NCSoft: Lineage Eternal
Source: Youtube Channel SurrealMMO
Last year, I was looking up for some Top-Down, Point-n-Click, Action-RPGs to play while I was waiting for Diablo 3 to release. One of the game I had run into was Lineage Eternal. It was to be a sequel to the Lineage series and it looked really interesting. It's been well over a year now and I still haven't heard much of it. I looked it up again to see what other videos might have been posted. More gameplay videos have been uploaded and shows off some of the graphics and class capabilities. I hope NCSoft brings this over to North America as it seems to have a large market for it with mass interests in games like Diablo 3 (yes, Diablo 3), Torchlight 2, and Path of Exile. We can only wait and see if more news about this game will surface.
Showing posts with label MMO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MMO. Show all posts
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
NewNews - Ghosts 'n Goblins Online is Back!
Steam Greenlight: Ghosts 'n Goblins Online
Source: Youtube Channel 씨드나인 게임즈
Ghosts 'n Goblins Online has been around for a while and has been talked about in the game community and then it was canceled. Apparently it's been canceled twice already. Well it's back again with a chance to release stateside through the help of Steam Greenlight. With news of this, every major media is spreading the word and hopefully getting people to upvote it on Steam Greenlight. The main concern for a lot of GnG fans is that the game looks too easy. Looking at the gameplay, I'd say that it's because it's a completely different gameplay mechanic from what most people know about the GnG series. The game is still a 2D Action-Platformer, but rather than a straight up Action game where you move forward, die in two hits, and have limited amounts of way to attack, there are a lot of RPG elements such as an open world to explore, stats to improve, lots of skills to attain, etc. You could say that it's Maple Story in a GnG universe. There seems to be different classes with an array of skills to learn, the ability to play cooperatively with other players, raise stats and attributes to improve survivability, damage, and ability power, and play in competitive PvP arenas. There seems to be a mode called "demonic dimension" where you die in two hits (classic GnG style life system: Armor->Underwear->Dead). There's a trailer showing some of the gameplay:
Source: Youtube Channel 씨드나인 게임즈
With this, yes the game will be easier to accommodate an online gaming experience as well as a more general audience. Still the game looks to be very interesting and is one I'm willing to play. A lot of people are also hoping that the attention and success of this game might bring about the resurrection of Megaman Online and bringing it over here. I'd be very happy about that.
Source:
-Joystiq - Ghosts'n Goblins Online resurfaces at Steam Greenlight
Source: Youtube Channel 씨드나인 게임즈
Ghosts 'n Goblins Online has been around for a while and has been talked about in the game community and then it was canceled. Apparently it's been canceled twice already. Well it's back again with a chance to release stateside through the help of Steam Greenlight. With news of this, every major media is spreading the word and hopefully getting people to upvote it on Steam Greenlight. The main concern for a lot of GnG fans is that the game looks too easy. Looking at the gameplay, I'd say that it's because it's a completely different gameplay mechanic from what most people know about the GnG series. The game is still a 2D Action-Platformer, but rather than a straight up Action game where you move forward, die in two hits, and have limited amounts of way to attack, there are a lot of RPG elements such as an open world to explore, stats to improve, lots of skills to attain, etc. You could say that it's Maple Story in a GnG universe. There seems to be different classes with an array of skills to learn, the ability to play cooperatively with other players, raise stats and attributes to improve survivability, damage, and ability power, and play in competitive PvP arenas. There seems to be a mode called "demonic dimension" where you die in two hits (classic GnG style life system: Armor->Underwear->Dead). There's a trailer showing some of the gameplay:
Source: Youtube Channel 씨드나인 게임즈
With this, yes the game will be easier to accommodate an online gaming experience as well as a more general audience. Still the game looks to be very interesting and is one I'm willing to play. A lot of people are also hoping that the attention and success of this game might bring about the resurrection of Megaman Online and bringing it over here. I'd be very happy about that.
Source:
-Joystiq - Ghosts'n Goblins Online resurfaces at Steam Greenlight
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
NewNews - Dungeon Fighter Online last week
Official Site: http://dungeonfighter.nexon.net/
Source: Youtube Channel Dyran Daypray
If you've ever heard of Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) and wanted to try it, you had better do that within the week. 2D Arcade-style Beat-em-Up Dungeon Fighter Online will shut down North American Servers on June 13th, 2013 next Thursday. Despite its incredible popularity and income overseas, the unique MMO fighter wasn't able to hold its own in the West. DFO combines the basic mechanics of beat-em-ups with lots of RPG elements such as branching paths for classes, numerous items to equip and consume, an on-going story, and tons of skills that can be combined for all sorts of crazy combos. It has a nostalgic retro-look to the graphics with flashy animations. For many players, the game got repetitive and possibly grindy when they were no longer to progress through the story and need to revisit older levels for gaining experience points and looking for better equipment. With this, there are less players willing to stay with the game and spend money in the micro-transaction shop which is what keeps these free-to-play online games afloat. If you like Action games or Beat-em-Ups, it's probably worth playing the game a little before it shuts down forever on June 13th. It's always sad to see fun games like these shut down, but we got the chance to play them at the very least.
Source: Youtube Channel Dyran Daypray
If you've ever heard of Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) and wanted to try it, you had better do that within the week. 2D Arcade-style Beat-em-Up Dungeon Fighter Online will shut down North American Servers on June 13th, 2013 next Thursday. Despite its incredible popularity and income overseas, the unique MMO fighter wasn't able to hold its own in the West. DFO combines the basic mechanics of beat-em-ups with lots of RPG elements such as branching paths for classes, numerous items to equip and consume, an on-going story, and tons of skills that can be combined for all sorts of crazy combos. It has a nostalgic retro-look to the graphics with flashy animations. For many players, the game got repetitive and possibly grindy when they were no longer to progress through the story and need to revisit older levels for gaining experience points and looking for better equipment. With this, there are less players willing to stay with the game and spend money in the micro-transaction shop which is what keeps these free-to-play online games afloat. If you like Action games or Beat-em-Ups, it's probably worth playing the game a little before it shuts down forever on June 13th. It's always sad to see fun games like these shut down, but we got the chance to play them at the very least.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
NewNews - Monster Hunter Online in China
Source: Youtube Channel GamesHQMedia
Looks like another Monster Hunter game is not going to see the West again with Capcom and Tencent working together on releasing Monster Hunter Online in China. It utilizes the technology of the CryEngine 3 so the graphics and animations are really beautiful. It will be released as a free-to-play MMO with a micro-transaction system to keep the game afloat. I can see why Capcom would be hesitant to try that in North America and even Europe considering the competition and the lower success rate that free-to-play MMOs have in the Western market.
From a gamers point of view, this would be really cool. Instead of going from one pocket of enemies to another in most MMORPGs, Monster Hunter Online would be all about one epic boss fight after another. We can only hope that Monster Hunter Online might get to see the light of day over in the West, but at least we got Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (if only the 3DS version had online play).
Source:
-Joystiq - CryEngine 3-powered Monster Hunter Online headed to China
Looks like another Monster Hunter game is not going to see the West again with Capcom and Tencent working together on releasing Monster Hunter Online in China. It utilizes the technology of the CryEngine 3 so the graphics and animations are really beautiful. It will be released as a free-to-play MMO with a micro-transaction system to keep the game afloat. I can see why Capcom would be hesitant to try that in North America and even Europe considering the competition and the lower success rate that free-to-play MMOs have in the Western market.
From a gamers point of view, this would be really cool. Instead of going from one pocket of enemies to another in most MMORPGs, Monster Hunter Online would be all about one epic boss fight after another. We can only hope that Monster Hunter Online might get to see the light of day over in the West, but at least we got Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (if only the 3DS version had online play).
Source:
-Joystiq - CryEngine 3-powered Monster Hunter Online headed to China
Monday, December 17, 2012
GameLight - The War Z
Official Site: http://thewarz.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/226700/
Source: Youtube Channel FPSGeneral
A little mod for ArmA 2 known as DayZ caught the attention of the gaming community and industry media as a unique Survival-Horror not found in many Zombie games. Rather than fighting swarms of zombies around every corner being able to patch up any wound and going from point-A to point-B, DayZ work around the idea of a more realistic environment where resources are scarce, other players are potential threats, and Zombies are very dangerous. As this mod started picking up more interest to the masses, the mod team decided to work on a stand alone game that takes off the limitations of the ArmA 2 Engine. However, around the same time, another team of developers had announced a game called The War Z. With great haste, they have launched the game and have made it available on steam right now.
The War Z is a Zombie Survival-horror MMO where players can play together or on an open-world map where all players can be allies or enemies. The realism comes into play with hunger/thirst trackers, scarce resources, and losing everything upon death. For Hardcore mode, you lose everything like in the DayZ mod including your characters. The game is currently -10% off for $13.49 on Steam with other options to get in-game currency to buy better items. But beware, even in-game bought items can be lost upon death and taken by other players. Also, it seems you have to wait an hour before you can respawn with your character after death. Good luck to those planning to play the game!
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/226700/
Source: Youtube Channel FPSGeneral
A little mod for ArmA 2 known as DayZ caught the attention of the gaming community and industry media as a unique Survival-Horror not found in many Zombie games. Rather than fighting swarms of zombies around every corner being able to patch up any wound and going from point-A to point-B, DayZ work around the idea of a more realistic environment where resources are scarce, other players are potential threats, and Zombies are very dangerous. As this mod started picking up more interest to the masses, the mod team decided to work on a stand alone game that takes off the limitations of the ArmA 2 Engine. However, around the same time, another team of developers had announced a game called The War Z. With great haste, they have launched the game and have made it available on steam right now.
The War Z is a Zombie Survival-horror MMO where players can play together or on an open-world map where all players can be allies or enemies. The realism comes into play with hunger/thirst trackers, scarce resources, and losing everything upon death. For Hardcore mode, you lose everything like in the DayZ mod including your characters. The game is currently -10% off for $13.49 on Steam with other options to get in-game currency to buy better items. But beware, even in-game bought items can be lost upon death and taken by other players. Also, it seems you have to wait an hour before you can respawn with your character after death. Good luck to those planning to play the game!
Monday, February 27, 2012
GameLight - Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes
Official Site: https://wrathofheroes.warhammeronline.com/
Source: Youtube Channel gamespot
Over the weekend, I finally took the time to download and play Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes as it has been released to the public in its open beta testing. Wrath of Heroes is a special PvP (Player vs. Player)-centric multiplayer take on Warhammer Online's main MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) Age of Reckoning. It takes two modes (at the moment, Capture Point and Death Match) and pits three teams against each other using pre-made characters, each with their own unique abilities, role in the team, and 5 usable skills. Joining a game from the main menu is much like joining a PvP in other MMORPGs with players joining getting matched up and placed into a server to play. When the match starts, the player can choose from any of the characters available and can purchase more later on when they earn enough in-game currency. When a player dies, they will respawn and choose to play the same character or choose a different one to adapt to the situation. Like any MMORPG PvP match, knowing your role and complimenting them with your team mates' characters is the key to victory. You have the tank who charges in and pins down the enemy while the damage dealer takes care of them, the healer who keeps their team alive, the support who buffs allies and debuffs enemies, the DPS (Damage Per Second/Damage Dealer) who causes the most damage, etc. Since each character only has 5 skills to cast from, sticking to their role is very important. An assassin charging in head first will probably get killed before they can take down their target. A healer trying to hard to fight will do no damage and have their team suffer. And the classic: if everyone chooses a DPS, the team will most likely fail to achieve anything as their tanks, disablers, and healers will overwhelm the team.
The gameplay feels a lot like any MMORPG in PvP mode, which is great for anyone who like PvP but hates grinding for levels and farming for equipment. The game provides the most bare necessities for a fun PvP experience placing everyone on equal levels. Victory is dependent on skill and teamwork and focuses on that as they take out any variables of class paths, items, character level, or perks. The game is very fast-paced and can be confusing for new-comers of the genre, but I believe it's pretty easy to pick up after a few rounds (considering that I don't PvP that much in MMORPGs, I learned pretty quickly). By simplifying it down to 5 skills, players won't have to juggle a series of skills to figure out what does what and be able to catch on the strategies to the character more quickly. The game is free to play and is available as an open beta. Click on the official site up top and register for an account to try it out. It's great for any players who likes PvP but don't have the time to play a full blown MMORPG to do so.
Source: Youtube Channel gamespot
Over the weekend, I finally took the time to download and play Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes as it has been released to the public in its open beta testing. Wrath of Heroes is a special PvP (Player vs. Player)-centric multiplayer take on Warhammer Online's main MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) Age of Reckoning. It takes two modes (at the moment, Capture Point and Death Match) and pits three teams against each other using pre-made characters, each with their own unique abilities, role in the team, and 5 usable skills. Joining a game from the main menu is much like joining a PvP in other MMORPGs with players joining getting matched up and placed into a server to play. When the match starts, the player can choose from any of the characters available and can purchase more later on when they earn enough in-game currency. When a player dies, they will respawn and choose to play the same character or choose a different one to adapt to the situation. Like any MMORPG PvP match, knowing your role and complimenting them with your team mates' characters is the key to victory. You have the tank who charges in and pins down the enemy while the damage dealer takes care of them, the healer who keeps their team alive, the support who buffs allies and debuffs enemies, the DPS (Damage Per Second/Damage Dealer) who causes the most damage, etc. Since each character only has 5 skills to cast from, sticking to their role is very important. An assassin charging in head first will probably get killed before they can take down their target. A healer trying to hard to fight will do no damage and have their team suffer. And the classic: if everyone chooses a DPS, the team will most likely fail to achieve anything as their tanks, disablers, and healers will overwhelm the team.
The gameplay feels a lot like any MMORPG in PvP mode, which is great for anyone who like PvP but hates grinding for levels and farming for equipment. The game provides the most bare necessities for a fun PvP experience placing everyone on equal levels. Victory is dependent on skill and teamwork and focuses on that as they take out any variables of class paths, items, character level, or perks. The game is very fast-paced and can be confusing for new-comers of the genre, but I believe it's pretty easy to pick up after a few rounds (considering that I don't PvP that much in MMORPGs, I learned pretty quickly). By simplifying it down to 5 skills, players won't have to juggle a series of skills to figure out what does what and be able to catch on the strategies to the character more quickly. The game is free to play and is available as an open beta. Click on the official site up top and register for an account to try it out. It's great for any players who likes PvP but don't have the time to play a full blown MMORPG to do so.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
VGCulture - Free Online Games on the Steam Platform
Great news for those who play a lot of Free-to-Play MMOs: Steam will be supporting Free MMOs from various publishers on their Steam platform. Why is this good? Gamers who play a lot of free MMOs know that client downloads can become a hassle with slow rates, corrupted files, and finding the latest versions. If you're a publisher of free online games, you'll know that it's sometimes difficult to get your games to the players who are actually interested in playing them because of how convoluted the market for Free MMOs, and even more: the internet, is that a lot of potential players overlook it.
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
Well Valve's Steam platform will help reach out to their 30 million active users and help those interested download it with ease on the program rather than trying to find a download host that has the latest version with no viruses on them. Right off the bat, five games are available:
-Spiral Knights (Sega)
-Forsaken World (Perfect World)
-Alliance of Valiant Arms (Ijji)
-Champions Online: Free For All (Perfect World - they now own Cryptic Studios)
-Global Agenda: Free Agent (Hi-Rez Studios)
There has been a lot of speculations that Free MMOs don't have the quality of paid subscriptions and that most free online games are not worth the time. Not entirely true as aspiring developers work hard to provide the best online gaming experience for the player to choose to spend money or not and still make a profit. All five games are of the highest quality in terms of MMOs (though I haven't tried the first two, but now I will since it's easier to download on Steam) and I recommend trying them out. Yes, you may have to sacrifice some time to try it out, but at least money isn't an issue.
Those who download and play the games will receive special in-game items. This hasn't been made clear, but I'm guessing it's for those who play the games on Steam. Details on what registered users get if they even get anything haven't been reported. From what I know thus far, players can log into the games using their accounts from their respective publishers, use their steam account to log in, or link their steam accounts with the account with their publishers. I am mostly glad about being able to have a fast and efficient way to download the games. More Free MMOs will be available on the Steam platform later on.
Sources:
-Gamasutra - 'Free-To-Play' Model Arrives On Steam
-Joystiq - You're free to play these free-to-play games through Steam
-Kotaku - Steam Goes Free to Play
-Steam - Free To Play Games Have Arrived on Steam
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
Well Valve's Steam platform will help reach out to their 30 million active users and help those interested download it with ease on the program rather than trying to find a download host that has the latest version with no viruses on them. Right off the bat, five games are available:
-Spiral Knights (Sega)
-Forsaken World (Perfect World)
-Alliance of Valiant Arms (Ijji)
-Champions Online: Free For All (Perfect World - they now own Cryptic Studios)
-Global Agenda: Free Agent (Hi-Rez Studios)
There has been a lot of speculations that Free MMOs don't have the quality of paid subscriptions and that most free online games are not worth the time. Not entirely true as aspiring developers work hard to provide the best online gaming experience for the player to choose to spend money or not and still make a profit. All five games are of the highest quality in terms of MMOs (though I haven't tried the first two, but now I will since it's easier to download on Steam) and I recommend trying them out. Yes, you may have to sacrifice some time to try it out, but at least money isn't an issue.
Those who download and play the games will receive special in-game items. This hasn't been made clear, but I'm guessing it's for those who play the games on Steam. Details on what registered users get if they even get anything haven't been reported. From what I know thus far, players can log into the games using their accounts from their respective publishers, use their steam account to log in, or link their steam accounts with the account with their publishers. I am mostly glad about being able to have a fast and efficient way to download the games. More Free MMOs will be available on the Steam platform later on.
Sources:
-Gamasutra - 'Free-To-Play' Model Arrives On Steam
-Joystiq - You're free to play these free-to-play games through Steam
-Kotaku - Steam Goes Free to Play
-Steam - Free To Play Games Have Arrived on Steam
Thursday, April 7, 2011
NewNews - Global Agenda goes Free-to-Play all the way!
Global Agenda is a 3rd-Person Action Shooter Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game that focuses a lot of its gameplay on instances, competitive matches, and a constantly evolving, on-going world with defense raids and open-world quests.
Source: Youtube Channel mmorpgitalia
Later in the month, Global Agenda will switch from its one-time purchase structure to a Free-to-Play structure with the option to have a one time payment to obtain the status of "Elite Agent" which makes leveling, gathering currency and items easier. Those who have paid for the game already will automatically receive this status when the new patch is applied to the game. For those who want to play for free, don't worry about the levels, items, and currency too much because the game is heavily skill based with team-work in mind. Players who are at level 10 will go up against players who are level 50+ and still win if they have a solid team to work with. Global Agenda is one of those rare MMOs where players of any level can play together (for the most part, some restrictions for instances). Because of this news, I'm going to get my friends who don't play the game to join. I haven't played the game as much as I had hoped, but I enjoy it every time I log on. The graphics are nice, the thematic atmosphere is immersive, the sounds are unique and recognizable as its own, the gameplay is fast-paced and challenging, the various game modes provide a variety of ways to play the game, but I wish there was more music going throughout the game (what is up with all these MMOs with no music?). The team working at Hi-Rez Studios has worked constantly on improving Global Agenda throughout the year. I have seen the game go through an entire change in equipment systems, skill tree changes, user interface, adding new items, constant updates in class balance (the nerf on the Recon made me sad, but it made sense), additional game modes, and entire expansion pack was given for free to all the players. Hopefully this switch to Free-to-Play structure will give players who had doubts about the game an opportunity to truly enjoy this amazing MMO.
Source: Gamasutra - Hi-Rez Makes Full Free-To-Play Switch With Global Agenda
Source: Youtube Channel mmorpgitalia
Later in the month, Global Agenda will switch from its one-time purchase structure to a Free-to-Play structure with the option to have a one time payment to obtain the status of "Elite Agent" which makes leveling, gathering currency and items easier. Those who have paid for the game already will automatically receive this status when the new patch is applied to the game. For those who want to play for free, don't worry about the levels, items, and currency too much because the game is heavily skill based with team-work in mind. Players who are at level 10 will go up against players who are level 50+ and still win if they have a solid team to work with. Global Agenda is one of those rare MMOs where players of any level can play together (for the most part, some restrictions for instances). Because of this news, I'm going to get my friends who don't play the game to join. I haven't played the game as much as I had hoped, but I enjoy it every time I log on. The graphics are nice, the thematic atmosphere is immersive, the sounds are unique and recognizable as its own, the gameplay is fast-paced and challenging, the various game modes provide a variety of ways to play the game, but I wish there was more music going throughout the game (what is up with all these MMOs with no music?). The team working at Hi-Rez Studios has worked constantly on improving Global Agenda throughout the year. I have seen the game go through an entire change in equipment systems, skill tree changes, user interface, adding new items, constant updates in class balance (the nerf on the Recon made me sad, but it made sense), additional game modes, and entire expansion pack was given for free to all the players. Hopefully this switch to Free-to-Play structure will give players who had doubts about the game an opportunity to truly enjoy this amazing MMO.
Source: Gamasutra - Hi-Rez Makes Full Free-To-Play Switch With Global Agenda
Friday, February 11, 2011
GameOn - Free Games - Massive Multiplayer Online Games
This is my favorite topic for free games. Full blown online games that sometime reach up to 5GB worth of content put out into the free games pot. Free online games with absolutely no charge for the game or services was something for gamers of all ages to rejoice and a concept the (western) game industry just couldn't get (at first). These free Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs) range from Action, RPG, Sports, Fighters to First-Person Shooters (FPS), Air Combat, and Racing. There's something for everyone and with over several hundred free online games available, you'll never have to go bored again!
Source: Youtube Channel CurseNetwork
The word "free" in games has actually become a really bad word for some/a lot of gamers. With a huge over saturation of cookie cutter RPGs and laggy FPSs, avid online gamers have become sick of the word "free" online games and would much prefer to pay for a quality game. Well, that's certainly not 100% true since a lot of pay-to-play online game companies have converted to free-to-play style because of the competition held by free online games. I am still very much in love with the concept of free online games just because I can try out so many different games and explore so much without having the obligation of paying for them. This concept started happening with Korean online game developers working with a free-to-play structure where players can play for free and have the option to use real money to enhance their game characters with items, equipment, and bonuses. This was quickly adapted in the western market and has done well for some companies (Zynga with their billion dollar business). Because of the huge success of the initial companies in the Western market, hundreds of Asian, European, and some American developed games launched all over the internet with similar structures to those that have been successful but ultimately lacks diversity and depth.
Advantages:
-Incredible/Quality games are free to download and play
-Graphics, music, and gameplay can be as good as commercially sold games
-All sorts of genres are available to find and play
-Most of the games are easy for all to learn and still have enough challenge for hardcore gamers
-Games have an immersive environment to them and can (sometimes) have a involving community
-Raises cultural awareness with some games retaining their original native language voice-overs
Disadvantages:
-RPGs all follow the same structure and require players to play for hours, weeks, or months before getting into the real parts of the games "instances, group quests, boss fights, PvP, GvG."
Source: Youtube Channel orihime09
Source: Youtube Channel wongliheng
Source: Youtube Channel viennakim
Source: Youtube Channel RiotGamesInc
Source: Youtube Channel hagbardc3line
Source: Youtube Channel CurseNetwork
The word "free" in games has actually become a really bad word for some/a lot of gamers. With a huge over saturation of cookie cutter RPGs and laggy FPSs, avid online gamers have become sick of the word "free" online games and would much prefer to pay for a quality game. Well, that's certainly not 100% true since a lot of pay-to-play online game companies have converted to free-to-play style because of the competition held by free online games. I am still very much in love with the concept of free online games just because I can try out so many different games and explore so much without having the obligation of paying for them. This concept started happening with Korean online game developers working with a free-to-play structure where players can play for free and have the option to use real money to enhance their game characters with items, equipment, and bonuses. This was quickly adapted in the western market and has done well for some companies (Zynga with their billion dollar business). Because of the huge success of the initial companies in the Western market, hundreds of Asian, European, and some American developed games launched all over the internet with similar structures to those that have been successful but ultimately lacks diversity and depth.
Advantages:
-Incredible/Quality games are free to download and play
-Graphics, music, and gameplay can be as good as commercially sold games
-All sorts of genres are available to find and play
-Most of the games are easy for all to learn and still have enough challenge for hardcore gamers
-Games have an immersive environment to them and can (sometimes) have a involving community
-Raises cultural awareness with some games retaining their original native language voice-overs
Disadvantages:
-RPGs all follow the same structure and require players to play for hours, weeks, or months before getting into the real parts of the games "instances, group quests, boss fights, PvP, GvG."
-Hackers, whiners, and foul-mouthed players frequently ruin competitive online games
-Lots of games lack depth with repetitive gameplay and monotonous activities
-Players who pay for items, equipment and level boosts have a significant advantage over those who don’t, causing imbalance in competitive games
-Lack of players, bugs, lag, and glitches interfere with the experience of the game which eventually kills off the community that played it
-Games that don’t have enough paying players on them will inevitably shut down no matter how great or entertaining it was
I’ve been avoiding MMOs for the past two years because of college and because I went back to playing a lot of console games after I graduated (until Steam pulled me back into PC gaming. Those sales are diabolical, and I love it, haha). Having played over 50+ online games, I started to grow tired of the same type of games that kept releasing one after another with no real difference or hook to them. But at the same time, it is because I have had such a wide range of experience in MMOs that I have a better idea of what games I would recommend.
Source: Youtube Channel orihime09
Ragnarok Online – This game has been around for a long time. It started out as a pay-to-play online game but has recently switched to a free-to-play model in response to the competition from free online games. Ragnarok Online is a top-down 2.5 dimensional MMORPG that emulates 3D using 2D graphics. Though this game came out a long time ago, it has many aspects that are great even by today’s standards. The music is magnificent and really draws the player in. One of the most interesting characteristics of the game mechanics was the amount of classes there were to choose from and the different types of stats build that could be made with each character to fit one’s playing style. The most mind boggling game mechanic was the freedom that the game gave. There isn’t a set story, a linear path one should take, or quests that takes players from one area to the next. This sandbox method of playing is rather intimidating at first since the game’s world is rather large with no direction of where beginners should go. I loved the freedom in the game. I got to set my own goals, played my own story, and let things happen naturally. I would get together with friends and run through a difficult dungeon to see if we can fight off the boss monster. Other times, I get caught up in conversations within a town with other players I’ve never met and we’d talk for long durations (I ended up talking to a group of players in Prontera for 2 hours about politics and global economy and it was pretty entertaining. It’s strange, but true). The game is still very successful and have plenty of players logged on each day.
Source: Youtube Channel wongliheng
Maple Story – I’m almost hesitant to even mention Maple Story as a recommendation. Maple Story is possibly my first real MMO that I started playing back in 2005. It was such an innovation for me at the time. It plays like a cross between a plat-former and an RPG a la “Metroidvania” with tons of weapons and classes to choose from. The graphics and music were charming and had a whimsical atmosphere to it. The problem was when it first started, its game mechanics were more geared towards the audience in Asia . Maple Story is one of the first Korean Online games that was brought over to the Western market with the free-to-play, micro-transaction structure and remains today as one of the most successful games of gaining a profit from it. I had created 10 characters when I first started since I was so excited to try out all the possibilities and eventually stuck with my Warrior to level as far as I could with it. After a while, I realized that all I was doing in the game was standing in one area for hours killing the same monsters that spawned until I reached a high enough level to take on enemies in another area to repeat the same monotonous tasks. I eventually decided to quit the game and not go back to it; however, the game has gone through a lot of changes that fit more towards the western audience for those who didn’t want to “grind” as much. Experience points are gained faster, quests are abundant, a combo system has been integrated, and lots of new events happen every now and then. I’m almost tempted to go back to it…
Source: Youtube Channel viennakim
Gunz: The Duel – Gunz has been one of the many MMOs that I played that had such an amazing experience. It’s a third-person action shooter where players try to eliminate each other in a competitive match utilizing various firearms and blades. Within the game, the player can dash in mid-air, scale walls, and deflect in-coming bullets with a sword. The game has a level up system that unlocks weapons and equipment for players to buy, but the game has more of a reliance on skill rather than levels, equipment, and items. The most thrilling part of the game for me was learning K-Style (Korean Style) which utilized all the weapons and techniques so that it’s possible to wall climb indefinitely, block in-coming bullets, shoot, slash, and dodge or recover while repeating when there’s an opening. It was something that really challenged my skill rather than demanding my time to gain experience points and farm for currency to get the next item. Unfortunately, hackers and pros either made people give up on the game or scared them away; therefore, not many people play the game anymore. Fortunately, the game is still being hosted by ijji and still has some players still on as well as having the quest mode where the player goes up against room after room of computer enemies. It’s worth checking out.
Source: Youtube Channel RiotGamesInc
League of Legends – Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was such an amazing game to me. There were so many characters and replay value to it. So it was no surprise that when I heard two of the contributing makers of DotA went on to create a standalone online game based off of DotA, I was ecstatic (meaning I was freaking excited!). League of Legends (LoL) is a Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) where two teams push their respective army into the enemy’s base and destroy their main building. The game is played as a top-down action RPG tower-defense hybrid and was first started as a custom campaign on Starcraft before being recreated as DotA on Warcraft 3’s map editor. Players fight and eliminate neutral enemies and player enemies to gain levels and gold in order to gain new skills and buy stat enhancing items to be strong enough to push into enemy territory. LoL addresses many problems that DotA had due to the limitations of the Warcraft 3 editor such as not being able reconnect after being disconnected, having all the skill’s hot keys spread all over the keyboard rather than being aligned, and making it easier to camera focus on the player’s character. The game also features player progression such as the rune system where players can buy stat enhancing items, a summoner level which grants a player more rune space to place runes in, and gaining points to buy characters rather than relying on the week’s random draft list to choose a character. The game runs on a micro-transaction model which allows players to buy characters, skin packs, and experience boosting items. LoL currently holds the most hours played from the games I’ve been playing in the past few years (150+ hours, which is a lot for me). League of Legends is much easier to learn compared to DotA, so this is one game I would recommend all to try.
Source: Youtube Channel hagbardc3line
Battlefield Heroes – Don’t be fooled by the childish demeanor of this game. Battlefield Heroes is a stupidly fun third-person shooter that follows a lot of the mechanics from the other Battlefield games in a cartoon style, mischief making war between the two teams. I had the trailer’s theme song stuck in my head for the longest time and have always heard about the game but never tried it. I downloaded and played it one day when I was still in college and enjoyed it a lot. It’s so satisfying whenever I got backstab kills, headshot snipes, and explosive kills (Commando all the way!) but it was a difficult class to play for sure. After about 1-2 weeks, I had to ban myself from the game since it was affecting my studies. The game can be addicting, but I never allow myself to get addicted to games even if I love them so much. This game also runs on a micro-transaction model where players can buy special weapons, perks, and experience boosting items. I haven’t played the game in a while, but I always feel the need to whenever I heard the main theme song:
I generally don’t play as much free MMOs anymore just because of how busy I get now. If I do find the time to play, these are the ones I log onto:
-Dynasty Warriors Online – Hack ‘n Slash MMORPG
-Vindictus – Mature Action RPG based off the Mabinogi world
-Quake Live – Fast Action First-Person Shooter
-Dungeon Fighters Online – Arcade -like Fighter RPG
-S4 League – Third-Person Action Shooter that’s similar to Gunz
-Mabinogi – Casual Fantasy Life MMORPG, a very relaxing game to play
-Granado Espada: Sword of the New World – MMORPG with the best music I’ve ever heard
-Ragnarok Online – Sandbox MMORPG
-League of Legends – MOBA based off of DotA
-Cabal Online – MMORPG with a twitch based combat system
There are a lot more games to be found and played and most can be found through game portals and publishers. Here are some of the ones I play/played on:
Thanks for dropping by! This has been a very eventful week. Have fun with those free games~
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
GameLight - Vindictus
I finally found the opportunity to play Vindictus at home! What I mean is that I tried it out at E3 in June before it was released for Closed Beta. Not much seemed to have changed besides some extra content and some fixes to lag. For those who don't know what the game is about, just watch the video:
Source: Youtube Channel loadstart
Vindictus is an phenomenal MMOARPG that brings the fluidity and excitement of action games with the online, social aspect of an RPG. I've tracked the game since it was first announced in Korea years ago when it was still known as "Mabinogi: Heroes" (the name is still used in Asia), especially since I've been playing their other creation "Mabinogi: Fantasy Life" for years (though not religiously). As much as I love MMORPGs with its immerse environment and social aspects, it was refreshing to have a fast-paced action game in the online realm that boasts its combat system that requires more twitch skill rather than tactical planning.
Graphics: The game is developed on the source engine provided by Valve and is optimized incredibly well considering its detail and realism. I'm running on 1920 x 1200 resolution in-game and it barely has any graphics lag whatsoever. The style is much more violent and mature themed compared to its predecessor which fancied anime style themes with cel-shaded textures. The animations to certain gestures and actions do have some inconsistency and erratic movements, but is overlooked by every other astounding animation used in combat. Although a free game, Vindictus' graphics could rivals those of commercially sold games out in the market right now.
Audio: This factor is also very different from Mabinogi: Fantasy Life. Mabinogi is known for its whimsical themes with the sound effects somewhat cheesy and the music sort of retro-like with MIDI sounding instruments. But similar to it, the music is great. I loved a lot of the music composed for Mabinogi and was one of the reasons why I liked the game. I'm still not sure how I feel about the tunes for Vindictus yet, but I think the composition of real instruments and thundering power that it invokes does the game justice when fighting hordes of enemies.
Gameplay: The controls work similar to an action game with WASD keys as movement, mouse as camera angle, and the mouse buttons as attacks. Skills can be acquired and rise in level like in a RPG and its system is similar to Mabinogi in how levels corresponds to the actions and skills used in battle. Unlike many MMORPGs, Vindictus follows a distinct story that is told through cinematics and dialogue rather than having the player reading through all the quests given to try to piece the story themselves. Going into battle is similar to Phantasy Star Online or Dungeon Fighters Online in how players start out in town and can be instanced into a level through a portal or stage selection of some sort. Players can team up with 3 other players to fight in room to room dungeons like in Gunz: The Duel's quest mode. This means that the dungeon's rooms are linear and not free roaming. Objects are scattered around the levels and can be interacted as tools and weapons against enemies. The player can destroy crates and pick up a broken fragment to chuck at an enemy. Enemies' dead bodies can be picked up and thrown at live enemies as well, so that ability to interact with all sorts of objects changes the dynamics of battles when given the opportunity to utilize them. So far, there's only three characters to choose from. A fast attacking, dual wield swordsman; a balanced warrior wielding a sword and shield, and a mage who uses large weapons like scythes and mallets while casting powerful spells to deal damage. More should be on the way.
If you're not certain if the game will be to your liking, go ahead and try it, it's FREE! It's one of the more impressive MMOs out there that has depth, replay value, and innovative concepts. I encourage everyone to try it out, it could be a great game to play for those of you who are getting ready for winter break:
http://vindictus.nexon.net/
Source: Youtube Channel loadstart
Vindictus is an phenomenal MMOARPG that brings the fluidity and excitement of action games with the online, social aspect of an RPG. I've tracked the game since it was first announced in Korea years ago when it was still known as "Mabinogi: Heroes" (the name is still used in Asia), especially since I've been playing their other creation "Mabinogi: Fantasy Life" for years (though not religiously). As much as I love MMORPGs with its immerse environment and social aspects, it was refreshing to have a fast-paced action game in the online realm that boasts its combat system that requires more twitch skill rather than tactical planning.
Graphics: The game is developed on the source engine provided by Valve and is optimized incredibly well considering its detail and realism. I'm running on 1920 x 1200 resolution in-game and it barely has any graphics lag whatsoever. The style is much more violent and mature themed compared to its predecessor which fancied anime style themes with cel-shaded textures. The animations to certain gestures and actions do have some inconsistency and erratic movements, but is overlooked by every other astounding animation used in combat. Although a free game, Vindictus' graphics could rivals those of commercially sold games out in the market right now.
Audio: This factor is also very different from Mabinogi: Fantasy Life. Mabinogi is known for its whimsical themes with the sound effects somewhat cheesy and the music sort of retro-like with MIDI sounding instruments. But similar to it, the music is great. I loved a lot of the music composed for Mabinogi and was one of the reasons why I liked the game. I'm still not sure how I feel about the tunes for Vindictus yet, but I think the composition of real instruments and thundering power that it invokes does the game justice when fighting hordes of enemies.
Gameplay: The controls work similar to an action game with WASD keys as movement, mouse as camera angle, and the mouse buttons as attacks. Skills can be acquired and rise in level like in a RPG and its system is similar to Mabinogi in how levels corresponds to the actions and skills used in battle. Unlike many MMORPGs, Vindictus follows a distinct story that is told through cinematics and dialogue rather than having the player reading through all the quests given to try to piece the story themselves. Going into battle is similar to Phantasy Star Online or Dungeon Fighters Online in how players start out in town and can be instanced into a level through a portal or stage selection of some sort. Players can team up with 3 other players to fight in room to room dungeons like in Gunz: The Duel's quest mode. This means that the dungeon's rooms are linear and not free roaming. Objects are scattered around the levels and can be interacted as tools and weapons against enemies. The player can destroy crates and pick up a broken fragment to chuck at an enemy. Enemies' dead bodies can be picked up and thrown at live enemies as well, so that ability to interact with all sorts of objects changes the dynamics of battles when given the opportunity to utilize them. So far, there's only three characters to choose from. A fast attacking, dual wield swordsman; a balanced warrior wielding a sword and shield, and a mage who uses large weapons like scythes and mallets while casting powerful spells to deal damage. More should be on the way.
If you're not certain if the game will be to your liking, go ahead and try it, it's FREE! It's one of the more impressive MMOs out there that has depth, replay value, and innovative concepts. I encourage everyone to try it out, it could be a great game to play for those of you who are getting ready for winter break:
http://vindictus.nexon.net/
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