Monthly Archives: July 2015

Gloria Victis Pre-Alpha Thoughts

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

 

Gloria Victis Pre-Alpha

The medieval setting has been brought back to life a few times in the past years. Though one in particular has peaked our interest more so than the others. Gloria Victis is set to take a hyper realistic take on the dark ages of the Polish region, with a focus on the mysteries of nature and brutally real player versus player combat. Starting out you aren’t the great hero or a powerful wizard, just a simple soldier trying to make it in a lawless world of knights. Your choices are simple, who do you give your sword and what do you fight for? With structural RPG elements, players will have to battle their way up to improve stats, or work on their craft to unlock the best weapons to stand above the clutter as the strongest knight on the battlefield.

Though don’t be fooled by the RPG progression, as Gloria Victis is built around reactive heavily skill driven combat, as well as group battles. With an unusually limiting stamina system and plenty of real follow through weapon physics, protecting your flank is nigh impossible. Thus partnering with allies and working in formations is the key to victory in group PvP.

Gloria Victis Pre-Alpha

Right now the game is still undergoing heavy development changes in the later side of its pre-alpha build. As such it can be hard to pin down a perfect description of gameplay, as it was changing drastically roughly every week I logged in. One common theme pushing forward though is making the world feel alive. There have been nearly daily improvements to textures, and additions to the world to make it all feel a bit more believable.

Starting off in Gloria Victis, I was immediately given the choice of joining one of the currently two available sides. Small starter cities are already in place as hubs for alpha players to meet up and get their bearings in. Right away you can get the feel that this is clearly still an engine test build, as the NPCs stand around static; even most NPCs you encounter out in the fields to battle don’t have battle animations in place yet. But they serve their purpose nonetheless, offering you exp, money, and crafting materials. These zones are protected from PvP so you can adjust to the rather unique control scheme. Once your character has the basics, and you’ve got the guts to try, you can enter one of several locations in the world capturable by either faction. The zones are recommended based on level requirements to try to keep combat in them on fair grounds. While you can still explore these zones prior to reaching the correct level, the guards mobs in the zones are designed to be a fair match for those within the level. If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself ground into the dirt in no time.

Gloria Victis Pre-Alpha

After the peasants you kill, you get the wolf. After the wolf you will find the bear. It is the circle of life and everyone in Gloria Victis wants a piece of you. That is why roaming in groups is recommended. You’re too vulnerable while fighting mobs solo to fend off an equal PvP competitor. When you consider the requirements to take a full zone, going it alone is just not a reasonable task if you don’t have a full day on your hands. Unfortunately its all still in the concept stages though as the current test phase remains extremely limited in allowed population. At one point I saw a gathering of fifty people, but the levels of them are too sparse to set up any real competitive environment in the alpha. Though the huge numbers backing this game have me believing some epic battles will be going down on the regular in the future.

If you ever have played the Mount and Blade series or games like it, then Gloria Victis will make you feel right at home. Not only does it have the same type of style, the combat and almost everything feels exactly the same. Bashing your weapon into something is easily done with a mouse click, but you can also charge up your attack to make it deal more damage. With the rightclick you will block attacks, but only ones coming in at you in the direction you’re looking. From a gameplay perspective, this makes positioning of vital importance, as two enemies catching you from opposite sides will put you in a bad way.

Gloria Victis Pre-Alpha

So again, you can see the problem here if you roam alone and get surrounded; you either have to pay with coin for your life, or pray to the gods you make it out of there running. And honestly this is what makes games much better, sure it might be a little boring when you start out, but essentially RPGs are made to be played with others. You can’t hold your ground against the big groups just like in Mount and Blade. Gloria Victis maintains its realism while offering proper rewards for the grind should you put the time and effort in. You can either buy yourself a nice new sword with some of the coin saved, or you can choose to craft your ultimate custom weapon with components you can find all over the world.

As I’ve said earlier, the game is still getting a lot of features every day. And one worthy of mentioning is the arena that came out last month. This area is great if you want to duel people and test your skills against either the experienced, or the new. Since the game is far from done, I expect to see a lot more features, and hopefully the world borders will expand to offer more room to wander. Right now the world is a bit small, but since there are not a lot of people playing yet, it hasn’t really been an issue yet. But all expected pre-alpha limitations aside, the game visually is about as beautiful as MMOs come. You can see the power of the Unity engine really coming forth in this game. Though animations are limited, you can see all the motion capture work and attention to minute details the devs have put into each blow to feel authentic and impactful.

 

Gloria Victis Pre-Alpha

To Pre-order or Not?

Gloria Victis is a promising medieval game making progress each single day. Yet the concept of throwing money at an unfinished product has burnt quite a few gamers in recent times. It spoils the development, and doesn’t exactly motivate them to either finish what they’ve started, nor are you guaranteed to get what was promised to be delivered. Right now Gloria Victis is in a playable state. The game is fun as it is, but has some warning signs on it that make me uncomfortable forking money over yet. Maybe wait a few months to see how things continue to pan out. If you’re an avid alpha tester of old, and believe in the product enough to consistently test it, then have at it and leave feedback. But if you’re just looking for something new and fun to pass the time, Gloria Victis doesn’t have enough there to keep you interested for the long term right now. Given the speed of progress though, short of something catastrophic happening, I could see giving this game a serious shake in about half a year from now.

Kill Me Again: Infectors

Kill Me Again: Infectors is a free to play mobile strategy game developed by NHN PixelCube Corp. that is available on Android and soon to be available on iOS. In Kill Me Again: Infectors you can customize your own mercenary trying to survive in a world taken over by the undead. You will need to help your mercenary attack by making matches in a puzzle as fast as you can before the undead reach you. Your mercenary can be outfitted with various weapons to upgrade their attacks and with time being invaluable in battle you will need all the upgrades you can get. You will learn what it means to become a mercenary in a zombie apocalypse and have the fate of civilization in your hands. Are you up to the task?

Features:

Rescue Survivors: Fight to save survivors on your missions and learn more about this unforgiving, horrendous world.

Craft Weapons: Hundreds of different weapons can be crafted and equipped to strengthen your mercenary.

Panicked Battles: Solving a puzzle while hearing the groans and shrieks of terrifying creatures might prove to be more difficult than what you’d expect.

Blacklight Retribution: Parity is Coming

Blacklight Retribution: Parity is Coming news header

Hardsuit Labs, the new developer for Blacklight Retribution, has announced that the long-awaited release of its parity update is now scheduled for July 29.

The parity update is designed to bring all versions of Blacklight Retribution onto the same development page, with a single source code that will make it easier for the developers to update and maintain the game moving forward.

An FAQ on the Parity update is available here.

Neverwinter Previews Stronghold Siege Towers

Neverwinter Previews Stronghold Siege Towers news header

In a new dev blog, Perfect World Entertainment showcases the two defensive towers for its upcoming Neverwinter expansion, Stronghold: the Archer Tower and the Sorceror’s Tower.

Defensive towers provide extra firepower in combat. There are seven plots where the towers can be constructed: two in the top lane, three in the center lane, and two in the bottom lane. Each plot is located near an important location such as a bridge, supply depot, or siege point. Towers can be improved just like other plots on your Stronghold map. A tower’s attack becomes more powerful each time it increases in rank.

You can read more about these towers on Neverwinter’s official blog.

Victor Vran Review – Time for Some Demon Hunting

By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF)

 

 

Introduction

Victor Vran is the latest title to come from Haemimont Games, known for their strategy games and Tropico series. It is set in a sort of Gothic-Fairytale world where man, science, monsters, and magic clash. As an action RPG, you can expect intense combat and hordes of enemies to come at you. Playing as Victor Vran, you will make use of a plethora of weapon and demonic magics to take on your foes and save the city of Zagoravia of its demon infestation. Let’s take a look and see how well Haemimont Games has done with this new title.

 

 

Customization

Despite having a leveling system, all of the customization available comes to you in the form of equipment. The weapon you have equipped dictates one portion of the abilities available to you, while your equipped demon powers dictate the rest. A hammer weapon will have abilities that take a while to charge or have large AOE effects, while a rapier will have abilities that offer quick charges or single-target high damage attacks. So, while there is no traditional skill or stat system, customization options are abound and you can play the game you like and give Victor Vran your own twist.

Victor Vran Equipment

Leveling up brings you two things. Your choice of a piece of equipment, and some kind of “bump” to some of your stats. For example, when you level up you might get more Health or you might find yourself able to equip more cards. These tarot-like cards are split into various levels of power and offer you bonuses, such as increased critical hit damage. Often times you can choose to take a box that will give you a decent weapon. You can use that box for just that, or you can save and accumulate them to transmute into a box that will drop a weapon with even better stats and bonuses. It’s stuff like this that offers you a decent amount of customization without making use of the traditional methods of stat points distribution and skill-buying.

 

Victor Vran  Review

I love the designs of the cards.

 

 

Graphics

Graphics quality isn’t the highest, but is more than adequate. And what the game lacks in highly-detailed models and textures, it more than makes up with atmosphere. Foggy, creepy city covered in demons, undead, spiders, and other monsters that lurk at every corner. This helps suck you into the game, letting the hours fly by as you thoroughly enjoy the game. Needless to say, graphics will be getting a high score from me.

 

Victor Vran  Review

Just dancing with some friends.

 

 

Controls

Victor Vran is one of those games that you get the impression was meant to be played with gamepad, as evident by the fact that you’re asked which method of control you would prefer almost as soon as you launch the game. While you can play perfectly fine with keyboard and mouse, the experience felt much richer when sitting back and playing with my PS3 controller. I never encountered any issues with the controls, so there are no complaints from me. Definitely a 5/5 experience, at least where the controls are concerned.

 

 

Gameplay

The game, while having a strong story that is enticing and fully voice acted, doesn’t take itself completely seriously. Most of the characters have ‘extreme’ personalities, which can come off as silly at times and endearing at others. Some monsters you’ll destroy will have you laughing, such as a small horde of Psy-look-a-alike skeletons, doing the Gangnam Style dance as they approach you. If you fail to keep your distance, you may find yourself joining their infectious dance. It’s light-hearted comedy like this that help keep the game from being overly depressing and more than makes up for any of the (very few) short-comings that it has.

 

Victor Vran  Review

“Tactical Retreat.” AKA running away.

 

Combat is fast-paced with a lot of movement and twitch-reactions involved. And, despite the perspective, the devs have managed to give each attack a “weight” that you can almost feel. As an example, when you swing your hammer, it will take a bit to get the momentum going but once it’s going it doesn’t stop. Speaking of weapons, there is a decent variety. From shotguns that excel at taking on groups of enemies at range, to rapiers that are perfect if you love fast-paced attacks that are meant for a single target at a time. No matter your play-style, there is a weapon that will enable it in Victor Vran.

 

Victor Vran  Review

I love the shotguns in this game.

 

If you like to loot things, you’re in luck. When you kill an enemy it has a chance of dropping gold or various items. The same goes for every single crate, urn, tomb, box, or anything else that is made of wood or stone and might have something inside. Plenty of chests around to loot which often explode into showers of gold, too. Heck, even some of the map objectives (which I’ll get into later) require you to murder these destructible objects. And everything falls to the ground and you collect it by simply running over it, which can be quite satisfying.

Victor Vran  Review

Like a lot of top-down and isometric RPGs, Victor Vran has a hub format. That is, there is a “Hub” location where you can advance the story, store items, trade with merchants, and head out to various parts of the demon-infested city. You might get the impression that with this format, the story takes a back seat. Fortunately, that is absolutely not the case. While offering freedom to “grind” loot and experience, the story of the game is still the central feature. So you get to develop Victor to fit your needs and enjoy some intense dungeon crawling, while at the same time experiencing an intense (and at times comedic) story.

Victor Vran  Review

As you play the game you’ll follow a main story line, which can sometimes branch a bit. To be honest, the game is mostly linear. You go through an area, complete the objectives of the story mission, and move onto the next. To help relieve this linearity and perhaps to satisfy the “Completion Hunters” each map you go to will have various objectives that can be completed for item boxes, gold, or experience. When one of these objectives is completed, a glowing flag will drop from the sky and land wherever you stand; the standard explosion of rewards falling all over the ground ensues. You will also gain a star towards completing that map that you can check out whenever you’re in the hub.

Victor Vran Review

The setting of the game is almost straight out of a Gothic nightmare. Demons, spiders, undead, and all other unsavory sorts are abound. Magic contends with technology, as Hunters make use of old-fashioned weaponry and more recent firearms to take on the demons and other things that go bump in the night. Victor Vran is one such hunter, tainted with demon magic that allows him to call down firestorms, create magic shields, and other fantastic feats. I feel in love with the world of Victor Vran immediately, as it provides a very satisfying clash of many different elements that I enjoy.

Victor Vran Review

The developers seem to take pride in the rich world they have created, too. You’re given access to a Codex that will fill out as you discover parts of the game. Each enemy, map, and other such interesting things are recorded into the Codex for you to review whenever you like. This can be helpful when coming against enemies, as (especially early on) you’re never sure what types of abilities an enemy will employ until you fight it. If you happen to come across the enemy again but aren’t completely sure on its abilities, you can just quickly check the Codex. I have to say, though, the format of the Codex isn’t exactly what I hoped. I really wish it had taken the form of an old, weathered and used tome that could be flipped through (almost similar to the ‘Codex’ in games like Ni No Kuni on the PlayStation 3).

Victor Vran Review

 

Conclusion: Great

Victor Vran has proven to be one of the best action RPGs I’ve ever played, completely blowing past my expectations and raising the bar for all future isometric aRPGs I’ll play. Haemimont has proven that their talents expand much further than helping people realize their dreams of being a Dictator. Everything you could want is there: An awesome demon-hunting hero with a mysterious past, choices to make, intense and fast combat to enjoy, a story that is interesting with a bit of comic relief… It’s all there and it’s all done well. Simply put, Victor Vran was a complete treat to play, and I highly suggest you get it now. Despite the Early Access tag, the game is surprisingly polished at this point and who knows? Maybe the $20 price tag won’t last, they could definitely get away with raising the price. Get it now.

 

 

 

Features: 3/5 – Interesting features, but not so many.

Customization: 3/5 – I liked what was there, but at times I wished for more.

Graphics: 4/5 – Not the highest quality, but very atmospheric.

Controls: 5/5 – No issues, only a lot of fun.

 

Overall: 4/5 – Probably not the best game I’ve ever played, but definitely a contender.