Yearly Archives: 2011

Lucent Heart Confirms May 12th BFF Beta

Lucent Heart Confirms May 12th BFF Beta

 

Gamania Digital Entertainment announced today that the wait is almost over, the final closed beta for Lucent Heart is confirmed for May 12th. After introducing the community to the land of Acadia during recent sneak peek beta events, Gamania is ready to enter the next phase of testing, inviting players to put Lucent Heart through its paces during the highly anticipated two week Badass Friends Forever (BFF) closed beta.

 

Lucent Heart BFF Beta

The team has been hard at work refining the game, incorporating feedback from previous testers, as well as implementing more features. The BFF event will be Lucent Heart’s largest and final closed beta, and will utilize the updated 4.07 client. Both old and new players will experience a streamlined version of the game with many improvements.

Aiming to bring people together by focusing on social interaction, Lucent Heart leverages a rich matchmaking system that pairs up couples for quests and adventures in the fight against evil that’s invading Acadia. With magical Zodiac based abilities at their disposal, along with help from trustworthy pets, friends, and lovers, players will take on hordes of enemies and bosses as they fight their way through thousands of quests, dungeons, and 20 unique zones.

 

 

Lucent Heart BFF Beta

Horoscope System: Each player’s Zodiac sign (determined by their birthday) affects their stats and skills. Not only will they get buffs as a daily horoscope, they gain powerful Zodiac abilities and armor that are specific to their Zodiac sign – affording players a personalized experience while they level up and explore Acadia. Check out the Zodiac powers in action here.

Matchmaking System: “Cupid” will pair up players based on specific matchmaking characteristics. Lucent Heart is a highly social experience and the matchmaking feature is meant to take players beyond the standard grouping systems with which they’re accustomed. Couples are encouraged to go on lighthearted “dates” after being paired, and as they level up and quest together they gain access to specific couple-only buffs, items, and areas which further enhance the gameplay. Couples can even culminate their relationship through in-game marriage. Check out our trailer for the Matchmaking System.

 

Lucent Heart BFF Beta

As a special treat for cosplay fans, Vanessa (the official Lucent Heart Star) will be filming a video series at E3 dressed up as the goddess herself, ‘Theia’. ‘Goddess Theia’ will be taking community requests for the videos. You’ll be able to watch her in action at Gamania’s youtube page during E3 as she tours the booths at the request of the players.

Though keys are scarce, OnRPG saved an extra 1,000 keys just for this announcement. Without a key you aren’t guaranteed access to the beta so make sure to grab one here.

 

RIFT Prepares Next Patch: The Spoils of War

RIFT Patch 1.2 – The Spoils of War

 

Trion Worlds, known for making a big deal of everything, has no intention of slowing down now that RIFT is in full release. Starting now, players will begin to find strange dragon egg shells and coins raining into the capitol cities in the Spoils of War prelude event. These mysterious objects are the focus of four new daily quests that reward the Ascended with coveted items.

 

RIFT Patch 1.2 Spoils of War

 

Then beginning next Tuesday, May 10, RIFT will unlock patch 1.2: The Spoils of War, containing many new and useful features! You can now enter slivers and steal triumph from the dragons’ jaws in alternate time streams. These 10-man outdoor instances will play a major roll in determining the real world make-up of Telara.

 

Of course, the invaders are limitless, and the Ascended, while mighty and many, must rally together to strike telling blows. The new Looking for Group system will help you quickly recruit Ascended for any dungeon, quest, or rift.

 

RIFT is also releasing a nifty feature this patch that I personally adore. You will now no longer be forced to accept the looks of gear just because it has the best stats. You can assign a different looking piece of equipment the stats of your best gear to ensure your look is customized the way you like it!

 

And with RIFT 1.2, you can share your adventures on Facebook. A series of simple in-game commands lets you post your accomplishments to your Facebook page. True geeks rejoice, your deeds of greatness will not go unknown.

 

Cardmon Hero: The Not Quite Yu-Gi-Oh MMORPG

CardMon Hero: The Not Quite Yu-Gi-Oh MMORPG

By: Vincent Haoson (Hao), OnRPG Journalist

 

The idea of Trading Card Games isn’t new to the gaming scene. Magic and Pokemon Trading Card Game players are still quite prevalent within the ranks of MMORPG players. So it is natural to expect that the concept of card systems would emerge in the MMO-scene.

 

Cardmon Hero, is T3Fun’s version of the TCG-MMO combination. Let’s see how it fares on both fronts.

 

Look and Feel

 

Cardmon Hero Review

 

CardMon Hero pretty much looks like your typical anime-inspired F2P MMORPG. It uses bright colors, with the inclusion of kiddie-version sprites and monsters. The game in fact reminds me of games such as FlyFF or Rose Online. The game environment is pretty light and partnered with an upbeat and catchy but repetitive tune.

The game’s light-hearted nature can be entertaining, especially for those who are looking for a less serious themed MMO. CardMon Hero pushes the right buttons in terms of casual entertainment while distinguishing itself with cartoony card “partners” known as “mercenaries”.

Gameplay

CardMon Hero’s base gameplay is similar to a lot of MMORPGs out right now. The game has no innovation whatsoever in this regard save for the robust TCG System in place (which I will have to elaborate later on).

 

Cardmon Hero Review

 

The game currently has Player vs Player, Player vs Environment and Realm vs Realm systems. The character classes follow the usual set of jobs: melee, ranged and magic. Each job class branches off to the various weapons the game has. There is also a stat system in place which is reminiscent of Diablo where your character’s stats determine the weapons you can use.

 

Cardmon Hero Review

 

CardMon Hero doesn’t have a restrictive job class system unlike games such as Ragnarok Online. So long as you meet the equipment’s requirements, your mage can wield a sword, or your swordsman can wield a wand.

 

Cardmon Hero Review

 

CardMon Hero’s pacing is pretty linear, with your first few steps dictated by one NPC quest after another. For those who have no inkling of what an MMORPG is (which would mean you probably lived under a rock) this would be fine and all. However, for people who already immersed themselves into one MMORPG after another, CardMon Hero’s new players approach is something to be desired. In my experience, the only thing that made me bother with the newbie quests is the free items they offered as rewards made the early game far less troublesome.

TCG System Shines!

With the game’s bread and butter relying heavily on its TCG system I am happy to say that CardMon Hero has a very robust one. The TCG system in CardMon Hero makes you feel like you are living in a world where your cards are real. At times I felt like I had been transported to the shadow realm of a Yu-Gi-Oh cartoon with the way some of these missions play out. However unlike in Yu-Gi-Oh where they were limited in the dark tournament ground, CardMon Hero offers a free roaming world filled with other monsters and players for you to beat down.

 

Cardmon Hero Review

 

The “mercenaries” you summon through the cards are not to be confused with pets you would see in a typical online game. Your mercs are limited by a timer that automatically recalls the monster to its card once time has expired. This is used as a type of balancing mechanism to keep overpowered cards under control.

You can go all out and summon a variety of monsters at the same time as long as you have available slots. This adds to the mix and match card summon combination since not all monsters are the offensive type. It gives you a spectrum of choices in your summons since you have to balance between support, offensive and defensive mercs whenever you summon them.

 

The game also allows you to customize your mercs in the sense that you can level them up to make them sturdier or deal out more damage. You can also combine your monster cards to eventually create a stronger monster much like in Shin Megami Tensei Online.

 

Cardmon Hero Review

 

You also have a card book which records the cards you have already collected and that contains more information on the cards you have acquired. The card book system in fact adds to the “gotta catch ‘em all” feel that’s part of the TCG experience.

Joker

In tandem with the TCG system in CardMon Hero, there’s a Joker system in place in the game. The Joker system gives players the opportunity to summon high level mercenaries. There’s a meter on the left side of the screen that fills up whenever you summon or use a skill. Upon reaching a certain amount you can successfully summon a high level merc. There are three levels to fill in the meter and filling up each meter would mean a stronger merc. I found this added a bit of strategy to the player versus player sphere of the game, making duels feel like a game of “chicken” to see who would crack and summon their Joker first.

 

Conclusion

CardMon Hero is a good game that maximizes the TGC-MMO system to its full. However the game itself carries no innovative feature or anything fresh as an MMO. This is not a huge problem for most players since the TCG aspect is the one reason why people would play the game.

 

Cardmon Hero Review

 

While it is commendable that CardMon Hero knows what it is as an MMO, in the long run it lacks enough variety for extended gaming. If you have a one track mind then that’d be good, but if you need variety in your MMOs, you have been warned.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the mix and match aspect of the game’s summoning system where you can in fact have a ton of mercs out at once. The sight of a team of summoners each unleashing an army of mercs at once is truly impressive.

 

The variety of the mercs you can use is another enjoyable aspect of the game since you can summon robots/mechas in tandem with elementals. These mercs really blow away the pet systems present in the majority of MMOs these days.

 

In the end the game is not for everybody. While it is esy to pick up and enjoy, the tedium might push those with short attention spans away. Only the true fans of TCGs or detailed pet systems need apply for this one. But if you fall into that category, I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised.

Kingdom Heroes Xiaoshou Expansion Arrives

Kingdom Heroes Xiaoshou Expansion Arrives

 

Get ready to battle it out in the new Xiaoshou Expansion in Kingdom Heroes. The Xiaoshou expansion will build on the enormous Kingdom Heroes map, providing two new areas for players to explore. Kingdom Heroes offers a unique, story based progression system, requiring players to work with their faction to defeat historic Chinese figures such as Zhao Yun and Lu Bu in order to access the new areas.

 

Kingdom Heroes Expansion

 

Kingdom Heroes new features include:

 

Increased Level Cap – This expansion is host to a level cap increase, which provides players dozens of new and exciting skills, talents and abilities.

 

New Gear – An extensive assortment of weapons including glaives, spears, swords and staves, have been introduced along with brand new armor sets and mounts.

 

New Boat and Siege Weapon – Players must work together to make a valiant stand against Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo’s Army to unlock an undiscovered boat and turret mounted missile launcher.

 

Dark Swords: Ultimate 2006 Browser Game

Dark Swords Review- Ultimate 2006 Browser Game

by: Kei Beneza (dividelife), Onrpg Journalist

 

Dark Swords is a free-to-play pseudo browser-based MMORPG that takes place in a Tolkien fantasy world of Orcs, Elves, and Dwarves. The reason why I strongly disagree with the game being called a browser game is that the it requires you to both download and install the Dark Sword client before you can play the game. Browser based game enthusiasts will be quite familiar with how the game is played, as it functions a lot like a browser MMO rather than a client-based game. Launched in late 2006, Dark Swords Online has provided players with a great mixture of roleplaying goodness and an innovative character building system similar to tabletop RPGs. The game has also been supportive of its playerbase, constantly coming up with patches and fixes to further enhance the Dark Sword experience.

 

Dark Swords Review

 

Creating Your Character

Creating a character in Dark Swords is quite easy as it’s bundled with the game’s registration phase to let players jump into the game as soon as they finish downloading the 4 mb client. It also has a nice lineup of races, each with their own specialty and racial bonuses.

 

The Races are as follows: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Orc, and Drow (Dark Elves)

 

After choosing your race, you will be opted to edit your stats, allowing you to futher customize your character to fit your playstyle. There’s also a huge selection of character portraits for you to choose from.

 

Dark Swords Review

 

Somewhat Different

After picking my starting town, I was suprised at how broad the game was. Normally, browser based MMORPGs consist of ‘click-and-duel’ PVP systems, limited RPG capabilities, and random grinding, but not Dark Swords. There’s just so much to do in this game, and I guarantee that players won’t be stuck doing the same mundane tasks. What really caught my attention was how “normal” characters can be in this game. Imagine, suffering from infectious diseases than can be caught by various circumstances like killing monsters and drinking infected water. It’s also amazing that each of these annoying ailments have stages and symptoms which allow players to keep track of the illness while finding a cure to prevent the disease from getting worse. There’s also the religion system which sort of guides your characters actions depending on which religion you choose.

 

Dark Swords Review

 

I still think that Dark Swords system is one of the best ones out there. What makes it even more amazing is that the game has been around since 2006.

 

Verdict

So far, the only thing I don’t like about this game is the lack of tutorials. Even if you go to the main site and read all the articles, it’s still hard to get used to the game. The FAQ page does a good job of explaining what the features are but is rather poor at explaining how they work or how to use them. I honestly had to spend a couple of hours just learning to navigate the city, which is still a bit faster than most people, thanks to a couple of veterans who helped me learn the basics.

 

Anyway, browser game fans are sure to have their hands full with Dark Swords Online. It’s broad, fast paced, and in my opinion, a whole lot better than most of its RPG counterparts. Whether you’re looking for PVP, PVE, or just a good role-playing experience, then download the game and start adventuring.

 

Pros

-Broad System
-Visuals are still better than other browser games
-Tons of PVP
-Professions

 

Cons

-Lack of tutorials
-A bit TOO broad for the average player
-Steep learning curve.