Yearly Archives: 2009

Silkroad: Magic Pop system

Joymax, an independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment for the global market, today announced the launch of “Magic Pop,” Silkroad Online’s new system. Adventurous, risk-taking players simply have to purchase a Magic Pop card from the Item Mall, choose the item they’d like to play for, and take a chance if they want to win big!

Players who get a winning red coupon may receive Grade-S Devil’s Spirits, Grade-B Devil’s Spirits, popular character outfits, 9th and 10th-grade Seal of Sun Weapons, or one of many other powerful items. Players with losing green coupons won’t get one of the grand prizes, but consolation prizes include additional tickets, Gold Time or Skill Gold Time Day Passes, 8th-grade Seal of Star Weapons, and more!

Lineage II The Chaotic Throne: Gracia Final

The Lineage II: Gracia Final expansion introduces a brand new continent, Gracia, and provides captivating PvE, PvP, and small group experiences.  This expansion also has a number of exciting new features, ranging from flight to inventive instances to airborne raid bosses.  Anyway you look at it the Gracia Final expansion offers an invigorating and breathtaking adventure for players.
 
The Gracia continent is a unique part of this Lineage II expansion.  Part of what makes this land so exceptional is that it allows one to explore the skies with several aerial transformations.  The Aurabird Falcon, Aurabird Owl, and Final Flying Form transformations enable players, who have met the prerequisites, to soar through the skies of Gracia, and experience PvP and PvE like they have never seen before in Lineage II.  Up in the sky await new aerial hunting grounds and monstrous raid bosses that incorporate the flying transformations and truly take Lineage II combat to new heights.
 
In addition to the continent itself, unexplored hunting grounds have been unveiled.  These zones will test your strategy, strength, and skill while battling for ownership of the Seed of Infinity and the Seed of Destruction.  The seeds are structures of a different world which were summoned by descendants of the Shilen worshippers before they were banished from Gracia.  In order to fight these worshippers, the human race has allied with the Gracia Lord to keep the worshippers from re-entering Gracia and taking control.  Overthrow enemy strongholds, take charge, and then defend strategic points so the enemy will not regain control.   These ongoing and ever-changing wars bring an invigorating breath to the PvE world of Lineage II, by banding all players together to fight for the common goal of victory.  The rewards will justify the battle, but the question is: Are you strong enough to survive?
 
What Lineage II expansion would be complete without the addition of new raid bosses?  Gracia brings new raid bosses that push players to their strategic edge by melding expert group coordination and efficient individual skill use.  Players are also invited to tempt the air again by engaging flying raid bosses over the Gracia skies.  Warm up your wings, sharpen your swords, and lift off for amazing adventures. To the victor goes the spoils of battle and the thrill of the next challenge. To the defeated, only a shallow grave awaits far below the battleground.
 
Prepare yourself to take to the air, battle for supremacy over new raid bosses, and join forces with allies against the exiled descendants of Shilen worshippers in the new battle grounds. The Gracia continent in Lineage II awaits the brave and courageous.

Luna Online: Closed beta starting on April 17th

The highly anticipated title finally hits stateside, bringing a whirlwind of innovative social features combined with solid traditional MMO features, to an already eager fan base. Luna Online, will be a fresh take on the MMORPG genre for MMO players as the game provides for extensive social systems focusing on the community. Players will connect with other players from around the world on Luna Online’s Matchmaking System, Date Instances, Family System and Guilds Alliances System.

Luna Online’s already robust community has been eagerly waiting for Closed Beta Testing to finally open its doors. On April 17th, users will be able to test out Luna Online’s multitude of exciting features.  

“We’ve been behind the scenes, in the preparation phase of Luna Online for quite some time now, it is a real pleasure to finally present our hard work and dedication to our users! With our focus squarely on the community, our users will be right at home for quite some time at Luna Online.  I’m looking forward to seeing our community’s reaction to the game.” -Elliott Coward, Producer of Luna Online.

Final Fantasy XI: A Brief History of Final Fantasy XI

By Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), Onrpg writer
What, why, when, how, where and who?  These are the fundamental questions when looking at history, and video game history is no exception.  What inspired the idea of Final Fantasy XI and who took on the challenge of conceiving and creating it?  How did this giant MMORPG get its first foot off the ground and into the door of a giant, ever expansive world?  Join us, as we take a brief look at how this game got started and how it became a legend.
 
With an emerging MMORPG market that showed the world it could certainly pack a punch (with games like Ultima Online and Everquest becoming ever popular), Hironobu Sakaguchi, the mastermind behind the Final Fantasy series, managed to convince Square to test the waters of the new genre in the year of 1999.  The developer who was given the task of creating the online world, was the team behind Chrono Cross, but of course little did they know what would lie ahead of them.
 
Final Fantasy XI is described by its producer Hiromichi Tanaka as the “most [representative] Final Fantasy of all the instalments”, strongly influenced by the early Square release Final Fantasy III, and one can easily see its influence in Final Fantasy XI.  FFXI’s first MMORPG featured a huge amount of features new to the genre, whilst building and improving on most of the staples set by other MMOs. 
 
One of the most well known features of the game is the multi lingual servers which, instead of giving each region a server, meant that players could play together from all over the world.  Not only did this create a truly worldwide community (there was a multi-lingual chat system so players with different languages could communicate with each other), but also reduced costs of the development of the game by 66%.  This did create some small problems though as Final Fantasy XI did not have a worldwide release which meant that once it was released in North America (one year after the Japanese release) most of the players had already completed the majority of the quests and the game was generally unbalanced.  To solve this problem though, Square created new servers which didn’t feature an already evolved economy and community.
 
Another feature that played heavily to Final Fantasy XI success was the ability to change class at any point during the game, by just going to see your own personal moogle (a series staple) in your home.  Unfortunately you could only create one character; you’d have to pay if you wanted to create more.  This wasn’t really much of a problem though, considering you could change your class at anytime. 
 
Whilst most MMORPGs are fairly light on storyline, FFXI was not.  The game features a deep lore and an engrossing story, with cut scenes to boot.  However, one complaint at the time was that you’d really dig your teeth in to level up and play through huge bits of the game in order to get to the next story sequence, which did of course create a hook for gamers, and meant that they had to keep on playing in order to find out what happens next in the story of Vana’diel.  The story was vast, with your character meeting many other unique characters along the way.  In short the storyline in Final Fantasy XI was epic.
 
Final Fantasy XI was directed by K?ichi Ishii, the creator of the Mana series; however Hironobu Sakaguchi and the great artist Yoshitaka Amano also contributed to the title.  Nobuo Uematsu (the composer behind the large majority of the Final Fantasy games) worked on the giant score for the game.  Naoshi Mizuta followed Uematsu’s excellent work on the original game and worked on the scores for the expansion packs. 
 
2003 saw the release of Rise of the Zilart, Final Fantasy XI first expansion in (in America and Japan) which included the level cap of 50 being lifted along with the new areas available to explore.  Final Fantasy XI finally got a release in Europe in 2004 with the inclusion of the expansion packs Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia.
 
To include all of the history of Final Fantasy XI would make this article several pages long and a tiresome read.  If you wish to find more about the history of the game, or more importantly, where the game is now, give it a whirl, as there is no better time to enter the world of Vana’diel.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief history.

Holy War

Holy-War is a free and complex browser-based role playing game! Dive into the age of the Holy War! Take on the role of a Knight as a Christian, Saracen or Pagan and conquer or defend the Holy Land!
Features
– 3 different faiths
– 7 property values
– Weapons, shields, armour, helmets, horses and elixirs
– A unique weapon for every faith
– Pursue diplomacy, form alliances
– Order battles and Holy Battles
– Warrior vs. warrior fights, plundering
– Arena and tournaments
– Marketplace, shops, mercenary market, tavern …

Jumpgate Evolution trailer

A new gameplay video for Jumpgate Evolution, a new sci-fi MMORPG which is going to be released in 2009. Jumpgate is being developed as being an accessible / intuitive game experience providing the soft comfortable learning curve of a new game along with the depth needed for hardcore gamers. Watch this video to learn more!!

Imperia Online

Imperia Online is a massively multiplayer online game, set in the times before gunpowder was invented. Powerful medieval armies are clashing on the battlefield. Wonders can be built, granting unique powers to each empire. Take the reins of rule over your village and expand it into a great and mighty empire. Make friends, join alliances and become a Sovereign of the entire medieval realm, all from the comfort of your browser or iphone.

Quake Live Preview: Guaranteed Hit

By Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), Onrpg writer
 
Ah, Quake … is there no better First Person Shooter?  There probably is, but finding one would be a very hard chore.  In essence Quake Live is basically Quake III Arena (Q3) inside your web browser.  Sound good?  Well it should do considering Q3 is a classic which was generally well received by reviewers and gamers alike.  This game is renowned for its brilliant multiplayer component and mod community.  So does this title hold up ten years down the line? 
 
The first thing you’ll notice about this game is the utterly breathtaking graphics.  On the highest settings this title truly does shine.  Never before have I seen such great graphics from a browser based game, the fact that they managed to squeeze all of that graphical power into a browser is simply astonishing.  Sure it may not look like Killzone 2, but Quake Live certainly packs a powerful punch.    
 
When you log in initially you’ll be joined by Crash who will introduce you to the game and get you started.  This will all happen whilst the rest of the game is downloading, cool eh?  Also I know what you’re thinking, “Hey!  Wait a minute, whatcha mean by download?  You told me this was a browser based game 0_0!”  In answer to that question, you’re not downloading a full game or client per say, but rather a small plugin.  After you’ve been taught the basics you’ll enter a game with Crash, where your results from the round will be analysed and smartly used to determine your skill level which is used for match making.  The system works well, however you don’t have to use the matchmaking if you don’t want to as you can search for matches with players of any skill.
 
Once in a match you’ll find all the staples of the original Quake 3.  If you’re new to the series then you should be prepared for a fairly steep learning curve as becoming one of the best can be a hard achievement.  The controls work well with a keyboard and mouse and the unique feel of the various guns will certainly be enough to engross some players into the action for long periods of time.  Despite this the game also suits appropriate casual short bursts of gameplay as getting into a match is simple and exiting one is even easier. 
 
There is a huge variety of game modes and maps so you’ll never really get bored.  The amount of maximum players on a map fits the size of the levels which means that there’ll never be too much or too little action, making it easy to get into the game and enjoy yourself without getting killed every second.  The only game mode where this doesn’t really apply is “Free For All” (FFA) which can have up to eighteen players on a map and is the sheer definition of hectic.  This isn’t really a problem unless you’re a newbie as you’ll get killed almost every 1-30 seconds which can completely destroy your confidence.  FFA can be incredibly fun though, especially if you’re winning.  You’ll soon find yourself blasting through rows of human players as you not only watch your back but make sure no one in front of you is going to snipe you with a railgun, which is exceedingly exciting.
 
I know I shouldn’t really come to any conclusions (as this is just a preview) however it must be said that the level design in Quake Live is simply fantastic.  Everything is carefully laid out, from weapons to jumps.  The flawlessness of the arenas stands out as you rush through them following your enemy to his/her death.  When compared to the bland design of other free online FPSs it’s easy to declare the developers at Id Software as pure geniuses.  Which, to be honest they are.  The weapons are, more or less, perfectly balanced and you’ll no doubt find a gun to suit your style of gameplay. 
 
Quake Live is shaping up to be a very special game, with updates being added and some awesome features incoming (such as the ability to own private servers).  I’m really looking forward to seeing how this title turns out.  Unless QL drastically changes before its launch, I can completely guarantee you that it will be a hit and certainly one of the best free online games of this year.

Zero Online: Academy Recruitment

Academy Recruitment (April 17-May 15)
Duration April 17-May 15, 2009
Requires Level 1 (Only for new registered characters) 
Prizes Silver Badge + 1,470 Free Zero Points 
It is said that the new expansion is coming in May 22, 2009. To get prepared for the Expanding Horizon, the Military Academy is recruiting new pilots. Of course, the academy will award a silver badge to the recruits, as well as 1,470 Free Zero Points. These free offers can help you leveled up very quickly and get better equipped.
 
Rules:
1. You directly receive a silver badge once you finish creating your character. This badge can grant you 7 days’ privileges, including online/offline training, bonus exp, special offers for trading items with the merchant NPCs, free cores…
Silver-Badge
Type: [Special Item]
Enjoy 7 days benefits: Online training, Offline training, Instant revive, thruster energy boost, extra 20% monster Exp, extra 30% discount at Venderbots, 30% higher price selling to Venderbots; Daily FREE core, No EXP lost at death, Curse Pkers.
 
2. The free Zero Points can be claimed in 15 days. One time a day. The only requirement is that you are a hard-worker, and not afraid of a challenge.
3. You are eligible to claim the desired points once you meet the level requirements. If you miss one day’s chance, you can only claim that day’s points the next day, for example, if you miss the 10th day’s prize, you can only claim the 10th day’s prize on the 11th day, you will wait until the 12th day to claim the 11th day’s prize, and so on, that means you will miss the 15th day’s prize forever.
Tips for getting all free Zero Points:
1. Make full use of your silver badge. After you use this badge, you can gain online training exp whenever you are online, and also get 15 hours’ offline training time for 1.5 hours online time every day. To make your character level up very quickly, you can make your character stand in a safe place when you have no time to play, or you can train your character offline when you have to shut down the game client.
 
2. Remember to claim your free Zero Points once you meet the level requirements.
Remember, you have only 15 days. You can claim all the prizes, or go your own way. It’s all up to you.
 
With free Zero Points, you can:
1. Purchase valuable items from the Shopping Mall. The purchased items cannot be traded to anyone (including trade partners);
2. Upgrade your weapon proficiency, weapon skills and pilotage;
3. Shorten your unit’s cooling time after your unit’s CAP is upgraded;
4. Socket your weapons, gears and cores;
5. Pay to get the 2nd and 3rd lottery chance when you make the 2nd socket on your core;
6. Repair the destructible facilities in the Fleet War;
7. Upgrade the CAP of your units;
8. Upgrade the CAP of your modules.

2029 Online: Game Development and Optimization Report

We are now vigorously testing 2029 online, modifying its functions so that they are more user friendly, and the system is fully optimized. So players will be more able to enjoy our game.
 
As a newbie, you may confront a situation where the durability of your equipment has decreased but you don’t have enough gold to repair it. So we have added an function that you can repair your equips in NPC for free. Just click on Free Repair to get your equipment fully repaired. It is totally free.
 
As a newbie, at the very beginning you may be not so familiar with the game controls.  But don’t worry we have strived to design more friendly UI windows which are also a lot less complicated to understand.
 
We are now focused on fixing the inevitable issues and problems that have arisen from our repeated testing. The Alpha Test will soon begin. During the Alpha Test we will provide great rewards, including the Fast Leveling Pack for our players. By using the fast leveling pack, you can level up faster, hunt monsters and PVP far more easily than ever before. In addition every Alpha Tester will also receive a high-level weapon, valued at over $ 50, in the Closed-Beta Test.  So keep your eyes peeled for more info on our official website.
 
The main game system will be open during Alpha Test, including all of the battle fields and game systems. So our players will all be able to experience the unique charm of 2029 Online!
 
2029 Alpha Test will soon be here. Stay tuned for the official release date and see you in the game!