Monthly Archives: November 2008

Zu Online Review

by Adam Williams, Onrpg writer

Zu Online is an free to play MMO released about the end of 2007 by IGG. After spending several days putting in a nice chunk of time playing this game, I was impressed by both the graphics, and the gameplay.

Graphics
The first thing you notice upon entering the world, is the interesting approach to both how the world looks, and how all the characters look. Everything has a very stylized, comic book look and feel, and even up to NPCs at times having tiny thought bubbles over their head for you to know what they’re saying as you walk by, and when you speak to them box’s appear displaying both a picture of them from a different detailed angle, and what they want you to do giving a very interesting feel of actually running in a comic book. You also notice immediately that a large amount of work was put into making the world look very very detailed and impressive over large distances as you ride dragons over enormous landscapes.

Unfortunately, the sound didn’t fit anywhere near as well as the graphics. The fighting sound effects, and the music both got very annoying very quickly leading to me turning off my sound entirely after only an hour or two.

General Gameplay
Zu Online is based on a fantastical world in what appears to be ancient china. There are five races, each only named for their playable job. These are Swordsman, Moonmaiden, Sun Warrior, Bead Fairy, and Summoner. They are also divided between three factions, which you have the flexibility to pick any of the three factions you wish. These also limit somewhat who you are able to fight in the PK system.

Zu Online, while being a typical grind game to reach higher levels to practice PvP, had a very impressive twist in that for a large part of the game you benefit from a very detailed and tiered quest system to level by, other than the typical grinding you would expect. Rather than the usual “Go kill this” or “Go collect X from Y”, a large amount of the quests involve explaining many of the game features for the new player, giving a reward for learning some of the more complex features of the game. The quests also give a very large amount of detail inside the quests, making it easy for new players to complete the quests, even with no prior knowledge or assistance in maneuvering the zones. There are 300 levels, and for the first 200 quests are your best bet for leveling, so if you enjoy quests more than grinding, you’ll definitely enjoy Zu. They also lessen the grind somewhat by many quests and items providing xp boosts ranging from 50-100% that also applies to quest rewards.

Along with the interesting quest system, Zu also has a complex pet system where you hatch a pet, and it grows along with you and you gear it and train it while it fits alongside you. You can have tigers or dragons to ride along the ground, or even enormous birds to fly around the zone.

On the PvP side, Zu limits it somewhat by a player not being able to participate until level 60, and also help prevent some of the worse cases of griefing by the PvP being limited to players between 60 levels below and 60 levels above you. If you don’t enjoy PvP all, you can also toggle your character to not be attackable by other players. Doing this limits the rewards available to you however, with the honor points system they included, where you get points for participating in fighting people outside your guild or faction. There is also dishonor points are killing people inside your faction or guild, which weaken you in ways such as lowering attack speed. There are also zones provided where guilds can gain control by defeating other guilds, and in safe spots the guild members can afk and slowly gain experience points just from being there, making it very competitive to control these areas.

Zu also surprised me in the blazingly fast zone times between areas, and the very smooth performance and very very low system requirements to play. There was also a very surprising lack of lag even in crowded zones with huge amounts of activity and effects flying all over the zone.

Summary
In conclusion, Zu Online was a pretty good game, especially if you’re a player who really enjoys questing above all else. Its a game that can easily occupy a few hundred hours of your time without getting boring, with so much content available no matter what path you choose to take. It looks good, plays easily, and seems pretty well balanced overall. The only issue with the game is the company selling special items with real money on the website, giving the people with the extra cash laying around a very very real advantage particularly in the PvP side. You can get the same items in small amounts through quests and hard work, but the people with the money can have a near unlimited supply. This isn’t really a big deal, but it can get a little frustrating if you’re a real hardcore fairplay person.

Pros:
Low System Requirements.
Large Amount of Content.
Fast Servers leading to low lag and fast load times.
Graphics.

Cons:
Sounds.
Purchasable money and items.

Successful server test for Runes of Magic

Beta servers worked flawlessly with scores of players online

The Runes of Magic test servers have worked flawlessly during the stress test at the end of the closed beta phase 2. In spite of up to 1,600 players in the starting town called “Pioneers Colony”, the beta servers experienced no problems. Neither processor nor RAM were close to being used to capacity, so Runes of Magic should theoretically be able to accommodate more than 3,000 players in one zone. Even with the Halloween event on Saturday and despite reduced hardware, the server didn’t get any problems. Around 1,000 players participated in this first big in-game event in the free game world. Frogster thanked their beta testers explicitly for their disciplined help in a letter to the community, which you can find in our beta forum.

Thanks to the stable network code of developer Runewaker, the current server configuration can handle far more players than expected. Because of this, nothing technically will stand in the way of the planned large scale PVP and guild battles, in-game events and server-vs. server-vs.-server-wars with the participation of three server communities. After the successful stress test, Frogster started with the closed beta phase 3 on Nov. 3rd according to schedule. To allow for a test of the remaining untested regions, the publisher has mirrored the server with the most characters to a new beta server. The open beta for Runes of Magic will start in the course of December.

At the moment, the Berlin based publisher plans only one last character wipe. This wipe will be implemented close to the start of the open beta, so that all players will start on equal terms. All interested players can start to level their characters during the open beta and take them over into the release version. At the moment, the Runes of Magic team is working on a comprehensive localization of the game, because the developer Runewaker has doubled the quest content to more than 1,000 quests at the start of the game.

Voyage Century: Resources

No matter whether you’re fighting a real war or a war in game, there is no doubt that resources are very important. They can be the difference between victory and defeat. In Voyage Century, resources are just as vitally important to your characters as well.

In Voyage Century, there are 2 kinds of important resources that almost every player needs: timber and iron ore. In Voyage Century, it’s necessary to have a good ship which can not only help you travel freely around the world but also can help you to win a sea battle. However, building or upgrading a ship usually costs a lot of resources, including timber and iron ore, so it’s very common to see a large bunch of players collecting these 2 resources together.

Different levels of these resources are scattered everywhere in the world, and time can be a big factor in determining whether you can find the resources you want, so knowing about the relevant information is very important.

In order to go to those places where there are reserves of the resources you need, you need a decent ship, because many high level resources are scattered in dangerous places where many pirates and monsters like to roam. In addition, you also need to learn some survival skills. Some resources may be worth risking your life to get, but it’s better if you are prepared. Remember, predators wait by the watering hole for easy meals because they know that their prey will be coming. Smart pirates can be a lot like lions and other predators, if they know what you want, they may be waiting when you get there.

Pirates of the Burning Sea opens new server

Our strategy overseas is to work with enthusiastic partners who are knowledgeable about their market and committed to the game and its community. However, launching and supporting an MMO is a very different beast than a single player game, and some companies underestimate the kind of engagement they have to have with the players. Regardless, we want to make sure that everyone who plays Pirates has a great experience, and will do whatever it takes to deliver that.

Today I sent out notice to Bigpond that we will not be renewing our partnership with them. I enjoyed meeting and working with the people of Bigpond, and I wish them and the company well in all its future endeavors.

So what does that mean for the players of Invincible? We will continue to deliver new builds to Bigpond for deployment to Invincible until the beginning of January. At that point, Invincible will be turned off. In the meantime, we will shortly be providing transfers for all players who choose to move over to any of our other servers.

Since we’ve moved port battle times to center around the highest concurrency of individual servers, there is no server that’s currently set up to serve Australias needs. To that end, we’re going to be opening a new server, Defiant, which will have port battle times appropriate for the Australian players (9p to 5a Pacific, or 5a to 1p GMT).

Since we’ve changed the timing of the port battles, some players have found that the servers they play on have port battles scheduled outside of their playtime. Given that we’re opening up Defiant specifically to provide more options for port battles, we’re going to go all the way, and provide all players one (1) transfer to any server so that they can move to a server that better matches their playtime. The port battle times for each server are posted here, and are displayed in the server select screen as well in order to allow new players to better determine which server matches their play time.

We will be publishing more specific instructions on how transfers will work for customers signed up with Bigpond, as the process will be a bit more involved for Australians who choose to make the switch to SOE. You can expect to see those instructions very soon, so keep your eyes on the news for that important update.
We intend to provide a more open transfer service in the future, but with the company’s resources focused on the new avatar combat system, it’s not yet on the schedule. We’re providing the transfers now because it’s worth the overhead to us to accommodate the port battle schedule changes.

One big benefit to this is that the Australian players will now be able to play on the testbed servers, which we’ll be updating soon with the new avatar combat system. We want as many people as possible to be playing the new system to get their feedback, so I want to encourage everyone to get on testbed when we deploy it to let us know what you think.

As for attracting new players from Australia, we’re going to expand out our advertising campaign to Australian web sites. We’ve been having good success with the limited amount that we’re doing in the US, and we’re going to significantly expand that up in the next two weeks, and then expand out to Australia (and other areas) when the new avatar combat revamp goes live.
We’re excited about this change, and the opportunity to provide the Australian players with the quality of service that they deserve.

Legend of the Golden Plume: New Server “Koala” Will Open on Nov. 14th

We are very happy to announce that we will open the second server of LGP in the Server Group “Cute & Wild” on Nov.14th. The exact time of the server opening will be announced a bit later.

The new server will be named “Koala”, which is defined in Webster Dictionary as: an Australian arboreal marsupial (Phascolarctos cinereus) that has a broad head, large hairy ears, dense gray fur, and sharp claws and feeds on eucalyptus leaves. It is also commonly known to us all as the koala bear, a cutie that everyone loves.

Welcome to the world of Cute & Wild, and welcome to Server Koala!

LGP Online, the Cutest Game for Cuties, is fantasy community MMORPG featuring teamwork and cute pets. You never play alone in the world of LGP Online! Team up with up to 4 other players, and you can earn up to 5 X Experience when you play. There are also many other exciting features such as weapon crafting, tribal war, virtual marriage?mounts, master/apprentice, fun quests, super cool skills, and many more.

Challenge Games Launches Warstorm

Online game combines card collecting with strategic battles

Challenge Online Games, Inc., has announced the launch of its latest free-to-play online game, Warstorm. Warstorm is a browser-based, short form game that combines elements of collectible card games (CCG) and massively multi-player online games (MMO).

Warstorm simplifies the complex deck building required by typical collectible card games by introducing an innovative squad concept. A player, known as a warlord, selects a hero card which can support a squad consisting of up to six units, artifacts, or spells. The player can then engage in battles with one or more squads against other players or through various quests.

A player can issue challenges to friends or a post a general challenge to the player community, battling only when the challenge is accepted. Players can also compete in tournaments with up to sixteen people. Battles are displayed in Warstorm’s animated battle viewer that activates squads on a card-by-card basis – displaying attacks, special abilities, and much more. Gamers who enjoy games like Magic the Gathering, World of Warcraft or Lineage but are looking to play games in smaller time intervals will enjoy the richness and depth of Warstorm.

“Warstorm can be enjoyed by all levels of gamers.” said Andrew Busey, founder and CEO of Challenge Online Games. “Casual gamers will have fun learning the game and challenging friends, while our serious gamers will want to strategize how to build amazingly diverse squads and compete with players from around the world.”

Warstorm can be played for free, but players can purchase packs of cards through micro-transactions.

Warstorm is the third free short-form multiplayer online game from Challenge Games. Its debut game, Duels, was the first massively multi-player role-playing game (MMORPG) to be integrated directly with Facebook. It currently has over a quarter of a million players worldwide. Challenge Games’ second title, Baseball Boss, launched this summer. Baseball Boss, officially licensed by MLB Advanced Media, is the first game to combine baseball simulation games with collectable card games.

Secret of Solstice: Presidential Top Hat Raffle and Lucky Balls Release!

Need a new hat to highlight the elections? The Presidential Top Hat is now available in Secret of the Solstice. Walk around with the new spiffy looking Red, White and Blue Hat. Everyone who purchases a Top Hat will be entered into a daily raffle to win a 30 Day 50% EXP Boost Card. 15 winners will be selected on 11/20 and announced on the 24th! There will be two different Hats to choose from, depending on whether you need an Intellect boost or Power boost.

Don’t need a new hat? The Turkey and Pilgrim Lucky Balls has arrived. Prepare your Thanksgiving Gaming with the new set of Lucky Balls!

Atlantica Online Launch Exceeds Expectations: NDoors Opens New Servers to Accomodate Player Influx

The official launch of Atlantica Online is exceeding expectations.

The strategic turn-based MMORPG, which sends players on a globe-hopping adventure around the Earth, has seen tremendous growth since its debut with the number of daily unique players doubling. The average number of concurrent players has increased by 300 percent since introduction and has filled servers to capacity. NDOORS Interactive will be opening new servers beginning Saturday, Nov. 8.

“The response for Atlantica has been nothing short of amazing,” said Peter Kang, CEO, NDOORS Interactive. “We understand that the foundation and lifeblood of every MMO is its community, and we can’t thank our players enough.”

NDOORS is currently running a promotion that gives players multiple chances to win thousands in cash and prizes by participating in the game’s PvP area called the Free Leagues. NDOORS is also hosting a satisfaction guarantee program. NDOORS will give $20 to qualified players who decide they don’t want to continue with the game. Players have until Nov. 30 to win any of the bonuses or apply for the satisfaction guarantee program.

Atlantica Online is set on Earth, in a parallel reality that takes players through a fantastic journey to discover the lost secrets of Atlantis. With its heavy emphasis on strategy, Atlantica was designed to stand out amongst the ‘cookie-cutter’ MMOs. The strategic gameplay incorporated into the turn-based combat, mercenary and country management systems will appeal to strategy and RPG players.

Lunia US Review

By Jeroen, Onrpg writer

Lunia US is a very different MMORPG, because in most other MMOs you are able to walk freely around the world. But in Lunia this is very different. Lunia uses an Animatic Cinema System, which means you your player experience is closer to reading a book.

Animatic Cinema System
The game is set up on pages, which we shall call episodes. In every episode there are 10 stages or more to play. When you start a stage you first get to see a short comic. In this comic you are told in detail is happening and what you will have to do in the following stages. After this the mission starts.

In these missions you can choose to play alone or with other people playing the game. To team up, you choose to ‘wait’ before starting these missions. That way you can find more people who are on the same mission and join up with them. If you start straight away, you will go alone; nobody can join once you’ve started. At the end of every stage you need to beat a boss of varied difficulties; some are hard, some are easy. Those are the moments to team up with a party or a guild.

Levelling System
Lunia also uses a Levelling System. While you are playing through the different stages you can level pretty fast. It’s possible to reach level 20 in no time. While you are levelling, you can unlock other stages from an episode. But this game is not only about finishes the stages, there are also many quests.

These quests are to be found in the Square, a basic meeting ground for all people where you can buy new weapons, armor, potions ect. All around the square there are NPCs who will give you quests when you reach a minimal level. Next to quests you can also find secrets in different stages, which can sometimes be rather hard to find.

Player versus Play (PVP)
When you get bored with questing and finishing stages you can also battle other players in PVP. Fighting another player is a lot harder than doing the missions and you have a chance to learn to use your skills and skill-combinations and don’t forget your brains.

Lunia is Free to Play MMO with a choice to pay for special items, that can be bought with coins that need to be paid for.
What I think of this game.

Lunia is a great RPG to play. I haven’t seen any negative things, only that its mostly just one and all the same thing, do a stage finish it go after the other stage. But its just how I think it is, I prefer to play games where you can choose what you’re going to do. But for the people who are interested in the stage system, you will enjoy it.