Monthly Archives: June 2009

Final Fantasy XIV Announced!

Square Enix Co. announced that FINAL FANTASY XIV, an all new massively-multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG), is planned for a simultaneous global release with language support in Japanese, English, French and German.
 
During the press conference at E3, the company has announced that the game will be available for PS3 and PC and will be published in 2010. The game should return to the series’ medieval fantasy roots and will see a simultaneous worldwide release in four languages: English, Japanese, German and French.
Adventure begins anew in the vast realm of Eorzea!
 
Product Information:
 
Title: FINAL FANTASY XIV
Platforms: PLAYSTATION 3 & Windows
*Details on required PC specifications to be announced at a later date
Languages: Japanese, English, German, French (simultaneous release)
Genre: MMORPG
Release 2010
MSRP: TBD (Software & Subscription)
Rating: Pending (ESRB/PEGI/CERO)
Copyright Information: © SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

Runes of Magic takes off in Romania

There’s no stopping Runes of Magic – as a result of the sustained huge demand, Frogster has now just launched a Romanian version of the official website. It can be accessed right away by clicking on the flag icon at the upper right of the page or directly via: runesofmagic.com/ro.  The community development is being taken care of directly in the territory by the Romanian portal Computergames.ro, Frogster’s marketing partner who is responsible for the translation of the Internet presence, too. With the localized website being started, Romanian players have now a comprehensive native information source about the game world of Runes of Magic at hand. Simultaneously the Romanian forum has been started to facilitate the active communication within the community.
 
“We are in train to meet the large international interest in Runes of Magic by successively expanding its language versions. Computergames.ro is the partner with the widest reach in the Romanian market. The team has already worked successfully with other international publishers and is excellently cross-linked with the community”, comments Andreas Weidenhaupt, CEO of Frogster Online Gaming and Chief Licensing Officer of Frogster Interactive, on the start of the Romanian platform.
 
“The launch of the Romanian website for Runes of Magic is a very important event for the local MMO community”, says Silviu Stroie, General Manager at SC Computer Games Online SRL assertively. “Together with Frogster, ComputerGames.ro aims to bring this popular free-to-play MMO to tens of thousands of players and we are confident that the now localized website will be an ideal starting point for their adventures in Taborea”.

World of Kung Fu: Chinese Zodiac!

Do you know Sheng Xiao, the Chinese zodiac  Maybe it’s a fresh word in English world. But in China, everyone has Sheng Xiao as the guarding demon of themselves. When a little baby comes to this world, he will get Sheng Xiao depending on his date of birth.
In Chinese traditional culture, each year has an animal to symbolize. There are totally 12 animals as a rotation: rat, bull, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, cock, dog and pig. They are called 12 Sheng Xiao in China.
Now 12 Sheng Xiao will arrive as pets of players in World of Kung Fu, the popular MMORPG from VestGame Entertainment next week. The pets not only can pick up loots for their owner, but also bless people with nice buff.
Do you know which animal is the guarding demon of you  Here are some years related to different Sheng Xiao. Check the year you were born and get your Sheng Xiao.
Rat:  1948 1960 1972 1984 1996 2008
Bull:  1949 1961 1973 1985 1997 2009
Tiger:  1950 1962 1974 1986 1998
Rabbit :  1951 1963 1975 1987 1999
Dragon :  1952 1964 1976 1988 2000
Snake :  1953 1965 1977 1989 2001
Horse :  1954 1966 1978 1990 2002
Goat:   1955 1967 1979 1991 2003
Monkey :  1956 1968 1980 1992 2004
Cock :  1957 1969 1981 1993 2005
Dog:  1958 1970 1982 1994 2006
Pig:  1959 1971 1983 1995 2007
It will be nice to have a Sheng Xiao pet of your birthday to company you in journey. They will bring you good luck and happiness.

Conquer Online: 3 Day Meteor Shower Event

To celebrate the release of the new expansion, “Raiding Clans”, the TQ team will host a 3-day Meteor Shower event for all servers in Conquer Online!
 
From 18:00, June 5th, to 18:00, June 7th PDT, players will have a higher chance to get a Meteor by hunting the monsters in all regions.
 
Don’t miss out! Take this opportunity to gather those much needed Meteors for the Raiding Clans.

Fiesta: New Server Open

A new server has just opened in Fiesta Online, called Cypion. To celebrate the opening of this server Outspark is holding a contest called Race to 1,000,000 Spark Cash: It will start with 1 million Spark Cash being available, and diminish by 350 per hour until someone reaches level 105. That person will then receive the amount left, but the ticker will keep going down until two more people reach level 105. The Spark Cash will lock in respectively for the next two people and then the contest will end.

Stronghold Kingdoms

Live the life of a medieval lord in the world’s first castle based MMO.

Besiege the castle that’s never been taken, overthrow tyrants, bankroll your factions war effort, pillage your neighbour’s resources, peacefully raise sheep or do it all! The choice is yours in a wide ranging simulation of medieval life, played out in real time against thousands of online opponents striving for power and glory.

A unique hybrid of web and PC based gaming brings online interactivity and community together with a richly depicted medieval world of thriving villages and dramatic battles. Build a kingdom over days and weeks. A mix of real time gameplay with long term planning, bring a truly novel twist to the Strategy genre.

A huge range of stats and rankings give every player something to aim for, whether it’s ‘Besieger of the month’ or ‘Apple farmer of the day’!

Join a medieval social network! Factions and elections, liege lords and their vassals, all provide a real sense of structured community.

Whilst strong and well planned castles are at the heart of any lord’s domain, players can also specialise via a vast research tree. Starting out as a humble peasant, each promotion brings research points to spend on becoming the best in as many areas as you wish, trading, diplomacy, warfare, farming and more, as the player seeks to control the local parish, county and beyond. As their power grows, players can eventually join in a country wide war for the Crown.

Cross Fire Trailer

A trailer for the free MMO FPS Cross Fire that introduces most of the features that you can find in this very interesting game: lots of weapons, permanent stats, different game modes. Check it out!

Fairyland Review: Let Your Fairy Tale Come To Life

By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), Onrpg writer
 
Fairyland is an MMORPG from Lager Network. The game centers on the story that people nowadays are forgetting the fairy tales that we have grown to love since we were kids. Some minor stories have been finally forgotten that the citizens of this world, the world of Mysteria needed to find a way for their world to stop crumbling.
 
As a solution for their plight, the citizens of Mysteria have decided to open their doors for people so that they may believe in fairy tales once more.
 

Character Creation

The character creation in Fairyland is not that complex. You have a limited amount of choices for the look of your character which include the gender, the kind of suit your character has the skin color and you can adjust the color of your suit as you would like it to look. Character customization is minimal in Fairyland and the thing that distinguishes your character from the numerous of players out there is the color of your suits as you pass through one job class to another.
 
As you level up in Fairyland you earn stat points which you can allocate to different attributes which are: strength, agility, charm, intelligence, constitution and luck. Each attribute affects your character in a certain way like most MMORPGs which follow the same ability tree.
 

Game Features

The game has a treasure trove of features, but the thing that best defines the game is that it has a pet library that reaches into the thousands. Your character owns a pet which, when nurtured, can be part of your party and take on the numerous cute, but deadly monsters that populate Mysteria.
 
Besides owning and nurturing the pets, you can also mix and combine them to create a new and more powerful pet. This is reminiscent of the console game Monster Rancher to the consoles while it can be compared to Shin Megami Tensei Imagine for the MMO scene.
 
Aside from the humongous pet library, the game also features a marriage system, a work skill system and a very unique job class system that makes the game different from other MMOs. The job class system in Fairyland is different because before you can delve into the job class itself you need to go through the three major branches of the classes which are the Warrior class, the Diviner class and the Journeyman Class. However, before you can decide to become one of the three classes you have to reach level 10. If you are confused which path you can take in Fairyland you can become an apprentice and experience what it is like.
 
When you do become an apprentice you’ll receive the skills for that class and you can get to level it up like any normal job class. The thing is that it’s not permanent and you can switch apprenticeships. However, when you do reach the required level of your chosen job class, it will become permanent.
 

Battle System

Another defining feature in Fairyland is the RPG-ish battle system that it has. In the case of most MMOs, all you need to do is click on the monsters to start attacking them or use your special skills immediately as you see them to kill them. In fairyland there are some differences. You do not get to see the monsters you need to face until you meet them face to face. This happens after you are immediately transported into the battle instance which randomly happen as you go through the world of Mysteria.
 
When you enter this instance you then get to face the monster or monsters that you need to kill to get the instance over with. You then have a preparation stage where you can set up your battle plan and execute the attacks or skills that you want to use to eliminate the monsters you are currently facing.
 

Conclusion

Fairyland is one of those games that have a lot of potential to be a hit but it would seem that the game has lost its luster by sticking too much with the graphics engine that is already too dated in this day and age.
 
There are a lot of redeemable characteristics the game has, such as the interactivity it has with its players, the novelty of having fairy tale characters infusing themselves into an MMORPG and of course having a character that is more than just a PVE-centered avatar.
 
You have a game with a cliché of a storyline but is suitable for our day and age, a battle system reminiscent of those good ‘ol console RPGs that we so love to play and characters that are both memorable and very much part of our childhood. It would seem the game is an online version of Kingdom Hearts, minus the Disney brand.
 
The only difference between Kingdom Hearts and Fairyland is that the latter has failed to evolve visually. You have a F2P games like this that are obviously centered on today’s youth but fail to impress them due to the lack of visual “umph” which other F2Ps offer.
 
Thankfully this problem has not escaped the eyes of those who are running Fairyland, who made sure that at least they have enough content to make the people who are currently playing stay and enjoy the game. Until this moment I had not seen a game that has completely embraced its community in such a way that everything made by the community that is related to the game is showcased both in its main website and its wiki page.
 
Also, I must include that among the F2P sector, rarely have I seen a wiki page that is as informative as the one Fairyland has. It has everything about everything about the game and the only thing a person may complain about it is that the wiki page ruins the exploration and getting to know the MMORPG.
 
As I have mentioned, Fairyland has a lot of redeeming qualities that you would not find in other games, it also has the novelty value that is exclusive to Fairyland. The thing is, would you be willing enough to play a game that’s this graphically outdated? If you are willing to set aside that bias and give the game a chance then I would think that you can enjoy Fairyland to the fullest.
 
Pros
– There are a lot of things besides level grinding
– The game is easy to pick up
– The game takes to great lengths to make the players feel at home with the game
Cons
– Outdated graphics
– There are not other camera angles, this becomes problematic on fights
– The game controls feel clumsy