Yearly Archives: 2009

Unique MMORPGs

By Jeffrey Kerkdijk (Hyarume), Onrpg writer
 
Article featured in Gaming Magazine Thirteen1 May Issue.
 
In the last few years MMORPGs haven’t been really known for innovation. Most of the MMORPGs play pretty much like  one another. However there are some games that really are unique, and some of them will never see daylight again. While many people are complaining about MMORPGs being so generic, there are several unique MMORPGs out there. In this article I want to tell the stories of some truly unique MMORPGs and some that died along the way.

The saga of Ryzom, launched in September 2004, is to be called one of a kind. A sandbox MMORPG where you can enjoy freedom, and features never seen before in any MMORPG.  The game wasn’t very lucky, it had few players. On November 20, 2006 Nevrax announced that the game would enter receivership and that Nevrax would seize to exist. However, there was still some hope. In that same month the Free Ryzom Campaign was started and was open for donations, their goal was to make Ryzom open source. They never reached that goal but they did donate sixty thousand dollars one month later.  On December 21, Nevrax was sold to the gaming company Gameforge.

Under Gameforge the game had another year of life, until the second week of February when the game was closed down. It seemed like there was no future for Ryzom. But the game opened its doors again,  the engine became open-source and the game is returning to its Pay to play business model soon. This time it seems to be noticed, there are more and more people coming to this unique MMORPG and the future seems bright once again.
Tabula Rasa was another unique MMORPG, its goal was to combine the elements of a shooter with a MMORPG. The game had a human versus aliens concept, on November 2, 2007 Tabula Rasa opened its doors. Tabula Rasa did not reach the number of subscribers that where first predicted and eventually Richard Garriott, the man behind Tabula Rasa, left NCsoft.
Darkfall was released on February 26, 2009 in Europe with features such as unrestricted PvP, a huge game world and a character development system in which you can go all ways. Despite having a lot of negative reviews, the game is sold out. Subscription numbers are unknown, and what the future will bring for Darkfall is a big mystery.
So why is it that Unique MMORPGs don’t always seem to have a successful life, why do generic games often become more successful that the ones that are different. Isn’t it strange that the most of us rather play a another game which is more like the standard MMORPG rather than another one that truly is one of a kind? But what about the ones that are having success? What about their lives?
Mabinogi a fantasy life MMORPG, a major success. With an unique combat system, character development system, and the ability to have your life in the game. It’s a big hit. The game is currently only available in Asian territories and North America, and is IP-restricted. The game has a lot of players.
City of Heroes/Villains is another unique MMORPG that has a success story,  a MMORPG with a super hero/villain theme. An original concept but there is much more to it. A unique gameplay, great customization, casual play friendly and rather than a fantasy world. A big city! Paragon city.

The launch of the game was known widely to be the most successful MMORPG launch around the globe. The game has earned itself 19 awards, the game is a great success.

Enough about games from the current generation, let’s look on some projects that are in development that also seem to be one of a kind.
Aion: The tower of eternity, with unique features such as the ability to fly and do flying combat, big character customization, unique PvP system, Skill chain system (think combo’s) it promises to be a interesting project. Also interesting is the fact the Korean and Chinese versions are already showing signs of success.
Blade and Soul, a martial arts MMORPG, promises to be a heavy action MMORPG. A  video of the game can be found on the web and it shows us gameplay that seems to be fast, with a lot of action. I even had to look twice because I thought it was a single player the first time I saw the trailer.
Some games are pretty unique and others use the concept of another and use it for their own. It all comes down to you, the player. What game do you prefer? What would you like to see? And why do some of these unique games fail so hard? What kind of gameplay do we expect from an MMORPG?

No one knows the recipe for a perfect MMORPG, we have to play them and find out ourselves whether we like them or not.
Some questions will always remain unanswered.

YS Online: 2nd Closed Beta

Today Ys fans have reasons to celebrate because at 10:00 CEST the Ys Online servers will re-open. Both old and new players are welcome to sign up for this closed beta and find out how the Ys world has transitioned into a fully featured MMORPG.
Ys Online: The Call of Solum had a successful launch in Asia. Its astonishing gameplay, beautiful manga style graphics and low spec requirements have seduced hundreds of thousands of players from China, Korea and Japan. And now, for the first time in Europe, Ys Online will be completely translated into four languages – English, French, German and Spanish.
More than 50.000 Key To Play accounts have applied for a key on the official site since the announcement two weeks ago. Stay updated at YsOnline.com!
Ys Online: The Call of Solum is an MMORPG based on the famous Ys series, created by the Japanese company Falcom. Since its first title for the 8 bit generation, it has since been turned several manga series, OAVs and even novel. Now, Falcom and CJ Internet are proud to present Ys Online: The Call of Solum, the new title of the series. This time the Ys experience is moving online, with the classic manga look that has become a key characteristic of the series.
With the Man of Wings’ ascent to the sky, chaos reigned in the continent of Eresia. The central region known as Europa was divided into two opposed realms: Romun, dominating the centre and South of the region and Etruria, in the North.
After one hundred years of constant war across the land, several kingdoms fell, one after the other, against the fearful monsters emerging from the chaos. In the end, 12 soldiers of the different races, the Eresians, Kimoans and Afrocans, joined Grey the Hero, to defeat the monsters and establish a new empire under the name of Romun that spanned the continent.

The Warlords: Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese calendar. For thousands of years, people have celebrated it in honor of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan (340 BC – 278 BC).
Qu was a minister of the State of Chu situated in present-day Hunan and Hubei provinces, during the Warring States Period (475-221BC). He was upright, loyal and highly esteemed for his wise counsel that brought peace and prosperity to the state. After realizing that the country was now in the hands of evil and corrupt officials, Qu took his life, jumping into the river.
The local people, respecting him so much that they decided to throw food into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan’s body. They also sat on long, narrow paddle boats called dragon boats, and tried to scare the fish away by the thundering sound of drums aboard the boat and carved dragon head on the boat’s prow. That’s how the Zongzi and Dragon Boat Race come into fruition.
During the Duanwu Festival, a glutinous rice pudding called zong zi is eaten to symbolize the rice offerings to Qu. Ingredients such as beans, lotus seeds, chestnuts, pork fat and the golden yolk of a salted duck egg are often added to the glutinous rice.
The dragon-boat races symbolize the many attempts to rescue and recover Qu’s body. A typical dragon boat ranges from 50-100 feet in length, with a beam length of about 5.5 feet, accommodating two paddlers seated side by side.
This year, the Dragon Boat Festival will fall on May 28th. WL would like to invite you join the WL Dragon Boat Festival Event to celebrate this special holiday.
Be sure you don’t miss out!

Unforgiven War: First Expansion

Nvinium Games Inc. announced the alpha launch of UW-WWII.  The popular text based MMORPG UnforgivenWar has begun the first in its series of UWMultiVerse expansion games.  UW-WWII is a full stand-alone game that is based upon the historical events of the World War II time period that connects to the existing UnforgivenWar to give the community multiple options of game play.
Set in the year 2012, the Large Hadron Collider has created the first mini “black hole, which inadvertently creates a rip in the space-time continuum.   This allows the current world to see forward and back in time and also allows our world to travel at least to one time period.  That time period is circa 1939 at the beginning of World War II.  Germany is struggling with a massive depression and the people have lost hope.  Self-proclaimed leader, Adolf Hitler, has plans to consolidate the fractured government while quickly and ruthlessly taking control of the countries that surround. He secretly establishes an axis of other countries to become close partners in the quest to dominate the world. The community of UnforgivenWar may choose to move back to that period to become an Ally or Axis and build their characters and armies in addition to continuing to battle in today’s time.
The ability for multiple games to be tied to one massive community is very different and new in the MMOPRG text game market.  UnforgivenWar is not only allowing users to play in different games from one user base but the “world communities” are tied together with its own unique global chat system that allows all the communities to see what is happening instantly.  With over 131,000 players in UnforgivenWar, the ability to allow those users to “move between games” effortlessly makes the game community even more challenging, entertaining and versatile. According to Matt Abrams CEO of Nvinium Games Inc., “Our platform is unique in the world of text based MMORPG’s, this expansion has extended the options for game play far beyond the already existing distinctive features such as the mobile text community.”

Fiesta, Wind Slayers, Project Powder Updates

Fiesta: Soon there will be a new server available for Fiesta to help clear up some of the very popular servers that have been out for some time now. Also, James Forge is coming out Wednesday.
Similar to Remi’s Rare Finds there will be unique items that can only be found at the forge. James Forge is focused more on enhancements giving all players something useful for every play.
 
Wind Slayer: Logging in can earn you gold? On Saturday and Sunday there’s word that simply logging in will get your character 5,000 gold, try it out and see for yourself.
 
Project Powder: The Video Trailer Contest is happening right now. Send in your videos and win a 1GB USB Flash Drive, along with the new Nikki character and in game money! First, second, and third will all win the flash drive and Nikki, with first place just getting more in game money so make sure to submit! Click here for more information.

Shot Online: 2000$ Donated

San Jose-based online game publisher, Gamescampus.com today announced the results of its annual online ALS Charity Tournament for its popular online golf simulation game, Shot Online. The tournament ran from May 4th through May 14th on the challenging Sosori golf course.  A total of 1,417 Shot Online players participated in the charity tournament to help aid the research to cure ALS.
 
GamesCampus donated $1 for every player who completed the entire 18-hole Sasori course in the Shot-Online game. In addition to the $1,417 donated for each player who participated in the event, the company also donated additional funds to provide a total donation of $2,000. All proceeds are being donated to the Driving 4 Life organization to benefit its ALS Therapy Development Institute and ALS research efforts. The Shot-Online charity event has been held annually since 2006 to remember a former player who passed away from ALS (commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).
 
 
“We would like to thank everyone who participated in our annual Shot-Online ALS Charity Tournament,” said Tony Liu, Producer of Shot-Online. “We are thrilled the event was again a tremendous success, and are happy to be contributing to the Driving 4 Life organization to help raise awareness and, most importantly, a cure for ALS.”

Quake Live

Quake Live puts the world famous FPS available as a free-to-play online experience for everyone. Make a character, connect to other players, and enter the frag-fest in over 140 arenas and 12 game modes. An optional subscription unlocks full access to the game’s modes and maps, plus offers additional perks like clans.
Quake Live is available as a standalone client download, and will be coming to Steam soon.

Seal Online Gameplay

Nice graphic, seven different unique classes, pet system, couple system and tons of other features: that’s what the free MMO Seal Online will offer you. Take a look at this video to get introduced to Seal Online’s world!

Country Wars Online trailer

“This is a story of humans, before they were defeated in the War against Gods and driven out to “Agonyl”, the land of bitter…”. That’s the prologue for the fantasy MMORPG Country Wars Online! Watch the first trailer now!