Monthly Archives: August 2012

C9 Europe Finalists Win $10,000 and a Ticket to G-Star

C9 Europe Finalists Win $10,000 and a Ticket to G-Star 2012

 

Webzen at Gamescom

 

WEBZEN Inc. announced the winners of the ‘C9 (Continent of the Ninth Seal) Europe Championship’ tournament at Gamescom 2012 held in Cologne, Germany.

 

 

Last August 18th, the final top two qualifying teams with players from across Europe collided at the GNGWC 2012 C9 Europe tournament to decide who takes home the $10,000 grand prize and a ticket to the ‘C9 World Championship’ held at G-Star 2012 in South Korea to represent Europe.

 

 

With the many fans and visitors of Gamescom awaiting the finals, the two teams faced off to win $10,000. The winners were not determined until the very last match where the final round concluded in a comeback adding to the excitement. The Europe finalist team member, ‘Intro’, said, “We are thrilled and cannot believe we have won this tournament. We are looking forward to the world championship to represent Europe and compete against the best of the best.”

 

Webzen at Gamescom

 

With the Europe finalists decided, The Americas players wait their chance to participate in the ‘The Americas Championship’ this coming October. Here, the finalist team will be determined to see who will be invited to South Korea this November to battle for the world champion title.

 

 

Additionally during Gamescom 2012, WEBZEN revealed their upcoming free-to-play online tactical shooter, ‘ARCTIC COMBAT’, and gave new information about the upcoming fourth continent update for C9 at their business booth. Many of the visiting game media and press showed their interest and anticipation towards both titles.

 

 

Jihun Lee, Head of Global Publishing, said “We were thrilled to see much press and gamers visit us during Gamescom 2012.” Also he said, “This will be one of the first steps to widely present our titles to many gamers and hope to prepare many events in the future.”

Soul Captor Online First Impressions

Soul Captor Online First Impressions

By MerryQuiteContrary

 

 

 

Soul Captor EU is a free to play MMO from Gamania Digital Entertaintment. Soul Captor boasts a unique Anima Soul System and has five of its six classes available for play: Warrior, Shaman, Priest, Onmyoji (currently disabled as if writing this article), Mystic Fighter, and Celestial Master.

 

 

Backstory

The God of Creation created two realms: the Mortal Realm and the Dark Realm.  Combined these two realms are known as Dual World. The God of creation created the Gates of Truth on Cloudflow Island where he assigned the Great God Chief Cloudius, which is Zeusa and the other gods to oversee the Dual World. The God of Creation left the Dual World while in harmony but his departure awakened chaos that would eventually lead to Zeusa calling on the Heavenly realm and the divine angels. Currently evil threatens the Dual World. This is where the player comes in.

 

 

The art style of Soul Captor EU is very cutesy with an Asian feel. The zones, few that there are at this time, are not incredibly varied yet the colours are rich and cheerful. Even areas that are meant to be a bit sinister are not overly dark or forbidding. Monsters are rather benign in appearance and include mushrooms, bamboo shoots, peaches and the like. However, the inhabitants of the Dual World can put up a good fight.  The motto of this game should be that looks are deceiving.  While this game is very cute, almost childish, in its art direction it plays like a more mature game though it is easy to learn and forgiving at lower levels.

 

 

Graphically, Soul Captor is not intense.  Shadows are blobs at maximum settings while particle effects are bright and sparkly.  Soul Captor does not use physics. Water does have some reflection and is probably the best thing graphically about Soul Captor. Very average overall. On par with World of Warcraft whose graphics are quite dated.

 

 

The sound effects are in keeping with the theme of the game and run towards the cutesy.  Music is Asian sounding as well but unobtrusive.  Soul Captor does not include voice acting.

 

 

In character creation the player is given the choice of male or female, the six classes and a handful of choices regarding appearance.  There are no races other than humans.

 

 

In-game customization for characters is done through skills (sacred and passive) gear, crafting and divinity slots.  At this time, it does seem as though the options for any of the above are quite limited. Given what Soul Captors contemporaries are capable of, in terms of character customization, Soul Captor is behind the curve.

 

 

Movement is either click to move, WASD or arrow keys. The player can also move by clicking on names or location from the quest interface or by clicking anywhere on the map (m) or an icon such as the condor or a vendor.  The pathing is excellent.

 

 

Combat is standard key pressing or clicking of action bars. Soul Captor uses a combo system which is essentially combining attacks though that isn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds.  There is little indication of the combo attacks being anything spectacular given the combat scrolling text is quite cluttered.

 

 

Questing has the potential to become a “grind”.  The quests are the typical kill x amount of y or drop off this item to x and then return to y.  There are numerous dailies both individually as well as with a group or guild available.  The rate at which a character levels is exceptionally fast from levels 1 through 14 during the tutorial quests; however, that does slow down considerably past level 14. There won’t be much room for re-playability as the player would just be going over the same content doing the same quests. The story, or lack thereof doesn’t inspire replay, either. Currently, the level cap is 40.

 

 

Soul Captor has what is called the Anima Soul System and that is essentially your companion, called an Anima, steals souls from monsters that are killed by your character.  Souls can then be converted into items to enhance your character. Your Anima can fight alongside you and has the holy trinity of roles to choose from: supportive (heal), offensive (dps) and defensive (tank). Through quest rewards, and one can only assume the item mall when available, Glowstones can be acquired and converted to tokens which can then be used to purchase customization for your Anima.

 

 

One of the best things about Soul Captor is the mount system.  Mounts can actually be found in the wild from scrolls that drop off monsters or bosses. Not only are there a wide variety of mounts for your character but scrolls for animounts (mount for your Anima) can drop as well. Your Soulpedia keeps track of all the monsters encountered as well as housing the interface for converting souls.

 

 

Crafting is, if you are a crafter, a bit of a disappointment at this stage.  Hopefully, it will be improved.  As it is now gathering is done simply by clicking on either the garden clippers or mining pick you will have purchased from a vendor.  This can be done anywhere and resources are automatically collected.  While in this mode your character cannot move from where it started the process until manually aborted.  Producing items is done by learning formulae which are also sold by a vendor and is as simple as clicking a button.

 

 

Not only production and gathering are available however. Refinement, enchant and inlay are also available to every character and the tutorial will go over these.  Essentially, they are just additional ways to enhance items.  Crafting cannot be learned until level 26.

 

 

If it seems there is a lot of converting, purchasing of items, and different currencies it is because there is.  All these items and currencies the player has to micromanage can feel a bit cluttered.

 

 

At the time of writing this, the item mall was not currently functional.  The player every five levels or so does get a bag of goodies with items that will likely be found in the item mall.

 

 

Currently there does not seem to be PvP. When introduced there will be the ability to duel other players and skirmishes in designated areas.

 

 

Overall, this is a very average free to play MMO with some stand out components like the mount system and Anima Soul System.  However, where this game fails is in its story telling.  There lacks a sense of urgency and due to the nature of the art direction, immersion. Though if you do enjoy a game where you can just kick back and kill some monsters then this is a great little game for that.  At this time, unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much going for it in terms of end game, dungeons, or PvP. The focus seems to be on questing and dailies. With some more TLC this game could really shine as it is fun to play but it runs the risk of being very “samey”.

Sevencore Early Look Pt 1 – Introduction

Sevencore Early Look Pt 1 – Introduction

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief

 

 

So lately I’ve had a complaint. Perhaps it rings true to many of you as well. The F2P MMORPG environment feels stagnant, as if all the good ideas have been used up and they don’t know where to go from here. Sure there are a few good eggs in the batch like C9 originating the action combat genre or Eden Eternal’s multiclass, one character system but overall 9 out of 10 MMOs are the same as many of its predecessors but with a slightly tweaked lore and upgraded art style. Of course they do this because it’s safe and proven profitable in the past. Why would they take a risk when what has worked so many times before is still working now?

 

 

I think gPotato was one of the first publishers to see the writing on the wall however. What has always worked isn’t working any longer. Point and click F2P fantasy MMORPGs have been dropping and closing down in droves over the course of the last 12 months as more P2P titles switch their business model and more F2P titles crowd the market. So what was their answer? To incorporate what has worked in the past but take it in a new and very different direction from its predecessors. Combining some of the best F2P title functionality in a unique world setting with huge customization options, I present to you gPotato’s answer for 2012: Sevencore.

 

 

My first impression about Sevencore was it carried a very familiar artstyle I had seen before in some of the most popular F2P titles on the market. However something wasn’t quite the same. I believe I finally settled on the conclusion that it was the familiar thrown into space with a splash of Jurassic Park meets Pokemon all flawlessly combined in a beautiful melting pot. I’ll leave that teaser unexplained for a bit though while I introduce the first thing I care to look at when playing a new game: character creation and classes.

 

Character Creation and Classes

Starting off there are three races available to choose from in the current build of Sevencore. Each offers unique but not terribly overpowered racial abilities that might impact your decision outside of looks. Each also offers a male and female version so no need to worry about getting locked into gender restrictions.

 

 

The Sion

The Sion represent a race of seemingly bioengineered humans that are greatly attuned with technology around them. Though lore is still rather lacking it sounds like they aren’t exactly natives to this region and bring in new strains of thought and technological advancement that is quickly changing the reality of the other two races they share the world with. In terms of passives they have 2% higher chance of inflicting critical damage and power up the attack strength of mechanical mounts (aka this game’s version of mountable Pokemon) while riding them.

 

 

The Nuuk

Like the Sion, the Nuuk are also outsiders that recently arrived in the region bringing their own cultural values with them. Though while the Sion represent sharp drastic change, the Nuuk are more akin to a gently flowing stream that contorts and adapts to its surroundings to blend in. Their elven appearance is no coincidence as this race offers the most powerful caster passive with a 5% increase to their mana pool. They also bolster the HP of beast mounts while riding them.

 

 

The Einher

What happens when you mix privateers with a half human half beast hybrid? You get one of the toughest races around known as the Einher. These fearless pillagers hone their mental stamina and physical limits by riding along the coastline pillaging villages as they go. If you’re looking to cause some havoc on PvP battlefields, they offer a 5% higher HP bar and strengthen the attack power of beast mounts while riding them.

 

 

Based on the passives I assume that there is likely a fourth race in the works that specializes in boosting the HP of mechanical mounts while riding them but no information is available on when we’ll be seeing that expansion race just yet!

 

 

The classes are available to all 3 races and offer two weapons a piece that the player can specialize in. In addition all classes have a line of common skills that are acquired naturally from leveling up as opposed to weapon specific skills that must be purchased and learned through skill books.

 

 

The Warrior

Before you see Warrior and immediately think the tank of the trinity force, it’s time to reveal the next ingredient that separates Sevencore from the pack. There is no dedicated healing class. Now that your preconceived expectations are broken, the Warrior is essentially a tank rogue combo class that can spec down twin blades to become balanced in both offensive and defensive utility, or opt for a full out offensive role with a blade (read oversized Japanese RPG Broadsword) that utilizes devastating melee attacks at the cost of attack speed and survivability. They do however get to wear heavy armor making them the most naturally tanky class of the bunch.

 

The Gunner

Gunners represent a jack of all trades class. They wear medium armor that offers decent protection but not on the level of the warrior. It’s still enough for them to get into the fray and take a few hits, which is exactly what you will be doing should you specialize in the pistol class. Pistol users can stay on the move while firing, allowing them to cut through enemy lines and get in range of priority targets that might normally be out of reach for a ranged class. If you are more of the walk softly and carry a big gun type then try out the Artillery Launcher. It fires slowly and you have to plant your feet so you aren’t blown away by recoil, but these bad boys bring the heat and can level the entire front line of an enemy team if your ranged assault is left unopposed.

 

The Magician

If the greater risk, greater reward glass cannon style of play interests you, you’ll find it with the magician. Utilizing the least effective armor type, these mages sacrifice defense entirely for offensive might. Their weapons, the wand and the staff, offer very similar choices between the Gunner’s pistol and artillery. So if agility mages with dots and instant cast spells are more your style, go wand. If you want to see the biggest firework show Sevencore has to offer while confusing and disorienting powerful foes, grab a few friends to watch your back and carry your staff with pride!

 

 

Customization without Limitations

The next step on the tour of differentiated options is the vast amount of tweaking you can do to your character while creating it. While faces and hairstyles are unfortunately reduced to a (large pool) of defaults, when it comes to your body you can go hog wild! Whether you’re looking to make a midget Einher gunner or a massive elven mage, Sevencore has you covered. I imagine it’s only a matter of time before the hilarity of a marriage system is to follow.

 

 

When messing around with the Nuuk and Sion for instance I could choose from 12 skin tones ranging from standard peach to radical rainbow options. Hairstyles offered up to 18 colors. However there were some variations in face and hairstyle choices as well as colors between races, offering a bit more variation in terms of telling them apart from each other. And in terms of body sliders I could adjust from top to bottom:

 

 

Height, ear length, head size, neck width, neck length, shoulder blades, upper back width, breast size, chest width, waist width, waist length, arm size, arm length, hand size, pelvis size, leg width (primarily thighs), leg length, and feet size. As you can see below I had some fun making a 9 foot elf mage with foot long ears.

 

 

Though I only played through the first few levels I was impressed by the look of some of the end-game gear in the preview section on the character creator. And in case you were wondering (and I know you were)… yes there are breast physics. It’s 2012 after all!

 

 

Pet Mount Morphs – Sevencore’s Defining Feature

Before I can continue any further describing Sevencore, it’s important to explain the system of pets in Sevencore. Akin to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, it is also true that a player can’t conceive the nature of PvP, PvE, and how the game can function with a lack of the holy class trinity in Sevencore without first understanding the pet system and how it’s more intricately tied to your character’s development than nearly any F2P title that came before it.

 

 

Pets begin as eggs in Sevencore acquired through PvP conquest, world bosses, and as drops from successful dungeon raids just to name a few ways. If you wish to unlock the potential of an egg, you must place it in your incubator and share experience until the pet reaches level 10 and becomes battle ready pet.

 

 

At this point you have 3 options to utilizing your pet. You can summon them to fight beside you.

 

 

You can ride them as a mount to get around faster.

 

 

Or you can merge together with your mount to unlock special abilities and strengthen the stats of your pet.

 

 

Mounts also come in various types including beast vs mechanical, land based vs flying, and so on. They also fulfill various roles broken down by attack, speed, and tank with some having stronger utility support skills than others. Pets follow alongside you when out of combat and can be specifically commanded to attack and use their skills on selected monsters so long as they are in free form mode. They are regulated by cooldowns and an energy system just like your character so you’ll need to buy special pet only potions should you wish to push them beyond their limitations in battle.

 

 

As pets fight and take damage, they lose respect for you. Should their respect hit low enough levels, their fighting power will plummet and they’ll become near useless. It can be restored through food items and the like but due to the nature of pet strengths and the fact that their respect is going to decrease on long missions, it’s advisable to train multiple pets to keep with you at all times depending on what the situation calls for. Also be advised that dungeons have serious platforming elements and flying pets aren’t blocked from use inside them so make sure you have a balanced line-up of land pets for taking on these situations.

 

 

I’ve barely scratched the surface of this game and will be back tomorrow to offer a look into the many PvP-centric features this title is built around as well as my general impressions of the game as a whole. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter page for part 2 of our early look at Sevencore!

Gamescom 2012: Kartuga – A Pirate’s Tale

Gamescom 2012: Kartuga – A Pirate’s Tale

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Eight Journalists walk into a room…ok, it sounds like the start of a really poor joke, but it is actually how my first peek at Kartuga started. After all the best way to play a game that is all about PvP is to have people to play against. And who better than your media competition, or in the case of our writer Ardua, your wife.

 

 

Our journey on the high seas began with the opportunity to see the open world. We were sheltered from the open water in a port town which is marked as a combat free zone. There we were able to get a handle on the controls and even pick up a quest or two. That is where you queue yourself up for either 4v4 or 2v2 PvP. You wait a couple of minutes while you’re paired up with other players then after a brief loading screen the fight is on. And that is where all seriousness is left behind.

That’s not to say that Kartuga isn’t a serious game, or that it’s cartoony in any way. But it is so much fun to play. It wasn’t long before the journalists were going after each other. Everyone was laughing and heckling each other. Not me though. Sure, I was laughing. But I also learned early on that Ardua was on the opposing team. And he made the mistake of announcing who he was. So the fight was on. Three times I defeated him before he finally thought to ask me who I was playing. He swore his revenge, which he still hasn’t taken yet so I need to be on my toes today.

 

 

There is more to it though than just sailing around to find the enemy team. There are flags which, when captured, act as spawn points, and cannon towers which add extra fire power to your team. Capturing a flag takes a little bit of time. You have to stay within a certain distance from the flag until the counter is done. Which can get complicated when you’re spotted by the enemy team. It is well worth the effort to have the flag captured though. You get more points and more places to spawn from which means getting back to it faster. Scattered through the map are several cannon towers. These towers are conquered by destroying them and allowing them to rebuild. When they rebuild they will fly your colors. Why is this important? Well, if enemy ships get close to them they will start attacking. The cannon attacks plus your own ship firing will take down any ship quickly.

 

 

In between matches you can stay in the open world. Even there you can pvp. Though on the open seas it is a free for all and you have to be on the lookout for NPC pirates who attack when you get in range.

 

 

Even if pvping isn’t your thing I would highly recommend you give Kartuga a try. It is a ton of fun. And this is coming from me, someone who really doesn’t like pvp, in part because of the hardcore attitude some people can get. Kartuga doesn’t have any of the stress and pressure that many pvp games have. But at the same time it manages not to have a childlike or simplistic feel. The balance between the two has produced a wonderful game that will keep me entertained for a long time to come.

 

 

If what I’ve said isn’t enough to get you to give it a try maybe I should mention that this game is completely browser based. Welcome to the new generation of Unity Engine browser titles. The glory days are truly here for those that prefer casual titles without downloads and Kartuga is leading the pack.