Monthly Archives: January 2014

Ubisoft Adds Monuments to Anno Online

Anno Online

Today, Ubisoft has announced a new features for their free-to-play, browser-based world-building strategy game, Anno Online, mainly focused on the creation of monuments.

By completing a quest chain, players will gain knowledge points and unlock new monuments buildings, with the “Library” acting as the first available option. A monument can have up to three construction phases and players must deliver goods to the construction site and search throughout the game for special construction components. After building the Library, players will discover the tech tree, which consists of several branches that can be unlocked for additional Knowledge Points. These points will provide players the ability to build six different types of Botanical Garden, each one giving the player a specific buff or bonus.

Players can visit other players and help them with their monument construction by sending constructors to the construction site for a specific period of time. A player can also request help from other players to improve the construction process of their buildings.

For more info: visit: http://www.anno-online.com/

Forged Chaos Raises over $10,000 with Trials of Ascension Store Funding

ToA Revival

After missing the mark on their Kickstarter goals, Forged Chaos returned to the drawing board to design a new method to get their highly ambitious MMORPG, Trials of Ascension, funded. Earlier this month a store offering a set bounty of goods for any level of donation in addition to other purchasables garnered this sandbox title over $10,000 in funding. And none of that is going to be given as a cut to any middlemen mind you.

ToA Store

Those looking for an industry changing sandbox MMORPG that’s ready to take risks should check out the store themselves and gain access to the Founder’s Forum to stay up-to-date on development of Trials of Ascension.

FFXIV: A Realm Reborn Announces Stream Preview of Next Update 2.2

Square Enix today announced the twelfth installment in the ‘Letter from the Producer LIVE’ series, featuring producer / director Naoki Yoshida and other development team members of FINAL FANTASY® XIV: A Realm Reborn™.

FFXIV Producer Livestream

To be streamed on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at 4:00 AM PST, this installment (as the first of a two-part special) will offer fans a sneak peek of the upcoming Patch 2.2 content, including:

  •     The Coming of Leviathan – The next primal that adventurers will face off against
  •     A Glimpse of the Ruins of Amdapor – Where players will delve deeper into the mysteries of this lost civilization
  •     The Binding Coil of Bahamut – Check out what new twists and turns await

The livestream will also feature community questions with Yoshida, plus an appearance by Assistant Director Hiroshi Takai, who will speak about game’s design and answer questions from fans. The team will also give a report on the upcoming PlayStation®4 system version and update fans on other miscellaneous news.

Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XII can be viewed via the following:

  •     YouTube Live
  •     Niconico Live
  •     Twitch

FFXIV Producer Letter 2014

For more information, including how to submit questions, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/mlj5hze.

‘Origins of Madness’ update for Guild Wars 2 begins

Origins of Madness

Beginning today, ArenaNet will be inviting Guild Wars 2 players to match wits and take up arms against the schemes of arch-villain Scarlet Briar, experiencing in-game events that promise massive battles and shocking revelations known as the “Origins of Madness.”

In “Origins of Madness”, players begin the battles that set the stage for the war to come with Scarlet. The diabolical genius has done everything in her power to tear Tyria apart with her mysterious plans and armies of minions. Now, players will begin to face Scarlet head-on, starting with massive fights on multiple fronts against two different but equally deadly threats.

On one front, players must journey to the mountains of Lornar’s Pass where Scarlet is massing her armies to defend the Twisted Marionette, Scarlet’s titanic new clockwork creation. It will require a coordinated assault by an army of players to challenge both the Marionette and Scarlet’s combined forces.

The other threat lies in Bloodtide Coast, where Scarlet has awoken something ancient and dangerous. The Great Jungle Wurm is a huge beast with three ravenous heads and an arsenal of attacks at its disposal. Only a determined effort by a large group of players has a chance at defeating this menace.

Great dangers and action on an epic scale await in “Origins of Madness,” but great knowledge comes from overcoming these foes as well. In this release, players will uncover truly startling revelations about Scarlet’s plan for Tyria and its citizens.

For more details on Guild Wars 2 and the living world releases, visit www.guildwars2.com.

Divinity: Original Sin

Larian Studios harkens back to an older age of gaming when free flowing RPG elements and story were king. Build your own character and your own tale as you level countless combat and non-combat abilities and influence the world around you through dialogue and action. Or join up with a friend in co-operative mode and see if your friendship can tie you together into a cohesive unit, or make your realize how different your ideals for utopia really are.

Features

Strategic and Interactive Turn-Based Combat: Experience rapid fire turn-based combat in which spells, the environment, and your ally can have unexpected impacts on outcomes. Set bridges on fire, explode oil wells, block movement with frozen walls, and more as you experiment to find true synergy.

Real Consequences: Don’t expect to get your hand held through this one. The choice is yours to attack villagers, steal, and commit other acts. Just be ready to face the consequences of your actions, as well as your dialogue decisions.

Evolving Relationship: Your actions and dialogue determine your character relationships in multiplayer co-op. Will you unite to the challenge or become allies of mere circumstance? Extensive replayability as stories evolve in unexpected ways.

Comprehensive Crafting System: Turn random objects you pick up on the ground into useful tools through an experimental crafting system.

Player Created Content: Build your own story and adventure and invite friends to take part as you add new twists and turns to a custom tale.

Steam Greenlight On Chopping Block for Valve

Steam Greenlight

During Steam Dev Days this week, Gabe Newell announced that Valve is planning to make Steam’s Greenlight feature “go away.”

For those unfamiliar with the feature, Steam Greenlight allows developers to place their games up for community vote on Steam. Those who get vetted by community votes are then able to place their game or product on Steam when it is ready for release. It is most popularly used by independent developers.

There’s no word yet as to what Valve intends to “evolve” Greenlight into, as they have admitted its usefulness but have laid no plans or options for its replacement.

Yulgang 2 – An Early Look

By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF)

 

 

Yulgang 2 is a free-to-play MMORPG being brought to us by Cubizone. The game is set in an Eastern-fantasy realm, where walking on air and spell-flinging mages are common. Using a mixture of point-and-click and mouse-aim combat, the game promises a fast-paced and epic combat experience. Several methods of PVP are offered, including PVP-enabled maps and battle arenas. All that combined with the interesting Eastern Fantasy setting should make for some great gameplay.

 

Yulgang 2 Preview

Making Your Character

When I originally looked at the game, it kind of reminded me of a more themepark Age of Wushu. After I actually got into the game to play, I’ve got to admit my initial reaction was almost spot on. The game seems to be very linear, has your typical gathering/crafting skills, and focuses on quest-based progression. With its hybrid combat system, “air-walking” features, and different storyline, the generic quest grind isn’t so mind-numbing. However, after leveling for a few hours, I found myself wanting to get into the PVP so that I could get some variety.

 

Yulgang II Character Creation

 

You aren’t given much choice in character creation. You’re given an alright amount of options when it comes to actually designing your character, but only have four choices for classes. These are your typical fantasy classes: warrior, mage, healer, and archer. I’m not going to sugar coat it, I was a bit disappointed with this small selection of generic classes. Like I almost always do, I chose the offensive caster (mage) and set off into the world of Yulgang 2.

 

Yulgang II Classes

In the Game

Once I was finally into the game, I was met with a story-driven tutorial that actually seemed quite interesting at first. However, before the end, I found myself skipping the cutscenes whenever I could. The controls of the game were a bit difficult to get used to at first, but after about ten minutes of play I was jumping around like a pro. If you plan to play, expect to spend the first half-hour learning about the game via quests that have you running from one NPC to another. Can’t say I found this the best way to get interested in the game, but the interesting art style and fun movement abilities kept me hooked until I could really get into the action.

 

Yulgang II Newbie Quest

 

Combat was actually really fun. Playing as a mage, I had access to both a basic ranged and a basic melee attack, using the left and right mouse buttons. What I found interesting was the combo system; each time you attack you are shown your options for other attacks to continue the combo for interesting effects. On top of the combos, you also have active abilities, buffs, and passives. Pretty standard stuff, but the thing that sets it apart from other MMOs is the movement abilities.

 

Yulgang II Combat

 

Questing, like I mentioned, was pretty generic and boring. Most of the quests are kill quest, with some gathering. Perhaps later on in the gameplay things will get more interest, but keep in mind that this is an EARLY look into the game and not a review. After my first play session, I found myself dreading logging back in due to the questing, but the promise of PVP helped. I tried to get into some of the story behind the quests, but I couldn’t really.

 

Yulgang II Quest Tracker

 

I didn’t get a chance to try much of the PVP, just a few duels. They were pretty fun, and it wasn’t just standing around and spamming your 1-9 keys, I found myself running around (even on the air) and dodging a lot during my fights. Later on there’s supposed to be battlefields and PVP-enabled maps which should make things a lot more interesting. I mostly play games for their PVP, so it’s always something I pay special attention to. What I have experienced so far, in terms of PVP, hasn’t disappointed me.

 

Yulgang II Crafting

Crafting

Crafting and gathering are introduced in such a way that you come to believe that they’ll be pretty important to the game. Right off the bat, you’re taught how to do all the major crafting and gathering professions and given some tools to get you started. Personally, I didn’t find the crafting too interesting as it’s your usual “collect X of Y to make Z recipe from a list” which I find pretty boring. The gathering was a bit more interesting, but even that is just your generic system where random nodes of resources spawn around the maps and then you run up to them for gathering. Basically it’s the same system from World of Warcraft.

 

 

The Community

The version of the game I played was based in SEA (South-East Asia). I was pretty surprised that the game was translated into perfect English and I honestly didn’t notice any lag. From what I’ve read on forums, most US and Europe-based players also say they didn’t notice much, if any, lag. Once you’re in the game, however, you’ll find that a majority of the players aren’t speaking English. Don’t get me wrong, there is a big English speaking portion of the community as well.

 

 

The World

While I didn’t find the quests and story-lines very interesting, the world itself is spectacular. I’m a huge fan of both fantasy and Eastern setting in MMOs. The graphics were alright, but definitely not the best I’ve seen. However, when everything is thrown together and you aren’t analyzing things individually, the game looked beautiful. The special effects from your abilities and air-walking were also superb. Can’t say I have any negative feelings towards the graphics in this game.

 

Yulgang II Graphics

 

The architecture and enemy designs were also interesting. Perhaps they’re not unique, but I certainly wasn’t familiar with a lot of the things I fought in the game. The maps did feel a bit cramped, at least in the first few areas, but I did like their over-all design. What made the cramped design of the first few maps the least desirable was that due to the open-beta rush I found it difficult to find things to actually kill for my quest. Perhaps it would be such a problem later on in the game.

 

Yulgang II Conclusion

Current State: Good

My speculations on Yulgang 2 have almost been spot on. It’s a fun themepark MMO in an Eastern-fantasy setting, so you get what you think you’ll get. Fantasy classes, Eastern lore, and questing. What set the experience apart from other games for me, even other ‘action MMOs’, was the air-walking and other movement abilities. It just added a whole new layer to the combat that I’ve only seen in one other game – Age of Wushu. Overall, I would definitely suggest you give the game a try if it seems interesting to you as I wasn’t disappointed. Just don’t go into the game with high expectations thinking it’ll be the game to end all games, and you should have a great time.

Pirates: Tides of Fortune

Pirates: Tides of Fortune is a social and nautical adventure available for your browser. Build your Pirate Haven and set sail, battling rival fleets and dangerous seas for fame and fortune.

Features:

Constant Story: In-game storyline developments, frequent updates, and ways to interact with both NPCs and your allies offer a constantly changing story.

Battle for Treasure: Build a pirate fleet and tear down entire colonies, plunder rival captains, and if you’re generous, invite shipmates along for a share of the spoils.

Variety Is Key: Over 30 ships, pirates, mercenaries, and other units await your command!

Naruto Saga Gets Formation Face Lift

Naruto

Available now on the Games.la portal, Naruto Saga brings a fresh set of gameplay experiences into the world of the fabled Naruto anime series. The new Formation Interface provides ninjas with a variety of tactical options before, during, and after battle – all wrapped up in a clean, intuitive layout.

Ninja types are grouped into categories to streamline selection, and active members are highlighted for quick reference in the heat of battle. Using the Partners Position Array, players can switch their characters position with ease at any moment, and it’s even possible to enhance partner skills with a few simple clicks; lending a dynamic tactical edge to Naruto Saga’s intense team combat.

Ninjas can also recruit new partners within the new Formation Interface, which they should do regularly to keep their team fresh and enemies on their toes. With careful team selection and formation set ups, players can guarantee that every characters ability is used to its most devastating potential.

For more information and to try out Naruto Saga online, visit http://saga.games.la/