Monthly Archives: June 2011

Aida Arenas Enters Closed Beta

Aida Arenas Enters Closed Beta Testing

 

 

Game Bridger Entertainment has begun closed beta testing today for Aida Arenas. They have also revealed some very exciting gameplay footage including the multiplayer storymode and PvP arenas.  Players can catch a glimpse of just what the closed beta holds in store for them in an all new Gameplay Trailer released today. Like what you see? OnRPG received a new batch of closed beta keys this morning so GRAB ONE while you can. We have less than 500 left so don’t miss out.

Scarlet Legacy Closed Beta Approaches, Skill Details Revealed!

Scarlet Legacy Closed Beta Approaches, Skill Details Revealed!

 

 

Games Campus has released the details behind Scarlet Legacy’s new skill system.  Fittingly named “Martial Arts”, players must use their experience to train up in each of the three revealed categories (Talents, Skills, and Stances) to create a character unique to their tastes and abilities. Players can sign up now for a chance to get a spot in the game’s upcoming closed beta test which is scheduled to start August 4!

 

 

Skills are the basis of the player’s repertoire in Scarlet Legacy; these actions include a variety of moves good for all classes depending on which role that they are undertaking.  These abilities are unlocked simply by rising in the ranks at each even level. All skills max out at level 10.  War Stomp, Impact Stab, and Ridicule make up just a small portion of the many skills that will be unlocked as the players become hardened veterans.

 

 

Talents unlock once a player reaches level 10 and one talent point is awarded for each level the player gains after that. Trees contain a mix of free-floating abilities and chained abilities, where the precursor must be learned before the more advanced ability can be taken. Talents give players the ability to customize their skills, with increased power, reduced cool downs, increased critical rates and more. Goofed and put a talent in the wrong tree?  Most Martial Arts trainers can reset a player’s talents!

 

 

Last in the training triumvirate is Stances, which are used for both offensive and defensive purposes.  While stances max out at level five, their secrets are hidden and much more difficult to come by. You will have to travel the world and defeat powerful monsters or discover hidden treasures to gain access to these elite skills. Stay tuned to OnRPG as we will cover stances in more depth as the game approaches its launch date.

Asda Story to Close Service in August

Asda Story to Shut Down Servers

 

 

 

Yesterday Games Campus announced the upcoming closure of Asda Story, a long running staple of the company for over 3 years. Though they had originally planned to keep this running in conjunction with the recently released Asda 2, financial and developmental issues compounded due to the closure of Asda in the Korean and Japanese servers.

 

 

The game servers will be closing down on August 1st. The cash shop is also closed as of last night. Of course if you are a current Asda player, things are about to get fun! Multiple events, giveaways, and 10x experience await you in the final month of Asda’s servers. There are also planned incentives for current Asda players to give them a leg up should they decide to move on to Asda Story 2. OnRPG will bring more details on this in the coming weeks as it is announced.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty – RTS Perfection

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty- RTS Perfection

By Umar Farooq (Kluey), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

 

Starcraft 2 is the long awaited sequel of the extremely popular E-Sport PC Game, Starcraft. Starcraft 2 has many features to offer that were not available in Starcraft 1. The big ones that stand out are a simpler unit interface and unit control. In Starcraft 1 we saw that players who did not spend every waking hour focusing on tactics and builds would struggle just because of how hard Starcraft was for beginners. In Starcraft 2, the game has shifted to more of a “mind game” rather than speed test. Starcraft 2 has made the Campaign more enjoyable for all types of players by adding in difficulty modes. Starcraft 2 shows fans that the producers have acknowledged the problems people had in Starcraft 1 and have taken care of them without losing focus of what made the original so great.

 

Graphics

The difference between Starcraft 1 graphics and Starcraft 2 graphics is huge. The producers obviously wanted the game to be visually appealing to new audiences without losing the appeal of the original. This was the most needed change as games have evolved so much graphically since the early 2000s.. Now in Starcraft 2 no one should talk poorly about the graphics because they are clearly refined and ideal for a AAA RTS.

 

Starcraft 1

 

Starcraft 2(My computer can’t even handle highest graphics setting)

In this comparison we see the same buildings in both games. We see the Nexus, the Forge on the right, the Gateway on the left and a pylon on top. We also see the User Interface is much more clear and understandable in Starcraft 2, easing the learning curve quite a bit.

 

Multiplayer

My favourite part of Starcraft 2 is definitely the multiplayer. The multiplayer is what made Starcraft 1 one of the greatest games of all time and built a platform on which today’s booming Esport industry stands. The ranking system is really impressive compared to any other competitive games. Thanks to their match making system, you have a very small chance of ever dominating or being dominated by your opponent. You have five placement matches that will determine which league tier you begin in. After that, after each win you get around 12 points based on how good your opponent is. In addition, you have a bonus pool which can give extra points along with the points you get for winning. You will receive one bonus point every 112 minutes or 90 bonus points per week. This makes sure that players that take a break from Starcraft and lose their rankings have the ability to climb back to their original place with ease because you will get 24 points rather than just 12 per game.

 

 

There are seven leagues in Starcraft 2. These seven leagues are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Masters and the Grand Masters respectively. Grand Masters is currently only for the top 200 players on the server. This league is usually filled by professional gamers and their respective teammates. In the multiplayer you have a choice of 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 or FFA. They all have leagues except for the FFA which is non competitive.

 

Races

In Starcraft 2 there are three races. Each has a distinct ability and play style which players need to adapt to in order to play well. There are always new strategies and play styles released and Blizzard is always on top of the balance between the three races. Starcraft 2 is a very new game and yet the game’s balance exceeds expectations.

 

The first race is Terran. Terran are the only race with actual humans. They have decent offensive and defensive abilities. This race was often called the imbalanced race because of how many options you have in being both offensive and defensive. As the game progressed on, Blizzard nerfed anything that they thought was too stron. Despite the early complaints about imbalance, this race isn’t easy to play. It is very micro intensive and macro oriented. Micro is how you control your units and how cost effective you make them and macro is the ability to swarm up a large army and economy.

 

The second race is Zerg. Zerg are the race affiliated with insects and creepy monsters. They have superb macro abilities with their larvae mechanics. Unlike other races, the Zerg have no need of production buildings. All Zerg units are produced from larvae that autospawn at the base. The limitation factor on which tier of units you can build is based on which technology buildings you have constructed thus far. The Zerg play-style is often based on the overall direction the game follows. The Zerg overrun their opponents with superior numbers late game with their ability to mass produce units. This is balanced due to the general weakness their units display in a straight up fight with equal upgrades, so you have to rely on your economy to back you up and beat your opponents in numbers rather than power.

 

 

The last race is Protoss. Protoss is the race that uses high tech buildings and abilities. They are the offensive race. Protoss has the strongest units but they are the most expensive and take the longest to build. With this knowledge, Protoss players are very careful with their units and try to be the most cost efficient because losing a unit that takes a lot of resources and time puts you far behind the other races. The Protoss play style is very micro intensive in order to minimize losses on the frontlines. The strength of this race lies in their armies without a doubt.

Campaign

The campaign of Starcraft 2 is the continuation of the Starcraft: Brood War campaign. It is definitely not the focus point of this game but it does exceed the average RTS campaign on the market. You can run the campaign on different difficulties making it suitable for all audiences. The campaign even features unique units not available in multiplier so it is certainly worth checking out.

 

Custom Games

Even though this was not intended to be this huge, the Custom Games in Starcraft 2 are just addicting. There is no other way to describe them honestly. I think that the custom games really add the finishing touch to this game. After playing the multiplayer for a couple of hours and being extremely exhausted, it is a great feeling to know that you can relax in fun custom games made by either Blizzard itself or other players.

 

 

Final Verdict

I think that Starcraft 2 is by far one of the best RTS games of all time. Its pros far outweigh the cons which there isn’t much of. From being able to battle it out in the multiplayer league to commanding an entire race on the campaign and then relaxing with custom games, Starcraft 2 has an infinite amount of things to do. Multiplayer never gets repetitive and shoots the replay value of the game sky high. In conclusion, Starcraft 2 is a superb game and is one that everybody should try.

Early Access Preview: Guild Wars 2

Early Access Preview: Guild Wars 2!

 

 

OnRPG’s Early Access Column has more on the horizon than just Realm of the Titans. We have a special surprise coming in this week as well! Be sure to drop by OnRPG tomorrow for the beginning of our 3 part Early Access coverage of Guild Wars 2 straight from the European development studios! Our special European agent, Nilax, will be bringing two preview articles covering elements of the game never before released, as well as a video interview with Game Designer Jonathon Sharp!

 

 

So what kind of juicy details can you expect? Well I can’t say everything because that would ruin the anticipation. However we will be giving details on Guild Wars 2 plans to create a full eSport atmosphere complete with leagues and international championships! Oh we might be covering under water content as well. Yea I didn’t see that coming either. In the meantime you can bide your time by enjoying access to a never before released dungeon cinematic trailer we posted this morning. Check it out HERE and be back tomorrow around 9am PST for our interview!

Rusty Hearts Partners with CrunchyRoll

Rusty Hearts Partners with Crunchyroll for Anime Expo Coverage

 

 

 

Perfect World Entertainment has revealed it will be partnering with Crunchyroll, the leading global video network specializing in Japanese Entertainment, to bring live coverage of its Anime Expo booth. This is big news for anyone wanting to follow the new updates being released for Rusty Hearts this weekend. Expect more exclusive interviews from Mark Hill, Rusty Heart’s Game Producer, as well as streaming game demos showcasing all the goodness that is Rusty hearts. Submit your questions through the stream and you might even get them answered!

 

OnRPG will also be on site to discuss new information on the game’s development, including more details on a new half-vampire character. We are also going to get our first look at the Rusty Heart’s PvP and write our first impressions so don’t miss next week!

 

 

As if that wasn’t enough good news, Rusty Hearts has also announced a special bonus raffle for anyone who enters their closed beta key from OnRPG or other websites offering key giveaways. Be sure to grab your Closed Beta Key Here and register your account for CB to be automatically entered for your chance to win a Logitech G510 Keyboard (I use them to review all my games, and they are AWESOME!), a Logitech F710 gamepad, and the Rusty Hearts teddybear featured around my neck in OnRPG’s E3 Interview videos!

Battle of the Immortals Titan Update Coming Soon

Battle of the Immortals Titan Update Coming Soon

 

 

 

Perfect World Entertainment is pleased to unveil the latest Titan content update for its action-MMORPG, Battle of the Immortals, featuring one of the biggest bosses players have yet to face. In the recent battle with the Dragon Emperor, High Priest Demitrios was defeated, his soul corrupted by the dark forces he piously fought to protect the world from. In an effort to prevent the forces of good from collecting all three relics of Odin, Demitrios was ordered to perform a dark ritual to unleash a truly unholy force upon the world. Kronos, known as the King of Gods, stands over a hundred feet tall or over 30 meters for those who are on the metric system, and is ready to wage war against the heroic Immortals of Motenia.

 

 

With the new Titan content update, players can look forward to two new maps as well! The Black Dragon Lair and Giants Kingdom. The Black Dragon Lair features the mother of all dragons, Moser, with scales tough enough to withstand the strongest weapon and black feathers that are immune to any elemental magic.

 

 

The kingdom of the Giants, now abandoned, still holds much wreckage and remnants of their civilization. One particularly nasty relic is Gunk, a Robotic Sentry still carrying out his last orders to prevent outsiders from entering into the Kingdom. Rally your friends and prepare to disassemble Gunk and gain access to the many treasures he hides.

 

 

The Battle of the Immortals Titan Update is expected to go live in July.