Monthly Archives: July 2016

Das Tal Alpha Key Giveaway

OnRPG has partnered with Fairytale Distillery to welcome players into the world’s first sandbox survival MMO arena – Das Tal for their latest improved alpha build!

Das Tal Alpha Promo Pic

Das Tal is the world’s first Sandbox Survival Arena – bringing together MOBA tactics and Sandbox MMO strategy. It makes MMOs fun again for PvP fans. No more grind. No more pay-to-win. No more tab-targeting. The game is designed to be compatible with the busy life of an adult gamer. Das Tal rests on the three defining pillars; Meaningful Conflict, Skill-Based Combat, and Constantly Changing Worlds.

It will throw you into a dark fantasy prison valley. You start each game with nothing but your wits and your PvP skills. Over the course of weeks and months you will explore this world, grow stronger and learn to survive.

Hundreds of players will join you in the valley. Amongst them you will find friends and allies to form a clan. Start building your own settlement and empire whilst competing with rival clans.

In a completely player-driven economy, your influence and income will grow through diplomacy and warfare. You will strive to break free of your chains, defeat your captors and emerge victorious from your exile.

    To Redeem your Key:

  • Go to http://www.das-tal-game.com/download and download the game patcher for your operating system.
  • Un-zip the patcher to a folder of your choice.
  • Run the launcher(.exe) to patch the game client.
  • When done patching click “play”.
  • Select your screen resolution and details.
  • Press “Play!” again.
  • In the login screen click “New Account”.
  • Now enter your alpha key (copy & paste works) in the “Registration Key” field.
  • Back in the login screen click “login”. Your account name and password should be filled in.
  • Enter your email address (twice).
  • Click “Send verification mail”.
  • Go to your email inbox and click the confirmation mail in the email from “Fairytale Distillery team”.
  • Now go back into the game and you’re in the character creation screen.

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Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness Launch Review

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

 

Star Ocean 2016 Review

Star Ocean is back! It’s been a couple of years, but now we have “Integrity and Faithlessness,” a Tri-Ace game released by Square-Enix. While I’m tremendously glad that it’s on the Playstation 4, my big complaint, probably my biggest one, is that it was also put on the PS3. A friend said to me that “Japan thinks the PS4 is a myth” and so keeps producing AAA titles for the PS3. This means the quality of the current-gen must suffer for the last gen. While yes, the PS3 was a lovely console, there are little things that push it back from being a 5-star game visually. The background looks gorgeous, but I don’t feel like I can ever reach it. It feels like it’s just painted there, no matter how huge some of the maps are. But the Star Ocean franchise is older than some might think. The original was released on the Super Famicom, not on the Super Nintendo. It wasn’t until the Sony Playstation that we got a Star Ocean [2], but the original was remade for the PSP; it’s really a fantastic series that blends fantasy and science-fiction in a pleasant and appealing way.

Star Ocean 2016 Review

This is again, a beautiful RPG. While you spend a lot of time walking, at least you have a very striking view of the world. It’s empty, huge plains and things like that, but they are wonderful to look at, and it’s not like you get buzzed out of it suddenly for a fight [which we will get to]. While visually appealing, the draw distance seems a bit poor. Though I can see the harvest spots on the map, you won’t see them until they’re practically in your face. It’s a bit easier to see enemy packs though. While it is a little on the shorter side compared to current RPGs, I did enjoy the story a great deal. There’s going to be the argument that “It’s linear! It’s linear!” and yeah it is. It’s FFXIII-1-2: Hallway Simulator. Oh my God, if I had a nickel for how many times I had to run back from one area to another, across two or so zones, then back through them again… Eventually though you get a really cool starship, but it’s not like you get to travel the stars and go to other planets. Nope, it’s just an HQ. I was a little bummed there wasn’t much, if any of a world map – just zones to traverse, but that’s a personal preference.

Star Ocean 2016 Review

As far as I see, the game shines with how combat works. While “simpler” than Star Ocean: The Last Hope, I love the most how it seamlessly shifts between combat and exploring. There’s only the barest moment between the end of combat and walking again.  Also having up to seven party members attacking at once results in some fast-paced non-stop action. You control the main character, Fidel Camuze, but if you’d like you can use the direction keys to swap between the other characters to activate items, abilities, or simply a moveset that you prefer over his.  You can only have two main abilities to activate at once though, defaulted to the Circle/X buttons, though technically you have four. You have two to activate in short range and two from long range. Reserve Rush is a really cool system though, where you have a meter on the side of the screen. It builds when you gain exp/fol, when you parry attacks, et cetera. However, enemies can lower the gauge by hitting you, knocking you down and things like that.  Combat was easily my favorite part of this game. While it’s hard to use such a massive cast at once, it was certainly never dull.

Star Ocean 2016 Review

Proper use of the Guard ability is key, from canceling abilities you didn’t mean to use to parrying attacks from enemies. But be careful, trying to parry a heavy hit will likely just knock you down and leave you prone. You can tell a hit will be heavy by the glowing blue flames.  I also highly recommend when you acquire skillbooks to upgrade/learn new skills; Pay very close attention to who you are going to give them to, as there are no redos, and they are not infinite. But there IS something tactical and clever about the combat system. There’s a Cancel System in place. Your normal attacks are X and O [Light/Strong], but you can cancel attacks into other ones, provided the attack is different. So you could, if you want, Special -> Special -> Reserve Rush 1 – Reserve Rush 1! Each time you cancel there’s bonus damage, up to 200% [Five cancels total allowed per combo]. You will definitely want to versus certain bosses. Remember, not all specials have the same speed, and for optional bosses/superbosses/encounters where you might be underpowered, this is a technique to be aware of. I like to build a few quick hits, into a fast skill, and end with a heavy Reserve Rush for tons of damage.

Star Ocean 2016 Review

While we’re on the subject of combos and customization, you can completely swap how your characters play on the fly, mid combat! Just pause and go to the customization/roles options.  Upside: So many cool passives you can equip to characters, up to four at once. From actual “roles” like Defender, Ace, Attacker, Healer to special ones you can unlock by spending crystals to level the current ones up, you have plenty of variety to fully customize your team. However, you can only have one of these each and only one per character, so you can’t make everyone “Ace, Tank, Attacker, Defender” and just mop people up. Some of these passives give bonuses to attack, attack speed, intelligence, et cetera.  It adds a level of strategy and thought to how you prepare your characters for any situation. I can appreciate that. You can also use items this way, and items are not only powerful, they’re pretty damn important. A lot of the healing items are found in the wild using the “Harvest” abilities you can unlock as you progress. There’s fishing, harvesting, cooking, and lots lots more. The harvest-style abilities allow you to also gain Fol, Crystals, Experience, and the items you were after. I spent time leveling these early so I could farm items for crafting while I was out in the world grinding.

http://www.onrpg.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/StarOcean2016Review20-1.jpg

But immersion… while not the biggest issue it certainly rounds out the top 5. You just never feel drawn in. While I enjoyed the immediate dip right into combat, having four to seven characters running around behind you, slapping into each other sort of bothered me. Not being able to run up simple hills because of hit detection or design really started to irk me. That’s one of the things that would have been addressed outside of the PS3 release. Whenever you come across a character that is important to the story, you go from a dead run, to incredibly slow RP walk. You know the walk. Step by step, pace by pace. You can’t skip cutscenes that I saw, and it can be infuriating if you have to watch them more than once or twice. Some of the dialogue, but not a lot, slurred together.  The voice acting was good though. The story, though short, did hold my attention, and the character interaction was for the most part quite good.

 

Star Ocean 2016 Review

Beyond The Stars

Game Score: Great; beyond its flaws lie gold.

I love the Star Ocean franchise, I really do.  A lot of other folks have been lambasting it verbally as absolute shit, and I think those people are really being unfair. It’s fun. You don’t have to break the mold to have a good time. It’s not perfect even in the slightest, but can you think of a perfect RPG? I know I can’t. Even my favorite games have flaws. The AI is not as strong as it could be, and that can make juggling characters an absolute chore. Necessary, but a chore nonetheless.  The maps are breathtaking and large, but you will backtrack across them time, and time, and time, and time again.  Sure, there are things that aren’t amazing about Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, but it’s still far and away the best JRPG that exists on the PS4 right now. I may disagree with the PS3 release, but I understand it: The PS3 sold/sells better than the PS4 overseas, so games for it still make sense. For what the team had to work with, they put together a fun title with lots of poignant moments, solid combat, and overall a fun experience.

 

Star Ocean 2016 Review

Pros:

+ Excellent Combat.

+ Interesting characters/development.

+ Rush and Role Systems are really quite good.

 

Star Ocean 2016 Review

Cons:

  • A bit short on the storyline.
  • Having it on PS3 may have watered down the PS4 version.
  • Walking Forever. You will always backtrack.

 

Gloria Victis 2016 Steam Early Access Update Impressions

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

 

Gloria Victis Steam Alpha Preview

About a year ago I delved into the world of Gloria Victis. Despite testing a very early build at that time I enjoyed playing but advised people to wait a little while, because the game was lacking in the content and polish department. Now almost exactly one year later I once again decided to check on progress as it just went live on Steam. Despite the game still being in the Alpha stage, it’s gone a long way since the build I played last year. The world is finally coming fully alive with a fully supportive and growing community behind the game. Is Gloria Victis the next flower we see blossom into beautiful reality, or will it fall like the rest of the potential sandbox great hypes, forever to be remembered as what could have been.

 

As a journalist times have changed since the dawn of the ‘early access’ generation. Back when we used to be given copies of games, they were close to being finished and most of the time were the actual released products but given in advance to us by just a few weeks. But since the concept of a demo now shifted towards being welcomed as a free beta tester, we usually get to judge these games in broken or unfinished states – giving the impatient and easily distracted public the wrong impressions of what the game will eventually be. Gloria Victis is one of those games that simply went public too soon, and I can understand why exactly this happened to a game with such a small group of developers working on the project. Unfortunately Gloria Victis is one of those games that picked up a bad rap for doing just that.

Gloria Victis Steam Alpha Preview

Gloria Victis started as a Kickstarter project in late 2012 and unfortunately didn’t reach their set goal by the end of the year. Despite this the team continued to work on their game and release a pre-alpha playable built in the following year. This helped them show their product and eventually created their own style of a kickstarter project. Lucky for them their fans followed, and offered enough funds to keep them struggling on through today. Here we are in 2016, in a setting where game standards are incredibly different than the atmosphere of 2012, and still Gloria Victis is not in a release state.

 

Still you have to admire their dedication to the project. Not only do I like their vision, but they actually worked on their dream project and never gave up. But what exactly has happened in all of these years besides finally selling their game on our most beloved platform, Steam? After all these years what eventually made it in, what was scrapped and what is still being pressured from coal to diamond? These were the questions I now sought for with the Steam release that they were waiting so long for.

 

Gloria Victis plans to eventually have four different nations battling it out on a huge map with different capture-able zones for people to fight for. While we currently only have two nations to choose from, and no real difference in the actual characteristics of the game to show for, it basically boils down to a fight between the east and west for… reasons. While each nation does have a really long backstory of the people themselves, what they live for and what their goals are have no reflection on gameplay. Right now it’s just a raw game of people fighting for their side just for the pure fun of the combat system, and that is fine although a little disappointed for a game that has been in the works for almost four years.

Gloria Victis Steam Alpha Preview

The world doesn’t feel alive. From the moment you start out in your first city and see the generic NPCs wandering about shouting the same rhyme or story over and over again, you know that the game still has a long way to go. The game has set its goal to be very interesting for the role playing fans but also cuts short on the actual tools providing this for the community. Even the wild animals, or the peasants and bandits wandering around the beautiful landscapes of Gloria Victis all lend more towards a sandbox game where the freedom of storytelling is in the player’s hands. And stories they will create, because the actual graphics in the world are beautiful, from beautiful grassy landscapes to nice atmospheric swamps where you will second guess yourself if you are actually playing a game or hiking in the woods. This comes at great cost however, as the visual improvements are recent and not well optimized.

 

After a simple but buggy tutorial, you are simply thrown into the world with no idea what to do next or where to find battle. The developers simply assume you will just go explore the world, attack everything in sight that is in your level, and keep everything that you have on you to eventually craft into something else that will eventually build up your character… maybe? This sounds an awful lot like a sandbox game doesn’t it? But this is where the ‘sandboxy’ bit stops and turns the game into a very linear form. The game seals the deal with its gameplay – not with the very empty castles and keeps giving you the impression the world isn’t actually lived in, but through confrontations with the real players walking the lands, telling their own story.

Gloria Victis Steam Alpha Preview

The gameplay is what it’s all about. For all my negatives, the RPG aspects of fighting and building up your character through crafting join with the visuals as a solid system that still rivals modern games releasing today. After diving deep into the crafting system to build your weapons of war, you are ready to test your metal against wild animals, bandits or peasants, you name it you can kill it. And kill everything you should, as it’s the most efficient way to build up your material stocks to keep upping your crafting. Besides killing, you can also gather wood and minerals scattered around in the world to actually combine everything together. The crafting is simple, linear, but done in the right way to keep it fun and an actual challenge to create your gear and weapons.

Gloria Victis Steam Alpha Preview

The combat is another slice of the pizza that’s been left on the counter for too long. It’s simple, boring and provides no actual challenge. You use left mouse button to swing your weapon, the longer you hold it the more damage you do, and when using a shield the right mouse button will provide defense via the same system. If you use a bow you also have to take into account that arrows will drop over a distance, forcing you to gauge the arch. All very straight forward and simple and similar to games like Mount and Blade, to the point that it’s beginning to feel dated by other games nearing launch. There is some hope in the system gaining some new life via the ability system though. As of now though there are only passive abilities giving you bonuses for the likes of stamina and fighting, but in the future we will also see active abilities, perhaps giving more ‘umpf’ to the action of the game.

Gloria Victis Steam Alpha Preview

The current action of the game isn’t stale, far from that really, but it does feel like there is something missing to the fight. Right now if you are a solo adventurer roaming the lands fighting for your nation there isn’t a lot to it. You sometimes get a notification in your screen where fights are happening, and if you don’t stroll towards the marker you might find some action. The game does provide you guilds, enabling people systems to play together and fight under the same banner to gain a reputation throughout the land. This is where you will also find most of your PvP action. Forming a group can be difficult, but so incredibly worth it if you want to experience this game to its full potential. Running around with your group, fighting over castle control or in nice atmospheric places like the swamp can give you memories that you will still remember in the years to come. But right now the game isn’t forcing you to this, it isn’t helping you to do anything – experiencing Gloria Victis to the fullest is entirely on your drive to find the action and fun.

 

Gloria Victis Steam Alpha Preview

State of the Beta: Fair

And that in itself is scary; it is what scares people away including what scared me away a year ago. The game doesn’t feel like an RPG, it feels like an open world sandbox game. But without all the things you expect from an open world sandbox in 2016. Crafting acts as merely a way to progress your character, and not change the world around you. However, I have to admit not everyone is intimidated by the current state of Gloria Victis. The community has grown substantially, and group battles are becoming a more common occurrence. Burgeoning elements of roleplaying are starting to form as well. It is definitely respectable that the developers are working on their dream game for all this time, especially now that the game is starting to see a bit of success. Still the pace of development is too slow to keep up with the modern gaming community’s standards. Medieval MMORPG sandbox games are a serious niche genre as is, and I don’t see Gloria Victis packing the chops to change that in the foreseeable future.  It’s like an empty shell. The shell has all the markings of being an industry indie bombshell like DayZ, but I doubt it will ever fill the shell to reach that goal.