Yearly Archives: 2011

Divine Souls: Kick Ass Priests Unite

Divine Souls Shows Priests Can Kick Ass Too

By Vincent Haoson, OnRPG Journalist

 

 

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

 

The Job Classes

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

 

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


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

 

The Gameplay

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

Features


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

 

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

 

 

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

 

PVP

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

Conclusion

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

Castle Fight: Holy Clone Wars

Castle Fight: The Holy Clone Wars

By Mitch Baylosis-Benesa (Syllica), OnRPG Journalist

 


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

 

Going Back To Basics


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

 

 

East Meets West


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

 

 

Forever Alone?

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

 

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

 

 

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

Black Prophecy Episode 1 On The Way

Black Prophecy Episode 1 On the Way

 

 

 

Today the publisher Gamigo is providing a glimpse into what’s coming in the next add-on for Black Prophecy. The highlight of this is the region Enzo’s Enigmatic Emporium of Exotic Elegance, which is open to players at Levels 15 and higher and acts as the hub for new missions. It is also used by dubious dealers as a marketplace for goods of all sorts. “Episode 1: Inferno in Tulima” will be released in early July.

 

A new feature in the Black Prophecy universe is the bound sectors: Players play their way from one sector to the next. The passages to the next region are generally guarded by particularly strong opponents that can only be defeated by a group. Additional sectors with this feature will follow.

 

 

To improve communication between players, the message system has been reworked and based on standard instant messenger systems: Players can recognize their friends by their avatar and talk to them in a separate window. The new in-game e-mail system also permits sending items by cash on delivery to other players.

Other new features include:

.       New jobs

.       New story missions

.       New dynamic missions

.       New open world sectors

.       Changes to the reward system in PvP


.       New weapon type


.       New offensive and defensive special skills that make battles even more exciting

 

 

All in all, this patch seems to improve or resolve a good majority of the issues I experienced with the game in my time testing out beta. My hopes remain high that Black Prophecy can create a new niche of SciFi Space Combat MMOs to rival the popularity of the current standard fantasy based MMOs.

Gamigo Unveils its E3 Exclusives to Public

Gamigo Unveils its E3 Exclusives to Public

 

 

 

At E3 2011 OnRPG visited the Gamigo booth and was treated to a sneak peak at some of their upcoming titles for 2011. Though our editing crew is still occupied with preparing our in-depth interview on these titles, Gamigo has been kind enough to make some of the assets available to the public. Two games in particular really stand out as being games to watch in 2011. These games both offer a unique take on the MMO genre while being starkly unique from each other.

 

UFO Online

 

With three factions, a variety of mercenary classes and tactical battles against AI and other players, this browser-based game has players battling for freedom against oppressive alien overlords that have made themselves at home on Earth. Our first look at this game depicted highly-detailed modern 3D graphics we don’t normally come across in browser based games.

 

Check out our Game Profile for a closer look at the details and teaser trailer of this game.

 

 

Grimlands

 

Grimlands was kept rather secret even during our visit to E3, so we are very pleased to be able to bring our viewers information at last on this ambitious title. In a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by earthquakes, players find themselves fending off mutants, marauders, and the mentally unchecked in a desperate fight for survival.

 

 

But no worries, you will have more than magic to defend yourself. You will have an awesome arsenal of guns at your disposal. Want a twist? Despite this being set up like an MMORPG, you will have to aim at your targets to shoot them. Get ready for a treat at Gamigo and Drago Entertainment set you on a Borderlands styled journey in which you can only master the skills you use, and only the skilled survive.

 

Just like UFO Online, we have prepared a brand new Game Profile for you to get more information on this excited new cross between FPS and MMORPG.

Grimlands

Grimlands is a post-apocalyptic FPS MMORPG. In this game you learn by doing, and will as a result learn nothing if you leave your skills unused. A little more on the backstory:

 

Twenty years after devastating earthquakes devastated Earth, what remains of humanity is fighting hard for its survival. Those cities that did not crumble in the quakes have been flattened in the bitter struggles for power that have ensued. Roving bands of marauders, mutants and psychopathic robbers wander the streets, looking for trouble. In this inhospitable post-apocalyptic scenario there’s only one goal: survival!

Features

Dynamic Game World: Players Actions impact the world around them. Cities may rise and fall as the result of clan wars over territory in the vast Southwestern Desert.

 

Realistic Skill System: Forget about levels. Skills in this game are increased and decreased as a result of your style. Skills you use the most will increase quickly while skills you neglect deteriorate over time.

 

AI Designed for FPS Combat: In a game with aiming vital to combat, you will be glad (or frustrated) to know that the enemy considers strafing, cover, and trapping techniques. This game won’t let you take a break or you will find yourself surrounded and out numbered.

 

Detailed Clan System and PvP: Clans are more than just a social hub. They can conquer cities, build cities into bustling metropolises, create ranks within the faction for promotion/permission purposes, and engage in epic battleground fights versus other clans.