Yearly Archives: 2008

Everquest 2: fifth expansion is arriving

Video game players around the world are powering up their PCs as the new EverQuest® II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey?, is scheduled to launch worldwide tomorrow. The Shadow Odyssey is the fifth expansion for the critically acclaimed EQII franchise developed by Sony Online Entertainment LLC.

“The storyline of The Shadow Odyssey allows players to explore uncharted regions in the virtual world of Norrath while experiencing nostalgic areas made famous in the original EverQuest almost 10 years ago,”said Bruce Ferguson, senior producer, Sony Online Entertainment. “This expansion comes on the heels of the highest selling expansion to date, Rise of Kunark?, and the incredibly successful Living Legacy program, which ran over the summer months and attracted large numbers of new and returning players who are ready for exciting new adventures.”

About EverQuest II The Shadow Odyssey
In an age long passed, a band of extraordinary heroes embarked on a journey to free Norrath from the clutches of a shrouded threat. Their quest would take them to the far reaches of the globe, delving deep into the most dangerous dungeons and undertaking many daunting trials. This was the Shadow Odyssey, and the heroes were known as the Ethernauts. In their time, this epic quest came to an end, and Norrath was saved. But now, history is repeating itself. It is time for a new generation of Ethernauts to retrace the steps of their honored predecessors through the ruined, unforgiving and twisting regions of Norrath to rid the world of the invading scourge and destroy the renewed evil of the Shadowmen.

Feature Set:

  • More than 20 new zones, including the new overland zone, Innothule.
  • Experience nostalgic EverQuest dungeon themes, such as Najena, Mistmoore and The Sebilisian Empire, and adventure through more than 18 goal-based dungeons, such as Ruins of Guk and Befallen.
  • The Achievement Point level cap will be increased to 200 to offer new achievements for class-specific lines.
  • A new Dungeon Delving mission system for players to replay content with new and different experiences.
  • Five (5) new Heritage Quests with unique rewards being added.
  • A new, mysterious group of erudites with powerful new armor and equipment will barter for void shards earned during your encounters.
  • Epic tales of the odyssey are told through battles with dozens of new creatures and hundreds of new quests.
  • Two new deities have been introduced into Norrath, Rodcet Nife and Anashti Sul.
  • Includes Desert of FlamesTM, Kingdom of SkyTM, Echoes of FaydwerTM and Rise of KunarkTM expansion packs, and The Bloodline ChroniclesTM, The Splitpaw SagaTM and The Fallen DynastyTM adventure packs.
  • Also includes Legends of NorrathTM strategic online trading card game, digital starter deck and booster pack.

Wonderland Online: New Version Client Available

The Wonderland Online team is very happy to announce that “Fairy’s whisper”, the new expansion for Wonderland Online, was released on November 13th. Now the complete game client and the new expansion patch are available for our players to download in preparation of the big day.

Players will be able to automatically update the game. They can also download the patch and manually update the game themselves.

WAR: Heavy Metal live event! Brief:

Prepare for the coming tank rush! Starting tomorrow, the forces of Order and Destruction in Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning will face a brand new challenge as the Heavy Metal live event blasts onto the battlefield.

During this special in-game event, which runs from November 18th until December 1st, the armies of WAR will be given orders in preparation for the arrival of two new tank classes – the Empire Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Dark Elf Black Guard. Players that successfully complete the quests associated with the Heavy Metal event will be rewarded with early access to the new careers a full week before they are available to the general public.

As part of the Heavy Metal live event, players will also have special access to Reikland Factory, a new, instanced Scenario taking place on the grounds of an Empire steam tank factory. This Scenario is available to all players and all ranks, but will only be open for battle during the live event. Soldiers are encouraged to secure the Reikland Factory for their Realm, and continue the fight across the many other battlefields of WAR during Heavy Metal.

Voyage Century: Real Battle-Siege War

Today the folks at Voyage Century are going to talk to you about Siege War.

Siege War is one of the most popular elements in Voyage Century for very good reason. First of all, it is a shining example of glory and teamwork. Players from different countries unite together to fight for honor and their own future. J Secondly, by controlling the famous ports worldwide, players not only feel a sense of achievement, but also gain a lot of benefits from these ports.

Compared with the siege wars in other MMORPGs, ours is a little more complicated but definitely more captivating. Generally speaking, the war is made up of 4 parts; war bid, war preparation, scout, and final fight. Let’s take a closer look at these 4 parts.

War Bid
The War bid is an event for players to bid for the qualifications to join a siege war, which will last until the siege war breaks out. During war bid, to win the bid, it’s very important to know all the details about other the bidders. Prepare a notebook!

War Preparation
During the war preparation phase, the attacking guild leader should claim a Depot Ship Commanding Flag from the Municipal Minister. With this their guild can place their depot ship in the high seas to offer supplies. You should know that this phase lasts for only 20 hours after the war bid has ended, and if the attacking guild hasn’t placed the depot ship after the 20 hours, then they will lose the war. After the depot ship is placed, both of the guilds have entered the scout phase.

Scout
When we look back at the history of wars, we know that nobody has ever won a war without accurate intelligence. In Voyage Century, intelligence also plays a significant role. Your guild will definitely have a better chance of winning if your spies can find out the exact location of enemies’ depot ship and main forces as soon as possible.

Final Fight
After you have a good understanding of the enemies’ situation, and have prepared all your gear, weapons, cannonballs etc… the next you need to do is to win the war. Make sure all of your men are in the most advantageous positions. Who should be responsible for attacking the emplacements? Who should be responsible for providing the war supplies? And who should be mainly responsible for the melee combat? Your men should be well organized during the war. It is time to test your leadership skills!

Tales of Pirates Review

by Rick Charbs, Onrpg writer

Tales of Pirates was released back in mid 2007 by IGG, being developed by a renown Chinese company. It has lost a great deal of popularity since then, however, due to the many new MMORPGS on the market today. The game is focused on a maritime/pirate theme ?you guessed it?, and is equipped with many rusty gameplay features. This game was also interestingly influenced by the anime “One-Piece”, which can be deducted by the various armour names in the game. ToP was also influenced by Pirates of the Caribbean, having NPC names such as “Jack Arrow” (referring to Jack Sparrow). I’m going to give you a quick rundown as to what this game has to offer, so sit tight!

General Gameplay
Well, as previously stated, you can only imagine the setting of the game based on its title… but there’s more. At character creation, you have the choice from four pre-built characters, which sadly will limit your class choices seeing as most classes are gender restricted. The magical classes are generally female, whereas the physical classes are generally male. You may also choose from three starting areas that all offer a unique experience in the game. The choice you make will usually depend on the class you want to be. Once you are set to play the game, you will notice its resemblance to Water Margin, Ragnarok Online, Trickster, and many other games. Personally speaking, it didn’t amount to any of those previously mentioned, but they resembled each other nonetheless. Features include: a standard point and click movement, basically hidden turn based attacking with a good array of skills, interesting equipment, somewhat humorous story-line, ship navigating, and much more.
Ship navigating is just about their only truly unique feature, but it has been topped in newer MMOs. However, for a 2.5D game of this style, it’s still pretty enjoyable. You may buy ships from various towns to use for battle or for commerce. Guild Wars can be quite interesting in the ocean! Sadly, the system is still considered underdeveloped.

On another note, ToP actually introduces some unique classes, and the dungeons are actually fun to explore through. There is a lot of cooperation within the class types and this is shown through the many difficult end-game dungeons. Notably, there are three special high-content dungeons in the game, called mazes. Mazes are built for many parties to venture in at once, sort of like an instance, only with less quality. I still enjoyed the feature myself; although it wasn’t too special in my eyes seeing as the game is way outdated. Otherwise, in-game, you’re basically doing the same quests/grind pattern with a short twist (being the ships), and the odd navigation system. Despite the fact that it gets me lost most of the time. However, you must keep the age of the game into consideration, as most of its features were quite new at the time, and many games have just picked from them and evolved them into something much more. From a classic gamers’ point of view, it isn’t so bad. These could easily be updated though, and as far as I know they are still working on expansions for the game. There are frequent item updates.

Graphics and Sound
Both the graphics and sound of this title are quite outdated. This is to be expected though, as this game was developed much before 2006. That being said, they are not too horrible. However, the interface and chat font are both a major strain on the eyes. I can hardly stand staring at them for a minute at a time… it’s obnoxious. There is no excuse for these sorts of things either, as they are easily updatable, and I’ve read many complaints on the matter. It’s about time something is done about it. As for the sound, there isn’t too much quality involved, as the sounds are terribly basic and not necessarily appealing. I can’t generalise on the subject, but let’s just say I wasn’t so impressed. The background music was either really repetitive, or really prolonged. Needless to say, I did not leave it on. Some of the dungeons had relatively acceptable music though, and some navigation sounds are alright.

Personal Recommendation
Tales of Pirates was an unexpected experience for me. I was awaiting a clone MMO, because the entire array of features and graphics look directly ripped from other games, although the game had some unique quality to it. The gameplay value remained, aside from the fact that it can be very easily judged (as I had done myself). The core features I enjoyed in this game were the unique humorous attempt in most dialogue, the somewhat unique character classes, the interesting navigation system, and the classic gameplay style. Things I would most certainly pass on, however, were the sounds in the game, the high level of grind and lag, the horrifying camera angle, the minuscule and awkward font, and the user interface. Otherwise, the features were decent for this type of game, and this is why the community is still striving. Believe it or not: people still play this game; a lot of people, in fact. I don’t believe I will come back to the game, but that is only because there are so many other refined games to fulfill my gaming needs. I’m afraid to say that this one is behind the times. IGG however, didn’t so such a bad job on the title. There is a lot of ongoing advertisement and promotion for the game, so that’s a good sign. Their cash shop isn’t too appealing though, but it’s about the only way to really customize your character. That’s a bummer! I kindly recommend this game to all pirate fans out there, but I warn you once again: you may get annoyed by the UI!

Pros
-Interesting navigation system
-Classic game style
-Neat community
-Unique character classes

Cons
-Obnoxious font and UI
-Bothersome camera angle, with no adjustment possible
-Low customization if not using item mall
-Gender restricted classes for the most part

Asheron’s Call Review

by Vincent Haoson, Onrpg writer

It is a rare sight to find a pay-to-play MMO that was released in the 90’s enjoying a thriving and active fanbase up to now. I can think of a few games that have achieved such a feat but Turbine’s Asheron’s Call (AC) is the one on top of the list.

Why? AC has shown that even a 90’s MMO can still go toe-to-toe in the market with the release of its 100th content update last August, an accomplishment that is exceptional in today’s MMO trend.

What is Asheron’s Call?
In Asheron’s Call, you get to choose between four of the human races found in Dereth, the Aluvians, Gharu’ndim, Sho and the recently added Vilamontians. You can then choose from a standard set of job classes of either the magic, the projectile types: the bowhunter, life caster or war mage, or the melee character types: the wayfarer, soldier or the swashbuckler. If you don’t want to have a pre-determined job class, you can go for the customize option.

The stat allocation for characters is as linear as it can get. Unlike in some games where mixing some stats can get you certain bonuses. In AC, what stat you raise is what attribute you upgrade. After choosing your job and the stats you want to upgrade, you can then allocate the skills your character would have. The skill point allocation in AC is not as diverse like some MMO’s. The stat allocation is so simple you wouldn’t need to waste too much time in trying to figure it out.

After choosing your character skills, you then decide the city where you want to start in. New players won’t have to worry too much about their starting location because the cities would only be important in later levels.

After choosing the race, job, stats, skill and city for your character, you then choose the appearance of your character. The appearance in AC is where things go downhill, the graphics of the game is dated, and its sprites are composed of blocks. At first glance, you would find it hard to distinguish the difference between the male and the female characters. The design of the clothes lack the intricacies that even free-to-play games have, the color is dull and monotonous making the game atmosphere dreary which I think Turbine was opting for.

The dreary colors and blocky graphics are not just seen in the AC’s character creation. Monster and NPCs all follow the blocky graphics the AC engine uses. The color scheme is almost the same wherever you go, and it gives the “old feel” to the game.

Another issue is the way the controls feel, you would need to use the w, a, s, d buttons to make your characters move. The camera view is controlled by the mouse. You can also press the spacebar to make a jump. This wouldn’t be such a problem if the camera was helpful. There are times when you are moving that your camera would go at odd angles hindering your line of sight. It gets tiring especially to keep on pressing the zero button to center the camera view.

AC’s battle system is another issue. Unlike most games where you can immediately attack a monster, you need to toggle on the battle system in AC. This is a problem for new players especially if they are facing an aggressive monster. It’s tricky to toggle the aggressive and passive mode especially if you are preoccupied with something. This type of battle system slows your response time to monster attacks giving new players an irritating gaming experience.

More than Meets the Eye
The game hasn’t thrived for almost a decade on graphics and gameplay alone. AC is more famous for it’s engaging storyline and the uniqueness it offers to the whole MMO industry. AC is a rare MMO where the characters and monsters are not from any pre-existing monster lore. You can see monsters in AC that are exclusively for the game.

And then there is the society system that is exclusive for AC. You can choose between three factions that are available in the game, the Celestial Hand, the Eldrych Web and the Radiant Blood. Upon registration on the society, you need to accomplish tasks and quests that are exclusively for the society you chose, and on its completion you get to be rewarded handsomely.

The society system is also important in the PvP land control that happens in AC. There are three towns in Dereth that your society can control. If you gain a town, you can have access to the highly coveted black market.

The black market is a special market that is only available for acquired towns. They sell uncommon materials, items and equipment that is not usually sold in town NPCs.

Another unique system in AC is the allegiance system. This is where you can pay homage and loyalty to one lord and the lord would get some of the experience points you have earned. In exchange your lord may provide you items, equipment and money that you need. The trouble is, whatever compensation your lord will give to you is highly dependent on what he has, or what you two have agreed upon.

This system is troublesome and could in fact be a problem if your lord would abuse his position. That is why having a lord in AC is a high-risk maneuver that is why I suggest you take it at your own risk.

I mustn’t forget the most important aspect of AC, the community. AC has a thriving and active in-game community, I think that this is the reason why AC has stayed for so long. Players are connected one way or another. Players in AC are helpful and some would even teach you along the way. This kind of a bustling community is hard to find in other MMOs nowadays.

Conclusion
Over all Asheron’s Call is disappointing in the aesthetics department, with the dated and blocky graphics to the irritating camera angles and controls, new players need a whole lot of convincing to spend their money to play the game.

Turbine has successfully kept its long time players with the constant monthly content update. The vibrant and welcoming community is also another thing to consider in AC. The question remains though is that will it be enough to make you spend your money to get a monthly subscription for it? That answer is for you to decide.

Pros:
– Lively in-game community
– Monthly content updates that livens the game
– Engaging and evolving storyline

Cons:
– Blocky and dated graphics
– Irritating camera angles
– Battle system needs some time to get used to
– Controls needs some time to get used to

Angels Online: New Expansion Scene Overview-Puqi Village

In the southwest part of Cherry Village, there is an entrance to the Lost Atlantis, the new expansion for Angels Online. Players will arrive at the ancient Puqi Village after they pass through the entrance. Today, the Angels Online team is giving a brief introduction about Puqi Village, which is a fort for both the Angels and the Devils.

Puqi Village is located to the northeast of the new city “Palm Base”. It’s surrounded by green trees and refreshing sea breeze blows gently. To the south players can go to Golden Beach and to the north, the endless Atlantis Ocean stretches out before them.
As the first station after players enter the new expansion, Puqi Village is fully equipped for their needs. Tropical thatched cottages can be found everywhere here. Players will be attracted by the amazing scenery if they are here for the first time. It is an ideal place for dates because of the endless stretch of perfect beach and the beautiful sunsets. What’s more, there is a Cafe near the sea. The hot waitress Teny is always ready to offer players excellent service. Players can enjoy the peace and invite their friends to hold a sunshine party here.

Players may meet an NPC called Flora here. She likes to collect various flower seeds from around Eden. It is the beginning of the quest, “Flora’s Wish” in Angels Online.

In the southernmost part of the coastline, the experienced diver, Veifu, always awaits Angels at the entrance to the deep sea. Only after learning skills from Veifu can players find out how to dive into the deep sea.

Although the business in the most famous bar here has gotten better and better, the boss is still depressed recently because crab meat is in high demand. If players can do him a favor, they may obtain abundant rewards from this generous businessman.
Due to its special geographic location, Puqi Village is busy all the time. A smart businessman, Mr. Howsufa has opened a craftwork shop here. It is said that he would like to recruit someone to help him collect fancy craftworks. Production players may obtain a surprise from him if they can help him out.

GodsWar Online: Alpha Test Starting

IGG is aware that many gamers are eager for the GodsWar Online Alpha Test to begin. They are happy to announce that the Alpha Test will launch the server at 8:00pm November 18th EST (GMT-5)! Remember, the game client has been released on November 15th, so download early and beat the rush!

GodsWar Online is the first fully IGG designed and produced 3D MMORPG. Based on Greek Mythology, it is centered on the era of Greek Gods and Demigods. Thus, many Gods and heroes of that age will turn up in the game. The developers have been hard at work for more than year and their efforts have really paid off. GWO will offer players many distinct systems, including the unique class system, refining system, faction system and quest system. Furthermore, the charming game scenery, free character growth and amazing battles will get players deeply involved in a wonderful gaming community they will grow to care a lot about.

Zu Online: New Enchanting and Gear Star Level System

With the release of the new Enchanting feature in Zu Online, players can use it to improve their equipment. The monsters will drop Spars, Attacking Spars, Defensive Spars and other items used for enchanting equipment.

Intro to Enchanting interface

There are 3 slots on the Enchanting interface. They are the target equipment slot, Spar slot and Enchanting preview slot.

1. Equipment

2. Spars: There are Attacking Spars and Defensive Spars of different quality. Spars of different quality are used in enchanting equipment of different levels. (For example, Attacking Spars are used for enchanting level 1-3 equipment. Medium Attacking Spars are used for enchanting level 4-6 equipment. Greater Attacking Spars are used for enchanting level 7-9 equipment.)

3. Enchanting: The amount of Spars used in the Enchanting determines the star level of the equipment when it is enchanted successfully. Players may preview the Enchanting effects

Enchanting Rules

Enchanting can only change the basic numerical value of the equipment’s damage or defense but not affect the other equipment attributes.

Equipment will not yield Stones (Stone I, II, III…) again but will yield Spars when disenchanted. The number of Spars gained from a piece of equipment is equal to the numerical number of the equipment rank.

Differences between Enchanting and Refining

Refining: Refining works at creating equipment or changing the special attributes of equipment. For example, players may add Fire attributes to equipment using the Refining function.

Enchanting: Enchanting works at increasing the equipment’s damage or defense. Please remember that the success rate of Enchanting decreases as the equipment rank increases and the rank reduction for a failed Enchanting increases as equipment rank increases.

Aion: The Tower of Eternity Breaking Beta Test Records in Korea

One of the most highly anticipated massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, Aion®: The Tower of Eternity from NCsoft®, is already showing signs of reaching hit status in only a matter of days since open beta testing kicked off earlier this week. Aion is scheduled to launch in Korea within the year and launches in China, North America, Europe and Japan are planned for 2009.

Since Tuesday’s launch of open beta testing in Korea, concurrent user numbers have already jumped to more than 170,000 players, making it the most popular beta event in Korean history. According to NCsoft officials, more than 11,000 people were logged into the game after only two minutes of open beta service. In less than an hour, that number had ballooned to 40,000. Currently the number of concurrent players has leapt up to more than 170,000.

To meet the unprecedented demand by gamers, NCsoft rapidly expanded to 25 servers over the first few hours of opening the beta. Even with the increased number of servers, tens of thousands of people were waiting to enter the game. By the second day of open beta, the game reached the top spot in Korea’s Gametrics web site that rates games that are played in Korea’s PC Café industry.

Aion is an epic fantasy MMO that combines an eastern-style focus on visuals and design with western action-oriented gameplay. In Aion, players must fight to save a beautiful and vibrant world ripped asunder by a celestial war; during their adventures, players will ascend to divinity and earn the ability to fly. Flight adds a fun and strategic dimension to the gameplay of Aion and is integral to combat, exploration, harvesting and more.

“The response we’re seeing in Korea is incredibly exciting,” said David Reid, president of publishing for NCsoft West in Seattle. “Our Aion community in North America and Europe is also rapidly growing. We’ve got aggressive plans for the western launch in 2009”.