Yearly Archives: 2018

This War of Mine is Free on Steam Right Now

This War of Mine for FreeFrostpunk is the most ambitious project from 11-Bit Studios yet, and it is just three weeks left until official launch. To celebrate this, They are giving their greatest gift to gamers with arguably their most important creation so far: The survival game, This War of Mine – which is an emotional narrative highlighting the struggle of surviving war, and the heavy burden of getting by in a war-torn region from the eyes of those civilians impacted by the weight of war.

Recently, This War of Mine hit a milestone of 2.5 million copies sold on Steam and along with receiving many awards (including the SXSW Cultural Innovation Award and IGF Audience Award), this accomplishment has reaffirmed 11-Bit studios’ philosophy on creating mature, thought-provoking games. Additionally, the studio continues its mission to support the War Child children’s charity through funds raised by the sale of DLC content dedicated to that sole purpose and the studio hopes to share another milestone in fundraising soon.

A special extended version of the game, This War of Mine – Anniversary Edition is free on Steam until Sunday, April 8th to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Frostpunk and to prepare Steam for the next emotional release from 11-Bit Studios.

Enter a Spectacular Dystopian Blood Sport in Deathgarden

Behavior Digital announced that they’re working on a new title, an asymmetrical multiplayer action title: Deathgarden. Set in the near future, it revolves around a blood sport that is the most popular entertainment on the planet. Powerful Hunters prey on the agile Runners. Players in Deathgarden choose to play as Runners or Hunters, in an arena that is different every time.

“We are proud to finally reveal our next game, DEATHGARDEN.” said David Osborne, VP Product at BHVR Digital. “We embrace the challenge of asymmetrical gameplay and the unique moments it provides, drawing players and viewers into the experience. Playing with your team to overcome an unrelenting threat hell-bent on stopping you isn’t just fun to play, it’s really engaging to watch.”

Hidden Gems: Ultima (Franchise)

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Or, “What is a Paladin?”

Ultima Hidden Gems - Ultima 1

From the most humble of beginnings…

Now, now, I know what a few of you might be thinking: “Ultima? A hidden gem? Are you off your nut?!” and if you’ll calm down, and delete your Twitter post, I’ll start explaining. Now, I love the Ultima franchise, and one of the people I most would like to interview or meet is Richard Garriott, aka Lord British. He’s responsible for a franchise that has spanned decades and spawned some truly revolutionary games. Now that his latest venture, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is live, and I did review/enjoy it, I want to take a look back at where it all began. Now, I grew up in a poor Jewish family, who did not have a personal computer. I missed out on so much because we simply could not afford it. I found Ultima on the NES and Super NES consoles because I had friends who owned the carts and would let me borrow them to explore this exciting world of Britannia. No matter how many games were made, how popular it got, almost noone I knew played or were familiar with the Ultima franchise. My closest friends were, but outside of that circle, it was rare.

Ultima Hidden Gems - Exodus

Nothing was cooler or more frustrating than making my own party.

From childhood to adulthood, I only knew a few people who even knew what Ultima was, and fewer who cared. It’s a fantasy-RPG franchise that has nine games, split into three “Ages”. There’s The Age of Darkness (Ultima 1-3), The Age of Enlightenment (4-6) and The Age of Armageddon (7-9). The world, Sosaria is obliterated in the Age of Darkness, and the remaining portion of the world comes to be known as Britannia, led by the kind and wise Lord British. The main character is not always the Avatar, though. He has to come into that role (and does so around Ultima IV~) and in future titles is referred to as such. The Avatar is the vehicle of destiny, the main character, the hero of the story. That’s how I always perceived them. The Ultima series received a lot of criticism early on, because the player could do basically what they wanted. Kill, steal, be as vile as they wanted. But the franchise also introduced many audiences to the notion of the Virtues.

Ultima-IV-virtues (1)

I learned a lot from this important diagram.

The Ultima Hero, the Avatar/Stranger was always most interesting to me, when the focus was on these Virtues. Keeping them in balance, restoring kindness and order to the land. The Eight Virtues of the Avatar/The Eight Virtues of Goodness is a system introduced in this franchise, and in several of the games, the player is forced to follow these Virtues if they want to succeed. That doesn’t mean the ability to steal or kill is written out, no no. But let’s talk about these Virtues. They are balanced into Three Principles: Truth, Love, and Courage. Each of these Virtues falls somewhere into a Venn Diagram (or a more complex graphical design that fits into a magical symbol). Outside of the circle is the final Virtue, Humility. All of the others meet somewhere in the Venn Diagram, whether they are Pure Love, Love, and Truth, Courage and Truth, Courage and Love, et cetera. Only Spirituality meets in all three. What is fascinating about these, is that in Ultima V, Lord Blackthorn codified the Virtues into a series of laws. Honesty was “Thou shalt not lie, or thou shalt lose thy tongue”. They were very strict, draconian laws.

Ultima Hidden Gems - Exodus 2

Damn that Devil!

What made these Virtues the most interesting was not making them laws, but that how you judge the Virtue’s worth/how you lived by this virtue was internal. Codifying ethics does not make them good because unethical people can take these Virtues and pervert them. Just look at Shroud of the Avatar. People use Love, Truth, and Courage for their own personal, perverse gain. From a storytelling perspective, that’s wonderful. It’s also a mirror of our own world. In these games, you don’t “have” to be honest. You can steal, you can lie or cheat. But it can definitely come back to haunt you. It sure did to me. If you are fraudulent and don’t live by the Virtues, it shows you in its own way, there are consequences for your actions. I feel like, at an early age, this was a very formative lesson for me. My mother was already teaching me right from wrong, but in this game series, I learned first-hand that by doing something dishonest, or cruel, there was a price to pay. You should be a good person because it’s the right way to live. Ultima also taught that with every villainous act, a price had to be paid.

Ultima Hidden Gems - Ultima V

These were not games for people who wanted an easy time.

I have not played all of the Ultima games, because honestly, no matter how smart I thought I was, the Ultima games were smarter. That’s what I loved about them, but what also made me resent them in a way. There is not a ton of guidance in the games to tell you where to go and what to do. You have to really pay attention (or you did, before the days of the Internet) and learn from your experiences. I had friends that kept notebooks of what they did in Ultima, to make sure they were on the right track. They were complex, intricate, and could be beaten fairly swiftly if you know exactly what to do. I’ve seen a few speedruns of Ultima games that honestly blew my mind. I had no idea some of these things could just be done so quickly. The two I spent the most time with were again, Ultima: Exodus, and Ultima VI: The False Prophet.

Ultima Hidden Gems - False Prophet

This scene pulled me in immediately as a teen.

Ultima VI I admittedly played the most of. It really grabbed my attention when I borrowed it, with Britannia being under siege by a group of evil gargoyles, and the Avatar all set up to be sacrificed. Right on cue, a few of the Avatar’s companions show up to save the day though. This game was so complicated that it hurt my feelings. I have never felt so dumb as when I’m playing an Ultima game. Despite that, when I started to piece the puzzle together and get it going, it made me feel like I was on top of the world. I really felt like a hero in the Ultima franchise. The quest in Ultima VI was not a long one, but it sure felt like it. The games are only as long as you make them. But what makes them so special is how open-ended they are. For example, in Ultima VI you are liberating the Shrines, acquiring the Magic Ballon, and getting the Silver Tome. If you know what to do, you can do these in whichever order feels right for you. This is not a franchise where all the games have you grinding for hours. Ultima VI’s level cap is level 8 for example, and many quests you don’t even fight stuff. But the monsters are ferocious, so you should at least level some.

Hidden Gems Ultima - Lord British

Thank you, Lord British.

The Ultima franchise was creative, well-told in basically every game I played, and challenging. I learned valuable life lessons and found a rich fantasy world that was just mine for the asking. Many people know about Ultima Online, and Shroud of the Avatar, but not enough people know where it all began. Now I really want to sit down with the series and explore them again, from the games I played once or not at all, to the ones I devoted months of my time to. In Ultima, you learn, you grow, you are challenged. Some are definitely better than others, but the series as a whole really shaped my love of Roleplaying games. Dragon Warrior 1 and Ultima Exodus were my first RPGs, and I cannot be thankful enough for finding both of them. I cannot stress enough how fun Ultima was as a franchise, despite being vexed by it.  Regardless of what platform you find them for, (Though I believe GOG has the entire mainline series), I highly recommend at least seeking one of them out.

Thank you, Lord British. In a time when I needed something to lift me up and give me hope, Ultima was there to do just that. I remain as ever, a humble citizen of Britannia.

Conqueror’s Blade – Mount & Blade meets World of Tanks

By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF), OnRPG Journalist

Conqueror’s Blade is a warfare MMO that spans the earlier periods of both Western and Eastern cultures. From Spanish Muskets to Kamakura Samurai, you will take control of legions from all over the world and do battle against other players. By combining tactics, strategy, and action gameplay, Booming Games is aiming to achieve a living world that offers something for everyone. There’s unit progression similar to whats found in War Thunder or World of Tanks, combat similar to what you might find in Mount & Blade (Single player) or Dynasty Warriors, and strategy similar to what you may come across in Europa Universalis. So, does Conqueror’s Blade deliver? It may be a bit too early to tell, but I can share what I’ve found while playing the Closed Beta.

Customization

Conqueror’s Blade has a fair amount of character customization, but nothing too in-depth. While there’s a lack of sliders, you do get a fair amount of pre-made options. Past being able to give your character a sick goatee, you have a few other avenues of customization. Namely, in choosing skills in your character progression, and choosing which paths of research/development you want to take for your troops. The reality is, though, you won’t be too different – on a character level – compared to other players of the same weapon type.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

An alright selection of options.

Real customization in this game comes in the form of your strategy; that is, what you do before you go into battle. Which items you take with you, what spawnable siege weaponry you invest in so that you may bring it into battle, what units you choose. This is especially the case in the Overworld system, which I’ll get into later. So while, in a factual sense, there isn’t much customization, it feels like you have a lot of choices to make.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

I enjoy this system of progression.

Graphics

While Conqueror’s Blade certainly looks good, it isn’t exactly gorgeous. Models were OK, but felt like they lacked polish. Perhaps that was just because of a lack of graphical options that will be introduced by time the game launches. Textures mostly seemed to be of a lower quality, at least where buildings and characters were concerned. Also, the character design, at least for the players at lower and mid levels, was very lackluster. Not to say that there isn’t merit in following a more realistic and down-to-Earth style (see: Life is Feudal), I just rarely felt like an epic general because my character always looked less prepared for battle than his own troops.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

Decent, but not quite what I hoped for.

Where the graphics shine though is in the world design, from the Overworld, to the battle maps. Whoever they had working on designing this aspect of the game had some real vision and it shows. The engine also does really well at producing accurate and detailed lighting, which means accurate and detailed shadows. Seeing flaming arrows and cannon balls soaring overhead on siege maps is a sight to behold. So, in short, while most of the graphics failed to impress me, I was far from disappointed.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

The game is very atmospheric.

Controls

For the most part, the controls in Conqueror’s Blade were perfect. The only downside, I would argue, was that it can be difficult to remember all the keys you’ll need to use in the heat of combat. Learning what combos to use, remembering to activate your abilities in the correct moments, setting your units up for the best benefit in a certain situation… it all adds up when you’re also fighting other players and trying to stay alive. I’m not saying it’s exactly hard, just that it’s a different experience than what you would find in most MMOs.

Community

During the Closed Beta, everyone from all regions were connected to the same international server (though I believe it was hosted in North America). I’m unsure whether or not this will be case at launch. This sort of set-up has some benefits and some negatives. One major positive is a truly massive population. The downside was that players tend to separate themselves by language, which means a fair amount of toxicity and animosity is generated towards certain groups with large populations by other groups. This toxicity can become borderline racist. I saw it happen in Age of Wushu, so I’m unsure on how I would feel if the game had one shared international community instead of being separated (by IP block) into regional servers.

Gameplay

As I said in the introduction, Conqueror’s Blade is a multi-genre spanning game. It’s got a little bit of something for most types of players. There’s even crafting. Personally, my favorite aspect of the game was leading the troops. In games that have tried similar troop-leading mechanics, they (at least to me) often felt more like a meaningless meat-shield. In Conqueror’s Blade, the troops felt meaningful and if you were under-prepared for the encounter, you could easily find yourself dying to troops alone without any player intervention.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

These are some of my favorite units – at least as a low level – as the protection they offer me when trying to capture or protect points is unparalleled.

Each unit has various formations and abilities unique to them. For example, if you have a shield-wielding unit, you could order them into a close-knit rectangle formation. Then, you could order them to raise their shields, offering you (or perhaps another players archers) vastly increased protection. Or if you have a unit capable of it, they could array themselves into a nearly impenetrable block of shields. Or to put themselves in an circle around you, slowly moving with you and turning you into a turtle of devastation. And that’s just one type of unit. There are archers, muskets, cavalry, pikes, and more.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

While it’s fun against NPCs, against other players you will often get frustrated.

Combat, at least in terms of player versus player, is in need of a ton of tweaking and polish. There are too many ‘broken’ weapons that offer unfair advantages. At first it was muskets – a female only class – but then it became apparent than certain other weapons had advantages. It’s not fun when two players can be play volleyball with a third player and put them into an infinite stun loop until they die. Heck, a single player on a horse can do about the same. There needs to be more balance.

Character progression is a bit simplistic. You will gain access to more abilities to choose from (and level up) as you gain levels, but overall you wont be too much different than other players of the same weapon type. Moves have various roles they fill. For example, there are block-breaking moves which have a fairly obvious purpose. AOEs, frontal cones, and pin-point damage dealers, too.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

This system is similar to what you would find in World of Tanks, just replace ‘Research Points’ with ‘Honor.’

Unit progression, on the other hand, is a bit more complex. There are three major types of units: Melee, Ranged, and Calvary. The progression for these are similar to what you would find in World of Tanks or War Thunder. By participating in battles you generate Honor (essentially ‘Research Points’ in other games) and gain Silver. I rather enjoy this set-up, as it makes you feel like you’re actually progressing – something that most games nowadays struggle at. I do feel, however, that the progression was a tad slow in the beta. (Unless you’re using the EXP boosts, that is… which I mention in the ‘Cash Shop Woes?’ section.)

If Conqueror’s Blade was simply a battle-centric game, it honestly wouldn’t have that much promise. Good thing it isn’t. By giving players an Overworld filled with various fortresses, cities, towns, villages, and resource-gathering nodes to fight and take control of, the developers have elevated Conqueror’s Blade from a simple battle arena game into a true living world MMO.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

This is where the ‘real’ game starts.

Players will need to form caravans with their units and wagons, ensuring they have the rations to feed themselves and their troops before leaving, to travel the Overworld. As players travel, other players traveling will be able to see them. If those players are hostile, they can choose to pursue the other player and initiate a battle. If a player goes unhindered, they can make their way to various nodes on the Overworld and take them over, enabling their House or Kingdom to gather resources and/or taxes from it.

The developers ensure that the Overworld will play a major part in the game by making it so certain resources required for all but the lowest tier of units and craftings can only be obtained from it. That’s not to say that players are required to participate: There is a market where players who do participate in the Overworld can sell their goods to any player who has the Silver (such as those that stick purely to queue-based battles). If you can’t tell, this mechanics has me really excited.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

Joining a good Kingdom is paramount to having fun in Conqueror’s Blade.

Players have two main methods to organize themselves: Houses, which are essentially guilds in most MMOs, and Kingdoms, which are collections of Houses who ally themselves together. During the Closed Beta I joined a House, which then joined a Kingdom. Because of that, I was able to participate in and experience the excitement (and frustration) the Overworld offered. If you want to enjoy the full experience that Conqueror’s Blade offers, you’ll also want to join up with a House with a solid Kingdom.

Cash Shop Woes?

There was only a very small glimpse of the cash shop (‘Mall’ in Conqueror’s Blade) during the Closed Beta. What we saw were two types of cash shop items: Silver bags, which give in-game currency, and EXP boosts, which can vastly increase the rate at which you gain experience. Now this isn’t exactly pay-to-win, but it will give those with a wallet a hefty advantage in the early game UNLESS the developers decide to postpone making the cash shop available for the first few weeks of the game. I don’t see this happening, though. The experience boosts aren’t too broken because they have level limits. IE, the 6x experience cannot be used unless your character is under a certain level (35, I believe). So, while this may offer an advantage for players in the early game, during the mid and late game it’ll act more as a catch-up mechanic. One that is, unfortunately, behind a paywall.

Conqueror's Blade Screenshot

Stuff like this has me worried for the games future.

Conclusion

During the Closed Beta, Conqueror’s Blade proved it was a solid game with a ton of potential. Exciting combat mixed with intense strategy is always a fantastic combination. Sure, there were some worries (unbalanced weapons and the cash shop), but I feel like the developers will likely be able to steer the game in the correct direction. I hope, anyways. I’ll definitely be returning for the Open Beta and Release, as the game offered way too much to put down. So, should you give Conqueror’s Blade a try? Definitely.

  • Features: 4/5 – Tons of great features.
  • Customization: 3/5 – I’d appreciate a bit more.
  • Graphics: 3.5/5 – Just short of being impressive.
  • Controls: 4/5 – Solid.
  • Community: 3/5 – Still up in the air.

Overall: 3.5/5 – Hopefully this will increase into a 4/5 at release.

Note: A key was provided for preview purposes.

Conqueror’s Blade Beta Screenshots

Grimms Notes

Grimms Notes is a F2P strategy role-playing game featuring dazzling visuals woven with fun to execute attacks and combos. Join the ranks of twisted fairy tale protagonists and work to restore your destiny shattered by fallen creators devoured by darkness. Available for iOS and Android.

Features:

Dusty Books, Fresh Ink: Experience a new take on old myths and legends including Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and Romeo & Juliet.

2 Good 4 U: Effortlessly pull off devastating sequences of skills to mercilessly annihilate enemies.

A Journey to Remember: Play as much as you want on any difficulty you want as you explore stories filled with gorgeously illustrated cutscenes narrated by top-of-the-line voice acting.