Europe 1400: We Play Dirty

By Kei Beneza, Onrpg Journalist

 

 

 

Europe 1400 is a browser based MMO set in medieval Europe. The game focuses on trading, business, and politics. Here players start out with a small buy and sell business which will eventually expand further and bring them more options as they progress in the game. The best part about this game is how competitive the economic system can be. Aside from simply just buying and selling materials to increase their income, players can start digging dirt on various players, thus swaying the game in your favor as you wipe the board clear of competition.

 

 

Don’t Leave Me In The Dark

One thing I really didn’t like about the game is how the tutorials were laid out. The tutorials did explain a couple of basic features, but after teaching you how to buy and sell, it leaves you in the dark along with a pack of ravaging wolves. I tried looking for a FAQ page, but the only thing it did was lead me back to the crappy tutorial page. I know browser games should be relatively easy to learn, but not everyone has played the genre long enough to breeze through the features without proper instructions.

 

It’s Politics… As Real As Can Be

Honestly, I really love how the game exercises positions and various political movement. Once a player earns enough money and influence, they can start their political career and run for a range of positions, depending on which one your influence earns you. Note that you will be given various privileges and can easily work your way around sticky situations using these offices. The Mayor, for example can have people arrested, change laws, or have someone protected from various individuals. Your income may also increase dramatically once you advance to a higher position. Don’t think it’s THAT easy though. Being corrupt and power hungry has its advantages… as long as you don’t get caught.

 

 

Interface

As far as the interface goes, Europe 1400’s visuals are probably second to none in this genre. It’s amazing how the map scrolls around, giving players a semi 3D effect everytime they browse through it. Menus and features are also displayed in convenient locations, which is good since you will be using these panels a lot as you go through the game.

 

Need More Jewels

Once again the power of paying members prevail. Once you enter the game, you will encounter a couple of missions (quests) that will give you a good amount of gold. The painful part is that you will need JEWELs to start these quests, and the game will keep on charging your character until you either complete the quest or give up. Jewels can be acquired through labor (hard labor), but can also be acquired via the game’s item mall… for a price.

 

 

Verdict

I’m still of two minds about this game. First of all, the game is quite deep, which means that players should have a lot of things to look forward to. There iss also a good amount of betrayal and spying to keep players busy, especially since everyone wants to know what it’s like to rule the place. This good amount of features however, is shunned by the game’s constant lack of tutorials and a decent help page. As much as I would want to play a complex game that gives me a lot of options, it would be a lot easier if I would at least know what everything does before playing, rather than figure it all out on my own.

 

Pros

-Tons of things to do

-It’s still a fresh awesome concept

-Being able to rule and abuse authority rocks

 

Cons

-Paying members will really get more stuff, and it will take you a long time before you can catch up

-Lack of tutorials and a good help page.

Divine Souls Shows Priests Can Kick Ass Too

By Vincent Haoson, OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Divine Souls is Outspark’s 3D Action MMO. The game is set in a world where Divine Matter was discovered and used to help humanity surpassed their limitations. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and according to the game’s story, the discovery unhinged the balance of nature. However the great nations in Divine Souls have decided to withhold final judgement on the substance despite the obvious warnings. This changes when the chief scientist responsible for discovering Divine Matter goes missing, his lab ransacked. Now the time has come for the government to act before a greater calamity occurs.

 

The Job Classes

The agents that are sent by the government and interested parties represent the character job classes you will have to choose from. You have the staple general concept of melee, swordsman, magic and healer classes. These classes are mostly by the book MMORPG standard classes, however, the one thing that really jumped at me is the Priests, or the healer class.

 

Why? Because they’re carrying scythes as their main weapon. Yes, I said it, Scythes.

Divine Souls does away with the Priest stereotype and presents you with a soul scythe wielding, monster flinging, slayer. Yes that’s right- Remember the game is an action MMO, so it wouldn’t be right if you see a bible totting priest hitting everybody with the sacred tome of Christianity (cause that’s just wrong).

 

The Gameplay

Divine Soul’s gameplay is set for fast-paced keyboard breaking action. The gameplay is highly streamlined to make players maximize the full “action” potential.  The game is highly skill based with the emphasis of keying in the correct button sequence for combos to deal out maximum damage. You don’t play around with stat points in Divine Souls because everything is reliant on your job class choice, and the equipments your character has. Also the classes are gender locked, limiting your customization a bit.

 

 

The game is also notable for allowing players to use controllers, especially for those who are more accustomed to playing games like this with a gamepad.

 

The World Hub is set up in a pretty standard MMORPG fashion. An overworld exists in which you can interact and trade with other players. While major dungeons are instanced and set up for you to tackle by yourself or with a small group of friends.

 

Features

In terms of Divine Soul’s features, you have the staple MMO features such as a guild system, an achievement system and party systems. However the one game feature the stood out is the medal system.

 

Divine Souls has incorporated a medal system that’s tied to your achievements in-game. The medals serve both as bonus stat boosters and in-game titles. You have four slots to fill, allowing you to customize yourself to stand out from others sharing your class.

 

 

Aside from this, the game of course has a cash shop where you can purchase “vanity items” and some potions and exp boosts. The cash shop items thankfully aren’t as balance tipping as you would expect so there’s still no great distinction for those who actually spent money in the game or not.

 

PVP

If you want to peg Divine Soul’s best feature, I’d say that the game’s PVP system is its greatest strength. The game incorporates a healthy mix of PC action gaming and old school fighting game combo systems to produce a unique and competitive PvP atmosphere.

 

 

As expected, the game is fast paced and brutal, especially if your job class belongs to the fast hitters.  Muscle memory is your friend here. Also, what I liked about the game’s PVP is that your equipment won’t save you from bad timing and poor strategy. Knowing how and exactly when to unleash a hellish combo is vital to turning a match to your favor.

 

When it comes to PVP-ing, your biggest foe… is the lag. People who have slow internet connections are in the mercy of those who have better ones. I personally can attest to getting my priest defeated time and time again by people who have a faster Internet connection, or closer proximity to the game servers. The only time I was able to kick anyone’s ass is when I was faced with an enemy from the same geographical region as myself.

 

Conclusion

If I think about it, Divine Souls is a game that really delivers action as promised. The smooth transition between PVE and PVP is refreshing to experience, however the instanced dungeon questing gets old fast. While the game does have some other features in place, it won’t hold anyone with short attention spans.

 

 

The game is more suited for those seeking a fast-paced alternative to the MMORPG fantasy norms. In fact I can go as far as saying that if Grand Chase were ever turned into a 3D game, Divine Souls could be its soul successor of sorts.

 

The game’s combo system is easy to learn but you do need to invest more time in making your combo transitions smooth and efficient if you ever want to succeed in the game’s PvP. This is where the repetitiveness of the gameplay tends to be the make or break for any player. If you’re the type who doesn’t really care that you keep on stringing the same combos, fight after fight, after fight, after fight then the game is just for you.

 

However, I can’t recommend the game to people who want a more deliberate and slow-paced game. When they advertise this as an action game, they are telling you just what to expect.

 

 

Graphics – 3/5
Controls – 4/5
Features – 3.5/5
Customization – 2/5
Community – 3/5

Castle Fight: The Holy Clone Wars

By Mitch Baylosis-Benesa (Syllica), OnRPG Journalist

 

Castle Fight is a browser-based strategy game that takes you back to the Middle Ages during the famous quest to gain the Holy Land by two warring factions, the Christian Crusaders and the Arabs. Everything that defines the Middle Ages is consistently present in the game: the age of castles, windmills, brick production, conquests, gold, trade, and of course, faith.

 

Going Back To Basics

Like any other RTS in the market, you start off by building the essential resources like a clay pit for bricks and the wheat field for the wheat. Surprisingly, the first building that must be constructed before everything else is the church or the mosque. This should clue you in already that faith will have an effect on your governance. Apart from strengthening your army, checking your market supply, and establishing diplomatic ties with your neighbors, you must also constantly check the faith and loyalty of your people for this can affect your research or production.

 

 

East Meets West

The Holy Land Pilgrimage is one of the historical highlights reflected in the game. The first reason why is the prevalence of faith in the affairs of the government both on the Christians and the Arabs. The second reason is that this is one of the most defining moments in history when two factions from the East and the West, both bearing the flags of their faith and land, went into war. For the latter reason alone, I chose the Arabs just to test if the game would take RTS to a whole new level by incorporating the factions’ perspectives of the war. Suffice to say, I was disappointed.

 

 

Forever Alone?

No matter which factions you choose on the get go, it will hardly have any bearing on how you build your army. Your residence or castle will ultimately reflect how you fortify your area. Like in most RTS games, some buildings cannot be erected unless the requirement is met.

 

The flow of resources and technology is familiar, and Castle Fight’s interface made it even better. Everything is tight and compact. The left hand menu provides more options that will aid you in your growth. Icons for upgrades and expansion are nicely rendered as well. All I can say is that Castle Fight is one of the neatest and most organized looking RTS I’ve seen recently. My only qualm is the lack of missive from any NPC characters that would have further enlivened the experience. Once again, I felt like I was on my own and fast becoming impatient because I hardly felt like I was role playing at all.

 

 

I guess it would have been a lot of help to create an NPC that nagged you with updates of unimportance to help build a more realistic game world. But otherwise, Castle Fight is a straightforward and stimulating RTS that even newbies in the genre can enjoy.