Yearly Archives: 2009

Travian Review: Browser-based Strategic Warfare

By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), Onrpg Writer

Travian is a browser based game where you are a chief of a village and try to make your town into a prosperous nation that is either centered on warfare or a nation that is wealthy through trading and peaceful settlements with your neighboring villages.

The Three Tribes of Travian

You can choose from the three tribes that are part of Travian, You can become the leader of the Romans, the Teutons or of the Gauls. Each Tribe has its own weakness and strengths and it is your responsibility as the leader of your tribe to maximize the Tribe’s potential.

Romans in Travian are the most balanced in the three tribes. They’re the most newbie friendly among the three tribes. However Roman units take longer to create compared to the Teutons and the Gauls. Furthermore, the Romans are the only tribe that can extend a building and a resource field simultaneously.

Meanwhile the Gauls are the defensive tribe in Travian. Their units have a better defense rating than
any of the three tribes of Travian. The Gauls, if used by players correctly, can be the most versatile among the three tribes.

Lastly the Teutons are the offensive type tribe in Travian. Their units are more tailored for plundering and inflicting serious damage to whoever crosses their paths. Players would need to be very experienced in the game to be able to maximize the bonus this tribe has.

Travian Gameplay

As you play Travian, you’d need to develop the land that you are currently lord over. You have to develop not only the structures within your territory but also the resource zones that are circled around it.

There are four resource tiles that are found in the game. You need to upgrade them as you continue playing to provide the necessary resources that your village needs. The four resource tiles are as follows: wood, clay, iron and wheat. Balancing the field upgrades with the structures is the key to making your tribe into a strong and flourishing empire.

Like most browser games of this genre, resources in Travian arrive in real-time. You won’t have to waste too much time. Almost every action in Travian requires time, that is why the pacing of the game is quite slow. This is a problem perhaps to those players who are itching to have a piece of their action in the shortest amount of time.

Conclusion

Travian is a browser game that is very easy to grasp but very hard to master. Getting down the basics won’t really take long because the game itself is not that complicated. The game quests and guides provide you the knowledge and information you need to know how to get around in the game.

In playing Travian, having information is just half of the battle. If you want to survive you need to have a decent strategy on how you handle your resources. Because resources are the key to survival, you have to make sure you have enough to keep your town in tip top shape.

What makes Travian so appealing is that there are no balance issues between those who subscribe to the Travian Plus and those who just play for free. While it is true that those who have the Travian Plus account do have perks, they don’t cause any major imbalance to the whole game. As long as you have a decent strategy you can keep up with those who have the Travian Plus.

Furthermore, the three Travian tribes are quite balanced. True, each tribe has its own strengths and weaknesses, but these can be often offshoot with proper tactics and strategy from the player. As long as you have your cards right and that you have enough troops and resources you can practically defend or defeat the other tribes.

The Battle system in Travian is another commendable feature for the game. Unlike in some Browser-based games, attacking in Travian takes time. This is very helpful for the defending tribe because they have time to mount a defense in their land, much to the dismay of the attacking tribe. The Travian battle system makes players think more of their actions rather than just blindly attacking whoever tickles their fancy.

Travian as a browser game has a high learning curve unlike most browser games where mastering the game is as easy as pie. New players may try to understand the game or just give up. This happens when the player is unluckily positioned in an area where their neighbors are very aggressive. The same goes to an area where their neighbors are either inactive or passive.

Though the game system has a ‘peaceful existence’ feature, the time provided may not be enough to make a player a good strategist, therefore limiting the fun factor of the game for players who are not much into these kinds of games.

The community element in Travian is good comparing it to other browser games of the same genre. The game provides enough leeway for alliances to be well-crafted and organized, thus, giving the game a more solid in-game community that is hard to come by in browser games.

All in all, Travian is one of those rare browser games where being a good economist goes hand in hand in becoming a good military tactician. With the game difficult enough as it is, it has provided players enough information to at least give you the idea of what structure should be created to get certain units. It is still your call if you want to try this game out or not, if you have enough time or think that you are savvy enough to be a good leader then by all means try the game out.

Pros

– Easy to grasp gameplay

– The game loads fast

– There are quests that help new players understand how the game goes

Cons

– Challenging for casual gamers

– The gameplay is easy to grasp but the learning curve is high to be able to maximize your tribe

– Every action takes time.

The Warlords

The Warlords is a free MMORPG that is based on late Qing Dynasty.

The mid-19th century was one of the darkest periods of Chinese history. Natural disasters, typhoons, droughts and floods wreaked havoc in the countryside. In the midst of this chaos, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, one of the strongest rebel groups ever to rise up in China, was overrunning the country and staging battles with the Qing army threatening the throne.

In this truceless world, both the soldiers and bandits band together to put down rebellion for the imperial government and the commoners. You can choose to be anyone of them. Take your weapons and start your adventure with your bodyguards from the Lotus Port!

Secondhand Lands

Secondhand Lands is the massively multiplayer online game set in a fairytale world colored with parody and witty fun. The heroes are comprised of a motley crew of wolves, sheep, catgirls, and scrappers who have pledged their undying allegiance to either Little Bo Peep or Red Riding Hood.

Well, perhaps not undying…

Eudemons Online: New Quest Series will Come on Mar. 11th

With the tens of thousands of years of history, the Yartland continent possesses endless quests under the mist; waiting for adventurers to explore. Those quests can not only provide adventurers with the great awards, but also give a glimpse of the profound lore of the Eudemons’ universe.

There will be 2 brand-new quest series available for players, the Recruit Quests and the Celebrity Hall Quests. The Recruit Quests will help new arrivals to learn about the systems and functions of the world better, so that you can explore the Eudemons world more easily. For the Celebrity Hall Quest, players can obtain some secret knowledge about the Celebrity Hall, and go through tests of courage, wisdom and respect.

2029 Online: Alpha Test Receives Official Start Date

After repeated tests, 2029 Online will go Alpha. The Alpha Test is set to start at 11:00PM EST March 17. As the official release of Alpha version, this game is going go make its world debut and will come off a phenomenal year.

We plan to give out 500 CD-Keys in the fairest way we can. Players can participate in our 4th CD-Key giveaway event to receive a CD-Key to Alpha test 2029 Online.

If you already have a CD-Key, you will be good to go the official website to activate your account. After your account has been activated, you need install the game. When the Alpha test starts, you will have the access. Keep eyes on our official website for more Alpha announcements including the time when the client is downloadable in the coming weeks.

Manga Fighter to break the barrier between paying and non-paying players

Gamescampus.com announced today that it is offering players of its popular Free-to-play TPS(Third Person Shooter), MangaFighter, a chance to break down the barriers between paying and non-paying players. For a limited time, non-paying players will have the opportunity to earn “Don” (in-game credit) through in-game achievements and purchase all functional items in the game’s item mall. Players will not have to spend a single penny of real money and will have access to items usually only available to paying players, putting everyone on a level playing field.

Now through the end of March, players of MangaFighter can earn Don, the game’s currency, by playing matches. The higher the person ranks at the end of each match, the more Don that person will receive. With the Don they earn, non-paying players can now purchase Guns, Melee Weapons, Throwing Weapons, Launcher Weapons and Skill Cards which were all previously accessible only to paying players.


“The Free-to-play micro-transaction model is sometimes criticized for not providing a level playing field for both non-paying and paying players,”
said David Chang, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Gamescampus.com. “We wanted to offer the opportunity to allow MangaFighter players who do not have the means to spend real money on these items, a chance to earn them through their gameplay.”

Bihn Tran, Community Manager of MangaFighter, said, “I am very proud of offering this unprecedented opportunity to our game community members.”
“As our users are all very excited and welcoming the idea, we are confident that our rather bold attempt will receive positive feedback from our players.”

Angels Online: PK Guide in PK System

The Angels Online team has already introduced the PK system, including the Totem Battle and the Holy Battlefield to all players, but that doesn’t mean that players will be able to excel at PK after they’ve read through the basics. Today they’re going to detail a little more on how to be an PK expert in Totem Battle and Holy Battlefield.

All guilds are welcome to take part in the fiercely competitive Totem Battle to capture totems and materials. Combat usually lasts for 2 hours and can be intense. Players need to cooperate perfectly with team members, especially in the last half hour.

1. Preparation before the battle: All participating guilds should gather their online members about half an hour before the battle starts. Remember to carry enough HP and SP potions. Production players should collect enough materials as well so that they will be able to enhance their totem in time. All class’ of players should have full BUFFs ready to go.

2. During the battle: If a guild doesn’t have a totem, it is recommend that it chooses a totem which is close to the main city so that they will spend less time transporting supplies. During the first hour of battle, they don’t need to occupy the totem right away. They can distract their enemies’ attention and let them burn through their supplies in the beginning.

3. The last half an hour: All fighting players should make every effort to attack the totem, with the main tank first and then mages and priests. The main tank should attract the enemies’ attention so that mage players can attack the totem together. Pay attention! All priest players should make sure to take care of their teammates. If a player has a priest, this is no time to go Rambo on the enemy players. It is recommended that all pets are summoned, especially those pets with high attack abilities. Cooperation among guild members is the most important thing. Disorganized guilds go down quickly in the Totem Battle.

If all guild members can perfectly cooperate and stick to the strategies above, it shouldn’t be difficult for a guild to occupy a totem. After a guild successfully occupies a totem, all guild members can monopolize the materials where the totem is located.

The Holy Battlefield is another popular PK system in Angels Online. All participating players will be divided into two armies at random and the army with the most crystals at the end will be the winner. All participating players will obtain considerable exp corresponding to their points obtained during battle.

1. Capture a crystal: Capturing crystals is the most important part of battle on the Holy Battlefield because only the army with the most crystals can win the battle. If players would like to capture a crystal from the opponent’s army, they have to destroy the enemies’ City Gates, which possess a lot of HP, first. Pay attention! It is very dangerous and difficult for players to attack the nearest City Gate 10 because it has the most HP and it is the enemies’ front line. Players can send a group of forces to attract the enemies’ attention and then attack City Gate 6 and City Gate 7. After they destroy the City Gate, players who carry a crystal should put on their armor to increase their defensive abilities. Other players should protect the crystal carrier.

2. Obtain a point: Players will obtain certain points by destroying a City Gate, then destroying an Angel Statue, killing an enemy and successfully carrying a crystal. However, it is difficult for them to destroy a City Gate or an Angel Statue because their HP is high. It is recommended that players focus on PKing enemies and carrying more crystals.

Fresbo World Interview: BJ Low, Founder of Fresbo

Questions by Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), Onrpg writer
Answered by BJ Low, founder of Fresbo World.

We of Onrpg are the first ones who were able to interview BJ Low, founder and developer of Fresbo World! We have asked him about the game’s features, the reason of creation and the future of Fresbo World.

Fresbo World is a new, unique game which offers players to experience a new world full of mini-games, items and more! In Fresbo World, you will be able to create your own house, buy furnitures and change the floors and walls! You can even customize your own avatar the way you like! Fresbo is the brand new company which has developed Fresbo World. We’ve given them the opportunity to tell us more about their game!

Onrpg: Could you give us a small introduction of yourself and the company?

BJ Low: Hi, my name is BJ Low. I am the co-founder and developer of the virtual world Fresbo World. Our company, Fresbo, is a young startup started 3 years ago. We have 4 founders and we are fresh graduates from college. We wanted to do something different from our peers and decided to start a company that builds virtual world, and Fresbo World is the first game that we built. Recently our company was awarded a cash grant by MDA to further develop Fresbo World.

Onrpg: Do you see Fresbo World as a multiplayer online game (MOG)?

BJ Low: Yes, of course. It is a virtual world that connects different players together under a single environment. Users can chat, make friends, play mini-games and most importantly, unleash their creativity to others by showing off the different structures that they have built. Our daily peak concurrent users ranges from 500-800 users. Our highest peak concurrent users so far is during a rare item giveaway event, where we hit 1100+ online users.

Onrpg: Why do you think Fresbo World is an appealing game?

BJ Low: The most appealing part of Fresbo World, is in its blueprint assembling aspect, whereby users are suppose to trace the blueprint step by step to build the original structure using the broken down small component parts. Also, it is flash-based and can be played conveniently on the browser without any installation or download.

Onrpg: What was the main reason for creating this game?

BJ Low: During my free time, I like to do hobby modeling kits like planes, ships and robots. In those kits, they will give you a paper blueprint and the small component parts, and you are supposed to assemble them all back up to form the final end structure. So therefore, we decided that it will be cool if we can do the same in a virtual world, making friends that have the same interests in building, and showing off your creations to other players in the world, which you cannot do conveniently in real life.

Onrpg: Fresbo World has been called a copy of Habbo Hotel. How do you think about this?

BJ Low: The thing about Habbo Hotel is that it is so successful that anything that is isometric and can be played in a browser is immediately thought of as a copy of Habbo Hotel. Habbo Hotel is primarily a graphical chat room for teenagers to hang out and make friends. It does have a building aspect whereby users are to decorate their own home using furniture. However, Habbo’s furniture are majority “1-piece”, whereby it is not broken into small component parts, leaving little room for customization by the users.

For Fresbo World, what we are doing is that we are focusing very deeply on the building aspect of the game, allowing them to assemble and build structures using small components, leaving a lot of room for customization to create anything within their imagination. Its concept also similar to Lego, whereby first you will follow the blueprint to build what they want you to build, but after that, you will think out of the box, and then break it all up again and build whatever your imagination and creativity takes you to. However, we think that simple bricks like Lego, and other games like Blockland and Roblox is offering is too restrictive, and the final structure will look similar in style. Therefore, for our small components, we have many different kinds of designs suitable for creating different types of design structures.

If you ask me what is the primary difference between the two, I will say Habbo Hotel is a social networking game, while Fresbo World is a building game. They may look the same, but they are not the same.

Onrpg: What unique features does Fresbo World have?

BJ Low: The primary unique feature is the blueprint assembling feature. For instance, we have this Japanese House that is broken up into 109 component small parts. We then package it up and sold all the parts, together with its virtual blueprint as a virtual crate in the game. When unwrapped and placed, the virtual blueprint will show you step by step how to assemble the Japanese House back to its original form. Users will have to trace each step and assemble it. But then, the real fun part kicks in when you start to think out of the box and try to custom build a design of your own, using back the same component parts.

The other unique feature will be the Pass The Bomb multiplayer mini-game. Pass the bomb is a deceptively fun and challenging game that is easy to learn but hard to master. The objective of the game is to take risks shaking the bomb for points while not detonating it. Up to 10 players can take part in each game of bomb passing mayhem.

Onrpg: Which of these features is your favorite one and why so?

BJ Low: My favorite feature will be the blueprint assembling feature, cause that is what I like to do real life too.

Onrpg: When you get into the game, you will notice that there are a lot of Asian players. Is there a reason for this?

BJ Low: Yes there is indeed. We are very popular in Friendster and majority of Friendster users are from Asia, primarily Philippines. Therefore, as you can see, there is an island in Fresbo World specially for the Philippines players so that they can find each other easily.

Our second largest user base is from the U.S, and right now, we are focusing our efforts to further grow our user base in the U.S market.

Onrpg: Fresbo World offers the possibility of paying with in-game earned points and bought credits. Is there a reason why you can’t buy new faces with points?

BJ Low: We have 2 currencies, one is points which you can earn by playing our mini-games, and the other is credits which you have to buy using cash. For the basic furniture, we are allowing the users to buy with points, but for the more premium items, they have to pay using cash. As for the faces, we think that it is a premium feature to be able to change your face and therefore it is only available to the cash users.

Onrpg: What can we expect in 2009 of Fresbo World?

BJ Low: In 2009, we can expect lots other things in Fresbo World. Just last week, we introduced the roller coaster set and users can build and design their own roller coaster circuit and ride in it. In 2 weeks time, we will introduce a new mini-game which is similar to the Bomberman, but a different version whereby it is multiplayer in a 3D isometric environment, where players can move and bomb in the Z-axis direction. Users can also expect more external environments to hangout and meet people.

Besides that, we are also releasing more types of structures to assemble like space shuttle planes, robots, cable cars. Also we are experimenting how to make the structures more interactive, whereby users can ride in it or move it around after it is assembled.

Onrpg: Will there be a lot of new events?

BJ Low: We have live events every week, whereby our community manager ConnieT will go in and host mini-game tournaments for the players. Each week, the theme is different, and prizes are awarded to the winning players. For example, for this week, there will be an event called “Number Kicks”. It is like a football game where the members of each team will be assigned to a certain number. When their numbers will be called out, both players of the same number will compete with each other to score a goal. We already had a lot of live events since it started October of last year and many more to come.

Also, we have contests on going all the time, ranging from designing the best roller coaster to even designing our logo.

Onrpg: Fresbo World has pretty cute graphics with a lot of colors. What kind of players are you targeting?

BJ Low: Basically, we are targeting all ages. As long they have a sense of creativity, likes to build, and want to make lots of friends, then Fresbo World will be a fun game for them.

Currently, our user base is slanted towards the teenagers, females in their twenties, and housewives. In view of that, keeping the community safe, free of adult-content is also our top priority. We have full-time moderators to ban and punish players that violate those rules.

Onrpg: Fresbo is a pretty new company. Are you going to release any other games in the future?

BJ Low: Basically, we still see a lot of room to grow for Fresbo World. We will be focusing all our efforts into Fresbo World. Any new games that we build in the future, will be found inside Fresbo World instead of making it as a separate standalone game.

Onrpg: Thanks for your time and good luck!

Fresbo World

Fresbo World is a flash-based virtual world for all ages that allows users to assemble the basic building blocks to create different types of structures. It is similar to the hobby shops’ modeling kit, whereby the little pieces of the product are given to you in a box, and you are supposed to assemble them back into the original form using a paper blueprint. After the original form is done, you can then break the small parts up again and reuse them to create your own structures using your own creativity.