Monthly Archives: October 2006

Rappelz Halloween Extravaganza!

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Halloween is here!!

To celebrate Halloween we will be holding a Rappelz Halloween Extravaganza where users from the world of Rappelz can collect candy by slaying monsters. You can either use the candy to help you recover your stats or you can experiment and combine different types of candy to create fabulous masks or awesome Pumpkin Helmet! Don’t miss out on this even, because this event will take place only until November 5th.

For more information players should check out the Rappelz website at http://rappelz.gpotato.com .

Happy Halloween from the Rappelz staff!

Rappelz Interview with Producer

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Questions by Brian Perry Jr, Onrpg Writer
Answered by Terry Kim, Producer of Rappelz


Onrpg: First of all, thank you for answering our questions about Rappelz, Terry. Please describe what you do at Gala-Net and tell us a bit about Rappelz?
Kim: Hi! I’m the producer of Rappelz. I work on marketing, managing Game Masters, and coordinate maintenance and communications with the developer. Rappelz is a Free to Play MMORPG set in a medieval fantasy world, with features designed to appeal to both casual and hardcore players alike.

Unlike other games with pets, in Rappelz pets play a large role and all characters can have useful pets. The ability to own dungeons will keep people excited and involved in the world of Rappelz. This game features beautiful graphics and music. The quest and stamina system in Rappelz will help break up any grind. Come try it out!

Onrpg: Rappelz is a unique name for a MMO game. What is the origin of the name and what does it mean, if anything?
Kim: Rappelz comes from the French word ‘rappel’ which means to summon, or recall. It is in reference to summoning pets which is a major part of the game.

Onrpg: Rappelz has been in open beta for about a couple weeks now. How is the beta test coming along? Are players generally satisfied with their experience in the game so far?
Kim: The beta test is going well. Users seem happy with the game and it is on par with many pay to play games. We’ve experienced a few bumps along the way, but nothing we couldn’t handle.

Onrpg: How is Rappelz different from the wide variety of other fantasy MMO games on the market right now?
Kim: The major features that differentiate Rappelz from other games are its pet system and the dungeon siege system. Rappelz offers players a vast Skill system for both the Player’s Characters as well as their tamed Creatures. Every weekend guilds can lay siege to the dungeons in attempt to own them for the week. Guilds that own dungeons collect a tax on all money and LAK dropped in the dungeon. Rappelz also has a huge range of quests, an item upgrade and crafting system. These combined with a generous offering of quests and events ensure that players have fun and continue to play Rappelz.

Onrpg: One of the central features in Rappelz is the pet system. How does it work, and in what ways can a pet support a player? How does a player’s race and class affect which creature works best for him or her?
Kim: Pets level up just like a player. In fact they can even level up to be stronger than players. Each creature acts just like certain classes you might see in other games. There are healer creatures, buffing creatures, magic attack creatures, and even melee creatures. Combining different creatures with your class will yield a different play style.

Onrpg: Arguably the other main feature in Rappelz is the dungeons and the different game play options they offer. Can you tell me a bit more about how that system works?
Kim: Every weekend the dungeons open for “Dungeon Sieges.” During this time guilds may send up to 32 players into the dungeon and try to defeat the Dungeon monsters as quickly as possible. The guild that gets the best time owns the dungeon for the week. They then get a percentage of all money and LAK drops from the dungeon and from other players that enter the dungeon during that week.

Onrpg: How is the death penalty handled in Rappelz? Do you think players will find it too lenient or too harsh?
Kim: Currently we have a system where users will lose exp and even de-level upon death. This is not a great hardship because you can not lose Job Levels, which are more important than character levels. Death on the Hardcore PvP server can be hard. There is a possibility of item drop. The chance this will happen depends on many things such as your immorality points and level differences.

Onrpg: What major features and fixes would you like to see in Rappelz before the game officially goes commercial?
Kim: I’d like to see all of the pets finalized in the game. Pets take a lot of work to master and it would be nice to have a large option of pets for people to choose from before they go through all that work.

Onrpg: Going back to the pets system in Rappelz for the last question, which is your favorite pet and why?
Kim: The Siren is my favorite pet. Sirens are so beautiful and get many curse spells. They are useful to both melee and magic based characters.

Funcom extends unique free offer in Anarchy Online to 2008

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Durham, USA – October 27, 2006 – Funcom announces an extension of the completely free and play-all-you-want offer in Anarchy Online until January 2008. The free offer was a major MMO first when originally introduced and to date almost one million players have registered a free account in ‘Anarchy Online’, making it one of the most successful western MMO games of all times.

The expanded free offer now not only extends the opportunity to play the most heralded sci-fi MMO for free, but also include the award-winning ‘Anarchy Online – Notum Wars’ giving free players the chance to take part Player versus Player combat.

“The free offer has been an amazing success and a chance to show massive amounts of players how good this game actually is,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “With a new expansion around the corner, an improved free offer, continued development and few good sci-fi MMO games around we believe‘ Anarchy Online’ can remain successful for years to come. At the same time we gain invaluable large-scale data on innovative business and distribution models, enabling us to shape the future of our other games better informed.”

The free offer content is now greatly expanded through the ‘Notum Wars’ addition. When released, ‘Notum Wars’ brought a whole new dimension to Player vs. Player MMO combat. With it, players could claim control of large areas of land, build a base with an array of towers and then fight it out with other players to achieve control, prestige and power. With numerous additional features ‘Notum Wars’ now gives all free players a new kind of experience, with more possibilities.

The new and improved offer includes the entire classic version of ‘Anarchy Online’, named “Best MMO of the Year” by PC Gamer US, and ‘Anarchy Online – Notum Wars’, “Expansion Pack of the Year” in Computer Gaming World. Those who play for free are exposed to dynamic in-game advertising, a successful revenue concept implemented by Funcom and developed by Massive Inc. If the player upgrades to additional expansion packs, a monthly subscription fee kicks in, but the player will not be exposed to the ads.

More game information and download links can be found at www.anarchy-online.com . The game is available as a peer-to-peer download through Bittorrent and seeded by Funcom to get the fastest possible download speed.

Welcome Back Weekend

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October [26], 2006 —eGenesis today announced that A Tale in the Desert III will hold its Welcome Back Weekend on October [27-29], 2006. A different kind of MMORPG, A Tale in the Desert III has been a success in America and Europe, combining great in-game features with a wonderful community. Players who have previously played A Tale in the Desert III are invited back to reactivate old accounts with no credit card. In fact, new players are encouraged to download the game for free and play for free, as well with no credit card required.

Just some of the planned events for the weekend include the largest real-time game of Mafia (Werewolf or Village) ever. Mafia is a game modeling a battle between an informed minority and an uninformed majority. The weekend will also include The Great Egyptian Smoke Out were you smoke hookahs with as many friends as possible; improve your Fumeology score as much as possible; prizes awarded for both categories. Plus many more events.

GuildWars Nightfall Launches

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October 26, 2006 (BELLEVUE, WA) – Guild Wars NightfallTM, one of the most anticipated PC game releases of the holiday season is on its way to retailers and will be available on store shelves in North America and Europe on October 27, 2006. NightfallTM is the latest campaign release in the award-winning Guild Wars® franchise played by millions worldwide, created by ArenaNet® and published by NCsoft®, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games.

Set in the land of Elona where an evil ruler is attempting to summon her outcast god, Nightfall will ask the stout of heart to answer the rallying cry of the Sunspears — the protectors of the realm — to fight back the looming darkness descending upon the land. As you explore opulent cities, brave savage coasts, delve deep into ancient monuments, and discover the secrets of poisonous deserts, you will determine the fate of the entire realm of Elona.

To aid you in your duty, Nightfall introduces exciting new features such as:

* Heroes – customizable companions that level up with you, use weapons and skills of your choosing, and go forth with you into battle.

* Hero Battles, the ultimate one-on-one challenge, that allow two players, and their Heores, to compete against one another in new PVP gameplay.

* Templates that let players save, store, and exchange Hero builds, providing countless combinations to create the ultimate team of Heroes.

Along with the new features Nightfall provides twenty new missions, hundreds of new skills, new armor, two fierce new professions, and endless replayability.

“Guild Wars Nightfall is already being heralded as the best of the Guild Wars series by the record-breaking number of fans who participated in preview events,” says Robert Garriott, CEO, NCsoft North America. “Nightfall brings innovative new features to the game that revolutionized the online gaming genre and NCsoft is thrilled to launch this flagship game in time for the holidays.”

Guild Wars Nightfall will be available in both Standard and Collector’s Editions. The Collector’s Edition includes the Guild Wars Nightfall game as well as a Making of Guild Wars Nightfall behind-the-scenes DVD produced by Gameplay HD, a collector’s art book, collectible skill pins, a character mini-standee, a poster-sized map of Elona, and the Guild Wars Nightfall soundtrack CD. Guild Wars Nightfall is also premiering the PlaySmartTM tips card that will be included in both retail editions.

“The Guild Wars Nightfall launch is one of the most anticipated of the holiday season,” said Bob McKenzie, Senior VP of Merchandising, GameStop, Inc. “From its beginnings just a year and a half ago, the Guild Wars franchise has grown into an unquestioned success story. The new play experiences and features in Nightfall clearly show the ArenaNet developers have hit yet another home run.”

Guild Wars, an instant bestseller in North America and Europe upon its release in April 2005, and Guild Wars FactionsTM, the number one game in both North America and Europe earlier this year, are global online roleplaying games. With an expected retail price of $49.99 and still no subscription fee, Guild Wars Nightfall is set to become an instant hit when it becomes available worldwide. Servers supporting the new release will “go live” at 12:01 AM PDT /7:01 AM GMT on October 27, 2006.

For more information please visit www.GuildWars.com.

Not half bad

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I saw that this game had a 0 as a rating, Its from the same makers as
RYL(i think), so i had 2 try it. It isnt that bad, its hard 2 get started out, after I played 4 a while it got pretty good. Graphics r cheesy, but it doesn’t lag at all, gameplay is o.k. community is helpful, and an intresting sea battle system adds fun to the game.

12-10-2006 Arch. Cave & Making Syrnia more user friendly

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The respawning of monsters, chests, resources, and items in the Arch. cave has been fixed. Some items didn’t properly respawn or respawned not frequently enough.
Now go get those rare weapons…
There are 3 saurusses waiting a.t.m.

In addition to the new layout I have also reduced the movement times on the main island since I believe the high times would make new players quit instantly.
The new players will also start on a Tutorial island where they will need to complete some basic tasks like mining,smithing,cooking and fishing in order to go to Sanfew and start Syrnia.
An extra (easy) beginners manual has been added for people who hate much text, and an ‘event’ manual has been added.
For donations who donated 50 or more euros an highscore history has been added; they will be able to lookup all highscores from 26-08-2006 untill now.
…other news: A tin vein has been found at Nabb mines.

Boring

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Maple Story is a boring monstrosity lacking any creativity whatsoever. You have to be born to play it to get any fun out of it.

The graphics are cute and enjoyable. Enviroments are unique and very well done. Basically, you stand on elevated platforms of land with a scenery background. Characters were made in an anime style. You can choose a variety of hair styles and different clothing/armor to change your appearance.

The object of the games is… well I’m not sure. Roleplaying is to a minimum. Occasionally, you’re given a quest to collect x number of items for someone but thats about the jist of it. There are various platforming levels with little creatures all over them. You must press the "ctrl" button continuously as your character uses his attack. After an extremely long amount of time you will gain a level.

The community is okay. A lot of pre-teens and mid teenagers. Not very many adults. The game has a huge problem with hackers, however. It seems like every where you look there is a person using a hack to vacuum all the monsters into one corner.

Overall, this game really isn’t worth bothering with. There are a lot better free games out there.

Xiah Closed Beta

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San Jose, CA October 5, 2006 – OnNet USA today announced that it will conduct a closed-beta session for its new Asian-themed martial arts massively multi-player on-line game, Xiah. The closed-beta session will last from 10/9/06-10/23/06. Players interested in Xiah beta tester are encouraged to visit http://www.gamescampus.com/xiah/

About Xiah

Xiah, developed by Taewool and published by OnNet USA., is an Asian-themed martial arts massively multi-player on-line game. This adventure is set in a fantasy world where four warriors battle the evil Blood Emperor in an epic struggle of good versus evil. Unlike other MMORPGs, Xiah allows players to choose between using a keyboard or a controller when playing the game. Players have the option to play with other players or alone and are able to upgrade weapons an unlimited number of times. The quick reflex action feature gives players more realistic combat movement during battle situations by allowing continuous hitting action. For more information about Xiah, please visit: GamesCampus.com