Freedom Force is a real-time tactical role-playing game developed by Irrational Games and published by Electronic Arts and Crave Entertainment in 2002. The player guides a team of superheroes as they defend Patriot City from a variety of villains, monsters, and other menaces. A sequel, Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich was self-published in early March 2005. The games were made available on Steam on May 29, 2009
Yearly Archives: 2011
Cardmon Hero enters open beta phase
The wait is over! Today marks the Open Beta Test launch for CardMon Hero, the new free-to-play card-summoning MMORPG from T3 Entertainment and Redbana. All players who participated in the Closed Beta and new hopeful Heroes are called upon to join the adventure and experience a persistent and open 3D world where players can create, discover, recruit and summon Skill and Mercenary cards to aid in battle. The Open Beta officially begins at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, today, January 19, 2011, and interested adventurers may begin signing up at: http://cardmon.t3fun.com. To celebrate the Open Beta launch, a slew of new wallpapers, concept art and screenshots of Heroes in custom garb have been released.
After two successful Closed Beta Tests, CardMon Hero is ready for its big debut. Lucky players who made it into the Closed Beta Tests had a chance to enjoy what critics have been calling an intriguing blend of card collecting, monster battling action. Some of the highlighted features include:
– Card Summoning System – Discover, craft and deploy skill and mercenary cards to aid your Hero in battle.
– Role Distribution System – Mercenaries have different strengths and abilities making the combination you choose essential for success against tough enemies and challenges.
– Card Combination System – Combine ingredients from mercenary, skill, and recipe cards to upgrade skills and unleash awesome powers.
– Extensive Hunting Mode – Join a party or band the guild to face strong monsters that yield unique rewards and rare items, scaling up in difficulty as you gain Mission Points.
– Quests without the grind – Complete quests by adventuring through numerous zones and maps that don’t require players to grind. Level up through quests that Heroes can overcome on their own or challenging quests that will offer greater rewards with the cooperation of your friends.
CardMon Hero is a free-to-play MMORPG for PC in which players take on the role of a Hero that can create, discover, recruit and summon Mercenaries to aid in battle using a deck of cards. Call Mercenaries to battle tough enemies, in combination with your Skill cards, as you adventure through an expansive and persistent world. Join thousands of others in a card-summoning adventure through hundreds of quests, over 70 instances and countless combinations of Mercenary and Skill cards to be discovered.
For more information about CardMon Hero, please visit: http://cardmon.t3fun.com/
Interact with CardMon Hero on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CardMonHeroGlobal and Twitter at www.twitter.com/CardMonGlobal.
CardMon Hero Backstory
The evil forces of Zerdantis, god of darkness, have been released onto the peaceful world of Aria after being sealed for many years. Izen and Liberto, two heirs to the throne of Superta, protector of Aria, compete to destroy the dark spirits, secretly summoned by Liberto in a desperate attempt to repel and gain the support of Superta’s congress and citizens that favored Izen. As Liberto obtains the Ark Sign that once awakened the devil, Great Oracle Yui summoned heroes from other dimensions to battle Liberto and the demons. The year is 2016. Players on CardMon Hero are experiencing a glitch in their system. But this is no glitch. This is Yui, asking YOU to join forces with your guild and save Aria!
Empire Online
Empire Online is the English version of the world’s first Chinese MMORPG ãÂÂå¸ÂÃ¥ÂÂOnlineã for iPhone, developed by Lakoo.
The game was originally made for feature phones then later ported over to iPhone and currently we have over 5 million players registered over the world. The game features four legendary races and five distinct classes. Appearances change according to the gear players equip allowing players to show their fashion sense as well as being unique.
In addition to the skills players may obtain through their own race, it is possible to learn skills designed for other jobs therefore creating endless possibilities. Players can also create their own empire through our “Empire System” to enhance your experience in Empire Online together with your comrades.
More Than One Million RuneScape Players Vote To Bring Back Content
More Than One Million RuneScape Players Vote To Bring Back Content
Jagex Games Studio, developer of RuneScape, today announced that the RuneScape community has voted overwhelmingly in favour of restoring the Wilderness and Free Trade to RuneScape. As a result of the phenomenal level of support Jagex has announced that both features will be added to RuneScape on the 1st February.

Jagex launched the online referendum on 24th December as part of their 10th anniversary celebrations for RuneScape, giving players the unique chance to directly influence and shape the future of the game. Over 1.2 million votes were cast in just under three weeks, with more than 91% of players voting in favour of bringing back the Wilderness and Free Trade demonstrating how passionate the community are and how quickly they can mobilise support for their cause.
“We have the most incredible community of gamers and we wanted to demonstrate how much we value them by handing this game changing decision over to them,” said Mark Gerhard, Jagex CEO. “I firmly believe that the Wilderness represents the ultimate risk versus reward experience in any MMO and the incredible support for the campaign demonstrates that our players agree. It has been fantastic to watch the community mobilise in support of the update and we can now introduce these features certain in the knowledge that they are what our community want.”
Christoph Vietzke, Head of RuneScape followed by saying: “The RuneScape community have sent us a very clear message and the development team has started work this morning. The entire Jagex team have been glued to their screens watching the votes fly in and it has been great to see the community vote with such enthusiasm.”
As a result of the referendum unrestricted trade will be released into the game on the 1st February, meaning that players will once again be given the freedom to gift their wealth to their friends or trade items with the wider RuneScape community.
The Wilderness will also reclaim its place as the most dangerous area in RuneScape, offering players the chance to stake their armour, weapons and resources to defeat others and loot their remains once victorious. With numerous new features added to RuneScape over recent years including: summoning creatures, new curses, more powerful weaponry and armour, making the new Wilderness the deadliest place in RuneScape.
To see what RuneScape is all about and to create a free account and click here.
RIFT Interview With Design Director Simon Ffinch
RIFT Interview With Design Director Simon Ffinch
Questions By: Bryan King
Answered By: Simon Ffinch, Design Director of Trion Worlds
2011 is turning out to be a great year for MMOs. With the advent of new premium P2P games to entertain gamers, the competitive air in the industry just got a lot hotter. One of the games that gamers are keeping their eyes on is RIFT: Planes of Telara. RIFT is a brand new P2P MMO coming out from the new developer, Trion Worlds. I got the chance to speak to Simon Ffinch, Design Director of Trion Worlds, to speak about the game.
OnRPG: Hello and thank you for your time, please introduce yourself to readers.
Hi OnRPG this is Simon (Dead Simon) Ffinch

OnRPG: Can you please give readers a brief introduction to the storyline intertwining the Defiants and Guardians?
There is a rich and deep story line to explore in Rift, far more than I can outline here so I will keep this to just the Defiant and Guardian goals and philosophies.
The Guardians are the chosen of the gods, in this case the Vigil. It is important to note that the gods were not interested in choosing just good people. They want warriors, so they chose the best of the best regardless of their moral backgrounds. The Guardians want to restore Telara to its natural state, to bring back a time of peace and prosperity that existed before the ward put in place by the gods, began to weaken. This weakening of the ward is the cause if the Rifts being able to penetrate through to Telara. The Guardians fight against these planar invasions. The Guardians believe the Defiant are as much of a danger to the world as the Rifts themselves. They see the Defiant as misguided fools messing with powers they do not understand and cannot control. They will attempt to thwart Defiant plans whenever they can.
The Defiant believe the gods failed in the past, they point to the weakening of the ward as proof of this failure. They use an ancient and dangerous technology to aid them in their goals, including the replication of the ascension powers the gods granted the Guardians. The Defiant want to take matters into their own hands and bring about a new age in Telara. Although they too fight against the planar invasions they believe that the power of the planes can be brought under control and used to the benefit of all Telara. The Defiant believe that being stopped by the Guardians will bring about the destruction of Telara. They see the Guardians as stuck in the past, adhering to an old way that has long since gone. They believe the Guardians trust in the gods is misplaced and will do everything in their power to stop them from repeating the mistakes of the past.
One of the interesting aspects of this dynamic is that like so many real world conflicts both sides see themselves as righteous, that theirs is the only way to make Telara a better and safer place. There are shades of grey with both sides and although their goals are essentially the same their fundamental differences in achieving them puts them at odds whenever they come in contact. Each believing that they are in the right, and the other side is fatally dangerous.

OnRPG: There are a unique variety of classes, as well as an archetype system that hasn’t really been seen before in an MMO. Can you give readers a brief summary of the mechanics that the Soul/Calling system has?
The primary goal of the class system was to make it so players can tailor a class to play exactly the way they want it to play. This is done by giving the players up to nine souls (the number for launch) and from these nine they can chose any three to combine into their class. Players earn soul points through leveling and these are spent in any of the three soul trees to upgrade existing abilities and to unlock new ones. This provides a vast array of combinations for player to explore as they tweak and change their character to try out new class builds. Many of the souls have synergies with other souls, and a soul that at first glance may seem to be fairly mundane can become an instant favorite when you discover how it interacts with some of the other souls. Taking this a step further we allow players to save these builds as a ‘role’ and players can purchase new roles from their trainers to have up to four, then one build can be switched out for another at will. This takes the concept of creating the class you want to play a step further and giving the player the ability to play the class they want to play right now.
OnRPG: Are you planning on adding more souls per class via game updates or expansions? Thanks to Keledon from the RIFT forums for this question.
The system is very flexible and we will certainly be looking to expand it in the future.
OnRPG: There is also a Rift/Invasion system that is involved; can you tell readers about this too?
As noted in the lore section, Telara is a land under siege from the planes. Although protected by a ward put in place many years ago by the gods, it is weakening. Where this happens the planes are able to push through and invade Telara. These invasions will start as a ‘tear’ in the ward these tears eventually become Rifts. Either because players take matters into their own hands and force them open, giving them a strategic advantage and some measure of control over which rift might open, or if left unchecked they can spontaneously open on their own. Out of these Rifts invasions will be launched that will head to various points across Telara more often than not important locations, that they will attempt to take over. If this is successful they will setup a foothold at that location and from there launch more invasions. It will up to the players to repel these invasions and protect the key locations. We give them several tools to do this but by far the most successful is player cooperation. This dynamic balance of power really drives the social aspect of Rift and there are many strategies that players can employ, especially taking advantage of the fact that the various planes hate each other almost as much as they want to take over Telara.
OnRPG: Speaking about Rifts, Sharuko from the Rift forums asks: “How do you think Rifts, Invasions and Full Zone invasions will be affected when the game matures and there won’t be as many lower level players in those zones?”
Without going into too much detail about how we do this, the game employs various heuristics to analyze what is going on in a zone and makes sure that the level of challenge matches the player base. We want to keep it fun but not impossibleJ.

OnRPG: What art style was taken upon when developing the game? In terms of art, I personally noticed a contrasting style of fantasy, steampunk, and some other sub-cultures in realistic history’s past.
The art style is firmly rooted in western high fantasy. The look is stylized realism with each player faction having a theme that players will come to recognize. I have heard the Defiant referred to as Steampunk before and while it is true that there are some similarities, personally I think the style is a little more tech than that and less clockwork like. They provide a great contrast between the Guardians more traditional fantasy style. Trion employs some of the best artists I have ever had the pleasure of working with, all under the watchful eye of our extremely meticulous art director. They take their craft extremely seriously. There is a great deal of research that goes into making sure the cultures in the game come across as a coherent whole, from the looks of their dwellings to the creatures themselves. All of these set in some truly stunning landscapes.
OnRPG: Has the overall game design for RIFT changed substantially since the idea was first formed to create it? If so, can you explain to readers what the “RIFT before RIFT” looked like?
The fundamental principle of what we wanted to do from the beginning has stayed the same throughout development. We wanted the ability to drive players together in massive events and for our systems to be able to handle that. The zone wide invasions where we can have hundreds of players and hundreds of NPCs all participating in one event is the realization of that dream. As for the story and details of the world, yes that has gone through a lot of iterations, far too many to describe here. It was important to zero in on a world and story that would support what we wanted to do as far as game play and would make sense for a world as dynamic as we wanted Rift to be. We explored many avenues before we decided on the theme of Rift, but once that direction was settled and we all agreed it supported the game play we wanted, our amazing lore team was able to create a rich and detailed world around the concepts that the design team came up with. It then became a collaborative effort to make sure the design supported the lore and the lore supported the design.

OnRPG: As I’m sure your team is aware, some gamers are drawing upon similarities between your games and some of the other P2P MMOs out there, sometimes in a positive fashion, and sometimes not. Would you like to address these?
Rift is a fantasy MMO so comparisons are inevitable. Some of the designs we came up with are specifically tailored to be familiar to anyone who has played any number of MMOs out there. There are a lot of systems that players expect to see in MMOs these days, many of which are not particularly innovative but are required, a Bank, an Auction House and Vendors to name just a few. I know that I as a player, who has played a lot of MMOs in the past, appreciate it if when I need to interact with one of these systems I do not have to spend time learning a whole new method of interacting. I just want to do my business and move on to exploring the systems that are new and unique. Why make the player learn a whole new keyboard layout for well established functions for example. Sure we could have made it so you use T,F,G and H to move but we went with W,A,S,D. Why? Because it works and it works well, sure when you do this sort of thing players will make comparison and this is no surprise. But we think we have achieved a solid balance between the familiar and the unfamiliar. Using tried and true designs that go back a very long way for some of the more standard systems, polishing and improving a little if we felt it needed it. But keeping the main focus of our energies on what was new, the soul systems and the planar invasions.
OnRPG: Many users on the forums have complained about the racial, class, and faction imbalances that have occurred during the beta. Will these be addressed before launch? Guardian Racials appear to be defensive in nature, while Defiant Racials have 2 offensive options as well as one defensive option. Are there any plans to possibly change one of the defensive racial abilities on the guardian side to provide them with at least one offensive option?
I don’t want to go into specifics of what might change between now and launch and indeed after launch. I will simply say that we do take all feedback seriously. We get a huge amount of it, after every beta and then there is a lot more on our forums still more from our Alpha players, we even get it through email. Each department reads this feedback and we appreciate all of it, good and bad. It is an interesting juggling act, as for many of the ideas we receive there are opposing points of view about whether it is good or bad. It is our job to balance all this along with staying true to our vision of the game. I would hope that anyone who has been in more than one beta would recognize that we do listen, we do value the feedback and we do make changes based on it. We just want to make sure we implement the right changes to improve the game.
OnRPG: What kind of PvE content can players expect to see?
There is a large variety of PvE content catering to a variety of player types. From the more traditional questing path to Dungeons, Rifts, Invasions and Crafting to surprises and rewards for the explorers out there along with a collection system for the more OCD among us, with the emphasis on us 🙂
OnRPG: I would like to discuss the Mark Target key bind options currently in game, such as mark target 1, mark target 2, and so on. First off is there macro text available for this command or is it simply a key bind option? In turn, will you be implementing a select mark target command or macro text that supports it?
Yes, there is both a keybind and a /command to mark targets. Selecting marked targets is philosophically something that can be used as a way to automate play a bit more than may be healthy for gameplay, but it’s something we’d like to be able to offer – we’ll be playing with this between now and launch in making that decision.

OnRPG: For those who might like PvP more, what kind of content will be shipped with RIFT in terms of PvP?
Rift will ship with dedicated PvP servers and on those the law of the jungle pretty much reigns, on PvP severs there will be overland PvP with very few safe places for anyone of the opposing faction. You will definitely need to watch your back on these servers or make sure you travel with friends. On both PvE and PvP servers there will be Warfronts. These are instanced PvP areas where there are specific rules and challenges for each side to accomplish and/or to stop the other side accomplishing. There are even Souls designed specifically to be used in PvP situations.
OnRPG: Do you plan to reward players who explore the world fully and also expand the areas that are to be found at some stage and make them more appealing to players to seek out? This question comes from Kuldorn on the Rift forums.
Hmmm, isn’t that part of being an explorer, to go out and explore, to find the answer for yourself? 😉 Yes, in addition to the quests and other events to find off the beaten path, there’s an entire gameplay system built for explorers in mind, Artifact collection, in which you can complete collections for rewards all the way up to some epic gear pieces. We intentionally hide many of these pieces in places that are puzzling in how to get to them and out of the way of the main traffic.
OnRPG: How has the community responded to the game so far, and how are the beta stages going?
It is an incredibly exciting time for us right now. The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive and it is gratifying to see the players having a good time in a world that so many of us have poured our hearts into.
OnRPG: Where do you see RIFT a year from now?
We are all looking forward to developing and polishing our beloved Telara for many years to come.
OnRPG: Is there anything else you would like to tell readers?
Remember you are playing a game, have fun, enjoy the world we have created but above all else keep that feedback coming, we value it highly.
OnRPG: Thank you so much for your time!
You’re welcome.
Frogster Releases Official Response to Hacker
An anonymous hacker published two posts on the player forum of Runes of Magic, one early on the 13th of January, and the other during the course of the 14th of January 2011, in which he threatens to publish customer data and internal company information. To reinforce his claims for changes to forum policy and some of the technical aspects of the game’s operation, he publicly posted the login details of around 2,000 players. To protect the affected players, the posts in question were immediately removed and secured as evidence by Frogster. This attack constitutes a serious criminal offence and Frogster immediately informed the German State Office of Criminal Investigation.
The data released consisted of logins registered in 2007. Frogster immediately blocked the compromised accounts on a temporary basis (account management, forum, and game access) and has personally informed the affected players about how they can reinstate their accounts and the reason for the suspension. As a precaution, Frogster calls for all players to change their game-, forum-, and payment system passwords.
Once the hack had been discovered, Frogster immediately assembled a task force and is currently using everything at its disposal to investigate this situation. Right after the publication of the attack, Frogster systematically inspected all of its systems for weak spots and backdoors and implemented new firewalls, new user privileges and passwords, as well as introducing further security measures.

Frogster takes protecting its players from these types of risks and threats very seriously and uses all means to contain and prevent them. At the same time, the publisher is pushing on with its continual process of expanding and optimising its technical infrastructure.
Regarding the claims of the attacker, Frogster emphasises that its team is always open to constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement. However, the company considers blackmail attempts, which put the privacy and security of players in danger to be wholly unacceptable and will not concede to them. Frogster’s approach to forum policy is very much in line with the industry and follows the forum rules which are publicly available to all users here. Frogster does only intervene in cases of severe breaches of these regulations. Certain technical aspects of the game operations are subject to legal requirements, and there are other aspects over which the Berlin-based games publisher has no direct control.
Grand Chase Tour – Season 3 Shenanigans!
Grand Chase Tour – Season 3 Shenanigans!
By Michael Sagoe (mikedot), OnRPG Journalist
Tour guide: GM_Bawkzie
Back in spring 2010, SG Interactive (formerly known as Ntreev USA) released season 3 updates for Grand Chase, a multiplayer online brawler with cute anime flavored boys and girls that love beating the crap out of monsters, evil villains and each other. Season 3 featured numerous updates including a complete overhaul for missions, items and user Interfaces, plus brand new dungeons , land and tons more.
I used to play this game way back before it was even in English, and I was pretty damn good at it, so I was more than ready to give the new Grand Chase a go.
Tour Start
The tour started off kind of slow, as the first stop on the tour was a trip to the game’s tutorial mode. Training with the tutorial mode has been incredibly revamped, allowing you to try out every character available with tons of possible tweaks and combinations. Back in the day, there was only Elesis, Lire and Arme. But now, eight new characters have joined the fight, such as Jin the martial arts expert and Amy the divine dancer. As much as I wanted to give everyone a try, I decided to get re-acquainted with Elesis.

With the time I spent fooling around with the tutorial mode, I re-learned some of Elesis’ bread n’ butter combos. During this, I noticed the “Type 1” icon hovering over the MP bar. The GM explains that some characters have the ability to switch between two different skills sets with a quick press of the spacebar. Skill switching opened up a whole new set of possibilities for me, so I was pretty eager to try them in action when I had the chance.
After I finished warming up in the tutorial, I was asked to hop on the Gorgos server and from there; we took to the equipment screen so the GM could explain, in fine detail, all the nice features that shows how much Grand Chase has evolved. In the previous versions of Grand Chase, stat properties that went with your equipment were very bare bones, but now there are tons of new stats properties to take into consideration, such as Critical hit rate, Counterattack resistance, HP recovery rate and more.
But it doesn’t end there: Some of your equipment can be stat tweaked even further with the properties menu (on some equipment) that will let you select several options to fit your fighting tactics.

But wait… there’s even more tweaking you can do! Grand Chase also has a card system that allows you to socket your equipment with cards of monsters you’ve slain in combat. Each card holds small effects that can be combined with other cards to create wicked combinations.

They’ve also added a crafting system that is familiar to those found in MMORPGs. Simply put: You can use this system to create equipment that can be found in the shop or equipment that can only be created by crafting.
So many customization options, so little time! Even though I didn’t care much for any of the customization available, it was neat to know that every detail of your character could be tweaked ’til you heart’s content.
But enough talk of customization… It was time to take some action! I joined up with GM_Bawkzie to check out some of the dungeons. We started off slow: Over at the Trial Forest, we beat up a couple of mushroom dudes before heading off to defeating a giant tree monster. Of course, these monsters weren’t a challenge for us, so we jumped over to the Wyrm’s Maw dungeon to take on some more adequate enemies.

The place was crawling with fire breathing baddies and I was itching to take them all out. Despite my confidence, I ended up dying twice before deciding not to play like a maniac, all while GM_Bawkzie hanged back and tore the place up without getting a scratch.

After we finished our dungeon run, it was time for the main event: PvP! But before we got started, GM_Bawkzie wanted to explain a little bit about the skill tree system: Adopted from many other MMORPGs out there, making use of skill trees in Grand Chase allows you to gain new skills after mastering a few prerequisites. Skill trees are broken up into active and passive skills.

I was also asked to try out Dio, one of the recent additions to Grand Chase’s playable characters. Dio apparently doesn’t play out quite the same as everyone else, as he relies on AP instead of MP to perform skills. Also unlike the other Grand Chase characters: he can create each attack links from his basic skills and specials, making him very easy to play, but difficult to master.

But there was one more thing I decided to ask before the tour ended. I wanted to know what was up with the little gray dragon that GM_Bawkzie had. Then I was told that Grand Chase featured a neat little pet system: While most MMOs included pets that simply boosted your stats and showed off how rich you were, pets in Grand Chase actually fight alongside you. Pets need to be taken care off with feeding and battle experience so they can evolve and gain new attacks.
We hopped back into another PvP battle to show off what some of the pets could do. I had a little penguin pet by my side that shot weak balls of fire, while GM_Bawkzie had some kind of robo maid that shot a crapton of lasers that could stun enemies. Needless to say, it was obvious which one would be more useful in a fight.

There were a lot of other features that were mentioned during the tour, such as guild functions, a couples function and even a park for players to run around and just chat.

Overall, I had lots of fun playing Grand Chase after being away from it for such a long time. A lot of features gave the game some much needed depth while keeping the core gameplay simple enough for gamers of all skill ranges to enjoy.
I had such a good time that I might even start playing again! I may not be a total pro since I haven’t been at it for a while, but I should be good enough to beat newbs at the least, so watch out!
For more info on Grand Chase Season 3: Visit the Grand Chase Profile.
Demon Souls Review?: Not For the Timid
Demon Souls Review?: Not For the Timid
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist
If you are into hardcore games that make players throw their controllers across the room then Demon Souls is the game for you. Demon Souls is an Action RPG exclusively for the Playstation 3, which is famous for its unforgiving difficulty and broad content. The game is definitely the hardcore game you’ve been waiting for, especially since most of the games that came out for the nextgen platforms are seen as a bit “easy”. Do know that dying in this game is a rather normal occurrence. First of all, I want to make something clear: YOU WILL DIE IN THIS GAME, so don’t go around hating yourself after dying more than 20 times on the first stage. For those who think this game is just another Devil May Cry combo-fest, let me state that Demon Souls won’t give you satisfying aerial combos and fast-paced action sequences; instead, players will be playing as characters with earthbound skills and a mortality rate of real people in a demonic invasion.
Starting Up
Overall, there are ten classes in the game, each with their own spell/weapon specialties and attributes, but pretty much the same mortality rate. The classes are as follows: Knight, Priest, Thief, Magician, Temple Knight, Soldier, Wanderer, Barbarian, Royalty, and Hunter. I personally would prefer starting with the Temple Knight as he has better range and a higher lifebar compared to other classes, but whatever makes your boat rock.

Tendencies
Perhaps the most difficult (yet fun) part of the game is the Tendency system, which changes the ingame worlds depending on how well you’re doing. Even though you’ll be dying constantly, it would be wise to try your best to survive as the world gets harder as you die further; however, this is also a good way to unlock ingame secrets that are only accessible through a specific tendency state. Some bosses can only be accessed on a certain tendency as well, and are MUCH harder than their normal selves; however, they do give good rewards, so you could say that there’s still a good balance overall.
Touch Move BIATCH!
Are you the type of gamer who saves a lot to avoid losing items and such? Well, I just want to say that your efforts will most definitely be in vain in this game. Once a player dies, he loses all his gold, as well as a huge part of their lifebar. The only way to gain back what you’ve lost is to start over (from the beginning of the level) and reach your corpse just as you would in various MMO RPGs. Note that your hardearned cash will disappear completely if you die while searching for your corpse. Money makes the world go round, and the world of Demon Souls is no different. You’ll be using gold for almost everything thing in the game, from the Maiden’s Soul Leveling service to the blacksmith’s weaponry. The game doesn’t feature a bank to store your ingame cash as well, so go ahead and farm and pray that you won’t die anytime soon.

Cowards Live Another Day
One thing you just got to love about Demon Souls is how they presented the difference between demons and humans. Unlike other games that let you bombard demons with a buttload of bullets and a barrage of slashes, fighting more than 2 enemies at a time is quite risky. This means that you will have to segregate your opponents in order to avoid losing more life. Using cheap tactics like hiding behind a wall where your opponent cant reach you and bombarding it with arrows is actually encouraged here in Demon Souls, as it’s HELL HARD to take on a demon head on.

“WHO’S THERE?!” “ONLY THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD X_X”
The most unique feature in the game is how dead players can leave virtual replays of how they died via pools of blood. Once another player touches the pool of blood, they will instantly see the ghost of the fallen player. This is helpful when it comes to detecting surprise attacks from enemies, or just the regular traps and pitfalls. You can also choose between a series of preset messages and leave them for other players to gain from. The messages are actually rather confusing and serves as a riddle for most players, especially since the preset messages are as simple as “Here”, “Beware”, and “Watch Out”.
Aid Or Kill
The multiplayer function in Demon Souls is much different that other games. Instead of simply jumping in to help other players in their time of need, players can choose to invade another character’s game as black phantoms, which means literally hunting down and killing that player, ruining his cautious advances. Black phantoms also level down when they are killed by their prey, making it extremely satisfying when you see your pursuer die amidst the dark world of Boletaria.

Verdict
All in all, I would say that Demon Souls is not a game for everyone. This is not Devil May Cry, or another happy fantasy game. It’s a unique world that consists of sorrowful sceneries and agonizing themes that will really test your patience and endurance. Playing with tendencies are also quite enjoyable in this game as the risk of making enemies stronger means more rewards to reap. This game is definitely not your average action RPG, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s not willing to die continuously while repeating the same level for more than 20 times; however, if you’re a hardcore gamer looking for a challenge, then by all means, let the game put your skills to the test… because IT REALLY WILL.
The Good
-Character classes rock?-Finishing a level feels more satisfying than most games
-Tons of secrets
-Immersive gameplay and beautiful eerie sceneries
-Extremely HARDCORE (?)
The Bad
-Extremely HARDCORE (?)
-Not for everyone
-EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING
EverQuest Retro Review: More Like FOREVERQuest
EverQuest Retro Review: More Like FOREVERQuest
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist
When it comes to MMORPGs, no other MMO game deserves more credit than EverQuest. EverQuest, also known as EQ, has been around for more than a decade, and despite newer and more graphically enhanced games, EverQuest is still running strong and carries a steady subscription rate. Other than the super old school graphics, EQ’s content is still up to date. Believe it or not, the game just launched its 17th expansion in October 2010. A strong indication that the game is definitely far from over and players can still enter the world of Norrath without worrying about the game’s near retirement.

Instead of reviewing this game traditionally, I would like to talk about what makes this game the grandfather of MMO gaming. I believe that there is no need to dwell in its pros and cons after 12 years of service, as this MMO relic deserves to be cherished than judged.
The Golden Years
Back then, EQ was the messiah of MMO gaming. After being bombared by a series of offline multiplayer games, gaming never felt better after EverQuest entered the scene, providing us with a nice scale of 3D MMO gaming while letting gamers go on epic adventures with their friends and loved ones. I mean, let’s face it! When was the last time those people could have an adventure with more players than their console multitap could handle? A chat interface, immersive adventures, joining guilds, crafting, grouping with friends to defeat horrible monsters and defeating enemy players, EverQuest was truly the grand-daddy of them all.

With all these quality features lined up, EverQuest transceded from a regular game to a way of life. EQ lovers are probably more familiar with MMO addiction better than WoWheads and Ragnarok champs. With 17 expansions giving them different content per release, constantly upgrading the existing world of Norrath, Veteran EQ players have embarked on numerous adventures unrivaled till today.
Not Your Everyday Characters
While World of Warcraft, Aion, and Warhammer have their own set of unique classes, I would say that most of them branched out from EQ’s array of splendid archetypes. The game’s classes actually have more depth than the majority of the up to date games. And while we level shamans, warriors, and mages, EQ lets players assume the role of a beastlord and shadow knight, which are hybrids of other classes with their own pros and cons. Don’t think that’s all though! Since some of these classes were added from expansions, players can still expect more content from this timeless classsic. Also, the game has a nice selection of races. Note that not all classes are compatible with each race, so you really have to think carefully when starting a character. There are tons of tanking, healer, and damage classes to choose from, each with their own unique tactics and playstyles, so you’ll have quite a selection when picking your virtual avatar.
Combat
What I really liked about EQ’s combat system is the skill factor involved. Just because you know your MMOs does not mean that you can play as any class in the game. Each class has its own unspoken difficulty level, which is quite rare for most MMOs (even the new ones) to possess. I personally dislike games that have characters that function the same way. Having a certain ability rotation is always fun, since pressing 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in succession gets old fast if it’s the same thing for each class. I mean what good is a game if your skill level can only take you so far?

Generation Next?
For those who think that EverQuest II (EQ2) is just another EverQuest expansion, let me say that EQ and EQ2 are two completely different games in terms of gameplay mechanics, depth, and visuals. It’s actually amazing that despite EQ’s outdated graphics, the game still holds a lot of subscribers. Even with EQ2’s updated features and with all the new MMOs coming to light, EQ still stands as one MMO you shouldn’t miss.
Graphic Whores, Please Give It A Chance
Although the game has undergone a series of graphic enhancements and resolution changes, there’s no denying the fact that it still looks pretty old. And when I say old, I mean far worse than new games on the lowest settings. It’s still better than Blade Mistress Online though (sorry, just had to stress that out). Still, it was practically a GOD during its era. The enviromental details are brilliant though, with beautifully rendered areas that gradually changes everytime you enter a new region. There’s also a handful of face options upon starting the game, so you’ll still look semi-unique, even with the limited selections. The armor sets and weapons also play a big part in customizing your character’s looks as most of the items look different when equipped, lessening the somewhat regular cloning process. I mean, who doesn’t want to look unique in an MMO?

The Verdict
With tons of features that have been passed on from MMO to MMO, i think that EverQuest deserves both our thanks and respect, for the MMOs we know and love wouldn’t have turned out that well without EQ’s “genes”. Honestly, even if you’re going to play this game this 2011, I’m sure the game still has enough awesomeness to impress you. Although the graphics are extremely dated, the world of Norrath has what it takes to amaze you with its variety of dungeons and areas. With an awesome PVP system, a broad map, a superb character customization system and a world of different possibilities, EverQuest will always be one of the best MMOs in history.
The Good:
-It’s one of the Alpha MMOs!
-Most of the features you love from various MMOs came from EQ
-Excellent graphics (for its time)
-Amazing engine and game world.
The Bad
-A few bugs, but have been patched over time.
-Although it was responsible for some of the awesome MMOs today, some crappy ones also branched out of it. Thats not EverQuests fault really but still… You have to blame someone, right?
Iris Online Review: Eye of The Storm… Get it?
Iris Online Review: Eye of The Storm… Get it?
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist
Iris Online is a cutesy anime-themed MMORPG that takes place in the mystical land of Arcana, a place ruled by magic and tarot mystery. Visual-wise, Iris Online is no different from its MMO sister, Luna Online, which was also developed by EyaSoft. If you think that Iris Online is just a rethemed version of its angelic counterpart, then you’ve got another thing coming. Iris Online is a completely different game, with unique features and a whole lot of MMO goodness to share. Don’t believe me? Let me explain then…
Starting Up
Iris Online has 3 races to choose from, each with their own racial abilities, stats, and character classes. The Races are as follows:
Human – Come on! No MMO would be complete without humans. Humans can choose between Fighter and Mage as their starting classes. Note that these classes are not permanent and will undergo changes as you progress in the game. Humans by far have the most balanced line-up of classes in the game as they both have physical attackers and magic users.
Elves- Elves in this game serve as the ranged fighters in the game. When playing an Elf, players can choose between Ranger and Shaman, who can both be deadly in the art of ranged combat. If you want to do some serious range damage while being Legolas pretty at the same time, then Elves are definitely for you.
Hybrid- Hybrids are basically beastmen who possess animal-like features like fox or squirell ears and striped skin marks. As stereotypical as it may be, these beastmen disregard everything that’s connected to brain power and can only excel in melee attacks due to their overwhelming strength (and stereotypically challenged minds). The Hybrid’s first classes are Warrior and Rogue.

Upon picking your race and class, you’ll be taken to the game for some basic training. The ingame tutorial is quite superb in my opinion, as it actually tackles a lot of things, making it much easier for a newbie to function well regardless of MMO experience.
Something New
If you’re familiar with Tarot cards (yes, the ones used for fortune telling), they play a huge role in Iris Online. First off, players can benefit from different buffs that can be acquired through the Divination Process. This process is kind of hard if you’re a beginner, but will eventually get the hang of it after performing it a few times. What I liked about the divination process are the diverse possibilites of buffs and enhancements players can achieve by experimenting with different cardforms.

Aside from the ones that give you buffs and enhancements, some cards can be combined with various items, giving them extra bonuses and extra HURT-factor. Some of them even transform into the monster you looted them from. Special cards such as these can be acquired from bosses. What are you waiting for? ATTACK!!!
It’s an MMO
Iris Online has a lot of quests to keep gamers entertained. While other games give you quests that consist of nonsensical things like blacksmiths running out of materials, Iris Online actually expands its storyline through questing. This allows players to immerse themselves further in the gypsy-like world of Arcana.

Also, Iris Online features an array of dungeons and instances that will put you to the edge of your seats. With tons of bosses ready to test your skills, this MMO is a good example of the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”. For all you know, those mushrooms may be you worst nightmare.
The game also has a sweet PVP system that lets players duke it out in various mods like capture the flag. There’s really a lot of variety in the game, and players will definitely have so much to do whether its random questing or PVP.
The Road To Perfection
Another factor that defines Iris Online is the character customization system. Once your character reaches a specific level, they can choose between a series of subclasses to further enhance their character’s capabilities, allowing players to maximize performance while syncing their toons with their playstyle further. Each character also has their own specific skill tree, which branches out into different methods of playstyle. Again this helps tremendously when making your character function the way you want them to.

Titles, are also essential in your character’s growth as equipping them allows you to gain extra attributes which may work to your advantage. Titles are earned through a variety of ways, such as looting monsters and participating in various activities. Again, I would like to say that Iris Online’s character customization system is superb and is comparable to the most up-to-date games. It definitely has enough options to help you shap your character.
Verdict
If you think that this game is just as shallow and simple as most cutesy anime MMOs that basically revolves around grinding and statbuilding, let me say that Iris Online is bound to change your mind. It’s amazing how this title managed to take cutesy MMOs on a different level, giving players a lot of features to enjoy. When I first played this game, I was already prepared for the worst. After playing dozens of games that resemble the same graphics, characters, and storyline, I was afraid that Iris Online will only add up to the generation of cutesy clones. I guess the game proved me wrong. To all you MMO lovers out there, this game is here to impress.
The Good
–Questing and Dungeons
-Lot of PVP systems
-Character customization
-The Tarot system is very immersive
-UNIQUE
The Bad
–Spoonfeeding, at some point
-Somehow the quests feel repetitive
-Mediocre storyline