Monthly Archives: September 2011

Early Access: Core Blaze Part 2

Early Access: Core Blaze Part 2

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-In-Chief

 

 

Another day is coming to an end and its time to get deeper into the Unreal world of Core Blaze. In yesterday’s article I offered a teaser of some of the challenges waiting players in Core Blaze as well as touched on the classless character weapon combination system. It’s now time to give a detailed look into the deep control system and character progression.

 

A Delicate Dance of Skill, Item Slots, and Stamina

 

Core Blaze is all about forcing players to think on their feet and utilize all their options simultaneously to overcome dreadful bosses. This involves a toggle of skills on one side of the controller and a toggle of items on the other side. Out of all of the console controller tie ins I have experienced in MMOs, this felt the most well thought out.

Console Controller Control Scheme:

 

One joystick to control your character, one joystick to rotate the camera, the R2 button to dodge/roll/defend, the R1 and L1 buttons to open your skill or item menu and then hot buttons with A, B, X and Y to quickly choose items and skills out of your list, B acting as jump and A acting as an activation function skill, and X and Y acting as basic auto attacks. X and Y may also be combined to use more powerful auto attacks or in unison with jump and controller movement to unleash a variety of auto attack patterns.

 

 

By preassigning your skills to A, B, X or Y in three scrollable sets players can quickly use the console controller to scroll through up to 12 skills in rapid fire succession. The same was true for the item menu, although I have some complaints with this system that I will discuss later.

 

Combat in Core Blaze happens so fast that players must be able to set their control scheme to muscle memory in order to utilize their attacks and combo them effectively. While you can mindlessly hack a lone monster to death, their tendency to group up makes standard ‘beat-em-up’ combat the fastest way to get yourself killed in this game (aside from tripping off a ledge like our showgirl did at one point). Try defending yourself against a hoard of zombies encircling you with your one-handed shield and tell me how well it works out!

 

 

So what is an MMO gamer to do when three-fourths of the classes are melee based? Utilize weaponized items. These come in the form of flash grenades, concussive grenades, mines, torches, grappling hooks, and a ton of other items I wasn’t privy to experience in our short time with the game.

 

Flash grenades and concussive grenades offer melee characters a way to safely get into melee combat while their enemies by confusing them from a distance with explosive ranged items. Mines are ideal for archers to set traps against foes that are difficult to stun. Torches can be used to not only set enemies on fire but also set the environment on fire, burning your enemies to a crisp in the process. For example, Liang Qu the blue tiger from the Core Blaze trailer creates a shield of spiked ice around him continually that makes engaging with him head on suicide. However, a well placed flash grenade to his face can stun and blind him long enough to allow your melee team to run in and puncture a few well placed holes in his stomach.

 

 

This game feels more akin to a game of chess than checkers though as all of your actions are not only limited by the speed you can deliver them, but also the spirit bar and stamina bar. The spirit bar acts as your base stamina system, with every skill requiring a large amount of spirit to cast. The stamina bar represents your character’s ability to engage in continuous combat, with it draining after each skill, auto attack, and item used, and only regening while out of combat with your foes. This made tanking quite an interesting occupation in this game because shielding was only an option for so long while holding the boss’ agro. But dropping your guard can be near fatal, forcing you to rely on your team to draw the boss’ attention before you reach the limits of your stamina and THEN rushing back and spamming through your stamina before the boss finishes crushing your teammates.

 

 

Weather and Time

 

Outside of the pure ecstasy of combat lies a dynamic world map filled with dozens of cities, and surprising events around every turn. While many MMOs claim this, they unfortunately eventually become dull due to players creating wikis, mapping out all the ‘surprises,’ and quantifying everything into mathematical predictable formulas and schedules. What a drag MMO players are!

 

RedGate Studios loves the initial feeling players get when stepping into a new game so much that they put great effort into preventing players from feeling this lull of ‘been there and done that.’ To do this they first started by using their amazing graphics engine to produce day and night, as well as various weather conditions. While day and night may be predictable, the weather is randomized to keep players on their toes.

 

 

While the graphical changes of these two factors might be aesthetic, they certainly aren’t enough to keep players intrigued beyond the first few times you encounter them. As such they took it a step further and made it so monsters would differ between day and night, and some monsters would only appear in the rain, while others might only appear on a rainy night. Now compound this with a detailed time system, and the developers can make a world boss that appears at 3am on an unnaturally windy morning! Then consider that they can constantly change the requirements of when these monsters appear, or even add special public quests events that might trigger in these time frames and weather conditions, changing each week and constantly throwing players off.

 

World Exploration and Crafting

 

The system in place for Core Blaze opens a whole new level of evolution into the MMO world. No longer will players be able to set their watches and predict their gaming environment around them. A portion of crafting may even be involved in finding rare treasure chests that spawn randomly around the map due to given circumstances.

 

Yet another twist comes about with Core Blaze’s unique way of blocking players from having access to the entire world from the beginning. Certain tools, such as the hook shot, make it so players can access new levels of the world previously blocked to them. This system is by far a superior system than most MMOs that arbitrarily set portals with level requirements to limit players. Now you will actually see players hook their way across a large gap or up a cliff face and wonder ‘wow, I can’t wait to find out what’s up that hill.’ While the hook shot was the only item of this mentioned at the meeting, they promises there were tons more exploration based items to be unlocked within the game.

 

Get outside of your cave! You haven’t seen anything yet.

 

In terms of crafting, I have to step a little outside the bounds of what was told to us at Gamania’s Show. I feel that this speculation is justified by putting 2 and 2 together. They told us that crafting of weapons, armor, and healing as well as active weaponized items is all possible in the game. They also told us that exploration is limited and that rare resources can be found on the world map. Then they told us that monsters can be damaged in unique ways based on certain attacks, such as chipping teeth off of the tiger Liang Qu with a well placed sword attack to his mouth (which in turn makes him rage and go into berserk mode).

 

 

It makes sense then that crafting in this game will involve not only exploration of the map and boss battles, but having the skill to inflict damage in certain ways to certain bosses (that may only spawn during the night on a rainy day on weekends) to collect all the requirements for crafting the ultimate weapon. How great a throwback would it be to older games to see players crafting rare armors that not only are their rivals too poor to craft, but might not even have the skill/knowledge to acquire the mats for these items. As I said, this is a bit of speculation, but with a game where the limits of known MMOs are being pushed, I think I’m allowed to dream.

Character Progression

 

The last bit of news I can share about Core Blaze is that it uses an atypical progression system that throws levels out the window in exchange for combat experience, achievements, and weapon experience. By clearing dungeons and fighting battles, you character will level up, but Producer Jacky Chu emphasized that this was not a flat statistical level up so much as a symbol of your experience to other players. True statistical improvements come from acquiring better weapons and better equipment. Your skills can improve and allow you to unlock new skills from fighting multiple battles with your weapon of choice.

 

 

This type of system is not unique to the MMO world, but it certainly reserved to a select few pioneers of the industry such as DarkFall Online. However just like the team behind Langrisser Schwarz, Core Blaze assured us that they wouldn’t be rewarding players for doing the mundane like running their head into a wall to build endurance. As such limitations are placed on both skill and equipment types you can wear based on an achievement system.

 

Jacky Chu described the achievement system as a type of martial arts belt ranking for your character. There are various types of martial arts one can study, and being good at one doesn’t necessarily guarantee you are a master of a different form. However without these belts a player may find themselves too weak to equip a larger bow, or too clumsy to unleash a high flying aerial technique. This forces players to seek out all the challenges of the world and accomplish them one by one to unlock the full potential of their character.

 

 

Now as much fun as it is to hype this game, my write-up wouldn’t be complete without pointing out the flaws. The game isn’t released in North America yet.. such a huge flaw! Besides this, the control scheme is a bit awkward in its current implementation. I disliked having to place my supportive and healing items on the same three tiered menu set as my attack items. This game is far too fast paced to give you time to scroll through a set of hp and mp potions to activate a grenade and then aim the grenade at the enemy. I need a faster way to utilize these items! It’s also quite annoying that you pretty much lose all menu interface when getting smacked around by a monster because it’s impossible to move and scroll through your items effectively at the same time.

 

This can easily be resolved by either making a separate button (perhaps select) that opens a menu dedicated to offensive items, or even by allowing you to add your favorite offensive items to your skill menu. Vice-versa, some defensive skills would feel more at home next to my healing potions. There was no mention of customization of these menus at the press event and I certainly hope they make it in for the game’s full release because this was a serious flaw holding back my full enjoyment of the action combat.

 

Although I wish I could tell more about the game, I’ve more than exhausted the lengths of my current knowledge. The North American press was persistent enough to get the development team to hint at a hardcore PvP system as well as organized GvG and castle raids, but that was all they were willing to share. After seeing all the games present at the Gamania Show I feel that the wait for 2012 has just became longer than ever. And OnRPG will do our part to continue taunting you with great games to make it worse in the near future.

DDO Releases Update 11: Secrets of the Artificers

DDO Releases Update 11: Secrets of the Artificers

 

 

Turbine announced today that the latest update for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, one of the world’s best free to play massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG), is now live!

Update 11:  Secrets of the Artificers features:

New Artificer Class! — A blend of Rogue and Arcane classes, the Artificer uses specially created weapons and mechanical pets to challenge their foes

New House Cannith Enclave! — Home of the Artificers, House Cannith is a new high level quest hub where magic and mechanics converge

New Content! — Born in war, forged in fury, Stormreach faces its most terrible foe yet. The Secrets of the Artificers premium adventure pack will be available in the DDO Store and Free to VIPs includes:

 



 Two New High Level Raids

 New Wilderness Area

 3 new dungeons

New Crafting Levels! — Craft all the way to level 150. Plus, craft Draconic Runestones, a new magical weapon available to all classes

 

 

For more information be sure to check out OnRPG’s PAX coverage of the expansion.

Prius Online: I Choose You!

Prius Online: I Choose You!

By Vincent Haoson, OnRPG Journalist

 



Prius Online is a 3D fantasy MMORPG from CJ E&M. The game circles around your character, the only remaining survivor of a team of racially diverse soldiers who were annihilated. You have lost your memory and through that you start off (once again) in your adventure to regain your memories and return to your “pre-amnesia” state of greatness.

 

Getting Started

Starting off in Prius Online is a pretty surprising (and welcome) change in terms of MMORPGs. The game tries hard to establish your origins story where it is explained what happened to you prior to your Amnesia. The game tends to really ham it up which seems to be the game’s bread and butter (more on that later) aside from being visually attractive since the game seems to borrow heavily from the anime art style.

 

Job Classes

Prius Online has your typical array of classes; you have the ranged attackers in the guise of the Hume female gunslingers and for the male Humes the occultist class. The Lon Race on the other hand has the berserkers for the male and the huntresses for the female. The third race in Prius is the Ayin which is separated to the Legionnaire for the male and the Shadow Templar for the Female. Finally, you have the Beriah race which has the support class, the Minstrel.

 

Game Features

The game has the usual bells and whistles you’d find in a lot of MMORPGs these days. Prius has the title system which basically works as both a source of awkward character name extensions and very useful character buffs.

 



The game’s character growth is anchored heavily on the job class you choose. While the base stats growth is determined by your chosen race/job class, customization in the form of skill allotment allows you to differentiate yourself from your peers.

 

The game also has the automated player check-up system in place where you have to key in the proper image to check if you are a human “player”. Failure to click said image will force the game to transport your character to the nearest town.

 

Prius also has a mount system where you can acquire cute bunny-like creatures or dark horse-like ones as your trusty steed. The Cerelo system is also a handy way of travelling long distances without the tedium of having to control a mount yourself.

 



The game also has a Coliseum and PK system in place which follows the usual system in most MMORPGs.  Most PvP happens within the “coliseum” which is viewed by the community as the honorable source of combat amongst players. Those seeking to grief instead of obtain glory will be glad to know the freedom to PK the living daylights out of other players also exists. Of course, to counter balance the abusive players, the game has the bounty system in place so that players can “report” abusive PKers so that other players can have a go at them for rewards.

 

Prius also has the guild system set, however it’s not yet active as of my review.

 

The Game’s 3Cs



Prius Online’s defining feature is its 3C game system which comes from the concept of controlling three characters. Aside from your main unit, you also have an “escorts” in the form of a small girl called Anima. The Anima can dish out spells against the monster you are targeting or support you. You have complete control on the type of Anima you are controlling which is then dependent on your preferred playstyle. On rare occasions you will also be able to gain control of a Gigas. These Gigas are robot-like creatures under the control of Animas (based on the game lore), that deal out massive damage to enemies for a short amount of time since controlling a Giga is limited.

 

More on the Anima




The Animas tend to be more like a little kid that tags along on your journey. I think the best parallelism I can think of between the Animas and you to other games would be Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow. There will be times that you need to actually talk with your Anima and in-between fights there will be pop-ups that allow you to interact and grow your relationship together.

 

Conclusion

Although the gameplay itself and elements of Prius Online are solid, the story telling really let me down. I mean the elements are already there including beautiful graphics and a gigantic rich world to explore. Prius just needs to take what it has and clean it up a little better.

 



I know I shouldn’t really bank on the story telling attempts of MMORPGs in general, but there are a few key points I would love to see the developers iron out. The animations need a bit of work to make me really feel attached to the characters. The out-of-sync voice acting also was a barrier that kept me from feeling the same attachment I felt towards Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow. I guess this might not be a huge issue to most MMO players but as a writer it nagged at me constantly.

 



All in all I can say that Prius has a lot of potential as an MMO. It looks good, plays great and even the community is decent enough that the usual headache I get from communicating in world chat never surfaced. However the game tries hard in presenting a dramatic story theme and doesn’t quite get it right.

 

For a more indepth look at the game features, be sure to check out ColbyCheeze’s video impressions.

 

Graphics – 4/5

Controls – 5/5

Features – 4/5

Customization – 3/5

Community – 3/5

Early Access: Core Blaze Part 1

Early Access: Core Blaze Part 1

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-In-Chief

 

 

Core Blaze was left for the final hour of the final day of the Gamania Gameshow. You could tell from everyone within the company that this was supposed to be it; this was the game that would burn the name Gamania into the minds of the western gaming world. As we stood outside the red brick walls a river of over 100 Asian press came streaming out of the tiny building. It’s still a bit of a mystery to us how so many managed to fit into the tiny room prepared for us!

 

 

When it comes to game immersion the team at RedGate Studios took the literal route. The circular walls around the gaming room were made of projector screen and we soon found ourselves right in the center of the action in a living world. For anyone familiar with the King Kong ride at Universal Studios, it was kind of like that!

 

After the dazzle and showmanship was over, we were thrown without warning into the game to experience it for ourselves. This game is built on the Unreal Engine 3 I have been making a big deal about on the website over the past couple months. For those who don’t understand why it is a big deal, this is the same engine being used by Bluehole Studios to develop TERA Online, a next generation live-action MMO set to change the way people look at MMOs. Until the Gamania Gameshow I had viewed TERA Online as untouchable in the action MMO world. With the introduction of Core Blaze, it now has competition.

 

 

I was paired up with 2 members of the Canadian press and one of the beautiful showgirls to take on the challenging dungeon set up for us. Each of us took on a different role to make a balanced team:

 

 

I took up the sword and shield and fought on the front line of the team. By actively raising my shield with L2 (on the controller) I was able to absorb massive focus fire while remaining unscathed. I could also attack while defending, using great amounts of stamina to throw my shield into enemies and render them temporarily dazed. My one-handed sword also proved useful for landing finishing blows on enemies that my allies had weakened, though it would leave me quite vulnerable and had to be used sparingly.

 

 

My rivals in the press took up the bow and great sword as their weapons of choice. The bow provided devastating long range attacks but made him quite vulnerable if he found himself out of place on the front line. Still the bow was vital against the dungeon’s bosses who used powerful melee range magic to completely negate any offensive charge on my shield and sword warrior.

 

 

The other member of the press with the broad sword was able to truly feel the weight behind his weapon. It was tremendously slow to wield but could bring a battle to a crushing halt with a single well timed attack. His riskiest skills involved daring airborn strikes that would leave him complete vulnerable afterward but, ideally, leave nothing left alive to harm him. This class in unison with the sword and shield warrior was a deadly combo as the offensive force of the board sword followed by the defensive stance of my character was too much for any foes in the dungeon demo to handle.

 

 

Our showgirl took up arms as the dual wielding swordswoman. This was by far the most agile of the characters and offered furious attack bursts and few openings for the AI. As a solo class I would imagine this is the top weapon of choice.

 

Class System.. Or Lack Of?

 

In fact there are no set classes in Core Blaze. You can take up arms and train yourself separately in any of the 4 weapons’ disciplines at your leisure. Naturally if you focus on one weapon, you will become more adept in using it. However its perfectly viable to become a master of all of them and support your friends with your versatility. Currently there are no plans to allow you to switch weapons within an instance though, so once you select a weapon you are in for the long haul.

 

Some of the more astute MMO players will notice something missing in this line up though. Hmm..

 

 

Figure it out yet? There’s no staff or wand wielder in this game. Yea no magic and no focused healer to watch your back in Core Blaze. Players are heavily reliant on hp potions and the sword and shield wielder’s limited aoe heals to keep themselves alive. This made the combat incredibly dynamic as at no time do you find yourself only focused on damaging the enemy. Your hp bar is constantly on your mind and evading/blocking every attack is the difference between life and death.

 

Death and Teamwork

 

Death is a very looming reality in this game as well! Not only are the monsters cunning and calculated in their team oriented assaults, but environmental hazards like fire and pits loom around every corner. At one part of our instance run we were forced to navigate across a gaping hole by clinging to the side of a cliff and climbing across to the other side.

 

 

Unfortunately once we reached the half way point and were stationed upon a small ledge, undead archers began to open fire on us from the other side of the cliff face. One of my allies attempted to rush across the gap but was quickly shot off the ledge, falling to his death (fall damage is back. Deal with it!). The archers then focused on me, and I was able to use my shield to deflect numerous arrows while our broad sword warrior climbed across the ropes, jumped up a huge gap between ropes, and slammed the archers over the side of the cliff face, clearing the way for the rest of our team.

 

 

This is just one instance of team related content forcing players to work together. In another area of the world, players must scale a windy cliff face with a rickety old ladder. This is impossible to do solo but if one player steadies the ladder, the other can climb to the top. Then the player at the top can steady the ladder while the other player climbs up to meet them. Of course should someone stab the player on top in the back during this process, well, enjoy your free fall!

 

I got pretty carried away with writing this article and realized i was well over 2,000 words into it before I even started slowing down. So I’m going to leave you guys hanging and return tomorrow with part 2 of Early Access: Core Blaze!

Diablo III Countdown: Runes in Action

Diablo III Countdown: Runes in Action

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

If you missed any of the previous articles check out the Diablo 3 review section.

(http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/Diablo-III)

 


In this article I shall be introducing you to a new system that has been announced a while ago, this system is quite unique in the MMO world and will have an impact on every aspect of gameplay in Diablo III. This system allows players to customize their character in some of the most fantastic ways ever thought up by an MMO developer.

 

At BlizzCon in 2008 the lead designer of Diablo III, Jay Wilson, revealed the Skill Rune system of skill modification which surprised a lot of people. These Runestones used in the Rune system are random drops which mean that every monster will most likely drop these handy Runestones. These Runestones have a significant impact on skills and the system encourages experimentation with the effects of these nifty stones.

 

YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1mQmy8ZMuY

 

There are many ways to customize your character to your liking; it is arguably the most important factor you can customize when building your character. This is quite a statement considering you will be able to customize charms, traits, enhancements, gems, armor, weapons, dyes, and skill ordering!

 

 

Runestones are stones that will affect skills differently; adding a specific Runestone to a skill may enhance its damage or add any other effect. There are currently five Runestone types: Crimson, Indigo, Obsidian, Golden and Alabaster. These uniquely colored Runestones have different ranks of power; the higher the rank of a Runestone the better the resulting skill. For instance, adding on hit stun-effects may make you more viable in PvP or more capable of chaining together long trains of mobs for aoe carnage. Due to the readily available nature of these gems, experimentation is encouraged so every player can find a set that matches their personal play style! In this video you can see some of the effects the Runestone give to some class skills.

 

YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jewDFyHfvTE

 

Currently there are more than twenty skills per class, and a player can choose to access up to seven of those skills at any one time. The skills primarily allow characters to perform special attacks and cast spells that deal significantly more damage with bonus side effects when compared to standard attacks. Not only will some skills amplify damage but they can also activate defensive abilities, supportive abilities, summoning minions and set traps. A good number of skills also include movement bonuses and teleportation to ensure that players aren’t stuck choosing between two attacks that virtually do the same thing with different numeric values. The Runestones compound the uniqueness of every skill to make PvP in this game more dynamic than anything of its kind.

 

 

Now I still have my questions about some of the effects that the Runestones system could be giving. Diablo 3 will have PvP (Player versus Player) and I still have my thoughts about the Rune system in PvP, for example if you have a ranged spell and you use a Runestone on that spell that will give you an extra stun effect how much will this affect the game? This of course depends how much time the effect will trigger in a minute and if there is any sort of item that makes you immune to stuns, but will it be balanced? I assume the classes all have different skills and spells to stun their target and I wonder if the extra Runestone system is fair in PvP. Knowing Blizzard this system will be most likely tweaked a lot to create balance and stability but likely a large part of the lifetime of the game will be filled with competitive players chasing after the latest FotM.

 

 

When I first heard about the Rune system when it was revealed I got quite curious how much this changes the key element of the game and how much power it gives to a class. I haven’t seen this feature in any other game before so Blizzard is in uncharted territory on how to properly balance it. However, from a PvE standpoint this is a godsend towards MMO replayability. I personally cannot wait to try out the Rune System and hunt for better Runestones and test out more builds for my characters.

Early Access: Tiara Concerto

Early Access: Tiara Concerto

 

 

It feels like each of the games shown at the Gamania Gameshow last week held a strength that made it unique from the others. In the case of Tiara Concerto the defining factor is its animation quality. This game plays well, but each action and reaction from foes and players alike just comes out seamlessly. For anyone familiar with Skies of Arcadia or the Tales of Series, this game will throw you into massive nostalgic shock due to the gameplay style, driven storyline, and air pirate theme coming together. But great animation, pretty outfits, and nostalgia isn’t enough to compete in the MMO market so I’ll start with the core mechanics and build up to why Gamania is so confident in this game heading stateside.

 

 

Tiara Concerto bases its character selection on a system of 3-3-2. 3 races, 3 classes, and 2 weapon types per class. This basically leads to 18 potential ways to build yourself as each race provides passives and skill variations and each weapon unlocks new ways to each class.

 

 

Races

 

Beast: The beast race is hardier than the others. With higher physical attack power and defensive stats, they are right at home on the front line as any class. What they lack in magic ability they make up with additional combos to help keep foes stunned longer from range.

 

 

Gamania studies show their play testers spend over 70% of their time staring at their character’s ass. Tiara Concerto capitalized on it.

 

Elves: The elves are the opposite of the beasts in every way, both shorter in stature and extremely vulnerable to taking any kind of damage. It’s usually unwise to use any of their melee range abilities unless you are extremely confident in your ability to block and counter an enemy. Their magical abilities are top notch and make devastating use of long charge attacks skills.

 

Humans: Humans are balanced, neither specializing in defense or over the top magical prowess. However their unique execution of skills and freedom to excel on both the front and backline allow them to skill spam like no other and compete quite well with their racial counterparts.

 

 

Classes

 

Performer: The tank class. They can utilize two-handed swords for maximum offensive power or polearms for long range attacks and skillful aoes.

 

 

Composer: Composers are mid to long range fighters. They can excel at long range with charged shots from their twin guns or get more personal with the gun blade. Their agility and resistance to critical strikes make them surprisingly resilient in intense boss battles.

 

 

Tuner: Tuners are the mage/cleric classes, utilizing Harmony and Chord skills to utilize the elements of fire, earth, water, and wind to support their team. They pack the greatest punch in combat but can die just as quickly under the care of an unskilled player. Utilizing your racial specialization to its fullest is key to unlocking the ultimate potential of this class.

 

 

World Map VS Instances

 

Tiara Concerto couldn’t claim to be a true pirate MMO without an extensive exploration system on its world map. There are constant treasures abound for the keen eye to discover, including musical instruments that can unlock hidden dungeons or even alter currently unlocked dungeons to include new more powerful monsters, challenges, and even storyline. Once inside a dungeon the game changes drastically from an open world sandbox exploration game to a heavily story driven game with missions to accomplish and fast-paced action combat galore.

 

Gameplay

 

Tiara Concerto uses its beautiful animations to the fullest with the action and reaction system. Every attack, whether done by a player or enemy, features a clear animation signaling the strength and type of attack being prepared. Some AI will actually dodge away or attempt to interrupt your attack, so you better believe you need to be just as active and aggressive to stand a chance. Players can crouch, jump, block, counter, and use various dodge oriented skills to their advantage to escape from enemy attacks. The type of escapes vary from class to class with performers utilizing powerful knock backs and defensive stances, composers using lunging pistol shots, and tuners using snares and long range teleporting. Producer Gabriel Pang even suggested that if they can iron out some of the roughness of dodging skills, they might even introduce platforming challenges into the game such as skillfully jumping and ducking across ropes to board an enemy pirate ship.

 

 

Although the obvious reason of learning these escape tricks is in order to stay alive, a note gauge system will further reward players for their style. As your gauge increases, you gain access to more powerful Sforzando attacks that will really cut through the most daunting of foes. Though the difficulty of actually building up to the level that Sforzandos unlock means you will likely only utilize them on key moments of the storyline when death is certain without them. Another reason to care about style points is that each individual member of the team will be graded at the end of successfully completing a mission. Those who contributed the most towards the musical gauge will receive higher grades and greater potential rewards, with a bit of luck.

 

 

Another system in place that really lets players cut loose is the Accent State. Though I’m not entirely sure of the details involved with unlocking this mode, when the little pink haired girl from the trailer sings, your character goes wild. All cooldowns are removed, channeling time increases, and the game is broken down into a spam fest of how many skills you can get off in rapid succession and still duck away from the boss in one piece.

 

Settle Down Captain Sackbut!

 

Mission Objectives

 

Combat intricacies aside, Tiara Concerto further mixes up the medley with mission based objectives beyond kill X and walk to Y. I feel like they haven’t quite developed them to the point that this is game changing, but it was still nice to be barraged by endless pirates until destroying their side cannons or infiltrate a pirate ship and search for hostages between decks. Too many MMOs up till now have relied on flat boring maps and Tiara Concerto really adds depth and realism to its flying pirate ships.

 

 

PvP

 

Very much to the North American press’ dismay, PvP was not yet ready at the time of the gameshow. This became even more painful after we learned that they are planning an airship capture the flag mode as well as the standard PvP deathmatch. Many of the skills in this game seem built for PvP and, if done well, PvP could be the difference between Tiara being a success and being a blockbuster title in the western market.

 

 

Overall this game felt like one of the more solid and complete games showcased at Gamania’s Gameshow. My few gripes though must be known as this game has so much potential that I don’t want wasted. The deep focus on animation sometimes slows combat down a bit, and you find yourself unable to force your character to react to enemy attacks that should have been dodgeable. I also felt like the game was a bit too casual friendly for an action game, and I would like to see more rhythm actions included in long channeling skills. A game built around a musical theme and not having an element of rhythm based skill charging just seems silly. It was also a bit ridiculous that some performer attacks would launch you straight behind you into your blind spot if you had targeted your foe prior to using the ability. If they make animations cancelable and actions like defending and jumping more responsive, this will be an action game worth counting down for when beta is announced.