Tales Runner has built up one epic summer line-up of new content. OnRPG combined all their released trailers so far into this piece.
Monthly Archives: August 2011
Tales Runner Releases Yuki the Ninja Girl
Tales Runner Releases Yuki, the Ninja Girl

Tales Runner, the popular racing MMO game from gPotato, is proud to announce the arrival of its newest playable character: Yuki the Ninja Girl! As of yesterday, Yuki was made available for play on Tales Runner! The talented Yuki is an integral addition to the latest chapter in the Tales Saga, Chaos: The New Beginning. Check out this Trailer to get clued in on what has happened so far.
A ninja trained since birth, Yuki’s search for power led her to the Dark Ball, a piece of the unwieldy Chaos. In trying to master the Dark Ball, she accidentally caused her family to disappear! Her remorse now fuels a reckless hunt to recover the Dark Ball and with it, her lost family. She has come to the Tales Land to fight Chaos and continue her search for the cursed artifact.
To welcome its newest and most anticipated playable character, Tales Runner is hosting a special “First Time Buyer” event. From August 1st to August 31st, anyone who buys cash items for the first time is eligible to win tremendous in-game prizes such as the coveted Eagle Lucky Box, the rare Golden Hammer, and the devilish playable character Jin.
OnRPG is excited to see this long story driven event play out and is eagerly anticipating the release of Kuro, the 12th playable character later this summer!
Realm of the Titans – Rough Edged and Wild
Realm of The Titans – Rough Edged and Wild
By Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG MOBA Reporter
Realm of The Titans (RoTT) is Aeria Games’ newest entry into the ever expanding Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre. The game has just entered Closed Beta, or at least that’s what it’s being called at least. In actuality the game is completely open to anyone with an Aeria Games account, and (for now at least) has a very large portion of its content accessible without having to pay a thing.
ColbyCheeze has a great overview of the game that can be found elsewhere on OnRPG. I’m going to try to avoid overlapping too much with what he’s covered in the video, and instead go over some of the parts of the game that stood out for me. The game’s mechanics are a mix between Defense of The Ancients’ more punishing style of play and League of Legends’ more forgiving nature, while still offering plenty of new ideas of its own.
I will admit, I didn’t want to like the game at first. It uses the attribute system that DoTA was forced to use due to it being hard coded into Warcraft 3. It has denying, a mechanic I’ve never much liked due to the indirect play it encourages during laning, encouraging players to attack each other’s minions rather than each other. Ability usage is very limited, which often makes your options early in the game feel quite limited. The minion waves are small in number, with three melee and one ranged every wave, (the same as in Heroes of Newerth) which doesn’t allow for much gold gain.
The whole thing felt much too old school for my taste. At least, at first. There are a number of touches that show that while the game’s designers haven’t strayed too far from the DoTA homestead, they definitely have their own ideas about how things should be changed. There’s no gold loss on death, for example. So while you can get denied out of gold, you won’t feel like you’re going backwards in a match. The game only has 15 levels of progression, which allows for a more level playing field, and means an experience lead is never too significant. If you ever get there, that is. Games of RoTT tend to be on the quick side, and you rarely get more than a couple of max level characters running around the field near a match’s end.
As I began trawling through the game’s extensive item catalogue something unusual stuck out to me: Nearly all of them completely ignored the attribute system. There are a few early game items that use them, and a hand full of late game items that utilize the system, but most just side step it entirely. While this allows for more item diversity, like attack speed and mana regeneration on the same item, it also gets a bit confusing. What’s better, five mana regeneration or +3 intelligence? I have no idea.
Another thing I disliked at first was the game’s visuals. I thought they lacked LoL’s visual clarity, while not having the detail of Heroes of Newerth. As I became accustomed to the game though, I began to notice a number of very nice touches. Nearly all the abilities in the game look suitably over the top and eye catching, from giant ghost dragons to an armoury of flying swords hurtling through the air. The game also very clearly wears its Chinese roots on its sleeve, with nearly all the human heroes and minions wearing some manner of hanfu, showing the game’s setting to be more closely tied with ancient china than with a pseudo-medieval Europe, as many of the other titles in this genre do. I think this last aspect of the game is most what makes it stand out visually from its rivals, rather than outright graphical fidelity.
While I came to enjoy the game’s aesthetics, likely due to a form of eyeball related Stockholm Syndrome, what never grew on me was the game’s sound. None of the characters have particularly interesting quotes, or memorable voices. A number of the menu sounds in the game sound like they have been stolen from (or used the same licensed sounds as) Warcraft 3. The game even lacks an active announcer, which not only makes the game feel quiet, but also means that important events, such as the killing of one of the game’s boss monsters, can sometimes be missed if you’re not paying constant attention to the minimap or alert messages.
Feedback as a whole is something the game has issues with. There are a very large number of abilities in the game that will severely punish a player for not understanding how an ability used on them will work, yet give no indication to the targeted player what that ability does. A perfect example of this is OnRPG’s own exclusive character, the Sage of Ink. His ultimate, Beautiful World, is a skill shot that upon hitting a target, will mark the location where it hit them with a blot of ink on the ground. After a few seconds, anyone hit by the ultimate will be teleported to their respective blots, and enemies will take damage equal to the distance teleported. This ability gives no indication to the players hit by this that leaving their blots is dangerous, no leash that strains from the ink or even an ink based visual effect that teleports them back. They simply all blink back, and some people die. I had to explain to my enemies a few times how my ability was working, because they thought they were being killed by lag spikes, rather than an old man with an interest in calligraphy. Were this a one off, it would be forgivable, but this is actually the norm. Exclamations of “What killed me?” were very common in the first games I played.
That said the trade off for this is that those same abilities are very unique and interesting. Even for someone as jaded as myself, I couldn’t help but give out a surprised laugh or exclamation when I realized some cool thing that a character in the game was capable of. While there are a number of fairly stock characters (a fire mage with an AoE stun, a turret using pusher, and so on) there are an abundance of cleverly thought out characters with not only good character designs aesthetically, but also very well thought out designs mechanically as well.
Another positive aspect is while the cast of characters is rather limited at the moment; I didn’t encounter any character that felt outright game breaking. Some certainly feel a bit stronger than others, but not in a way that felt any fight was insurmountable.
My favourite thing about the game though is the way it encourages very aggressive play. Rather than using the normal diamond shaped map, the game uses a rectangular map, similar to LoL’s Twisted Treeline, as its default game type. This allows movement between the lanes to be completely effortless, and cross lane ganking starts very early in RoTT due to minimal gold and experience loss when quickly moving between them. This is further helped by the mounts a character can ride, giving a movement speed boost when a character is out of combat for more than ten seconds. This makes roaming effortless, while the timer prevents mounts from being able to be used as an escape. The shops in the middle of the map also allow you to buy important items or consumables right in the heat of the moment, while also introducing an important resource that is hotly contested right from the start of the game. Warding these shops will almost guarantee a gank early on in game.
Another part of this is one of RoTT’s additional offensive mechanics. In addition to the buildings in an opponents’ base, which work similar to LoL’s inhibitors, or HoN’s barracks, a giant statue at the end of each lane is marked as a control point. Rather than spawning super minions, which are instead created by destroying all the buildings within the base itself, the control points will spawn minion waves for whichever team currently holds them. This allows you, as an attacking team, to start spawning waves just outside your enemy’s front door, and teleport to that location whenever you feel like. If you’re the defender in this situation, you are stuck with no option but to attack, or die from the constant pressure a taken control point affords the enemy.
The titan skills seemed like a great addition to me, allowing for more adaptability during a match than the pre-set summoner spells of League of Legends. Unfortunately though, while the game offers a massive array of different extra abilities for you to attach to your character, there is pretty much only one that’s useful for the overwhelming majority of the match. Logistics Master lets you restore health and mana at one of the secondary shops found in the middle of the map, in much the same way as you can at the spawn point in other MOBAs. This allows you to keep your health and mana at full throughout the game, provided you have control of the centre of the map, and is a truly overwhelming force to deal with if you don’t have it yourself. Thankfully, other abilities can become more useful later on in the game, where you see some increased diversity, but for the opening three quarters of the match, everyone is simply using the same ability.
Despite the game’s shortcomings, I’ve had a good deal of fun with Realm of the Titans. It’s got a very unique dynamic not seen in other MOBAs and a varied cast of unusual characters. The game is very rough around the edges, and nowhere near as refined as its competitors, but it is a blast to play once you get over a few initial hurdles. I’ve no idea if it will be as long lasting as HoN and LoL, especially with Dota 2 looming on the horizon, but for a good bit of quick silliness, I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good MOBA. Play it now while you can, before the beta ends and you have to earn the cast of heroes.
Perpetuum: More Than Just Mechs
Perpetuum: Terra Incognita is more than just a Mech based MMO
By Vincent Haoson, OnRPG Journalist
Perpetuum: Terra Incognita is a new subscription based sci-fi MMORPG from Avatar Creations. The game focuses on the concept of companies/conglomerates trying to get the most resources out of the planet Nia with you as part of their “workforce”.
Looks
For a subscription based MMORPG, I must say that Perpetuum looks pretty shabby compared to the bigger titles out there. Your “robot” is blocky and the visuals lack the oomph you’d find even in free to play games.
I don’t know though if this is related to the world you’re supposed to explore and mine, but it seems that the game never loses the color gray. While the game description puts Nia as a world that’s similar to Earth, the planet feels more like cybertron instead of Gaia. It doesn’t help that Nia is in fact filled with “synthetic” creatures which you’ll have to destroy with either guns or rockets to emphasize its cyber-tronish characteristics more.
While Perpetuum does muck things up with the Earth-likeness of Nia, the game at least conveys a world that hits its mark as far as sci-fi is concerned.
Gameplay
Being that Perpetuum revolves around the story of commerce, mining and territory building, the game jumps between mining, earning resources, PVE-ing and PVP-ing. Before you jump to the conclusion that Perpetuum is action-packed with arcade-style controls, I will set you straight.
The game plays more like a RTS game rather than your usual action-based space themed MMOs. While you control only one ship, your tactics will play a key role in the success of failure of each mission.
Customization
Perpetuum allows you to fully customize your “mech”. The customization options remind me of the console game Armored Core where your mech’s look is determined by the parts you equip it with. Equipping parts to your robot isn’t an easy task as anyone with experience with MMOs would expect. You have to actually mix and match the parts so that it fits to your intended task for the said robot. You also have to juggle with the limitations set by the capabilities of certain parts which hails back to the customization feature of Armored Core where the parts you can equip is determined by the power of the core generation of said AC robot. All this remains true in Perpetuum.
Aside from equipping your mech in Perpetuum your robot’s strengths and weaknesses are also determined by how you build up your “pilot”. This is set from the start via the choice of alliance your pilot has and focus on what skills your “pilot” should have. You can further determine this in-game every time your character levels up. Perpetuum uses a more customization friendly setup because the game let’s you choose the “skills” your character can acquire.
While the customization of the mech is pretty thorough, the avatar creation is on a whole different plane but not in a good way. Yes you can “tweak” your avatar’s look you don’t really see it in action. The only use for your avatar is for the headshot of your character shown in your “character screen” and that’s about it. I should also add that your character’s headshot is comic to look at. It’s pretty obvious that Avatar Creations didn’t really put a lot of effort in the avatar creation compared to the other “customization” aspects of the game and that’s forgivable in my book since you won’t really bother with your avatar in the long run.
Battles
As I mentioned earlier, Perpetuum jumps between mining, PVE-ing and PVP-ing. The game uses a consistent open world PVP system with only one server to promote not only community building but also a “supposedly” intense PVP experience for players.
Battling monsters and other characters requires you to prep your targeting system while “arming” your weapon systems. You also have to work with the range of your weapons before you can start firing at your targets. Fighting low leveled monsters can even be a pain if you come in guns-a-blazin’. In fact there will be times that you have to be in a group to win the low level mobs since- they are tend to group up and will tear you apart before you have time to even snipe off one.
Community
Perpetuum has a pretty solid community for a starting MMO. Once you get into the game you are welcomed by a GM who’s tasked to help new players out in understanding the game. Aside from that the community chat is vibrant with players both helpful and not.
However I can’t really give my final verdict for the game’s community since it’s still new and based on experience sometimes communities which start out as great have the tendency to turn bad once more players come in. So I’ll let you decide on that one.
Conclusion
Overall, Perpetuum is a solid MMO that gives players a lot more customization features than your normal sci-fi MMO. Personally I don’t think that the game’s visuals merit this to be a subscription based game, however its robust customization and gameplay systems would make it worthwhile. With the way things are standing for Perpetuum, Avatar Creations have to be consistent with the updates because the game is specialized to hit a target market of gamers who want more “personal touches” in their sci-fi MMOs.
My few gripes aside from the game’s visuals are that the interface is cluttered. While yes, you have the power to customize your interface’s looks, the menus are vast and required so a bit of clutter is a necessary evil to stay efficient. Aside from the cluttered interface, the controls can be quite a handful and complicated so you can’t just jump in and play without going through the game’s tutorial. This can be a deal breaker for a lot of people who’d like to jump into the game as soon as they made their characters but I think this is a good “filter” for the quality of players who would actually spend time (and money) on the game.
Perpetuum is a game that appeals to the more “hardcore” sci-fi gamers or at least to the people tired of the daily grind of the standard industry MMO.
Graphics – 2/5
Controls – 3/5
Features – 3/5
Customization – 5/5
Community – 4.5/5
Brawl Busters Gameplay Trailer
Brawl Busters has announced it will begin closed beta on August 11th. Here is their latest trailer showcasing the gameplay.
Firefall Launch Timing and Testing Style Confirmed
FireFall Gears Up for December 2011 Launch
Exciting news was posted at upcoming MMOFPS Firefall‘s website this week. It looks like not only is this open world experiment in modern MMO technology being pushed into launch in December of this year, but they will also be using a social networking launch strategy never before used in the MMO world. The following letter by Red 5 Studio’s CEO Mark Kern explains:
“Back in PAX prime of 2010, we announced that the game would be released at the end of 2011. This has never changed. This month, at ChinaJoy, I confirmed this same information with the Chinese and Korean press, which caused so much interest in our forums and elsewhere. I can only attribute this to the growing tidal wave of interest we’ve had in the game.
We are currently in Friends and Family Beta and have been since early this year. We have hundreds of testers playing both internally and externally. These testers also include a select few gamers drawn from our beta signup program.
But, I am very pleased to announce here at the Escapist that our expanded beta program will begin this month after PAX prime. We will be drawing a much larger group of gamers from our beta program at our signup page, www.firefallthegame.com which is rapidly climbing to 200,000 signups despite our keeping a low profile.
To explain our launch process further. We already consider ourselves “launched.” We will not have a traditional beta, open beta, launch process. We no longer feel this makes sense in a modern, online, service oriented business, especially a free2play game. Instead, we have modeled our launch after G-mail’s invite system.
The way this works is that we bring testers and content up in layers. As each layer proves itself out, we give our testers invite slots, which they are free to send to their fellow gamers. We use different criteria to decide when and to whom we release more invite slots. This process never stops, as it didn’t stop for G-mail for a very long time. It’s a great way to grow the game through people’s social networks, which is what we want for our team and clan oriented game.
Finally, as for my comment to the Escapist that the game was 50% complete, this is an overly simplistic way of representing progress in a game. Game development has many parallel tracks, and some are harder than others. Our custom 3D engine and server engine, for example, is 90% complete. Our terrain and art and towns for December are also at 80% as is the art for NPCs, monsters, mobs, etc. Our competitive multiplayer maps are about 75% of the way there, and while Co-op missions are the lowest at below 20%, these are also the fastest to produce with our tools. This is modern rapid development. We are a F2P game and we have a different go-to-market strategy than retail games. Just like League of Legends, we start with a great gameplay experience, get that right, and then the content will flow. It’s all about frequent and rich content updates. We have lots of unannounced content in the wings, some already created, that we are reserving for our layered approach and will reveal as the story unfolds and players drive back the Melding to reveal new content.
Sincerely,
Mark Kern
CEO/CCO, Red 5 Studios”
League of Legends Dominion
League of Legends has announced a new capture control point mode along with a new map known as Dominion
Brawl Busters Announces Closed Beta Date
Brawl Busters Enters Closed Beta in One Week
Rock Hippo Productions and partner Weezor have announced today that the closed beta test for Brawl Busters will begin next week on Thursday, August 11th. In addition to the announcement of the closed beta test starting next week, the company has also released a brand new trailer and new screen shots showing off the game. Brawl Busters is a Free2Play dynamic new action brawler that features competitive and co-operative battle modes all in a unique third person view. With its simple and intuitive controls, this easy to pick up and play game makes team strategy a must as players battle against each other or team up against computer controlled enemies.
“Our fans ask us every day when they will get their hands on Brawl Busters so we are excited to finally be able to let them know the countdown has started and they only have to wait one more week!” said Howard He, President and CEO of Rock Hippo Productions. “We invite players to go to the website now and sign up so they can make sure to get one of the coveted closed beta invites, and while they are there they should make sure to check out the weekly video lessons we have posted teaching them about Brawl Buster’s gameplay features. This way, they can be ready to jump in and be one of the best Original Busters next Thursday.”
League of Legends Releases New Mode
League of Legends Unveils Details on New Game Mode: Dominion!
Riot Games, the game company behind League of Legends, today unveiled League of Legends: Dominion, a brand-new capture-and-hold game mode for the hit multiplayer online battle arena title. Coming soon, Dominion features non-stop action, relentless player-versus-player combat, strategic teamwork, and nail-biting competition played on an entirely new map, the Crystal Scar.
A teaser trailer showcasing this game mode can be seen HERE.
“We asked our millions of players around the world to expect the unexpected in 2011 – and with League of Legends: Dominion, we’re making good on that promise,” said Marc Merrill, president of Riot Games and executive producer of League of Legends. “Dominion brings something completely original to the MOBA genre, taking the proven fun of League of Legends’ team-based competition with a diverse roster of champions, and unleashing them on a new battlefield with entirely new rules.”
League of Legends: Dominion features:
Capture-and-hold gameplay: Summoners battle it out for control of five unique strategic targets, capturing points from the opposing team and defending them against enemy intrusion.
An all-new map: The action in League of Legends: Dominion takes place in the Crystal Scar, a highly contested, war-torn mining village featuring stunning new art crafted specifically for the new map.
Fast-paced action: League of Legends: Dominion is an accelerated version of classic League of Legends gameplay – matches last around 20 minutes, so gamers can enjoy a rapid-fire alternative to the more strategic, measured pace of Summoner’s Rift.
Non-stop combat: From beginning to end, players will enjoy unrelenting skirmishes as they vie for control over the map – in League of Legends: Dominion, Summoners can expect an onslaught of one-on-one and small team fights.
Down-to-the-wire victories: Matches of League of Legends: Dominion are competitive until the very end – late-game comebacks are possible and the outcome is always in question.
Completely free: Like classic League of Legends, Dominion is completely free-to-play for new and veteran Summoners alike. Players will be able to use all their existing masteries, runes, champions and skins on Dominion.
Gamers will have the first chance to go hands-on with League of Legends: Dominion this month at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany and PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington.
Gamescom: August 18 to 21 in Cologne, Germany: Hall 9 Aisle B, booth 043.
PAX Prime: August 26 to 28 in Seattle, Washington, USA: Booth 3433
Scarlet Legacy Enters Closed Beta
Scarlet Legacy CB Begins Today
In a matter of minutes, GamesCampus’ highly-anticipated fantasy MMORPG, Scarlet Legacy, will be entering into closed beta testing! Beginning today, beta key holders will have early access to join the fight and save Princess Scarlet from evil forces. OnRPG has a constant supply of keys coming in so be sure to grab one HERE.
During the closed beta testing period, players will enter a massively dynamic fantasy world that takes players through a journey of thousands of quests to save Princess Scarlet. OnRPG’s ColbyCheeze took a look at the game prior to today’s CB launch and mentioned in his VIDEO that each of the four character classes has unique mechanics that force players to constantly think on their feet, switching weapons and chaining combos together in precise sequences to fully utilize their character.
“The wait is over for fans to get their first shot at Scarlet Legacy, and we think they are going to love their experience,” said Uyen Uyen Ton Nu, Head of Marketing at GamesCampus. “We know fans have been anxious to get their hands on this innovative new game, and we look forward to their feedback.”
Scarlet Legacy possesses innovative new game systems that will allow players to spend more time progressing their characters, rather than just running around the game world on travel-related tasks. The new “Auto Assist” system allows players to have complete MMORPG-style character manipulation with chain-targeting combat systems, giving the freedom of true control-driven and action-oriented game play.
Scarlet Legacy offers tactical combat with stylishly cinematic animation, plenty of character customization options, and numerous PvP modes and battlefields. There are four classes to choose from at the beginning, but each has access to multiple unique talent trees, bonus granting Martial Arts combat Stances, and evolving skills which allow for far more personalized progression. Scarlet Legacy is a complete MMORPG with crafting profession skills, mounts, pet customization and mutation systems, and dozens of in-world mini-games.

























