Yearly Archives: 2009

High Street 5: Lovers on Wheels!

The latest update of High Street 5 arrives with yet two other eye-catching mounts – the classic bicycle and the kid-fun mini-tricycle.
 
These rider-powered transport means are now the hippest accessories among the eco and fashion conscious and they have been increasingly featured along with models off duty in fashion blogs. We understand that no fashionista in HighStreet 5 want to miss out on this next big thing, so if you are ready, you are in for a fashion fun ride! You also could invite another player or your lover for a ride with you. Conversely, a player can also request a ride with you. So you should try your best to get agreement from other players!
 
Of course, when the bicycle or tricycle is no longer needed, simply right click on them and then Place at home.

High Street 5 - Bicycle.jpg alt tag: High Street 5 - Wheels!

Jade Dynasty Review: The Path to Immortality

By Jeffrey Kerkdijk (Hyarume), OnRPG Journalist

Jade Dynasty Online is a free to play MMORPG created and published by Perfect World inc. Jade dynasty online is the English version of the Chinese game Zhu Xian which has been played by over 30 million people. Zu Xian was originally based on a popular novel in china.

The Story of Jade Dynasty seems to be all about immortality, five factions battle the land to the path of enlightenment. Two factions where good and three where evil. Throughout time and study they mastered the arts of several fighting techniques and learned magic. Now once again, they battle the land to find immortality. The story in Jade Dynasty is pretty bland.

There are five factions, which are more like classes, one focuses on healing others on AoE also there is Lupin which has the best combat skills. There is no balance in Jade Dynasty.

Gameplay is like most other MMORPGs, and includes a lot of grinding. Jade Dynasty offers you features like skill tiers, Espers, Alliance Wars, Auto-Navigation, (which makes the game even more boring) meditation, dreaming, marriages and so on. Let’s start with the battle system. It’s the same as in most of the other F2P’s MMORPGs, with additional features like skill tiers you would hope for it to be more fun, but it’s not now to become powerful you have to do a quest every 30 levels to progress further in the game or at least get better skills. You start the game as a novice, and you can join a faction once you have reached level 15. Once you joined a faction you will gain access to the skills that that faction offers for you. It offers you various different outlooks for playing the game, but the setup itself is nothing unique.

We’ll move on to how you level in Jade Dynasty. The answer is simple: you grind a lot and keep grinding. One time you can grind for specific quests, since all of the quests in Jade Dynasty are pretty mindless and repetitive, and the other time you just grind monsters.

Balance Disrupted

Espers are one of the most stupid things I have ever seen in an MMORPG, a pet that boost your stats and gives you some additional skills but can’t do anything itself, oh and you can upgrade an Esper too. Imagine the possibilities…

Esper in Jade Dynasty7

Marriage is all about romance points, you can do quests with someone from the opposite sex and get romance points and with those you can get romance skills, you can even marry someone for a title above your head. This indicates that although some of the game’s features seem a bit hardcore, overall the game is pretty casual. With your Esper pets and your spouse, you’re closer to playing house.

An alliance war is just a fancy description for clan-versus-clan combat. At the higher levels you will be able to attack other people that are from other clans and there will be battles. These can be pretty intense if you feel like defending your clan’s name.

Now the thing I dislike the most about Jade Dynasty is that it has an in-game bot called ‘invigorate’. You can let it fight the target(s) you selected and you have several settings to choose. Why would you want to bot in a game? That makes it seem as if the developers already know how boring the game is and let you level while you aren’t around. And they had to do more; they have implanted new features like Auto-Navigation which means, you no longer have to walk or navigate anymore, you just click anywhere on the map and or select an NPC. So why bother exploring?

And then if you thought that is the only thing that throws gameplay in Jade Dynasty off balance, they implanted meditation which slowly gives you experience if you stay logged in. It looks like a bubble and the towns are filled with them. And they even give you experience while you are offline if you purchase a ‘dream scroll’, how sick is that?

Meditation in JD

Graphics and Sound

The graphics of Jade Dynasty are good, the animations look nice and the engine holds up well no matter how many things are happening. There are a lot of flashy AoEs and cool armor suits in the game. There are nice mounts, monsters look nice, and it supports a wide range of resolutions which is good for those who have big monitors. The sound is alright as well.

Conclusion

Jade Dynasty is another fancy version of perfect world that offers less and else it’s the same. Character customization is rather limited, like every other F2P MMORPG. The game itself is very fond on botting, which can be done in-game at any given time. And Overall it isn’t a very good game

Like in most Asian MMORPGs the focus is heavy on grind, and you will notice that from the start. Jade Dynasty is very much into grinding either quests or monsters. And by all means actually playing Jade Dynasty isn’t very fun. There is little community because most people bot. The only thing that is fun to do in Jade Dynasty is the alliance wars. That is because it is like the only place where you can find people that aren’t botting.

Pros:
– Graphics
– Animation
– Weapon armor design.

Cons:
– Clan balance
– Built in bot features
– Community.

Dragonica Europe: Tales of the Damned expansion this October

This October will see the introduction of the “Tales of the Damned” expansion for European versions of Dragonica.
 
Deep inside Dragotaka are two brand new areas. The Van Cliff dungeon builds on the new content introduced during the Kundara update in August and is available to level 60 players. Featuring a creepy manor packed with danger around every corner, players will have to fight through three elite bosses before facing down the giant Bone Dragon. This challenging area pits players against a wide variety of new monsters as they uncover the mystery behind the corruption of the deranged Dr. Farrell. The Van Cliff dungeon will be available when the Tales of the Damned expansion goes live this October.
 
Within a few weeks, Drakos’ Tower, a massive new area that players will be familiar with from the game’s introduction, will be unlocked. It served as a fortified tower used to imprison the evil Dragon Lord Elga, until the witch Paris broke in and freed him to cause mayhem across the land. This challenging new maps feature a treacherous and very large multi-level dungeon filled with traps, mazes, environmental puzzles and jumps. It will also introduce several new camera views, as well as brand new armour sets for players to earn. Every five levels, players will be faced with one of three tough new boss monsters; Gaiden, the furious half-monster, half-robot, a terrifying winged demon, and a horrifying spider crab. The update also introduces a wide variety of new regular and hero quests, as well as several new field maps and mission maps.
 
These new maps are just part of the many new features being introduced by the “Tales of the Damned” expansion to European versions of Dragonica. In addition to these new maps, controller support, the new Emporia Tournament system for Guilds, an increase in the level cap to 65, the eagerly anticipated pets system and a revised mission scoring system will be introduced. As with all gPotato.eu games, this and future updates are all available completely free of charge, and will be delivered by a patch during October.
 
Dragonica is available as a free-to-play game, meaning no subscriptions, ever! You can download the game client right here on OnRPG to play the game. European users who are travelling outside of Europe, you are now able to play Dragonica with gPotato while abroad by clicking the “Register my IP” button on the Dragonica website before logging into the game.

Dragonica Europe - Fatality!

Galaxy Online Interview: RTS by IGG

Questions by Vincent Haoson, Onrpg writer
Answered by Jonas Norman, IGG Press Editor

Galaxy Online is part a new MMO from IGG. The game seems to be shaping up as a very decent MMORTS game and Onrpg has had the chance of getting behind the closed doors of IGG. We had the opportunity to talk to Jonas Norman, IGG Press Editor to get the latest scoop on how are things going in the game and of course how are things progressing in the test.

Onrpg: How has the Closed Beta Test going?
IGG:  I would say the Galaxy Online Closed Beta Test has gone pretty good so far. Basically, we’ve got what we needed from the test. We’ve successfully introduced this new genre of space strategy game to a lot of players. We’ve also got valuable data from the test and received many wonderful suggestions from players as well, which has made all the hard work we put into the game really worthwhile.

Onrpg: What were the difficulties you faced during the Alpha Test of the game?
IGG: We’ve found the biggest difficulty to be the game’s complexity. We really spent a lot of time putting many, many features into the game, and many new players simply get lost in the details when they first start out, so we end up having to explain a lot. However, we’re doing our best to get information out – strategy guides, newbie guides and such – and we’ve seen the situation improving a lot.

Onrpg: How was the player response to the game? Were they a big help to enrich the game experience?
IGG:  Well, I have to say, our players are the best.  As they got more familiar with the game, they have been passing along all sorts of ideas and suggestions to us. Their unique perspective has led to a lot of creative ideas to improve Galaxy Online throughout the test. Some of the ideas have really stood out, and we’ve even modified some game features based on them. I think they really like the game, and they’re really eager to help us make it perfect.

Onrpg: What are the measures you took to make new players get familiar in the game?
IGG:  The game guide and the newbie quests help newcomers get familiar with the game quickly. In addition, we are constantly issuing game tips, which players find really helpful.

Galaxy Online battle

Onrpg: How big is the game community right now?
IGG:  So far we have launched 4 servers, which average more than 3000 concurrent players.

Onrpg: What makes the Galaxy Online in-game community different from other games? Is there anything in particular that you can say determines Galaxy Online’s community among the other game communities?
IGG:  I would say wisdom and a passion for gaming make the Galaxy Online community stand out a lot. The players really see that we’re throwing down a challenge with this game and they respond to it with enthusiasm. Take the International Battleground, our players have already exceeded our expectations.

Onrpg: What makes Galaxy Online different from the other games of the same genre?
IGG: Galaxy Online has many features that you will find in other games, but the way it approaches the space/sci-fi genre is completely different. We’ve created our own galaxy in the universe and let players fight for control of it. There is no faceless Empire to fight against, or slimy alien to battle with. It is a game of strategy that takes the whole galaxy into account and lets you move your pieces into whatever position you see fit. It could be described as chess on a very grand stage. Thousands of players competing for limited resources, fighting for territory and power, creating vast fleets of star fighters and battleships, giving orders to their commanders…it is unlike anything that players have seen before.

Onrpg: What do you think is the game’s feature that would attract the most amount of players?
IGG: There are many features which players find enjoyable but we’ve noticed a lot of success with the tensions generated by the 6 playable factions. Infighting, drama, political maneuvering, all of it combines to form a unique environment rife with conflict.

Onrpg: Who do you think would be the biggest market of Galaxy Online? Why?
IGG:  No doubt the huge community of MMORTS fans is probably the biggest market for Galaxy Online since this game has everything they love.

Onrpg: What made you consider integrating the cash Mall Point system on some important aspects of the game such as the recruitment of commanders?
IGG: We just want to give our players more options in the game and also try to demonstrate that luck is an important factor sometimes. Visualize the struggles that pro sports teams go through in recruiting players, now imagine that on a galactic level. A lot of it would be left up to chance, with some factions getting lucky, and others having to make do. We wanted to bring a level of chance and opportunity into the recruiting process that wouldn’t have been there otherwise, and we think it has been working out great.

Onrpg: What are the possible measures you would take in keeping your players on playing the game?
IGG:  This game offers players a variety of play styles. If you don’t have much time to develop your planets, you can activate one of our services that enables the buildings on your planets to be leveled up automatically. In this way our players have a lot of flexibility in playtime and don’t need to spend endless hours fighting and leveling.

GO Science

Onrpg: Can you explain how PvP works in Galaxy Online?
IGG: Our PvP system is one of the highlights of this game. The game design is very flexible, allowing players a great amount of freedom in dictating where they go and what they do. We also emphasize strategy, so every step a player takes should be considered precisely. You should always make full use of resources, and ensure your fleet has an optimal combination of ships and firepower. Sometimes a small part of your fleet you’ve previously ignored could be the fatal factor that determines whether you win or lose a war.

Onrpg: When and what kind of new features will you be including in the game?
IGG:  As for game content, a couple of new elements will be presented to our players step by step We put lots of thought and lots of energy into maintaining a balance in this game, so consideration for changes and updates is always a drawn out process. With that being said, we have a whole host of new features we’re planning, like the new home system, the auction system, and the expanded newbie quest system.

Onrpg: How long will it take for IGG to go to Open Beta with Galaxy Online?
IGG: Well, it depends on a lot of things. How well the development and testing of the new features goes, how well the closed beta test goes. We always want to provide the best game experience for our players, so we’re not gonna rush into something which we don’t have 100% confidence in.

Onrpg: What are your plans in the succeeding months ahead?
IGG:  In the very near future, we will be releasing more servers to satisfy the growing needs of our community of players. Besides, development of a browser-based version of Galaxy Online is currently in progress. Till then, we hope that our players will enjoy everything Galaxy Online has to offer! Thanks so much!

Thanks for onrpg.com for the coverage.

Runes of Magic hits the Magic 2-million Mark

Frogster announces today that the online role play game, Runes of Magic has now recorded over 2 million registrations in Europe and the USA. Doing so the Berlin publisher reaches a further milestone in the marketing of its multi-award-winning MMORPG, just six months on from the release of the first chapter ‘Rise of the Demon Lord’’ in its German and English language versions.

The second chapter ‘The Elven Prophecy’, launched recently in September, also saw the launch of additional French and Spanish language versions. The Russian language version is already in the starting blocks and preparations are on-going for further localised versions.

 
‘Runes of Magic has become a mega-seller in the few months since we launched. The 2 million registrations milestone we have now hit is yet further proof of the quality of our game and our communication strategy’, commented Rolf Klöppel, Director of Marketing & PR for Frogster Online Gaming.

Exclusive Contest on OnRPG!

To celebrate this historic landmark as well as the recent release of the Cave of the Water Dragon OnRPG will be hosting an exclusive contest with exciting real life prices!

Runes of Magic - Real Life Prices.jpg Alt Tag: Runes of Magic - Real Life Prices!

Casvian

Casvian is a web browser game that contains elements of war and strategy, role-playing and simulation. The game focuses on the conflicts of four races—Human, Elf, Undead and Orc.

Innovative big-map mode
Currently, big map interfaces of all webgames are static and the movement of troops on the maps are invisible. In Casvian, however, the future of webgames will be changed as Casvian incorporates mode of the Heroes into the game.

There are fundamental differences between the big-map interface of this game and those of other webgames:
– Heroes and their forces are visible on the big map.
– There are geographic changes on the big map and the movement of troops are restrict by geography.
– Heroes can stop on the big map.
– Heroes can attack one another on the big map.

These features have the following advantages:
– Interaction feature among players.
– Broaden player strategies. Interception of heroes, castle ambush, team defense of heroes, etc.
– Direct your troops like in real war and explore olden strategies like “Befriend distant states while attacking those nearby”

Combat
First of all, combat in the game is controllable. This means that the player can control his troops like order the troops to go forward and backward, stand by and cast hero spells, which makes the game more manageable and creates more strategies opportunities for the players.

Excellent combat scenes are a must in Casvian. Heroes casting spells and when troops attack enemies are a real sight for the senses. Players can almost feel the heat of war during these scenes.

Combat Scene (Skills that the hero is armed with and can cast during battle are listed in the middle lower part of the picture).

Although Casvian is a webgame focusing on strategy, they have incorporated RPG elements especially for hero development because heroes play a vital role in a war.

There are many relevant systems for heroes, for example: hero point system: upgrade, add points, etc.; hero skill system: You can research and arm heroes with various skills; large equipment system for heroes, equipment forging system and equipment besetting system, etc.

When entering the game, you will be immersed in the detailed world of Casvian with clear streams and dazzling sunrise.

Large Guild System
Casvian has a guild system and has the following advantages over other webgames:

– More guild skills
– More diplomatic settings
– Player custom guild positions
– Better guild tasks, better dungeons system

No Downloads Required
It is easy to start playing Casvian. Players can log on from any computer with no downloads required to start playing this exciting strategy war game. Play from your office, college or even cybercafes without going through the hassle of downloading the game client.