Monthly Archives: February 2010
N.E.O. Online Game Play Trailer
Get a marvelous first glimpse at the various environments and classes you’ll be able to enjoy in N.E.O. online!
Combat Grounds Review: Highly Addictive
Combat Grounds Review: Highly Addictive
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist
Browser games have become quite a fad lately, leading to numerous themed games all being played in the comfort of your web browser. Combat Grounds is a free to play massively multiplayer online (MMO) web browser game that deals with military tactics and skirmishes. This game is basically a modernized version of medieval war browser games like Mediwar and Legacy of the Holy Castle. They’re pretty fun to play and quite easy to get used to. The best part is that you can play these addictive games without worrying about computer specs or system requirements (which is the bane of playing games on your PC or Mac). Don’t dismiss it just yet though, browser games like this can be broad and can contain tons of choices to satisfy your non-linear play style.
Locked and Loaded- Let’s get this party started!
Combat Grounds run on a turn based system that is separated via turn points. You’ll be allotted 4000 turns when you start the game. Each round is capped every 10 days, and the victors are rewarded with merits, turns or even in game cash. The game is very lenient when it comes to new players. Unlike other browser games where you must heavily compete with veteran players, you’ll be supplied with everything you need to cope upon starting the game (Finally! No need to grind!). As for cash, you’ll be given $50,000,000 once you log in for the first time. What you do after that is up to you.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think you’re given the permission to SUCK after receiving that much support from the game itself. Aside from turns and money, you’ll be granted 200 recruits at your disposal. You’ll be training them and upgrading artillery to further enhance their efficiency in battle. You’ll be prompted to choose between Navy, Soldier, or Terrorist upon creating your character. After everything is set, you’re ready to go and kick your enemies’ butts.
Attitude adjustment- Why didn’t I just kill you earlier?
Aside from death, you can also lose your soldiers by overworking them. This may come off as a total drag at times, especially when you lack manpower. Luckily you’re free to recruit so go ahead and spend your money wisely. You must also remove your troops from the battlefield upon winning OR losing a war since most players are free to kill your troops if you don’t handle them correctly. Always make sure to prioritize your troops’ well being in order to progress faster while avoiding unnecessary delays.

Have No Fear
Know your worth-err I mean Networth
Aside from winning battles and conquering bases, merits and other rewards can be acquired by boosting your net worth. Net worth serves as your overall rank in the game. This is boosted by recruiting soldiers and by maintaining the continuous evolution of your troops, finance and overall strength. This may demand a lot of your time since there are various players to compete with. Since you’re going to start at the bottom of the foodchain, it’d be best to work your way up in order to fully cope with the resident players.
Yep! Definitely an MMO
Much like any other MMO out there, your characters level up in order to gain access to different features. The only difference is that instead of leveling through experience alone, you level up through the number of troops you have at your disposal. Aside from having the power to nuke other countries, a high-ranking official should have a hefty arsenal (of troops mainly) at their command. If you think about it, it does make sense at some point. You can increase your level by: Conquering enemy bases, attacking players (and winning in the process), and of course through missions (quests in the game). There is also another form of leveling called “grade” which you must satisfy to promote your character and gain access to more weapons and features.
You can also join guilds that are known in this game as “crews”. Much like joining guilds, you’ll have to receive a valid invitation from the head in order to join. After joining the said crew , you will gain access crew banks (best part) as well as a bunch of players who will aid you in your journey.
Interface – Any problems?
Some parts of the game are rather irrelevant, and I’m talking about the interface. Some features like the news page scrolls down on its own, making it hard for players to multitask while reading. Browser games are intended to be hassle-free, which is why it would’ve been better to just add a scroll bar instead of making the text scroll automatically. I know the developers are probably trying to make the experience a bit different from other browser games, but adding irrelevant features make it more troublesome than satisfying. Despite this annoying feature, everything looks dazzling and really fits the “all out war”mood.
You have got to be kidding
This game has a subscription option that lets players enter VIP status. People who pay $20 a month (ouch ripoff) will receive 10 extra turns every 10 mins… the bad part about this is that support tickets from VIP members will be prioritized regardless of how dumb their questions might be compared to your super crash problem. The game IS pretty good, but I don’t think I’m that desperate to subscribe.
The Verdict
All in all, I’d like to say that Combat Grounds is a very nice game. It has action, role-play, a bit of mind games and most of all, a healthy community. At least it makes use of the words MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER. Some of the interfaces may give you some problems but are not that important in the long run. The game is highly addictive and is good for countless hours of game play (mostly while working). There are tons of options, as well as a hefty load of custom artillery ready to beat the living crap out of your enemies. The game is very simple, but definitely not something you’d want to trash upon playing. If you’re into browser games, Combat Grounds is definitely for you!
Pros:
– Tons of options
– Guilds
– Hefty artillery
– Good community
– Lenient towards newbies
Cons:
– Some irrelevant interface addons
– Subscription whoring?! (WTH)
Golemizer Interview: What’s Up Doc?
Golemizer Interview: What’s Up Doc?
Questions by Vincent Haoson
Answered by Dave Toulouse
OnRPG: Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Could you introduce yourself?
My name is Dave Toulouse and I’m an independent game developer from Canada. I’m the creator of the browser based MMORPG Golemizer. At day I’m an analyst programmer working for a small company and at night I transform into Dr. Altus, this crazy but friendly scientist behind the sandbox world of Golemizer.
I started to work on Golemizer in 2007 in need of a challenge and I’ve been served with Golemizer. I had no background in game development so it was a risky bet to work on an MMO for a first game. Many thought I was just passing by but I prove a lot of people wrong when I released Golemizer in 2008. While it may look like a modest game at first people are surprised how deep it is and how vast are the possibilities in this world.
OnRPG: Golemizer has been around for a while now and the game seems to be growing on a steady pace, so how is the game faring now?
The game has now reached what I would call a mature status. Of course things weren’t always easy at first as I had to learn everything on how to run an MMO. It too lot of work but now the game is firmly established and provides an incredible platform to work with.
So the game is really solid right now which is now allowing me to put more efforts on promotion to reach more people. Marketing is never easy for independent developers as we don’t have huge marketing budgets like the big companies. Still, each day new players are joining Golemizer and there is now a very solid community core shaping the soul of the game.
OnRPG: With the amount of player content being created in an almost daily basis how do you keep them all?
When I wrote the first line of code of Golemizer I knew that player content could easily increase at a very high speed so I considered this issue right from the start. So far players have created more than 3,000 quests, 26,000 zones (dungeons, houses, cities), 27,000 golems (pets that are the main weapons in Golemizer) and crafted over 2 million items.
All this content is not loaded all at once though. The content of a zone is only loaded when a player enters it for the first time since the last server reboot. Even though Golemizer’s players are great explorers there is no way they could visit all 26,000 zones in a single day so the server is able to remain stable. The game requires very few resources actually and you could easily run it on your home computer.
OnRPG: Is there a time limit for the items to stay within the game database? Why or Why not?
We (me and the GMs) rarely delete anything. With all the quests created by players it would be too risky to delete something required for one of them. We do clean deserted houses every 3 months around the dock to free space for new players that are looking for a spot to build their house. But again we do not delete these houses. We simply send them back to their owner’s inventory. When the player comes back to the game he can simply deploy his house to another spot.
OnRPG: Can you give us a little history on how the game was like when it started its operations?
Empty! Being the only developer on the project there was no way I could build enough content to keep players busy. That’s why I built Golemizer to be a sandbox game. You’re not only playing the game but you’re building it for the next players as well.
So was the lack of content boring? Well the first players didn’t thought so. They had a huge playground to add their personal touch to the world. New players are still able to do the same but the first people that got to play in Golemizer definitely helped to build the core of the world.
A lot of the popular features were not included right from the start. For example quests created by players came a bit later (but still before major MMOs like City of Heroes). So the first players were really hardcore builders and I made sure to offer some of them the opportunity to become GMs. With their helped the framework I worked on slowly started to look like an actual virtual world. It might sound trivial but things like adding rocks, flowers, roads were things I could not spare a lot of time to add to the world (too busy fixing bugs and improving the code) so the first players played a huge role to make what Golemizer is now today.
OnRPG: What was your inspiration for making a game like this? Where did you get your ideas on the game systems you included in Golemizer?
I discovered MMOs quite late and back then I played only a few of them. By biggest inspiration is definitely Star Wars Galaxies. Not for the Star Wars part but for everything surrounding it like player housing, player cities, player merchants and so on. I thought that the freedom given to players was amazing so I wanted to expand the theme a bit.
OnRPG: Out of the many golems created by players what was the most interesting for you? Why?
The most interesting one is probably one that was recently added to the game and was entirely designed (graphics included) by a player. I ran a competition to design a golem and this one was so weird and so different that it won the first prize. It is called Bedside-Manner and it’s made of furniture. Its purpose is only to carry stuff around which really sets it apart from other golems mostly designed to attack enemies.
This player wanted to expand golems in other ways than combat. Some players completely avoid it in fact as they just like to craft or decorate their house so that kind of golem can become useful for them.
OnRPG: Can you give us an idea on how Golemizer gives players the capability to make quests of their own? How complicated can their quests be?
Building a quest is as simple as buying a “quest NPC” for some gold coins, dropping it in your house, city or dungeon and setting a few parameters. These NPCs can be used to only say something to players or they can send players to hunt a particular target, gather some items or answer a question. Each quest can reward players with gold coins, items or prestige points (used to buy some specific items).
Players can link quests together by setting prerequisites. Each quest has a unique identification number so if you want players to first complete a given quest before speaking to your NPC you just need to put the identification number of the prerequisite quest and type some text so the player receives proper instruction on what to do first. You can link an infinite number of quests together and you can even set quests built by other players as prerequisites for your own!
Before being available to other players all quests must be approved by me or a GM. This prevents any abuse of the quest system. If a quest gives a ridiculous reward for little effort than the GM will simply leave a note to the creator of the quest and the quest won’t be approved until changes are made.
OnRPG: What’s the most complicated quest that a player has done right now in the game?
Well quests remain fairly simple but some players are using this system to build huge storylines. I’m sure a novel could be written out of these quests. Some players like MiFeng and Jumpin Funkydelic have created more than 300 quests with some of them with hilarious dialogs. The dedication of quest creators can be really surprising. They put a lot of energy to tell stories and not just make “ten kill rats” type of quests. I’d have a hard time to pick one but you should definitely check the quests built by these two players (you can easily find them through the GPS system available in the game interface).
OnRPG: What can you say is the most appealing system Golemizer has and that you’re most confident with?
Well obviously the crafting system is the most important as everything you see has been crafted by someone. But the most appealing would probably all systems related to transportation. For me there’s nothing more annoying in a game than having to run for 15 minutes just to reach a particular place. Sure the first time you get there you get a sense of exploration but after that it’s just boring.
In Golemizer players have 3 different ways to travel. First they can build a blimp and fly from one zone. It’s faster than walking and also much safer.
Players can also craft teleporters and drop them in any zone they control (house, city or dungeon). Players can register any teleporters in a special remote and teleport back to it instantly. Players involved in mining are using a lot this system as they sometimes dig very deep and walking their way back to the surface would take a lot of time.
Finally they can also create underground trains which are all linked together. Most major cities have a train (or two) so you can easily jump from one place to another without caring much about getting lost (remember, there is over 26,000 zones so you can easily get lost). It is also a nice way to get people to visit your cities.
OnRPG: Aside from creating items and golems, players can also create their own cities-can you explain to us how does this game system work?
To build a city a player must first buy a blueprint. This blueprint isn’t cheap so if you want a city you’ll have to be dedicated. This is to prevent players from building ghosts cities that are uninteresting. Then the player must use this blueprint on a free spot to actually create the city. At first a city has only 1 zone. Players can add new zones to their city by spending some gold coins.
To finance the expansion of his city the mayor can create lots where other players will be able to put their houses on or their merchants. The mayor is free to set the price he wants for each lot but a lot of veterans and selling very cheap lots to attract new players that don’t have a lot of gold coins to spend.
OnRPG: How customizable are the cities in Golemizer? Are there any limitations on what players can do in their own cities? (follow up: Why or why not? (in regards to the limitations))
A mayor in his city has the same power any player has in his house or dungeon. He can set anything in it like trees, roads or any other item. So there’s no limit to the ways you can customize your city. You can even set permanent golems in it so you can turn your city into a dungeon with quests and dangers.
The only limit is players’ imagination!
OnRPG: Will you be including game system additions to the game anytime soon? Can you give us an idea on what you are planning?
An idea that’s been in my mind for some time is to build a way for players to easily share the amazing work they have done in a given zone. There are wonderful places in Golemizer built by players but the world is so huge (and keeps expanding) that it’s easy to miss them. Even I cannot pretend to have seen everything and each day I discover something new.
So basically players will be able to “bookmark” their zones and other players will be able to view and rate them. That should also be an amazing marketing tools as potential players will see the huge possibilities Golemizer offers by browsing the best rated zones.
OnRPG: Did Golemizer turn into the game you expected it would be? How so?
I think it became much more than what I expected. While I really wanted to create a sandbox world mostly targeted toward crafters I thought the majority of players would still be mostly interested in things like combat. To my surprise that’s not the case. Players are way much more creative than what I expected and it really became a paradise for crafters and explorers at the same time. Crafters are providing content to explorers and explorers are rewarding crafters by visiting their content.
OnRPG: Are you satisfied with what the game has achieved thus far?
Yes but I feel the game has still not reach its full potential in terms of number of players. Of course marketing is never easy for an independent developer and for the first year after release I was mostly busy improving everything, fixing bugs and adding new systems.
Now that the game really looks like the original idea I had I think it is ready to welcome many more thousands of players. It could be intimidating at first for players to step into a world where there wasn’t much but now the world is so rich and the community is solid so there’s never been a better time to start playing Golemizer!
OnRPG: What’s in store for players of Golemizer for the months ahead?
More golems with other purpose than combat are surely to be expected. Like I said I also want to allow players to share more easily the work they do through what you could call an interactive gallery system. New regions with different settings (jungle, Wild West) are also ideas I’m currently fleshing out.
I’m always keeping an eye in the suggestions forums to see what players have in mind so there could be some unexpected surprises coming up.
OnRPG: Thank you for answering our questions!
It’s been a pleasure!
MapleStory goes event crazy in February
MapleStory goes event crazy in February

Zodiac Online Open Beta Launches just in time for Valentines day
Zodiac Online Open Beta Launches just in time for Valentines day
As a turn-based MMORPG (something that’s not frequently found nowadays) Zodiac Online’s Final Closed-beta phase is coming to a successful end, and its Open-beta test will be launched very soon on Feb. 10th.
Zodiac Online is a F2P game suitable for all people at any age. The game is full of Chinese cultural elements, especially the 12 Zodiac Signs. Players play as zodiac envoys sent by the Jade Emperor, the Lord of the Heaven to the human world to help humans fight against invading demons. The game has colorful and cute graphics, which have attracted a lot of girl players.
Unlike the battles in other real-time games, players in Zodiac don’t need to decide what to do in battles in a hurry, so even those who don’t have any experience on playing games can handle this game easily. It’s truly a game to relax and enjoy rather than rush to complete!

4Story: Valentine Event!
4Story: Valentine Event!

MMORPG Trends: Where Have We Come From? Where Are We Headed?
MMORPG Trends: Where Have We Come From? Where Are We Headed?
Nicolas Chua (Raiyne), Onrpg Journalist
MMORPGs have been around for more than a decade. Since the beginnings of this humble genre of video games, developers have been following a set of rules when it comes to developing an MMORPG, few daring to take risks. Adhering to the nature of RPGs, the pioneers of this genre have laid the foundations for generations of MMORPGs to come. However, we have seen many interesting developments in the features that MMORPGs offer.
First off, how do you define an MMORPG? Well, the first and most important feature required would be the a online world where all the avatars of players go about their business. A large world linking all who inhabit it, hence the massively multiplayer part. Most of these online worlds are seamless but some MMORPGs such as Ragnarok online and Age of Conan split the world up into zones.
Personal Dungeons
Ever since World of Warcraft’s huge success in the MMORPG market, many developers have made use of instanced dungeons. Instanced dungeons are a copy of a dungeon created solely for every player or party who enters one. Although World of Warcraft is not the first to come up with this idea, it popularised this feature and every single dungeon in World of Warcraft is instanced.

Dungeon entrance of an MMO instance
This has drawn criticism from players for detracting from the gameplay experience as it isolates the player or his party from the rest of the virtual world, thus breaking the image of a living, breathing online community. Despite that, it has proven to be an effective way of preventing kill stealing, competition for bosses and creating rich dungeon crawling adventures that would not have been possible with the inteference of other players.
Do your job!
The second most important feature, would be the theme of character progression. There must always be something for a player to do, a goal they can strive for, or they wouldn’t play the game. In the case of an MMORPG, the player strives to improve his character, be it in wealth or in power. Basically this would be earned through earning experience, gaining levels and selling loot, similar to how a typical RPG would play out, what most gamers would be familiar with. Early MMORPGs in the form of MUDs (Multi-user Dungeons) played combat out in a automated, turn by turn combat sequence, but the MMORPG that heavily influenced this gameplay aspect was Everquest.
In 1999 Everquest was release by Sony Online Entertainment. It took many gameplay elements from previous MUDS and traditional RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. During character creation, players chose from a wide variety of races and classes to define their character, distinctly defining each person’s role in a team.

Depiction of different classes in Everquest
For example, the ‘Tank’, would be a player who is capable of taking the most damage for the team due to his vitality and would have to draw the enemies towards him to p rotect his more delicate team members. A damage dealer would be a character who is able to deal massive amounts of damage per second, now often abbreviated as DPS. A DPS character would more likely have less health and protection than a ‘Tank’ character to balance out. These archetypes are now commonly known among MMORPG players. One thing to keep in mind is that this also restricted each player to a certain style of playing.
As combat grew harder as the player progressed to higher levels, players were basically forced to group up to progress further as the monster got too difficult to take down individually. This is where players fit into their roles in the team nicely, where each class is vital to the party’s success.
In World of Warcraft, everyone has talent!
Later on, with the advent of World of Warcraft, the concept of ‘talent trees’ added diversification to the progression of an MMORPG character. In World of Warcraft, players start adding po ints into their talents each time they level up, from level 10 onwards. Each class has 3 different ‘talent trees’, basically a path of talents to follow, which enhance the character in different ways.
Other games implement this in a different fashion, examples such as Guild Wars, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. In Guild Wars, the typical RPG stats such as Strength and Dexterity are done away with. Instead, players puts points into different attributes which improve its related skills. Every class has different attributes and is able to use every skill availible to them, with the limit of bringing only 8 skills to battle. Given the extremely large amount of skills available to the player, this amounts to many different skill builds that a player can play with. The introduction of this feature in many MMORPGs gave players more options to choose their gameplay experience without being too restricted by the character archetype while maintain ing the basic intended role of the class.
Lights, Camera, Action!
The most recent upcoming trend in the genre is action oriented combat. Originally, graphical MMORPGs use a point and click control system where hotkeys would be used for special skills, largely adapted from the Hack N’ Slash RPGs of the late 90s. Later on, with technological advances, WSAD movement was implemented, allowing for slightly more dynamic combat. This movement of action oriented combat is another step in the progression of improving the MMORPG genre. Some take a more subtle approach to this while others take on a completely new system of combat for an MMORPG, at least.
A game which introduced an interesting feature in their combat system was Age of Conan, where you have to dictate the direction of your attacks and movement has an effect on avoiding your opponents attacks. The idea was good in theory, however the execution was subpar and players complained of a compl icated and difficult system to control.
In the extreme section, an example of a radically new combat design would be in Darkfall Online. In Darkfall Online, combat is entirely in real time and the player controls exactly when he strikes, or casts a spell. This is reminiscent of the Elder Scrolls series of games (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind onwards), featuring such action oriented controls. Upcoming MMORPGs in this category are Mortal Online, Mabinogi Heroes and All Points Bulletin.

Total Immersion (I’m sure you never look like this)
What does the future hold?
As we advance in technology, developers are able to create richer, more engaging experiences for MMORPG gamers. What I personally see in the future is the avatar truly being the embodiment of the player’s actions, being so responsive that the player is completely immersed in the game and is able to further enjoy the experience that of inhabiting that online fantasy world and with better technology, we will be able to enjoy such games. It is pretty impressive, how technology has improved in the past 10 years, I have no doubt this future is not far off. The future looks bright indeed.
TLBB Closed Beta Unleashed!
TLBB Closed Beta Unleashed!

Join the special events in TLBB
– See The Moon
– Cupid’s Kiss
– Marriage Memory
– To Be Or Not To TLBB
– A Ticket To Heaven
– £35 Wealth Giveaway
– Friends Are Your Best Weapon

Imperian Review: So Old School It Rules
Imperian Review: So Old School It Rules
By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist
Imperian is a browser based text game that puts you in the shoes of one of the many possible races in the game world of Aetherius. Demons, orcs and bickering gods are your biggest problem besides trying to survive the rough land you’re in.
Gameplay
Imperian’s gameplay is like a table top game using flash and your browser as your controlling mechanism. The game narrates what is happening, it tells you what you see, what you should be hearing and the currentoptions you may have. All input into the game is done by typing the word or the letter which the narrator explains.To put it in a table top game perspective, Imperian is like your personal Dungeon Master that guides your travels in the world of Aetherius.
Classes
Naturally, when you play a game like this there is the normal roster of three basic characters, however Imperian provides you twelve races to choose from. They range from the standard Human to Dwarves and Elves. There are some racesthat are unique to the gameand this gives the game a broader scope when it comes to character creation. The added unique races have a story of how they came to be and that they have different strengths and weaknesses akin to their race. The new racesfound in Imperian are a big plus for the game because it gives players more choice when it comes to creating their characters. . More choices means that you get to enjoy discovering how they differ from each other.
An Immersing experience
The thing about Imperian’s gameplay is that it never fails to immerse you into the world.. Yes, there is the lack of a graphical interface but in exchange you get a truly Table-Top gaming feel. It is like you are seeing your character as it travels through the world Imperian sets before you. The game is purely story driven set by how you act according to the scenario that is given to you. Games like this takes time and if you are impatient this isn’t going to work for you. Imperian is definitely a game to be enjoyed as a slow-paced RPG rather than an action RPG that we often see with graphically heavy browser games.

A view of Imperian
Awkward Controls
As immersive as the game is, it is not immune to flaws. The primary problem with Imperian would be the controls. Normally, you control your character in a browser game by clicking, here in Imperian, you move your character by typing in the commands. This sounds really awkward and totally inconvenient in theory but once you get the hang of it, it works fairly well. I can say that the commands are another immersive feature for the game. As awkward as it is, typing in what your character would do in-game does make you feel like you are inside the world.
Easy connection
Imperian uses flash as its mainplatform. This can be a problem with older computers however it does help lessen loading problems as you play. The flash system helps as there is no real lag time as you play the game. Everything is run in real time therefore even if the game is slow-paced it’s in constant flux making the game not too boring especially for those thrill seekers.
Usually in games like this there is a lag in-between action especially if the Internet traffic is congested. This is where the game being text-heavy comes as a bonus. Even if the net is screwy the game does not really let up in performance.
Conclusion
Imperian is a rare game that emphasizes how the story unfolds rather than on how you get to slash you way to victory. The game also encourages you to use your imagination, similar to people still reading books even if there are movies available. Though that reasoning may be a convenient excuse for the games lack of anything graphic but it does deliver as long as you have paid attention to the game and used your imagination extensively.
This is the type of gameplay that shows a lot of promise because role-playing games originally came from Table Top gameplay. So it is safe to assume for me that this game would have a niche of its own. However, while it may be true that the game is reminiscent of the roots of the original RPGs, this may be in fact a game that is a little too outdated for gamers. This type of gameplay would attract those who prefer old school RPGs rather than those who are looking fora quick game. If you are the type who wants fast action and an instantaneous adrenaline rush for their game then this one is not for you.
As far as story-driven RPGs are concerned though, Imperian is one of the best I’ve seen, using narration and a gameplay that is so old-school that it rules is the successful mix for this game. All in all Imperian is one of those games that can be considered as a classic when it comes to RPGs however, not everyone in this day and age would understand the awesomeness of the game. If you want a role-playing game that brings quality rather than eye candy then this game is for you.
Pros:
– The gameplay is exclusively unique to Imperian
– The game is a mix of storytelling and roleplaying goodness
– It makes you feel like you are playing a table-top game.
Cons:
– Imagination is a major requirement in playing the game
– The text color can be bothersome for older monitors
– The game does not have that much graphics on the interface.