Yearly Archives: 2013

Jade Dynasty: Regenesis Announced

PsycheaGirl_AndMech

 

Perfect World Entertainment has just announced Jade Dynasty’s newest expansion: Regenesis.

Here are the main features coming with Regenesis:

  • New Etherkin race to play as, including two new factions (classes) you can be: the Psychea and Kytos.
  • Sprawling new starting zone. All three races’ starting zones, plus the hub city of New Sunstream, are in the same map.
  • Alliance bases. (Alliances are up to 200+ players.)
  • Reworked starting experience. The starting quests have been reworked to be more engaging, and to showcase the game’s arcane, colorful maps.
  • New instances and updates to old instances.
  • Updated graphics engine, allowing for improved foliage interaction and better lighting on water.

To find out more, check out the latest blog post from the Jade Dynasty team!

Age of Wushu Ultimate Scrolls Giveaway

OnRPG has partnered with Snail Games to celebrate the launch of Age of Wushu‘s Ultimate Scrolls expansion!

Age of Wushu Ultimate Scrolls Giveaway

Experience revolutionary martial arts combat with Age of Wushu, the iconic MMO that breathes fresh air into the sandbox genre. Journey across the beautifully recreated Ming Dynasty, follow the steps of Wuxia legends and take on the ultimate quest for ascension. Soar through the air with flight abilities and dominate your enemies with hundreds of signature martial skills.

In the Ultimate Scrolls expansion, the impenetrable mist that once shrouded the Forbidden Grounds has vanished. The secrets within are open for whoever can claim them! Tread lightly, for the reappearance of the famed Helianthus Codex will once again plunge the world of Wushu into chaos. Check out the full expansion details at the official site.

The Legacy Pack Includes:
Refined Snow lotus Pill*1
Tendon-exchanging Pill*10
Purple Spirit Pill*25
Repairing Tool*100
Heavenly Origin Soul Pill*5
Traveling Token*10
Windride Potion*3

 

To Redeem your Key:

  • Sign up for an account or log-in at the official site. Create a character in-game.
  • Go to the redemption page and enter your account information.
  • Follow instructions and enter your redemption key when available.
  • Your character will receive their Legacy Pack within 24 hours.

Alfheim Tales Online – Your Fantasy Journey Begins on Nov. 26th!

As the Halloween revel sits fresh in your memory, you’d be looking for more during this Holiday season! Now, good news travels as the 3D fantasy MMORPG Alfheim Tales Online, presented exclusively by Ray Media Group Ltd., is set to be unveiled at 21:00 EST, Nov. 26th 2013!

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Alfheim Tales Online, which showcases an esthetic fantasy world, provides all kinds of cute characters. There, you will become a gallant adventurer, who sets foot in the fairytale-like Carlyle. However, the beauteous world isn’t as peaceful and safe as it appears to be. As the wheel of evil has turned forward, the world falls into chaos once again. Meanwhile, the undercurrent forces begin to surface as the mighty power comes to life – the Four Sprite Lords, the Dark Emperor and the Kings – there is an unnatural welling quiet in the empty lot, a silence seems to originate from the cold itself, to expand in the air and flow outward like ripples from a stone thrown into water – yet, it’s just the short lull before the storm.

 

With the infinitesimal size of file for installation, the cute 3D MMORPG Alfheim Tales Online definitely has its uniqueness. Now, let’s take a look at what makes this game so charming.

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In Carlyle, whatever you’re keen on, you’ll find yourself something to have fun with – The adorable pets, super cool mounts, thrilling combat and sprite cultivation. No matter you are an adventure seeker, or active talker, or activity-goer, fun will keep chasing you!

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Let’s embark on the adventure full of mysteries and fun, exclusively in Alfheim Tales Online on Nov. 26th!

Shotgun News 11/14: Trove, UWO, and Bless

Trion Triggers Trove Tease

TroveTease

Try saying that three times fast! We reported just a few short days ago that Trion has been snatching up Trove related domains. Well the tease has gone a step further as @TroveGame comes alive on Twitter. And today they’ve posted the image above asking “What will you find?”

 

Uncharted Waters Relaunch Date Announced

Uncharter Waters Online will be changing hands. Currently under Netmarble/gPotato they will be moving to OGPlanet on November 28th. The last day for currently players to play on the current servers will be November 25th. But have no fear, all the accounts will be transferred over when they link their Netmarble and OGPlanet accounts.

 

Bless Beta Announced

Have you been keeping a close eye on Bless? Well the good news, if you’re in Korea is that Bless is heading to beta early next year. The hope is that the beta will run from January to March with the game launching by the end of the year.

Early Access: SWTOR Galactic Starfighter

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), General Manager

SWTOR Galactic Starfighter Demo1

You know what the online PC industry needs more of? Space flight simulators! It’s so rare to find one, even rarer to find one that’s F2P, and to be both F2P and backed by a major development core in addition is just about unheard of. If you’re an old school gamer that had your hay day in the golden age of Star Fox and the X-Wing series, you’ll understand this nostalgic ache.  A few years back I thought hope had finally arrived in the form of Black Prophecy, but my dreams were dashed by serious latency issues that crippled the promising title. Next came War Thunder as well as the now launched World of Warplanes. But 1: Not in space, and 2: Too hardcore for my taste. Not to knock the games but they both focus heavily on the simulation side and it takes some serious dedication to even stand toe to toe with the veteran junkies known to master said simulations.  And so I imagined my waiting would continue indefinitely, at least until an unexpected cryptic invite to EA’s Redwood City office arrived. My answer was here at last. EA and Bioware’s SWTOR free expansion, Galactic Starfighter, is the arcady pick-up and play space flight sim I’ve waited over a decade for.

An Expansion? More like a Whole New Game!

Calling Galactic Starfighter an expansion to SWTOR is slightly misleading. It’s essentially a free to play standalone MMO PvP title being inserted into the universe of an already free to play MMORPG. I say this because it contains gameplay and controls entirely unlike anything already existing in the core SWTOR gameplay. Even the progression system is entirely separated from your base account, because as it turns out even Darth Vader flew his tie fighter passively in the early films. Blowing up in outer space sucks, no matter how hardcore of a combatant you are. Galactic Starfighter follows this theme by introducing the initiation quest for space battles at level 10 and starting everyone out with basic hardware that puts level 50s on equal footing. That’s not to say your time spent on foot/landspeeders/alien mount creatures doesn’t bring you any benefit in space but I’ll get into that when I go over crew customization.

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The Core Gameplay

As I mentioned the game mode starts off simple and easy to jump into on the fly. You start off facing your objectives (typically 3 control points) and fly head on against the enemy team in a clash of twelve versus twelve that should leave you shell shocked enough from the flurry of missiles and lasers whizzing by to give you new respect for those nameless pilots and clones in the movies. But destroying enemy ships can be time consuming and shouldn’t distract from the primary control point objectives.

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The goal is to beat the opposing team to acquiring 1,000 points gathered from capturing and holding control points and destroying enemy ships in the process. The control points vary in nature depending on the map but typically are large structures (both vertically and horizontally) that a pilot must circle close to in order to capture. This is easier said than done after the initial face-off as captured points will set-up floating turrets resembling miniature Death Stars to help defend the point in the absence of thinking players. Taking back a control point isn’t possible until these turrets are destroyed, meaning Rambo style soloing is not encouraged.

Being destroyed in battle has no penalty beyond giving the other team a few points (you’ll hardly even notice in the heat of a battle) and a lengthy time penalty. Luckily the developers made this time penalty less psychologically impacting by only holding players in a loading menu for five seconds. The rest of the penalty will come from the time it takes to fly back into the heat of battle, which can be anywhere from a few seconds to a good half minute depending on how hard the enemy is pushing your allies as well as how powerful your ship’s thrusters are.

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Ship Variety and Team Play

Yesterday’s press event had three ship categories on display with teasers of a fourth still reserved for closed beta NDA testing. Let’s look into your options, keeping in mind that you can swap between any of your owned ships during the five second respawn time.

Strike Fighter: These hardy ships are most recognized as X-Wings and Y-Wings. They excel at extended dog fights and, in capable hands, can defend a capture point against numerous attackers until back-up arrives. With proper set-up and weaponry, they can also pack a powerful enough punch to capture an uncontested control point on their own.

Scout: Think your standard A-Wing or Tie Fighter. Scouts are fast fast FAST. But they have to be as one hard hit is enough to get your repair droid screaming in your ear and three to four lasers typically spells the end of you. Without proper planning and maneuvering, you can be wiped out by even a single capture point turret. But with proper support, Scouts can be vital for tracking and sharing radar information of enemy movement as well as quickly capturing points before enemy forces can rush to the defense. Still you may want to start elsewhere until you get your bearings for space flight.

Gunships: Is toe to toe space combat a bit too fast-paced for your tastes? Perhaps you’ve fantasized about firing the massive triple conjoining laser blasts that level rebel fleets in an instant? The gunship fills the artillery role nicely, offering enough fire power and maximum range weaponry to cripple control point defenses from a safe distance on offensive or pick off fleeing pesky scouts while defending. This role seems ideal for a squad commander as you’ll need to rely on your allies’ protection to make up for your slow rate of fire and low maneuverability.

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Bombers: These bad boys of the stratosphere are still locked behind closed doors but based on the few images we saw, I imagine them to be the heavy hitting tankers that will need to be destroyed before they level entire regions of the map with rocket propelled missiles. Heck half the bomber ship shown looked to be made out of bombs. I bet their death animations are going to be phenomenal!

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Do A Barrel Roll!

Staying in line with the MMORPG genre, Galactic Starfighter features a skill hotkey bar offering brief but powerful boons to give micromanaging pilots an edge in close skirmishes. These seem primarily focused on stat adjustments ranging from increasing accuracy of yourself and other nearby pilots to increasing evasiveness to bolstering your shields or hull defenses. A few particularly fun actives come into play though that harken back to my Star Fox days as pilots can escape hairy situations with spiraling uncontrollable barrel roles, sharp u-turns, and retro-thrusters so intense they practically warp jump your ship backwards just to name a few options. These skills are the only way to break certain lock on missile attacks beyond diving behind obstacles, so players are forced to use them sparingly, which brings me to the resource system.

Beyond the obvious hull fortitude and shielding, there are two less typical MMORPG resources you’ll need to learn to manage to master piloting. I’m talking ammo and boosters. Rather than using a cooldown system on auto-fire attacks, an ammunition bar limits how long you can fire in succession. It refills slowly when not firing, not that you’re going to survive long enough to need to worry about such silly features. Your booster bar on the other hand seems to function as both a combination of mana and stamina bar when thinking in typical MMORPG terms. While you can adjust your speed with W and S, a flick of the spacebar will allow you to exceed your maximum velocity at the expense of booster power. Beyond this, various skills (especially ones involving evasive maneuvers) cost booster power to perform. Since the typical attack requires you to get in close to an enemy and remain there for some time, proper management of the booster system is vital for success.

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“We’re Going in Hot. Full Power to Front Shields!”

Sure spouting lines like that might be fun for roleplaying but that wasn’t good enough for Bioware and EA. Once you have your core mechanics mastered, a higher level of gameplay exists involving adjusting the power output of your ship via the F1-F4 key. This allows you to give up two of your primary resources to press the third beyond the basic limitations your equipment normally allows.

Are the final seconds of a match ticking down and an undefended capture points’ turrets all that stand between you and victory? Set full power to your ammunition and unleash hell!

Die in the middle of a critical battle and need to return at the speed of light? Set full power to your thrusters and burn a hole in the space time continuum for as long as your engine can hold out.

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Need to hold out in a four versus 1 scenario until reinforcements arrive? Just shift all power to your shields and keep a finger on your hull bolstering skill should they not be enough to get you through the assault.

In the right hands, this system can create heroic level players. Just be aware that the gameplay is intense and it was pretty common for members of the press at the event including myself to forget we had adjusted our power levels, resulting in critical mistakes costing control points. Turns out shields are pretty important after all.

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Customization

As of writing this, there are currently 14 base models to choose from ranging from the three revealed ship types. At full free launch in February 2014, this number is predicted to be upped to well over 20. But even within the same model, there’s plenty of customization to be had.

Components allow you to delve into stat customization for your ship. And believe me you have some serious options and nearly all of them have a noticeable impact on the physical features of your vehicle. Every ship is equipped with two primary weapons that you can toggle between depending on the situation along with a secondary weapon that requires locking onto a target and remaining in visual range of said target for a set period of time. You can unleash primary weapons while locking on with secondary weapons for maximum damage.

Next are you shield options which range from faster regeneration to larger capacity to even specializations to give you better defenses on the front or rear of your vehicle. Your engine choice has minimal impacts on your stats (typically slight boosts to your max speed or turning capabilities) but decide which evasive maneuver you can use in battle.

Magazine choices allow you to customize your ship between a spray and pray gameplay style or faster ammo regeneration for those that prefer more concise burst fire approaches. The capacitor seemed mostly related to either stealthing beneath enemy radar or picking up and relaying enemy positions at larger radiuses to your allies.

Next is your reactor which is supplemental to your shielding and typically revolves around how quickly you can restore shields when lost as well as how fast they return to full strength. Thrusters can improve your engine’s max speed, up total thruster capacity, and give you a slight advantage with manual barrel roll maneuvers (done by leaning the mouse hard to the side while pressing A or D).

In addition to the core passives each component provides, each also offers technology upgrades you can purchase with currency obtained from Starfighter battles. To keep this from becoming a clone war though, the most advanced (on 3 tier components) and 2 most advanced (on 5 tier components) technology unlocks offer two varieties of which only one can be active at a time.

After you’ve finalized your components, you can then throw on logos and paint jobs of varying colors and styles to further differentiate yourself from your fellows. You can even customize your thruster burner and each weapon color to add further flair. I personally like the black and blue rapid fire lasers to put anyone crazy enough to fly at my head-on into a personal strobe light show.

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The Power of Chewbacca

Remember when I mentioned that your land-based adventures would bring you an advantage? Well sometimes it’s not what you do, but who you know and in the case of crew members, that couldn’t be more true. All 60+ companions are available to be added to your crew as either your offensive, defensive, tactical, or engineering officer. One of these crew members can also be assigned as your co-pilot to obtain further stat boosts and skill options as well as a voice in your head to keep you aware of your surroundings.

And yes they actually recorded over 100 new lines of audio for this expansion, ensuring your favorite companions will bring their own personality to the final frontier. Beyond just basic chatter, they’ll congratulate you on smart maneuvers, warn you when enemies lock onto you, comment on heavy damage output, and alert you when you’ve reached critical damage.

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Cartel Shop

With an expansion this impressive, it’s hard to fathom the free price tag. So let’s talk about how EA is monetizing it. First off subscribers are getting a good 2 month early access to this content along with two in-game titles, two exclusive paint jobs, and two pilot suits to show-off your veteran experience when hanging out at the local bar.

Variance ships are also available for purchase if you need the full fantasy experience of flying around in iconic Star Wars ships. Thankfully these vehicles aren’t any more powerful than the core ships purchasable with in-game currency, but they do have a requisition boost that will allow players to level through their component tech trees faster than standard ships.

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Overall Impressions

Talk about a lot of info to take in right? Well all the flashy features in the world won’t save a game if it isn’t a joy to play. Thankfully Galactic Starfighter does not disappoint on any frontier. The controls are solid and the sense of speed gives one hell of an adrenaline rush thanks to cleverly designed levels featuring large monuments and plenty of highly textured obstacles waiting to destroy you as you speed by. The typical disorientation of 360 degree space flight is also somewhat muffled thanks to level designs that keep the overall objectives on a horizontal plain. And while you’ll never feel like you’re technically flying in an oversized box, there’s no lack of vertical space to maneuver in to still capture the full experience one would expect from a proper space flight simulator.

Dog fighting is a treat. Ships typically are durable enough to take a few hits and targeting a foe while remaining in range is challenging enough to make every hit you land feel like an accomplishment. The UI offers all the information about weapon range, lock on time remaining, and recommended shot lead to never make you feel like you’re taking potshots in the dark. There’s plenty of targeting hotkeys as well to get you a quick lock on the closest enemy ship, the enemy ship in your sights, or even the last ship to damage you if you’re feeling in a vengeful mood. And of course there’s plenty of free rotational views to get a look around you without having to change course entirely.

The UI itself is pretty expansive. I can say after two hours of playing, I still tended to forget to look at certain information during the heat of battle. It’s a bit overwhelming but honestly I can’t think of a better way of setting it up. If you hid some of the information inside menus, you wouldn’t have time to access them during battle. Everything from remaining thruster and ammunition power to how many turrets are defending each enemy control point are right there at all times should you need them. Just don’t spend too much time reading or you might smash into a passing meteor.

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The customization will keep players coming back for more. The developers put some real work into not only the balance between ships and proper vertical power scaling to keep skill more important than gear, but also in the distinct visual differences between each component. I imagine someone who puts in their research will be able to recognize what evasive maneuvers a ship has just based on their design. And while I can’t stress how easy the game is to get into, the skill ceiling is still sky high. Mastery of mechanics WILL be rewarded.

I have to recommend this expansion to everyone that loves flight sims. Even if you’ve tried SWTOR in the past and didn’t enjoy the base gameplay, this mode alone is worth playing for. But words alone don’t have a chance of depicting just how awesome Galactic Starfighting is. So keep an eye out for our upcoming First Look video in the near future.

Evil Genius Online: Closed Beta Impressions

By Jaime Skelton (MissyS)

Evil Stew

There’s an evil genius that lives in a dark corner inside each of us. Oh sure, you can convince yourself that you’re neither “evil” nor “genius,” but there’s still a part of us that loves to dream up dastardly deeds. So for those caught between the solidly reviewed Evil Genius – a Dungeon Keeper like simulation game focused on evil masterminds – and the eventual Evil Genius sequel, Evil Genius Online is a perfect placation.

 

Currently in closed beta, Evil Genius Online (aptly abbreviated EGO) follows the same premise of Evil Genius: you are an evil mastermind, and you must grow your wicked empire from simple beginnings into something truly dastardly.  EGO builds on the common Facebook simulation structure: collect resources, craft more resources, and turn it all around into coin to do it again (only differently). Of course, an evil mastermind can’t do things alone: they need the help of minions and, perhaps, a few other friends.

Meet Penny

Your first and most important acquaintance in EGO is Penny Foxworth, but don’t mistake this blonde with an up-do as a simple secretary. Penny serves as your primary contact and quest-giver, and comes pre-loaded with some witty snark and some clever ideas for managing your lair. Your additional contacts in game are your minions, voiceless randomly generated henchmen that will run about your lair with urgency as you assign tasks.

 

Evil Genius Online makes sure you “get” the evil in its title. Sure, you might not think much at first as you shoot down a few SABRE goons in the abandoned government silo you’re taking over (SABRE are “the good guys”) and clean up the body bags. But you might rethink just how heinous you can be when you realize you’re serving the meat you found in those body bags back up at the Burger Bar for your minions. Of course, there’s nothing like sending that minion off afterward to do a little vacuuming around your lair afterward. Or, you know, just killing him off if you decide you don’t like him anymore.

Minion Cleanup

Dirty deeds range from the simple act of money laundering to causing city wide blackouts; from hacking a local celebrity (who doesn’t do that these days?) to bringing down the popular Internet site Grooble or hacking into Bram’s Poker – and really, that’s just the beginning of what you can do. Each task has a cost of resources and a substantial reward, and helps level up the minion that does the task – and many tasks are interrelated across your lair. When you’re bored and want an extra boost, you can go visit your friends’ lairs, causing mayhem like swapping clown fish into the piranha tank or gumming up the jaws of the sharks in their shark tank.

Clown Fish

Everything is in your control in EGO, including your lair. Although the most basic structure of your lair is set for you to start, you can dig out and construct your lair as you’d like it. Each area you dig out is designated for a purpose – whether it’s to simply act as a hallway, or whether it serves as your tech lab, mess hall, or barracks. Each area has its own set of structures, which really helps give the lair a more realistic feel. And, if you’re feeling frisky, you can grab some paint and color some of your lair to let the artistic side of your genius show.

 

The main problem with Evil Genius Online is one common to most Facebook games: it follows a “hurry up and wait” mentality. Assign your minions, wait for tasks to be completed, come back to complete them, and repeat the process – with tasks getting progressively longer the better the rewards. If the pace is too slow for you, you can buy your way out with the game’s cash currency – but likely, you’ll hop to another game or just set a timer and come back later. Simulations, of course, aren’t ‘fast paced’ in nature, but if you want to be an evil genius on your own time, the Facebook format is probably going to frustrate you.

Hacking Station

Despite that cripple in EGO’s pacing, the game’s rather fun. It’s not just the persistence of puns: it’s the subtle layers of depth that make it more than just another click-and-wait. You must manage the obedience levels of your minions, and may choose to kill off minions that have traits you don’t want or need for a boost of morale (we killed off ‘McFly’ early in our game, because his nervousness trait had him running away from our cursor every time we targeted him). While the quests in the game offer a steady “Here’s what to do next” tasks, the game isn’t so linear that you can’t break mold here or there and go after something that you can afford but haven’t been tasked with yet.  Plus the game’s idle feature – which switches to rotating security camera views of your lair – makes a fun little screensaver.

 

While we’d still recommend playing Evil Genius and waiting for its successor, Evil Genius Online offers a nice casual visit for that mastermind that dwells in the corner of your brain. And if you haven’t played Evil Genius yet, EGO is a perfect tease of what you’re missing out on – so don’t be afraid of checking this one out when it becomes available to the public in the near future.

Velvet Sundown

Velvet Sundown is an innovative multi-player role-playing game featuring player-evoked drama and millions of possible game outcomes, making no two game sessions identical. Players take the role of one of at least four randomly selected characters who are passengers on board a luxury yacht.  Each character has its own background story, and is assigned special missions that players must attempt to fulfill by interacting with other players in chat. No pre-populated questions or answers mean that players can be creative, sneaky, or honest and new stories can be implemented at any time. Game sessions are designed to last about 45 minutes, giving players a short but memorable entertainment experience.