Yearly Archives: 2010

Excalibur Online Interview with Executive Producer

Excalibur Online Interview with Executive Producer
Questions by Jonathan (Ardua) Doyle OnRPG Journalist
Answered by Jonathan Seidenfeld, Executive Producer, Omniverse Games

 

OnRPG: Friends, countrymen, lend me your ears. From the days before Camelot we have someone to talk to us about Excalibur Online. Could you introduce yourself to my ear lending friends?

Hello ear lenders! I’m the Executive Producer for Excalibur Online, which means that I oversee the development of the game on behalf of Omniverse Games. I am also the primary point of contact between our developer and co-publisher, Radiance Digital Entertainment. My experience in the game industry goes back well into the days before Camelot – I was part of the original PlayStation launch team with Sony, and before that with Sega for the launch of the Sega CD. Since then I’ve worked with lots of publishers and developers, and in the last few years I’ve become very involved in the MMO space.

 

Excalibur Online City
Excalibur Online City 

 

OnRPG: Excalibur Online is set, in your own words, in the days before Camelot. Could you give us a little taste of the backstory?

Sure. Excalibur Online is set in the period from about 400 AD, when the Romans left Britain, to about 550 AD, when King Arthur is said to have claimed Excalibur and unified the country under his own banner. Those 150 years or so were a period of constant warfare among various British Kingdoms, Saxon invaders, Welsh tribes, and numerous other groups of barbarians and mercenaries. All wanted to gain control over the Britons, and all failed, until King Arthur finally unified the country. That’s why we like to say that the game takes place before Camelot.

 

In Excalibur Online players are given a city somewhere in medieval Britain. They then have to build up enough resources first to defend their city, and ultimately to attack others. It’s a constant decision for the player – attack now and conquer, or lay back, strengthen, and defend. We tried to keep as much of the historical element in place as possible – we use the original Roman provinces, and the 100 or so heroes we have to lead player armies are all personalities from the period. You can even find a little historical note about each of them in their profiles.

 

Excalibur Online Knight
Historical Figures

 

OnRPG: Battles rage across your Britain as well as the real world. How has Excalibur Online fared against the likes of Evony and Kingory?

Excalibur Online is the newcomer in the category, and just finishing a low key closed beta testing period, so we have not really been competing with anyone – instead we’ve been concentrating on building up the game, smoothing out some rough edges, and trying to create the best player experience we can. That said, we do have some differentiating features in our army units, technology tree, and in the historical basis of our story as mentioned above. Also, we aim to provide superior customer service and community for our players.

 

OnRPG: War, what is it good for? Well… gaming obviously, but just how does a new player in Excalibur survive the opening days of the game?

New players get an automatic 5 day or level 15 whichever comes last safety period, during which they cannot be attacked. Obviously joining an alliance will help. It is also possible to make peace treaties and to obtain items that will prevent attack for set periods of time.

 

OnRPG: How important are alliances in the game and what can you tell us about them?

Alliances can be formed by any player using the Embassy building in their city. Members can use alliances to share information and to join forces for protection, conquest, and intel. In Excalibur Online, alliances really come into their own during the weekly server wide “Battle for Avalon”, a massive where the spoils are distributed according to the proportion of troops contributed by each alliance.

 

Excalibur Online Neighborhood

 

OnRPG: Closed beta for Excalibur Online began testing on March 24th, how is it going for you?

The closed beta went very well in that it gave us a chance to test out the various game systems in a live 24/7 environment. Players gave us valuable feedback regarding not only bugs, but suggestions for improvements they’d like to see. Of course we read all the posts and incorporate as much as possible into later versions. The development team has been very accommodating in this regard.  

 

It was also great to see a vibrant community growing up around the game – people sharing tips and strategies, experienced players helping out the newbies, and people just chatting about this and that in the forums. I’ll admit to being a little surprised about how sociable people are, especially when their stated goal is to conquer the world and vanquish the other players!

 

OnRPG: Excalibur Online has a wide range of military units. Was it difficult to balance them for players to prevent an old fashioned Zerg rush?

Not really. Rushing is always going to be part of strategy games, and I don’t think it can be prevented. Experienced players will know the value of building strong defenses, and Excalibur Online allows players to build parapets on their city walls. Also, it is advisable to leave a portion of your troops in your city for defense. In cards, we can say the Poker is a game of chance, because the cards are dealt randomly, but an experienced player will almost always win against someone just learning the game. The more one plays, the better one becomes. Most of the balancing among military units in Excalibur Online has to do with how they interact with each other – piercing attack versus heavy armor, ranged attack against siege weapon, that sort of thing.

 

OnRPG: Given the wide range of units and buildings, how difficult is Excalibur Online to learn if you’ve never played a browser war game?

Excalibur Online is very easy to learn, even for those who’ve never played a game in this genre. We use a system of in-game “quests” that actually help the players learn how to do the basics like building up cities, collecting resources, using the chat and mail features, and of course building armies to conquer territory.

 

OnRPG: At the moment the Item Mall is not available. What can we look forward to in it?

The item mall will go live with the Open Beta, which is happening very soon. Items for sale fall into three classes: acceleration items, resource items, and auxiliary items. Acceleration items like Haste spells or Merlin’s Wisdom speed up construction or shorten research time. Most of these items come in 5 levels. Resource items like Earth Magic or Rain Magic increase output of resources such as stone or grain. Auxiliary items include a wide variety of buffs for your hero, peace treaties, and one called the “Relocator”, which allows you to move your city to another location anywhere on the map.

 

Excalibur Online

 

It is important to note that none of these items give players an unfair advantage. Most items work on the principle that “time is money” so if you’d rather not wait for your building to finish construction or for your army to finish training, you can purchase an item to speed up the process. Also, the items are very reasonably priced – most cost under a dollar.

 

OnRPG: As your players battle in the days of yore and your staff battles bugs, is there a date set for Excalibur Online to fully launch?

Excalibur Online will move from the Closed Beta testing phase to Open Beta right around the time your readers see this interview. We invite everyone to check it out!

 

OnRPG: Is there anything else you would like to add?

MMO games of any genre, be they strategy, sports, or RPGs, all are built around the community of players in the game. Publishers and developers sometimes lose sight of this fact, and end up becoming too mercenary with their players, or make customer service and interaction between player and operator too low a priority. When this happens games tend to dry up and people become dissatisfied and leave. It’s all about the community, and we are always striving to find ways for communities to grow and thrive. We do our best to develop a sense of belonging among all of our players, in all of our games.

 

OnRPG: Thank you for your time!
My pleasure. 

Company of Heroes

Take command of your company as you wage online warfare across the ravaged battlefields of World War II-era Europe. Choose from one of six different divisions, from the brutal German Blitzkrieg to the deadly efficient Allied Airborne, each with its own combat style and unique abilities.

Strategize on and off the battlefield as you customize your army and enter each fight with your own unique set of battle-tested Heroes, upgrades, and devastating Commander Abilities. Become the ultimate military commander as you unlock new abilities with every conflict and build your army with every victory.

Free To Play My Ass!!!

Free To Play My Ass!!!
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist*

 

Free-To-Play refers to any game that provides players with a full gaming experience without the need to pay for subscription. The system has been exercised by various game developers to allow gamers to try their games without the fear of paying for something they may or may not like. Some games give players free trials while others give them the full game at no extra cost. It’s a good way of attracting more players to the game, especially since having a free gaming experience is pretty hard to resist. There are thousands of FTP games online (mostly Korean MMOs), some of them being former Pay-To-Play games who wish to keep the game running after being dubbed outdated or passe. It’s a good way to dominate the market if you ask me, even for games that carry old content.  

 

The Age Of Free-To-Play Gaming

Ah the age of Free-To-Play gaming. I can’t say that I’m not abusing the ability to play games for free but then again, who isn’t? Remember when Ragnarok was still pay-to-play? Back then, I would practically cut school to get my money’s worth, especially since a month’s game time wasn’t that cheap to begin with (at least for my country). The thing is, we don’t really have to worry about that anymore, thanks to the awesome system that is “Free-To-Play”. Not only do most games let you create an account for free; people can now play awesome games without worrying about topping up or renewing their subscription. An awesome way of promoting games, but are these games really free? Or is it just another way to trick gamers into renewing their subscriptions?

 

Free to Play Age

 

Free-To-Start-Paying (Yes… PAYING)

I remember when RF Online became free. I literally jumped for joy the moment they announced it. My favorite MMO game was finally going to be free to play! I’m telling you, I wasted no time and shortly after the new system was announced; I started a new character, raided bases like crazy and even left my character mining for 48 hours straight. Why? Why not? The whole game is free to play anyway so why shouldn’t we exploit the privilege? A few days later, the game announced the presence of an item mall, and a premium subscription for players who want to level faster. I didn’t mind it at first… well, until I saw +7 newbies all over the place…

 

It’s A Trick I Tell You!

Much like your average MMO, RF Online requires some hefty farming, especially when you’re on the verge of upgrading your armor pieces. After killing Calliana Princesses for over an hour, I realized that I was only getting half of my usual in game salary. It turns out that they had to lessen the looting ratio to promote the premium subscription option. So what exactly is the point of playing for free if you can just pay the same top up amount to get x2-3 experience and mass looting? Not only will you be leveling up faster, you can even upgrade your weapons with a higher success rate (around 70%, I think). Well, you can still play the game for free and take your chances with the traditional grind and upgrade method, but don’t come crying after you’ve wasted 20m on failed attempts.

 

It's a trick
It’s a trick!

 

Item Mall

Perhaps the most common feature among MMO games is the item mall, which provides players with a nice array of in game items that are exclusive to cash users. These items can really boost your performance and can even (I won’t lie) give you an advantage over the other players. Yes, purely playing the game for free may have its cons, but at least you don’t have to worry about getting your money’s worth (that’s a good way of looking at it).

 

Free to Play My Ass Item Mall
Item Mall 

 

What We Have Deduced

Hmmm… Let’s start with X-Machines. First of all, the game is good and is quite fun for most gamers. The system is good, the graphics are decent, and the best part of all is that it’s free to play. I’ve been playing X-machines for quite some time now, enjoying its Megaman-ish gameplay from CBT to OBT. As I have stated earlier, most FTP MMOs have their own item mall. In this case, not only does the game let players buy items online, players must also pay in order to gain access to various characters who are both cooler and stronger than the rest.

 

Now I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy the game, it’s just that I’m pretty confident that pay to play users must be enjoying it twice as much. Better items, better gear, more characters, what’s the point? It’s like we’re playing an eternal demo or something.

 

Free-To-Play, Pay-To-Enjoy

Yes, playing a game for free is awesome, but if you’re just going to drown in infidelity by doing so then I would probably suggest paying for subscription. In my opinion, the FTP option acts more like a demo of the game’s premium features. It’s the same thing for every FTP game. You’re not really enjoying the game, but rather a shard of it.

 

Free to play pay to win
Pay to win

 

Competitive Level? Pay For It!

If you want to play at a competitive level, you’re wasting your time if you think your FTP character can keep up with the premium subscribers. Let’s see… Pox Nora would probably be the best example for this form of subscription whoring. The thing is, you’ll be stuck with the same deck or at least a specific level of power until you decide to flash out that credit card. Much like a real CCG (Collectible Card Game), starter decks can only take you so far and will have to be upgraded for you to win against some serious competitors. It would be better if these premium items can be acquired through hard work (other than by paying) since the whole subscription advantage ruins the game for people who refuse to pay. This was probably why I loathe playing for free and why I praise games that don’t hold back content just cause’ you don’t want to dish out some cash. It’s the same as giving us a 10-day trial really, because once you reach a specific level, you’ll be given a thousand reasons why your character needs a premium makeover. Free-To-Play goodness? FREE TO PLAY MY ASS!

 

*The contents of this article do not necessarily represent the views of OnRPG and should be taken in an entertaining blog-like fashion.

MixMaster Review: Gotta mix ’em all!

MixMaster review: Gotta mix ’em all!
Written by Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), OnRPG Journalist

 

I’m sure you all watched Pokémon when you were younger, or maybe you still watch this amazing anime from time to time. Have you ever wanted to know what would happen if two different Pokémon would be able to breed? What would the baby of an Eevee and a Psyduck look like and what powers would it have? MixMaster is a MMORPG by SeedC Inc. which pretty much resembles Pokémon.

 

MIx Master Intro 

 

It is based on the Japanese/Korean anime series “Mixmaster”. The anime is about a boy who gets a mix machine and has to mix evil creatures to bring peace to the world. The same task is given to players in the MMORPG. You will have the opportunity to capture tons of creatures and mix them to make them more and more powerful! What are you waiting for? You gotta mix ’em all!

 

Gameplay

When starting the game you will notice that there are only four characters to choose from. These four characters resemble the four classes of the game: Ditt (Swordsman), Jin (Fighter),  Penril (Hunter) and  Phoy (Shooter). The classes are gender-locked; Ditt and Jin are boys, Penril and Phoy are girls. You can change your character’s hair color, which is pretty much all you can do before entering the game.

 

Mixmaster
Lined up

 

When entering the game you will find yourself in the tutorial area. You will learn the basic aspects of the game before entering the real world, which is very convenient considering the difficult features of the game.

 

In the tutorial area you will meet your first opponents. These opponents, better known as ‘henches’, are creatures you can catch or kill. Killing them will result in some experience points and items, which isn’t very surprising or unique. Catching them, however, will give you the opportunity to mix them with other henches to create a more powerful pet. This feature is the main aspect of the game and you will find yourself mixing tons of unique creatures.

 

MixMaster Pets
unique creatures

 

Being a pretty old MMORPG doesn’t have to mean that the game is outdated. MixMaster’s mixing feature is pretty unique. There are only two to four English MMOs with a similar feature and these are all newer than MixMaster. However, this doesn’t change the fact that the game has some flaws. An example is that the game does not offer WASD movement. This is one of the main reasons why the game is so incredibly underpopulated. I have to agree that it is very disappointing and annoying to walk in MixMaster, especially because of the dull scenery. But hey, what can you expect from an old isometric MMO?

 

The combat of the game has flaws as well. The game is somewhat grindy and very repetitive at lower levels because of the lack of skills and the fact that you haven’t encountered any awesome henches. The game starts to get better after level 20 considering the huge amount of available henches and the amount of skills and weapons. The game gets more varied  and you will enjoy mixing all these little creatures.

 

Features

That’s enough about the gameplay for now. Let me discuss the (main) features of MixMaster. MixMaster does not offer many features at all. There is a serious lack of content, especially at higher levels. You will definitely have nothing to do after finishing all the quests in the first three main towns, which is a real bummer. There are some features to keep you busy, but that’s not enough.

 

Mixing

As I said before, mixing is the most important feature of MixMaster. It simply involves catching various henches and mixing them by using your ‘Core’ inventory and the mixing NPC, which you can find in all towns. There are various requirements to mix; Some of them are too complicated to describe, while others make no sense at all. The thing you should keep in mind while hunting for various henches is the fact that they all belong to different ‘groups’ e.g. Birds and Mystic. Some of these groups cannot be mixed together, while others may result in henches with amazing powers.

 

MixMaster Station
Mixing monsters

 

Guilds

Being part of a guild is very important in an under populated game like MixMaster, but I have to admit that it is pretty hard to find a decent one. It took me several days to find a nice guild with members that were willing to help me. Starting your own guild requires you to have 2.5 million GP (the ingame currency), three Guild Leaders who are at least level 20 and you have to be at least level 30. Having high requirements for a guild in an under populated game may turn off many players, but as soon as you find a good guild you will stick with it for a long time.

 

 MixMaster Ice

 

Siege Affair

Last, but not least: The Siege Affair. Siege Affairs are GvG (Guild versus Guild) battles, which are held weekly. The Siege Affairs are very amusing and competitive. The requirements, however, are a pain, especially the level requirements. Your guild must have at least 30 members, the average level of the guild members must be over 50 and your guild has to pay one million GP to enter the Siege Affair. Luckily there are enough high-level players who are willing to help you with your character, which means that you do not have to worry about leveling or money as soon as you have found your own ‘mentor’.

  

Conclusion

An appealing and unique game is the best I can say about MixMaster. The game is great for its age and its hench feature is not bad at all. The problem lies within the dull graphics, the lack of endgame content and the lack of things to do. The game would have so much potential if SeedC would only add some more features and dungeons, but it seems as if they are too busy with their other games. The game is definitely worth a try, but only if you are a fan of pet systems, since the game does not have anything else to offer.

 

Pros:
– Amazing pet system
– Great mixing feature

 

Cons:
– No WASD
– Lack of content
– Repetitive combat
– Grindy
– Underpopulated
– Lack of events and updates
– Dull scenery

Captains of DarkTide Open Beta Started

Captains of DarkTide Open Beta Started

 

Today Silverlode Interactive announced that its Fantasy Pirate game Captains of DarkTide (CoDT) has entered its open beta testing phase. DarkTide is a 3D Browser-based MMORPG for Mac and PC. For the first time, players who sign will be granted instant access to this full featured strategy MMO.

 

Players who register today will be among the first to experience new content and game features as they are released, including the upcoming release of PvP Zones. Players entering PvP zones will have their PvP flags automatically enabled, allowing for combat with other players. Loot chests with high-level rewards will periodically spawn throughout the PvP zones, allowing players who can survive the longest a chance to gather epic gear.

 

Captains of Darktide Ship

 

For PvE players, new zones will be enabled throughout beta, allowing captains to do battle with epic bosses; ships commanded by Liches who can drain the life force of your crew, gigantic Ice Elementals born from the massive icebergs floating at sea; the tougher the opponent, the greater the reward. By gathering components from the wreckage of defeated foes, players will be able to construct more powerful cannons and bribe creatures with epic abilities to join their crew.

 

Because CoDT is set in a fantasy universe, the variety of upcoming content is boundless. Dwarves construct air ships which players will acquire, while the elves build and sell living ships. Undead can be bound to crew a ship, but asking them to serve side-by-side with humans can have “undesired” effects. “We are thrilled with the game already,” said Silverlode president Jason Faller, “and we look forward to dazzling players with the many features we are going to soon reveal.”

Angels Online: Take a Spin through Candy Land

Angels Online: Take a Spin through Candy Land

 

Candy Land, the fourth major patch for IGG’s Angels Online, serves up delicious new content for the angels of Eden. There are new quests, epic instances, cool-looking items and a whole lot more. Venture through a world made of succulent fruits and mouth-watering candies as you try to defeat evil forces lurking in the shadows. Here’s just a taste of the fun waiting for everyone in this scrumptious update.

 

Rescue the Past, Present and Future

The Evil Lyceum has launched an aggressive assault on Eden. To foil its devious plans and return peace to the land, Michael has ordered all angels to help rescue the Goddesses of Fortune. The three Goddesses control the Past, Present and Future. Their fate will determine the destiny of mankind.

 

 Angels Online

 

Defend Building Block City

Meanwhile, the brave angels must also protect Eden’s last line of defense, Building Block City. If the fortress falls, all will be lost. The forces of the Angel Lyceum must begin their counter-offensive there and attempt to drive the forces of evil back to Poker Castle.

 

To thwart the threats surrounding Building Block City, Leader Kahn needs help gathering supplies and troops. He’s asking angels to travel through Strawberry Garden, Fruit Town and Chocolate Village in search of military supplies. Help him unite his scattered troops and prepare to fight back against the invasion.

 

Showdown at Poker Castle

By the time everything is in place for the epic assault on Poker Castle, the conflict will have reached the point of no return. The fates of Eden and mankind will rest upon the shoulders of the brave angels who find themselves mere steps away from facing the ultimate threat.

 

Visit the official Angels Online site for more on the Candy Land update.

 

Perpetuum

Perpetuum is a sci-fi MMORPG. Its setting is a far away planet inhabited by robots. A unique feature of Perpetuum is that while most other MMORPGs run multiple parallel servers, we have only one persistent, single universe.

 

Background story

In the not-too-distant future, a strange anomaly opens the gates of the universe for humans. With this new technology, energy, information and atomic size objects can be transported to anywhere in space.

 

The most intriguing of all new discoveries is an Earth-like planet, where humanity discovers a new source of energy, vital to its unbroken advancement. However, this planet is inhabited by a synthetic, robot-like life form. Their technology and resources are the goal of humanity’s new conquest.

 

Players may take part in various areas of the project. They may fight on the front lines for new territories, develop the already established infrastructure, trade goods or services, or even set their own goals and set up their own corporations.

Features:

Formable Planet Surface: The entire terrain in Perpetuum can be formed for military, agricultural, or aesthetic purposes.

Dynamically Changing Resources: Respawn of raw materials means that flora, minerals, and other materials are constantly changing.

Time based character development: Experience is gained even as you’re not logged in, preventing any need for grinding.

Player driven economy: Exploitation, refinement, and manufacturing are entirely controlled by players.

Gnarled Forest Zone Preview in Lego Universe

Gnarled Forest Zone Preview in Lego Universe
By Jonathan (Ardua) Doyle OnRPG Journalist

 

The Gnarled Forest… it is dark, riddled with danger and the wildlife isn’t the friendliest. There are Pirates at every turn and they’re the good guys.  Yes ladies and gents, we’re back in Lego Universe and taking a closer look at one of their later zones.

 

Lego Universe Gnarled Forest 

 

Step off the rocket pad and come with me, Steve McMinifig, as I take you through the forest.

 

The Gnarled Forest is the Pirate zone of Lego Universe where a pirate crew (and presumably Venture Explorer faction) have become stranded and face danger from the dark Stromlings (the bad guys), cranky apes and a monkey with a gun. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. As with every zone in Lego Universe there are little binocular stands dotted around. Usually they give you a hint about something or point out an interesting sight. They also, if you manage to find them all, give an achievement. If I were you though, I wouldn’t be searching them out for the hints or the achievement. Through those little stands, you get to see how beautiful some of the vistas NetDevil have created are.

 

Lego Universe Campfire

 

As for the zone itself, there are puzzles and quests a plenty dotted around. From the simple (getting across the chasm you come to very quickly after arriving) to the tough (Ninja prisoner feeding detail, it makes sense in context). Without getting too distracted or giving away too much, a number of quests will rely on what you achieve in the Gnarled Forest. Expect some retraced footsteps, but don’t take that as a criticism. The further you progress here, the further you can in other zones. It’s not retracing for its own sake.

 

What things are there to do in the Gnarled Forest? Well if fighting undead Pirate Stromlings wasn’t enough for you, there’s quite a bit to pick at. There are several pets to recruit, with each of them a recruitment mini game. A race track to gain access to so you and your friends can try out your latest vehicles. There’s also treasure, achievements, weapons and of course my favourite, a cannon firing mini game. Hey just because your pirate ship has been beached, that’s no excuse to stop shooting at things.

 

Lego King Kong 

 

Speaking of the Race Track. It is certainly something worth uncovering in your adventures. Between the ability to custom create your own race car from a multitude of pieces and a chance to race against two to five other players, it should never be overlooked. There’s even been some prizes this weekend for testers who got out there and raced. Winning, in the best habits of Lego, wasn’t the point or even necessary. Only participation and having fun. If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about the game, I don’t know what will.

 

I won’t give everything about the Forest away though. Spoilers are no fun and you’ll enjoy it more first hand. Suffice to say, Nexus Force needs you to get to the Gnarled Forest. Adventures lay in store and the Pirate minifigs need you. Steve McMinifig is but one man… well Lego man… and beating back the Stromlings and the effects of the Maelstrom in the Gnarled Forest isn’t a one minifig job. Who knows? You may get a Pirate Rocket ship out of it (I’m serious).

 

Lego Siren Help 

 

Lego Universe is released on the 26th of October this year and is currently available for pre-order.