Yearly Archives: 2011

Face of Manking Under New Development Team

Face of Mankind Under New Development Team

 

 

Face of Mankind is undergoing a major renovation by its new development team, Nexeon Technologies. This means we will be seeing big improvements in the coming weeks to the point of it practically being a relaunch.

 

Face of Mankind is a unique science fiction massively multiplayer online game set in the late 24th century. The game is focused on player freedom and corporations, governments, and police enforcement is all up to the jurisdiction of the players. This makes it truly stand out from the crowd as not only a SciFi MMO, but one with major sandbox elements.

 

The noticeable changes already implemented on the current Face of Mankind website are as follows:

 

 

Account Portal

The Account Management Portal was completely redesigned. The new portal integrates billing, so you no longer need a separate billing account. Also, the various support sites will be integrated shortly after launch. This will help unify the account system since the previous system was so disjointed and confusing to players.

 

Website

The existing website will be updated with a new look and added functionality. It will be a one-stop location for new and existing players to get the latest information about Face of Mankind, access their account, learn about the game, download artwork, wallpapers, screenshots, view a beginner’s guide & tutorial videos.

 

Improved Forums

The new forum system allows you to login to the forums with your game account username and password. This means that your account name and player name will be tied to your forum account. All permissions and groups will automatically update, according to your faction, rank, and department in-game.

 

 

Some of the new in-game features that have been implemented in the past few weeks are:

Implementation of New York City: Brooklyn!

Implementation of New York City: Ground Zero!

 

More Frequent Patches and Bug Fixes.

More User Control (Faction, Department, Group and Cell Leaders).

 

Account Portal Integration (Forums, Account, Billing, and Support).

New players now begin with a starting apartment in NYC – Brooklyn.

 

Implementation and expansion of a game tutorial for new players, so the transition into the game is now a much easier process.

Major revision of the Most Wanted system.

Implementation of Murder Identification Cards.

 

Implementation of forced roleplay names.

Complete revision to the prison system, including working off penalty points while logged off (premium accounts), mining rocks to reduce penalty points faster, and more!

Implementation of the “Fugitive” tag that escaped prisoners are now flagged with.

 

 

Some of the upcoming changes you will see in the following days are as follows:

Community Newsletters

 

Frequent Development Blog Updates

Customizable Apartments

Addition of More Colonies

A new item store, which will feature new clothing never before seen in Face of Mankind. This will include a full array of shirts, pants, coats, shoes, formal, casual, and retro clothing. Other completely new items will be introduced, too.

More User Content

A new and improved mission system that features a mission log, mission rewards even if you are arrested by the Law Enforcement Department, and more!

 

 

This is apparently just a taste of the plans Nexeon has in store for Face of Mankind. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued and OnRPG will be sending one of our writers in sometime in September to give us their impressions of these changes firsthand.

Rusty Hearts Enters 2nd Closed Beta Test Today

Rusty Hearts Enters 2nd Closed Beta Test Today

 

 

Perfect World Entertainment is pleased to begin the second phase of closed beta testing for its hack and slash, dungeon crawling MMORPG Rusty Hearts today. All players that log into Rusty Hearts within the first twelve hours of the Phase 2 launch will automatically be granted a free costume item that will be permanent throughout the open beta!

 

Followed by a fresh patch installation, the second phase will allow players to keep their characters and achievement levels from Phase 1 and offer even more variety to the game’s features.

 

“We are ecstatic that Rusty Hearts has attracted thousands of gamers during the closed beta,” said Mark Hill, Game Producer for Rusty Hearts. “We’d like to thank the dedicated community of players for their enthusiasm and the incredible amount of feedback we’ve received.”

 

 

Based solely on player feedback, Phase 2 will include these new updates and enhancements:

Complete Town Restructure – Removal of portal “gates” allows for easier and more efficient travel through the game’s outer hub worlds with less waiting in loading screens.

PvP System Adjustments – While experiencing an overall balanced PvP system, Intermediate and Advanced PvP arenas are now open for higher level players to face off against similarly ranked opponents.

Player Comparison Information – Compare your stats to other players and opponents, as well as help new players find the best way to manage their characters.

New Side Quest System – Track down ever-changing enemies and their locations with a wide array of quests displayed on Wanted Boards

Revamped Skill Tree System – Effectively manage your skill points to build upon previous skills and acquire new abilities.

Advanced Crafting System – Dismantle unique items to obtain valuable materials that can be used for crafting advanced items including special weapons.

Deeper Item Quality System – A wider range of ranks have been added to weapons and gear in order to show their level of quality in greater detail.

Enhanced Looks for Weaponry – Get a completely new look for weapons that you have crafted compared to weapons that are picked up as loot drops.

 

 

Rusty Hearts has also sent us an epic Dungeon Walkthrough Video of a dungeon being shown at PAX for the first time! OnRPG is pumped and DizzyPW and Spunkify will be at their booth bright and early Saturday morning to get the full coverage.

Remnant Knights: Anime Me This!

Remnant Knights: Anime me this

By Neil Kewn (Murxidon) – OnRPG Journalist

 

 

I am not a fan of anime. Not in the slightest. I would like to say I share this opinion but these days I’m almost certainly in the minority – people love the Japanese art style and there are plenty of MMOs around that cater for it. OnRPG itself has a sub forum devoted to anime, and I can’t seem to read a thread without seeing at least one member hold an avatar of their favorite manga character. Logging into free-to-play MMO Remnant Knights for the first time, I wondered if the cutesy style and bright colors would discourage fans of the more visceral, realistic MMORPGs (like me, for example). Of course, graphics aren’t everything, and there’s a lot more to Remnant Knight’s than meets the eye.

 

Published by GameSamba, the game doesn’t drop you into the middle of a rent-a-world expecting you to fend for yourself. You are a member of one of two different schools, the Dragon or Owl institute. The former specializes in physical achievement whilst members of Owl enjoy spell casting and intellect over brute force. Accounts are limited by school, so if you create a character in Owl you can’t create another in Dragon. The creation process allows you to pick a Major (similar to real college but without the exorbitant fees), and this will act as your chosen specification. The Gun Circle deploy long range weaponry, The Magic Circle can use their powers to attack enemies or to heal allies and the Fight circle enjoy being in the thick of a battle. The school you choose determines your starting area and your faction, in a sense.

 

 

As a member of Owl Institute, teacher and student introductions were the first order of business. These act as a helpful tutorial, along with pop up prompts that show basic gameplay tips. The play style isn’t drastically different from most MMOs so there isn’t that much to learn if you are familiar with the genre. Killing enemies and completing quests earns experience that grants Skill Points when you level up. These are spent improving abilities, and you actually complete semesters and move up grades as you level.

 

Remnant Knight aims to be accessible. Quests are quick to complete and you are always given directions as to where to go. Unfortunately the quests aren’t as novel as the narrative, with kill and collect quests taking up a large portion of your time in the early game. The tasks given to you are predictably strange. Hunting Gingerbread Men, disposing of murderous trash cans and finding Halloween costumes aren’t the type of quests you would find in a more mature MMO, but it goes hand in hand with RK’s cartoony style and childish nature.

 

As shown in the screenshots, Remnant Knights visual style is heavily influenced by anime and cartoons. Employing an art style more reminiscent of Toontown Online than Flyff, the world of Kasmari consists of houses made out of cake and more primary colors than you can shake a stick at. You would be forgiven for dismissing the game as an overly simplified casual title, but thankfully there’s enough depth, dynamics and fun here to dismiss such claims. The story is written by renowned comic book writer Jim Krueger, and is one of the game’s most appealing features.

 

 

Combat is fast and fluid in Remnant Knights. Attacks are effective but not too powerful, and the quick animations and limited cool downs help give a nice sense of flow to battles. Often you will face groups of enemies placed close together. A Tension bar fills with each kill, granting you access to more powerful and over-the-top attacks that can dispose of troublesome mobs with ease. The main enemies in the game are called Skalari, beings from another dimension that apparently only “youths” can see. They often drop orbs that instantly recover HP and MP, helping keep downtime to a minimum.

 

Performance wise, the game isn’t strenuous on systems and the frame rate holds up well. Fortunate, as those great animations and spell effects really add to the aesthetic of the game. One of the reoccurring issues I had with the game was actually with its launcher, which can best be described as “useless”. It often becomes unresponsive and sometimes refuses to patch. The actual installation process had its own problems, as I suffered from a widely reported issue regarding incorrect version numbers stemming from installing the game in the wrong directory. Try installing to the root of your hard drive if you are having similar problems.

 

 

The Samba Shop is where players go to get their premium fix for an otherwise free-to-play game. Stocking clothes, consumables, accessories and mounts, there are products that will appease the aesthetically challenged or keep those who just that want a little boost happy. The store doesn’t do a particularly great job in explaining what all of the items do, and some of them actually expire after a certain number of days. Otherwise, it is well stocked with items that won’t spoil the game for the free players.  Interestingly you can complete surveys and offers to earn Samba points instead of paying for them with a credit card.

 

Remnant Knights is an accessible MMO that is both fun and rewarding to play. Despite being relatively new the game has everything you would expect from a modern day MMO game. Player versus Player combat is here including a school versus school competition called “Marble Battle”, in addition to banking, auction houses and pets. Not all of this is available at the start, meaning the more you play (and the more you level), the more features you unlock. The game is currently in open beta so it is in need of a little polish, but Remnant Knights would make a fine addition to anyone’s anime MMO collection and is definitely one to keep an eye on. Feel free to give it a shot for yourself.

 

Graphics – 3
Controls – 4
Features – 4
Customization – 3
Community – 3

Sevencore Online Announced!

Sevencore Online Officially Announced

 

 

gPotato is delighted to introduce its newest project, sci-fantasy MMORPG Sevencore, to the Western market! Built by a team of industry veterans at newly-formed studio Noria, Sevencore brings thrilling mounted combat and extensive customization into a stand-out, story-driven experience.

 

Sevencore debuted to a hugely positive reaction behind closed doors at Gamescom, and gPotato is excited to share the features that made it such a hit! A brand new Gameplay Trailer showcases Sevencore’s vibrant world and thrilling action, from epic monster battles to intense high speed chases. The teaser page promises a unique sci-fantasy setting where motorbikes and dragons ride through a lush, magical world etched with high-tech components.

 

 

The new game will feature in-depth customization of characters and a unique emphasis on mounts. Ride every variety of vehicle or animal into battle on land, sea, or sky, and harness a range of special abilities tailored to the player’s personal style. Characters bring their own diversity into the mix with spells, armor, and weapons unique to each culture and class.

 

Sevencore will also immerse gamers in a deep and engaging storyline unique to each character’s race and faction. History and culture come alive through a series of quests which artfully unwind the events that have driven the world into its present state. Explore a post-apocalyptic civilization where advanced technology melds with ancient structures to create a world unlike any other. Also check out the latest Screenshots!

Rusty Hearts First Impressions

Rusty Hearts First Impressions

By Michael Sagoe (Mikedot), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

 

 

Perfect World Entertainment is laying some new cards on the table with their newest title, Rusty Hearts. Developed by Windysoft and Stairway games, Rusty Hearts combines full-3D arcade beat ‘em up action, while mixing things up with a solid anime and manga art style.

 

 

As slick and sexy as this one looks, arcade action MMOs are becoming more common these days. It’s now increasingly difficult for any new ones to stand out. Rusty Hearts isn’t showing signs of being timid though and is geared up with enough reflectors and flashy effects to make it stand out from a million miles away.

 

It sure seems like style is the main essence of Rusty Hearts, because just from the login screen alone, I was blasted with a sense of awe and wonder. Once I selected my server and channel, the stars of the show slowly started walking past the screen.

 

 

Leading the troop of heroes was Frantz Kruger, a suave swordsman who’s half human, half vampire. Following Frantz was Angela Strraugend, a peppy witch that uses possessed great swords and scythes. Last one behind the group was Tude MacCloud. Sounds like your typical everyman, but Tude uses gauntlets and claws to tear his enemies a new one.

 

And from the group of heroes, you could see the misty shadow of another, currently unplayable female character. She already has her name up and such, so I assume she will join these heroes soon enough.

 

Though I was leaning towards Angela, I decided to give Frantz a go for my first couple of runs. Right from the get-go, the game attempts to immerse me into the world with a story cutscene showcasing Frantz and the gang fleeing from a huge monster. After that, it was mandatory tutorial time!

 

Getting a grip on the game’s controls was no biggie, as the control scheme felt and played similar to another popular action MMO. Midway during the tutorial, I decided to whip out my PS2 controller and USB converter to give the gamepad functions a try. Surprisingly, the gamepad function worked out great (for the most part) with the only issue being the dodge stick wasn’t mapped properly (pressing down on the stick made my character dodge left, pressing up made me dodge left, etc.) It seems to me that gamepad support was made with Xbox 360 controllers in mind first. Regardless, this little error can easily be fixed if they would give us the option to re-map control functions manually.

 

 

There seems to be a huge focus on story telling here, which I can’t really say I’m fond of since there seems to be no voice acting during cutscenes, making things a bit difficult to keep up with. Just a little bit of voice acting during the major cut-scenes would be nice and would help out with the story telling, since I won’t have to squint my eyes towards the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

 

 

But enough about storytelling, let’s focus on what matters: The gameplay. While the game has a pretty unique flair, it was really hard for me to play through this one without having that other popular arcade action MMO pop into mind: Tapping the basic attack button performs a short and easy combo. While using the skills assigned from A-through-H at the right time, I was able unleash longer combo strings and juggles with ease. You can jump and perform attacks in mid-air, but they’re kind of ineffective, so I didn’t really use them as much. I am fond of the subtle defensive option of being able to block attacks and counter attack when guarding at the right moment.

 

Unlike some action MMOs where you’re stuck fighting on a 2D plane, Rusty Hearts makes use of the 3D environments for some light exploration and interactivity. The dungeons I trekked through and the monsters I faced seemed pretty average at first, but I pressed onward just to check out more of what the game had to offer. This one boss battle had me fighting against a giant lobster monster that was tearing up platforms and such. The best way of taking it out was to freeze it using some kind of ice cannon, but you had to be quick about firing off the shot, otherwise you would get frozen in the process.

 

Needless to say, it was an intense and frustrating battle.

 

 

After several dungeon runs, things were getting a bit stale, but the experience picked up for me once I hit LV10, at which point I was already decked out with some awesome skills. I was able to switch up my character’s weapon style at LV10, trading in my light sword for a heavy but powerful axe. It was also time for me to jump into some PvP action! Rusty Hearts’ PvP features a handful of everyday gameplay modes such as Free-For-All, team deathmatch, tag team, ladder match, etc. Starting up a game is quick and easy with its own neat little interface, plus matches are hosted in your very own room.

 

After several matches in Free-For-All and Tag Team, I got a general feel for the character balance. Tude players can use juke movements to hone in, pressure and punish enemies. Angela players can keep enemies at bay using a bevy of magic attacks at close and mid-range, and Frantz players will go all out by juggling enemies like crazy.

 

Overall, I’d say Rusty Hearts is shaping up to be pretty stellar experience. If they can deliver an interesting story  along with challenging gameplay, Rusty Hearts could very well be the next top contender for action MMOs, pouring with style and substance.

 

For more information on Rusty Hearts check out our Game Profile for some Developers Diary videos and ColbyCheeze’s impressions!

Grand Fantasia Releases World PvP

Grand Fantasia Releases World PvP

 

 

Aeria Games has just opened a new server along with releasing one of the biggest content patches ever for Grand Fantasia.

 

The third server includes two regular channels and one PvP channel that will give players the option of starting fresh. With the launch of the new server also comes a massive content patch that introduces World PvP to Grand Fantasia.

 

New content included in this patch:

 

Introduction of World PvP – Players now have the option to duke it out amongst each other with the introduction of World PvP. Gain exclusive “PK Club” fame points that are redeemable for “PvP rewards.”

 

Additional Maps, Dungeons and Instances – Visit the “Nightmare Corridors,” a 2-player instanced dungeon with over 30 floors that will keep players on their feet.

 

Level Cap Raise –Players now have the ability to achieve up to level 85 especially with the help of additional dungeons and instances in game.

 

New “Looking for Party” Function – If players had trouble finding partners to complete quests there is now an option to “Auto Party” in-game that will allow players an easier method to team play.

 

New Ultimate System – The new Ultimate System allows players to upgrade their stats with the help of the Guardians of Saphael.

 

 

As an added bonus, the battlefield times have been adjusted to better meet player demands. Guild wars have also been reset so now is the time to start preparing to utilize the new Ultimate System to capitalize on never before realized power!