Yearly Archives: 2008

Wonderland Online Review

Written by Kelvin Cheung

There are many types of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) out on the Internet. However, IGG (Internet Gaming Gate), the corporation that has brought us Zu Online, Angels Online, and Tales of Pirates, has done something different in appealing the MMORPG market.  Wonderland Online is a new game with an innovative battle system, a captivating story, and an abundance of side quests and crafting that can be done.

A big change from most traditional MMORPGs standards of today is that the game is fully two dimensional with 16-bit graphics.  Although there are games such as Ragnarok Online that are 2D, the combat system is what stands out.  Since most MMORPGs are in real-time combat, the battle system in Wonderland Online is turn-based.  To those who have never played a turn-based game, you enter a battle through a random encounter by approaching an enemy, walking around, or an event.  During battle, in the case of Wonderland Online, you have commands such as attack with an equipped weapon, use skills or items, defend from attacks, auto-attack, capture monsters, or escape from battle.  The battle system is slow and can be monotonous, but a certain item can be acquired to help you not click the same buttons.

When starting the game for the first time, you have twelve characters to choose, including one hidden character in the game, preset with their own hairstyle and body shape.  You can do different changes such as modify the skin, eye, clothing, and hair color, and select the element you want, which will determine which skills you will have, and status point distribution.

Graphically, Wonderland Online will not win any awards, but to those who have played the 16-bit game graphics genre will feel a nostalgic charm to the game.  The game is filled with anime sprites.  Sometimes there are cut scenes where a picture is shown with a detailed version of the character or the NPC (Non-playable character), which takes a break from the usual anime sprites that you see often in the game.

The music of Wonderland Online, although reminiscent to the Super Nintendo era, has some ups and downs.  Some of the background music fit with the game, such as the island setting of the game, while the other background music are not as memorable.

There are some technical issues while playing the game.  Some of these issues include translation errors, sometimes making the dialog confusing.  Sometimes, the dialog accidentally has some vulgarity issues in the conversation during an event due to mistranslation.  Aside from the translation, I noticed while in battle, when I defeat an enemy using a random tag team attack, I get two items instead of one.  Although it is nice to get two items instead of one, this bug should be noticed.

One major issue lies in the special item known as the “remote control.”  This clever item allows the players to automatically attack enemies and replenish health points and skill points.  If used correctly, a player can easily be “away from keyboard” or AFK, and gain experience and loot, items that are obtained by killing enemies.  While this item, although convenient as it is described, causes issues with gameplay.  The game is very grinding, or tedious when training, and the game requires you to actually legitimately “bot,” an automated system to attack, harvest, and/or leveling, with the remote control item, which is often looked down upon other MMORPGs.  Aside from legality issues, I have often played the game while AFK to train my character. After returning for two hours I find myself gaining only twenty percent of experience of the time leaving the computer on.

Beside from the issues, Wonderland Online’s plot is well executed.  It can be from calm to dramatic, causing a roller coaster feeling.  I found myself immersed with the story of the game because the way the story was told was spellbinding.  However, the pace of the story is slowed down if you are not at a high level.

Another plus of Wonderland Online is the crafting system.  If the players find themselves bored with the game, they can start crafting items to explore or to decorate the interior of their tents, an item that serves as a miniature house for the player.  The vastness of the game can be explored through creating vehicles such as rafts, boats, aircraft, or even UFOs.  To those who do not want to explore but want to show off their interior design, the players can also craft furniture to decorate the interior of the tents of the players.  Sadly, it comes down to whether or not the player has enough patience to sit down and get the items from the monsters killed to craft the items.

The community of Wonderland Online is very active.  Very often you will see the chat box be filled with world messages with people having conversations, thanks to the free “radio” item.  When events occur, the players will log on to participate diligently, causing the servers to flood.  Some of the events can be ingenious, such as “Kung Fu Panda,” based on the animated movie, while others can be for a good cause.  The dedication of the prayer event for the disaster of the earthquake in China shows that the players of Wonderland Online are dedicated to the game and the events outside of the game.

Lastly, the website for Wonderland Online is first-timers friendly, giving access to a variety of information.  I found myself often using the Wonderland Online website database for quests, characters, and locations, rather than having myself lost at Google.  In addition, the forum has an abundance of information from finding a certain quest item, a hidden character, or a great training area.  And should a player have technical problems, a 24/7 support is always available for needs of anyone.

Wonderland Online has some gameplay and technical issues, but the community and dedication to making this game worthwhile stands still.  I found Wonderland Online to be a different experience along with many extras to do.  This game has many hopes in becoming a standalone MMORPG.

New Dynasty, The First Expansion to Conquer 2.0

TQ’s epic MMO of Conquer Online has entered its 5th year. Our development team is devoted to constantly providing fresh and exciting gameplay experiences for all our players. Now, the first expansion to Conquer Online 2.0, New Dynasty, is revealed! In this exciting expansion, players can find many brand-new features such as:

1. New log-in interface;
2. Cool, new hairstyles;
3. A level 120 shield which warriors have waited years for, plus more equipment.
4. A brand-new character class
5. And much, much more…

We will update these new features gradually. The new interface has been introduced and we will release new hairstyles in the following week (see below for details).

We hope players can enjoy their new journeys in the New Dynasty!

New Dynasty Hairstyles
To customize your character in Conquer, we are pleased to announce the arrival of all new hair styles! 10 more brand-new hairstyles are available from the Twin City Barber!

The Barber (Twin City 412,376) will serve you at any time. A New Dynasty Hairstyle is worth 10,000 silver. You can try on every hairstyle till you are satisfied.

Nearby, the storekeeper (Twin City 415,351) sells 7 kinds of hair dyes. These dyes are cheap and will color your new hairstyle!

Fiesta Celebrates Independence Day

Independence Day is almost here, and Fiesta has one heckuva celebration planned for the big day. The game’s name does mean "party," after all.

Events include an Independence Day parade on each game server and an after-party featuring GM tax relief to help ease the strain of adventuring on players’ weary wallets.

Patriotic players planning to show off their spirit in the Independence Day parade can buy one of Fiesta’s new Independence-themed items available in the Fiesta Store on July 1st, including a red, white, and blue Liberty Hat, an Uncle Sam Pet, and of course… FIREWORKS! Fiesta players can also purchase a new mount and mini house modeled after The Statue of Liberty.

Join the party in Elderine on July 3rd, where the parade will continue to OX Field and the GMs will shower players wearing, riding, or using any Independence Day items with treasure chests.

For more information, please read GM SKiNG’s announcement in the Fiesta forums and visit the Fiesta event calendar.

Tales of Pirates : Daily 2x Exp event

Tales of Pirates (http://top.igg.com) will be holding Double Exp Events everyday in the coming week to bring more fun to its players during this summer vacation, and the events will be held on all its servers, the details time will be:
Event Duration:
From June 30th to July 5th
Monday:10:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Tuesday:3:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m.
Wednesdays:10:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Thursday:3:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m.
Friday:10:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Saturday:9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Time Zone: EDT Time GMT (-4)
For more information, please visit http://top.igg.com/info.php?articleId=1131.

New Dynasty, The First Expansion to Conquer 2.0

TQ’s epic MMO of Conquer Online has entered its 5th year. Our development team is devoted to constantly providing fresh and exciting gameplay experiences for all our players. Now, the first expansion to Conquer Online 2.0, New Dynasty, is revealed! In this exciting expansion, players can find many brand-new features such as:

1. New log-in interface;
2. Cool, new hairstyles;
3. A level 120 shield which warriors have waited years for, plus more equipment.
4. A brand-new character class
5. And much, much more…

We will update these new features gradually. The new interface has been introduced and we will release new hairstyles in the following week (see below for details).

We hope players can enjoy their new journeys in the New Dynasty!

New Dynasty Hairstyles
To customize your character in Conquer, we are pleased to announce the arrival of all new hair styles! 10 more brand-new hairstyles are available from the Twin City Barber!

The Barber (Twin City 412,376) will serve you at any time. A New Dynasty Hairstyle is worth 10,000 silver. You can try on every hairstyle till you are satisfied.

Nearby, the storekeeper (Twin City 415,351) sells 7 kinds of hair dyes. These dyes are cheap and will color your new hairstyle! Below are some samples.

Wonderland Online: Mysterious Skills & Strong Scrolls Revealed

There are four character attributes including Water, Fire, Wind and Earth in Wonderland Online (http://wl.igg.com/). These attributes restrain each other and contain special skills. In addition, mysterious skills are contained in Water, Earth and Wind. Players can learn these powerful skills once they win the required points for these skills. Today, IGG (http://www.igg.com/) will introduce these mysterious skills for players.

Earth Attribute:
Sort: Magic
Skill Name: Acrolith Attack
Required Points: INT116 WIS9
Function: Summon Aerolite to attack the target

Sort: Magic
Skill Name: Summon Mosquito
Required Points: WIS 59, CON 40, STR 1, INT 58, AGI 30
Function: Summon mosquitoes to attack the target

Wind Attribute:
Sort: Melee
Skill Name: Shadow Attack
Required Points: AGI 85
Function: Attacks the target from the back.

Sort: Melee
Skill Name: After Image Attack
Required Points: AGI 103, STR 50
Function: Moves to make an after image and attacks the target.

Sort: Melee
Skill Name: Storm Attack
Required Points: AGI 124, STR 65
Function: Attacks the target with a wind weapon.

Water Attribute:
Sort: Assistant
Skill Name: Sleep
Required Points: WIS 47, INT 2
Function: Puts the target to sleep for 2 rounds.

Sort: Assistant
Skill Name: Revival
Required Points: WIS 53, INT 1
Function: Revives one target dead player.
Sort: Assistant
Skill Name: Recover Normal
Required Points: WIS 58, INT 3
Function: Eliminates abnormal states.
Visit the official site http://wl.igg.com/news/newscontent.php?aid=571 for more information.

By the way, the Wonderland Online team has unveiling the mysteries of Strong Scrolls which can only be purchased from the Mall and guiding you through enhancements to make your weapons and armor more powerful and really improve your game playing experience. For more information about it, please visit our official site http://wl.igg.com/news/newscontent.php?aid=552.

Angels Online: New BOSS Instance Released

Angels Online team (http://ao.igg.com/ ) has released a new instance BOSS in Eden. To mark the release, players will be rewarded handsomely if they can defeat the new BOSS. AO players must first complete a series of quests before meeting the boss.

The BOSS Glutton in the Evil Kitchen plans to attack Eden. After defeating the fearsome Asmode, valiant fighters from Eden will face this tough new challenge to preserve the peace of the Angels Online world.

But the Evil Kitchen is hard to find, and many players will lose their way without help. Finding the Evil Kitchen and killing Glutton is one of the toughest challenges in Angels Online.
For more details visit http://forum.ao.igg.com/viewthread.php?tid=13973

Pandas are Cool, and World of Kung Fu Panda Costumes Rule!

[Shanghai, June 26th, 2008] – China is known around the world for its ancient culture and beautiful scenery. World of Kung Fu, the 3D MMORPG from VestGame Entertainment, is based on the martial arts and mythology of ancient China. It also incorporates some of its unique wildlife.

Kung Fu and the pandas are both part and parcel of the Chinese experience. World of Kung Fu players can now enjoy Kung Fu and pandas at the same time. The panda costume, a set of lovely clothes which makes the player look like a panda, is a highlight in the World of Kung Fu. It can be worn by players of all classes.

That means the players can become a Kung Fu Panda, which is anything but ordinary. Players wearing the panda costume look really cool when they fight. It looks great when two or more players in panda costumes get together – a regular panda convention!

Recently, our in-game helpers and guides, known as “Game Sages” held an event where they gave away panda costumes. Players were able to trade certain inventory items for the costume, which is now available in the item mall.

Players wishing to participate in similar events held by the Game Sages should check out the forums on the World of Kung Fu website for specific times. These in-game events are based on a variety of themes and activities, and are always popular with the players. The Game Sages are a helpful and enthusiastic addition to the World of Kung Fu experience.

NCsoft unleashes the Bling Gnome, a loot eating, gold pooping sidekick found exclusively in the new Dungeon Runners retail pack

The Bling Gnome has been let loose on the caves of the irreverent massively multiplayer online PC game Dungeon Runners where it will follow players around, eating item drops and converting them instantly into gold which it excretes from its enchanted bottom.

The Bling Gnome, found exclusively in the new Dungeon Runners retail pack, is a bejeweled gangster helper that will save players the tedious chore of picking up loot and taking it to a game merchant for storage or sale. Instead, the Bling Gnome has the ability to pick up most items and convert them into gold instantly in a gassy display from its rear end, no matter what game map the player is occupying.

Additionally, during a particularly flashy “swords-into-goldshares” conversion process, the Bling Gnome will produce magical droppings where players can find powerful items, along with gold. The more items a player picks up at one time, the better chance that the Bling Gnomes’ miraculous buttocks will produce an uber-item.

“Having the Bling Gnome around can be highly lucrative and useful, providing players with lots of ‘back-end’ profits,” said Stephen Nichols NCsoft’s producer and lead programmer for Dungeon Runners. “Actually, this is a pretty innovative tool for MMOGs, and we are excited about the response our players are having towards this feature. The Bling Gnome is exclusive to the new retail pack, but those who purchase that box will get a great value with 6 months membership level for the cost of four, as well as the Bling Gnome which should help any player’s ‘bottom’ dollar.”

The Dungeon Runners retail pack will be available at most North American retailers by June 26 for $19.99, and includes six months of premium membership level play. Currently, premium membership costs $4.99 per month and includes higher levels of experience, greater rewards, advertisement-free play, an exclusive server, extensive potion stacking, larger bank storage and access to the most powerful items, weapons and armor.

Additionally, the retail pack includes a client for NCsoft’s free-to-play mech PvP shooter, Exteel.

Zu Online: Newbie Guild Foundation and Summer Sale

IGG (www.igg.com) has announced a new Guild Foundation event especially for newbie players in Zu Online.

Any player above level 60 can create a guild and then recruit players below level 30. The Guild Lord will be rewarded for helping his guild members level up. Meanwhile, those who are helped by the Guild Lord will also obtain rich rewards. This event will run from June 24th to July 7th (EDT) on all servers.

To celebrate the arrival of the summer Holidays IGG are holding an event in the Item Mall, offering all of their players the chance to purchase items at super low prices. These bargains include 50% off Fortune Caskets and up to 80% of other selected items.
Check out the official site for more details: http://zu.igg.com/news/newscon.php?aid=832