based gaming experience.

 

Pros:
– Intuitive game controls
– Informative interface
– Upcoming huge update promises a lot for players.

 

Cons:
– Dated graphics
– No character customization
– Lack of any other features makes the game boring.

OnRPG looks at the MMORPG’s of E3

OnRPG looks at the MMORPG’s of E3
Blogpost by Tully Ackland, OnRPG Journalist
Originally posted on Tully’s blog XPedition

 

This year E3 has really re-established itself as the mayor global video games show. There have been a couple of interesting announcements about our field: MMORPGs! Fresh OnRPG journalist Tully Ackland tells us what he thinks of the bigger MMORPG’s of this year’s E3.

 

Final Fantasy XIV Online

Square Enix

Final Fantasy 14 - Play it on your PC or your PS3

Final Fantasy makes its reappearance to the MMO Market and with it shows major influences from such competitors as World of Warcraft, Age of Conan and my most familiar Warhammer Online. From initial information we can see that Square have really changed their view on the MMO market now allowing the solo gamestyle to be a viable way in playing the game – compared to that of FF11 where soloing was almost an impossibility.

 

It’s been announced that the game won’t feature a typical experience point level based progression but instead focuses on job and skill based progression. Leveling up the use of swords and maces individually for example.

 

Like their previous title, the game will feature cross platform support. I think for the first time in my life, I’ll take the jump and be picking this up on the PS3 instead of the PC.

 

 

Warhammer 40k Online

Vigil Games

Warhammer 40k - WAR in the future!

We are looking at Warhammer Online in 40k mode! This trailer emphasizes the fantastic artwork behind a Games Workshop product, a seemingly powerful engine and a FPS RPG type gameplay. Right now there’s not much we can do but speculate on how this will turn out, what’s clear is that there are playable orks and Chaos as the forces of Destruction and Imperium and Eldar as the forces of Order.

 

Will we be able to play an imperial guard? If so do we control 4 units at the same time instead of a single space marine? With a set release date of 2012 we have a long wait before we’ll see the fruits of this game. However with Vigil being related to THQ and the longrunning successful Dawn of War franchise you can’t help but have high expectations.

 

 

GuildWars 2

NcSoft

Guild Wars 2 - Set to improve upon the original

Although they were not present at E3, I want to include it in this overview. The original Guild Wars was a masterpiece and dramatically helped shape some key design features we now take for advantage in current day MMORPG’s, Guild Wars 2 sets to improve upon the original by offering more impressive visuals and an advanced campaign.

 

In my eyes however the primary element of Guild Wars has not been altered and the combat seems to be the same. With the advancements in combat that other games are bringing to this genre Guild Wars needs to step up their game if they want to draw in the hard core crowds. However let’s be honest, if they run the same free to play method as they did previously, that won’t be an issue for revenue.

 

 

Starwars: The Old Republic

EA Bioware

Starwars The Old Republic - Perhaps the most hyped MMO in development

Could this be the most hyped MMO in development? TOR is sporting the elements that make all Bioware games brilliant and focuses around the players’ advancement through their own personal journey. With more and more information coming each month and word that each character will have their own ship this already puts the game in a better light than my time with Starwars Galaxies.

 

I’ll be making a Bounty Hunter day one, that’s for sure.

 

 

Jumpgate Evolution

Gazillion Entertainment

Perhaps the most hyped MMO in development

I wanted to love EVE and Star Trek Online, really I did. However I felt incapable because of the mode in which they portray you as a “captain”. I want to be in direct control of my ship with my finger on the trigger ready to strafe left and right to avoid incoming fire not sat back watching my ship rotate at 500m from my target while it autofires.

 

This is where Jumpgate Evolution comes in, blows things up and puts you in the seat, and I’m so hyped that this year we’ll most likely have it in our fingers. Jumpgate offering a challenging and skill based combat system while still allowing first day players to be fighting a long side veterans and the inclusion of a three faction system could make this game an instant hit. Can’t wait to see more. Pewpew!

 

 

Tera Online

Bluehole Studios

Tera - The Surprise MMO of E3

This game caught me by surprise, this trailer put The Exiled Realm of Arborea or TERA as it’s commonly known as my “One to Watch” for 2010. The game revolves around PvE primarily but also offers intense Player vs Player action much like that of Age of Conan’s guild battles. Apart from the obvious frantic combat thats shown what intrigues me the most is the announced class and race list.

 

The game looks stunning; the only thing that could destroy its position for me would be the announcement of a deleveling penalty for death.

 

We’ll update you if and when more MMORPG news, including some announcements from the Free to Play publishers, becomes available!

 

 

 

 

 

Changyou signs Devin Grayson and Roger Robinson

 

At E3 ChangYou.com (US) announced that they have signed comic book creators Devin Grayson and Roger Robinson to work on a “secret project” for their new game Zentia.

Zentia - Devin Grayson joins the Zentia team

 

Grayson and Robinson are comic industry veterans who last worked together to create the award-winning comic series Batman: Gotham Knights, which ran for a total of seventy-four issues from March 2000 through April 2006 with Grayson and Robinson collaborating on the first thirty-four. Both Grayson and Robinson are also experienced in the gaming industry, Grayson having worked on localization and communications at top gaming companies such as PlayFirst, Inc. and Perfect World, and Robinson working on Concept design and Cinematics for BottleRocket Entertainment.

 

Devin Grayson

Though unable to comment on the exact nature of the project, which will be announced in greater detail later this year, Grayson confirmed that she and Robinson were pleased to be working together again in one of their favorite mediums. “Both Roger and I love gaming,” Grayson acknowledged at the ChangYou.com (US) booth at E3, “and like the characters we’ve worked on together before in comics, the characters of Zentia are strongly archetypal. They lend themselves extremely well to stories, which is why they’ll be so fun to work with, and also while they’ll be so much fun for RPGers to play.”

Attendees at E3 are getting a first look at the Zentia characters coming to life in an exclusive one-page comic handout by Grayson and Robinson. With a limited print run of 5,000, the booth giveaway has become an instant collector’s item.