Yearly Archives: 2010

Holybeast Review: Unleash The Beast!

Holybeast Review: Unleash The Beast!
By Jason Gallienne (Jrgsubzero), OnRPG Journalist

 

First, let me tell you the basics. This game uses the point-and-click method of movement and there is no WASD movement. You start off choosing an animal race, which include Bird, Monkey, Dog, Buffalo, Tiger and Dragon. Each race offers different strengths and available classes. For example, Dragon excels in magic and can be one of the three mage classes while a Dog can only be one.  Combat is your basic target and use skills deal but leveling is more quest-based than most free-to-play games.

 

When you first begin your adventure, you’ll be in your animal form. But not to worry, you didn’t customize your character for no reason! After a few tutorial quests and a scuffle with the local monsters you’ll be transformed into a human again along with the ability to switch between the two forms at will. Your beast form evolves as you level as well, increasing your stats. After a few more levels you will be able to take an easy quest that turns you into the class of your choice. You will notice a RP meter where your health and mana is. This allows you to berserk while in beast form, which gives you a limited but large boost to certain stats depending on which berserk you use.

 

Holybeast

 

Out in the Wild

So, now that you know the basics here are some features you’ll need to know about to be successful in the game. First let’s go over the refining system.  During your adventures you may find fragments of an item. Once you collect 10 of these fragments you may take them to a Fragment smelter in town and have him turn it into the item the fragments are made of. In addition to that, you may add clovers to increase the success rate. Next the appraisal system is pretty simple. If you find a non-appraised item take it to the appraisal NPC and for a fee he will appraise it for you. These items have a better chance of either being enhanced or being able to be enhanced. Now you probably want to know about the enhancement system. If you find a jewel and have equipment that can be enhanced, take it to the Enhancer NPC and he will attempt to enhance for you. Just like with the fragment system, you can use a clover to increase the success rate.

 

You may also have a pet but not only is it a companion it can also fight alongside you. Divine Essence is the first form of your pet and it just follows you around but when you evolve it into a second generation pet it can fight and speak. In order to do this you’ll need a pet card and take that along with the Divine Essence to the pet manager. Don’t worry, your pet won’t be an uncontrolled beast, you have a command bar and you can put it on certain behaviors. If your pet is on aggressive mode it will attack any monster it can get its appendages on. When in guard mode your pet will only attack monsters you’re currently fighting. And lastly, when on follow mode it will just keep you company. In addition to all that, a second generation pet will also pick up money and items for you. As your pet battles alongside you it will gain fairy points. Once these points are maxed out and you have found an enhancement card, you make take them to the pet manager and she’ll do the rest. Also, note that your pet can only be enhanced twice. Now if you happen to get two +2 enhanced pets, you may fuse them together to get a third generation pet!

 

Once you get to level 60 you may start getting talents. You unlock the first row of talents known as the sage class, at 75 the legend class, and 90 the myth class. In order to get talent points you must trade in your experience points. You may have a max of 18 talents and they have various effects such as increasing strength, health points, etc.

 

As you get that high in level you may also want to check out the Phantasmal Castle. It’s basically a dungeon where the deeper you go the harder the monsters get. Each level has three warp gates which take you to a different floor as well as one in the middle of the room that takes you to a boss. You can obtain weapons and armor here which range from level 50 items to level 100.

 

And once you’re high level and equipped with nice gear you may want to test your mettle in the Beast Battles. You must go to either Seraphim Tower or Hallowed Tower to enter the battle. You may only be in a party with your own guild members and you may only attack opposing guilds so if you’re solo it’s you against everyone else.  If you win the battle you will get Battle Merit Points which come in either Guild or Solo flavors. The guilds and characters who have the most points every week will be displayed on the battle board at the main town.

 

The Litter Box

With every game comes its problems and here are the ones that bugged me. The game isn’t perfectly translated which caused me to re-read some things several times before I understood it. The community, which is friendly, has quite a few non-native English speakers. The map is cluttered with huge text and is, in my opinion, ugly. The graphics are stylized but show serious age and the font used is very boring.

 

Holybeast

 

Overview

That concludes my review for Holy Beast and I hope it informed you of the game’s mechanics. If you’re looking for a game where your race is an animal and you can choose between animal and human form, then you’ll be hard pressed to find any other game than this one.  Holy Beast has a unique cover but you’ll find many of the same old things inside the book.

 

Pros:
– Unique beast form system
– Friendly community
– Many events

 

Cons:
– Translation leaves much to be desired
– Aged graphics 

Age of Ocean

OPI Games’ historical simulation game, Age of Ocean, transports the player back to the romantic Age of Sail. The player can choose their home port from over 300 ports in 24 countries and begin trading thousands trade goods on over ten thousand trade routes. With hundreds of other strategic locations and over one hundred different ship types, Age of Ocean is an unprecedented world framework through which players will come to know the full potential of online strategy-simulation games. Whether you dominate your opponents by ruling the shipping lanes, or rule over distant lands as a colonial governor; rise through the ranks to become Admiral of the fleet, or strike terror in the hearts of all as a bloodthirsty pirate-king, the choice will be entirely up to you!

Exploration, treasure hunting, battles at sea, pirate raids, and maritime trade—all can be found in Age of Ocean, the game where the blue-sky blue-sea dreams of millions of players will become a reality!

Walking the Line. City Of Heroes: Going Rogue Review

Walking the Line. City Of Heroes: Going Rogue Review
By Jonathan (Ardua) Doyle OnRPG Journalist

 

There is a place in the MMO world, a place of good people. They are heroes in this place and each day they fight for all that is good and honest and right.

 

Balancing this shining beacon is a place of darkness and ego. Power makes right there, and strength and brutality rule.

 

Where are these places? Why Paragon City, the City of Heroes and the Rogue Isles, the City of Villains. For six years, Paragon stood as a shining beacon. For many of those, the Rogue Isles stood as the darkness in opposition.

 

Now though, now there is a third path. A place balanced on a knife-edge. It is Praetoria. It is the latest area added to the CoX universe through Paragon Studios latest expansion, City of Heroes: Going Rogue.

 

Dual Pistols
Dual Pistols

 

 

Between Dark and Light Lay Shades of Grey

City of Heroes: Going Rogue is the second game expansion to the award winning City of Heroes. Coinciding with this  release City of Heroes has also released its eighteenth “issue” Shades of Grey. What does this new issue mean in game play terms for existing and new players? It means that now you have a choice between the darkness of pure villainy and the light of heroism. Players can redeem characters or have them fall. Thanks to the new morality missions and “Tips” system, there are even more missions in the CoX universe that come after a certain milestone in your characters career allowing them to reaffirm standing in their alignment or make the move from one side to the other. Masterminds and their Robotic hordes can be seen walking the streets doing good in Paragon while previously virtuous Tankers are now fighting only for themselves in the Rogue Isles.

 

Nova
Nova Magisterium

 

Allowing the shake up in the classes brings in many new opportunities to City Of players. The stories that you may have had behind your own characters are no longer limited by the borders of good and evil. Paragon Studios have freed you to wander back and forth across the line between dark and light or even find a place in the middle. Perhaps you want to be a dark Vigilante taking the law into your own hands or a dangerous Rogue who has occasional redeeming moments. As usual that isn’t all Paragon have packed into this issue. High-level epic powersets have been proliferated. Markets have been merged creating a global economy. The toughest task in the game has made a triumphant return for the first time in many years, the Cathedral of Pain. All of these however live in the shadow of Going Rogue.

 

The Sun Never Sets On Praetoria

Praetoria… once a dark destination for high-end portal missions to other universes, Going Rogue has given Praetoria life. A shining beautiful city that has grown out of the ashes of war, Praetoria is home to many familiar faces from the City Of universe. Not every reunion is pleasant however. Praetoria hides many secrets. Holds many opportunities and is the basis for an entirely new 1-20 game experience. Praetoria has been designed from the ground up to take advantage of Paragon Studios new Ultra Mode for displaying graphics (released early with Issue 17). The result is stunning. From the soaring heights of Emperor Coles tower to the dark and disturbed waters around the Keyes Reactors, every last inch of Praetoria looks stunning. Of course beauty is only skin deep.

 

PPD
Resistance vs PPD

 

Going Rogue however does have real depth. While the denizens of Paragon and the Rogue Isles work out where their loyalties and moralities lie, Praetoria hits you with new content and new choices right from the tutorial. All ten standard archetypes as options, new branching text trees (that Avid Readers should enjoy) and new moral choices right from the get go make for an exhilarating new game experience. Not everyone in Praetoria is happy after all. They are under the rule of a man who, granted he saved the Earth, appears to hold power forever. Enter the Going Rogue moral choices. Loyalist and Resistance.

 

From the very start of the tutorial you are going to be presented with choices. Do you support the world Emperor Cole has built or are you going to free the people? Of course, if it were that clear cut it could be considered boring. Each side has depth to it. Each side has its troublemakers and its peacemakers. However you decide to lean, there will be plenty of opportunity as you pass through Praetoria to revisit your decisions and change sides as your own story and that of the world unfolds.

 

Cherry on Top

City of Heroes: Going Rogue does have some more goodies. If all the new sights, new missions and new ways of doing things weren’t enough. Of course we’re talking about new ways to dish out rightful amounts of damage. Going Rogue has brought in four new power sets with two of them having been available for some time for pre-order customers in the game. All of them are only available with purchase of Going Rogue.

 

– Dual Pistols (Blaster, Defender, Corruptor)
– Demon Summoning (Masterminds)
– Kinetic Melee (Tanker, Scrapper, Stalker, Brute)
– Electric Control (Controller, Dominator)

 

Between them, they cover the ten basic archetypes. Epic (and Villainous Epic) Archetypes continue as before but are available from level 20. What can I say about the new power sets? Simply, find me the animator for Kinetic Melee and I will marry them. Paragon Studios continues to bring new and beautiful things to the table with the powersets. From brand new and interesting control methods in Electric Control (see the dev diary here) with jumping knockdowns and mischievous Gremlins to the fluid and fantastic Dual Pistols, allowing you to rain down pain upon anyone in your way. Demon summoning binds the legions of the underworld to your will and Kinetic Melee binds the raw force to your fists. Each of them you have to try yourself to really see the best of them.

 

Demon Summoning
Demon Summoning

 

Shadow of Doubt

Six years on. Sure there are other Hero games out there and more coming soon, but if Going Rogue proves anything it is that Paragon Studios is a force to be reckoned with. Innovation, expansion and improvement. Beyond a shadow of doubt, they will continue working on City of Heroes to bring you more and more. If the brand new lower level zones (six in total) and systems weren’t enough… keep your eyes peeled. Issue 19: Incarnates is coming and promises even more for you in the future.

 

Jonathan plays on the NA Virtue server and can be contacted in game at @Ardua or on the OnRPG Boards.

Neverdaunt:8bit To Go Open Beta

Neverdaunt:8bit To Go Open Beta

 

Neverdaunt:8Bit is a PC game set in a 8 bit stylized 3D world made out of blocks.  A Sandbox MMO where the world is ever changing, since it is entirely shaped by its players.  Players can compete for control over areas and are free to build as they wish, with blocks and Tronics. There are no character classes or levels, the Power-up you chose, your knowledge, and items you wear define your abilities. With no preset quests, players can choose their own goals, allowing them to play and create without restriction, making every players experience a different one.

 

“…created a virtual world that fosters creativity as well as conflict, and the way this all ties in together is just too amazing for words” -Player, Tzeryushi

 

Neverdaunt

 

For all its features and updates, it is surprisingly made by just one developer, Calvin Goble.  Neverdaunt:8bit is currently in open beta, and is not feature complete.

 

Unique Neverdaunt Features

– No $ Advantage: All buyable items have zero effect on game play, so no one can have an upper hand simply because they paid.
– Epic Items: These are one of a kind items that have special abilities or are more powerful then regular items. Your chance to get one is: when it drops because the person who had it is killed or was offline too long, or by finding where it was hidden, some APC’s have them too!
– APC’s  or Actor Player Characters: These are human controlled characters who have their own stories, motivations, and personalities. they offer a completely unique game play experience for the players lucky enough to come across them. 
– Tronics: Tronics are an in game visual programming language that lets you make traps, lock things with passwords, animate blocks, etc.
– Blocks & Block Packs: Everywhere you look, blocks are what the world is made of. you start with the basic building pieces, and can buy extra packs through the shop, when a new block pack is released to the shop, everyone automatically gets to try it out!
– Social Consequences: Players have the ability to do things like take other players’ building space, and kill other players. Because of this, how you act, your friends and foes, affects your game experience.
– Character Customization: Your colors, voice pitch, and clothing patterns are all changeable, and you can wear up to four hats and a sword to modify your look even more, Cthulu Santa is brandishing a squeaky hammer!?

 

“There are no official rules, people in game may make and enforce there own rules creating an interesting open gameplay environment.”  -Player  Weasel,
 

Freesky Online: NPC Realms Open for Alliances to Conquer

Freesky Online: NPC Realms Open for Alliances to Conquer

 

In Freesky Online, even the greediest treasure hunters have had their doubts about the legendary fortunes rumored to be hidden throughout the land. It turns out that the legends are true, as adventurous players will discover beginning Monday, September 13th, when the Freesky Online team launches a new event that will open NPC realms for conquest by alliances.

The upcoming campaigns will put alliances’ skills to the test, as game officials expect a record turnout. With many alliances involved, new tactics and unprecedented levels of coordination will be the keys to victory. The hard work will definitely pay off, as incredible rewards will be up for grabs.

Event Details

The NPC realms event will be held Mondays and Wednesdays. NPC troops will be refreshed at regular intervals. Wipe out the NPC troops first as you strive to conquer the main castle. The Boss standing guard over the castle will have a chance to drop battleship blueprints. However, alliances will only be allowed to remain on the battlefield for a short time. Also, the upper limit for the size of an army is scaled to 300,000 tons. These limitations will be crucial to alliances’ plans. An event timer will be posted on the Freesky Online site, and when it runs out, the victors will be determined. There will also be a chance for alliances to compete for additional rewards during a special battle at 10:00 PM EDT (GMT-4) on days when the event is held.

 

Freesky

Rewards

To be eligible for rewards, competing alliances must display their distinctive logos when taking down the castles in the designated NPC realms. Game officials will award 20 Lottery Codes to the leaders of alliances who claim that day’s Level 3-4 NPC realms or Level 4-5 NPC realms at the appropriate time. Leaders are also entitled to a Warlord’s Armory. The prizes will be delivered through the in-game mail system, and it will be up to the alliance leaders to distribute them to their members.

Better Drops

For added incentive, the drop rate for Arc Blueprints will be significantly increased during the event. A triumphant alliance may even end up with a complete Arc set, which will go a long way toward boosting their combat forces. For more details, including rules, a schedule and a list of realms for upcoming events, the official Freesky Online site.

Arctic Combat

Arctic Combat is Webzen’s first military FPS game, developed since 2007. The game presents World War III, which is caused by disputing over natural resources. It initiates high quality of realism in the game based on Unreal Engine 2.5 and cinematic sounds effects. Arctic Combat is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated FPS game in Korea for its tactical and strategic battlefield, using various personal skills, striking systems and more.

Arctic Combat’s Demolition mode has two separate teams where one side is the Attack Team and the other side is the Defense Team. From there each team will have a mission to destroy a target or stop others from destroying this target. They will be able to choose between different bomb carrier and a variety of settings available for the mode. These teams change sides in a cycle which keeps the team balance for the game.

PANGYA Review: Taking the Game of Golf to a Whole New Level!

PANGYA Review: Taking the Game of Golf to a Whole New Level!
By Albert Delgado (Devi@nt), OnRPG Journalist

 

I have to admit that I was not enthusiastic at first to review Pangya, the game revolved around golf. I never took interest in the sport. To be honest I always watched it in order to help me get to sleep (when the Nyquil was not kicking in), or just to see Tiger Woods outshine the other players. Pangya suddenly opened up a completely new world and reintroduced me to the game of golf with open arms, quirky anime characters, and tons of fun gameplay!

 

Game Play

Pangya makes sure to keep the basic knowledge and true ideals of golf within the game. The game has a very helpful tutorial that not only shows you how to control characters, but it also helps define the game of golf to those who have never played. The world of Pangya has various golf courses throughout different types of environments. Some of the courses have weather factors like wind, terrain, and water that can affect the way players go about playing the overall course. There are also items that players can obtain and use that will give them better control, more power, spin (of the ball) control, and other abilities to help aide them. The game offers estimated markers in order to help players see where they need to hit the ball, and at what distance. Pangya also offers players a unique bird’s eye view mode. In this mode, you get an overall view of the course and can see what hazards to steer away from, or how to go about approaching the hole. You have a power meter that is used to hit the ball. If you are successful in hitting certain designated marks on the bar, then you are able to make a Pangya shot. A Pangya shot gives your hit better accuracy and power, and a unique animation feature when hitting the ball.

 

Successful Shot

 

Also, say you are having a horrible game and you think it is embarrassing for you to continue, well in Pangya if you reach a certain low score you automatically forfeit the current hole without continuing. Trick shots in the game or shots that are made at great risk will reward your character with more Pang (the in-game currency). Pangya offers numerous modes of game play. Some are just regular one on one, team matches, tournaments, and many other game modes that offer players limitless amounts of fun. Pangya takes and uses the same template that is featured in most golf games, so if you are an online golf advocate you will have no trouble getting used to the controls.

 

Character Customization

The game offers you a starting character based on gender. Other characters can be purchased by paying a certain amount of Pang, or by buying a set of clothing specific to a character. In the game’s market, there are various items and costumes you can purchase in order to make your character more diverse. Everything from your shoes to your hair can be changed, also your clubs and golf balls (which are referred to as comets in Pangya) can be colored or changed. However, each item costs a hefty Pang price.

 

Pangya Rooms
Pangya chat room

 

Graphics and Unique Features

Apart from the games diverse characters and abilities, Pangya offers players a variety of other features. The graphics and detail taken in each golf course and character are enough to amaze and pull players into the world of Pangya. Have you ever wanted your own personal mascot or even thought of obtaining one? Yes, you guessed it, Pangya offers mascots that can help add bonuses to your drives, or just follow and cheer you on throughout your game. Along with a mascot comes a golfer’s most important tool…..the caddy. The caddies in Pangya come in various shapes, sizes, and life forms. The caddies are able to talk and encourage players, or give certain tips to the player before they take their shots. Caddies can also give players unique abilities or help perform trick shots that can reward more Pang. Another feature of Pangya is its 3D chat rooms. Instead of the usual lobby window on screen, Pangya lets players take their characters into chat rooms with various detailed environments. In these rooms, your character is able to move about at will and just hangout or chat it up with fellow golfers. There is also personal space that you can decorate in your character menu screen, you are able to change wallpapers and apply furniture in these areas.

 

Boarding Pangya

 

Truly Free to Play

Most MMOs that are out now claim to be free to play, but the free part is limited and you will eventually have to pay in order to explore more content or to develop a character further. Pangya on the other hand is a true free to play game; the only thing you can buy with real money is newer outfits, but even those outfits can be unlocked overtime if you are an avid Pangya player. The item market in Pangya does not offer players overpowering items or sets, since Pangya tries to focus on character balance.

 

Hole In One

 

Conclusion

Pangya is able to take the game of golf and throw in some strategized elements in order to make the game challenging and exciting. The graphics for Pangya may seem childish due to the anime styled characters however; they are still captivating to the eye and bring more attention to the game for players. Pangya does a great job of making the game player friendly, and offering numerous amazing features to ensure limitless amounts of game play. I would recommend Pangya to not only fans of online golf games, but also to the gamers who want to be on the top of the leader boards, or to the gamers looking for a new challenge and game to conquer.

 

Pros:
– Unique graphics and animation
– Truly free to play
– Numerous game modes.

 

Cons:
– Some higher leveled players have an advantage
– Only one character to choose from at start
– New clothes and characters cost very high amount of Pang.