Sunday, July 17, 2011

Eden Eternal Introduction


Eden Eternal is a game published by AeriaGames. It is a 3D Anime Inspired MMORPG with a fantasy theme. Graphically speaking, it is a lot better compared to games of similar genre.



One of the key features of Eden Eternal is Class Switching, where a single character could have access to all the available classes and can switch to any of it as long as it is out of combat. Added to this is the wide array of classes available to the player with different play styles. The classes can be divided into 5 Branches, Tanking, Melee DPS, Range DPS, Magic DPS, and Healing/Support. Under these Branches are 3 different classes.


To facilitate Class Switching, the game uses 2 kinds of Experience points, Character Experience and Class Experience both of which obtainable via grinding, which mean your character level is independent from your class level. This means that I could have a character at level 10 and can choose to be either a level 5 Warrior or a level 9 Mage. Your Class level cannot overtake your Character Level and once they’re equal you can no longer level up you class until you level up your character as well.


Aside from Class selection, the player can also choose a race which has special skills available. Only humans and the Zumi are available right now.


Another Feature of the game are guild run towns. These serves as the base of the guild with several functions that the guild members could make use of. These towns are not restricted to guild members only, visitors could enter the town and purchase rare recipes and materials from NPC merchants hired by the guild.
Eden Eternal story line and setting might be similar to games of same genre but it provides crisper graphics and a good multi class system as well.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

GG Week



Level Up, will be implementing a modified experience rate for all servers starting from July 6 and lasting up to July 13. Experience rate would be at x3 for the week with a bonus hypermart sale

Free Stat Reset for Loki!


Good New for the Players of New Loki

Level Up will be setting up a free stat reset for New Loki starting July 6

An NPC in Prontera (155 283) will be giving player One free stat reset but will charge the player for succeeding resets. Players will be charged using Shards of Odin available at the Item Mall. A player can only reset up to seven times. Each reset has a cooldown of 20 hours within that time period no reset could be done.

 
Guidelines for Stat Reset
Weight should be 0
No Pet
No Cart
No Mount

Note:
New Loki is a new Free to Play server hosted by Level Up Game that opened on March 25, 2011

Job Class: Basic

Novice

Every adventurer starts out as a Novice in the world of Rune Midgard. This is a preliminary class that everyone goes through before getting their first job change at level 10. It does not possess any real skill tree instead you level up a skill called “Basic Skill” which allows you to trade, use emoticons, sit, create a chatroom, join or create a party, use the item storage system and finally job change to one of the six basic jobs. Novices could obtain 2 quest skills which could not be leveled up and will not consume any skill points, “Play Dead” and “First Aid”. “Play Dead” is a skill that will make the novice play dead causing any aggressive creature in the vicinity to leave him alone, unfortunately this skill is lost after the first job change. “First Aid” unlike “Play Dead” will be retained after the job change. It is a simple spammable heal of 5 HP for 3 SP.

Swordsman



The swordsman is a basic melee fighter that hails from Izlude. They can specialize on 1-Handed or 2-handed swords. They have high survivability to due to their increased hp recovery and can do good damage with Bash and Magnum Break. They could easily tank monster around there level using their Provoke and withstand the assault with Endure.

This class uses a straightforward type of play, engage them in melee then strike them to death. Potions will be almost a must especially when maximizing time but it is possible to make use of less and allow the natural recovery to take over, swordies have faster regeneration rate compared to others. This class can be a DPS or Tank class depending on the build the player used.

Magician



Magicians are the students of the Magician’s Guild in Geffen. They specialize on dealing damage in the form of Ice, Fire or Lightning. They can also cast fast spells such as soul strike. These beings underwent intense mental training to attain their position thus they have strong spiritual powers. They have foregone training the body to attain strength of the mind thus they are physically weak and could not stand too many attacks fortunately they developed a spell that will create a magic shield around them that will protect them from damage.

This class is the complete opposite of the swordsman, To fight effectively they must understand the weaknesses of their opponent and decide on which spell to cast that will deal the most damage. They must also be careful of their position in battle, too close and they risk getting hit, too far and they won’t be able to cast their spells. They could also make use of their surroundings to ensure that they have the advantage during a fight. Mages are always considered as a DPS class but some sacrifice their DPS capability to add a little more survivability.

Archer



Archers are trained in the forests of Payon. They excel in the use of bow and arrows. Their eyes are well trained to shoot arrows at great distances and with great accuracy similar to birds of prey. They are well concentrated fellow, focusing on the weak spots of their opponents in every shot. Their prowess in the bow allows them to do magnificent tricks as such as Double Strafing and creating an Arrow Shower.

This class attacks use the most range and thus they use it to their advantage. Kiting is a common technique used by archers when dealing with big and slow enemies. They could also make use of elevation to create an advantage against their opponents. They share a common weakness with Mages and that is melee combat could kill them. Another problem would be attacking a group of monster, this puts the archer in a high risk of being overwhelmed. This is a standard ranged DPS class.

Acolytes



Messengers of the Divine of the Church of Prontera. These selfless agents of the Holy Light spread the good news everywhere they go. They heal the sick and bless those who fight for justice. They vowed never to wield a blade and instead makes use of maces to smite the wicked. They specialized in killing demons and the undead. They also understand the way of light and gained the ability to teleport and to warp anywhere they please

This class is the only one with a spell that is designed for healing. This skill could be used to heal oneself thus increasing the survivability of Acolytes. Their melee damage relies mostly on their equipment. Their spells mostly can only damage the undead until the arrival of their quest skill holy light. These acolytes shine the most in a party, where their buffs and heals are very much appreciated by their teammates, increasing the overall survivability and efficiency of the group.

Merchant



The Merchants of Alberta are known for their skills in trading. They abide by the golden rule of commerce, buy low, sell high. These skilled traders could ask any merchant for discounts and sell their wares at a higher price. They carry a lot of weight with them as they travel the world looking for the best deals and thus they made use of carts to aid in their travels. During fights, these merchants know what to do, they use the immense weight of their cart to crush their enemies and if this does not work, the money could be used a lethal weapon.

This class looks more like a utility class than that of combat but they can keep up as melee attackers. Their skills are great for gaining money through overcharge and saving money through discount. They are also the only job that could set up a shop. Fighting using a merchant would mean stocking up in healing potions and using them effectively as they engage in hand to hand combat against monsters. They do not possess that many offensive skills but they compensate with economical utility skills

Thief



The thieves of Morroc are well known throughout the world. They walk silently unnoticed by anyone and attack swiftly taking enemies down before they knew what hit them. They value speed more than anything well maybe except for money or treasure. They were trained to follow no rule when it comes to combat, poisons, rock and sand could be used to ensure victory.

This class is melee like that of the swordsman but they traded strength and vitality for speed and dodge. They rarely get hit by monsters due to their enhanced dodged and can deal substantial damage due to double attack. They also fight dirty by stealing, hiding and using tricks. A very tricky class but really fun to play.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Ragnarok Online


The very first official Massive Multiplayer Online Game published in the Philippines that I know of is Ragnarok online of Level Up Games. It actually started the whole industry of publishing MMOs in the country. 

It is also the very first MMO that I played and It has gone through a lot of changes from here to now.
I remembered, playing it when it just released there were only the 5 starting job class available.
Look at it now with the release of the long awaited 3rd job class



This game has gone through quite a bit of change through the passage of time, from being a exclusive pay to play game where the only means of leveling up is to grind without stop to what it is now integrating the quest system that is very common nowadays in the MMORPG world as well as introducing free to play servers. This game is still alive and kicking with big updates still being made.

Enough of the history lesson and let’s get into the game!

Ragnarok online is published in the Philippines by Level Up Philippines, and is currently in Chapter XXII which introduces the 3rd class. It has 4 servers to date, New Chaos which retains the old pay to play system which also allows botting, Valkyrie and New Loki are the free to play servers with active world PvP in key areas and there is also Valhalla which is also free to play but has no world PvP. The free servers have a "no bot" policy in them which is punishable by being banned in the game. There are also several differences between the pay version and free version mostly concerning drops of monster and the existence of the armory of the gods in the free servers that allows players to buy ingame items for real money.



What RO can really boast about is the wide array of job class available in game. You start off as a Novice which could choose one of the 6 basic classes, Swordsman, Mage, Thief, Archer, Merchant and Acolyte, that could be upgraded their respective 2nd jobs or their alternate which both could either undergo Transcendence then 3rd job or skip through the Transcendence and proceed straight to 3rd job. The Novice has also several deviation from the starting classes which are called Expanded job classes. They could opt to become a  Taekwon which could turn to a Soul Linker or Star Gladiator or they could choose to become a Ninja or a Gunslinger both of which does not possess a job upgrade or they could remain a Novice til level 40 to become a Super Novice which allows them access to all the skills of the 6 basic classes.

Character customization does that stop there, even though 2 characters share the same class, they could be as different as day and night. This is due to the fully customizable stats and skill system which makes that player decide on how to spend their skill and stat points in whatever way they want. This allows a lot of variety overall but also adds risks to player that they might “mess up” their characters permanently if they allocated the points in the wrong skill or stat. Thankfully they recently added resetters for both skill and stat but requires real cash.

The environment of RO uses 2D sprites in a 3D world. It might pale compared to the realistic full 3D games today but it still holds its appeal well. This is together with its amazing soundtrack that really brings the world to life



Partying is the best sources of experience in the game due to the bonuses involved as well as having someone to chat with while doing all that grind. There are also guilds which functions as a means of people to get together. Guilds can also participate in guild wars to take control of one of the several castles throughout the world but since competition is hard for there are only a few of these castles available and thus alliances are made between these guilds to help each other conquer or defend these guild castles.

Overall, Ragnarok Online is a game not for everyone, those looking for eye candy should look elsewhere but to those who could appreciate the art style and the grind should feel right at home here