Yearly Archives: 2011

SilkRoad Interview: Inside Legend 7 Changes!

Silkroad Online Legend 7 Interview

by Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Journalist

 

At last, a new update from Silkroad Online! We’ve been waiting for this for quite a while and when we heard, we set up an interview with the developers!

 

Silk Road Legend 7 Preview

 

Why did you get rid of the Merchant class? Isn’t it going to cause balance problems?

 

There will be no balance problem between jobs, even with the update. Before the Legend 7 update, the Trade Triangular Conflict was 2:1 (Trader & Hunter VS Thief). So, the conflict condition was not fair to the Thief, but at least rewards for the Thief were very good.

 

If the Traders and Hunters chose not to engaged in trade, then the Thief could not play its role due to the lack of trade activities. All in all, the contents of the Trade Triangular Conflict have been inactive in-game due to this.

Against this backdrop, we have reorganized the system to encourage users to play the ‘Trade’ system, and to vitalize the Job Conflict system. For this, we have changed the 2:1 conflict to 1:1 by deleting the job, Trader, to allow both Hunter and Thief to serve time as Traders.

Furthermore, to allow users to save time on Trade, we have developed the Consignment Trading system. With this system, users can enjoy the advantages of Trade without direct trade activities. Consignment Trading makes trade faster with equal conditions for both Hunter and Thief.

 

 

What about the new exclusive skills? What are their differences? How do these affect the general game play?

 

Exclusive job skills are specialized job activities which are different from the existing skills. By using the exclusive job skills, users can save time required for trade activities and play job PVP with more excitement. For this reason, exclusive skills do not influence normal PVP and other activities except job-related activities.

 

 

What can you tells us about the new conflict system? Since there will be no merchants, what happens to rest of the jobs? Who is going to be change with Hunter vs. Thief conflict system?

 

The concept for the ‘Trade and Triangular conflict system’ for Legend 7 is ‘equal condition’ and ‘constant conflict’.

A final goal for both Hunter and Thief is to obtain job items so that the conflict of both sides is inevitable. To make the conflict fair, we have focused on the balance of the two jobs as described above. We were really looking forward to this brand new Craft System. Please, give us some information about this system.

 

 

What new items and features are being introduced in Legend 7? How much of an impact are they going to have?

 

Until Legend 6, socket stones have been an item for high level players only. But with the draft system update via Legend 7, low level players can now also use it. In addition to that, items like Battering rams and Catapults designed for Fortress War can also be available in the crafting system. And users can also craft Job equipment with the materials obtained through job and trade activities. In particular, users can wear job equipment together with basic equipment. Once the items are combined with Alchemy and reinforcement, users can have upgraded powerful characters.

 

Silk Road Legend 7 Preview

 

About Fortress War; why did you create these anti-castle machines? Were Battering rams and Catapults necessary? What do you think about these machines? Are they easy to control?

 

Before Legend 7, the target of the Fortress war was the castle, and some users complained about the simple game play of the Fortress War. We’ve come up with the Battering ram and Catapults to make it more fun. In terms of balance, defenders have the advantage . That’s why the idea of Battering rams and Catapults was implemented, to recover the balance. With the update of Battering ram and Catapults, more dynamic Fortress war is expected as the defenders face opposition with tools enabling much more aggressive offensive pushes.

 

 

As a player, how we going to increase our rank degree? And when we increase it, what kind of benefits will be waiting for us?

 

You can raise your rank through PK. You need to maintain a job condition. Points can be earned differently according to your opponents level and you can level up when the accumulated points reach certain requirements for the next level.
To prevent abusing game play, users can get points from up to three instances of PK within an hour. Players can choose to get involved with more than 3 instances of Pk within an hour, but will receive no tangible benefits after the third round. With the rise in rank, users can get additional stats (power and intelligence), but it is not a big advantage. Rank is intended as nothing more than a mark of honor, and Rank titles will be displayed in front of your job name like ‘Expert Bandit *Runy’.

 

A big thank you from OnRPG to Silk Road’s developers for providing us with this indepth look at the upcoming changes in Silk Road Legend 7!

 

Paths In Telara – Part 2

Paths In Telara: Take me to the River.

By Jonathan Doyle (Ardua), OnRPG Journalist.

Did you have a good weekend? I hope you did. Did you spend it in RIFT like I did? Again, I hope you did.

 

Why do I hope you spent the weekend in RIFT? Well… for the event. Yes the event that everyone and their dog are currently bemoaning. You know what? That’s perfectly fine. I still have the faith.

 

What is it I have faith in? Well Trion Worlds of course. Let’s break it down.

 

Trion RIFT Phase III

 

Trion set out with a clever game plan. People were coming up on the end of the 30 days box subscription assuming they were there for launch. What else is there to do at that critical time but try to pull something impressive off? With that in mind they had been working on the River of Souls world event. Alsbeth is being a naughty girl and well if you’re a fan of your own immortal soul, what the Endless Court were planning could best be described as “bad”. Trion crafted the event, promoted it and set it on its way.

 

This wasn’t just a bid to keep the subscribers interested, even if anything any company does tends to be just that. It was a bid to bring more into the fold. The launch weekend of The River of Souls was also the first Allies of the Ascended weekend where anyone could download RIFT and play for a weekend. It is a very clever stroke. They were giving players what they wanted and showing off their goods and their community to non players.

Trion also stepped up to the plate and showed us that no matter how good a job they themselves think they did, if they see a problem they will step in to fix it. The start of the event was tweaked a number of times to make it enjoyable for everyone and to get rid of the unintended side effect of everyone piling into the first zone of the game on each side, disrupting life for anyone just starting out or trying an alt.

 

Trion RIFT Phase III

 

In that, assuming they had not already, Trion Worlds won me over. They were not going to settle for a sub par event, despite what some of you know is coming in this narrative.

 

Fast forward a week to the weekend before last. Phase II was to start up in the game. People had been gathering the goods, dealing with the new rifts and cashing in the event currency. Phase II again was paired up with an Allies of the Ascended weekend. They had already given non subscribers a chance to see what people were like at the start of the event and they weren’t being excluded from participating in its end. That is… until it was discovered by European players that it just plum didn’t work. Phase II was laggy and Phase III was crashing. This could not do, so they didn’t launch it. Sure this sounds like a defeat but personally, I view it as a win for the players. Why struggle through something that would have been broken? To say that you did? To complain that it was? Trion was communicating through the forums, Twitter, Facebook and through the game’s server announcement system. We, the players, were not left in the dark. Zann and the community team are to be commended.

 

Trion RIFT Phase III

 

Finally comes last weekend. The event had been extended. There was now a third Allies of the Ascended weekend, so that even non subscribers could join in. Everyone had been thought of. They even accounted, or so they thought, for some issues again discovered by the European servers. The event wouldn’t start at the exact same time on all servers to give people a chance to get in. They also would repeat Phase II and III to give those absent in previous weeks a chance to witness them.

 

Here is the bit you may have heard. It was all rather an anticlimax.

 

I won’t defend Phase III at all. Neither will Trion.

 

Phase II was fun but over far too quickly. Was that a fault of Trion? No… it was a factor of Faeblight filling to server capacity in minutes. People were ready to take this on and they did. Speaking as a Defiant (mostly) player I must take this moment to point and snigger at the Guardians who were the last to finish. You guys and girls left Silverwood till last, for shame.
So yes, Phase II bulleted along, but what harm is that? Everyone was poised to take it on, I can hardly complain about being surrounded by competent and ready players can I?

 

Trion RIFT Phase III

 

Phase III however was… just a script. An enjoyable script I must say. Alsbeth popped out and had a good scene with Asha Catari of the Defiants and Cyril Kalmar of the Guardians. I was suddenly confused by a mass of emote spam as everyone (and I could not render everyone there on my screen) started /kneeling to Alsbeth. Turns out it was a title unlock. Still, it was weird to see and I joined in figuring that there had to be some reason for it. Phase III did what it intended to do, it was to introduce us to the River of Souls end game raid and it did just that. What Phase III did not do was what Trion had originally hoped. After two weeks of building up and twenty furious minutes (or thereabout, I was distracted) of beating a world invasion into the dirt, we got a quick two minute puppet show and a raid that well… I myself couldn’t do only being level 34. I know I wasn’t the only one.

 

Finally you say, maybe he’ll complain now! Rip them a new one! Well… no I won’t. Why won’t I? It’s easy. Like at every other stage of the event, like at every other problem I have witnessed myself, Trion stepped up to the plate.

 

From the boards comes this:


‘When we set out to get this unveil event in front of you, it was all about some serious ambitions.


Great new types of content to unveil a brand new raid zone. Events that really push the edge of what’s possible not just in Rift, but in any MMO of its kind. All within an incredibly rapid amount of time following launch.


In this case, while we did get to “what’s possible” we didn’t get to “solid gameplay for the entire game universe.” The later phases of the event were too concentrated and time-compressed, which caused issues on a number of worlds.


Ambition is important — It’s what keeps us improving day to day, week to week, month to month. But, it’s equally important to know when you walked too close to the edge and got cut.’

 

Trion knows that what they hoped to deliver and what people saw did not match. We had high expectations and so did they. As a thank you/apology to the player base, all the subscribers are getting goodies in the mail. Yes it may, as my wife pointed out half heartedly, mean that anyone who actually was there for Phase III no longer has bragging rights for being there, after all everyone gets the achievements for the later phases now; but I don’t mind.

 

Trion RIFT Phase III

 

I would sooner embrace the same idea as Trion and learn from the experience and look forward to what they bring to us next, having improved themselves and what they will deliver. I could dwell on the anticlimax, I could even rage against the company. But why? They have admitted fault, they are planning to learn and they have gifted me for my continued presence. I could hold the anti climax close to my heart and complain about it, but what is the point when I know that the next time will be better?

 

Plus, in case anyone is forgetting, they did in fact take us down to the river. The River of Souls is staying as another end game raid. All in all, while something of a let down, this still comes out as a win for everyone.

 

Ether Saga Relaunching as Odyssey!

Ether Saga Relaunching as Odyssey!

 

Perfect World Entertainment announced that Ether Saga will be relaunching as Ether Saga Odyssey on April 27th. This new chapter in the Ether Saga story will present a robust pet training system, an upgraded game engine, an improved UI, and a plethora of new content.

 

“Ether Saga Odyssey highlights a pet training system which allows players to capture, train, and upgrade their pets to create stronger breeds,” said Aaron Potter, Product Manager for Ether Saga Odyssey. “Providing an atmosphere to enjoy free-form wrestle and play, players get to create different looking pets and even transform into the monsters that they defeat. With the game’s intuitive game play systems, a large variety of unique features, new areas to discover and advanced skills to learn, we are excited to bring a truly one of a kind experience for gamers of all skill sets.”

 

Ether Saga Odyssey Preview

 

Features:

Pet Training System – With hundreds of pets to capture and tame, summon and train them to battle alongside with you while create stronger breeds with new abilities
Monster Card System – Collect monster cards, transform into monsters as well as gain access to new attributes and skills
Mini Games – Play a variety of fun casual games simultaneously as you complete quests
4 Distinct Races with 8 Advanced Classes – Each race has a unique look, mission and play style
Character Customization – Customize the facial features and fashion of your character, choose from 9 different crafting and gathering skills as well as a variety of professions with skills ranging from forging armor and weapons, concocting potions, or creating items for your pets
Ease of Access and Play/Improved UI – Additional visual aids and integrated Navigation System with auto-route feature for quick and easy routing to various locations and quest objectives
Upgraded Game Engine – See polished art style as well as catchy, vibrant, and high quality graphics in concept art, screenshots, videos, and more

 

Iris Online: Tears of Arcana Expansion Approaches!

Iris Online Announces Tears of Arcana and Special Events!

 

gPotato is pleased to announce that Tears of Arcana, a content update for Iris Online, will go live this May! Tears of Arcana introduces a forging system that allows players to craft epic items, an accessory upgrading system, flying mounts, three new maps including an elite map, and an increased level cap to 65! We have a new collection of images related to the expansion here.

 

Iris Online Expansion

 

To celebrate this upcoming update, Iris Online is bringing non-stop events with tons of free items and leveling-perks!

 

Easter Event – For two weeks, an exclusive Easter NPC grants quests and gives players a chance to receive exclusive permanent mounts and six never before seen Easter head pieces!

 

Login Giveaway – This two week login event gives players the chance to win epic prizes simply by logging into the game! Players will earn 1 tear drop for every hour they stay logged into the game. Players can then trade their tear drops with an NPC and receive a gift bag, which could contain item shop items, high level incant cads, money bags, or even mounts!

 

In addition to these two events, players can enjoy double EXP the first week, and a 30% increase in drops the next! All of this will be happening at the same time starting Wednesday, April 20th! Now is a perfect time to join Iris Online!

Mythos Europe Preview

Mythos Europe Preview

By Nic van ‘t Schip (Nilax), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

It’s been a bumpy ride for Mythos Europe to get to where it is now. Frogster is ready to “go live” with it soon but in 2008 the sad demise of Flagship Studios, developer of Mythos and Hellgate London, made it seem like the game was lost forever.

 

Luckily HanbitSoft picked up the remains and had their US based Studios Redbana and T3 Entertainment work on it.

 

Mythos is a bit of a special case for me. A couple of years ago I worked in the company that was originally going to be publishing Mythos and I remember seeing it in its very early stages and being excited about it! Here was a game that going to combine the sweetness of isometric hack and slash games with the awesomesauce of more conventional MMOs. Think of combining Diablo or Torchlight with WoW… wow!

 

The comparison to Diablo, Torchlight and Titan Quest should be crystal clear to anyone just from seeing screenshots of the game. Combat, the skill, stat and leveling systems, the inventory and many more features of Mythos will be very familiar to people who’ve played these kinds of games before.

 

But as usual in the games industry; it is better to copy something that works than to invent something that sucks right, even if it’s original? There are plenty of things that Mythos does differently and I might even say better than the Diablos and Torchlights of this world. I will try to explain what I mean in this review of the Open Beta version of Mythos.

 

Extra Security

Before even starting the game I ran into something interesting. After the usual username/password prompt, the game asks me for my “Secondary Password”. This is a password of 6 digits that can only be entered by clicking the numbers on the screen. As the location of the numbers on the keypad always changes I imagine this would make it extremely difficult for hackers to determine peoples’ passwords using conventional key loggers. It is a clever system that I’m sure will save both Mythos’ players as well as Frogster’s Customer Support Team a lot of time and headaches!

 

Mythos Europe Preview

 

Character Creation

As with so many MMOs, Mythos starts by asking you to create a character. You can choose between four different races: the diplomatic Humans, the crafty Gremlins, the ancient Satyr and the imposing Cyclops. Each of these races offers the choice of 3 Classes: The Bloodletter, a short range melee character, the Pyromancer a long range offensive/support caster, and the rifle using Gadgeteer who takes on the role of ranged DPS.

 

Each class has three skill trees they can progress in and Kataal on the OnRPG forums describes them like this:

 

– Pyromancer: Cinderblade (Mage/Warrior), Flamecaster (Standard fire mage), Coalsmasher (Pets and AoE)

– Gadgeteer: Marksmen (Rifle Expert with Stat Effects and Range DPS), Grenadier (Traps and AoE grenades), Tinkerer (Robot pets, stationary turrets)
– Bloodletter: Crimsonate (DoT, close-ranged AoE), Martialist (Generic DPS warrior), Red Hand (Necromantic Warrior, summons pets from corpses and uses magic to enhance them)

 

As you can see in this video, the character creator gives you ample opportunity to customize your character without going over the top. As long as you don’t expect Aion, RIFT or FF14 style customization you will be impressed!

 

Mythos Europe Preview

 

For this review I played an impressive looking Cyclops Bloodletter… RAWR! I later tried both the Pyromancer and the Gadgeteer but I believe I’ll be sticking with the Bloodletter for now!
Isometric you said?

 

The first thing you’ll notice when you start the game is that the camera is stuck above your character and even though I knew this game was Isometric it still surprised me a bit. The character creator kind of threw me off I guess.

 

However, the game had a surprise in store for me! If you really dislike the isometric view, you have the option to play the game using something they call an “MMO Camera”. It’s not quite as smooth and flexible as the camera in “real”3D games but for the die-hards it’s a nice addition none the less.

 

Mythos Europe Preview

 

I didn’t find the game very playable using this camera so I’ll stick to the good old Isometric view. The cell shaded/cartoony look of the game is pretty sweet and the bright colors in the outside world are a nice contrast between the really dark and gloomy caves and cellars you’ll often visit.

 

Gameplay

I recorded the first couple of minutes of game play and you can check that right here. As you can see the game has a pretty decent (if somewhat intrusive) tutorial that will teach even the noobest of game noobs how to play. I understand that tutorials are important to get “new” gamers into your game but I am not sure if that is the demographic they should be looking for with this game. All in all it’s pretty hardcore and I doubt many people who have not experienced Diablo, Torchlight or Titan Quest will be playing this.

 

Combat feels nice and responsive if a tad click heavy, but for a hack and slash game I guess that is expected. The starting ability of the Bloodletter kicks ass and I really enjoyed going STAB STAB STAB EXPLODE with him at every opportunity!

 

The flow of the quests and the development of the story are solid and smooth. I wish the same could be said for the translation. Even though US based studios have been working on Mythos, it is very obvious that native English speakers did not write the English translations.

 

I hope that Frogster isn’t quite done with this aspect of the game yet. They have another couple of weeks before the commercial release and perhaps they can use that to fix some of the blatant mistakes. It has to be said however, that other than making me chuckle, these badly translated texts didn’t have a truly negative impact on the game. It was still very clear what the quest givers wanted me to do, and I never ran into a translation that made the story incomprehensible.

 

MMO Hack ‘n Slash

Following the quest line I quickly found myself in caves, cellars and meadows, dispatching big groups of wildlife intent on making me their lunch. The leveling system quickly managed to draw me in and the item and inventory systems feel nice and familiar without seeming stale.

 

Mythos Europe Preview

 

All in all Mythos is turning out to be a solid hack and slash MMO, and although I hardly grouped up with other adventurers while playing, it is clear that the system for grouping is excellent. If anything I wished the earlier quests and dungeons required grouping a bit more. Diablo was ok as a single player but it really shone as a multiplayer game and the single biggest complaint about Torchlight has always been that it lacked a multiplayer option. Mythos is an MMO from the ground up that just happens to have many of the good things from those other games on top of it!

 

I’m looking forward to seeing the game improve further over the next couple of months and OnRPG will keep you posted on any updates!

 

Pirate Galaxy: Illegal Mines Expansion

Pirate Galaxy: Illegal Mines Expansion

 

Splitscreen Studios announces an extensive update for the award-winning browser game Pirate Galaxy. The new conquest system will introduce battles for illegal mines on April 20th, 2011. Along with a new type of resource, gravitons, the Hamburg-based developer also present a new alliance system, new missions, new planets, and new achievements in their 3D browser game about lawless space pirates.

Beginning this coming Wednesday, clans can challenge one another in battle for the control of illegal mines on abandoned planets. To track down these mines, members must find log files, upload them to a clan database, and once they have the required number of log files, prepare for the attack on an abandoned planet.

 

Pirate Galaxy Expansion

Battles will take place between two enemy clans – the number of pilots from each clan who are allowed to make things hot for their enemies on the planet is limited to 25 players. The fight is for the takeover of important areas with different values. The more valuable to occupied territories are, the more ‘life’ the opposing clan loses. The first clan with no life left loses the battle. The trick is that the values of the territories increase at different rates. An originally worthless area may become very valuable later. The winner of a battle will receive access to the minerals being extracted from the mines: gravitons.

Gravitons

With gravitons, a completely new type of resource makes its debut in Pirate Galaxy. The minerals can be used to unlock previously unknown powerful effects for a short time. Half a dozen individual gravitons with very different effects are being mined in the various star systems. Immediate repairs, stronger firepower, or the elimination of the waiting period for items are just examples of the effects of these hard-to-find minerals. They will be effective tactical aids both in missions and in the clan.

New alliance system

The alliance system in Pirate Galaxy has been completely revised. Beginning this coming Wednesday, any number of clans may enter an alliance. That joins their members together and now they can fully support each other in clan battles. Starting immediately, every alliance also has its own chat – thus allies can better make their arrangements.

New missions and message-system

There are numerous new missions to complete in every star system. Players fight heated battles against Harvesters, run daring races, or defend Transporters against assaults by the Mantis. In addition, all mission messages can be read directly from the screen, without opening a new window and losing track of what is going on in the game. In general, access to the message system has been simplified. Players receive all game information directly from the chat input bar.

New planets and achievements

There is also the new Conquest Planet Valkion in the Draconis System. All new achievements, such Pro Racer and Rabbit Stew are waiting to be awarded.

Superhero MMO, Hero Smash, Enters Open Beta

Superhero MMO, Hero Smash, Enters Open Beta

Artix Entertainment today announced the Open Beta release for Hero Smash, its newest MMORPG, scheduled to launch April 28th, 2011. The Beta release will be open to all players.

 

Hero Smash is an all new MMORPG where Super Villains and Heroes battle against each other for control of strategic locations and items within Super City. Players will choose to become evil Super Villains or good Heroes and fight to ensure their side’s victory.

 

Hero Smash Open Beta

The Alpha test-phase of the game was open for three months exclusively to members of the existing Artix Entertainment games. The game content was tested by over 200,000 players. The Beta release will open the game to the public, allowing all players to create an account and play the game. This release will introduce 4 new areas, dozens of new monsters, and hundreds of new in-game items including superpowers that were not available during the Alpha test-phase.

 

 

The Hero Smash game is unique from anything else seen in Artix Entertainment’s games. The characters are drawn in an original “vinyl” art-style and the game features real-time cooperative multiplayer combat. Players will be able to team up or fight solo to defeat monsters, complete quests and explore the player-driven storylines.

Hero Smash

Hero Smash puts you right in the middle of the action with a group of your buddies to do what heroes do best, beat up bad guys with flashy powers. But to be competitive in the Super Hero genre these days, you need customization and lots of it. Artix Entertainment can do that.

 

Hero Smash offers you the ability to go evil or good for starters. Then you are given a city to battle over for control. Sounds good so far? Well add in a Guild Wars-esque system in which you can acquire new powers through questing and defeating bosses. There are literally hundreds of combinations available to unlock and test in your pursuit to create the ultimate super hero.

 

But Hero Smash decided to push the envelop of the genre, even in a browser game, by promising a ‘secret identity’ system to allow you to intermingle with the opposition. What secrets will you discover with your alternate persona? The OnRPG team is excited to find out when we test this game in the coming months.