The Elder Scrolls Online developers follow the journey of a blacksmith, from exploring and gathering materials to creating a special piece of armor.
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Infographic: The Battle for Europe has Begun in Stronghold Kingdoms
Firefly Studios has released a new infographic containing gameplay stats on the first few days of play in ‘Europe’, the recently released game world for Stronghold Kingdoms. Europe launched on February 13th at 3pm GMT after ranking consistently as the top requested feature among the Stronghold Kingdoms community.
Following the world launch players immediately began building castles and villages near their real life towns and cities. In the case of the more aggressive players the natural next step was to attack their medieval neighbours, which they did in droves. Just over three days after launch 1,200,000 village buildings had been placed, 325,000 battles fought and 40,000 castles built. The more economic farmer and trader players were also spurred on by the world launch, making 500,000 trades with their local markets and sending out more than two million scouts to forage for resources and equipment scattered across the battlefield.
Europe quickly became the most successful world launch in recent history for the popular MMORTS, with 10,000 players joining within 90 minutes of the launch. Although Firefly expects the number of new players to go down, currently almost half of all server traffic for the game is going to Europe. It is currently the most active game world with a peak of more than 7,000 concurrent users.
Eldevin Review: Be Surprised
By Ojogo
When we think of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), many famous titles come to mind. You may have thought of Ragnarok Online, Lineage, Final Fantasy and World of Warcraft. But the most popular MMORPGs usually require a really large hard disk space and a high powered graphics processor. Here is where games like Eldevin come in.
Eldevin is a free 3D browser-based MMORPG brought to you by Hunted Cow. The game is set in a medieval fantasy world full of swords and magic. The game to me is rather unassuming as it actually brings you a very rich storyline and a massive world to explore filled with hundreds of quests, dungeons, PVP and even crafting.
Surprise! Surprise!
Interestingly enough, even for a browser-based game, it carries a lot of customizability even with character creation. It is also fairly easy to sign up as it is free-to-play and does not require you to wait for an invite to get into the game. You simply need to go to the Eldevin website and you can start playing right away by signing up. You are even given the chance to sign up using your Facebook, Twitter and Google+ account which makes signing up easy as 1-2-3.
Since the game is browser-based, it is pretty light so it does not require a lot from your gaming system. Please be advised that your browser is suggested to be updated, especially with the latest Java version, in order to play the game properly. Once in, you will be required to create your character right away. Interestingly enough, I found more options in customizing my character than what I have seen in previous browser-based games. You get to choose between male and female characters, their skin tone, body build, hair, hair color, and any facial hair. You can also click on Random to get a random character design.
Gameplay
Once you’ve decided on a name, click on Create Character and the game immerses you into the world right away. Your character will be introduced to the Void; a world between worlds where time moves slowly and dangers lurking about. Exploring this world will give you more of a feel for the game and how it plays. The nice thing is that if you’ve played MMORPGs before, the game uses systems and designs that are familiar to MMORPG gamers such as quest icons and the use of an inventory.
The game graphics are pretty solid I should say for something that runs only on the browser. However, don’t expect high level graphics from paid games such as WoW or Final Fantasy. But it’s good enough that it will keep you playing. It’s a bit of a throwback to early 90’s games such as Neverwinter Nights or even Diablo. My only gripe from this game is that it uses a top down view for the camera which unfortunately, I struggle with especially if I want to get a good view of my surroundings.
The game introduces to you the equipment and combat system right away as you fight your way through the Void and go through a rip in the void that brings you back to your world, the land of Eldevin. Combat system is fairly straightforward for melee as you simply left click your target repeatedly to hack away at monsters.
As you materialize back in the land of Eldevin, you get a better understanding of what is going on in-game. Story has it that 10 years ago, the King had disappeared through a rift and was brought to the Void. An ill-fated rescue mission went underway and many brave soldiers and magicians went to the Void to rescue the king. However, none of them ever returned. It is only through the valiant efforts of the rest of the kingdom, are they able to open a portal to the void and bring back a few stragglers. However, you find yourself not being able to remember this or anything from your past due to the effects the Void has had on you.
To reintegrate you back to society, you are given trials to find out what skills you are good at. You will be given trials in melee, range, and magic. Melee is easy as you’ve already done that before. Range I found a bit trickier because you can’t just point and shoot since the default is melee combat. You’ll actually need to activate the range skill to attack a target. Then magic is probably is the easiest since it’s done with just the press of the button (it’s a healing spell).
One interesting thing I found out about this game is that it does not limit you to a class. So it allows you to play around with your choice of skills to use when in combat. If you’re more of an in-your-face type of player, you’d probably choose more melee type attacks. If magic is more of your thing, you’d probably be more interested in using support and offensive spells in your repertoire. Or maybe you’d like to mix it up and use a little bit of all 3. It’s really up to you. It gives you great control on how you actually want to develop your character.
I was surprised as well by the massiveness of the game world. The map is pretty huge, larger than what you would expect from your typical browser game. When I played Neverwinter Online, one of the things that kind of disappointed me was that the world map seemed rather small and not a lot to explore. After a while, I lost interest because there weren’t a lot of places to explore and most of the maps were instanced. In Eldevin, the city maps alone are pretty huge and there are a lot of locations and dungeons to explore that will take a lot of time to go through.
I think the highlight of this game is the rich storyline. There is so much to explore in terms of lore and story and the decisions you have made in the game influences how the story unfolds and what you will encounter in game. This makes the game very dynamic and allows for a lot of dimensions to its gameplay.
I would say I have only scratched the surface of what can be done in this game and I plan to explore more and see what it has to offer. To be honest, I didn’t expect much from this game since it’s browser-based. However, the game has a lot of depth that even surpasses some of the popular mainstream games. It has solid graphics and boasts a 3D world. It also plays like some of the classic 90’s and early 2000’s games. Music and sound effects are pretty good and does not sound boring and repetitive which is the usual pitfall of a lot of browser-based games. Story seems pretty immersive for such a game and the strong selling point for me is that decisions made in-game influences what happens and what you encounter which makes it feel very dynamic. There is also an emphasis on strategy in this game rather than your standard hack and slash. My only real gripe about this game is its camera top down view but it’s not a big deal after you start playing for a few hours.
Conclusion: Good
Overall, this game is definitely worth the time to check out and play for a few hours as it has a little bit of something for everyone. It’s superior to most browser-based games I’ve encountered so far. You should give it a try and tell me what you think.
Epigenesis
Epigenesis is a fast-paced, Quake-style sports game. Two sides are locked in an endless battle for world domination – determined by a ballgame! Leap across platforms, score goals, capture towers, and utilize your gravity cannon in this intense competition.
Features:
Innovative Sports Game: Tall towers and platforms are the playing field in this five-on-five domination-style game.
Fast-Paced, Non-Lethal Gravity Action: Equipped with gravity cannons, players will have to time their jumps and watch out for their opponents.
Customizable Loadouts: Several plants with activated abilities and passive stat-boosts are available. Plan with your team and pick a winning strategy!
Holy Blade Online
Holy Blade Online is a self-developed MMORPG created by PopPace. Taking advantage of a cutting-edge game engine, Holy Blade Online will allow gamers to show off their creativity using its unique features.
Features:
Traditional features: Holy Blade Online comes with all the features players expect from a modern MMORPG, including dungeons, guilds and more.
3 playable classes: There are 3 playable classes, namely Warrior, Mage and Rogue. Warriors wield swords, can repel enemies backwards, and mainly act as a tanking class because of their awesome defense. Mages wield staves to deal a large amount of damage fast. They are able to resist some certain spells and push enemies away. Rogues wield daggers to strike enemies with high accuracy. They are able to move to an area nearby in an instant.
Daily events: Holy Blade Online features several daily events including open bosses, battlefields and more.
Dead Shark Triplepunch
Dead Shark Triplepunch
PopPace
PopPace
Line of Defense Tactics Review
By Ojogo
My first ever squad based game was back when Tom Clancy was a big thing and it was Rainbow Six’ hay days. For a guy who grew up playing Counterstrike, Doom, Hexxen and Quake arena, the hand holding during the first few hours of Line of Defense Tactics was a dull and often times boring ordeal. However, once I was able to get past the basics of strategic unit placements and tactical takedown tutorials, I was able to enjoy the game immensely.
For those unaware, Line of Defense Tactics is a companion game based on the upcoming MMO by 3000AD. While the main game, an MMO that is still on its beta stage, is currently unplayable, we have this real-time tactical strategy combat game to fancy our interest before the MMO’s D-Day.
So what’s with it?
Line of Defense Tactics provides players with a squad composed of four different units going through missions under the Galactic Command banner. The game revolves around the campaign mission of this squad. Your task in all this is that you serve as their “tactical commander.” Your primary job is to place, order and prepare a workable strategy for this squad to accomplish their mission. You will be given your mission parameters before every mission undertaking that you must complete, though failure only results if no one in the squad survives.
As the commander of this squad you have complete control on what your units will do.
You can order them to take cover, do special tasks like throwing a flashbang or making a melee attack or set them up as they ambush enemy units that hinder their way. Each unit has their own special role in the squad that provides a more varied array of strategic options at your disposal. You can in fact customize their weapon loads per mission and as they successfully level up, stronger weapons and more tactical equipment are unlocked for your units to use.

You will be using an overhead perspective of the game as you can switch or move your camera angle. You can also zoom in and, using the cursor, be able to direct either one of your units or your whole squad to head over to attack whatever it is that needs attacking.
Whenever you issue commands to your units, the game stops time and shows your unit’s attack range and the actions your units can do. Also, during these moments you will see yellow markers littered on the screen at certain locations. These markers determine “cover spots” for your units. They can head over there to defend or use those locations as cover whenever engaging an enemy. Cover provides your units with an added evasion bonus reduces the effectiveness of your enemies’ attacks.
Playing two versions
The Line of Defense Tactics I’ve tried out on was both on the Steam and over on the ipad. The more that I played on these two devices, the more it felt that the game’s controls were better suited for touch-based devices rather than the PC. There will be times that unit placement would feel smoother when I was playing it on my ipad compared to the PC. And controlling them feels less clunky on the ipad.

That doesn’t mean that the ipad version doesn’t have its own kinks too. There are times when the camera won’t move at certain angles or wouldn’t be able to zoom out. Also there is the matter of being precise with the actions over on the ipad. Unlike its PC version having a cursor luxury, playing with stubby fingers like mine makes ordering my units around at pretty precise locations a nightmare.
Campaigning and Skirmishing
Line of Defense Tactics currently has two gameplays available. The first one is the campaign mode serving as the game’s story mission system, tasking you with predetermined challenges.

The other gameplay option available is the Skirmish mode. In Skirmish, your squad is barraged with enemies and tasked with nothing but survival. This serves as the game’s farming feature with in-game credits and experience offered as the reward, though not quite as much as you can gain from the campaign.
Critique
Line of Defense Tactics is one of the better squad based strategy games out there right now. The game’s interface is intuitive and tight enough that you can make those timed decisions on the fly, but it allows new players to adjust well to how the game plays, especially for those who aren’t familiar with squad based games.
The combat is fast and fun, the missions are a challenge, and even with high enough level units, succeeding often requires a Herculean feat combined with a calm head as everything goes to hell once the shooting starts.

The game does feel short since the campaign only has 16 stages. But that’s to be expected since one of its primary tasks is to fill-in for 3000AD till the Line of Defense MMO is playable. However, the game still provides a complete game experience even if it’s made as a pinch hitter for the actual star. The problem with that however is that the game has little to no replay value whatsoever. Unless 3000AD makes LODT connected to the upcoming MMO aside from the equipment used, this game is just an onesie for most players.
Conclusion: Good
Still that doesn’t change the merit LODT has. The game is still a good time sink regardless of its flaws. So if you’re looking for a decent squad based combat strategy game now, Line of Defense Tactics is the game for you.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Hits Steam
Square Enix Inc., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products in the Americas, today announced that its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) FINAL FANTASY® XIV: A Realm Reborn™ is now available for purchase on the Steam PC digital service.
Further, as a special promotion for players in North America and Europe, the Collector’s and Standard Editions of the title on Steam are available at a 50% discount, starting now (February 18th, 2:00 a.m. PST) until Tuesday, February 25th (10:00 a.m. PST).
WildStar DevSpeak – Adventures Video
Join an endless adventures with your friends in WildStar, experiencing many different scenarios, paths and options every time, so no two runs will ever be the same!

















