Yearly Archives: 2011

Urban Rivals: Bagpipes, Pillz, and Rock & Roll

Urban Rivals: Bagpipes, Pillz, and Rock & Roll

by Mitch Baylosis-Benesa (Syllica)

 

 

Urban Rivals is a browser-based trading card game set in a fictional world called Clint City, a place where dark figures stalk every dark alley. The card battle rules are simple and easy to follow, and animations are fluid and entertaining. The game can be easily accessed by logging on using your Facebook account or via iPhone, giving this game much more accessibility than most any other MMO on the market.

 

Urban Rivals Review

 

Edgy

Urban Rivals left me with high expectations upon seeing its edgy and eye-catching graphics. The game’s art is especially nice. It is unique and the art screams “urban” at first sight. The deck is not totally cartoony and some folks are downright creepy looking. The cards’ elements are properly laid out and formatted so it is easy to identify the name of your character, level, the attack and damage points, the logo of the character’s clan, and the card’s unique ability-all of which are pretty straightforward.

 

Urban Rivals Review

 

Urban Rivals presents simple yet engaging gameplay, plus other interesting elements. Each new player is given eight free characters. Each character belongs to a specific clan and if the player gets a character that belongs to the same clan during a battle, there is an appropriate buff for them. The clans-all 21 of them-carry witty and dark descriptions that further paint the urban reality of this game. Collecting characters of the same clan can grant advantages in battle that encourage themed gang decks. I was especially fond of the character evolution system that allows cards to comically evolve as they level up in battle.

 

It’s Time to Duel!

Fighting other players in Urban Rivals is totally random, which prevents match fixes within the game. Each player starts off with four cards, with a total of 12 Life Points. Each card carries a set number of Attack Points representing how much damage the card deals in battle. Damage Points represent how much damage the player receives from an attack; this damage can be magnified by activating Fury which automatically costs 3 Pillz, a special power-up item. These pills can also be used to grant additional power to a character card.

 

Urban Rivals Review

 

Leader cards represent the prime strength of your deck. These cards are characters that do not belong to any of the 21 clans and instead bring unique power-ups to cards placed around them. When used properly, they can really turn a fight into a one sided beat down.

 

 

At the end of the fourth round of combat, the duelist with the lowest remaining life points loses the match. The winner earns experience points so that your character cards can levels up, as well as battle points which can be used to improve your level as an Urban Rivals duelist. Reaching certain levels will earn you perks and advantages in battle. Unlocking higher levels allows you to gain access to more challenging opponents and worthwhile guilds.

 

Urban Rivals Review

 

Urban Rivals has daily tournaments for players who want to rise up the ladder of Clint City. Various match types are available for player versus player as well including ELO battles, deathmatches, and survivor modes. If you are still learning or wish to test out uncertain deck builds, there exists a practice mode that grants a smaller amount of experience than normal matches. Special story driven missions are also available to offer the full spectrum of MMO gaming modes.

 

Fate is in the Cards

Urban Rivals is focused in its gameplay and delivers what it promises, fast and furious card battle action. The game mechanics are simple, but it still provides enough nuances to create a challenging player versus player experience. The game is eye-catching, entertaining and has just the right amount of fun factor to make it a great game to play while taking a break from more traditional MMORPGs. The only real downside is the occasional slowdowns in battle response times that can really ruin the mood of an otherwise intense duel.

 

Conquer Online Turns 8 in May

Conquer Online Turns 8 in May

On May 3rd, Conquer Online will have been running for 8 years. That is quite a milestone for any game and deserves a celebration!

 

Conquer Online 8 Year Anniversary

 

After opening its gates in 2003, this high-kicking MMO has taken masses of players from around the world to a fantastic universe of Kung-Fu heritage and ancient Chinese mythology. Following the successful expansions of New Dynasty and Raiding Clans, CO continued to bring more features in game. After the release of the Ninja class and the steed system, CO launched a brand new expansion, Legends Return, and introduced sub-classes, new PK contests, new bosses and the most anticipated new class, Monk. After 8 long years the game carries on strong in today’s competitive MMO market.

 

 

TQ Digital realizes that this could not be possible without their dedicated community. As such, Conquer Online will be launching a spectacular 8th anniversary celebrationin May!

 

 

During this 1 month celebration, players of Conquer Online will be able to experience a full-featured cavalcade of events, and be able to receive a variety of thrilling prizes! You will be able to explore intriguing quests, share your cherished CO moments with the community, and win some fantastic gifts for your creativity. Whether you’ve been with the game since its launch, or just got into it recently, you can participate and enjoy this birthday celebration.

 

The CO 8th Anniversary Celebration is about to raise the curtain, so get yourselves ready for the marvelous carnival in Conquer Online, this May!

 

Meta’s Verse: City of Heroes Epic Contest!

Meta’s Verse: City of Heroes Epic Contest!

City of Heroes Issue 20: Incarnate is live! You have the chance to make yourself more powerful and take on even more Praetorians. Don’t have Going Rogue yet? Always wanted to give City of Heroes a try? Well the folks at OnRPG have heard your cries, and come armed with the Going Rogue Complete Collection.

 

City of Heroes Contest

But Meticulous Meta! How do we get one of those? I know what you were thinking. And no, I’m not a mind reader. I just know my readers. We here at OnRPG are giving you three ways to get your hands on them.

 

 

1. Facebook: Like our page and post a comic book cover of one of your favorite heroes (or villains) on our wall!

 

 

2. Twitter: Tweet us a screenshot of your hero taking a picture of action in the City of Heroes World. This is a special competition for current CoX players to win an Animal Pack bonus code! Enter Here!

 

 

3. OnRPG Forums: Head over to our forums and create the perfect villain for a famous hero of your choice.

 

City of Heroes Contest

 

So what are you waiting for?! Get out those typewriters and cameras!

 

Oh, you want more information? Well, all right. But don’t tell my editor I’ve told you any of this.

 

The competition is running from today until April 23rd at 11pm Pacific Standard Time. Winners will be announced by me on a special edition of Meticulous Meta the following week. One lucky person will also get the chance to meet me in City of Heroes and be interviewed for a future edition of Meticulous Meta.

 

 

The Going Rogue Complete Collection includes:

• Access to Praetoria

• Alignment Changes

• The entire Going Rogue expansion

• The Going Rogue Item Pack

Pangya Golf Turns Two, Annouces Tournament

Pangya Gold Turns Two, Annouces Tournament

 

SG Interactive announced that the US version of popular online golf game, Pangya, has officially turned two years old. Pangya is hosting a slew of tournaments and events, including the Pangya Rally and Medal Race, to celebrate the anniversary. The Pangya Rally and Medal Race is available in-game now, and the tournaments will take place April 15, 2011 and April 22, 2011. These festivities begin just as SG Interactive is putting the finishing touches on a major Pangya update that will be revealed later this month.

 

Pangya Anniversary Preview

 

“Pangya has been one of our fastest-growing games.” said Chris Lee, SG Interactive CEO. “It’s hard to believe it’s already been two years since we introduced it to US players.”

 

 

The Pangya Rally, Medal Pay-Off and Medal Race is a group and individual competition that will have players striving to gather as many Pangya Medals as they can find. A global counter will tally all the medals gathered by players until April 20, 2011, and different prizes will be unlocked as the community racks up more Pangya Medals. The five players who individually gather the most Pangya Medals will win in-game points and one item of their choice from among the rarest in-game items of last year. All players will be able to exchange their medals for in-game items or as raffle tickets for a drawing to win an iPad 2 or Alienware laptop.

 

 

The Second Anniversary Tournament is scheduled for April 15, 2011 and April 22, 2011 and is open to the first 396 players to enter. Competing players will go through one qualifier game and one semi-final game on April 15, 2011. Ten finalists from each server will fight for the top three spots on April 22, 2010. Grand Prizes include rare game items, such as the Golden Duo Feather Club Set.

Uncharted Waters World Race Challenge Begins!

Uncharted Waters World Race Challenge Begins!

 

Following up on their major update, CJ E&M today launched a new tournament for their seafaring MMO Uncharted Waters Online. Dubbed the World Race Challenge, this event features a massive race around the entire in-game world of Uncharted Waters. The race to circumnavigate the globe begins soon!

 

Uncharted Waters World Race Preview

In 1522, Magellan completed his journey around the world via the West Passage, an achievement that revealed the ocean’s deepest secrets. As a result, nations from around the world sent their own top explorers to discover new territories and bolster the nation’s reputation. To pay tribute to Magellan’s historic voyage, Uncharted Waters Online is hosting the World Race Challenge, pitting players head to head in a tense race around the world! After activating the quest, races are independently managed, rewarding the top 20 fastest explorers with some of the greatest rewards ever offered.

 

Details

• Application Period: April 8th – April 15th, 2011

 

• Race Period: April 15th – May 9th, 2011

 

• Winners Announced: May 16th, 2011

 

Best of luck to all those involved. OnRPG is looking forward to seeing some video footage of this amazing race in the coming month!

 

Top 10 Features EVERY MMO Should Have-Part 2

Top 10 Things Every MMO Should Have-Part 2

by: Kei Beneza, Onrpg Journalist

We are back with the conclusion of yesterday’s list! This time we are getting down to the nitty gritty features that are a must have to succeed in the competitive MMORPG market of today. Here we go!

 

4). Professions: “Just because you have a profession, doesn’t mean you are pro”

First of all, when I say ‘Professions’, I mean actual jobs in the MMO world… not classes. Professions range from money making ones to entertainment based jobs. When it comes to money, I would say that leveling your profession or doing what your job description does is a whole lot better than looking for monsters and chopping them down. Professions make the in game economy a lot more interesting, because the prices and products change on a daily basis. This makes it easier to sell items and make more money, if you put in the work and learn your job well. Yeah, grinding monsters for gold may be fun for some, but I want to feel like my virtual world has more to it than that.

 

Top 10 MMO Features

Entertainment-based professions on the other hand are not really centered on making money so much as focused on enhancing the overall feel of the game. Mabinogi would probably be the best example at this point, since players can also train to be expert musicians and can even compose their own songs for everyone to hear (although I have heard nothing but remade anime openings). After playing a lot of MMOs, I would say that professions should be welcomed by various titles, especially the ones that make you grind so much.

 

3). Big PVP: When dueling gets old

What is a good MMO without some player-vs-player bloodshed? Every MMO should offer an exceptional PVP system, and no— town dueling does not count. When I say big PVP, I mean something as big as RF Online‘s Chip Wars, Ragnarok‘s PVP Room, Lineage II‘s Castle Siege and Warhammer‘s hefty RvR (as it was envisioned, not as it was executed). Since most MMORPGs are centered on war anyway, I would like to say that nothing says war like a nice session of faction vs faction.

 

Top 10 MMO Features

 

I also cannot seem to comprehend why some games punish players for killing low levels in various areas. Are we playing the story on its peacemaking days? Anyway, after dueling with a bunch of people on Shaiya Online, I realized that simple 1 on 1 combat was not as satisfying as I thought. It is always fun to see how well you fair against a whole army of players, and killing players one by one is always a hell of a lot better than asking the next kid if he wants to duel. And for those not interested? There should always be PvE servers. Some game companies attempt to pidgeon hole the pvpers and pvers into one server, and no one ends up happy.

 

2). Character Creation Interface: “Hey! You look just like me!” “Wait, you’re a girl?!”

This next feature is actually a product of my bitterness towards a lineup of games that I have reviewed during the past months. Character creation lands at number two! In most games, character creation revolves around picking your race and class. Dekaron/Two Moons would be the best example for this matter. It’s hard to play a game that does not even let you pick your gender. Not every guy wants to pretend that he is a girl, unless you are playing Perfect World. Well, gender-locking is just one of the many issues I have had with character customization. You do not really have to give us 100,000 premade eyes and noses. For all I care, premade faces and hairstyles can work, just as long as we can distinguish ourselves from the other players.

 

Top 10 MMO Features

This is why I really love Mabinogi. Not only do you get a long lineup of eyes, hairstyles and other facial features, you can also decide whether you play as an adult or as a kid. I have always been baffled as to why Mabinogi is so unique in the Fantasy genre, and only the superhero genre tends to see just how important this is to gameplay. Do you seriously want your character to look like everyone else? Some games only have one end-game armor set for each class, resulting in an epic story that merely trains an army of super clones.

 

1). Flight: No longer do you have to run through a wave of aggressive elite monsters after dying.

Yes, that’s right! The number 1 feature I wish every MMO had is FLIGHT. Do you remember what it was like when you first flew that broom in Flyff? What about the time you first mounted that Dragon in WoW? If there is one thing that every MMO has, it is travelling, and what makes it worse is that some games only give you a small speed increase to compensate once you get to a higher level (sometimes not even that!).

 

Top 10 MMO Features

Flight is probably the most welcomed feature in every MMO, and I honestly pity the fool who would say that walking or running is just as enjoyable. Not only can you reach your destination faster, you can also skip the aggressive mobs on your way there. Imagine having to run out of potions in the middle of the battlefield with only 20% health left. Sounds like a good time to use that flying mount, yes? Or would you rather walk all the way back to town and pull all the mobs on the way? Oh wait, you can’t because you already died.

 

 

That’s All Folks

As much as I would want to name more features, I only promised to make ’10’. I’m sure everyone here has their own set of features worth noting. How I wish we could just make an MMO and put everything there. That would be totally awesome. Feel free to visit our forums and comment in our thread dedicated to the top features every MMO should have.

 

Global Agenda Introduces Free To Play Options

Global Agenda Introduces Free-To-Play Options

 

Hi-Rez Studios today announced that “Global Agenda: Free Agent”, the latest update to the Shooter MMO, will enable free-to-play access to all of the game’s current playable content and levels with no purchase required.

 

The version 1.4 Free Agent update, expected to go live in mid-April, will support free play across all character classes through level 50. This update also introduces a new Dome Defense Raid as high-level player content, a CTF- style Mercenary PvP game-mode with pilotable robots, revised skill-trees across all four character classes, and other changes and content.

 

Global Agenda Goes Free To Play

For an optional one-time purchase of $19.99 USD (£13.99 GBP, €15.99 EUR), players may upgrade to Elite Agent status, which will accelerate the rate of earning character levels, gear, and currency and also grant access to premium features such as the login priority, auction house and in-game mail. All players that have previously purchased Global Agenda will be automatically upgraded to Elite Agent status.

 

“Global Agenda has never required a monthly subscription to play and, for a while now, we have offered a generous free trial for the game.” said Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO. “Our experience with the limited free trial has demonstrated to us the great demand among free-to-play gamers for a AAA-quality Shooter MMO like Global Agenda. We believe this latest change will further broaden the game’s popularity and appeal.”

 

“With this change, we allow players to experience all of the game’s current content and levels for free. We’ve done this in a way that ensures that free players do not have to spend real money to compete on a level playing field with those who do, while still rewarding those loyal players and fans that have purchased the game or otherwise supported the game.”

 

 

Effective immediately, until the Free Agent expansion launches:

• Global Agenda is available for $19.99 (£13.99 GBP, €15.99 EUR)

• Upon release of the Free Agent expansion, any player who has purchased Global Agenda will automatically be upgraded to Elite Agent status

Below is a summary of the differences between Free and Elite versions of the game:

 

Free-to-Play

• No Level Restriction

 

• Ability to earn all of the game’s current items without spending real money.

 

• Access to all of the game’s current playable content, including:

 

o Sonoran Desert Open Zone

 

o Special Ops PvE (1- to 4-person Co-Op)

 

o 10v10 Mercenary PvP

 

o 4v4 Arena PvP

 

o Double Agent PvPE

 

o 10-person Defense Raids (including the new Dome Defense Mission coming in version 1.4).

 

o Agency vs Agency Gameplay (AvA)

 

 

Elite Agent – One-time purchase of $19.99 (£13.99 GBP, €15.99 EUR)

 

• Earn End-of-Mission XP at twice the rate of a Free-to-Play user

 

• Earn End-of-Mission Credits and Tokens at twice the rate of a Free-Play user

 

• Earn End-of-Mission Elite Loot upon winning an instanced PvE or PvP match

 

• Choose which PvP game types you would like to play when queuing for Mercenary PvP.

 

• Access the Auction House

 

• Access In-Game Mail

 

• Less restrictive chat capabilities

 

• No ads for in-game voice

 

• Ability to create Agencies

 

• Higher Login priority

 

Both Free-to-Play and Elite Agent players can optionally purchase Boosters within the Global Agenda webstore. For a timed period, Boosters will:

 

• Double XP, Tokens and Credits earned in Game

 

• Provide 2,000 tokens a day for free

 

 

This is one of a few games that have chosen this week to annouce their free to play options. Just yesterday the staff at OnRPG heard word of Ragnarok Online opening up free to play servers. For more information check out our press release here.

Top 10 Features EVERY MMO Should Have-Part 1

Top 10 Things Every MMO Should Have-Part 1

by: Kei Beneza, Onrpg Journalist

 

 

MMOs have been around for quite some time now… catering its breathtaking gameplay, while constantly expanding its features to make the experience a bit more satisfying than ever before. Yes, MMOs must have their own defining features, but there’s always one particular trait that stands out, making you wish every MMOs should have it. Here is Part 1 of what I think every MMO should have (in order of importance). Enjoy!

 

 

10).Customizable UI: Damn this button! Y SO FAR AWAY?!

UIs (User Interface) play a big role in MMO gaming. Aside from being pleasing to the eyes, this part of the game also helps the player locate skills and menu bars depending on how they want it. Being able to customize the UI is a big factor for me, especially since most of the MMO interfaces today are so generic. It always helps to have perfectly customized interface as it encourages you to not only play further, but also play better.

 

Top 10 MMO Features

 

World of Warcraft is perhaps the best example for customizable UIs. Aside from being able to allocate skills and various stances, players can also add recording tools such as Recount to monitor their damage (as proof of how bad they are). This feature can also make it easier for tanks and healers alike, allowing them to keep track of the action at a more convenient level.

 

 

9). A Friggin Screenshot Button: Screenshot or it didn’t happen.

Now, this is a very simple request. When playing your favorite MMO, nothing beats the nostalgic feeling of having to save a screenshot of your defining moments and browsing through them as you go further. Note that not all games have screenshots buttons, and it’s always such a pain to click Ms Paint every time you need it. A player having to press ‘Prt Scr’ and ‘ctrl-V’ every time something comes up makes taking a ‘screenie’ oh so hard. It also makes it a lot harder to review these games (hint, hint, game publishers). It is not that hard to create a screenshot feature!

 

Top 10 MMO Features

 

8). Mini Games: Tired of grinding? How about some Plants vs Zombies?

Mini games are not really needed, but people are not always in the mood to level their characters. Even though MMOs are highly addictive and very fun to play, it always pays to have something else to do aside from questing and grinding. Guild Wars did a fine job at implementing their “Polymock” minigame, which sort of acts like a Pokemon versus game where players can use and duel monsters to their heart’s content.

 

 

7). Guild Perks: Join us! You’ll level faster. Resistance is futile!

I’m not really sure who thought of this first, but I really felt the need to work and play harder after the guild perk system was implemented. The guild perk system present in World of Warcraft’s Calaclysm expansion is a grand example of how guild perks should be done. Aside from questing and grinding for experience and gear, players also earn Guild exp after completing quests and killing monsters that contributes to a big Guild experience bar.

 

Top 10 MMO Features

 

Once a guild levels up, more perks become available to its members. Some of these features include faster experience and speed boosts, making it a breeze for new players to catch up. The downside however, is the difficulty being faced by low level guilds. Since lowbie players would rather join a high guild with tons of perks than contribute to a low level group with low bonuses, many guilds have disbanded to join veteran groups. A bit imbalanced at some point, but who in the MMO world can resist extra gold, exp, and PVP points?

 

 

6). Instanced Dungeons: Look! It’s Baphomet—- *cleaving sound* — Oh, nevermind.

Instanced dungeons are probably one of my staple features when choosing an MMORPG. Not only does it give everyone an opportunity to kill a boss without having to wake up earlier than the strongest guild on the server, it also lessens the painful experience of kill stealing. “Back in my day” during my RF Online period, we would always end up staring at the strongest guild on the server after they had killed and looted the ‘Caliana Princess’. The painful part is that the one who does the strongest damage gets to loot the body. Despite having enough force to overthrow the Caliana Princess, our guild was always unable to loot the corpse, thanks to some hefty competition and their +7 spears. Not being able to kill a boss because of your level is fine… but not being deprived of loot and items just because some strong guild is farming bosses on a daily basis is just preposterous.

 

 

5). Auction House: WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE LOG OUT?!

And on number five, we have the auction house! Got something worth selling? What makes the selling game so hard is when players sit down in the middle of town with big sell bubbles on their heads. It is always hard to find what you are looking for especially since most of these speech bubbles tend to overlap in various 2D MMORPGs like Ragnarok Online, making it hard for your shop to be spotted. Also, staying online just to sell stuff is a waste of both electricity and effort. In this situation, I would say that auction houses are the way to go. Not only can you keep track of the in-game economy a bit more effectively, you can also just log out and let the auctioneer do the selling for you.

 

Top 10 MMO Features

 

The taxes for using the AH system is a drag, but it is definitely a small price to pay for the ease of selling while also providing developers with an effective means to counter currency inflation. Another reason why I enjoy the auction system is because it is always hard to look for a particular thing in a pool of merchants. Sure, you can always spam “LF>EpicStaff” on general chat, but that never works since most of these guys happen to be AFK. Auction Houses are famous for segregating items for convenient shopping, making it easier to spot that Epic Staff regardless of the seller being AFK or simply logged off.

 

We will be back tomorrow with the conclusion of our list of the Top 10 Features Every MMO Should Have! In the meantime feel free to put up your opinion of what features are must haves in our forum.

 

Ragnarok Online Goes Free-To-Play!

Ragnarok Online Goes Free-To-Play

 

The clarion call goes out to all heroes of Midgard to return and play free with their veteran friends.

 

Ragnarok Online, the classic fantasy MMORPG, has challenged over 50 million players worldwide. Ranging from epic Guild vs. Guild battles; to hundreds of maps with ferocious monsters; to reaching the pinnacle of achievement in over 70 different character classes; the possibilities are endless.

 

Ragnarok Online Free-To-Play

 

Ragnarok Online has traditionally been a monthly subscription based game for access to game accounts; but now it will be free from monthly subscriptions with an option for a VIP Package that offers improved experience rates, monster drops, larger storage capacity and access to special NPCs and areas.

Ragnarok Online offers three servers to choose from:

 

Ymir server is the VIP server containing all Veteran Subscription based characters from 2003 to present. Perfect for those returning heroes that want to rejoin their friends on their adventures and PVP action.

 

Ragnarok Online Free-To-Play

 

Yggdrasil (once a Monthly Subscription based server) and Valkyrie (a free to play server) will both become completely open to account and character creation for players that want to give Ragnarok Online a test drive; with Yggdrasil being the newest server (launched October 2010). Yggdrasil has the youngest characters and newest economy which makes it the ideal fresh-start server. You can still purchase a VIP package and play on these servers as well.

 

Special benefits await players that choose to make their account VIP such as:

 

• 1.5x Experience rate

 

• 1.5x Monster drop rate

 

• Increased Kafra Storage

 

• Less experience loss upon death

 

• Access to special areas and Buff NPCs

 

• Access to create characters on all 9 character slots

 

All that is needed to play Ragnarok Online is a WarpPortal Account. You must bind your old Ragnarok Account to it, update the password, then login and play! Be sure to discuss this huge change in our Ragnarok Forum.

 

Call of Gods Beta Test Begins

Koram Games has entered its final beta testing for its upcoming browser based empire management game, Call of Gods.

 

Call of Gods Beta

 

While empire management games are a dime a dozen these days, Call of Gods attempts to push the envelope by pulling you in personally through Role Playing elements in a type of mish mash between a standard MMORPG and an empire manager. The OnRPG staff has taken a brief look at the game and can say it has a look and feel all of its own. The freedom, competitive pvp, and army/hero customization options all seem promising.

 

For more information check out our Call of Gods profile page or visit the Call of Gods Website to see for yourself.