Yearly Archives: 2012

Divina Online Review: The Story of Yggdrasil Unfolds

Divina Online Review: The Story of Yggdrasil Unfolds

By Jerrico Tan (JetSet), OnRPG Journalist

 

 



Taiwanese publisher Beanfun! is prepping up for the official launch of Gamania’s Divina Online. This highly stylish MMORPG boasts tons of customization options and an interesting storyline based on Nordic Mythology.

 

 

The game is already in open beta and a handful of events have already been held. And as if its hype in the gaming world isn’t bold enough, OnRPG.com got an exclusive invite for a press tour (see Mikedot’s article). In Mike’s very own tour, Gamania mentioned that Divina Online has been one of their most successful titles in Asian regions courtesy of their two very strong selling points: the game’s Nordic mythology inspired storyline and the voice acting done by Japanese celebrities for most of the NPCs and characters.

 


Divina’s storyline follows the introductory story of Yggrasil, where all the characters awaken from their slumber and into a world that is in the brink of destruction. Together with the main NPC named Clarisse, players must prevent the days of Ragnarok from happening.

 

 

Game Mechanics and Customization

Divina’s gameplay mechanics make use of a simple and straightforward stat and skill system. Players gain stat points that they can distribute as they level up and combining Gem Pieces in the Divine Wheel maximizes these stats. Placing a uniform set of gems ultimately gives significant offensive and defensive bonuses to your character.

 

 

Another thing that got my interest is Divina’s high regard for customization. The equipments that you can acquire have absolutely no bonuses but are instead treated as costumes for styling purposes. Thus, two players with the same class might have the same stats and skills while looking totally different from each other. Additionally, you can also change the color of your equipment by using dyes sold in shops.

 

 

Character Classes and Class Shifting



There are currently five character classes to choose from: The Knight, The Sorcerer, The Cleric, The Assassin and The Machinist. Like the usual MMORPGs, the Knight is the designated tanker, Assassins have low HP yet they deliver massive blows, Clerics are supporting magic casters, Sorcerers get to inflict heavy magic damage and Machinists are mine laying long range tacticians. These classes could seem like yet another MMORPG cliché but fret not because Divina lets you choose a subclass that you can switch to at any time.

 

 

Further into the game, players get a chance to choose another class aside from their main one. With sufficient Exchange Points (the three hearts on the character’s HP/MP), players can switch to their other hero at anytime. Switching characters are most effective during PvP where you can be an annoying mine laying machinist at the beginning of combat then switch to an impregnable knight when a melee attacker gets near you or be a knight upfront then suddenly switch to a sorcerer to quickly finish off your foe. Depending on your combat play style, the choices for switching classes are endless.

 

 

Combat and Controls



The game’s combat effects are dazzling. Damage dealt and hits and misses are shown in a comical anime-ish fashion.  Likewise, all of the skill effects look awesome (the Cel-shaded skills might look cuddly cute but they’ll still surely make you feel that you’ve dealt quite a blow!) and combat is as smooth as silk, thanks to the fast, fluid and easy controls. Both WASD keys and mouse can be used for movement and items/skills can be set through the three hotkey bars (0-9, alt 0-9, Shift 0-9). However, in a fast paced combat system, the hotkeys still sometimes undergo episodic delays and bashing the hotkeys unwittingly won’t do any good. But with a bit of practice, pressing the right timing for skills would improve your combat effectiveness.

 


Creature Tomes and Sidekicks

Another interesting feature of Divina Online is its Creature Tome. This tome is similar to a Pokedex of monsters that you have successfully hunted in the fields of Divina and killing the eligible monsters in a certain quantity gives you information and concept arts. A transformation feature lets you morph into the creature that you’ve collected and during PvP, you can blast off your enemy with that monster’s unique skills. Additionally, grinding has a greater purpose in Divina as players are granted important crafting rewards upon the completion of the three reward rows in a tome page.

 



Aside from transforming into different forms, you can also summon a cutesy sidekick to assist you at any time. You can use them to harvest crafting materials and have them assist you in battle (they even throw offensive and supportive spells in your favor). Likewise, to match your playing style, your sidekick’s stat progression is highly customizable. And like any normal pet, they have feelings too so you must talk to them, specifically about their interests, in order to gain favor points from them. Racking up your favor points would increase their responsiveness in the field and efficiency when harvesting.

 

 

Questing and Guild Systems



Divina focuses on its story more than most MMORPGs of late. Leveling up is faster when you complete quests, which are inclined to hunting and NPC talk in nature. Completing quests also progresses you through the game’s storyline and thankfully, by adding tons of instance quests and exclusive co-op guild quests, Gamania didn’t turn grinding into an end-game task.

 

 

The guild system is an essential community feature and all members gain benefits once part of a well-managed guild. Aside from having reliable comrades during combat, you can also have passive stat bonuses in a certain field by using the Guild system’s Hinterlands, which is the most essential reason to sign up for a guild as it unlocks several “guild-only quests” where you can hone your combat skills.

 


Graphics

Divina’s graphics engine may look quite a few years old but it surely doesn’t hinder its cute and mellow thematic presentation. The game’s anime-themed graphics also greatly contributes to that certain eye-catching first impression that’ll make gamers want to play and stay logged-in for hours. Gamania already did a good job with all the equipment, monsters and world-layouts but adding a dash of charming and bedazzling designs just made the entirety of Divina nip out into cuddly perfection.

 


Conclusion: Great!

Although the game might not have an edge against MMORPGs with advanced graphics of today, Divina could still stand on its own feet thanks to its beautiful, fun and appealing presentation. And speaking of appeal, I believe Divina has already charmed a lot of gamers as its community is growing really fast, thus making the game a perfect place to be staying-in for hours (especially when you want to show off your unique gear set). My thumbs are way up for this game, since I had nothing but pure fun. Seriously everyone reading this, download Divina now!

 



The Good:

-Awesome Anime Themed Presentation (plus the softness effect made it look even more awesome).

-Vast Customization Options

-Dynamic Class Switching and mimicry

-Lots of beneficial features

 

The Bad:

-Butt sores can develop from not standing up, due to excessive fun and enjoyment.

 

 

Graphics 4/5

Controls 4/5

Features 4/5

Customization 4/5

Community 4/5

League of Legends Announces Long Awaited Stealth Rework

League of Legends Announces Long Awaited Stealth Rework For Eve and Twitch

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

 

 

It’s hard to say you are a part of Riot Games’ League of Legends community if you aren’t familiar with the infamous “Stealth Rework.” In one of the early steps to promoting less passive gameplay, League of Legends nerfed Evelynn and Twitch into the point of being nearly unusable (more so Eve than Twitch, but both have been untouched and in a bad way for over a year now). But after more than a year of failed attempts by Riot to rework these champions into a viable state that didn’t punish aggressive gameplay, the community was beginning to think that these champions had been abandoned and overlooked by the company.

 

 

Or so we thought.

 

 

Today Morello, Lead Champion Designer for Riot Games, along with Associate Game Designers Classick and Statikk, announced that the stealth rework will be going onto the public test servers before the next content update! Both champions will be undergoing some heavy reworks which I will now summarize for you.

 

 

Eve

The core design change for Eve from before is that she will now be about permanent stealth and rapid chasing and harassing of foes, rather than instagib stun and gank from stealth like she originally played. The primary reason for this is abandoning her previous useless passive that merely reduced damage done by minions (something that was round-about nerfed when they nerfed minion damage into the ground) to one that makes her permanently stealthed from level 1, but visible once she enters a certain radius of enemy vision.

 

 

Now instead of her punishing stun, she is gaining a stacking movement speed buff that grants her increased movement speed on spell hits, as well as an active sprint for a short distance. Her hate spikes remain but now have longer range and can hit more targets. Her ultimate has also been replaced completely. Now she uses a ranged AoE skill that grants her increased durability depending on how effectively you land it.

 

 

Overall the changes are set to reward smart and calculated gameplay. Eve will still play very similar, except now placement and timing will be everything as your enemies might catch a glimpse of you moving too close by. Skilled Eve players however will be able to counter jungle like bosses while keeping just enough fear in the enemy team to keep them on their toes, but without forcing them to tower hug or buy expensive vision wards to counter you.

 

 

Twitch

The goal of reworking Twitch was to create a character that was viable as a hybrid AD Ranged carry. However long duration stealth hindered this goal greatly because he had to be weakened below his fellow AD Ranged champions due to this hefty initiation advantage. The solution to this was to buff his harass, particularly the use of his stacking poison and expunge skill, in exchange for greatly shortening his stealth into tactical bursts.

 

 

Expunge (a skill that explodes opponents at range poisoned by Twitch’s strikes) will now deal additional damage and scale into late game on AD bonuses. Spray and Pray, Twitch’s barrage fire artillery ulti, now is more about strategically marking opponents for assassination rather than attempting to wipe entire parties with random AoE attacks. Although little information is released yet, Debilitating Poison is being replaced by a skill called Venom Cask that is planned to contribute more to a poison stacking style of gameplay. In addition Twitch is receiving plenty of base stat buffs, something this definition of a glass cannon could surely use.

 

 

Keep an eye out as we’ll be sending our League of Legends writer Hhean to give both champions in their reworked form full reviews in the coming months!

OnRPG Shotgun News 7/10: Anarchy Online, SWTOR, Sevencore, and More!

OnRPG Shotgun News 7/10: Anarchy Online, SWTOR, Sevencore, and More!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Anarchy Online Gets Major Updates

 

While Anarchy Online celebrates 11 years of being online some big changes have been underway. In the Monthly Development Update some of those changes have been laid out for players. They include a new engine, a new player experience, changes to professions, the market and even server mitigation. There will also be changes to how PvP flagging works.

 

 

Collectable Card Game Legacy of Heroes Launches

A comic book inspired collectable card game has been launched by 5th Planet Games today. Legacy of Heroes will be available only on Kongregate.com and will soon have digital and print comic books with the same name. Legacy of Heroes was written by Brian David-Marshall who has previously worked for Marvel, DC and several other companies in the comic book industry.

 

 

Tribal Wars Raises Flags

 

InnoGames announces the release of version 8.5 which introduces village flags. Flags are found and earned by defeating enemy troops and give upgrades to stats. These flags can be traded between members of the same tribe and also combined to make more powerful ones. This feature is currently being rolled out on English language worlds with more languages being introduced in coming days.

 

 

SEVENCORE Localized Closed Beta

Last week’s announcement that SEVENCORE would be going into closed beta now has a date! That date is today, for the French and German audiences. Closed beta will start this afternoon for anyone who has been selected to participate.

 

 

Endless Empires Open Beta

 

Rusty Axe Games announces that it’s free to play browser based strategy game Endless Empires has entered open beta. Endless Empires is compared to Risk, Lux, and Conquer Club.

 

 

The Secret World Opens New RP Dimension

To accommodate the ever increasing player base Funcom has opened an additional dimension. This one is called Leviathan and will be flagged as a role play dimension.

 

 

SWTOR Free Trial Begins

Today is the start of the SWTOR’s new free trial program. Players will be able to try out the game up to level 15, try out pvp and join friends in a Flashpoint without ever having to pay. Players who have previously taken part in weekend pass or the Friends of SWTOR are eligible to take part, however those who have previously had a STWOR account are not.

 

 

Farm Kingdom Gets Summer Update

Mail.Ru Games has introduced the latest update to Farm Kingdom. It features new territories, new items to collect and new quests. Players are also able to expand their estates and add a fishing shore to farms.

Brawl Busters gets Zombiefied with “Brawl of the Dead” Update

Brawl Busters Gets Zombified With “Brawl Of The Dead” Update

 

Brawl Busters

 

Rock Hippo Productions announced today it has launched the “Brawl of the Dead” update for its popular multiplayer action-combat game, Brawl Busters.

 

 

Prepare for Zombie Infection! In this new mode, Demon Rock — the main zombie — has been resurrected into one of the Busters and will stop at nothing to turn Mega City’s population into Little Leaguers and Skulls. It’s up to the Busters to stop this evil plan and prevail as they face a showdown like no other!

 

 

“Brawl of the Dead” will also feature Lethal Weapons Part Two, a collection of three new deadly arms for the remaining characters. The new combat tools are: Black Imp for Rocker, Tin Stovepipe for Slugger and Manometer for Blitzer! Check out the new trailer to see them in action!

 

 

A free wallpaper has been released to celebrate Zombie Infection mode. Make sure to grab it now since it will be available for a limited-time only. Be on the lookout for more free Brawl Busters wallpapers to be released in the coming weeks.

Entropia Universe: Planet Cyrene Tour

Entropia Universe: Planet Cyrene Tour

By Narfi, OnRPG Guest Writer

 

 

After an invitation by the development team at Digital Scryers, I got a chance to explore Planet Cyrene, their new game within the Entropia Universe.

 

 

I flew to Cyrene from another planet and landed near a huge Coliseum at the base of a large waterfall guarded by marble statues.

 

 

Cyrene is currently in its ‘soft launch’ stage, which means that players can go there and play but that a lot of the content has been limited until they are ready to release it all.  Because of this, I was not surprised to find very few people on the planet, but I can certainly see the potential for this planet when it goes live.

 

 

Everywhere I went, I found a plethora of low-level monsters which seem designed for new players to fight and skill against. I especially like the low-level monsters that are physically big.  I remember when I started playing I felt more satisfaction from killing something big even if it was technically easier than one of the physically smaller mobs.

 

 

Having played in the Universe for 4 years now, I started looking for the biggest, baddest monsters I could find. There is nothing I enjoy more than finding a new monster that takes me a few tries to defeat.  Having talked to friends who had already explored Cyrene, I started looking for the Fenris Dock Guardian.

 

 

Before I found it though, I found another beast which distracted me for a while.

 

 

The Mature Rhino Beatle doesn’t sound scary until you see it. It’s HUGE and hits hard too.

 

 

It was a lucky distraction for me too.  After killing only a few of them, I got my first global on Cyrene!

 

 

124PED = $12.40USD I won on that kill, not bad for a short hunt.

 

 

One of the key things that set Cyrene apart from the other Planets in Entropia Universe is its PVP arenas at the ‘The Hub.’

 

 

While it is kind of hard to PVP in a game without any population yet, I still went and explored the area to see what it was all about.

 

 

Here is a video a buddy of mine at MindStar Media made introducing The Hub.

 

 

When entering The Hub, everyone is temporarily set to the same HP and stats as well as having all outside armor/weapons/etc… unequipped.

 

 

When in The Hub everyone is equal, this allows for fast-paced and fair PVP matches.  Each arena has a fee to enter ranging from 25PEC (2.5 cents) to 10PED (1 dollar) and you are awarded 80% of that for each kill you make until you die. So assuming you practice and are good enough to kill 2 other players for every time you die, you will be profiting (pay 25PEC, win 20+20PEC = 15PEC profit by the time you die).

 

 

We aren’t talking big money here, it’s just micro-transactions, but the potential is there for either cheap play, or even small profits.

 

 

I did not have time to explore the mining and crafting during my short time there. I talked to multiple NPCs though who asked me to mine different resources for them, so I know it will play a big part in the game.

 

 

To understand Cyrene and its strengths and weaknesses, you really need to understand the platform it was designed for.  The planet being developed within the Entropia Universe means that they develop the graphics, storylines, items, quests, etc.  However, the game mechanics themselves are the same as on every other planet in the universe.

 

 

A few things to know about Entropia Universe before you can fully understand its complexity:

 

-Began beta in 2001 and went Gold in 2003.  It has been around for over a decade and still actively updating and expanding.

 

-Based on an RCE (Real Cash Economy), the game is free to download and free to play, but everything you win or buy in the game can be sold for PED (Project Entropia Dollars), which is the in-game currency which can be legally deposited and withdrawn from your real life accounts.

 

-The Universe currently has 5 development studios developing/maintaining planets each with its own theme. There are more expected in the near future.

 

-Sometimes referred to as the ‘Ultimate Sandbox Game,’ there are no restrictions to where you can go or what you can do.  The skill system is open and anything you do awards you skills in that area.

 

 

After a few hours of exploring on my own, Ed Robles III, Creative Director of Cyrene, met up with me and we chatted about the game for a while.

 

 

I have been following the development of the planet since I first heard about it, and having seen concept art of spacecraft a year or so ago, I asked him about that first.

 

 

He told me that they do in fact have spacecraft developed and ready to implement, but that they will wait a while until the population gets larger.  This is something I will keep my eyes open for since space has always been fascinating to me and my goals in-game are to own one of the larger spacecraft (to the extent that I am currently participating in a 6month grind event to hopefully win one).

 

 

While we were talking about vehicles in the game, he told me that he had a surprise for me, and opened up a trade window and gave me the first of their next line of flying vehicles yet to be discovered in the game.

 

 

The Lancer v1 (L) seems to be faster and much more responsive than helicopters from the other planets. I had a lot of fun flying it around and showing it off to a few of my friends later.

 

 

Ed tells me that the blueprints for this ship are in the loot pool now and he is surprised that no one has discovered them yet.

 

 

Besides The Hub, which is an area unique to Cyrene in the Universe, I was really impressed with their plans and what they have ready once they go live and have an active population.

 

 

Currently there are 3 server areas open to explore, but they have multiple servers already developed and waiting to be implemented, each with new mobs, quests, and items, including armor and weapons.  These areas are ready to be unlocked by players who will affect the storyline with their actions and play. He mentioned a few areas ready to be unlocked, ‘The Zyn Lands,’ ‘The Icelands to the North,’ a ‘Desert and Stone’ server to the West, and another possible rainforest to the East.

 

 

Once discovered this will make the map pretty big, and I am sure by then there will be instances and other additions as well.

 

 

I will have more time in August, so hopefully they will have their full launch by then, and I will go and explore some more. Maybe I will do some of the daily quests or try to collect the parts to put together a set of armor. If you want to learn more about this unique game, feel free to check out my dedicated blog at http://www.cashplanets.com/.

 

 

Good Luck wherever you are, and have fun!

Narfi

Faithless is He: Zombie Chronicle

Faithless Is He: Zombie Chronicle

By Jonathan Doyle (Ardua), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Another week, another adventure in Kingsmouth. You would think between the head start and the amount of time I have devoted to The Secret World that things would be a bit further along and to be honest you would be right.

 

 

My group and I are currently working our way through the somewhat less zombie infested and somewhat more terrifying Savage Coast as we follow the threads of story woven throughout Solomon Island for our enjoyment. Check back next week and see what lies within room 13 of the Overlook Motel. But first I have much to tell of my group’s adventures so far.

 

True Freedom

It was something touted again and again by Ragnar and Martin, The Secret World has true freedom of progression and I myself am really digging it. In my own personal experience I have gone from wielding a hammer and zapping zombies into the dirt to blasting away with pistols, shotguns and assault rifles. All within a short frame of time. There is no need, as some demand, for a respec function. Early ability points come easily and changing your mind is never punished.

 

 

On the lack of a respec option, the design philosophy as touted by Funcom and the team is shown again. Nothing is handed to you here. Nothing is shall we say dumbed down. You have to consider your options, your missions, and your targets. Thought and effort are rewarded, blind flailing are … if not punished then certainly not encouraged.

 

 

So in our little adventures across the face of Kingsmouth Town, my group and I had pushed on to the Savage Coast only to find that two of our friends had come along. Redoing content, any content, is not always the most rewarding of experiences. After all you know the answers, you know the plot and you probably know the fastest way to get through anything. Redoing the content in Kingsmouth admittedly was the same content as we had done before, but was still very rewarding in terms of XP and naturally in terms of playing it with friends.

 

 

The old barriers to that sort of group play, whether helping friends catch up or trying to bring yourself down to their level, are falling. These torn down barriers aren’t limited to being able to merely replay the content or change your character’s ability loads on the fly, they’re coming down where the idea of a server is concerned. If you’re unsure what we are talking about, check out last week where we covered briefly the dimension server technology.

 

 

All in all these things add up. I have also heard from friends that the dungeons, which have Elite and Nightmare versions, have a system that ensures that they will remain challenging by reducing the effectiveness of over levelled gear. The idea that I can at any time, join any player, on any dimension and do or re-do anything granted with varying levels of effectiveness is simply liberating.

 

A Chronicle of Your Adventure

Moving on from Kingsmouth, there is another new feature regarding The Secret World. Specifically Funcom have today launched The Secret World Chronicle. The Chronicle is an armoury feature that allows you to view your character and let others see how you are doing.

 

 

Want statistics on how many monsters you’ve killed and how that stacks up against the world totals or simply in your own cabal? You can get those.

 

 

Want to check on a friend and see how they are geared and what decks they’ve completed? That’s available too.

 

 

The Chronicle system for me is something I have never really paid attention to in other games that offer a similar armoury feature but I can see myself using it quite regularly for The Secret World. It is very enjoyable to have the ability, unless of course someone chooses to set themselves to private, to see how you yourself compare to other players or even just to keep an eye on the progression of friends. I can, at a glance, see what sort of decks my friends are driving towards and potentially plan accordingly.

 

 

Looking Forward

Both the Chronicle and my weekend misadventures are in the past now. The Chronicle is there for you to enjoy and if ever you feel compelled to peek on my progression, feel free. http://chronicle.thesecretworld.com/character/Sharur

 

 

What would any newly launched game be though without news of the future?

 

 

You’ll be happy to know that the launch dimensions are filling up fast and Funcom has made some suggestions for new players to join either Grim or Daemon. We will keep you informed of the dimension hopping changes as they occur.

 

 

With all the new players, there have also been requests for further customization options for characters and these requests have been heard and responded to here. Ever a bunch to seize an opportunity, it seems the team isn’t going to merely update the creator and give out free tokens for the first use, there’s going to be a story around it. A reason for everything.

 

News In Brief

It might be a good idea to end this particular instalment of Faithless Is He with some specific tidbits from The Secret World.

 

 

First and foremost, the official The Secret World trailer has been released. Enjoy!

 

Secondly, UKIE chart information is in and The Secret World has come in #2 for top PC titles this week. This, along with the smooth launch, is a definite feather in Funcom’s cap.

 

 

Finally, I know some of you are looking to have a quick look at The Secret World and you’ll be happy to know that there are buddy keys on offer.

 

 

However given that I only have one at the moment, I thought I would steal a little page from Funcom’s book.

 

 

For a buddy key invitation, you’ll have to get code breaking.

 

 

Rotate this thirteen times to win: vevfucnegvpyr@ubgznvy.pbz

 

Catch you next week when the Garage Band of the Apocalypse takes on Hell itself.

OnRPG Shotgun News 7/9: Ragnarok Online, The Secret World, and League of Legends

OnRPG Shotgun News 7/9: Ragnarok Online, The Secret World, and League of Legends

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Ragnarok Renewal Goes Live

 

Gravity Europe has released the latest generation of smash hit Ragnarok Online called Ragnarok Renewal. There are 13 all new classes and players can now reach level 150. It is available now via the Gravity Gateway which is Gravity Europe’s new online gaming portal.

 

The Secret World Chronicle

Today Funcom officially announced the beta of character record keeper and leaderboard, Chronicle. Player stats are updated once a day. There are many features planned for Chronicle and players are being asked to leave feedback on how it can be improved.

 

 

League of Legends Launches 100th Champion

 

 

It’s been a long wait but the 100th champion is now live along with a huge balance changes across tons of different champions! Jayce brings a unique skill set akin to Nidalee in which he sacrifices an ultimate in exchange for the ability to completely change his playstyle from ranged AD to AD Melee Bruiser at the drop of a hat. Be sure to keep an eye out on the full review from Hhean in the coming week!