Monthly Archives: July 2009

The 4th Coming Review: Story Based Diablo Lookalike

By Kei Beneza (Dividelife), Onrpg writer

The 4th Coming is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) with a great graphic capability which matches that of the early releases of the Diablo franchise. The game respects the isometric D bird’s eye view that vintage players love. The system is entirely Diablo-like, with a seemingly MMO-style HUD that still pretty much resembles the old action RPGs from the 90s. The characters look pretty much detailed since there’s not much to render. The visuals however, are still quite appealing even to this day (I mean come on, who could ever resist the Diablo-like visuals?).

The game revolves around a particular storyline that is set in the medieval fantasy world. The elves who used to run the world during the infancies of mankind fell into their impending doom after deliberately disobeying the warning of the harbinger. Now this is pretty natural for these types of stories, but it still works for me.

Familiarity

Aside from the medieval interface, the inventory system looks the same as the vintage Diablo games where items take space using squares depending on how big they are compared to the other items in your inventory. Even the character sheet looks have the castle wall-type texture that pretty much covers your stats and experience bars. Other familiar items like scrolls, keys and charms can also be found in the game. It goes to show how well loved the system is, and that another game that shares the same concept is still overly welcome.

The 4th Coming

Not so Diablo after all- The game’s brilliant trademark.

What makes The 4th Coming special would be the lack of the character class option (but yes… it’s not a bad thing). Players will all start out as regular characters who must then be molded into specific classes. This is done through your stat build, where you have to carefully assign points in order for them to wear your desired armor, weapon, and other gears. Spells work the same way since it’d probably be silly to see a strength based fighter cast fireballs (that’s just weird). This feature is quite amazing since the essence of character creation has once again been exercised. It’s not every day that you get to mold a character into your desired class instead of molding them into their class’ ideal build. This may even promote character uniqueness in the process. If your ideal character class doesn’t exist, then go make one. 

The game has an entire library of spells that will surely satisfy your thirst of knowledge. From fire balls to boulder storms, I’d say it’s more than enough for everyone. The spell detail is still pretty jagged due to the old graphic system but hey, if it looked good in Diablo then it’ll probably rock more now that the old system has been exercised further.

Round one…. FIGHT! HEEHEE I’m not on the PVP server

The game has two types of servers namely: PVP and PVE. It’s rather mandatory for MMOs to have these servers these days, especially since not everyone are Care Bears (non-PVP types). Level whoring (taking advantage of low levels) however has become quite an issue in the game. Some people are no longer able to leave town due to raiders who end up killing them, thus spoiling the fun. PVE servers however are always up and running so you don’t really have to go hardcore just yet.

Truly Story Based

We can’t deny the fact that digital storytelling is the best way to get into the game. The in game quests are quite superb due to its Diablo-like feel. Quests that make you open chests and gather treasures really removes the linearity of having to finish quests that make you kill different monsters. I would say that these quests serve as a break from other MMO quests that go like “Hey man… I need you to kill 100 skeleton archers. And by the way, I’ll give you low experience when you get back because you probably leveled up by then.”.

Visuals

The map is absolutely huge and can be viewed using the map tab. Each area has been emphasized to carry out its own unique look. It’s quite evident that a certain change of scenery often appeals to MMO players worldwide, and this game respects that. The characters look pretty solid even for 2d models. I cant say that 3d models are better since 2d and 3d belong in different categories. Though I could say that for a 2d game, the visuals are quite decent.

The spells and effects look flashy, with cool lighting effects that is more than a match for Diablo’s spell benchmark. It gets a bit crowded on the screen especially when monsters start spawning everywhere. Luckily the game doesn’t take much from your PC, meaning the bombardment of monsters would rarely affect your game’s performance in frame-rate. The monsters aren’t that bad as well. In case you want to know though, the game has more than a hundred monsters waiting for you to slaughter. Equipments may sometimes look the same with slight differences in color, but since we didn’t complain 10 years ago then I don’t think we’ll be complaining anytime soon. 

4th Coming

Boosh! Bash! Ten tennn tennnnnnnnnn- Sounds

The game does have a couple of epic tracks, though most of the game is enshrouded with silence. Silence pretty much boosts the game’s ability to bring about certain emotions that a player would most likely expect from a game like this. Silence was never a good thing but it pretty much works for this game (no really). The SFX (sound effects) resembles the early Diablo games as well. Kind of like the sounds you used to enjoy back then during the 32 bit games (which is still quite acceptable in this era). Random grunts and shouts also come out upon entering a series of combat actions. The sounds blend perfectly altogether. Despite the fossilized engines, everything managed to push through regardless of age.

The verdict

It was based on a classic, and now it actually is one. This is probably not the best game today, but I bet it catered a lot of its MMO goodness back then during its time. The MMO must be that good to have lasted this long. If you still can’t get over the fact that Diablo 2 had to end, then you’d probably want to take a shot at The 4th Coming. Worth playing? YYYYYEPP!

 

The Good:
– Character creation was great
– Retains the traditional 2d birds-eye-view effect
– Stunning spell details.

The Bad:
– Sounds perhaps
– The character creation method isn’t for everyone since most people want premade classes
– Graphics are pretty old compared to the most up to date games.

GodsWar Developer Journal

The Road to Creating Instance
Setting foot on the sandy shore of the infamous isle, your teammates were tensed for battle. After a short distance, monsters rose to challenge you, and after a brief struggle, your party was wiped out. ‘The legends were true…’ was your last gasp. Even those that make it to Medusa’s lair will be shocked to see some of their best spells and strategies don’t work. You may wonder – who could have conceived of such a creature? Today, the GodsWar Online developers will be revealing what kinds of demented ideas they were considering during the design process of this venomous instance.
Making Medusa
Recreating a mythical creature of her status was difficult to be sure. Medusa is not some no-name deity, she’s about as famous as you can get, so we faced two challenges – first how do we put our stamp on this creature so that it fit in our game, and would it live up to player expectations? We found some original artwork and monster pattern designs and then turned it over to our graphic designers for inspiration. The first design was fairly realisitic, which was ironic because it’s exactly what we asked for but not even close to what we wanted. Far too much detail was included, and it almost seemed to be ready to jump out of the screen and eat Sigourney Weaver.
We wanted Medusa to be able to slither right into the style of graphics we had already established in our game. We gave the designers a few specifics and let them work out the rest – green hair, and a mermaid shape with a snake instead of the fish. When they came back this time we were impressed. It was even better than we expected.
 
The Next Step
With graphics resolved we planned how we would breathe life into her. It took us some time but we needed to make her seem like the deific creature she was. Clever, cruel, she would have no doubt have expected enemies to use magic against her, after all, she wielded powerful spells of her own. So we intengrated magic resistances that would render certain spells ineffective. Teamwork and proper tactics, not brute force, would be needed to defeat her. A dull and disorganized team would never win. 
Creating strong bosses is not especially difficult, the hard part is maintaining the balance between imposing and overpowering, and I think we hit the mark with Medusa. In testing it was fun to go up against a legend from my schoolbooks, fight a tough battle, and prevail.
Future plans
Medusa’s island has been geared more towards advanced players, and is not a newbie friendly instance – but we haven’t forgotten about our lower level players. In coming instances we will have some special places for these players to explore. Teamwork will play a key role in all instances, and along the way you may harvest exp, treasure, and even some new friends.

Wolfteam Begins Open Beta

Aeria Games has announced the start of Open Beta for the free to play First-Person Shooter (FPS) game Wolf Team.  In addition to this, Aeria is kicking things off with a “Monstrous Contest” where featuring $1000 worth of prizes being offered to players who participate.
 
Wolf Team is a fast-paced FPS MMO that features the ability for players to transform between playing as a human or as a werewolf.  Humans have an assortment of weapons available while in Wolf form players have the advantage of strength and speed.  There are seven different game modes and 15 different maps players can play in with up to 16 players at a time.
 
The “Monstrous Contest” being held during the Open Beta will award 100 players with 1000 Aeria Points (valued at $10 US) for reaching the rank of Sergeant First Class.   To qualify players must follow instructions provided by Aeria Games.

Runes Of Magic Goes Dutch

Runes of Magic continues its European success – with an exclusive marketing partnership, the massively multiplayer games publisher UnitedGames Nederland BV will offer its customer base and expertise in Belgium and Holland for Runes of Magic. The Amsterdam-based company has a portfolio of 20 games and 17 million players.
 
In addition to marketing, UnitedGames will also be responsible for localisation, website content and community management for the game. In just ten months since it was first announced, Runes of Magic has already attracted 1.5 million players. A Dutch language website and Dutch community management will soon be online. There will also be a Dutch-Belgian server launching 22 July running in English. Decisions regarding the translation of the game will be made before the end of the year.
 
“Runes of Magic has already enjoyed overwhelming success in the MMOG market. We are very pleased to be able to take part in this and be able to celebrate with this unusually high quality title, outstanding marketing successes within the Dutch and Belgian market,” announced Camiel Kraan, Chief Commercial Officer of UnitedGames.
 
“Holland and Belgium represent important milestones in our rollout strategy. With UnitedGames, we have found the right partner to take Runes of Magic right to the top in the Dutch-Flemish language territory as well,” commented a convinced Rolf Klöppel, Head of Marketing & PR at Frogster. 
 
About UnitedGames
UnitedGames is a leading developer and publisher of massively multiplayer games in Europe. It’s players come from 178 different countries. 12 million players are older and 5 million are younger than 16 years old. The company currently markets its games in 26 countries, while it has local services and offices in 8 European countries. Today UnitedGames owns a portfolio of more than 20 games.

Empire Craft

Empire Craft is a browser-based game (Web-game) with RPG and business strategy, players can start the game immediately without installing any client or plug-ins. And even there is no requirement for the operating platform. With a computer connecting to internet, players can start the game on browser easily.
Empire Craft has the outstanding game system, including creature killing, player competing, chatting, city managing, battling, campaign, task, instance zone, worldwide incident, equipment, skill, team playing, friend, union, property, goods, and market etc.
 
1. Detailed and Complete War System
2. Unique hero cultivation
3. Various Goods and Treasure
4. Free of charge

Second Life Review: Who Says You Live Only Once?

By Jason Gallienne (Jrgsubzero), Onrpg writer

Before you begin to read this review I’d like you to drop any pre-conceived notions you have about this world. The media is usually never kind to this game.

Mature Content

This game is suited for the 18+ audience. If you are not of this age please visit  http://teen.secondlife.com/. You may still refer to this review as I believe both versions are exactly the same but the teen version restricts content.

Another notice. If you are of age to play this but do not wish to see mature content you can filter it out with the appropriate buttons when you are searching places, people, groups, etc. Treat this like google when you search places. If mature content is enabled then you might get more than just what you wanted when you search “Club”.

What do you mean I don’t gain levels?

First, let’s talk about the Game-play. This is a very hard topic to explain as what you do in SL depends entirely on you. If you want to shoot zombies, you can. If you want to go to a club and dance your heart out, you can. Explore haunted houses, watch a movie, ride a rollercoaster, you can! The game is basically one giant sand-box. Meaning, everything in the game is made, coded, and ran by players (except the game itself of course).

Keep in mind that this game is aimless. There is no set goal for you to achieve here but much fun to be had. To go along with this the world isn’t connected. Instead of being on one giant land mass you’re divided into regions called “Sims”. Each Sim is different and its contents are based on who owns it.

Confused? Well, let me try to explain it. There’s a button called “Build” that lets you start creating (you can’t build in most places as to avoid a spam of objects, press ctrl+F, click the places tab, and type in sand-box. Find one you like and teleport there. These are the designated building sites).

So, when this build menu comes up you can choose shapes and if you click the ground it creates itself there. Now, if you right-click whatever shape you made you can edit it in many different ways. But if you click the content tab you will notice you can put or make scripts in there to make it to a wide array of things. You’re probably thinking, “Hey, if all I have are these shapes then everything in this game must be all blocky!” Don’t fret, I’ll discuss that when we get to the graphics section. Also, since you can build anything you can also look like anything. The customization on here is endless, you can even be Sonic the Hedgehog!

To continue, you can build anything your little heart desires and then script it to make that creation do what you program it to. But you don’t have to choose that path. You are more than welcome to enjoy other people’s creations and worlds. As I mentioned earlier, you can press Ctrl+F to search places you want to go. Some examples would be Amusement parks, Clubs, Combat, Racing, etc. There are many things to play and explore, you just have to find them.

Varying detail

The graphics in this game differ depending on who made what. This is difficult to explain in words, so here’s some examples. A perfect example of how these shapes can turn into wonderful creations is by looking at the screenshot with the cat in it. Also, this game can be a computer hog and you may lag depending on where you go.

Some places may look like this.

Second Life Snapshot

Others like this:

Second Life Adventure

SL Classic

And here’s an example of a high-quality Avatar.

High Quality Avatar

The people you will meet

The majority of the people in this world are very nice and will offer to help you if you’re new. Granted, every place has it’s own share of misfits and hooligans. People look very different from one another and can be many things, so you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But by all means, if you see a walking male genitalia then you can assume what you will of that person.

As with most games there is a forum so you can talk to your fellow Second Lifers out of world. In-world, you have basic chat options akin to most games like the friend list, instant messaging, etc. You can also create or join groups. This are like “guilds” as it has it’s own chat-room and online list.  As of now, you can belong to a maximum of 25 groups. An interesting feature though is the voice chat. If you have it enabled you can talk to and hear to those around you. To add a touch of realism the voices will become fainter as you move away. (There’s an option for this to be triggered by your avatars location or the cameras.)You can also voice chat with your groups but this will disconnect you from the world’s voice chat.

I highly advise you find a friend who plays or make one in-world. Since this game is aimless, you can get lost and frustrated very easily. I have seen many people quit right after logging in because they didn’t know what to do but when I offered to help them and show them the ropes they changed their mind about the world.

Rags to riches?

The economy is based upon real-life cash. As it is right now, 1000 Lindens (L) is around $4 USD. It’s cheaper on http://www.xstreetsl.com though.  The value of that 1000 depends on the person though, if you want to save up and buy something that costs 20,000, you can. If you want to buy nice things that cost 1000 each that’s fine as well. Now, this goes in reverse as well. You can turn your Lindens into real cash if you wish.

There are some ways to make money without giving them a credit card. That is by Camping (People pay you to sit on a chair. You get money per time spent there. For example, 2L per ten minutes), Building and selling your creations, scripting and selling those, getting a job (Security, Djing, Host, Greeter, just take a look for people hiring), and many other things but these are the basics.

Now, not everything in the game costs money. Most activities are free (who would charge you to dance at their club?) and some things for your avatar (hair, clothes, etc.) are free. Those types of apparel are called freebies and can be searched in the places tab. Also, if you go to http://www.xstreetsl.com/ you can search for what you want and then click the prices column. This will order it from cheapest to most expensive and there are often many items costing $0L on there. You won’t find everything in-world but it sure beats drudging through a large place filled with them, especially if your computer can’t handle that many things on-screen at one time, plus you can look decent with just freebies so don’t worry!

Time to go already?

Overall, this will be nothing like you’ve ever played before. Heck, most people will debate whether or not this is a game. If you’re looking to level up and PVP you won’t find that here (Well, there is a RPG place where you can do this but it won’t live up to the real ones).  But if you’re looking for a wide variety of things to do, want to meet new people, have a creative side, crave exploration, or want to try making a business and make real life cash then this game is worth at least one play-through.

Pros:
– Very different from most games on the market (Generic grinders)
– A world you can help make

Cons:
– Extremely confusing for new players.
– Unless you learn a trade the quickest way to earn money is by paying cash.

Pangya Season 4 Launches Today

Ntreev USA announced today that Season 4 of its popular online casual golf game, Pangya, is now available. With Season 4 now live, gamers can look forward to a great deal of new gameplay content including a self design feature, new characters, new custom items and options and much more.  Pangya can be downloaded for free.
“We are thrilled that all of our North American fans who have been playing Pangya this spring can now jump into our Season 4, just in time for summer,” said Chris Lee, CEO at Ntreev USA. “We have been eagerly awaiting this day so players could experience for themselves the fantastic new content and special items they can now enjoy.”
One new offering in Pangya’s Season 4 includes an all-new Self Design Feature where players can totally custom create a character’s outfit from head to toe.  Players can choose from different pieces of clothing to make up an outfit and then can decorate the clothing with their own artistic flair.  In addition, players will be introduced to new character Lucia, a pop-star, already widely known in Asia.
Ntreev has also added a new security feature that includes an in-game safe for players to keep all their purchased items.  By putting their items in the new safe, players will not have to worry about hacking or loss of their valuable items. In addition, players can create custom items and give them as gifts to other players, and the gift will be embossed with the player’s name when it is delivered.
Pangya is a casual golf game that takes the difficult rules of golf and transforms it into an easy to pick-up -and-play casual golf experience that a player of any skill level can enjoy. Featuring simple and intuitive controls, Pangya allows anyone to easily play with other gamers and unlike other online games; players in Pangya are friends, not enemies! Players will be taken to 14 breath-taking locations where they can choose one of 8 unique playable characters.
Pangya offers players an extensive customization experience with thousands of possible combinations of costumes, accessories, equipment, golf clubs, power boosts and more that help them to become a pro out on the green.

gPotato, the Race to 5 Million Users!

Gala-Net, Inc.’s game portal, gPotato, is quickly coming up on their 5 Millionth user. With a little over 3 years under its belt, the gPotato Game Portal has launched a total of six successful titles; amassing a community of 5,000,000 online game enthusiasts in the North American market.
To celebrate this landmark, gPotato plans on providing its 5 Millionth user with a year’s worth of free gPotatoes (the portal currency). In addition to being showered in gPotatoes, the 5 Millionth user will receive endless game swag from all game titles in the gPotato portal, ranging from iPods, posters, down to everyday items like pens and mouse pads. A little thank you for from everyone on the gPotato team!
Gala-Net launched the gPotato Gaming Portal in the U.S. at the end of 2005, with its flagship title, FlyFF (Fly For Fun).  As Flyff continues to soar in the MMO space, gPotato built its portal with games of varying features and attributes appealing to different types of gamers within the community. Rappelz draws in older male gamers with its hard core features, while Luna’s cutesy art style and social features draws in a more balanced female audience. And while gPotato’s main focus is MMO games, its consortium includes the fun and casual racing adventure game, Tales Runner, and the high octane combat thrill ride in Upshift StrikeRacer. With the success of its diverse portfolio, Gala-Net expects the gPotato Game Portal to continue to grow exponentially in the coming years.
“I am excited that our community has grown so quickly in such a short period of time. The 5 Millionth user marks a major milestone for us. As gPotato continues to grow, we are able to further our goal of providing quality entertaining games to gamers in the North American market. With 2 new blockbusters, Allods and Aika, set to launch by end of this year-we anticipate the gPotato Game Portal to explode in 2010!” Jikhan Jung, CEO

GodsWar Online: Upgraded Pet system

Several weeks ago, GodsWar development team has released a wonderful Dev Journal on the unique pet system. But with the release of the new version, pets are going to own many new powers. Well, take a look at today’s press release.
Pet Stats in GodsWar:
Level: With this, pets will get an extra ability upgrade.
Rank: Reflects the pet’s stand or fall. As the rank increases, the pets skill will obtain more bonuses.
Savvy: There are 6 savvy values, Agility, Strength, Accuracy, Technique, Wisdom, and Lucky Degree.
Growth: As soon as pets are born, they will have special stats. The higher the growth value, the higher the abilities the pet will obtain when upgrading.
Genius: Pets with genius have some really unique powers.
Skill: This pet skill will enable you to get extra bonuses.
Special Genius: Pet and Character’s Combination
This is the special genius of the pets. If players have this kind of pet, they can combine the character with their pet. In this combined state, their abilities will be enhanced quickly. Also they will have a beautiful appearance and special effects.
Genius: Recover Automatically
Each pet has the duty to protect the character. It will recover HP and MP of the character when they are consumed. The higher the level of the pet and the character, the more HP and MP will be recovered.
Genius: Work
Do pets get lazy? Possibly, but if you notice your pet hasn’t been doing their fair share of the heavy lifting, then you can ask them to do some jobs just by spending some silver coins or Gold. Also pets with genius can be sent out to do some work. Even players who are Offline can also obtain a lot of EXP and Talent points easily during the pets working time.
Genius: Send Quest
Players will find the Send Quest button below the quest menu (shortcut Q). Send the pet to do quests and then get the rewards directly. After the quests are completed, the pets will come back to their host.
Function: Soul Contract
Players can sign a Soul Contract with their pet which will enhance their pet’s ability fast. Signing the contract means the pet will belong to players all the time, and it is untradeable.
Function: Aggregate
Aggregate requires players to have a major pet and a deputy. Sacrifice the deputy to enhance the major pet’s savvy.
Function: Reincarnation
If pets level up to the upper limit, players can reincarnate them to increase their growth. But, after reincarnation, pets will return to a Level 1 baby pet.