Yearly Archives: 2010

Preview: Heroes of Might and Magic’s Getting the MMO Treatment

Preview: Heroes of Might and Magic’s Getting the MMO Treatment
By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

 

Heroes of Might and Magic Online (Writer’s note: I’ll call the game heroes online from this point on) is the MMO spin-off of the turn-based fantasy-themed franchise, Heroes of Might and Magic. For those who are unfamiliar with the franchise, the game’s  premise is that you’re a hero of a certain race, and through your strategic prowess both in military and economic management of your kingdom you eventually become the leader feared by all.

 

 

HOMM Choose

 

 

Heroes doesn’t go far from its predecessors in terms of the overall game concept. However, the game takes liberty in adding the MMO elements that are never part of any of its past incarnations. I personally did not mind the additions since it adds the MMO feel that we’re all so used to experiencing.

 

First Impressions

Heroes is not newbie friendly. You’d easily get lost in the game if you don’t pay attention. I personally had problems in finding certain NPCs to go further in the numerous quests that were lined up for me to finish.

 

The game’s tutorial is definitely lacking. There are a lot of important areas in the game that are not explained in the series of tutorials you that you may or may not take. I think the game assumes that you need to explore the game to figure things out. This doesn’t bode well for those  who are used to having the game information spoon-fed to them by the game.

 

Personally, I have no problems in terms of trying to figure things out, but there’s a difference between being tolerant of the tedious discovery process because it’s part of the game’s “atmosphere” and just being ridiculously tedious. I mean it took me almost more than half an hour to figure out how to learn spells, and the NPCs that are supposed to help out don’t have the answer. Even their wikipage gave me the wrong information.

 

Regardless of the initial inconveniences, once you get the hang of the game it’s an enjoyable experience through and through (as long as you’re a fan of turn-based battles)

 

MMO Elements

As I mentioned earlier, the game retains the gameplay elements that Heroes of Might and Magic is famous for. However, with the game being an MMORPG, there’s an additional layer of “adventuring” that’s not part of any another Heroes game.

 

 

HOMM Equipment

 

This “layer” is the real-time adventuring you will have to take to navigate through the world. Unlike in old heroes games where you move in turns and the primary gameplay core is resource management and military warfare, this version allows you to travel in real-time. The game also has random instanced battles once you get out of the city.

 

The old-school heroes gameplay is still found in the game, however, it’s now a separated instance in the form of “quests” or areas of exploration.

 

 

HOMM Travel

 

 

The separation of these two major gameplay elements is pretty awkward. However, I think this is a necessary evil specially since the original gameplay is more of an acquired taste.

 

 

HOMM Travel 2

 

 

Battles

The game’s battles is still pretty much the vanilla Heroes trademark turn-based combat. Regardless if it’s a random instanced battle, PvP or PvE you still fight in a hexagonal grid. While personally I have no problems with the combat system since this is in fact a Heroes game, the problem of this combat system is still present.

 

 

HOMM Combat

 

I’m referring to the point where it’s pretty awkward to manoeuvre your units specially on areas on the map that have monsters grouped together. It doesn’t help too that the color of the movement boxes isn’t too clear specially on specific maps.

 

Even with those problems present it doesn’t change the fact that the combat is still challenging. It pushes you to think of better unit placement prior battles and during.

 

Spells

The spell book system is still part of the game feature. However, unlike in previous heroes titles where you learn your spell from your “library”, the game requires you to do quests and go to specific areas to gain them. While gaining spells has become tedious, it’s at least a refreshing change from the usual “you need to study spell so-and-so at your lv. 5 library”.

 

 

HOMM Spellbook

 

The other thing I liked about the spells system is the alternative proficiency system the game has. Normally, you have to use the spells a lot before you get to be “master” of it, however in Heroes Online, you get to “meditate” and increase it gradually. The downside of this is that you can’t move while you’re meditating, but honestly, it’s not a problem because that’d only mean you can leave your game on as your character “meditates” while you do other things.

 

Town

Heroes Online’s town management seemed to have been put in the background, unlike in other titles where it’s your central most important game element (except for your hero of course). You can still upgrade structures and recruit units. However, that’s basically the town’s use.

 

 

HOMM Structure

 

Heroes Online has put more importance in your character growth instead of your town/city. Since a lot of the game elements that used to belong to the town/city has now branched off into separate game features, you can say that the prominence of your town has lessened, but it’s still there to remind you that the game is not just about your character.

 

 

HOMM Scaling

 

The game allows you to establish your town outside of the “city zones” into the “suburbs”. These suburb towns are the scaled versions of your city which brings various benefits for your character. I personally liked the idea of the inclusion of such towns since it adds goals to your Heroes Online experience.

Conclusion

I for one liked the idea that Heroes of Might and Magic got itself the MMO treatment because the game has a lot of potential in the MMO scene. My only gripe with it is that the execution of the game lacks terribly. The game in my perspective is like a very rough version of Heroes of Might and Magic III (VI is already coming out next year so you can imagine the difference). Or maybe it’s just that I expected too much from the game that delivered too little.

 

If TQ Digital planned on making the game a full-fledged MMO then they have succeeded. However the game lost the Heroes of Might and Magic feel that I was expecting to have. Still the game is solid enough to grab your attention.

 

Cataclysm Paid Faction and Race Changes Available at Launch

Cataclysm Paid Faction and Race Changes Available at Launch

Many people have been asking the ever important question of when they’ll be able to convert their existing characters into Goblins or Worgen after Cataclysm hits shelves on December 7th. It was previously believed that there would be a month or two delay to prohibit players gaining the race first achievements, but that isn’t the case afterall!

 

World of Warcraft Faction Transfer

Blizzard today have announced that all players will be able to use paid faction and race changes immediately once Catacylsm is released, Realm First achievements for leveling a class to 85 will remain however there will be no Realm First Achievement associated with leveling characters of a specific race.

Goblins and Worgen do have some small changes to the way that paid services work for them, these races must not be located in the Lost Isles or Gilneas zones when initiating the process. 

 

Review: K.O.S. FPS Runs Free on the Source Engine

Review: K.O.S. FPS Runs Free on the Source Engine
By Mohammad Abubakr (Abubakr), OnRPG Journalist

 

K.O.S or Kill on Sight: Secret Operations is a free FPS (first person shooter). What makes this game special is that it runs on the Source engine. This engine was used to power games like Counter Strike and features things like advanced shading and physics. Due to this, you can expect this game to function similar to other games using the Source engine.

 

Of course this does not mean that all games using the same engine will be exactly the same. K.O.S offers some unique features that will make you wantto give it a try. First of all, let us take a look at how the game plays.

 

Like most free FPS games you are required to join rooms. The game is not an open world and all rooms run in separate worlds. Kill on Sight does not play very differently from other FPS games. You use your keyboard to control your character and use your mouse to aim and fire. You can communicate with your team using the chat or simply issuing pre-made commands. You should pick it up fast if you are an FPS player. The unique part of this game is that you have the ability to use skills.

 

Skills can only be used in certain rooms. When someone creates a room they have the option to allow the use of skills. There are three skills at the moment. They can be used to recover health and armor, increase total health for a limited time or to lower the re-spawn time. Currently skills seemed to be disabled because when you create a room the option to allow skills has been disabled and the shop does not sell any skills.

 

However, the shop does sell weapons and equipment. There are many different types of weapons that can be bought ranging from pistols to sniper rifles. This makes it so there are many ways to play the game. Equipment may also be bought to change the appearance of your character if you want a unique look. If you really like the game you can buy weapons from the cash shop by using real money. At first I was confused why all items could be bought with in game money as that would not give any profit to the publishers. It seems the cash shop is on the website and not in game.

 

KOS Weapons
Buying weapons from the shop

 

Another unique and awesome future in K.O.S is the pro mode. If you think you are really good, you can bet money before starting games. The money or crones get taken away before the match begins. Like they say; Put your money where your mouth is. Finally, the game offers computer-controlled bots. These can be added into rooms to fill in for missing players or just to practice on. There are various difficulties for bots ranging from easy to very hard.

 

Characters

When I started the game, I was able to create a character. There were three different preset characters I was able to pick between. They were the SMG specialist, sniper and rifleman. The SMG specialist specializes in submachine guns for close range combat. They use rapid firing weapons. The sniper uses sniper rifles to eliminate targets from  long range. They also use pistols and knives for when they encounter an enemy in close combat. Riflemen use all rifles and fight in mid to short range combat. It does not matter much which class of character you make. I chose a sniper but still received a fast firing weapon if I did not feel like sniping. Additional characters can be made for the cost of 30,000 crones (in game money).

 

KOS Character
Creating a character

 

Game Modes

Now that we know how the game plays, let us look at the different game modes that are offered. Unfortunately, there are only two game modes at this moment. These are team deathmatch and search and destroy. Team deathmatch is a game mode you often see in free FPS games. It is a very simple but fun game mode. It consists of two teams that fight each other until a goal is met. In Kill on Sight, room masters have the option to set the goal as number of kills or just a time limit.

 

Setting the goal to a number of kills is very simple. This basically means that whichever team hits the required number of kills first will win. If no team hits the required amount of kills before the time limit, whichever team has the most kills will win. Alternatively, game masters can just set a time limit and no kill limit. In this scenario, the team with the most kills at the end of the time limit will win.

 

KOS Deathmatch
Playing team deathmatch

 

In Search and Destroy, two teams try to attack or defend certain points. The attacking team is given a bomb that they must place at any of the bombsites on the map while the defenders must not allow the attackers to do this. Once the bomb has been planted a timer begins to tick. The defenders can defuse the bomb and claim victory. If the defenders allow the bomb to explode, the attackers will win. Alternatively, if your team gets killed you will lose as there is no re-spawning in this mode. In Kill on Sight, the red team attacks while the blue team defends.

 

Maps

Maps are very important for first person shooters. Different maps mean different play styles. It is not possible to use the same strategy on all maps. Some maps require you to play cautiously while others encourage a more aggressive approach. This game offers many different maps that should keep you busy for a while. This is very good for KOS players as you can easily get bored with only two game modes if you do not have many maps. Please keep in mind that not all maps support both game modes. Some maps may only be for deathmatch and some only for Search and Destroy.

 

Sound and Graphics

The game has great sound. Guns sound realistic, the voice commands give realism that you are really in a battle and sound effects when you get hurt or die are great. Sound is a great addition to any game. The sound in KOS really helps to emphasize that you are in a battle. The in game graphics are very good compared to other free FPS games. The weapons and character models look great. The game does have a lot of blood when you get killed or hurt but it does not transfer onto your weapons like Operation 7.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, KOS is a good shooter to pass time with. There are better free first person shooters available but this game is worth a try. There does not seem to be many people playing the game as only one channel has a good number of rooms but that amount is not very high. The ping tends to be pretty high for most players including myself. The issue could be that everyone is on the westcoast server while I live in the east coast. Unfortunately, the east coast servers are usually empty. With only two game modes, this game could get repetitive but the various maps can help extend the time you enjoy it.

Galactic Command

GCO is a space and planetary combat MMO that takes place in a large galaxy. The game is developed by 3000AD, a company with over twenty years’ experience in developing high end and hard core space/planetary combat games such as the Battle cruiser and Universal Combat series, and most recently the All Aspect Warfare games.

 

It is however not a traditional MMO. For one thing, though the servers are capable of supporting tens of thousands of players, each game “Universe” only allows up to 256 players; though several Universe servers can be linked to form a seamless (to the clients) mesh.

 

There is no instancing, sharding or waiting in a game lobby queue to play.

 

Craft of Gods Announces New Daily Quests

Our good friends from Kalanticus, the Italian company responsible for the great (now F2PCraft of Gods have sent us the following announcement:

In the next patch will be added new Daily quests. There are different kinds of daily: instanced, farming and gathering. Each daily can be done every 24 hours and the instanced daily provide some items that can be exchanged for Kun in the towns. So Free to Play players can gain Kun freely doing daily quests!

The three instances, different for level, will be called Astral Plan, Pandemonium and Secret Hide and players can reach these years using an NPC in the two capitals: Askol and Karachev.

The monsters in the instances drop some items to complete the daily quest and the reward is a special item that can be traded to have Kun.

In the same patch will be launched also the Land of Prav, a Light vs Darkness area where players can conquer the relic to open the hidden part of the Cave of Tallion to fight against new bosses that drop epic items and Kun.

 

Our good friends from Kalanticus, the Italian company responsible for the great (now F2P) Craft of Gods have let us know they will be introducing Daily quests

 

Great changes coming to an already great game!

Creative Hardware

Creative is the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for the personal computer (PC) and the Internet. Creative was founded in Singapore in 1981 with the vision that multimedia would revolutionize the way people interact with their PCs.

 

Famous for its Sound Blaster sound cards and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now driving digital entertainment on the PC platform with products like its highly acclaimed ZEN line of digital audio players. The company’s innovative hardware, proprietary technology, applications and services enable consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment-anytime, anywhere.
Since launching the phenomenally successful Sound Blaster sound cards and setting the de facto standard for PC audio in 1989, Creative has been able to leverage on its leading-edge audio technology, huge user base and strong brand name to expand into the exciting lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment (PDE) market.

 

Feature: Rise of Mobile MMO Gaming

Feature: Rise of Mobile MMO Gaming
By Vincent Haoson & Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalists

 

The idea of  Massively Multiplayer Online games has gone beyond the confines of desktops and laptops. With companies releasing new state-of-the-art mobile phones and handheld devices that support today’s gaming requirements, it would seem that we’re looking at the future of MMO gaming as we know it. Hoping for more information regarding the matter, we took the opportunity to research more about the roots of mobile MMO gaming. we found a lot of interesting things while browsing for answers… interested?

 

Mobile Gaming

 

Roots

The first ever pocket MMO to journey into the realm of mobile gaming is a German-based game called TibiaME. The game is the mobile equivalent of the MMORPG Tibia, which are housed under their developer and publisher, CipSoft.

 

What really impressed us was how TibiaME managed to copy its desktop-powered big brother down to the last detail. The only difference between the two is the medium used. While TibiaME is not an innovative game in any way, it did present us with the possibility of mobile MMO gaming; in fact, since its release in 2003, the community has grown and is still alive and kicking, which is rare considering the short lifespan of MMORPGs these days. Howeverwhat is interesting is the fact that it still took TibiaME six years before it reachedany kind of popularity. You might as well compare it with a plane that has been taxing and only took flight after six long years. And with that scenario in mind, the only thing left for us to wonder was why it took that long.

 

Gaming Roots

 

Going 3D

Considering that TibiaME’s platform is the mobile phone, the game is limited in a variety of ways. The lack of powerful mobile phones can be considered as a valid reason on why TibiaME and other succeeding mobile MMOs came out pretty basic and used the 2D platform.

 

In a time when 3D mobile MMO gaming has yet to make a foothold, there was a company that was ready to take on the challenge . In an attempt to optimize today’s phones for MMO usage, the company Fish Labs took its first shot at 3D Mobile MMO gaming with the release of the alpha version of Blades & Magic in 2006. While the game still retained a lot of 2D elements for its interface, the battle system is complete 3D This was a big leap for mobile MMO gaming as its linear 2D gameplay was taken to the next level…

 

Now, 3D mobile MMOs such as Pocket Legends have made their debut in the world of mobile gaming. We can’t say that it is on par with desktop MMOs, but it’s quite refreshing to see that the visuals have improved. Visuals serve as a medium for MMO games to attract gamers, especially with all the graphic-whores out there. With a bit of work, we may actually see PSP-level graphics in our mobile MMOs soon.

 

Creativity

With the graphical limitations of mobile devices being a problem for most companies, developers were put to the test, creating a variety of catchy systems that would cater to the increasing number of mobile gamers. Some mobile MMO games even utilize more than just the graphics and net capabilities of units but of other phone features as well.

 

One good example of a mobile MMO that’s pretty out of the box is Parallel Kingdom. It is a mobile MMO that relies on the GPS locator of the iPhone or an Android phone to transport you to a “parallel world” where you get to build your kingdom.

 

Creativity

 

Of course, it’s no big secret that a wide variety of mobile MMOs still draw their charisma and gimmicks from existing desktop MMOs; however, the possibility of being more creative is there. We think they’ve yet to uncover the true power of mobile gaming, but they’re definitely on the right track. They already have 3G signal system intact (World of Magic for the iPhone), so who knows? Maybe they’ll even feature a game that uses the mobile camera soon XD.

 

Speculations On Creativity

Come to think about it, there’s also a possibility that they’re on the wrong track. Since these games are trying to base their gimmicks on existing desktop RPGs, there’s a big possibility that the only thing we’ll be getting as a finished product is a mobile port of PC MMOs. For creativity’s sake, they seem to be ignoring the capabilities of mobile phones, completely focusing on the desktop MMO system and not the fact that these are two different platforms. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing but they really should focus more on the mobile phone’s exclusive capabilities rather than keep it paired with the PC. As far as creativity goes, there are a lot of phone features left untouched. If they can create magic seals with the Nintendo DS’s touch screen in Castlevania, I’m sure they can utilize the modern phone’s touchscreen features as well.

 

Growth

The thing about mobile MMO gaming is that the growth is highly reliant on the growth of the mobile phone industry. Seeing how companies keep on churning out one phone model after another, it’s highly unlikely that the mobile MMO industry would have a steady platform (in terms of unit models anyway) to rely on.

 

Unlike desktops, mobile phones are not only different through their specs but their OSes as well, and unlike computers than contain emulators like Wine and Bootcamp, mobile devices are stuck with their OS, making it hard for developers to stick to one application. Also, since the mobile scene is rapidly evolving, it will be hard for developers to keep track of the upcoming models. We can hardly recall any phone application that has graphic-tweaking option, so it would definitely be hard for them to support all devices with one client or application… that is unless all these phones had the same set-up (specs and all).

 

Growth

 

Another downside of mobile MMO gaming is the longevity of the language used in games. There will come a point where the language used for the game system would die out, making companies transfer to a newer and better source. Unlike PCs, mobile specifications upgrade extremely fastwith each new phone being very different from its predecessor in terms of OS and capability. This again affects the game’s respective application, as it will have to upgrade regularly to cope with the new system’s compatibility issues. It’s actually somewhat similar to the Windows Vista problem, where drivers and applications were rejected and were rendered useless after the latest OS upgrade.

 

Casual Gamers

With mobile MMO gaming starting to gain steam, the first and most obvious people who would be experiencing this sudden change of trend are the casual gamers. With companies churning out mobile MMOs for a lot of units, there’s a possibility that casual gamers will soon join the MMO scene. The probability is high because the fear of “MMOs are for people who love sitting down in front of PCs” is slowly disappearing. With “clients” and “installers” becoming “apps”, games, or rather MMOs in general have been presented in a more “non-gamer” friendly language.

 

The mobile platform has opened the awareness to non-gamers, that MMOs are  not as scary as they thought and that they can learn pretty easily. With the basic control scheme of mobile MMOs, non-players who are easily overwhelmed may in fact enjoy the game without worrying about the complex control scheme or interface.

 

Aside from being friendlier to casual gamers, people love being mobile these days and it translates to the preference of their gaming platforms. You don’t have to be tied down to laptops or PCs to play with mobile MMOs and that’s what makes it so special and fun at the same time.

 

Interaction

In our opinion, player to player interaction plays a big role in mobile MMO gaming. Since MMOs were specifically made to let players experience living in a persistent fantasy world along with other gamers, no other platform would have been more perfect than mobile phones. Think about it! Mobile phones have become a mandatory feature of our everyday lives. As early as five years old, kids are presented with their very own mobile phones, and if that doesn’t make things clearer, KIDS love to play games.

 

Interaction

 

Anyway, if the sales rate of mobile phones surpass laptops, then it’s a sure bet that you’re bound to get a community there. We were utterly surprised at the virtual world’s population after playing World of Magic for the iPhone. What really caught our attention was the fact that we keep seeing people wherever we go in the game. Again, be reminded that this game is an iPhone/iPad/iTouch exclusive, meaning it can only be played onApple products. The fact that an exclusive game could have this many players already guarantees a crowd on every mobile MMO you decide to try out, and since some of these games can be played with 3G signals, you no longer need to worry about missing out on that scheduled raid (if ever they make this system).

 

Come to think of it, this is a very huge step for MMO gaming and could very well shape the future of Massively Multiplayer goodness as we know it. No, this is no longer the same as your Nokia Java games, this is a friggin’ persistent game where you are allowed to interact with other players not only through virtual emoticons but through an impressive chat interface commonly found in desktop MMOs. The whole portability concept is definitely a big leap toward the future.

 

DAMN IT! ATTACK!!! PLEAAAASE!

Perhaps one of the biggest problems plaguing the MMO industry is the lag. Since mobile Internet isn’t really as fast as your average DSL, most players may encounter different delays in their online actions. This is likely one of the things that hinders phones from launching MMOs with exceptional graphics. Since graphics have a big impact on your gaming latency (you might have encountered this on your desktop games), mobile MMOs would probably suffer from lagfests unless the graphics are tweaked.

 

The Vision

We really wish that there would come a time when phones could display premium MMOs that are on par with today’s PC goodness. From how things are going, it will probably take years to develop this system for it to cater the same experience we get with our desktop MMOs. Looking back, both of us remember playing Snake on our Nokia 5110s a decade ago, and then came the multiplayer version after the infrared sensor was made. Isn’t it amazing how technology managed to get this far? Think about it! From multiplayer Snake to mobile MMOs… Yes, we know for a fact that the mobile industry will soon give us the experience we’ve longed for.

Diablo III

Two decades have passed since the demonic lords, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, set out across the world of Sanctuary on a vicious rampage, twisting humanity to their unholy will. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils, the memory fades slowly.

               

When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram Cathedral seeking clues to defeat new stirrings of evil, a fiery harbinger of doom falls from the heavens, striking the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. This fire from the sky reawakens ancient evils and calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells once again.