Yearly Archives: 2009

Emil Chronicle Online

Emil Chronicle Online has ended their closed beta on the 22nd July 2009 with a celebration party held at Tiny Island.

Throughout the 14 days of closed beta, the game had built up a strong and friendly community with helpful players guiding the new and lost.

Run Up Game held the first ever English Emil Chronicle Online Closed Beta on the 8th July 2009 and since then, Emil Chronicle Online had been a hot topic among the MMORPG community.

Emil Chronicle Online is a Free to Play MMORPG which attracted a lot of players due to its 3D anime graphic. It gives players a feeling as if they are watching an anime/comic while enjoying their adventurous journey.

As the closed beta ended, Run Up Game will be working closely with the developers to improve the game features to provide a best experience for the gamers.

More information about Emil Chronicle Online can be obtain through the official website.

Emil Chronicle

Eudemons: Demon Cases Quest

The summer of 2009 will be one of the hottest yet for EO players as we will be bringing exciting events and new quests for you, as promised! And what’s coming up next will really make you sweat! Just check it out!
 
Chapman has been appointed to sell 7 kinds of Demon Cases in Cronus, each of which is sealed with some strange markings. Once opened, monsters will be released. Kill them and you will be handsomely rewarded with bountiful gifts of abundant EPs and EXP Stones!!
 
The cases are priced differently according to the levels of the monsters sealed inside. The rewards are given out randomly but you should keep in mind that the stronger monsters you slay the better prize you get!
 
If you are lucky enough, you could even win a prize of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of EPs! Yeah, seriously, it’s true!
So, be prepared! It’s coming on July 31st! Good luck and have fun!
Eu Demons

Ambardia Online

Ambardia takes place in the fantasy-themed realm of Ambardia, which is divided into several different regions, and cities. Players can travel throughout Ambardia on foot, by using magical teleportation spells and devices, or mechanical means of transportation such as ships or warp pads. Each region offers different types of monsters, materials, and quests to challenge players. Unlike many other MMORPGs, there is no linear path that must be followed setting their own goals and objectives. Players can combat both monsters and other players, complete quests, or increase their experience in any of the available skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting, or playing combative or cooperative mini-games.

Ashen Empires – Tedious Crafting

By Jason Gallienne (Jrgsubzero), OnRPG Journalist

With Ashen Empires going Free-to-play on May 27 you may be wondering if it’s worth a try. Will this old game still attract new players? This is a MMORPG maintained by Iron Will Games and has since had three expansions. I chose to review this game as it’s an old-school game with many features.

Killing Monsters and Growing Wheat

Let’s begin with how you’ll get around in this world. Ashen Empires is a point-and-click game meaning there is no WASD-based movement. You have three races to choose from: humans, orcs, or night elves. They all look the same except for skin color and walking animations. They also have slight bonuses to different stats. Humans are more oriented towards magic, Orcs are more proficient in melee combat, and Night Elves apply ranged weapons. These advantages only have a slight change on your character and shouldn’t be used for deciding your first choice of character.

Now, unlike most games, you don’t choose a set class. Instead, this game goes by the ‘you are what you do’ method. If you’ve played RuneScape or Oblivion you should have an idea of how this works. If not, here’s a brief rundown: let’s say you go out and slash at something with your sword, then you will receive Large Blades experience. There is an enormous amount of skills for you to level and play around with and I’ll add a link with a list of them at the end of this section.

Next up I’ll talk about leveling. Again, unlike most games, this game has a large focus on trade skills. Along with this, performing trade skills also gains experience for your level! This means you can be a high-level player without even having lifted a weapon. The game also gives you different options of leveling outside of the normal killing of monsters. The game pulls this off very well and I found it a welcome change to the normal grinding. However, crafting in this game is a huge chore. Most trade-skills have many different steps to take and you can craft just one item at a time (or 5 at a time, but the experience you gain is counted as doing it once). Since there is no queue system, this makes crafting a long and boring process. Combined with the fact that you will fail and lose the materials very frequently at a low level, this makes for a very frustrating time for people who would like to craft. Quests in this game can be rewarding as well but be warned that there is no quest log. So be prepared to either have to remember objectives or to write them down.

Combat in Ashen Empires

For PVP there are two servers. Legends is the PVE server and only offers PVP in the arena. Heroes is the PVP server and PVP can happen anywhere outside of a town. On both servers you lose your items on death (from both monsters and players killing you) and you have a set time to get them back from your body until they are fair game to all players (this does not apply to the starting island).

There isn’t any special end-game content. You can kill bosses, hunt dragons, and try to max all your skills. Along with this, paying members have access to all of the game and you have to buy all the expansions as well to experience it all. On top of an optional subscription and expansions, there’s a cash shop that offers some services such as potions and alignment boosts.

Here is that list of skills I promised.

Are You Sure I’m Wearing A Helmet?

With the game being old it obviously won’t live up to modern games. It has a dark feel to it and there’s a day and night system in place. While the ground seems to look nice I found it hard to get a feel for the character due to it being hard to see what you have on and what you look like. The animations are clunky, the ones that actually exist, anyway.

Here is a screenshot so you may form your own opinion on the graphics.

Graphics in Ashen Empires

(Click on the image for full view)

Can You Be Too Friendly?

One of the best points about this game would be the community. They are very helpful, friendly, and sometimes generous. There is a help channel that you can access at anytime and is usually active. There is this small close-knit feeling you feel when you become a part of the community. I personally like this more as it is a better feeling than being a face-less person among a large crowd.

Wrapping It Up

While this game offers different features from most of the newer look-a-likes it would be hard to recommend to any modern day gamer. Between a cash shop, expansions, and a VIP subscription, you may feel like they’re trying to rob you. But don’t fret, you can enjoy the game well enough without spending a dime. This is a good way for new players to get into the game and offers more than P2P games do when they give players a trial.  In the recent months, games seem to be looking toward the F2P payment system. Even a named brand such as Dungeons and Dragons is changing their online MMORPG to the F2P model. Is this a sign of a failing product or is there more money to be had with this model? Well, while this game may only secure a niche player base with modern gamers, this game is definitely not a failure. The game can be tedious, especially with the crafting, for most people to bear.

Pros:
– Crafting plays a large role
– Great community
– Large amount of skills.

Cons:
– Tedious crafting
– Graphics make it hard to interpret your character.

Dogs of the Seas: Arrh me mateys!

By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

Dogs of the Seas: Pirates at War is a browser-based MMO that puts you in the helm of your own pirate ship. You begin as an unknown pirate trying his luck in the brutal seas. You own a portion of land which you call home and through there you start of your swashbuckling adventures.

FTW Pirates with their own Island?

Yep you read it right, you start off in Dogs of the Seas with a Bay that belongs to you. It’s through this bay that you would get majority of the resources you would use in your stay in Dogs of the Seas. Among the 14 resource buildings you can get you are only allowed to build ten with the exception of your starting buildings which are the farm, dock and main building.

Each resource building in your Bay provides a certain amount of resource for that structure. Unlike most browser-based MMOs where the resources you receive are time locked, in Dogs of the Seas, you have to click on the production button found in the building and would have to click on produce. Also, the other thing that’s different in the resources of Dogs of the Seas is that resources would need to use food because you would have to feed the people working on the resource.

City Production

The Agent Speaks

Aside from the resource structures you have in your bay, another form of income earning in Dogs of the Seas is through the Agent who is found in your main building. The agent serves as the quest-giving NPCs of Dogs of the Seas which rewards you handsomely for every successful run.

There are three kinds of missions your agent gives you. These are the Missions and smugglerun, Smuggler’s hunt and Treasure hunt. Each type of mission has a specific goal which you would need to accomplish and that you would need to return to your agent for it to be considered as finished.

Ships galore!

What would a pirate game be if it has no ships? Dogs of the Seas has one of the most interesting ship system included. As you set out from your bay you start of in your travels. You get to control and steer your ship as you go through the seas.

You use the keyboard to navigate and shoot your cannons while clicking your mouse serves to choose your enemy. You would see how your ship is sailing in real-time and as you go you would meet other ships along the way, this is where the game starts to be nitty-gritty.

As you begin you have the basic weapons any old school ship has. You use the space button to attack. You have to make sure that the enemies ships are on the side of your ship to make sure you would hit. Aside from that the game also allows you to allocate skill points on certain stats your pirate has. This is not just a skills game but also a stats game as well.

Full Overview

Dogs of the seas is one of those games tries its best to put you in the seat of one or the world’s most decorated outlaws, a pirate. However, I do think that the game does in fact fail in that regard especially if you are one of those kinds of players who like their pirate games as authentic as possible.

Being an outlaw and all, pirates are not expected to have much property more so a bay of their own, or at least at the beginning of their pirating. So it would be a surprise for them so see their pirate owning something as big as a bay.

Thankfully this little details isn’t really that much important because the gameplay does in fact engage you to keep on playing after signing up. The game’s sign up process is unbelievably fast it’s as if with just a snap of your fingers your instantly whisked away to your land and starting off as a pirate ins search of adventure.

Dogs of the Seas Harbor

You can easily understand what you need to do because the game is image friendly and most of the things you see are in simple terms that anyone would understand. However it is still advisable that you should read the tutorials to at least know what you should be doing. However it is not really that problematic if you decide to become an adventurer and try out the game on your pace.

The game gives enough leeway for newbies to take time and understand how things work. Plus add the fact that the global chat is easily accessible you can immediately ask anyone who’s online for any help, just as long as you are lucky enough to have helpful people online.

In any pirate themed game it is already understood that ships come into the whole mix. In Dogs of the Sea you have power over how your ship sails. The controls are pretty basic and understandable that is why battling in the game is fun and a breeze. Sometimes though lag happens which makes affects how the game goes.

Battling with other players is fun and challenging at the same time. Unlike most it’s either the stats of actual skills that matter in having successful ship battles in Dogs of the Seas it’s a mix of both. Your characters skills and your skill as a captain goes hand in hand if you ever want to win in this game. The game has quite a selection when it comes to your ship’s ammunition thus providing you more than just cannonballs as a means to take down your enemies. This gives the game a more tactical feel that further makes you want to play the game more.

At Sea

Another thing about the game is that it also provides an alternative for you because of the missions the agents give you. This added goal of accomplishing something is not just rewarding but also an encouragement to play the game more.

With these things already sat out, the game has problems too. One of the most obvious is the game’s imagery. There are times when the game’s graphics doesn’t synchronize well with the game that you see dark patches as you set out. Furthermore, with the game’s display pack included the game unknowingly logs you off whenever it tries to load.  The game’s visuals is the game’s Achilles heel if you look at it holistically.

Dogs of the Seas may not be the most authentic Pirate game out there but it sure has made a decent version of this timeless game theme concept. If you want some instant pirate fun this game is a must try.


Pros:
– You get to see your ship in action
– The game has a tutorial that eases your first time experience to the game
– The game is interactive friendly and that you would find it easy to find friends, alliances or people who can help you out if your in a pinch.

Cons:
– Due to the images, the game takes longer to load
– There’s a tendency that some images won’t show up and you would need to disable the image pack to play normally
– You’d have to tweak the interface because it looks cluttered.

Evolution of MMOs: The End of the Line?

By Kei Beneza (Dividelife), Onrpg writer

This article was originally published in Thirteen1 Gaming Magazine, read the July Issue here!

Due to the rate of subscribers, it would seem that MMO games are more popular than ever before.

The age of offline gaming is over!

It’s time to kiss our offline games goodbye as most games now cater their own version of online play, and those who cater it as their primary feature are being bombarded with tons of players worldwide.

We can’t deny how much MMOs have evolved throughout the years, while trying to cater more features to attract gamers with their own unique gameplay. During the old days, MMOs would use the isometric bird’s eye view system, which doesn’t help much when trying to explore the game’s respective areas. Exploration has always been a treat and has been constantly improved throughout the years.

As new games started to surface, more ways of exploration became possible. What was once a fixed camera angle can now be tweaked to fit your desired view-mode, allowing players to build their own relationship with their surroundings. It is much easier to immerse yourself in a game that lets you see the world with your own eyes (not some bird’s). The areas became more and more lively as more themed worlds came to life. What was once just castle blocks and forests have finally evolved into a more diverse variety. Whenever I compare my first MMORPG (Ragnarok) with World of Warcraft, I can’t help but marvel at how much has changed since then.

Ragnarok Online

Entering newly themed areas as the game progresses does remove the odd feeling of linearity, as well as the horrors of visual exhaustion (getting tired of what you see). It was as though I was really living in a different world. A world that lives and breathes just like in real life. Aside from the sudden change of aesthetics, more and more areas like sunken ships and floating areas were featured, giving players more places to explore and more secret areas to discover. It is quite impressive how MMOs managed to take Role Playing Games this far, for what was once a linear set of blocks and leaves have now been issued with diversity (awesome sauce).

Bring out teh 1337 S3xYz0r5!

Other than gameplay matters, other features have also been extended to reach out to a broader line of consumers. New elements like violence and sexual fanservice have been quite successful in luring a wider variety of gamers (awesome). Mature gamers would normally dismiss cutesy characters as childish and would normally not even mind them. This results to the tightly-dressed-overexposed characters that flood our gaming world. It is pretty obvious that cutesy characters no longer appeal to us like before. After seeing countless ‘mature-rated’ games like Gears of War and Resident Evil, I could say that we are currently living in an age where saving the princess is no longer fun. MMOs of course, refuses to succumb to that benchmark thus giving birth to skimpy violent games like Requiem: Bloodymare. It’s safe to say that MMO games are continuing to evolve even as we speak, with more features and themes that are more or less appropriate for our current gaming meta.

Requiem BloodyMare

Refusing to succumb to their limits

Soon after the successful implementation of this new genre of gaming, non-RPG type MMOs joined the crusade. Massively Multiplayer Online doesn’t generally mean Diablo-type RPGs, nor does the word limit them from creating other types of MMOs. Since these games are stereotypically just RPGs with a persistent map, other games like War Rock and Special Forces entered the scene. Once again, Massively Multiplayer Online games managed to push through with yet another genre by mixing the elements of the much enjoyed FPS (First Person Shooter) gameplay with the awesome factor of getting to interact with other players online. A breakthrough? Perhaps. Innovation aside, there are tons of ways for an MMO to evolve. Not to mention the other genres that they can mold into as time progresses. Getting to see something that resembled Counterstrike with MMO features did feel pretty awkward, especially since most of the mandatory features come after leveling up. Although just like any other MMO, the game got me hooked for hours.

War Rock

And it doesn’t end there

Things were getting unconventional, and the only thing that kept me alive was my Ragnarok guild. It was kind of funny since we practically enjoyed the repetitive cycle of having to buy potions and wasting them on mindless grinding. Hoping for something to alleviate our ceaseless grinding, we traversed across countless MMOs and eventually found what we were looking for. Being a fan of Pen and Paper RPGs, I was still disappointed at how they managed to exercise this genre. Luckily, some MMOs managed to cease the killing spree by adding quests. Quests basically immerse you deeper into the storyline as you satisfy conditions to unlock more details about the lore. In my opinion, questing is one of the best features the MMO world has to offer, since it literally removes the linearity of grinding without a purpose (It’s always nice to know that you’re killing things for something other than experience). We don’t know for sure what to expect as these games drastically change from one point to another. Will MMOs one day be obsolete? Exactly how far will this genre of gaming reach? Will there be any way to immerse a gamer deeper into the heart of the lore? Only time will tell.

As it is and as it should be

Playing on a PC or console may very well be the most practical way of playing games. If you were to play MMOs on the Nintendo Wii then the chances of you enjoying your games for more than an hour would be close to none, especially when doing dungeons since the Wii’s innovative features are exercised through body movement. If you ask me, one raid would probably cause you to sleep for a week due to exhaustion.

Exhaustion

If you have time, I suggest you watch the dot//hack series. The anime did point out a couple of possibilities on how far these games can improve over time. After seeing today’s innovative hardware, the idea of a virtual helmet that takes you to an alternate dimension doesn’t seem to be that far off. If ever these benchmarks can be sufficed, then I suppose we’re on our way to having the biggest adventure of our lives. Grasping virtual objects while swinging them with your own conscious body would definitely be a breakthrough in MMO history. We’ve seen FPSes, Tactical shooters, and other genres work for today’s multiplayer meta. From the isometric birds-eye-view to the now freeformed viewer, it does seem possible to see these areas with our own eyes. The question is…

“Is this the end of the line?”

No… The archetype has been made, and these games will continue to move forward.

About Thirteen1 – The Online Games Magazine

Thirteen1 is an independent, online based, professionally made free-to-read games magazine created in East Yorkshire, UK. Each new issue is released on the 13th of every month at 13.00 GMT. Thirteen1 have published 15 issues to date, as well as 2 supplements, covering a wide variety of titles from multiple-platforms.

Nostale Global Announces Survive Event

Uforia, a new online game publisher specializing in massively multiplayer online games, announced that Nostale: Global it will be hosting the “Survive!” event at 4 PM PST today.  Players will be gathered in a specific area which will be announced by the Game Master.  Once assembled in that specific area, players will be required to fend off large armies of Monsters that have been summoned to that area.  One player from each level bracket that survives the longest will be awarded special in-game items.

About Nostale: Global
Nostale: Global takes gamers through numerous exciting levels of the wonderful world of East Mile. Gamers can choose from one of four character classes, each with unique powers and features.  On their way to the top, players have the choice of completing a variety of raids and acquiring a large selection of specialty cards which transform your character into one of over twenty specialty classes.

The game has its own unique sense of ownership. Each player has their own Mini-Land with a virtual player housing area where they can build their house, decorate their homes and environments to match their personality, store their pets and items and invite friends over to take a break and visit.

Nostale features a unique character progression system where characters progress to one of three classes and then are allowed to progress to specialized classes through class cards.
The game also includes an attractive set of comic-style characters that range from cute to fearsome. Players can capture monsters to fight alongside them as well as make friends with NPCs that will follow you around and be your ally in battle.

Nostale Global

Mini Fighter Closed Beta Launched

CJ Internet, the leading global entertainment company, today announced the launch of the Mini Fighter closed beta test and released a new gameplay trailer showcasing in-game battles. In the short week leading up to the launch of the beta, thousands of players pre-registered for beta keys and downloaded the Mini Fighter client. Eager players will now have the opportunity to explore various battle zones – including tag match, free battle and gem catch – and battle opponents in 14 different modes, as well as participate in a variety of community events throughout the closed beta phase.

“Players will have a lot to experience in the first beta test of Mini Fighter,” said Youngjong Jung, President and CEO of CJ Internet. “We’ve been hard at work developing these rich new zones and inaugural events in the game, and it’s exciting to see players enter into the game for the first time and truly engage with the world and its inhabitants.”

During the closed beta phase, players can explore the following new areas in Mini Fighter: battle room, coliseum and single play mode. In addition, players have several play modes to choose from including Survival and Tag Team, and can engage in Village Grapple and Siege Warfare battles with over 200 players at a time.

Additionally, CJ Internet will host two special events during the closed beta. In the first event, called “Achieve Level 25,” players who reach level 25 will receive a colorful character name upgrade that carries over to the full version of the game. In the second event, called “Phoenix Pet Griffith,” players who collect 20 gold carp and visit the Jiang Taigong NPC can exchange the carp for a special addition pet.

Minifighter

Uforia Announces Ukash Promotion

Uforia, Inc., an online game publisher specializing in massively multiplayer online games, announced that the special promotion with Ukash is currently underway until July 31st.  Players who use Ukash to make their UFO purchases during this period will receive great in-game items.  Players will receive in-game items based on which game they play the most.
 
Ukash Promotion Items
 
Nostale: Global
 
$9-   Hair Dye Set, a $2 value. 
$25-  Amulet of Blessing, a $7 value. 
$50 – Mysterious Box Set, a $15 value. 
 
Three Kingdoms: Clash of the Feudal Lords
 
$9-   Leather Bag (7 Days), $2 value
$25- Book of Experience (7 Days). $5.50 value
$50- Chest of Fortune x 3, a $13 value
 
“Ukash offers players an easy-to-use alternative payment method for our games.  We wanted to reward those users with some great in-game prizes during this two week period,” said Chris Keswani, Marketing Manager of Uforia.