Monthly Archives: October 2015

Das Tal Alpha Event around the corner

Das Tal Alpha Event around the corner news header

With a 9 day alpha event just around the corner on the 31st of October, the folk over at Das Tal have spent the last week making sure players have all the information they need when entering their world. A new video takes us from spawning in for the first time, to acquiring resources, and all the way up to skill leveling and item crafting.

“With Das Tal still being in alpha, we have found that a lot of players aren’t yet aware of all the features we already have in the game. With no hints or tutorials present yet, they wander around, kill a few NPC’s and then aren’t sure what to do. So we have focused on tasks that we have categorised as ‘Newbie Experience’ over the last couple of months. A lot of those tasks are in-game, but a good portion were tasks such as this video and​ Wiki, ​so that people have the information before they even log in.”

– David Wells, Head of Communications

The Wiki is also a great way for an indie team to display game information to its playerbase. With constantly changing features, it can be tricky for a small team to keep a website up to date. A simple Wiki format is a good way to have all the information in one place, especially when you can invite your players to contribute.

Das Tal has seen a lot of new and reworked features over the past months in preparation for this event launch. The devs say they plan to assess the features over the course of the event and then decide whether to kick off another server straight away, or take things back into the office for further tweaking. You can be a part of these alpha events by buying one of the development supporter packs on offer, or by signing up to their tester list.

We also have some alpha keys still available!

Shakes & Fidget: The Fortress update has arrived

Shakes & Fidget: The Fortress update has arrived news header

A few days ago, developer Playa Games updated MMORPG Shakes & Fidget to include a comprehensive strategy component. Building and updating the Fortress now allows the RPG’s over 50 million registered fans to improve their heroes in a whole new range of ways. Furthermore, a new dungeon takes heroes to the continent of Easteros, a new wheel of fortune minigame tempts with precious rewards, and much has changed in the mobile apps.

A game within a game
Complete quests, battle other players in the arena, and purge dungeons of their nasty monsters – there’s always excitement to be had in world of Shakes & Fidget! What better way to end a long day of adventuring than returning to the safety of hearth and home? The new Fortress now allows players at character level 25 and over to enjoy just that.

Players can build and manage twelve different buildings on free land around their stronghold. Upgrading those structures yields important resources with which players can improve their characters. For example, the Treasury can be used to expand the inventory backpack from five to 20 slots, whereas the Academy can be used to research experience points. Another important building is the Mine, in which players mine gems. These are slotted into equipment to increase the hero’s strength in battle.

Moreover, Soldiers, Mages, and Archers can be trained to protect the Fortress. Naturally, they can also be used to attack other players and plunder their resources, so it’s always worth having a few soldiers on call.

To Easteros!
The new update expands the fantasy world of Shakes & Fidget with its 14th dungeon. And this one is special in two ways: Firstly, adventurers can battle their way through a whole twenty — rather than ten — floors. Secondly, the dungeon leads to the continent of Easteros, which is home to some familiar-looking characters, who are nevertheless extremely dangerous opponents!

The Destiny Machine of Dr. Abawuwu
A mysterious stranger has set up shop in town. He calls himself Dr. Abawuwu and he lets players have one free spin of the (destiny) wheel each day – and if it stops on the right place, there are experience points, gold, wood, stone, items, and even mushrooms to win.

Modern or Classic
While starting as a pure browser game, fans of the Shakes & Fidget RPG have also been able to visit it while they are out and about for some time now. The Android and iOS apps were recently completely redeveloped to offer players the full convenience and functionality of the PC version. However, MMO enthusiasts without a compatible device to call their own don’t have to miss out on the adventure: The classic app from Playa Games also makes Shakes & Fidget available to play on older Android devices.

More information on all the innovations and on Shakes & Fidget the game is available on the official Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shakes-Fidget-The-Game/107431265996255 and in the forum at http://forum.sfgame.us.

Thanatos Grand Opening Announced

Inixsoft and JM Studio have announced the grand opening of Thanatos: Dragon Chaser, launching on November 3 on its game portal, gameagit.com.

The team claims that Thanatos is complete with superb optimization for global players with less powerful PCs, thanks to many focus groups in Korea and globally which have helped offer feedback on improving the game.

    As part of the grand opening, a few events will be ready for players:

  • Level Up Event: Players will get event boxes automatically at certain level milestones, with a chance of gaining rare items.
  • Friend Inviting Event: New and existing players should invite their friends to get special gift boxes.

Find out more at the game’s official site.

MapleStory comes to Mobile Gamers with Pocket MapleStory

MapleStory comes to Mobile Gamers with Pocket MapleStory news header

 

The adored massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) MapleStory has been transformed into an all-new mobile experience as NEXON Co., Ltd. (“Nexon”) (3659.TO), a worldwide leader in free-to-play online and mobile games, through its Korean subsidiary, NEXON Korea Corporation, releases Pocket MapleStory for Android devices. Available now, the side-scrolling action that fans have adored for more than 10 years on the PC now gives players the chance to explore the vast and colorful universe of Maple World on mobile devices. Pocket MapleStory has already garnered more than seven million downloads in Asia and has been the number one free game on both the App Store and Google Play in Korea and Taiwan. The game also ranked first and second in the free game category on the App Store in China and Japan respectively.

As the definitive MapleStory mobile version of the popular PC game, players have a complete MMORPG experience with more than 1,500 different quests and real-time online multiplayer action. The game also features bright and colorful art and graphics, immersing players back into the original world of the PC game. Pocket MapleStory also features:

  • Three different heroes: Dual Blade, Angelic Buster and Demon Slayer. Each has its own unique skills and fighting styles; (more characters to be added progressively in the future)
  • Friendly rivalries with the Dungeon and Guild system to cooperate & compete real-time with friends online;
  • Deep personalization of characters and items;
  • User-friendly customization of game controls;
  • Bright and colorful graphics reminiscent of the original PC game.

“MapleStory is one of the most beloved online PC games of all time, adored by millions and millions of fans around the world,” said Myoung Il Kim, the Director of Pocket MapleStory, NEXON Korea. “We can’t wait to see how Pocket MapleStory helps to build on and grow the legacy of the PC game. We are extremely proud to be releasing this title to the world and cannot wait to see how the fans of the original – and new players alike – embrace Pocket MapleStory.”

In honor of the worldwide launch, there will be two launch events for fans to earn additional in-game rewards. The Guild Shot Event invites guilds, with at least 10 members, to post an in-game shot on Facebook for a chance for three lucky guilds to win 2,000 in-game candy currency for each member of the guild. The Boss Master Event gives three players a chance to win 3,000 in-game candy currency. In the Boss Master Event, Players must defeat the first boss monster and share their tales on Facebook for a chance to win.

Pocket MapleStory is now available for free download via mobile device from Google Play and the iOS App Store soon.

ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance) Closed Beta Impressions

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

 

Eloa Beta

The last few years I have played a lot of MMO’s, and most of them were fun but overall the same generic themes kept popping up. Either they looked the same, or the gameplay was similar. The spark you get when playing something new and different just wasn’t there. But last week this changed, I got to try out the ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance) beta and got this special feeling back again; the feeling of playing something completely new was there and every minute was enjoyable. But why?

ELOA is a game that intrigued me not because of its story or graphics, but because of the gameplay. The story isn’t really that interesting, and so there’s no need to get into great detail. The world is in chaos and you are someone that can make a difference and thus here you are. The game actually looks really good, and the graphics are definitely another big plus of the game. But some of my favorite games of all time look like they’re from the early 2000s so this wasn’t enough to win me over. ELOA is going to be known for its extremely fun gameplay and way the game is played.

Eloa Beta

When making your character you are able to choose between five different classes. You can choose between the Blood Knight, Mage, Sniper, Psychic and Assassin Warrior. While this sounds impressive, at the core these archetypes are the same classes you’d expect from an Anime MMORPG. Each class has three different specialties – I myself went with the Mage because I just love standing back and calculating the right spells and elements to lay waste to swaths of foes. My specialization options included Ignition, Ice, and Nemesis elements. Basically fire, water and electrical based attacks that you unlock after set levels.

Eloa clearly isn’t the first hack n’ slash 3D isometric game to hit the market in the past 2 years. But it still stands strong on its own. The gameplay feels different. I don’t necessarily know how to explain it, but to me the game felt as smooth as as polished MOBA. The various skills utilize fun combat mechanics that keep the game action intensive, combined with smooth movement controls and satisfying hack and slash combat. The specialization doesn’t feel tacked on either, making your decision meaningful. You’ll utilize different attacks and spells, with a different weapon, bringing your own brand of utility to the battle, which as a result makes everyone feel like a more unique snowflake. Besides the eight different skills for each specialty, you also have a normal basic attack to attack your enemies with. For me as a mage, the basic spell with each specialty gave me mana back over time, so I had to use them as a part of my rotation. But when I didn’t use the basic attack, my mana depleted quickly, and I had to chug a mana potion quite frequently to keep going.

Eloa Beta

Most of the enemies you will find when questing are paired in groups, so most any enemy you attack is going to pull a decent sized group your way. Thus AoE spells are the rule of the land. By combining the different spells and specialties together, I produced quality rotation of AoE spells to bring down clumped packs of foes in a flash. Fighting your way through the many packs of monsters was as fun as you can imagine in a hack and slash game. Quests flowed faster since I was constantly downing monsters in groups, and the forced grouping of foes added difficulty to the combat to keep me on my toes. Hours flashed by as I became engrossed in the simple yet engaging battles.

In ELOA you can also have a pet; currently there are a lot of different pets that you can have, and some of them are better than others. After a few quests I was given an egg as a quest reward, though I later found rarer eggs as random drops. I choose to hatch an egg and ended up with a small wolf. As you’d expect, pets learn their own skills and have different strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps most valuable was the wolf doubled as a mount, greatly speeding up travel time to quest objectives. Taking queues from mobile RPGS, the pet system allows you to combine pets to make them stronger. There’s plenty of variety of pets to experiment with to see what compliments your character’s built the best!

Eloa Beta

In ELOA you can also have different crafting jobs, but each character is limited to one and thus you will have to make sure that you really want to stick with the one job you have chosen, or else start from scratch. Another big gameplay feature is the Player versus Player modes. In a hack and slash game, fighting other people is usually a lot of fun. As you might expect, it plays a huge role in ELOA. Since each character has a lot of different spell combinations and specialties that you can play around with, PvP constantly feels fresh. There’s enough skill involved with character placement, and enough variety of viable skill builds, that PvP stays fresh even after multiple battles. You can play arena battles with up to five people against five others and sometimes it can be a bit of a chaotic thing.

 

Eloa Beta

Conclusion: Great

ELOA is a simple hack and slash game that stands strong within its genre. The gameplay is extremely fun and having to try out the different specialties with each class is a nice touch to a game like this. Paired with beautiful graphics I can already say that this game is going to be a big success. If you can look through the bad translations and a few other minor beta glitches, then ELOA is everything that you might look for in an Anime MMORPG. The gameplay itself is addicting enough that I see myself coming back to play some more at official launch. The closed beta is a success and the open beta is coming, if you are a hack and slash fan and love team PvP, you should definitely check ELOA out when the servers open up again.